After celebrating Xu Xiulan’s birthday, Wu Jun had completed the task assigned by Luo Zhengang.
After dinner, Wu Jun paid the bill and took his mom and Auntie Xu back to the hospital.
Inside hospital room 1512.
Wu Jun held his mother’s hand and said, "Mom, I can see the dark circles under your eyes. Haven’t you been resting well these past few days?"
"Your dad’s surgery is the day after tomorrow. I’m just a bundle of nerves..." Ma Dongmei sighed, reaching out her other hand to hold Wu Guangqiang’s. Her face was etched with worry.
Seeing this, Xu Xiulan’s eyes reddened. She put an arm around Ma Dongmei’s shoulders and comforted her, "Dongmei, don’t worry. Your Old Wu will definitely get better. We’re all hoping for it."
Ma Dongmei turned to Wu Jun and said, "Jun, tomorrow evening your first aunt, second aunt, your uncle, and your aunt-in-law are all coming over in one car. They said you should come by and make an appearance then."
"Okay, got it," Wu Jun said, then asked, "What about my youngest aunt? You said last night she left on a plane. She won’t be able to make it back, right?"
"Her? She booked a plane ticket specifically so she could come back tomorrow. Her station will only reimburse her for a high-speed train ticket, not a flight. She’s a grown woman, but she just throws money away. This round trip is costing her over two thousand yuan, and she wouldn’t listen no matter how I tried to talk her out of it." After saying her piece, Ma Dongmei gave Wu Jun’s arm a gentle push. "It’s getting late. You should hurry home and get some sleep. Don’t you have to open the store early every morning for business?"
Xu Xiulan added, "Jun, you should hurry back and rest. I’m here to keep your mom company."
"Alright, I’m heading out then. Call me if anything comes up." After speaking, Wu Jun stood up. He picked up the thermos by the bed and found it was empty, so he went out to the hot water room to fill it up before leaving the room.
He left the hospital and took a taxi back to the supermarket. It was already ten o’clock at night, but the lights in the small store were still on.
"Brother Wu, you’re back." The moment Wu Jun walked in, Xu Fei stood up from her personal little stool.
Wu Jun asked, "Why are you still here? It’s so late."
"My aunt and the others aren’t home, so there’s not much for me to do if I go back. I figured I’d just stay a little longer at the supermarket," Xu Fei said as she turned and started untying her apron. "Now that you’re back, I’ll head up."
"Go on, and get some sleep," Wu Jun said. He took out his keychain, detached a key, and handed it to Xu Fei. "Don’t just stand outside like a dummy every morning. From now on, just open the door and come in when you get here."
"I know, Brother Wu. Good night." Xu Fei smiled, took the key, and headed for the door.
Wu Jun saw her to the door, then closed it, ending the day’s business.
He walked behind the counter and pulled open the drawer. Inside was the cash, neatly organized by Xu Fei, with different denominations bundled separately.
Wu Jun took the 100s and 50s without bothering to count the rest and went into the bedroom.
Today, his payment QR code had received 24,000 yuan. He counted the cash, which came to 8,000 yuan, for a total income of just over 30,000.
Even after adding this 30,000-plus yuan, his savings were only a little over 40,000 yuan.
He was earning a decent amount every day, but he was also spending a lot on miscellaneous things.
’I’ve been selling rice for almost a month now, raking in tens of thousands of yuan every day. Logically, I should have some savings by now, but I’m still so broke!’
Wu Jun sighed. ’I need a huge influx of cash to really build up my savings,’ he thought.
He pulled out the phone linked to [Resource Tycoon]. The game’s output for the day had already been calculated, and his inventory had reached 121 tons.
He had one more day tomorrow, which would add another 10 tons. After setting aside 3 tons for tomorrow’s sales, he would have 128 tons left, more than enough to fulfill the order from the Industrial and Commercial Bank.
Putting his phone away, Wu Jun went to the bathroom to wash up before going to sleep.
「The next morning.」
The moment Wu Jun opened his eyes, he heard a noise outside.
Listening closely, he heard the TAP TAP TAP of a knife chopping vegetables in the kitchen. He didn’t even have to guess; he knew Xu Fei was already downstairs.
He got up, dressed, and pushed open his bedroom door.
"Brother Wu, good morning." Xu Fei, hearing the door open from the kitchen, greeted Wu Jun.
"It’s only five o’clock and you’re already down here. You’ve definitely earned this month’s ’Employee of the Month’ award," Wu Jun said before turning to wash up in the bathroom. The sound of stir-frying sizzling in a wok came from the kitchen.
By the time Wu Jun came out from the bathroom, Xu Fei had already set the table in the kitchen and was standing at the doorway, calling him over for breakfast.
It was still early, and no customers had arrived yet. After they finished eating, Xu Fei washed the pot and dishes while Wu Jun sat in the boss’s chair behind the counter, thinking about his meeting with Luo Zhengang to discuss their partnership.
After finishing the dishes, Xu Fei came out, tied her apron around her waist, and seeing that there were still no customers, moved her personal stool next to Wu Jun. She propped her chin on her hands, eagerly awaiting the first arrival.
They finished eating at five-thirty, but it wasn’t until ten past six that the first customer walked in. Xu Fei instantly perked up, a wide smile on her face as she went to greet them.
Customers started trickling in from 6:10, but by 9:00, after nearly three hours, they had only sold about 3,000 yuan worth of goods.
Compared to previous days, this sales volume was almost half of what it used to be.
After the morning rush hour, Wu Jun and Xu Fei returned to their respective seats.
Xu Fei said glumly, "Brother Wu, what’s going on today? It feels like we have way fewer customers buying rice."
Wu Jun had also noticed this strange situation this morning and had been thinking about it. After pondering for a moment, he figured out the general reason.
Since he started selling the rice, aside from the first day with no sales, he had been selling over two or even three tons a day, totaling nearly 60 tons of rice sold.
Rice isn’t a fast-moving consumer good. Once it’s sold, it takes time for households to consume it.
His home base here at Tianyuan Estate was more or less reaching a saturation point.
The decline in sales was a normal market reaction. In fact, selling so much every day was what had been abnormal.
The small supermarket had a limited reach. Shimen City had a total population of over ten million. While Tianyuan Estate was large, it only had a little over 40,000 residents. Compared to over ten million people, that wasn’t even a drop in the bucket.
Wu Jun explained his analysis to Xu Fei.
"Oh, so that’s why. You really know your stuff, Brother Wu," Xu Fei said after hearing his explanation, slipping in a subtle compliment.
Wu Jun said, "We’ll just have to get used to it. That kind of explosive business we had before probably won’t be happening again anytime soon."
Although he said that to comfort Xu Fei, a part of him also found it hard to accept.
It’s easy to go from frugal to lavish, but hard to go from lavish back to frugal. He had gotten used to raking in cash hand over fist, so a sudden nosedive in sales was hard for anyone to swallow.
Wu Jun thought with a sense of helplessness, ’Looks like the days of waiting for the rabbits to run into the tree are over. I have to be proactive and expand the market.’
’Thank goodness for this big order from the Industrial and Commercial Bank. One deal like this is worth a whole month of sales.’
"It would be great if we could get a few more major clients like Director Luo every month," Xu Fei said, then turned to Wu Jun. "By the way, Brother Wu, what time is your meeting with Director Luo? Maybe you should head out now. I can watch the supermarket."
"No need. I called him while you were out delivering rice to Granny Liu. Director Luo is coming over to our supermarket," Wu Jun said, glancing at his watch. "He should be here soon."
As soon as Wu Jun finished speaking, the BEEP BEEP of a car’s central locking system sounded from outside the supermarket.
Looking toward the sound, he saw Luo Zhengang walking toward the entrance.
Wu Jun quickly got up to greet him.