Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

The greenhouse farming area.

Today was the first day the Yan Brothers were to supply produce to Victory Supermarket. For promotional purposes, they had to pick a total of nearly nine hundred pounds of fruits and vegetables and deliver them before seven in the morning.

The Yan Brothers set out for the greenhouse area at three in the morning. The only sounds along the way were the rustling of leaves, the chirping of insects, and the THUD THUD THUD of their footsteps.

"Brother, this order for nearly nine hundred pounds of produce is worth almost sixty-five hundred yuan more than selling to the vegetable vendors! As long as they don’t make us tear down the greenhouses, this partnership is pretty good."

The younger Yan brother’s tone was cheerful, and he had a little bounce in his step, a clear sign of his happy mood.

"That’s right. Let’s make as much as we can while we can. Who knows if Victory Supermarket will change its mind," the older Yan brother agreed with a smile.

The two of them chatted and laughed all the way to their greenhouse. They took out a key, unlocked the padlock, and lifted the flap. The expressions on their faces instantly froze.

The greenhouse that had been lush, green, and heavy with fruit just yesterday was now a scene of utter devastation.

The once fresh, tender, and delicious produce now lay silently on the ground as a mess of broken stems, ruined leaves, rotten fruit, and spoiled vegetables...

The Yan Brothers’ eyes bulged, looking as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. Their mouths hung open, and they stared at the scene before them, dazed and in disbelief.

"What... What happened here?!"

A terrible premonition crept into their minds. A chill ran down their spines, their muscles tensed, their breathing became ragged and shallow, and their hearts began to pound wildly.

The Yan Brothers staggered toward the next greenhouse. In their panic, they tripped and fell, covering their faces and clothes in mud and grass. They looked utterly wretched.

When they finally reached the second greenhouse, they fumbled for the key with trembling hands and unlocked it. The scene inside was no different.

Then the third, the fourth, the fifth...

Of the brothers’ eight greenhouses, only two were completely untouched. A third one looked like the vandals had been interrupted halfway through their destruction and had chosen to flee, leaving half of it intact.

After checking all the greenhouses, the adrenaline that had kept them going dissipated. They collapsed to the ground almost in unison, fumbling in their pockets three or four times with trembling hands before they finally managed to pull out their phones...

「Lu Shengnan’s Residence」

Before going to bed, Lu Shengnan sat propped up against her upholstered headboard, a pen and paper in hand, reviewing the schedule for the next day’s event.

Although she already knew the schedule by heart, the stakes were so high that she checked it over and over, searching for any mistakes or omissions.

After finishing her review, she was about to turn off the light and go to sleep. But on a whim, she reached for the laptop on her nightstand, turned it on, opened a browser, and typed in ’Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant’.

The search on her computer’s browser yielded many more results than her phone’s had, the most eye-catching of which was an announcement from the Hai City Convention and Exhibition Center.

’The following hotels are participating in the bidding for the food and beverage contract for this exposition. Please report any discovered violations.’

And right below that heading was the name: Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant!

Lu Shengnan’s gaze flickered, landing on the name of a hotel just before Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant—Black Swan Hotel.

’So they’re participating too!’

Her gaze then fell on the two words in the heading, ’Please report’, but she looked away a second later.

’What does this have to do with me? No need to get involved in this mess.’

She closed her laptop, put in her earplugs, snuggled into her blankets, and turned off the light to sleep.

RING RING—RING RING—

The ringing phone shattered the silence of the bedroom. Lu Shengnan, fast asleep, furrowed her brow and rolled over in annoyance, pulling the blanket over her head to escape the irritating sound.

After ringing for a while, the phone finally fell silent. Just as Lu Shengnan breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to go back to sleep, it started ringing again.

’So annoying! Who the hell is calling in the middle of the night?! Don’t they know people are trying to sleep?!’

She stuck a hand out from under the covers and fumbled around for a while before finally finding the cheerfully ringing phone. Bleary-eyed, she glanced at the caller ID. It was the Yan Brothers.

She glanced at the time on the screen: 3:13 a.m.

’Calling me at this hour... Did something happen?’

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Lu Shengnan was wide awake. She shot up in bed and answered the call.

"President Lu, it’s over... It’s all over..."

"What’s over? What happened? Please be more specific."

"The greenhouses... they’ve been destroyed! We can’t supply the nearly nine hundred pounds of produce!"

Lu Shengnan’s mind went blank. Her mouth opened slightly as if to ask something, but her throat constricted, and no sound came out.

’The greenhouses were destroyed? The nine hundred pounds of produce are gone?’

’What are we going to do about today’s event?!’

Her thoughts, shattered by the news, quickly began to reassemble. Her mind started spinning again as she scrambled to think of a countermeasure.

They were still in contact with other greenhouse growers in other parts of Qianhai Town, but no contracts had been signed yet. With less than five hours until the event started at eight, there was no time to negotiate now.

Suddenly, an image of a greenhouse flashed through her mind—the one that supplied Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant...

Although those growers had rejected her last time, she could still try talking to the owner of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant! He might be the perfect breakthrough she needed!