Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Nanny He moved very quickly. Just yesterday she had asked if Xu An was considering a kindergarten in Hai City, and today she showed up with a thick stack of flyers for him.

"This one is widely considered the best kindergarten in our neighborhood complex. Most of the kids here go to this one." Nanny He switched to another flyer. "This one was founded three years ago, but it has a good reputation. A lot of people nearby choose this kindergarten too."

Then, she stuffed the rest of the flyers into Xu An’s hands.

"These are some of the other kindergartens in the area. There’s a mix of big and small, good and bad. You can take a look at all of them."

After speaking, Nanny He hurriedly went over to the cash register to say hello to Granny Xu, then grabbed a tray to get her food.

Today’s lunch was salt-baked chicken drumsticks and steamed pork with rice flour. It was going to be delicious!

Xu An looked through all the flyers Nanny He had brought. He had to admit, the two she recommended really did have the best offerings.

The tuition just wasn’t cheap. Both schools cost 1,500 a month.

For both Xu Kang and Xu Le, the combined tuition would be three thousand a month, which was as much as an average office worker’s monthly salary.

Fortunately, although he wasn’t fabulously wealthy in this life, he could still afford a monthly tuition of three thousand.

Qingya Kindergarten and Sunshine Kindergarten both had open house days this week, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. He could go take a look after his business hours.

Xu An folded the two flyers, tucked them away, and went into the kitchen to get busy.

Today’s box lunch order for the Hai City Library station was 754; the order for Red Brick Creative Park was 273; a total of 1,027!

Box lunch sales had broken a thousand!

’If I can keep these sales up, I can go look at a small truck on Sunday. Time to upgrade from three wheels to four! Let’s go!’

When Nanny He learned that Xu An was going to check out the kindergartens that afternoon, she immediately volunteered to go with them. Her two grandsons had attended preschool in the area, so she was familiar with the schools and could offer some helpful advice.

Whether in his past life or this one, Xu An had never attended kindergarten himself. His knowledge of them was limited to what he saw on the news.

But out of ten stories that made the news, nine were negative—either problems with the food, subpar sanitation, or some unhinged teachers doing terrible things...

Now, with the experienced Nanny He accompanying them, he naturally felt much more at ease.

Many vehicles were parked at the entrance of Qingya Kindergarten—bicycles, three-wheeled carts, electric scooters, and cars, a whole variety.

When the gatekeeper saw Xu An stop at the entrance, he hurried over to direct him to park the three-wheeled cart in a spot that wouldn’t block traffic. He was all smiles the entire time; none of that classic snobbery where people look down on you.

After parking the cart, Xu An first helped Granny Xu get out, then lifted Xu Kang and Xu Le out. Following Nanny He’s lead, they headed inside Qingya Kindergarten.

Qingya Kindergarten was founded in 2002, making it exactly ten years old now. The marks of wind and sun on the exterior walls were quite obvious.

The moment they stepped through the gate, a teacher immediately came to greet them, a kind smile on her round face. "Hello, parents. I’ll be the one giving you a tour of the kindergarten. Please follow me this way."

The entrance opened into a small plaza, about four meters wide and ten meters long. Three longan trees were planted in the middle, and the ground was paved with colorful bricks arranged into cartoon patterns.

Further in was a three-story teaching building with a total of eighteen classrooms—six for each of the three levels: junior, middle, and senior. Each classroom could accommodate a maximum of 25 children and was staffed with three teachers.

The classrooms weren’t crowded; there was more than enough room for twenty children. The back wall of the classroom was a large cabinet, with a three-tiered open bookshelf at the bottom filled with all sorts of children’s picture books.

Xu An casually picked up a few books to look at. The content was all normal, with no strange, inappropriate messages hidden inside.

In the corner were three large storage bins. He opened the top one and found it was filled with various stuffed animals, all washed clean and looking very cute.

He peeked into the two adjacent classrooms and saw they all had the same setup. There was no need to worry about a shortage of toys or picture books.

Seeing so many toys and picture books felt like a dream to Xu Kang and Xu Le. Each of them hugged a stack of books and refused to let go.

But they had finished touring the classrooms and it was time to see the playground behind the building.

Xu An reached out to take the picture books from their arms, but the two immediately dropped to the floor, clutching the books tightly. Then came the classic fake crying—all thunder and no rain.

Watching their phony crying, Xu An couldn’t help but click his tongue in his mind. ’What a pair of little rascals.’

However, Xu An was well-practiced in dealing with this tactic. "You know, there’s a playground behind the building. It has a big, big slide, a really tall one. You can sit on it and WHOOSH, slide right down. It’s so much fun! The playground also has swings. A kid can sit on a swing, and with a little push, you can swing super, super high, almost like you’re flying! And there’s a ball pit, filled with all kinds of colorful little balls..."

As Xu An continued his description, the boys’ dry sobs grew quieter. Their mouths slowly closed, and they lifted their little heads, staring at Xu An without blinking. The words "I want to go play" were practically written all over their chubby little faces.

"But it seems some little boys don’t want to go to the playground, so I guess we’ll just stay here and read our books. After we finish reading, we’ll go home. No playground for us," Xu An said, feigning disappointment.

The moment the two little guys heard they were going home, they stopped fussing. They shot to their feet, quickly put the picture books back on the shelf, and started shaking Xu An’s hand, saying in their milky voices, "Brother, let’s go to the playground! We want to go on the slide, and the swings too!"

"But didn’t you just say you didn’t want to go? Let’s just go home."

"Nooo, Brother, please, please, let’s go~"

Under their intense pleading, Xu An reluctantly agreed on the surface, but inwardly he was beaming.

’Trying to outsmart me? You two little brats are still too green for that.’

They hadn’t seen many people during the tour inside, but the playground was a sea of people. Next to every piece of equipment, several children were either fighting over it or waiting their turn to play.

Woohoo!

The moment they saw the slide, the two boys, who had been excited the whole way, immediately let go of Xu An’s hand and ran toward it.

They didn’t stay idle while waiting, either. Like a pair of social butterflies, they started chatting with the two kids in front of them. In no time, they were all laughing and playing together.

Xu An and the others stood to the side, watching the two boys play, an unconscious smile spreading across their faces.

"Our kindergarten employs a professional nutritionist to plan the meals, so both breakfast and lunch are nutritionally balanced. Our teachers are graduates from professional teaching colleges and all have over two years of experience. They have a deep understanding of child psychology and development. Our kindergarten..."

The teacher who had been accompanying them and explaining things took advantage of the break to tell them about the school’s various strengths. The more Xu An heard, the more satisfied he was with this school.

Originally, Xu An had planned to see the other kindergarten before making a decision, but Xu Kang and Xu Le refused to leave for anything. They even said their new friends attended this kindergarten, so they wanted to attend it too.

Qingya Kindergarten was solid in every aspect, from its teaching staff to its management, and it was a well-established school with ten years of history. Nanny He’s two grandsons had both gone here. Nanny He also knew many of the other elderly people there, who were mostly from the nearby neighborhood complex, and they had all chosen this kindergarten as well...

’In that case, there’s nothing to hesitate about. Qingya Kindergarten it is!’