"Hmm."
"I'm his classmate."
Wang Yaofa gave a stellar, entirely natural performance: "I'm just here to help."
The two of them had just graduated from high school, and the youthful awkwardness on their faces was impossible to hide. Coupled with Wang Yaofa's un-shaven peach fuzz mustache, their youth was still so palpable that the proprietress instantly believed seventy percent of it, thinking to herself that she was truly a terrible person.
"You should've said you were buying wholesale. I'll give you the wholesale price."
The proprietress would never admit that her heart had softened, nor would she admit that she had just tried to rip them off. Even with a pang of guilt in her chest, stubbornly running her mouth was her last shred of dignity: "Eighty cents each, eighty cents each."
"How many did you want again?"
"Three hundred?"
"Three hundred bucks."
Liu Chuanfeng instantly changed his tune, a grateful look spreading across his face: "Big Sister, you are such a kind person."
The corners of the proprietress's mouth lifted upward, impossible to suppress. It had been a long time since she had been complimented by such a handsome young man, and she even felt a little bashful: "Oh my, I'm getting up there in years, what are you calling me Big Sister for?"
"No, Big Sister, you still look very young."
"I've wanted an older sister ever since I was a little boy. I wish I had an older sister just like you."
Liu Chuanfeng's gaze was utterly sincere, completely flattering the proprietress from ear to ear: "Alright, alright, just come to Sister's place to buy from now on, I'll give you the lowest price on this whole street."
Right under the shocked gazes of Wang Yaofa and the neighbor next door, the proprietress handed over four hundred boxes directly, and even enthusiastically offered to have them delivered to his door, though fortunately Liu Chuanfeng had Pangzi wheel his tricycle over, so that was avoided.
Even as the two of them left, the proprietress was still craning her neck and waving goodbye.
The burly man next door couldn't help himself anymore: "Aren't you afraid of being scammed?"
"Scammed out of what?"
The proprietress frowned: "Scammed out of what?"
"Those two kids! Those clothes they're wearing aren't cheap at all. That chubby one is wearing Adidas and Nike, and the other one is wearing Red Dragonfly. Could kids from an orphanage afford to wear stuff like that?"
"Psh."
"How do you know they're real?"
"On the street right next to us, brands like that are everywhere for twenty bucks a piece. Who can't afford that?"
The proprietress gave him a dissatisfied glance: "You just have too many suspicious thoughts in that head of yours. What kind of evil intentions could kids possibly have?"
The burly man was choked up by that remark, and could only say resentfully: "I was only trying to warn you out of the goodness of my heart."
The proprietress shook her head, completely unappreciative: "You'd better worry about yourself."
"I just opened for business today and made two hundred and twenty just now. How about you?"
The burly man opened his mouth. Oh right, no matter what, she had still made money, so why was he sticking his nose into her business? Then he slapped the back of his head—that sale should have been his!
Damn it, this woman is truly shameless! The kids had it so rough, and she still made that much money off them!
Four hundred boxes filled the tricycle to the brim, which meant Liu Chuanfeng had no way to ride and could only walk behind it. Originally he had wanted to hail a taxi back, but he was afraid Pangzi would go on strike over it, so he had no choice but to stroll along behind at a leisurely pace.
Wang Yaofa pedaled the tricycle with all his might while vividly "praising" his good brother's shameless face. Over the past couple of days, he felt like his good brother had changed, becoming much more interesting. He was full of imagination about his future life, but Liu Chuanfeng was about to tell him he was overthinking things.
"Feng, seriously?"
"We have to wash all of these?"
Wang Yaofa stared at the living room floor covered entirely in lunch boxes and was completely dumbfounded.
"You chose this, didn't you? Diligence comes first."
Liu Chuanfeng was holding the groceries he had bought along the way, mimicking a TVB voice: "Hey, should I go whip up a bowl of noodles for you to eat?"
"Eat my foot."
Wang Yaofa looked at the sea of lunch boxes on the floor, feeling immense psychological pressure.
"I'll wash them."
"Then what am I going to do?"
Liu Chuanfeng picked up the household rice cooker and began rinsing the rice: "See this? Cooking."
"Stir-frying dishes."
"So you're making fast food?"
Wang Yaofa understood instantly: "Then why did you keep talking about pre-made meals?"
"After all that fuss, isn't it just fast food?"
Liu Chuanfeng turned his head and said with a straight face: "I make it first—is it pre-made? Is what comes out a dish?"
"Put them together, isn't that called a pre-made meal?"
Wang Yaofa was left speechless by the retort: "Fine, I'll go scrub the boxes."
Liu Chuanfeng gave a haughty little sniff, turned around, and plugged in the rice cooker. Although the rice cooker at home wasn't small, it was still only meant for family use and was far from enough to support the volume needed for a fast-food business, so he would have to go buy a larger one in the afternoon.
One or two hundred bucks—just buy something usable.
But spending an extra hundred now meant losing twenty to thirty thousand down the road.
Liu Chuanfeng cast his gaze back toward Wang Yaofa: "This afternoon, why don't you bring your family's rice cooker over too?"
Wang Yaofa raised his head, then nodded: "Okay."
Though Pangzi was usually lazy, he was extremely reliable at moments like this. This was what people on the internet called making the most of limited resources to cut costs. *I get it, as expected of my Feng, he thinks of everything comprehensively.*
Now the funds were in place, and all kinds of equipment and materials were ready. Next came the product itself.
This was also the part Wang Yaofa worried about most. He definitely couldn't cook, and while he had heard that Liu Chuanfeng, who often lived alone, knew how to cook, he didn't know to what extent. After all, it was going to be sold outside—if it didn't taste good, it definitely wouldn't sell.
Yet from Wang Yaofa's observation, his Feng seemed remarkably professional.
Cooking was an essential skill for a mature man; not only did one have to know how, but it had to taste good.
With the help of various short videos in later generations, countless five-star chefs and state banquet masters had begun teaching people how to cook, making learning to cook a very simple matter.
Liu Chuanfeng naturally knew many signature dishes. As a top-tier simp, the recipe book he had mastered was not something ordinary dogs could compare to.
His current target customers were migrant workers doing manual labor, so naturally he needed to replenish their meat intake, and the flavors had to be relatively heavy. That meant he had to go with Modu-style braised pork belly.
Since he was cooking a large batch, he switched directly to the big wok at home. Five pounds of pork belly were cut into small cubes, blanched in cold water, and then tossed into a hot wok with cold oil, scallions, ginger, and the meat cubes to stir-fry. He poured in cooking wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and rock sugar to bring out the caramelized color—a method suitable for people who didn't know how to caramelize sugar from scratch.
After simmering on low heat for about an hour, he opened the lid to adjust the seasoning and reduced the sauce over high heat. A giant wok of Modu-style braised pork belly was complete.
"Come taste test."
Seeing that Pangzi had almost finished washing the boxes, Liu Chuanfeng hurried him over to have a taste.
Wang Yaofa had already caught the aroma of the meat. Ever since six o'clock that morning, he had been working nonstop without eating a single bite of food, and his stomach was so hollow it felt glued to his spine. Hearing Feng's summon, he trotted right over.
The meat in the wok was glossy with a rich, dark red sauce, an absolute sight to whet anyone's appetite.
"Ah."
Wang Yaofa thrust his head forward, pulled both hands behind his back, and opened his mouth wide. He was waiting to be fed. Liu Chuanfeng's lips curled upward—this was getting a bit ambiguous, but whatever, he was a good brother, he had to pamper him himself.