Xia Yongen froze. “Sister Feng, what are you thinking?”
During this period, aside from preparing to open the breakfast shop, she had been constantly thinking about how to balance running her stalls with operating the shop.
She had been running her stalls for a month now, and whether at the school or the food court, she had already built up a large group of regular customers. If she stopped setting up her stalls because of the breakfast shop, she would probably lose quite a few customers.
These customers were people she had worked hard every day to win over. Xia Yongen simply couldn’t bear to watch them go elsewhere.
More importantly, she had no idea yet whether the breakfast shop would do well.
As the saying went, you couldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Rongxing House still had two hundred thousand yuan in debt to repay, and she didn’t dare put everything on the line and treat the breakfast shop as her only lifeline.
So she carefully calculated things. Now that she had two people working together, and she herself was becoming more skilled, their efficiency was much higher than before. As long as they worked diligently, making two batches of dim sum a day wasn’t impossible.
It would just be very tiring.
But if she wasn’t willing to work hard, how could she earn enough money to repay the debt?
Besides that, she had thought of something else.
Previously, it was because the students wanted to be able to eat dim sum in the morning that she had come up with the idea of opening a breakfast shop. Although she now hung a promotional sign at her stall every day, perhaps only one-tenth of the students would actually be directed to the breakfast shop.
That meant the students’ needs still wouldn’t be fully met. Since there was demand, there was still room for her to work with.
If she couldn’t do it herself, what about someone else?
She said to Sister Feng, “Don’t worry. I’ll still come here as usual in the afternoons. It’s just that—”
Sister Feng had just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Xia Yongen continue, “These past few days, I’ve been able to set up my stall here without any worries thanks to your help. Now that I’m opening a breakfast shop, though, I still feel a little uneasy. There’s one more favor I’d like to ask of you.”
“Oh, what are you saying? If there’s anything I can help with, just ask.”
Only then did Xia Yongen reveal her entire plan.
It was actually very simple.
Two words: consignment sales.
A moment earlier, Sister Feng had thought Xia Yongen really had some major favor to ask of her, which had made her feel rather uneasy. But after hearing what Xia Yongen had to say, she was completely dumbfounded.
Was this asking her for help?
This was practically giving her money!
According to Xia Yongen’s plan, all Sister Feng had to do was pick up the dim sum from the breakfast shop early each morning and sell it. She would get thirty percent of the money from the sales.
Sister Feng quickly began calculating in her head. The school was only a little over a kilometer from Rongxing House. How much could that short trip possibly cost in fuel? And she wouldn’t even have to wake up early to make the dim sum herself.
What difference was there between this and making money while lying down?
“After spending all this time together, I know you’re an honest and straightforward person. The students are also already used to coming to your stationery shop to buy food. I’d feel completely at ease working with you, so you were the first person I thought of. I just don’t know whether you’d be willing to help me with this?”
Sister Feng’s eyes immediately lit up. She grabbed Xia Yongen’s hand and said, “Good girl, what are you talking about? How could this possibly be called helping you?”
The two of them stroked the cat while discussing the details. The more Sister Feng listened, the more excited she became. She felt as though her days of getting rich were right before her eyes.
But when they finished discussing everything, she still managed to force herself to calm down and pretended to be composed.
“You wait for me to go home and think it over. I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”
Xia Yongen wasn’t in a hurry either. “That’s fine. Take your time. If you feel this arrangement isn’t suitable, just tell me directly. There’s no need to worry about offending me.”
That evening, when Sister Feng returned home, her husband was cooking in the kitchen. Seeing the smile on her face, he quickly asked, “What happened? Did something good happen?”
Sister Feng hurried over to the kitchen doorway and told him all about the consignment arrangement.
Brother Feng’s hand paused as he poured the soy sauce.
“There’s really such a good deal?”
“Of course. That girl is a good person, and her dim sum is absolutely amazing.”
At the dinner table, Sister Feng tore off a sheet from a calendar and began carefully calculating the numbers on the back. She was so absorbed that she completely forgot about eating.
Brother Feng placed a piece of fish belly into her bowl. After thinking for a moment, he finally spoke.
“I’m telling you, I still think this arrangement is a little unreliable.”
Sister Feng looked up. “How is it unreliable?”
“Think about it. You’ll be the one deciding how much stock to take. If you take too much and not enough people buy it, won’t you lose money? When that happens, not only will you fail to make a cent, you’ll have to pay out of pocket. The only one making money will be that Miss Xia.”
After hearing Brother Feng’s argument, Sister Feng also felt that he had a point.
But after thinking it over, she said, “That won’t happen. The students all love Xia’s food. No matter what, it shouldn’t be possible to lose money. And if I’m really worried, I can just start by taking a smaller amount.”
After spending all this time around Xia Yongen, Sister Feng had come to admire her immensely. Setting aside her character, just talking about the dim sum she made—anyone who ate it couldn’t help giving it a thumbs-up.
“That sounds easy enough when you put it that way. But what if the students only recognize her products and don’t buy from you?”
Sister Feng shot him an icy glare.
“Don’t worry about it. What do you old man know about doing business?”
Brother Feng wasn’t offended at all. He cheerfully said, “All right, all right. Eat your dinner before you continue with this. There’s no need to rush.”
The old couple, Brother and Sister Feng, had both once been workers at the local shipyard. When he was young, Brother Feng had been a key technical specialist. After being laid off, he found a job as a security guard and had managed to save quite a bit of money over the years. Combined with his monthly pension of more than four thousand yuan, the couple lived a comfortable and carefree life.
After being laid off back then, Sister Feng had thrown herself into the wave of entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, perhaps she simply lacked the luck for it. Over the years, she had opened several shops, but none of them had managed to make much money.
After suffering repeated failures in business, the fire of entrepreneurship in Sister Feng’s heart had long since gone out. As her daughter and son gradually grew older, she stopped trying to make new ventures happen. Eventually, she took over a stationery shop, planning to earn a modest income steadily and use it to give her children some extra spending money.
Now, with Xia Yongen’s arrival, Sister Feng’s entrepreneurial spirit had once again begun to stir.
Although their family was no longer short of money, both of their children had good jobs and had found good partners, while she and her husband also had pensions.
Still, now that there was an opportunity to make money, how could she simply stand by and watch it slip away right before her eyes?
Seeing how enthusiastic his wife was, Brother Feng gave up trying to dissuade her. He knew better than anyone how passionate she was about doing business. Unfortunately, after suffering repeated failures over the years, her spirit had been dampened considerably.
Now that he saw her full of energy again, he couldn’t help feeling relieved. He might as well let her do as she pleased. Whether it succeeded or failed, she could simply treat it as a way to pass the time.
After thinking about it for an entire night, Sister Feng finally made up her mind.
She would do it with Xia Yongen.
Since they had reached an agreement, the two of them found some free time to sign a contract, with each keeping one copy.
Once everything concerning the school had been settled, the counter and dining tables Xia Yongen had ordered some time ago also arrived. Seeing that almost everything was ready, Lai Meizhen consulted the almanac, chose an auspicious day, and set the opening date for the breakfast shop.
Naturally, Xia Yongen didn’t forget about her very first loyal customer. She immediately sent the news to Li Minyao.
Li Minyao was delighted. In the past, she had always bought breakfast from a certain fast-food chain. She had even gotten a breakfast card to save money, but when she calculated it carefully, she still spent at least two or three hundred yuan on breakfast every month. Thinking about it made her feel a little pained.
Now that there was a breakfast shop, and Rongxing House was close to the subway, it was conveniently on her way to work. From now on, she could go there often to buy breakfast.
As the saying went, while some people rejoiced, others worried.
Zhao Yiping wasn’t nearly as happy. After all, he walked to work, and the direction of the school was completely opposite to the direction of Rongxing House.
After learning about Zhao Yiping’s disappointment, Xia Yongen deliberately sent Li Minyao another message:
“The owner of the stationery shop by the school gate will be selling breakfast for me on consignment. If Teacher Zhao wants to eat it in the future, he can go buy some early.”
Naturally, Zhao Yiping was overjoyed when he heard the good news.
Just as Xia Yongen finished her conversation with Li Minyao, she received a new message. It was from her university counselor, Teacher Qin.
“Xia, how have you been lately? I heard you didn’t sign the tripartite employment agreement and went back to Huacheng?”
Xia Yongen paused for a moment before replying, “Yes, Teacher. Something happened at home, so I came back to Huacheng to help.”
After graduation, Teacher Qin had seen the information Xia Yongen had entered in the graduate employment registration form. Unlike her classmates, who had gone on to pursue graduate studies, take civil service examinations, or find jobs, Xia Yongen’s post-graduation plans stood out particularly clearly on the list.
As her counselor, Teacher Qin knew a little about Xia Yongen’s family background. On top of that, Xia Yongen’s GPA had consistently ranked among the top three in her year, so Teacher Qin naturally paid a little more attention to this particular student.
When she learned that Xia Yongen had passed the interview for a state-owned enterprise, Teacher Qin had been very pleased. But she soon found out that Xia Yongen had actually chosen not to take the position and had instead returned to Huacheng to run the teahouse.
Although she felt it was a pity, this was ultimately Xia Yongen’s own choice, and there wasn’t much she could say about it.
This time, she contacted Xia Yongen because there was only a little over half a month left until the new students arrived. As one of this year’s outstanding graduates, Xia Yongen had been invited by the college to give a speech at the freshman entrance ceremony.
“Thank you, Teacher. It’s just that I’m really busy with the teahouse right now. I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it back to the university.”
Teacher Qin continued, “I know you’re very busy right now, but the reason I contacted you is that the college has also invited Xiao Liang back for this year’s entrance ceremony.”
Xia Yongen stared at the chat window for a moment.
“Senior Liang Xiuwen?”
“Yes. He recently published another new book. I was thinking that since you’re both from the same hometown and both work in the culinary field, perhaps there’s something he might be able to help you with?”
Xia Yongen thought about it before replying, “I think I’ll pass. I really can’t spare the time.”
She knew that Teacher Qin was only bringing this up because she genuinely wanted to look out for her. But these days, she was so busy preparing to open the breakfast shop that she barely had time to catch her breath. Going back to the university was simply impossible.
Besides, she wasn’t particularly eager to see Liang Xiuwen either.
After chatting for a while, Xia Yongen received a text message reminding her about a payment she owed.
She sighed and opened her bookkeeping app.
After working tirelessly at her stalls for an entire month, she had finally managed to save a little over thirty thousand yuan. However, preparing to open the breakfast shop had already eaten up more than half of it. Now, she had only a little over eight thousand yuan left, and most of that had to be set aside to pay Auntie Zhen’s wages.
She really wondered when she would finally be able to pay off the two hundred thousand yuan she owed.
Two hundred thousand yuan might not seem like much on Xiaolvshu. After all, online, everyone seemed to be a wealthy person who drove supercars and lived in luxury mansions. But in real life, how many people could casually take out that much money?
She put down her phone, pulled herself together, and looked at the calendar on the wall.
There were still three days until the breakfast shop opened.
Author’s Note:
My next novel will be All the Big Shots in Hong Kong Are Chasing Me for Food. If you’re interested, feel free to add it to your collection~ Here’s the synopsis:
After an accident, Ye Baojun transmigrates into 1969 Hong Kong, becoming one of the refugees attempting to flee into Hong Kong.
For everyone else, 1960s Hong Kong is a place of dazzling neon lights and foreign trading houses, where they meet wealthy and powerful tycoons at the Hong Kong Jockey Club and become entangled in a romantic love story.
But Ye Baojun’s 1960s Hong Kong is a leaky wooden shack crammed with ten people, the constant threat of arrest and deportation, a sickly and depressed mother, and a reckless, simple-minded older brother.
Here, gold is everywhere—and so are bones.
Faced with such a hellish start, Ye Baojun decides to roll up her sleeves.
As a cooking blogger who had amassed tens of millions of followers in her previous life, surely she can’t starve to death in Hong Kong, right?
From a street stall to a late-night food stand, and eventually to the Juncheng Grand Restaurant in Causeway Bay, Ye Baojun conquers countless people with her culinary skills.
Gang leaders, the richest Chinese businessman, entertainment moguls…
All the big shots with influence and status throughout Hong Kong end up falling at her stove.
[Little Theater]
One day, the Juncheng Restaurant is packed with customers lining up outside.
Three prominent tycoons unexpectedly cross paths in a narrow space. The atmosphere is tense and explosive, while the men standing behind them have already exchanged hundreds of hostile glares.
Just when all the diners think an earth-shattering battle is about to break out—
Ye Baojun walks out carrying a plate of typhoon shelter-style stir-fried crab.
“If you want to fight, take it outside. Don’t get in the way of my business. If you’re not eating, get lost. There are hundreds of people waiting in line behind you!”
The three big shots, men powerful enough to make all of Hong Kong tremble with a single stomp of their feet, instantly become as obedient as elementary school students.
“I’ll eat, I’ll eat! Don’t kick me out!”