Xu's Braised Food Shop opens at 2 PM on Mondays, a time that is quite unfriendly to office workers and students. Xu An originally thought that the peak customer flow would not occur until after 6 PM, giving plenty of time for internet celebrities and studios attending the event to take photos and promote their products.
Unexpectedly, at noon, when the sun was still blazing, a steady stream of people arrived at the entrance of Xu's Braised Food Shop, peering inside. After looking around, these people didn't leave the old street, but instead found seats in the dessert shops, fast food restaurants, snack shops, and other establishments along the way, chatting and laughing as they waited for 2 PM for Xu's Braised Food Shop's opening ceremony to begin.
Because noon is lunchtime, the shopkeepers on the old street didn't seem to care much about the higher customer traffic compared to usual. However, as time went on, the customer traffic increased rather than decreased. The entire old street was packed with customers, not only inside the shops but also in the shady areas outside.
This unusual behavior caught the attention of the shop owners, who began asking if there was any large competition or event nearby. Upon learning that the customers were there for the opening of a shop at the street corner, the owners were dumbfounded.
In less than a year, six shops opened and six closed at that street corner location. Everyone agreed that the shop had bad feng shui, and perhaps some kind of curse. After all, given the street corner, the foot traffic, and the exposure, it seemed strange that six shops would close in a year; there must be something wrong!
But now that there's a new owner, the opening day alone attracted so many customers. Could it be that the curse on this shop has been broken? Is the new owner some kind of feng shui master? Or is it that the new owner is incredibly lucky and has suppressed all the curses and evil spirits?
This made the shop owners on the old street look forward to seeing if the curse of "losing money as soon as they open and going bankrupt in three months" would be broken in the hands of this new owner.
Xu An, who was busy in his shop, had no idea what the shop owners on the old street were thinking. He was sitting in front of the freezer, on which were stacks of hundred-yuan bills that he had just withdrawn from the bank.
Initially, Xu An planned this event with prizes of one first prize, five second prizes, and ten third prizes. Excluding the first prize, the total prize money would only be 2,500 yuan. However, after Tang Wen took over the project and experienced the consequences, she made a bold move, changing the number of third prize winners to unlimited, the number of second prize winners to 300, and keeping the number of first prize winners unchanged at one. The event duration was also changed from one day to one week, with anyone who completed the challenge within a week receiving a reward.
That's not the most outrageous part. What's even more outrageous is that Xu An was actually persuaded by Tang Wen, thinking that what she said made perfect sense, and then signed his name on the planning report!
He hadn't thought much of it when he signed, but now, looking at the 30,000 yuan in cash piled up in front of him, Xu An really wanted to go to the hospital for a checkup to see if he had juvenile dementia or some other illness. Sending Tang Wen for a checkup too, to see if she knew hypnotism or something…
Thirty thousand yuan! Thirty thousand yuan! This opening event actually cost nearly fifty thousand yuan! That's almost enough to buy a food truck!
However, looking at the endless stream of people outside the store and the stylishly dressed internet celebrities moving among them, and thinking about the upcoming collaboration with the 'Haishi Food Studio' account and the local Haishi TV's lifestyle news reports, Xu An felt a little comforted. At least for now, the results seemed quite good.
Given the current flow of people, Xu An felt that the 500 jin of braised food he had specially prepared for today's opening event might not be enough.
Shaking his head to clear his mind of all distractions, Xu An focused intently on sorting the 30,000 yuan in front of him with long strips of red paper. The thickest, most eye-catching, and biggest draw of the event was the stack of 10,000 yuan bills.
Because the prize money was so generous, after seeing the advertisement, Second Grandfather personally appointed Uncle Dongliang to bring the villagers over to keep order and prevent any troublemakers from coming. Second Grandfather's concern wasn't unfounded; since the shop opened, three groups of thugs had already come to collect 'protection money'.
As it approached two o'clock, the old street grew increasingly crowded, and these people strangely divided into several groups based on their respective purposes. Some were there for the 10,000 yuan prize, some were lured in by Lin Mengjuan's review, some were interested in the "hellish" braised dishes, and some were simply braised food enthusiasts.
At 1:38 PM, the auspicious time has arrived!
Loud gongs and drums echoed along the old street, and a space quickly appeared in front of Xu's braised food shop. Two lion dance troupes tumbled and leaped, ran and jumped, fought and teased each other, displaying both endearing clumsiness and majestic aura, attracting more and more people to come and watch.
At 1:58 PM, Xu An, the owner of Xu's Braised Food Shop, the initiator of this event, and the sponsor, finally stepped out of the shop. After a two-minute ribbon-cutting and unveiling ceremony, Uncle Dongliang, Uncle Guosheng, and Uncle Guoqiang appeared as ceremonial attendants carrying three trays. The stacks of banknotes on the trays drew gasps of surprise from the crowd, their eyes filled with anticipation.
Cough cough ————
After coughing twice to draw most people's attention to himself, Xu An slowly began to speak, "Thank you all very much for braving the sweltering heat and traveling from afar to attend the opening ceremony of Xu's Braised Food Shop. I am very clear about the purpose of your visit, so without further ado, please line up in an orderly manner to purchase braised food, and then proceed to the left to participate in the 'Hellish Braised Food' challenge of this opening event!"
Alas!
The moment the words were spoken, the entire place erupted in cheers. Ignoring the queue requirements, people rushed to be the first to reach the freezer at Xu's braised food shop. But after only two steps, they saw the group of burly men around the shop watching them intently. They slowly withdrew their outstretched feet, and everyone moved in an orderly fashion. Before long, a long line of more than a hundred people appeared before them.
After more than a week of training and familiarization, Zhang Dezhen had become incredibly proficient at operating the cash register, completing the entire process from payment to change in no more than five seconds. Zhang Dezhen's speed was impressive, but the queue continued to grow longer. Initially, it was only divided into three sections, but now a fifth section was already beginning to appear.
A tall, thin middle-aged man spotted the Xu's Braised Food Shop sign and the long queue in front of it from afar, and immediately became anxious. He had planned to leave at 1:30 and arrive at the Xu's Fast Food Shop at 2:00, which would be just the right time.
I didn't expect so many people to participate! There's only one first prize! What if someone else wins it?!
The tall, thin middle-aged man slapped his thigh in frustration, then suddenly ran to the end of the line, managing to get ahead of the three people. He looked worriedly at the boy who had just bought his braised food and was heading towards the challenge platform, muttering under his breath, "Failure, failure, failure!"
(End of this chapter)
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