Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

After closing up shop for the day and returning home, Xu An was ambushed by Xu Kang and Xu Le. They had seen a game of musical chairs in a picture book the day before and were now pestering him to play with them.

How could Xu An pass up such a golden opportunity to openly bully the two of them? He readily agreed.

After winning two rounds, just as a smug Xu An was aiming for a ten-win streak, the two little ones put their heads together, whispered for a moment, and decided to cut him out of the game...

The rejected Xu An could only lock the courtyard gate and lie down on the rocking chair, peacefully drifting off to sleep amidst the cheerful chatter and laughter of Xu Kang and Xu Le.

But this peace didn’t last long. Soon, there was a knock on the courtyard gate, and Aunt Hong’s voice called from outside.

"Anzi, are you home? I need to talk to you about something."

Xu An groggily opened the gate to find Aunt Hong, Uncle Lin, and other familiar faces. Behind them stood another ten or twenty people, most of whom looked quite familiar. At that moment, all their eyes were fixed on him, a sight that instantly chased away his sleepiness.

"Anzi, I heard from Guosheng’s wife that you have surveillance cameras installed in your shops. They can record twenty-four hours a day, right?" Aunt Hong grabbed Xu An’s arm, her tone urgent.

"Yeah, that’s right. All three shops have them. What’s wrong?" Xu An was completely baffled. Why would Aunt Hong and the others suddenly ask him about this?

"Can we install cameras in our greenhouses over there? How much would it cost?" Aunt Hong asked again.

’Why would they want to install cameras in the greenhouses for no reason?’

The confusion in Xu An’s eyes was so obvious that everyone could tell he didn’t know what had happened at the greenhouses. They all started explaining, one person after another.

From their pieced-together accounts, Xu An finally understood what had occurred.

To put it simply, many of the greenhouses had suffered devastating damage the previous night.

That’s right, the victims weren’t just the Yan Brothers. The entire section of more remote greenhouses near the hillside had been destroyed; the Yan Brothers were just the first to discover it.

Everyone guessed that the culprits were scared off by the light from the Yan Brothers’ flashlights. Otherwise, the damage wouldn’t have been limited to the greenhouses on the hillside—it might have been much worse.

Once word got out, a sense of panic spread through the community.

They had been farming in these greenhouses for years and had never needed anyone to stand guard at night. In all that time, there had never been a single problem; they’d never even seen a vegetable thief.

But this time, ten to twenty greenhouses were destroyed overnight. It was completely unprecedented.

Some people were already planning to roll out their bedding and sleep outside the greenhouses tonight. After all, these vandals weren’t just stealing produce; they were destroying the entire structures!

Even though it was just the plastic film that was ruined, that stuff wasn’t cheap!

But sleeping guard duty by the greenhouses was just a stopgap measure.

In the summer heat, a hardy person could sleep outside without issue. But when winter came and the weather turned cold, sleeping either inside or outside the greenhouses could be deadly.

As they talked, Aunt Hong remembered the surveillance system Xu An had installed in his shops. The idea of 24/7 recording and being able to check on the greenhouses at any time immediately piqued everyone’s interest.

If every greenhouse had a camera, any culprits would have to think twice before trying anything again.

If they were caught on camera, given the huge amount of financial damage, it would be an open-and-shut case!

However, Xu An wasn’t sure if installing a surveillance system for the greenhouses was feasible, so he had to consult a professional.

He took out his phone, found the contact for the technician who had installed the cameras in his shops, and called. The answer he got was that they’d have to inspect the site to give a price estimate.

As the only person in the crowd with any relevant experience, Xu An was brought along to the greenhouse farming area.

The greenhouse area was usually a lively place, but not even on the day of the big argument with Victory Supermarket had it been this bustling.

From a distance, it was a sea of people. The crowd was three layers deep, completely blocking all the paths. It seemed like everyone from the surrounding villages had heard about the trouble and come to spectate.

With the crowd’s help, Xu An finally managed to squeeze through. When he saw the Yan Brothers’ greenhouses, he was stunned.

He hadn’t fully grasped the extent of the damage just from hearing about it, but seeing it with his own eyes, Xu An couldn’t help but curse inwardly, ’Those sons of bitches.’ He immediately felt that was an insult to dogs. Even a dog wouldn’t do something like this.

Before him were over a dozen greenhouses. Aside from the entrances, which were mostly intact, the rest had been completely torn to shreds. Huge holes everywhere made the structures look like sieves.

This wasn’t about stealing vegetables to sell for money. This was pure, malicious vandalism.

More than ten law enforcement officers were at the scene, investigating and conducting brief interviews with those involved.

The farmers whose greenhouses had been destroyed were all a mess of tears and snot as they recounted what happened, their words laced with gritted-teeth fury.

On the way back to her own greenhouse, Aunt Hong explained the details to Xu An.

Apart from the Yan Brothers, most of the other families whose greenhouses were destroyed had only started in the last two years after seeing how well others were doing. They had only had one year’s harvest and hadn’t even recovered their initial investment yet.

First, there was the whole ordeal with Victory Supermarket, and now this stroke of bad luck. It was uncertain if insurance would even cover it, how much they would get, or if they could even afford to rebuild the greenhouses.

Hearing this, Xu An shook his head repeatedly. While greenhouse farming had higher yields and generated more income than regular farming, the initial investment was also massive.

All they could do was hope the police caught those bastards soon and see if they could squeeze any compensation money out of them.

The crowd of onlookers was huge. Some people even broke through the police tape to get a better look, only to be chased out. After a while, seeing that there wasn’t much of a spectacle left, the crowd broke up into small groups, chatting off to the side.

Just then, the technician from the surveillance company arrived. After surveying the site, a troubled look appeared on his face.

"To install cameras, we’ll need to run internet cables. This place is pretty far from the nearest village. The cable alone will cost seven or eight hundred yuan, and with labor fees, it’ll be over a thousand..."

After calculating all the miscellaneous fees, installing a camera both inside and outside each greenhouse would come out to about a thousand yuan per household when the cost was split.

For farmers like Aunt Hong and Uncle Lin, whose greenhouses were consistently producing profitable crops, this was acceptable. But the other farmers hesitated; the price was higher than they had expected.

To view the camera feeds, they’d need a computer. After running the cable, they’d have to sign up for a broadband plan, which meant another annual expense of eight hundred to a thousand yuan.

A few people even started to back out. They reasoned that since the incident had just happened, things would be safe for a while. If they let Aunt Hong and the other worried ones pay for the initial setup, they could install their own later and save several hundred yuan...

This blatant scheming made Aunt Hong and the others laugh in anger. Nowhere to be seen when it’s time to dig the well, but first in line when the water is ready to drink. Who did they think they were fooling?

After a round of discussion with everyone talking over each other, the meeting broke up on bad terms. The original group of ten to twenty people had dwindled to just six or seven, including Xu An and the surveillance technician.

The surveillance technician was sharp. He handed a business card to Aunt Hong, made an excuse about having other business, and left.

He’d seen similar situations many times. A group of people would get a sudden idea, but it would ultimately fizzle out for one reason or another.

Xu An listened to their discussion from the side, growing anxious.

’It doesn’t matter what the others do, but Aunt Hong, Uncle Lin, and their families are the ones who supply vegetables to Xu’s Fast Food. If their greenhouses get destroyed, I’ll have to pay several times the price to buy from the wholesale market.’

But it wasn’t realistic for him to pay for it himself. It wasn’t his property, after all. If these were his own greenhouses, Xu An would have paid for the installation without a second thought, just for the peace of mind.

In the end, Aunt Hong and the others decided they would take turns standing guard at night. As for installing cameras, they’d "talk about it later."

"Talking about it later" basically meant it was never going to happen.

Xu An sighed inwardly and followed Aunt Hong and the others back to the village, collapsing onto the rocking chair in his courtyard.

His thoughts drifted to the farmers whose greenhouses had been destroyed. ’If they get compensation and decide not to rebuild, will those greenhouses be abandoned, or will they be sold to someone else?’

’Sold?’

Suddenly, a question popped into Xu An’s mind. ’In my past life, who did Aunt Hong’s family end up selling their greenhouses to?’

But he wracked his brain and couldn’t recall a single detail.

It seemed like Xu Heping had mentioned it, but maybe he hadn’t. At the time, Xu An had treated it as idle chat—in one ear and out the other—and hadn’t paid it any mind.

’If I’d known in my past life that I’d be reborn, I would have started keeping a diary from childhood, recording what happened every single day, down to the second!’

After that fleeting regret, Xu An began to calculate.

The insulating material covering the greenhouses was destroyed, and the crops inside were ruined, but the frames of the greenhouses were still intact!

’If I were to take them over, I’d just need to contact a manufacturer to reinstall the plastic film, and they’d be perfectly usable greenhouses, ready for immediate operation.’

’I wonder, will they ultimately choose to sell or to rebuild?’

’If they sell, what would the price be?’

For a moment, Xu An was lost in endless speculation...

「Liu Zhaowen’s office.」

After a grueling struggle that lasted a day and a night, through eighteen different versions, the client finally approved the final draft—they chose the first version!

Although he had a million complaints he wanted to vent, the client had approved it. He was finally free!

’I won’t bother ranting. I’ll just consider it earning some good karma by holding my tongue.’

He organized the files and emailed them to the client. After confirming they had received them, Liu Zhaowen swiftly shut down his computer, turned off the office lights, locked the office door, walked through the empty corridor, and clocked out...

As he clocked out, he glanced at the time: 11:07 p.m.

Dragging his exhausted body and filled with sweet fantasies, Liu Zhaowen clocked out, hailed a cab home, washed up, and fell into a deep, sweet sleep.

In his dream, plump, succulent duck feet formed perfect pairings with Coke, Sprite, apple cider vinegar, and beer...

While Liu Zhaowen was sleeping soundly, the phone on his bedside table suddenly lit up with a message from his boss.

"Zhaowen, the client has a new request. Given the good working relationship you established with them this time, you will continue to follow up on this new requirement."

"The requirements document has been sent to your email. Remember to check it and follow up first thing when you get to work tomorrow."

"..."