"How does it taste?" After taking a few bites of each type of rice, Wu Jun looked up and asked Xu Fei, who was sitting across from him.
"Wu Jun... are you sure this rice is eighteen yuan a catty, not one-eighty?" Xu Fei pointed her chopsticks at the bowl of Mongzhalong Rice, her expression odd. "I feel like you got completely ripped off. The taste of this Mongzhalong stuff is a whole lot worse than our Hongyun Rice."
"Exactly. And they have the nerve to sell it for eighteen yuan a catty. Just ripping people off." Wu Jun stood, picked up the two bowls of steamed Mongzhalong Rice, and walked toward the kitchen trash can.
"Hey, Wu Jun, don’t throw it away! It’s such a waste! Even if the taste is a little off, it’s still edible." Amid Xu Fei’s cry of alarm, Wu Jun dumped both bowls of rice into the trash can.
Wu Jun turned, walked back to the dining table, and sat down. He explained with a smile, "This is what you call taking the enemy seriously in tactics, but despising them in strategy. You crush them with pure confidence. In my eyes, Mongzhalong is a joke..."
"Let’s eat, let’s eat. Now *our* rice, that’s what I call a meal," Wu Jun announced. He picked up a bite of another dish, tried it, and gave Xu Fei a thumbs-up. "Xu Fei, you must have a professional chef’s license, right? No wonder you don’t like takeout. Your cooking is way better than anything you can order."
"Oh, stop. You’re just teasing me, Wu Jun," Xu Fei said with a shy smile, picking up her chopsticks to eat.
After the Mongzhalong taste test, Wu Jun was even more confident in the rice from his game. Compared to his Hongyun Rice, Mongzhalong was just small fry.
"Wu Jun, should we raise our prices?" Xu Fei asked after dinner as she washed the dishes. "If that ’what’s-it-long’ rice can sell for eighteen a catty, our Hongyun Rice wouldn’t be overpriced at eighty-one."
Wu Jun couldn’t help but laugh. "You’ve got some imagination. At eighty-one yuan a catty, a fifty-catty bag of our rice would cost four thousand yuan. That’s a whole month’s salary for a single bag of rice for most workers."
To upgrade the Resource Tycoon system and unlock new resources, he needed to sell ten thousand tons of rice. Wu Jun had set the price at five yuan a catty, specifically to target the massive market of everyday consumers.
Even selling at five yuan a catty, once he sold ten thousand tons of rice, he would become a hundred-millionaire.
If he sold it for eighty yuan a catty and managed to sell all ten thousand tons, he’d land himself directly on the Forbes list.
But if he had priced it at twenty or thirty yuan a catty from the start, it would’ve been much harder to sell, and completing the mission to sell ten thousand tons would have taken who-knows-how-long.
Wu Jun said, "No price increase. We’re staying at five yuan. Our customers have tried our rice and they’re hooked. Suddenly jacking up the price would be a dirty move. We’d have countless people calling us unscrupulous profiteers behind our backs."
"That’s true," Xu Fei said, understanding after Wu Jun’s explanation. "I doubt any of the older folks would be willing to spend several hundred or even a thousand yuan on a bag of rice. I know I wouldn’t be."
"Let me help you with the dishes." The discussion about price over, Wu Jun stood up and walked to the sink.
"No, no, Wu Jun. You go rest. I can handle little chores like this," Xu Fei insisted, pushing him out of the kitchen before he could argue.
Kicked out of the kitchen, Wu Jun just smiled wryly. His evaluation of his young employee instantly jumped from a five-star rating to a ten-star one.
The supermarket was quiet. Wu Jun sat in the boss’s chair behind the checkout counter for a bit. When he saw Xu Fei come out after finishing the dishes, he stood up to give her the seat. "Xu Fei, come sit for a while. I need to make a phone call."
"I’m going to organize the shelves and see what needs restocking," Xu Fei said, heading over to the aisles.
Wu Jun: "..."
’Other bosses can’t wait for their employees to work nonstop,’ he thought. ’And here I am, practically begging her to take a break, and she refuses.’
Seeing Xu Fei was so motivated, Wu Jun didn’t press the issue.
He went into the bedroom, found "Luo Xing" in his phone’s contact list, and dialed the number.
The phone rang. Having assessed the competition, Mongzhalong, Wu Jun was now brimming with confidence. He felt like this order was as good as his.
"Hello, who’s speaking?" The call connected, and a man’s powerful, resonant voice came through the line.
"President Luo, hello. I’m the distributor for Hongyun Rice, my name is Wu—"
BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... The moment Wu Jun introduced himself, the other party hung up.
He tried calling again, but the call wouldn’t go through. He’d been blocked.
’What the hell...’
’He won’t even give me a chance to talk!’
Shut down right at the start. Wu Jun’s confidence evaporated completely. ’It seems the Mongzhalong distributor has a really tight relationship with this Luo Xing,’ he thought. ’He’s already set on signing with them and won’t even consider anyone else.’
After a few more failed attempts to call, Wu Jun put his phone away. He pushed open the bedroom door and walked back into the supermarket.
"What’s wrong, Wu Jun? Are you feeling okay?" Xu Fei stopped what she was doing and asked with concern. Seeing his dejected expression, he looked like a completely different person than he had just a few minutes ago.
"It’s nothing." Wu Jun forced a smile and walked over to the checkout counter.
Sitting in the boss’s chair behind the counter, all Wu Jun could think about was the money. ’One and a quarter million yuan... and I’m just going to watch it slip through my fingers!’
RING RING~
Suddenly, the phone in Wu Jun’s pocket rang.
’Could Luo Xing have had a change of heart? Is he calling me back?’
Wu Jun’s hand shot into his pocket, pulling out his phone faster than he ever had in his life.
A glance at the caller ID—"Old Luo"—and his excitement immediately fizzled out.
"What’s up, Old Luo?" Wu Jun answered, his voice listless.
Luo Weimin’s voice came through. "Wu Jun, what size clothes does your mother wear?"
"Huh?" Wu Jun paused for a second, then chuckled. "Old Luo, you’re asking about Auntie Xu’s size, aren’t you? No need to beat around the bush with me. Auntie Xu is about the same build as my mom. A size medium should fit perfectly."
"Alright, got it," Luo Weimin said. "Send me your supermarket’s address. I’ll head over in a bit and we can grab a bite to eat."
"You’re not working? On the night shift?" Wu Jun glanced at his watch. It was only 3:10 PM. He was puzzled.
"Nah, I quit that job," said Luo Weimin. "I only took that security guard position because Xiulan was working as a cleaner in the complex. Now that she’s gone, I’ve quit too. Anyway, that’s all for now. Hanging up. Remember to send me the address, I’ll see you in a bit."
Wu Jun wanted to ask why he was coming over—what was so important it couldn’t be said over the phone and required a personal visit—but Luo Weimin didn’t give him the chance. The line was already dead.
Wu Jun texted the supermarket’s address to Luo Weimin, followed by a GPS pin.
The two of them had met about twenty days ago, back when they’d spray-painted Wang Hongliang’s car.
Despite the significant age gap, the two hit it off. They had worked together, and with Xu Xiulan as a mutual connection, they had become good friends.
As Luo Weimin put it, Wu Jun was the key matchmaker who had brought him and Xu Xiulan together.
If he and Xu Xiulan managed to end up together, he would definitely owe Wu Jun a big matchmaker’s bonus.
At 4:10 PM, Luo Weimin followed the GPS pin to the little supermarket, his hands full of shopping bags.
When Wu Jun saw Luo Weimin again, he almost didn’t recognize him.
His hair, though gray, was impeccably combed.
Dressed in a light gray Nike tracksuit and matching sneakers, he looked energetic and sharp, as if he’d shed a dozen years.
It was hard to connect the man standing before him now with the old security guard he had met just over twenty days ago.
"Old Luo... what happened to you? Did you win the lottery?" Wu Jun asked in astonishment as he stood to greet him.
Luo Weimin’s gear was clearly authentic; the whole outfit must have cost several thousand yuan.
Wu Jun had been earning good money lately and had stopped being cheap with his own wardrobe. He’d recently bought a few nice outfits for himself, so he had developed a bit of an eye for quality.
"Haha, you brat. Always teasing me," Luo Weimin laughed heartily, lifting his arm to place all the bags on the checkout counter.
Wu Jun said, "You shouldn’t have. Just coming over is enough. You’re being too formal."
"These aren’t for you. They’re for you to give to Xiulan. Your gift is outside. Come with me," Luo Weimin said, then turned and walked out of the supermarket.
Wu Jun followed him out, puzzled. When he saw Luo Weimin open the trunk of a black Audi A8 parked out front, he was floored.
’This old man plays his cards way too close to his chest! He’s like the legendary sweeping monk from Shaolin Temple!’
’A big shot who drives an Audi A8 working as a security guard?!’
’What kind of neighborhood was that, anyway...?’