Chapter 259: Yang’s Business Gets Worse
Chapter 259: Chapter 259: Yang’s Business Gets Worse
After some discussion, the three of them decided on three servings of egg fried rice.
Soon,
three servings of egg fried rice were brought to their table.
Hu Yongfa’s skills were actually quite decent. After some haphazard pointers from Jiang Liu, he’d stumbled into perfecting the flavor of his egg fried rice.
Of course, it could only reign supreme in the world of ordinary egg fried rice.
The aroma of the eggs instantly made the three young men from the internet cafe ravenous.
"It smells amazing. This egg fried rice is nothing like the usual stuff."
"Twenty-five yuan. It’s not cheap, but I think it’s totally worth it."
They each took a bite.
Their eyes lit up.
Delicious!
Every grain of rice was coated in egg and stir-fried in hot oil. Paired with diced shrimp, carrots, and green onions, it was unbelievably satisfying to eat.
So incredibly fragrant!
"Hiss! The bottom is piping hot!"
Old Zhang, in his haste, burned his tongue until it went numb.
Just then, a young waitress brought over a pitcher of water. "Hello. I brought some water for you."
"Thanks, miss."
Old Zhang poured a glass of water and gulped it down.
So refreshing!
"I’m coming back for lunch tomorrow. You two in?"
"Yeah, definitely! This place is legit, and it’s right near the internet cafe, haha."
"The service is great too, way better than at a certain other place."
...
Yang’s Restaurant, Branch Three.
This branch was also located near a bustling commercial street.
At the moment, there were only two tables of customers in the restaurant, and a waitress was sitting contentedly on a stool, playing on her phone.
In the back, the chef was playing a game with a cigarette dangling from his lips.
Just then, three Xinhui Supermarket employees were passing by the entrance.
A middle-aged man in a green work uniform said, "This place just opened. I had their buns the day before yesterday. They weren’t cheap, but they were pretty tasty—much better than the ones from the smaller shops. They have a buffet, too. Should we go in and eat?"
"You’re a bit behind the times, aren’t you, Brother Peng?" a younger man said, shaking his head in disdain.
"I was just here this morning. The buns are getting worse and worse—they’re genuinely awful now. That’s one thing. The other is that if you don’t buy a lot, the staff look at you with contempt."
"A lot of my friends have stopped coming here."
"What? How can they run a business like that?" Brother Peng asked, stunned.
Another woman chimed in disdainfully, "Let’s go somewhere else. The place has only been open for three days, and the amount of filling in the buns has already been cut in half. The owner is a total snob, too."
After hearing their explanations, Brother Peng sighed and shook his head.
He was so disappointed in its wasted potential.
There weren’t many places to eat nearby. A decent bun shop had finally opened, and after only a few days, they were already running it like this.
What a disappointment.
"A friend of mine told me there’s a place called Xiaotong’s Restaurant in an alley two blocks over. It just opened too, but they supposedly get tons of repeat customers every day. Should we go take a look?"
"Sure, let’s grab some scooters and go!"
7:20 PM.
This was prime time for restaurants.
Hordes of office workers, fresh off their shifts, were scrambling to find something to eat.
Inside Li Xiaoyan’s restaurant,
there were only four occupied tables.
Worse, they were all new customers. Not a single returning one.
Seeing her failing restaurant,
Li Xiaoyan became so furious that she immediately called an emergency staff meeting.
It was called a meeting, but in reality, it was just her venting her frustrations on them.
"You useless lot, do you have any idea what my daily costs are for this place?"
"All you do all day is fool around! When you’re not busy, can’t you go out and hand out some flyers?" ...
The employees fumed in silence, not daring to talk back.
’What was wrong with them fooling around? There were no customers, so what else were they supposed to do?’
’Besides, it was raining outside. For a monthly salary of 2,500 yuan, which got docked at the drop of a hat, why on earth should they go out to hand out flyers?’
After the meeting,
Li Xiaoyan watched as two more tables of customers came in,
and her mood brightened slightly.
She pulled out her orange phone and sent Yang Yixue a message:
"Honey, is your restaurant busy right now? Mine has only made a little over three thousand since this afternoon."
"I just held a meeting and gave those lazy employees a good chewing out. Hopefully, that will help."
Yang Yixue was at a high-end restaurant, chatting with her best friend.
When she saw her mother’s message, Yang Yixue instinctively checked the revenue for Branch One.
When she saw the numbers, Yang Yixue frowned.
Branch One had also only made a little over four thousand since the afternoon.
It was barely more than Branch Three.
’What’s going on?’
’Why is our revenue dropping?’
They had invested a ton in promoting this branch; there were still people handing out flyers at the entrance.
Yang Yixue then checked the revenue for the newly opened Branch Four.
"Okay, not bad!"
She breathed a sigh of relief.
Branch Four had already brought in 20,000 yuan since this afternoon.
"Acceptable."
She replied to Li Xiaoyan, "Branch One is doing so-so, but business at Branch Four is booming. For today, the combined net income for all four branches should be over forty thousand."
The net profit from the other three branches was about twenty thousand yuan.
Judging by how things were going, Branch Four would have no problem clearing over twenty thousand in net profit on its own.
Li Xiaoyan: "That’s fine, then. It’s probably because fewer people are working on the weekend, or maybe it’s just a coincidence that not as many people are eating out today."
Li Xiaoyan: "With a daily net income of over forty thousand, we’re already close to surpassing Jiang Liu’s restaurant."
"The day we hit two hundred thousand, we have to make sure Jiang Liu finds out."
Yang Yixue was delighted by that last sentence.
If things kept going like this,
it wouldn’t be long before she could crush Jiang Liu under her heel once more!
’He refuses to get back together with me?’
’That blind dog!’
「7:40 PM, Yangzhai Street.」
Jiang Liu once again announced that he was closing for the day.
The customers still waiting in line looked devastated.
"Sold out again?"
"I haven’t been able to get any for two days straight! The struggle is real."
"I’m dying for some egg fried rice. It’s only fifty yuan a plate—delicious and not even expensive."
Not everyone could afford the dishes that cost over a thousand yuan, so most customers still bought items like buns and juice.
This was also why Jiang Liu occasionally developed more affordable dishes.
He had to do his best to cater to the different segments of his clientele.
The last batch of customers savored their meals inside the restaurant contentedly.
The bittersweet, malty aroma of the beer.
The fresh, tender smoothness of the tuna.
The fragrant tenderness of the yak meat...
Every single dish was a world-class experience.
"This is bliss. Absolute bliss!"
"If only I could eat like this every day."
"I can’t believe I’m just now discovering such a magical place on Yangzhai Street. Sigh, I should have come sooner. Such a shame."
Jiang Liu smiled as he watched his customers heartily devouring their food. He sat down at the counter and checked the day’s revenue.
The net profit for the day had reached 780,000 yuan!
This was his net income after deducting the cost of ingredients and taxes!
Jiang Liu decided he would check the revenue for Xiaotong’s Restaurant later.
’I have enough money now to buy the unit next door...’
Jiang Liu looked at his balance of 2.7 million yuan, feeling absolutely ecstatic.
His other bank card had nearly 190,000 yuan in it as well!
After some thought,
Jiang Liu decided he would make the purchase after closing up tomorrow.
He couldn’t spend all his money; he had to keep some on hand for emergencies.
He checked the time.
’It’s almost eight. Mom will be here soon. I should get started on dinner.’
Jiang Liu walked into the kitchen, tied on an apron, and started preparing dinner.
Savory Shrimp and Egg Pancakes.
Savory Shrimp and Egg Pancakes were made by combining shelled shrimp and beaten eggs, adding starch and flour, and then pan-frying the batter.
Jiang Liu cracked the eggs into a bowl, then added salt and light soy sauce, whisking them together.
He substituted the regular shrimp with the pristine, translucent meat of a Little Cyan Dragon lobster.
The lobster meat had come pre-shelled, so Jiang Liu simply diced it into pieces about the size of a winter jujube.
Then, he stir-fried the diced lobster in a pan until it was golden-brown and lightly seared.