Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

When Gao Baolin saw the two law enforcement officers in blue uniforms, her mind went blank for a moment, but she quickly composed herself.

’All the messages have been deleted except for the last one, so there’s no trail. The number that received the information is a new burner phone, not tied to any personal data. And the power to the stairwell’s security camera isn’t even connected—I checked it myself, repeatedly...’

After confirming there were no oversights, a look of surprise appeared on Gao Baolin’s face. She turned to Meng Yuanzhong and asked in an anxious tone, "Minister Meng, what’s happened? If you need me to be a witness, please don’t hesitate to ask!"

Her performance was seamless, her expression flawless. If she ever went into acting, she’d be a shoo-in for an Oscar.

After walking into the office and closing the door, the two law enforcement officers politely invited Gao Baolin to sit across from them. They turned on their body cameras and began the questioning.

Gao Baolin’s answers to most of the questions were airtight. For the few she couldn’t answer perfectly, she feigned ignorance or unfamiliarity, managing to absolve herself of any involvement.

Her mental fortitude was so strong and her performance so flawless that not even the two law enforcement officers, let alone Meng Yuanzhong, could find any holes in her story.

If they hadn’t been holding hard evidence, they likely would have been fooled by her, forcing them to spend much more time and effort searching for other leads.

After asking another related question and receiving yet another meaningless answer, one of the officers turned to the side, picked up a file folder, and took out a stack of documents.

From a thick stack of photos, he pulled out two, placed them on the coffee table, and pushed them in front of Gao Baolin.

"The exhibition center’s security cameras captured some footage involving you. These are two stills taken from that footage."

The photos were laminated, and a glare from the lights happened to block the key information.

Gao Baolin casually picked up the two photos. Without the glare obscuring them, the contents of the photos were displayed clearly before her eyes.

Upon seeing what was on the photos, Gao Baolin’s entire body jolted. The nonchalant expression on her face twisted into terror and nervousness, and her right eyelid began to twitch visibly...

’Impossible! How could this be! This must be fake!’

’I specifically asked the repairman! The power to the stairwell camera was out, and the manufacturer was only coming to fix it today!’

’The other cameras can’t see that spot. These photos must be doctored!’

Before Gao Baolin could even speak, the officer took another document out of the file folder and handed it to her.

"These are the text messages between you and the phone number 136-xxxx-xxxx, from July 19, 2012, to 10 AM this morning. Not a single message is missing."

Next, the officer took another thin sheet of paper from the file folder and placed it beside the stack of printed text messages.

"This is for your bank account at XX Bank, ending in 4660. All incoming transfers from July until today came from a single person, totaling thirty-two thousand yuan."

The two photos she held slipped from her fingers. They fluttered in the air, spinning twice before drifting slowly down, one landing on the sofa, the other on the coffee table.

Faced with one piece of evidence after another, the excuses she had just prepared seemed utterly pale and powerless, the last gasps of a desperate struggle...

Gao Baolin’s lips trembled slightly, her face was pale, and fine beads of sweat formed on her forehead, trickling down her temples...

Seeing Gao Baolin in this state, they knew her psychological defenses had been shattered. What followed would be a routine question-and-answer session.

Meng Yuanzhong gave a nod to the two officers, quietly exited the office, and closed the door behind him.

He walked directly to the office of the exhibition’s preparatory team, stopped at the doorway, raised his hands to his chest, and clapped lightly, instantly drawing the attention of everyone in the office.

"Minister Meng!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at Meng Yuanzhong in unison.

"Everyone, something has just come up. The Black Swan Hotel, which had won the catering contract, has had its bidding qualification revoked and its results nullified for illegally obtaining a competitor’s data during the bidding period."

The group had just looked up when they heard this explosive news, and an immediate uproar ensued.

A few people’s gazes quickly flickered over to Gao Baolin’s empty seat and then back, their minds racing.

’Minister Meng just called Gao Baolin out. Now Minister Meng is back, but Gao Baolin isn’t. Could this have something to do with her?’

Meng Yuanzhong took in everyone’s reactions but didn’t comment on them, continuing directly, "Therefore, the winner of the exhibition’s catering contract is—Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant!"

As soon as he said this, looks of regret appeared on the faces of two people in the room. As for what they regretted, no one would know without evidence.

Only one young man had a look of despair on his face.

’I just finished the draft, and now I have to change it again!’

「Black Swan Hotel.」

After receiving the "Bidding successful" message from Gao Baolin, Old Xu, the manager of the Black Swan Hotel, had been relentlessly refreshing the official webpage for the Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition, desperate to see the page announcing the bidding results.

But to his dismay, he kept refreshing until 3:30 PM, and there was still no activity on the official site.

’One more refresh. The last one. If it’s still not out, I’ll check again at 8 PM!’

Having made up his mind, Old Xu’s finger pressed the refresh button.

The loading bar at the top of the page shot forward. In just three seconds, the page successfully refreshed, and a new announcement with a green dot appeared in the public notice section.

’It’s out!’

Old Xu suppressed his inner joy and clicked to load the new announcement. The progress bar raced across the screen again, and the page quickly jumped to a new screen.

’The bidding for the catering contract of the first Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition has successfully concluded. Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant, with its exquisite dishes, ample portions, and affordable prices, stood out from the competition and successfully won this year’s contract!’

’Success!’

’We won...?’

Old Xu’s excitement lasted less than a second before he realized something was wrong. He looked closely at the hotel name, and written there, clear as day, was—Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant!

’This has to be a mistake. It’s definitely a mistake!’

’The message Gao Baolin just sent me said the bid was successful. That must mean *our* bid was successful!’

’How could it be Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant?!’

In his shock and anger, Old Xu’s finger accidentally touched the phone screen, scrolling the page down by half. A large block of text appeared, and he immediately caught the name ’Black Swan Hotel.’

’...In the registered vote, the Black Swan Hotel received five votes, Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant received three votes, and the Brocade Hotel received two votes... The Black Swan Hotel won an overwhelming victory with an absolute majority of votes...’

’See! I knew it! The staff just made a mistake.’

’How could they mess up such an important announcement? They’re worse than useless!’

His finger swiped again, and the remaining half of the page appeared on the screen.

’...However, the Black Swan Hotel obtained a competitor’s data and information through illegal channels, violating the principles of fairness and impartiality for this bid. Its results and bidding qualifications are hereby revoked...’

THUMP... CLINK... CRACK...

The phone escaped his grip and, drawn by gravity, performed a free fall. One corner hit the ground first, creating a crack that quickly spread across the entire device...

"How could they... report our actual name? Shouldn’t it just be ’a certain hotel’?!" Old Xu’s eyes were vacant, and he radiated the aura of a defeated man...

「Brocade Hotel.」

At that moment, the manager of the Brocade Hotel, who was also closely watching the bidding results, refreshed his page and saw the announcement at almost the exact same time as the manager of the Black Swan Hotel.

When he saw that Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant had ultimately won the catering contract, not the Black Swan Hotel, he felt he could breathe easier. The world, which had just seemed noisy and chaotic, suddenly became beautiful.

But when he saw that Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant had won the contract by a single vote, his breathing suddenly became erratic.

’Just one vote? It was only one vote!’

’My boss promised that if I won this exhibition’s catering contract, I’d be promoted to logistics supervisor!’

’If I had known... if I had only known the Black Swan Hotel would be disqualified, I should have been more proactive, looked for an opportunity!’

’But what illegal channels did the Black Swan Hotel use to get their competitor’s information? If I had made a move, would I have ended up just like Old Xu?’

After weighing the pros and cons in his mind, the manager of the Brocade Hotel gave up on the idea.

’If I don’t get promoted this time, maybe there’s another chance later. But if an illegal act was discovered, what would be waiting for me is prison. And whether for a few months or a few years, I don’t want to spend a single day there.’

He had just put his phone in his pocket when he looked up and saw his superior walking into the kitchen side-by-side with a young man. His superior smiled and announced to everyone, "This gentleman beside me is Supervisor Ren Jiahua, who has been appointed by the head office to be the new supervisor of the logistics department. Let’s give him a round of applause!"

The Brocade Hotel manager’s pupils dilated. He stood there dumbfounded and, along with his colleagues, raised his hands and began to clap mechanically.

’The results just came out. I haven’t even reported them yet. How has the candidate for supervisor already been decided?’

’The order of events is wrong!’

The image of his boss smiling and telling him, ’Win the catering contract, and the logistics supervisor position is yours,’ intertwined and flashed through his mind with the current scene of Ren Jiahua being announced as the new logistics supervisor...

He suddenly realized that the so-called logistics supervisor position was just a carrot dangled in front of him...

’And that carrot had long since been promised to someone else!’