Thirty-eight bags of rice sold for a total of 9,500 yuan.
To Wu Jun, who had once raked in over 700,000 a day at his peak, this sum of just over 9,000 yuan was hardly worth mentioning.
However, this 9,000 yuan held a special meaning for him.
Wu Jun felt that earning this 9,000-plus yuan brought him more joy than the 700,000-plus he had made a few days prior.
Calling it "delivering charcoal in a snowstorm" might be a bit of an exaggeration—he wasn’t that desperate yet—but everyone’s gesture was kind. It was an endorsement of Hongyun Rice.
Xu Minli, holding a small notebook, said, "I did a quick count. We had 22 customers buy rice just now. They’re all regulars from the nearby apartment buildings, probably just got back from work."
Xu Fei came out of the bathroom after washing her hands, her face beaming. "Brother Jun, I just got orders from seven restaurants on my phone! It’s 46 bags in total, and they need it tomorrow."
Wu Jun smiled. "Tomorrow, I’ll have my aunt-in-law order a batch of membership cards. Anyone who buys our Hongyun Rice during this difficult time will get VIP customer treatment from now on. They’re loyal to us, so we can’t be stingy with them. For our VIP customers, we will never raise the price."
"You’re the boss, Brother Jun." Xu Fei smiled and nodded, showing her support for Wu Jun’s decision.
"That’s a great idea." Xu Minli chuckled, looking at Wu Jun. She couldn’t be more pleased with her prospective nephew-in-law.
’If someone shows him a bit of kindness, he’s determined to repay it tenfold. There aren’t many young men like that anymore. Feifei needs to hurry up and lock him down; she can’t let some other girl snatch him up.’
The last time it rained heavily, Xu Minli had thought the two of them had gotten together. Only later did she find out she had misunderstood. Xu Fei was having trouble walking simply because she’d sprained her ankle. She had gotten her hopes up for nothing.
The three of them chatted for a while longer. Seeing that it was getting late, Xu Minli, wanting to create more opportunities for Wu Jun and her niece to be alone, stood up to leave. Wu Jun and Xu Fei walked her to the door.
"You two go on and get washed up for bed. We’re just upstairs and downstairs, no need to see me out." Xu Minli waved them back inside.
Wu Jun was mortified by the blatant double-entendre in her words, while Xu Fei was so embarrassed her pretty face turned beet red, not even daring to look at him.
"Brother Jun, you go wash up first. I’m going to my room to organize the hotel information cards." After locking the supermarket door, Xu Fei mumbled to Wu Jun with a flushed face and then fled back to her room.
Wu Jun had wanted to tease her by suggesting they wash up together, but Xu Fei didn’t give him the chance. He just shook his head with a smile and went into the store’s bathroom to wash up.
After he was done, he called out a goodnight to Xu Fei and went to his room to sleep.
The next day, the rumors on WeChat Moments continued to spread. People also started stirring up trouble on the local Shimen City forums.
The rumors grew more and more outrageous. In the morning, they said someone had been hospitalized after eating Hongyun Rice. By the afternoon, the story was that the person had been sent to the morgue to meet King Yama.
However... Junheng Trading Co., Ltd. hadn’t received any summons from the relevant authorities. On the contrary, Bian Xuedao was refusing to leave their offices, demanding they uphold justice and clear the name of Junheng Trading Co., Ltd.
The food vlogger, "International Village’s Brother Lei," had learned his lesson from yesterday and was keeping a low profile today.
The video of him eating his words yesterday had gone viral, and he was probably too embarrassed to stream again for a while.
Despite the rumors, Hongyun Rice still had many loyal supporters. Out of more than 700 restaurants, 51 were still placing orders.
Wu Jun put his promise into action. He had Dong Lizhu order custom membership cards and distribute them to the businesses that were still ordering, as well as the individual customers at the small supermarket who continued to support Hongyun Rice.
When the customers who received the cards heard that the price of the rice would soon be adjusted, but that they could still buy it at the original price with their membership card, they all voiced their support.
After all, the price hike wouldn’t affect them...
Chen Lin continued to chase down the various inspection certificates. Wu Jun hadn’t realized how much of a hassle it was until he asked. No wonder it took so long to get them issued.
The inspection certificates were divided into four main categories.
"Testing for Contaminant Limits in Food," "Testing for Illegally Added Substances," "Testing for Pesticide Residue in Food," and "Testing for Nutritional Content in Food."
Under these four main categories were dozens of sub-categories. The pesticide residue test alone had twenty-three items, including BHC, DDT, Dichlorvos... and so on. There was a whole bunch of them, some he’d heard of and some he hadn’t.
The other tests had fewer substances to check for, but not by much. Wu Jun tried to contact the supervisor at the third-party testing agency.
The moment Wu Jun stated his company’s name, the person on the other end hung up. They couldn’t even be bothered with the most basic pretense of politeness.
He then tried to contact the person in charge, but the call wouldn’t go through. He figured they must have whitelisted their contacts, only accepting calls from people in their address book. Wu Jun had no choice but to give up.
At five in the afternoon, Dong Lizhu came upstairs to report the day’s numbers. Seven tons returned, twelve tons sold, for a revenue of 50,000 yuan. Miraculously, sales had improved compared to yesterday.
Yesterday, they had lost over 200,000 yuan. Today, Wu Jun decided not to take a cut of the income; it would all go into the company’s accounts.
After finishing her report, Dong Lizhu said with a look of indignation, "The purchasing manager from Wanrong Hotel called our company today and yelled at one of our customer service girls until she cried. It was outrageous."
"Wanrong?" The name sounded familiar to Wu Jun. He took out his phone and scrolled for a bit, finding a transfer notification sent by Yan Ming, the purchasing manager of Wanrong Restaurant, from over ten days ago.
’Back when he was begging me for a supply contract, he was as pathetic as a stray dog. Now that the company’s facing a small crisis, he’s the first to take a bite out of you. People like that, heh...’
"Aunt-in-law, make a special note of this restaurant. Put them on the blacklist. We’re not supplying them anymore." Wu Jun put away his phone, then stood up and gestured for Dong Lizhu to leave with him for the day.
The two went downstairs. After driving Dong Lizhu home, Wu Jun finally drove back to the small supermarket.
After having dinner at the small supermarket with Xu Fei and her aunt, Xu Fei stayed to help her aunt in the store. Wu Jun, bored with nothing to do, drove off to Hongdao Gym to get a workout in.
After going to the gym a few times, Wu Jun had gotten hooked on working out. He enjoyed pondering problems while drenched in sweat.
Hongdao Gym was located on the fifth floor of a large shopping mall not far from the Tianyuan residential complex.
Less than twenty minutes later, Wu Jun drove into the underground parking garage. After parking his car, he took the elevator straight to the fifth floor.
After entering the gym, he changed into one of the two workout outfits that had been included as a bonus when Ma Siyu gave him the membership card.
First, he worked on his upper body, then his lower body, and finally his core. The whole routine took nearly an hour, and he was sweating waterfalls by the end.
"What’s up, President Wu? You’re going a little hard today," a woman with a killer body, also dressed in revealing athletic wear, came up and greeted Wu Jun with a smile, handing him a bottle of mineral water.
"Thanks, Sister Shanshan," Wu Jun said, not standing on ceremony. He took the bottle while wiping his sweat with a towel, then twisted off the cap and took small sips.
Over this period, Wu Jun had been coming to work out whenever he had free time. He’d even hired a personal trainer, and the results were showing. The slight paunch he used to have was gone, replaced by the faint outline of a four-pack. His posture had improved, making him look more upright and giving him an extraordinary air.
At 1.82 meters tall, Wu Jun wasn’t considered tall in the gym, but he wasn’t short either. Combined with his handsome features and his increasingly steady demeanor, he had been hit on by girls four times during his visits.
He recognized three of them as girls he’d seen in the underground parking garage. It made him wonder whether they were interested in him or his car.
But the woman in front of him now? Wu Jun was certain she wasn’t interested in his car. This lady was the owner of the gym, ran several chain restaurants, and drove a Lamborghini.