Chapter 131: It Has Been Confirmed

Chapter 131: Chapter 131: It Has Been Confirmed

Back at the restaurant, Xu An received a message from the print shop: the photos had been printed, laminated, and were ready for pickup.

Ever since the two little ones found out he had received the photos from Lin Xinyue, they pestered Xu An to see the pictures hundreds of times a day.

They even took the phone to show Granny Xu how they had played at the amusement park and what rides they had gone on.

But Granny Xu wasn’t used to looking at a phone screen. After just a few glances, her vision would blur and she’d get dizzy. She could never look at more than a couple of photos before stopping, which greatly disappointed the two of them.

Seeing the two little ones downcast over this, Xu An had sent the photos to a print shop to get them printed.

He glanced at the two of them huddled over the phone, muttering to themselves as they looked at the photos. Xu An quietly slipped out, picked up the printed pictures, and returned, walking toward Xu Kang and Xu Le with his hands behind his back.

"Kangkang, Lele, I have a gift for you. Can you guess what it is?"

"Meat!"

"Cake!"

’Alright then,’ he thought. ’Looks like one of them wants meat, and the other wants cake.’

"It’s not food. Guess again," Xu An coaxed. "It’s something you really, really, *really* want!"

’Something we really, really want?’

The two of them tilted their heads, poking their chins with their little fingers as they thought hard. After a long moment, they asked tentatively, "Is it a toy?"

"Nope." Xu An shook his head.

"Is it clothes?"

"Nope."

"..."

After a few more guesses, they lost patience and started getting mischievous. Each of them grabbed one of Xu An’s arms and pulled with all their might, trying to yank his hands from behind his back.

"Can’t guess anymore? If you can’t, you can just give me a kiss. Give me one little kiss, and I’ll tell you the answer, how about that?" Xu An said, leaning his face forward. But all he got was a swift and firm rejection.

They dug their heels into the ground, their bodies bent like taut bows as they pulled with all their might on his arms. But Xu An remained squatting in place, completely unmoved.

Seeing their expressions turn sour and their little mouths press into a thin line, Xu An knew he couldn’t tease them any longer. Any more, and they would start to cry.

"Alright, alright. If you let go, I’ll show you the gift, okay?"

The two exchanged a glance, hesitated, and then doubtfully released their grip. But their little hands still hovered in the air above his arms, ready to snatch him back at the slightest hint of him trying to run away.

’Sigh.’

Xu An sighed internally. ’The kids are growing up. They’re not so easy to fool anymore. Even bribing them with gifts is getting difficult.’

"TA-DA! Look what I’ve got!" With a flourish, Xu An brought his hands around from his back, holding up two packets of photos right in front of them. Their already big, round eyes grew even wider, their faces filled with disbelief.

"This is..."

SMOOCH! SMOOCH!

Before Xu An could even finish speaking, Xu Kang and Xu Le planted loud, resounding kisses on his left and right cheeks. Cheering, they snatched the photos from his hands and scampered over to Granny Xu to show them off.

’Whoa!’ The sudden burst of happiness—and their surprise attack—left Xu An stunned for a moment.

By the time Xu An recovered, he heard Granny Xu asking the twins who this "Sister Moon" they kept mentioning was.

"Sister Moon is super, super pretty!"

"Sister Moon even takes our picture!"

"Sister Moon..."

With "Sister Moon" this and "Sister Moon" that, they praised Lin Xinyue to the high heavens, making Xu An feel a pang of jealousy.

Then, Xu An pulled out his phone, opened the voice recorder, and started recording all the sweet praises from his two little brown-nosers.

’If they don’t praise me like this in the future,’ he thought deviously, ’then no more meat! No new clothes! No gifts!’

While they were all caught up in their playful commotion, a young couple holding a child’s hand and carrying a flower basket arrived at the entrance of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant. They peered inside, looking a bit uncertain.

"Are you three here for a meal? We have seats available. Please, come in." Liang Dani, who was on greeting duty, noticed them and quickly went over.

Hearing the voices, Xu An turned his head curiously. The moment the man at the door saw him, a smile spread across his face. "Boss Xu, we finally found you!"

With that, the man led his family into the restaurant and gave the little boy a gentle nudge forward, bringing him before Xu An.

"Do you remember this man? He’s the one who saved you and took you to the hospital."

The little boy was a bit shy. He glanced at Xu An before hiding behind the man, peeking out with curious eyes.

"Brother Han, what brings you all the way out here?" Xu An asked, surprised to see him.

He had only casually mentioned during their last chat that he ran a fast-food place opposite the Zijing Garden construction site. He hadn’t given the name or the exact location, so he was surprised they had tracked him down.

"Well, my son is out of the hospital now, so I wanted to bring him over to thank you in person," the man said, again giving the boy a little push. "Leilei, say thank you to the nice man."

"Thank you, mister!" This time, the little boy didn’t hide. Instead, his gaze drifted curiously toward Xu Kang and Xu Le, who were watching the scene unfold from the side.

"Do you want to see our pictures? We took lots and lots of them at the amusement park!" Xu Le made eye contact with the boy for all of two seconds before her social butterfly nature took over and she extended the invitation.

The little boy hesitated and glanced at his mother. Only after she nodded did he timidly walk over to Xu Kang and Xu Le.

Xu Kang grabbed the boy’s hand and shoved a photo of himself grinning like an idiot at the camera right in front of him. "See?" he said proudly. "That’s me in the picture!"

Not to be outdone, Xu Le picked out a close-up of her own face and handed it to the boy. "And this is me!"

The two of them vied to stuff their photos into the little boy’s hands until, in no time at all, his arms were completely full...

"Have you eaten yet? Why don’t you have a meal here? Just let me know what you’d like, and I’ll have the chef whip something up," Xu An offered graciously.

"No, no, that’s quite alright. We ate before we came," the couple said, waving their hands in refusal. "We actually went to the village looking for you first. The folks there said you’d probably still be at the restaurant, so we came straight here. I hope we’re not disturbing you."

"Not at all, not at all."

After a few more pleasantries, Xu An noticed the man looking around the restaurant with great interest, so he offered to give them a tour of the three adjacent storefronts.

While touring the second storefront, the man asked, "So this area isn’t open to the public?"

"That’s right," Xu An confirmed with a nod. "We use this space specifically for prepping ingredients, cooking, and cleaning."

"In that case, two storefronts might not be enough for you."

’Hm?’

Xu An glanced back at him. The man’s expression was perfectly normal; he seemed to have just been making a casual observation.

’Did I misunderstand him?’

Just as Xu An was wondering if he was overthinking things, the man took a step forward, leaned in close to his ear, and whispered, "It’s been confirmed. The announcement is tomorrow, and they’ll start handing them out the day after."

「Victory Supermarket, Administration Department Office.」

During the last meeting, Lu Shengnan had been tasked with resolving the contract dispute between Victory Supermarket and its growers.

After the meeting, Lu Shengnan had been called into an office and, in what felt more like a demotion than a promotion, was made the new general manager of Victory Supermarket. She was now responsible not only for solving the grower contract issue but also for bringing the entire supermarket back from the brink of death.

Upon receiving the assignment, she spent two days meticulously reviewing the entire sequence of events. The preliminary research and due diligence had all followed standard procedure; there were no issues there.

The sole problem was the food safety scandal that had erupted at Victory Supermarket, causing its business to plummet.

There were other supermarkets nearby with similar product ranges and prices. Given the choice, customers were naturally more willing to shop at stores that didn’t have a history of food safety problems.

In Lu Shengnan’s eyes, terminating the contracts with the growers had been an incredibly foolish decision.

If they hadn’t terminated the contracts, the conflict between the two parties would never have been caught on camera for that documentary. Then, whether Victory Supermarket failed or survived, it wouldn’t have affected Qiansheng Group.

Now, in this situation, forcibly terminating the contracts would, by procedure, require a massive payout.

’Since a huge sum of money has to be paid out either way, why not just continue the partnership?’

Lu Shengnan picked up a report again. It was a quality survey of the produce from the greenhouses in Qianhai Town. On average, the fruits and vegetables were five to ten percent better than the market standard. Some vegetables were even superior to the produce from Qiansheng Group’s own cultivation centers.

’Why would anyone cancel a partnership with the Qianhai Town greenhouses when they can produce something of such high quality?’

’They shouldn’t just cooperate; they should cooperate on a massive scale!’

’The vegetables from these greenhouses are the key to Victory Supermarket’s comeback!’

"He Ran, contact the local Hai City television station. Tell them I have a story for them about Victory Supermarket and the greenhouse growers and ask if they’re interested. And remember," she added, "be polite. Be deferential. Right now, we’re the ones begging them."