Chapter 268: Business Worsens, Yang Yixue Takes Out a Loan
Chapter 268: Chapter 268: Business Worsens, Yang Yixue Takes Out a Loan
The juice was something Jiang Liu had told Hu Yongfa to start selling today.
The juice at this restaurant was all fresh-squeezed, twenty yuan a bottle. It wasn’t as good as Jiang Liu’s, though.
But it was cheaper than what Jiang Liu’s restaurant sold.
Xue Guang had introduced him to the juice supplier. It was cheap and sweet.
As the two were ordering, more and more people started coming into the restaurant in groups.
"Finally, it’s lunchtime! Waiter, ten chive and egg buns and a bowl of nutritional porridge."
"I’ll have a bottle of juice and ten buns."
"Do you have twice-cooked pork now? I’d like a plate of that and a bowl of nutritional porridge."
The counter staff always had a polite smile on their faces.
The customers were pleased.
’Eating here is so comfortable.’
"Alright, you’re number fifteen. When we call your number, remember to pick up your food at the back window."
"We have free hot and cold water. Please, help yourself."
Soon, plates of buns came out from the kitchen, each with a number slip.
Previously, waiters would bring the food out. Now, after an upgrade by Hu Yongfa, it was self-service, which saved a great deal of manpower.
The customers who got their buns and porridge immediately felt much better.
The fatigue and gloom from the morning dissipated in that moment.
"This place is seriously good. If only they had a prepaid card system, I’d load a whole month’s salary onto it."
"Delicious! This is bliss!"
"Holy shit, this egg fried rice is amazing! The flavor is incredible!" the internet cafe manager exclaimed in surprise.
Every grain of rice was evenly coated in egg, and each bite was full of its fragrance.
It wasn’t too salty, either. It was rich and savory. So satisfying!
A few bites of rice, followed by a sip of the cool, refreshing juice to cut the richness.
Pure bliss!
"See? I didn’t lie to you, did I? I told you about this place, but you refused to come. I basically treat it like my school cafeteria now, eating here three times a day."
"You coming tomorrow? Together?"
The internet cafe manager happily agreed. "Deal. Go AFK at noon tomorrow and we’ll come eat together. If I’m busy, grab me a takeout order!"
"Speaking of which, that reminds me of Yang’s breakfast place I went to before. God, what a joke. So damn expensive, and it tasted like crap. They’re like night and day compared to this place!"
"I heard there’s another place nearby that sells buns, called something like ’Second Under Heaven Restaurant.’ Don’t know how it tastes, but you can’t get any anyway. I went once, and the crowd was insane. I give up. I still think this place is better."
As the two chatted, the restaurant buzzed, filled with the sounds of customers’ praise.
At that moment, outside the restaurant, Li Xiaoyan sat in her car with a dark expression, watching the booming business at Xiaotong’s Restaurant.
She’d had a strange quirk since she was young.
The more she hated and envied someone, the more she wanted to watch them.
Not for any other reason than wanting to see them suffer misfortune, to see them doing worse than her.
That would make her feel good.
But as Li Xiaoyan watched the booming business at Xiaotong’s Restaurant, she felt sick to her stomach from the stark contrast.
Now there was even a line forming.
One wave of customers left, only to be replaced by another.
Why?!
’My restaurant is in such a prime location, how could it possibly be doing worse than theirs?!’
"What the hell is going on? It’s the weekend, and my restaurant is empty, but this place is packed!" she muttered to herself.
Just this morning, the revenue at her third restaurant had dropped below three thousand yuan.
If this kept up, her daily profit would barely scratch two thousand.
If the revenue dropped any lower, she would start losing money!
At first, Li Xiaoyan thought it must be because it was the weekend.
’All those working stiffs are just holed up at home sleeping, unwilling to go out to eat.’
But seeing Xiaotong’s Restaurant, her composure began to crack.
It was completely different from what she’d guessed; business across the street was booming as usual!
She hadn’t even seen any advertisements, yet the customers coming out all wore satisfied smiles.
’It must be because this place sells cheap food. Yes, that has to be it. There are too many poor bastards these days who don’t want to eat well; they just like picking the cheapest thing.’
’If it’s not the price, then there must be something wrong with the recipes Jiang Liu gave my daughter!’ Li Xiaoyan guessed inwardly.
She watched for a few more minutes but couldn’t stand it anymore. The longer she watched, the more bitter she felt.
Back at her restaurant, only seven or eight of the forty or fifty tables in the dining hall of Yang’s Restaurant’s third branch were occupied, all by new faces.
Li Xiaoyan frowned. "Business is still so-so. But it’s alright. Looks like we can still make four or five thousand at lunch today..."
She went to the kitchen and saw the employees idling.
At the thought of paying these lazy dogs every day, Li Xiaoyan immediately vented all her frustration and dissatisfaction onto her employees.
"Slacking off? You’ve got some nerve. Do I pay you to stare at your phone?"
"If you can’t do the job, then get the hell out! Don’t be here scaring away my customers!"
"And you! As the chef, can’t you think about why the restaurant has fewer and fewer customers? I’m telling you seriously, if this restaurant stops making money, none of you will get your salaries. I’ll dock every last cent!"
After her chaotic tirade, the atmosphere in the entire restaurant became exceptionally oppressive.
She even scared off two customers.
Li Xiaoyan, her face cold, sat at a table and lit a slim cigarette.
She’d recently become a boss, and with more responsibilities and worries, she’d also started smoking. She thought it made her look cool.
As she sat there thinking, a trace of panic began to sprout in her heart.
She had originally thought that by persuading her daughter to go into the restaurant business, she could make a huge fortune with ease.
But she hadn’t expected so many setbacks.
"It’s all that Jiang Liu’s fault! What kind of crappy recipes did he give us? He definitely didn’t give us the complete ones!"
"I never should have let my daughter marry a man like that in the first place! Ptooey!"
Li Xiaoyan viciously spat a mouthful of smoke-laced saliva into the trash can.
A message came in on her phone.
It was from Yang Yixue.
After reading the message, Li Xiaoyan’s mood improved considerably.
Her daughter told her that the valuation of the three restaurants was complete, and they could be mortgaged as soon as the bank opened tomorrow.
The estimated mortgage value was thirteen million.
That money, plus the proceeds from selling the old restaurant, would be enough for them to open fifteen more restaurants!
Even if each one only made ten thousand a day, that would be two hundred thousand a day!
They could easily crush Jiang Liu.
Meanwhile.
「Kun City.」
Jiang Daifu was in line with his daughter and son-in-law to receive instant noodles.
The roads were caked in mud. Submerged cars, fallen tree trunks, and mud-splattered storefront signs were everywhere.
The floodwaters had been several meters deep.
Now, numerous firefighters and soldiers were on the roads clearing debris, trying to speed up the city’s recovery.
"Dad, I’m so hungry. Why don’t we pay a premium for a car and go to Second Uncle’s place?"
"Yeah, Dad. I really don’t think we can stay here anymore. We eat instant noodles every day, and we have to pay exorbitant prices just to use electricity. We’d be better off leaving sooner rather than later," said his son-in-law, Liu Laizhi, echoing Jiang Qian.
"Forget it. Let’s wait a bit longer. Our home and business are here. Let’s not go trouble your Second Uncle. He’s not doing so well either."
Jiang Daifu looked utterly dejected, his hair a mess.
The "Second Uncle" Jiang Qian mentioned was Jiang Dahai.
Jiang Daifu didn’t want to be a burden to his brother.
Soon, they finally reached the front of the line and received a few packs of instant noodles and a bag of pickled vegetables.
The three of them went home, prepared the noodles, and ate them with a bit of the pickled vegetables.
Situations like this were happening everywhere.
When the flood first hit, ninety-nine percent of the population had been evacuated to the neighboring Su City.