Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Ding Nan and Luo Min got right to work. That afternoon, they ordered food from all three fast-food restaurants. They even specially bought identical disposable cutlery to swap out, ensuring they wouldn’t give the game away.

The next day at 11:40 AM.

Someone in the finance department stretched languidly and asked casually, "Where is everyone planning to eat for lunch?"

"Admin just said they’re providing lunch today. They ordered from three fast-food places for us to try and see which two are the best."

"Oh? What a nice surprise."

At twelve o’clock, Ding Nan and Luo Min picked up the boxed lunches from the three restaurants, swapped the cutlery, and brought them to the finance department.

There were six people in the finance department, so ordering two different meals from each restaurant worked out perfectly.

All six boxed lunches were opened and laid out on the table. Although the cutlery was the same, it was obvious at a glance which two meals came from the same restaurant.

The boxed lunch on the left was pretty standard: a layer of rice and a layer of food. The dishes were a sliced pork cutlet with garlic choy sum, plus a small dollop of preserved radish to go with the rice. The soup of the day was a run-of-the-mill seaweed and egg drop soup.

The boxed lunch on the right was more generous. The sour and spicy shredded potatoes had a sharp, tangy flavor, the portion of meat in the green pepper stir-fry was decent, and there was also blanched lettuce to cleanse the palate. The soup was also a simple seaweed and egg drop soup, but this one had slightly more seaweed and egg.

When they looked at the boxed lunch in the middle, the finance department staff were stunned. This restaurant’s boxed lunch was a bit *too* generous!

In the very center was a portion of spicy poached pork slices; the aroma alone was enough to make their mouths water. Another container held shredded pork with celtuce and spicy wolf-tooth potatoes. The celtuce was a vibrant, fresh green, and the red chili oil glistened on the crinkle-cut potatoes, promising a delicious taste. The soup today was vegetable and tofu, and the bowl was a quarter full of solid ingredients—a very generous portion.

"Is this all from a single boxed lunch?" someone from the finance department asked, pointing a finger at the meal in the center of the table.

"Yes, this is a boxed lunch from one of the restaurants," Luo Min confirmed with a proud nod.

"What’s the procurement price for this one?"

"Eight yuan per box, with a fifty-cent delivery fee. For orders over fifty boxes, the delivery fee is halved, and for orders over one hundred, delivery is free." Luo Min delivered the lines smoothly, as if she had rehearsed them in her head a thousand times.

The head of the finance department almost blurted out that this restaurant had to be one of the final two choices, but years of professional decorum made him swallow his words.

’Let’s taste it first. What if it’s all for show?’

His chopsticks went for the spicy poached pork first. The meat was tender and juicy, the bean sprouts crisp, the bamboo shoots delicate. Next was the shredded pork with celtuce; the celtuce was perfectly cooked and refreshing, the pork chewy but not tough. The wolf-tooth potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The vegetable and tofu soup was light and sweet...

He started to wonder if something was wrong with his taste buds. Skeptically, he reached his chopsticks for the shredded potatoes from the box on the right. Sour, spicy, and crisp—not bad. The green pepper stir-fry was also okay. The seaweed and egg drop soup was just so-so.

Finally, he picked up the pork cutlet from the lunch box on the left. What was this texture? ’Is this pork cutlet made of flour? It doesn’t have the chewiness that pork should have!’

After tasting all three lunches, the difference in quality was immediately clear. Everyone voted for the middle and right-hand options.

Then, the finance staff stared intently at Luo Min and Ding Nan. "Did the one in the middle make the cut?"

SIGH!

Luo Min suddenly let out a long sigh and said with a sorrowful expression, "The middle one probably can’t be chosen. They couldn’t meet our company’s requirements."

"What do you mean they couldn’t meet the requirements?"

"Can they not provide official invoices?"

"Did you find hygiene issues during the on-site inspection?"

"..."

The six people in the finance department all started asking at once, trying to find out why. Cheap, generous, and delicious—it was unbelievable that a boxed lunch with such great value for money couldn’t meet the company’s requirements!

SIGH!

Luo Min sighed again and said slowly, "Their ingredients are all sourced from official channels, and their store hygiene is excellent... but, they’re an independent, privately-owned restaurant. Their cash flow can’t handle monthly payments. The best they can do is weekly."

The reason was perfectly logical, but also a complete pain in the ass.

"If the company could accept weekly payments, we’d be able to eat their food. I think tomorrow’s special is salt-baked chicken legs and steamed pearl meatballs, the day after is Stuffed Three Treasures and braised pork belly, and the day after that is braised lion’s head meatballs..."

Luo Min muttered to herself in a voice just loud enough for everyone to hear. After speaking, she seemed to realize she’d said too much and quickly covered her mouth, pretending nothing had happened.

Hearing this, the finance staff finally understood the real reason Luo Min had come to their department to hold a taste test.

’She’s trying to pull some strings for Xu’s Fast Food!’

The phrase "Company rules are company rules" was on the tip of his tongue, but the aroma of the spicy poached pork kept wafting into his nostrils, and he just couldn’t bring himself to say it.

’The other two restaurants were average, sure, but the one in the middle was in a completely different league. It was a total knockout!’

Given the choice, he too wanted to eat lunch from the middle restaurant. His Adam’s apple bobbed.

’Weekly payments would just mean a bit more paperwork, an extra task or two. Maybe... maybe I should submit a request and see what happens?’

「Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.」

Just one day later, Xu An received a message from Luo Min.

’Hello, Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant has been selected as one of the boxed lunch suppliers for Aisha Clothing Company. Please arrive at Meeting Room 101 at Aisha Clothing Company at 2:30 PM this Friday to sign the contract. An invitation has been sent to your email address. Please check your email to confirm. Thank you for your cooperation. We wish you a happy life and a prosperous business.’

Xu An opened the email and quickly scanned it, paying close attention to the payment terms—weekly settlement.

’Ding Nan and Luo Min are seriously amazing,’ Xu An thought. ’They said they’d try to apply for an exception, and they actually got it approved the very next day.’

’You couldn’t find customers this good even if you searched with a lantern! I’m so touched!’

Friday was tomorrow. Xu An took out his notebook, flipped to his to-do list, and added the appointment.

After writing it down, he glanced at the previous items on his list. Most were already done, but one important task remained incomplete: finding a suitable kindergarten for Xu Kang and Xu Le.

Over the past few days, Xu An had collected quite a few kindergarten flyers. The prices were more or less the same; it was just that the kindergartens looked different, and the teachers looked different, too.

Just from the flyers, Xu An could spot a lot of problems.

’This kindergarten, called "New Beginnings," has its front gate right on a busy main road! I don’t even see a crosswalk!’

’This one, "New Concept Kindergarten," looks nice. The whole place seems whimsical and fun... but what’s with that mouse perched on the windowsill, staring at the camera? Is it a kindergarten pet?’

’This one seems normal enough, but the lunch menu... it doesn’t look very nutritious...’

’This one...’

Xu An could find something wrong with almost every single kindergarten.

By the end, Xu An started to suspect that the problem wasn’t with the kindergartens, but with himself.

Xu An heaved a long sigh. ’A reliable kindergarten is so hard to find!’

Just then, Nanny He finished cleaning the kitchen. She took off her apron and gloves, hung them on the wall, and was about to tell Xu An that her work for the day was done so she could head home.

Walking over to Xu An, Nanny He noticed his table was covered with all sorts of flyers. A closer look revealed they were all for kindergartens.

"Boss, are you looking for a kindergarten for Kangkang and Lele?"

"Yeah, but I’ve been looking and looking, and none of them seem very reliable," Xu An answered listlessly. "Nanny He, are you all done? If you’re finished, you can head off for the day. Thanks for your hard work."

"These are all kindergartens near Zijing Road. Have you considered looking in other parts of Hai City? There are a couple of good ones near my apartment complex. If you’re interested, Boss, I can ask around for you."

’A kindergarten near the Hai City Library?’

’That’s right! The Hai City Library is only a ten or twenty-minute drive from here. Why have I been so focused on the kindergartens here on South Zijing Road!’