Chapter 259 - 222: Boss, I Want to Recharge

Chapter 259: Chapter 222: Boss, I Want to Recharge

’I took on a job, a rather strange one.’

’How is it strange? Don’t tell me it’s...’

’The filming requirements are pretty normal, but the shop wants me to go over every single day and shoot the exact same thing...’

’The content is the same every day?’

’Yep.’

’Hmm... Is the pay good?’

’There’s no problem there. The first three days are a trial period, and they pay me daily. After the three-day trial, I can sign a contract and become an official employee.’

’Then as long as the pay is good, who cares? As long as it’s not illegal, it doesn’t matter if the boss wants you to film a pile of shit every day.’

Wu Yongfeng looked at the message from his friend, hesitated for a moment, and replied with a ’That’s true’ before ending the conversation.

He understood the logic, but he just couldn’t figure it out!

He could understand filming the vegetables, fruits, meats, and dried goods. Filming them being prepped was also okay. He had no problem filming the process of them turning from fresh ingredients into delicious food. Even filming them being packaged into individual meal boxes, placed into insulated containers, and then loaded onto a heated food cart seemed perfectly normal to him.

’But why does it have to be filmed the exact same way every day? What’s the point?’

But his friend was right. As long as it wasn’t anything illegal and the boss paid well, who cared what the requirements were? He should just do the job.

Inside Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant, Store No. 1.

An installation technician connected a small machine to the computer. After installing the system, he placed the card Xu An handed him onto the card reader. The moment he did, a page popped up on the computer. It had over twenty different options, but only "Top-up" and "Transaction Amount" were green and selectable.

"Boss Xu, how many tiers should I set for the top-up amounts?"

"Four tiers: 100, 200, 500, and 1,000. Also, set up bonus amounts for topping up. Get 20 for a 100 top-up, 50 for 200, 150 for 500, and 400 for 1,000," Xu An answered quickly.

"Whoa, that’s a pretty generous promotion!" the technician exclaimed. His hands flew across the keyboard with a CLACK-CLACK-CLACK as he configured the system according to Xu An’s instructions.

Clicking the top-up button led to a new page. The first field was for the membership card number, which could be changed to the customer’s name. The second field displayed the card’s balance. The third was two rows with a total of eight top-up options.

The technician first changed the card number to "Mr. Xu," then clicked the "Top up 100, get 20" option. A large "Topping Up..." message appeared in the center of the screen. In less than three seconds, the message changed to "Top-up Successful." The page refreshed automatically. The card number was now "Mr. Xu," and the balance, originally zero yuan, now showed 120 yuan. The operation was a success.

"Boss Xu, the device and system are installed. It’s ready to use."

"Great, thanks." After personally testing it to confirm there were no issues, Xu An took out a pack of cigarettes and handed it to the technician, then signed his name on the installation form.

After watching the technician get in his vehicle and drive away, Xu An took out his phone, opened his messaging app, found Ye Ning’s account, and opened the chat window.

’God Ye, is the top-up system modified yet?’

’Almost, give me five minutes.’

Although he said five minutes, only three had passed before Ye Ning sent Xu An a link.

’This is the test page. Try creating a membership card and topping it up. See if there are any problems or anything that needs changing.’

Xu An clicked the link, which took him to the ordering page for Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant. It was different from before. In addition to the "Boxed Meal Menu" and "Braised Dishes Menu" sections for the week, there was a new "Membership Card" section.

The process was similar to the offline top-up system he had just seen. In less than twenty seconds, Xu An successfully created a membership card, topped it up with five hundred yuan, and then spent eight yuan. The entire process was smooth and flawless.

’OK, no problems. Let’s launch the feature at ten o’clock. While you’re at it, expand the server capacity. Expand it to handle three thousand people concurrently.’

Ye Ning sent back the two letters ’OK’ and said no more. Xu An left Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant and headed for a nearby print shop.

Xu An had gotten the idea from a conversation between Xu Kang and Xu Le this morning. Afterward, without worrying about whether it was polite or not, he had called Zhao Wei and Ye Ning at just past five in the morning.

When the money was right, no problem was truly a problem.

After taking the call, Zhao Wei immediately got to work, creating the promotional posters and the membership card layout according to Xu An’s requirements. He also contacted a manufacturer for Xu An and put in a rush order for the cards.

Things also went very smoothly with Ye Ning. He had recently taken on a project with similar requirements, so he only needed to make a few minor adjustments to some features to meet Xu An’s needs. If he had to build it from scratch, it would have taken him at least three to five days.

At ten o’clock, two new sections silently appeared on the Xu’s Fast Food ordering page.

One was a "Membership Top-up Promotion," and clicking the link would take you to the membership card creation page. The other section, however, was titled "Brand Story."

A new status was posted on their social media page, a new post went up on their blog, a new article was published on their official account, the promotional poster for the membership top-up was pasted on the wall outside the store, and the video was successfully uploaded. Everything was ready.

Starting from ten-thirty, customers began trickling into Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant to eat.

Many customers saw the large, red, eye-catching poster that Xu An had just put up outside the store that morning. The bold words announcing the "Huge Membership Top-up Discount" were particularly striking. As they reached the storefront, they would stop to carefully examine the information on the poster.

Many people looked, and many were tempted, but varying degrees of hesitation showed on everyone’s faces.

As usual, Qiao Guoxing made a beeline for Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant right after getting off work at ten-thirty, hoping to snag a table before the other customers.

’But as the September days passed, the weather grew cooler. At this rate, they would probably go back to getting off work at noon starting next week, or by the end of the month at the latest.’

Though he was lamenting this internally, his feet didn’t slow down, and in a moment, he had reached the construction site’s main gate.

After three cars passed in front of him, Qiao Guoxing’s view was unobstructed. He could clearly see Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant across the road, and the large crowd gathered at the entrance.

’No way! It’s been less than two minutes since I got off work, and there’s already a line at Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant? That can’t be right!’

Qiao Guoxing picked up his pace again, but when he reached the storefront, he realized there were still plenty of empty seats on the first floor. It wasn’t full as he had thought.

"Hey, buddy, what’s everyone doing?" Qiao Guoxing stood at the edge of the crowd, his view blocked by a few burly men in front. Unable to see what they were all looking at, he could only grab a guy who was about to leave and ask.

"The shop’s running a promotion. They launched some kind of membership card. Top up a hundred and get twenty free, which is like a twenty-percent discount. The more you top up, the bigger the discount!"

After speaking, the man shook off Qiao Guoxing’s hand and strode into the restaurant. He glanced at Granny Xu and Liang Dani sitting behind the counter, but ultimately chose to address Granny Xu. "That membership card, does it cost money?"

"The membership card is free if you top up more than one hundred yuan. If it’s less than one hundred, there’s an eight-yuan processing fee."

Liang Dani glanced at Granny Xu. Only after getting a nod of approval did she quickly recite the line she had repeated to herself countless times.

"Then top me up for one... no, two hundred!" Without hesitation, the man took two hundred-yuan bills from his wallet and handed them to Liang Dani. Then he asked, "Once the money’s on the card, can I use it right away?"

"Yes! You can use the membership card to pay right after you place your order!" Liang Dani took the two bills and passed them to Granny Xu. She pulled the cash register drawer open a crack, took out a dark red card from inside, and placed it on the reader. "Sir, may I have your name, please?"

"Wan Xiangdong."

Liang Dani first typed in Wan Xiangdong’s name using the hunt-and-peck method, then clumsily operated the mouse to process the top-up. The whole thing took ten seconds. She had finally completed her first-ever membership card transaction.

"Sir, will you be dining in today?"

"Yeah, one set meal... and add a Coke, the three-yuan one."

"Okay, sir. That will be eleven yuan. Your membership card balance is now 239 yuan. We look forward to seeing you again." Liang Dani respectfully handed the membership card and the receipt to Wan Xiangdong.

Wan Xiangdong took them and was about to toss the receipt, but a line of text on it caught his eye.

[Membership Card Balance: 239 yuan]

’Whoa, you can even see the balance on the receipt? Not bad!’ The hand that was about to throw away the receipt slowly moved to his pants pocket and tucked it inside.

After Wan Xiangdong left, Qiao Guoxing eagerly leaned against the counter and slapped the two bills he had ready onto it. "Top me up for two hundred! Then one set meal and a bottle of Coke, the canned one!"

"Right away!"

Liang Dani took out another membership card and quickly went through the process.

With Wan Xiangdong and Qiao Guoxing taking the plunge, the other onlookers went from being tempted to taking action. Suddenly, more than ten people lined up behind Qiao Guoxing.

By the time he got his membership card and receipt and left, the number of people behind him had grown from over ten to more than twenty.

"I’ll top up 100! I want one set meal plus a bottle of coconut milk!"

"Top me up for 200! I want one set meal!"

"I..."

As more and more people topped up, Liang Dani’s movements became increasingly practiced and her speed gradually picked up. But her growing speed couldn’t keep up with the rapid increase in customers. Soon, the line stretched out the door and even wrapped around the corner...

In stark contrast to the explosive scene offline, the online membership cards were met with a cold reception.

The new feature had launched at ten o’clock. By ten-thirty, a full half-hour later, only five membership cards had been created in the system: three for 100 yuan and two for 200 yuan. The five-hundred and one-thousand-yuan options remained untouched, showing a quantity of zero.

’It’s true that plenty of people were topping up in the physical store, but Xu’s Fast Food’s main business is delivery! The online ordering customers are the bulk of it!’

Now, the online ordering side had come to a near standstill...

’What exactly went wrong?’