Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Second Grandpa had intended to discuss fundraising with everyone, but he never expected that they would all start revealing their family savings. He quickly waved his hands to stop their enthusiastic attempts to donate their entire net worth.

"I called you all here today to brainstorm, not to pool money, so don’t be in such a hurry to contribute. Besides, even farming is risky—you can run into a major drought or flood, and not only will you not earn a penny, you might even have to sink more money into it. Tidal flat aquaculture is a novelty, not just for Qianhai Town but for all of Hai City. The chance of failure is not low. If the collective goes into debt, we can pay it back slowly. But if you throw all your personal money in and it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Everyone, please think it over carefully before making a decision."

As Second Grandpa poured this bucket of cold water on them, the crowd’s heady enthusiasm quickly dissipated. Sobering up, they all sat back down on their stools, exchanging uncertain glances and not daring to speak again.

Although Second Grandpa’s bucket of cold water had extinguished many people’s impulsive excitement, it didn’t put out the fire in Xu An’s heart. He had immense confidence in the tidal flat aquaculture project.

In his previous life, several villages in Qianhai Town had succeeded with aquaculture basically through their own trial and error. This time around, not only had Second Grandpa and the others gone on an inspection tour, but they had also managed to bring back a team of professors. Whether or not they ended up conducting Sea Ranch research in Qianhai Town, they could at least offer some advice in the initial stages to help everyone avoid some common pitfalls.

"Second Grandpa, what’s the split between personal investment and the collective share?" Xu An suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence and drawing everyone’s attention.

"It’s a 60/40 split between the collective and individuals. The collective share is sixty percent, and the individual share is forty percent." Second Grandpa’s reply was smooth; he had clearly already given this matter some thought.

Xu An didn’t know if the split had been the same in his previous life. He only remembered Granny Xu telling him that even though their family hadn’t invested any money, they had received over ten thousand yuan in dividends from the collective share alone in the first year.

’Keep in mind, in my past life, this entire tidal flat was carved up by more than ten villages. The area Xu Family Village contracted was probably less than a tenth of the whole thing. If each household could get over ten thousand yuan from just the collective share, the total net income must have been close to five hundred thousand. By that ratio, if we contract the entire tidal flat, couldn’t we make five million a year? Every household could get eighty or a hundred thousand!’

’The prerequisite is that the entire tidal flat has to be in the hands of Xu Family Village. Otherwise, we’re bound to repeat the same mistakes...’

Xu An quickly tallied up the funds he had on hand. ’After buying the food truck, I have almost no cash left. But I can get a loan of 1.2 million from Hai City Bank. Even if the amount that bank teller calculated was on the high side, I should still be able to get my hands on around eight hundred thousand.’

’If Xu’s Fast Food is going to grow, expand across Hai City, and even move beyond it, building a factory is a must. But factories come in different sizes. A large one isn’t necessary right now, but a small one is achievable. Renting land, constructing the building, purchasing equipment, hiring staff... all told, that should cost around four or five hundred thousand. That means I’d still have three hundred thousand I could use...’

Just as Xu An finished sorting out his finances and was about to speak, Second Grandpa announced the meeting was over. He said he would submit the project proposal to the city government tomorrow, and they would consider the matter of fundraising after it was approved. This would also give everyone some time to cool down and think.

Xu An left Second Grandpa’s house with the others, but instead of going home, he circled around the village and went right back. Stepping through the courtyard gate, he was surprised to see Uncle Dongliang was also there. He was sitting primly at the small desk Second Grandpa’s grandson used for homework, a pained expression on his face as he wrote something.

"Anzi, what’s up?" Second Grandpa beckoned Xu An to sit under the tree, then got a clean cup, handed it to him, and poured him some tea.

"Second Grandpa, I came to be upfront with you. I can put up at least three hundred thousand. If the village is really tight on funds, I can provide up to 1.2 million," Xu An said after some consideration, deciding to lay all his cards on the table.

After Xu An finished speaking, Second Grandpa froze as if hit by a paralyzing spell. His body went rigid, and he stared, his eyes wide with disbelief and suspicion. The teacup in his hand tilted without him noticing, and tea spilled out, splashing onto his meticulously groomed goatee. It then trickled down his beard, soaking the front of his shirt and making his solid chest muscles faintly visible.

Beside them, Xu Dongliang, who had appeared to be concentrating on his writing, dragged his pen across the page in a long, dark streak. The two paragraphs he had just finished copying were instantly ruined. But he couldn’t be bothered to see if the pages underneath were also damaged; he just snapped his head around to look at Xu An, his expression a carbon copy of Second Grandpa’s.

AHEM! Xu An coughed lightly, pulling them out of their shock. Before he could say a word, Second Grandpa was grilling him.

"Xu An, tell me the truth. Where did you get all this money?" Second Grandpa’s brow furrowed, his lips pressed into a thin line. His tone was more serious than Xu An had ever heard it.

’It wasn’t hard to tell from Second Grandpa’s reaction, his expression, and his tone that he suspected the money wasn’t from a legitimate source. He was probably already picturing gang fights, petty crimes, and all sorts of illegal activities. There was no way Xu An’s boxed lunch business could have earned over a million in just two months—that was pure fantasy!’

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Xu An explained the source of the money to Second Grandpa. Only after he repeatedly assured him that it was all obtained through legal and legitimate channels did the severe expression on Second Grandpa’s face finally soften.

"Anzi, I understand your eagerness to support the village’s development. But like I said just now, if this project fails, your investment will be a total loss. And since it’s a bank loan, it will be your personal debt. It would be very hard for us to help you with that. I appreciate the sentiment, but..."

"Second Grandpa, that 1.2 million is just for the lease fee," Xu An interrupted. "What about the money for development, for buying the fry, for labor and equipment? Are we supposed to lease the land and then just have everyone stand around and stare at it?" He continued, "As long as Xu’s Fast Food is around, even if I lose this money, I’ll be able to pay it back sooner or later."

"Besides," Xu An’s tone shifted, a sly look on his face. "Second Grandpa, for you to dare to lease the entire tidal flat in one go, you must have a plan up your sleeve. You wouldn’t do it without some confidence, right?"

"TSK TSK." Second Grandpa picked up a towel from the table and wiped the water off himself. "You’ve been out in the world for over two months. I don’t know what else you’ve learned, but your eyes have certainly gotten a lot sharper!"

Second Grandpa neither confirmed nor denied it, but his attitude made it clear he had something up his sleeve. Since that was the case, Xu An didn’t hesitate any longer. "Anyway, Second Grandpa, you just set a fundraising target. I’ll help cover any shortfall. Just remember to give me my shares."

With that said, Xu An got up and left, afraid that if he were a second too slow, Second Grandpa’s fan-sized palm would come down on him.

He had just gotten home and hadn’t even had a chance to sit down when he heard his grandmother’s voice. "Anzi, come in for a minute. I have something to talk to you about."

"Alright, coming!" Xu An called back. After locking the courtyard gate, he went into his grandmother’s bedroom, grabbed a three-legged wooden stool from the living room, and sat down by her bed. "Grandma, what’s up?"

Granny Xu was sitting up in bed, leaning against the wall. An old fan sat at the edge of the bed, CREAKING as a cool breeze wafted from it. Perhaps because she was getting on in years, Granny Xu was sensitive to the cold like most elderly people. Even on such a hot summer day, she would cover herself with a thin blanket while the fan was on.

"Running the restaurants must be tough. Seeing you open one after another, buying one vehicle after another these days... the pressure must be immense." As she spoke, Granny Xu took her hand from under the blanket. She took Xu An’s hand with one of hers and placed something in it with the other, saying earnestly, "The family doesn’t have much money, but if your business needs it, take this and use it for now."

When Granny Xu let go, Xu An pulled his hand back and looked down at what she had given him. It was a passbook, worn and frayed at the edges, clearly very old. He opened it and saw a single deposit of thirty thousand yuan, followed by a long list of small withdrawals. The final balance was twenty-seven thousand, three hundred twelve yuan, and sixty-five cents.

"Grandma, the restaurants have enough money. You handle the bookkeeping, you know how much they bring in every day. I don’t need this!" Xu An said, trying to hand the passbook back to Granny Xu, but she pulled her hand away.

"Don’t you lie to me," Granny Xu said, her expression serious. "I heard you today. At noon, you were scheming with that young man from the bank about borrowing money from the government!"

’Alright.’ Hearing this, Xu An finally understood why Granny Xu had given him the family’s savings. She thought his business was in trouble and that he was short on cash.

"Grandma, the restaurants aren’t short on money!" Seeing her still suspicious expression, Xu An had no choice but to lay out his entire plan. "...and on top of that, the village is planning to start a collective enterprise, but they’re a bit short on funds. I’m really optimistic about the project, so I’m planning to invest a bit to support the village’s development."

"So you are short on money. You have to pay interest when you borrow from the bank. Every little bit you don’t have to borrow helps, right? Less interest is always better." Granny Xu gently patted the back of his hand. "Just take it, okay?"

Xu An looked down at his grandmother’s withered hand. Years of hard labor had covered it in wrinkles, and he could see the age spots dotting her skin. Blue veins protruded from the dry skin like tiny mountain ranges. Looking at that hand, the words of refusal caught in his throat. In the end, he gave up the idea of returning the passbook.

’I’ll just consider it safekeeping the passbook for Grandma,’ he thought. ’Unless I’m at the end of my rope, in a truly desperate situation, I will never touch a single cent of this money.’

「At 11:30 PM」

Xu Dongliang stumbled out of Second Grandpa’s house, shaking his aching wrist. He had just reached the courtyard gate and was about to open it when he heard Second Grandpa’s voice from inside. "Dongliang, not a word of what Anzi said this afternoon gets out. You hear me? Also, I’m going to review these documents. If anything needs to be changed, I’ll come find you..."

The smile on Xu Dongliang’s face froze. He scrambled to push the gate open, letting it BANG shut behind him, and stumbled away as fast as he could. If he didn’t get out of there, he probably wouldn’t get any sleep tonight—he’d be stuck editing documents until dawn.

’As for that business with Xu An, even if his uncle hadn’t ordered him to keep quiet, he would never have breathed a word of it.’

And so, a peaceful night passed.