Chapter 51: The Old Abacus, Polished to a Gleam
Ding Nan and Luo Min received their usual notification at 11:52 AM. They went to the front desk to pick up their boxed lunches, and at noon on the dot, they turned off their screens and began to eat.
At first, their coworkers thought food from a small street stall wasn’t very sanitary, but they saw Ding Nan and Luo Min eating from there for several days in a row.
The meals they saw over the past few days might not have all suited their tastes, but there were always one or two dishes that did.
The balance began to tip, especially when they returned drenched in sweat from going out to eat, only to see the two enjoying a leisurely rest after finishing their meal.
’They’ve been eating it for so long, so it must be fine.’
’And in this heat, being able to eat without leaving the office seems pretty great.’
’And just look at today’s menu: fish with chopped chilies, the meat a pristine white tinged with red; cold-tossed tofu skin shreds that smelled tantalizingly sour and spicy; refreshing cabbage with wood ear mushrooms; and a box of fluffy, translucent rice packed to the brim... It’s all so tempting!’
On some strange impulse, Sister Liu found her feet carrying her over to stand between Ding Nan and Luo Min, her mouth opening of its own accord.
"Ding, Luo, are you guys ordering boxed lunches again tomorrow? Can you add me to the order?"
The moment she spoke, several other voices chimed in from around the office.
"Add me in, too."
Ding Nan and Luo Min were so startled by the commotion they nearly choked on their food. They had to pound on their chests for a good while before they recovered.
"Um, we already pre-ordered for tomorrow when we picked up our food just now. You’ll have to go to the stall to place an order, or... we could place one for you tomorrow when we get our lunch?"
A look of disappointment flickered across Sister Liu’s face.
If they ordered tomorrow, they’d have to wait until the day after to get their food delivered. But if they ordered today, they could enjoy it tomorrow.
’Maybe I should just go pre-order for tomorrow while I’m out for lunch anyway?’
After finding out the exact location of the stall, Sister Liu and a few of her colleagues rushed right over.
They were thrilled to see quite a few boxed lunches still on the counter. "Boss, we’ll each take one!" she exclaimed, her face breaking into a wide grin.
Liang Dani looked up, a bit bewildered. ’Weren’t all the boxed lunches sold out? Why are more people here?’
She looked up and saw a few unfamiliar faces. ’They must be first-time customers,’ she thought.
"I’m sorry, but we’re all sold out for today," Liang Dani said apologetically to Sister Liu and her group.
Sister Liu looked at the lunchboxes on the counter, confused. She pointed at them and asked, "But aren’t these boxed lunches?"
"These have already been pre-ordered. I have to deliver them in a little while." Liang Dani thought for a moment before adding, "If you work nearby, you can pre-order for tomorrow. The delivery fee is only fifty cents for any location within three hundred meters."
Although they were a little disappointed, Liang Dani’s words gave them more confidence in the stall.
’A place with this many daily orders has to be reliable.’
Right then and there, Sister Liu and her colleagues placed a group order. All they would need to do was give her name at pickup.
When Xu An returned, Liang Dani told him about the new order. Xu An nodded and jotted it down in his notebook.
Since he started the delivery service, the fastest growth in orders had come from office workers. It started with two or three a day and had grown to as many as eight or nine, with the numbers climbing steadily.
Meanwhile, the foundational construction at the Hai City Library was completed, and over a hundred workers left the site. Now, only about two hundred workers remained, and more were expected to leave as the project wound down.
’I’m so glad I started developing this office worker customer base,’ Xu An thought. ’They have unlimited potential.’
’Now that I have a storefront and a bit more confidence, I need to figure out how to build a reputation for my shop among the office workers.’
’So whenever they don’t know what to eat for lunch, they’ll think of Xu’s Fast Food.’
「Xu Family Village.」
The moment Xu An returned to the courtyard, Xu Kang and Xu Le ran over, each hugging one of his legs. They tilted their heads back and looked up at him with expectant eyes.
"Brother, are we going to the shop today?"
"Brother, I’ll help you again today! Will you buy us popsicles?"
"Alright, alright. Let go first. I’ll take you over after I change my clothes," Xu An agreed, gently pinching their little cheeks.
Hearing Xu An’s promise, the two little ones were instantly overjoyed. They tore around the courtyard, shouting as they ran, "Wooo! We’re going to the shop to help Brother! And Brother is going to buy us popsicles! Hooray!"
Xu An had just stepped into the main hall when he saw his granny sit up in bed, staring at him intently through the doorway.
It was only then that Xu An realized he’d forgotten to tell his granny about opening the shop.
"Anzi, I’ve heard the boys chattering all day about you opening a shop and how they’re going to help you there. What’s all this about?"
Xu An hesitated for a moment. ’Well, it’s not bad news,’ he thought. ’I already told her I’m not going to college. What’s opening a shop compared to that?’
He pulled a wooden stool over to the bedside and told her everything that had happened over the past few days, from start to finish.
As he finished, he remembered that while his granny hadn’t had much schooling, she was a master with an abacus. He said half-jokingly, "Granny, when the shop opens, how about our whole family goes over every morning and you can be my cashier?"
Granny Xu looked at Xu An, suddenly feeling as if her eldest grandson had become a stranger.
When he first wanted to start the boxed lunch business, she’d thought it was just a young man’s passing whim. She never expected him to actually stick with it, let alone do so well.
Back then, she had hoped he might earn a little spending money, or better yet, his college tuition. She never imagined that in just half a month, he would have already rented a storefront and be preparing to open for business.
’Does this mean... he really isn’t planning to go to college?’
Xu An saw the shifting emotions on his granny’s face and guessed what was on her mind. He reached out and took her hand.
"Granny, I made the decision not to go to college after a lot of careful thought. It’s not just because of our family situation, or because I feel like the family can’t manage without me. You don’t need to blame yourself for this or feel like you’re holding me back."
To ease the tense, almost frozen atmosphere, Xu An continued in a deliberately lighthearted tone.
"My college entrance exam scores weren’t that high anyway; I wouldn’t have gotten into a good school or program. I might as well start earning money sooner. Besides, if the business fails, I can always go back to study and retake the exam, can’t I?"
Granny Xu looked at Xu An for a long moment before finally nodding. "Since you’ve made up your mind, then I’ll support you. From now on, this family is in your hands. You’ll be the one in charge."
Granny Xu then began to explain the family’s finances to him—their annual income, their total savings—recounting every last detail.
After listening, Xu An felt even more certain that his decision not to go to college was the right one. The family’s only stable income was 1,200 a year from renting out their fields.
The vegetable garden brought in no more than 5,000 a year, and that income was highly unstable. It also required a great deal of effort and money, making the net profit less than half of that.
With a total annual income of just over 6,000, they had to cover the daily expenses for one elderly woman and two young children, on top of supporting a university student. No matter how you budgeted it, there was a massive shortfall.
Suddenly, Xu An understood why, in his past life, Granny Xu had agreed to send Xu Kang and Xu Le to live with their aunt. An income of just over 6,000 a year truly wasn’t enough to support a family.
After she had finished explaining everything about the family’s finances, a look of relief washed over Granny Xu’s face. She squeezed Xu An’s hand and patted it gently.
After Xu An left, Granny Xu suddenly recalled his words—about her helping with the accounts at the shop. A faint blush rose on her wrinkled cheeks, and she mumbled to herself, "An old woman like me... how could I possibly do a job like that?"
But even as she protested, her eyes drifted to the old wooden chest in the corner of the bedroom.
Inside the chest, nestled amongst the clothes, was an old abacus, polished to a glossy sheen from years of use. It was Granny Xu’s most treasured possession.