novelhk Chapter 90 A Little Trick
Chapter 90 A Little Trick
Chapter 90 A Little Trick
Fang Qing lived alone in the small room 902. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed, munching on a cucumber. Seeing Hu Yi enter, he didn't get up, but simply turned his head slightly, expressionless, and said, "Oh, what a rare guest! Don't you guys cook for yourselves? Why did you suddenly decide to eat my steamed buns today?"
"Hey, you get tired of everything when you eat the same thing too often. You have to change things up once in a while, right?" Hu Yi walked to the bedside with a grin. "I was really craving your steamed buns today. I wanted to eat a few in the kitchen earlier, but I was too busy to do so."
"Don't have time for that?" Fang Qing took a leisurely bite of cucumber. "Looks like your boxed lunch business is booming. How many do you sell a day?"
"Not many, maybe twenty or thirty servings a day," Hu Yi deliberately exaggerated the number, then asked, "Your business has been pretty good lately, hasn't it?"
"Of course! I never have trouble selling my steamed buns; I basically sell as many as I make." Fang Qing was clearly taken aback for a moment, then continued to ask, "Sell twenty or thirty servings a day?"
"Huh? You mean our boxed lunches? Yes, but that was a while ago." Hu Yi shook his head, feigning a bitter expression. "Recently, it's dropped a bit, maybe a little over twenty a day at most. Do you know why?"
"How would I know?" Fang Qing glanced at him. "Why?"
Hu Yi straightened his face slightly, lowered his voice and said seriously, "I asked around, and it seems that some people in the dormitory are talking about us, saying behind our backs that our boxed lunches are not good."
Fang Qing turned her face away and gave a soft hum, not responding.
Hu Yi chuckled again: "Hey, the people who say that haven't even actually eaten our food. It's all just nonsense, don't take it to heart. Some people even say the meat in your buns is bad, that it's all cheap meat from the market, not fresh."
"Nonsense!" Fang Qing roared in anger, stretching out her legs to get out of bed. "Who said that?! Tell me! I'm going to find him! I'll make him explain himself!"
Hu Yi quickly stopped him: "Hey, those people are just making things up, don't pay them any attention. When I heard that, I immediately refuted them. I said: Brother Fang is definitely not that kind of person, and I personally watched him chop the meat in the kitchen. He used only good meat, there's absolutely no such thing!"
"You scoundrel! Spreading rumors about women!" Fang Qingyu, still furious, cursed a few times before looking up at Hu Yi: "Little Hu, you have to testify for me, the meat and vegetables I used are all top-notch, I absolutely won't allow those scoundrels to slander us!"
"Yes, of course," Hu Yi comforted him. "They're probably just jealous because they see you making money."
"You have a dark mind! You're despicable!" Fang Qing braced himself on the edge of the bed, panting heavily. He paused for a moment, then lowered his head and remained silent.
Having lived as neighbors for several months, Hu Yi had long since discerned that Fang Qing was a straightforward person with little guile. Now, secretly observing the changes in Fang Qing's expression, he knew his veiled and indirect provocation was beginning to work. So, pressing his advantage, he said, "It's actually quite nice that our two families live so close. If anything happens, we can help each other out. And if anyone spreads rumors again, we can speak up for each other and be witnesses, right? As long as—as long as—hehe—"
Fang Qing gave a lukewarm "hmm," then looked up at Hu Yi: "Just what?"
"As neighbors, there are bound to be some minor disagreements. Just don't mind that our boxed lunches are interfering with your business."
"Xiao Hu, what are you saying? I, Fang, am not that petty!" Fang Qing rolled her eyes at him. "Besides, we're all doing our own thing, who's bothering whom? It's fair competition!"
Hu Yi grinned: "Exactly, I don't think you're that kind of person. Besides, we not only don't interfere with your business, but we're not competing with you either. We run boxed lunches and fast food to save everyone some time and energy; it's all hard work, and anyone could make those home-style stir-fries. But your steamed buns, dumplings, and fried dough sticks are different. They're unique to Quanyouda, specially designed to meet the unique tastes of Chinese people. If you want to eat these kinds of noodles, you can only buy them from you. This is a real technical skill; no one but you can do it. To put it bluntly, our boxed lunches are actually dispensable; it's your stuff that's irreplaceable."
Fang Qing was overjoyed by the compliment. She looked up at Hu Yi for a long while, then gently tossed her long braid behind her head: "Alright, I understand what you mean. It's not easy being away from home, and no one can guarantee that they won't run into trouble. Let's do as you say, and our two families will look out for each other from now on."
"Alright!" Hu Yi clapped his hands and pulled out a handful of rubles. "I haven't eaten yet. Give me eight steamed buns. I've been starving standing here for so long!"
As it turned out, Hu Yi's carefully crafted conversation, though brief, was quite effective. From that day on, Fang Qing gradually began to smile at the two of them again in the kitchen, and her conversations returned to their former sincerity and frankness. Occasionally, she would even share some tips on making noodles with Li Baoqing.
Hu Yi saw this and was delighted. He then added a sentence to the dormitory building posters: "If you need to buy Fang Ge's steamed buns, dumplings, or fried dough sticks when you order food, we can bring them to your room for you."
Fang Qing was very pleased with this move. From then on, whenever his noodles sold out, he would enthusiastically recommend the boxed meals from the 901 across the street to customers who came empty-handed, acting like a big brother taking care of his younger brother's business.
With this mutual support, both sides saw an increase in fast food sales. Although there were fewer students in the dormitory during the winter break, Hu Yi and Li Baoqing worked tirelessly from morning till night, and Xia Yan often helped out with the delivery. In the end, they sold even more boxed meals each day than before.
The winter break of more than ten days was coming to an end in the blink of an eye. Li Baoqing was very satisfied with the business these days and reluctantly hinted to Hu Yi that he wanted to continue doing lunch delivery, but Hu Yi rejected him outright: "Are you stupid? After school starts, everyone will usually eat in the main building cafeteria at noon. Who will we cook for? Besides, we have to attend classes, and you have to take a makeup exam. Stop thinking about that little bit of money. Just stick to selling dinner."
"Okay, whatever you say." Li Baoqing quickly pouted, "We don't have many takeout containers left, and the soy sauce is almost gone too. Let's go to the market to restock and buy some vegetables for today and tomorrow while we're at it."
After going out to shop, the two of them returned to their dormitory with bags full of things. As soon as they got off the elevator, they saw Wang Shen strolling slowly in the corridor outside the room with his hands behind his back.
"Why are you here?" Li Baoqing's eyes were full of wariness.
"Hey, it's nothing." Wang Shen quickly put on a smile and came over: "You went grocery shopping?"
"Hmm." Hu Yi took out his keys to open the door and said with a drawn-out, cold laugh, "Boss Wang, what brings you to my humble abode today? Not busy with business?"
"Hey, what business is this?" Wang Shen chuckled and followed behind Hu Yi. Seeing that Hu Yi was standing at the door with no intention of letting him in, Wang Shen had no choice but to stop. "I want to buy a boxed lunch."
"Boxed lunch? What time is it? We haven't even started making it yet." Hu Yi's expression softened slightly. "You go back first, I'll bring it to you when it's done."
Wang Shen absentmindedly agreed and stood outside the door without moving. Hu Yi entered the house, put down what he was carrying, took off his coat and hung it on the wall, then turned and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something else?"
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