Wu Jun and Xu Fei didn’t have to wait long in the warehouse. Soon, everyone had arrived.
There was Wu Guangkun, who managed the warehouse, and the delivery drivers, Wang Qidong and Cui Zhishen.
His great-aunt and her husband, the couple Bian Xuedao and Qian Na, his second aunt and her husband, his maternal uncle, plus a few temporary loaders they had found—altogether, there were about ten people.
From fighting a one-man war to building this core group, they were finally starting to look like a real team.
Once the company was officially registered, they would need to recruit order takers, dispatchers, customer service reps, and logistics staff. There would be even more people then.
"Hey, Jun! Who’s this pretty young lady? Your girlfriend?" Wu Guangkun bellowed, spotting Xu Fei standing quietly beside Wu Jun.
At Wu Guangkun’s words, Xu Fei’s face instantly flushed bright red. She looked away, not daring to meet his gaze.
Wu Jun explained awkwardly, "Second Uncle, this is Xu Fei. She’s Cui Zhishen’s niece."
Wu Jun introduced his second uncle and his other relatives to Xu Fei, then introduced her to the rest of the group, announcing that she would be in charge of the market in Xinhua District.
Hearing Wu Jun address his second uncle, great-aunt, and uncle, Xu Fei felt incredibly nervous meeting so many of his relatives at once. Her voice sounded a little unnatural as she greeted everyone.
When the group saw Wu Jun entrust a quarter of the city’s market to this pretty young woman, they all looked at her as if she were their future niece-in-law.
"Feifei, where are you from originally? Oh my, we’re from the same area! It’s great to meet a fellow townie. We’ll have to get together more often," his great-aunt said, striking up a conversation with Xu Fei as if they were old friends. She was even more delighted when she heard they were from the same hometown.
"Feifei, how old are you? Oh, so young! About the same age as our Jun. Let me give you some advice from someone with experience: it’s better to find a husband who’s a bit older. My husband is three years older than me, just like the age gap between you and Jun." Not to be outdone, his second aunt started dishing out marital advice to Xu Fei right after meeting her.
Wu Guangkun was also sizing up Xu Fei from the side, muttering to himself, "This girl’s a real looker with a great figure, as well-put-together as the Ma family’s fifth kid. Her future children will definitely be as handsome as our Jun."
Wu Jun was speechless. Nothing had even happened yet, and his second uncle was already planning their future children!
Seeing Xu Fei win the approval of Wu Jun’s family, Cui Zhishen stood to the side with Wang Qidong, smoking and chuckling happily.
After a bit more idle chatter, the ever-proactive Bian Xuedao urged everyone to get to work, saying they could chat more later when they had time.
Everyone’s focus shifted back to making money. The delivery drivers went out to deliver, the sales teams went out to stock stores, and everyone threw themselves into their work.
Wu Jun loaded ten bags of rice into the pickup truck, then got back into the passenger seat. Xu Fei took the wheel, and they set off to stock the restaurants in the territory assigned to her.
Practice makes perfect. By the time they reached the third restaurant, Xu Fei could already handle the negotiations on her own.
By the end of the day, Xu Fei’s driving had improved considerably—she stalled the engine far less—and she had successfully placed Hongyun Rice in ten different restaurants.
While riding in the passenger seat of the car Xu Fei was driving, Wu Jun took orders on his phone, remotely directing Wang Qidong to deliver 1,200 bags of rice. They collected a total of 300,000 yuan in payments, setting a new record high.
As the number of restaurants they supplied grew, their daily sales volume climbed steadily higher.
At 6:00 p.m., Xu Fei was still full of fighting spirit, wanting to go back for another truckload and visit the next restaurant on her list.
Wu Jun told her that was enough for one day. He switched seats with her and took the wheel again. ’It feels so good to have my life back in my own hands!’
He drove the pickup back to the Tianyuan apartment complex and treated Xu Fei to a big meal at a nearby restaurant to reward her for her hard work.
After dinner, the two of them drove back to the supermarket.
Xu Fei, unable to sit still, went to help her aunt. Wu Jun, on the other hand, was feeling completely drained. He went back to his room, flopped onto his bed, and had no desire to get up.
He’d spent the whole day as a passenger while Xu Fei drove, and Wu Jun felt more exhausted than if he’d been driving himself. It was a mental exhaustion.
Still, watching the business improve day by day, especially with the company about to be officially established, put him in a better and better mood.
In stark contrast to Wu Jun, Yan Ming, the purchasing manager at Wanrong Restaurant, found his mood worsening with each passing day. It was absolutely terrible.
"Yan Ming, what the hell kind of purchasing manager are you?! If you can’t do the job, I’ll find someone who can! Sooner or later, you’re going to run this restaurant into the ground!" Lu Zhiguo stared at his brother-in-law, his anger boiling over.
"Brother-in-law—no, President Lu," Yan Ming explained, "our restaurant’s revenue is down, but that can’t be because of the rice, can it? When people go to a restaurant these days, especially a big one like ours, who really cares about the staple food? It’s all about the main dishes."
"President Lu," the head chef interjected, eager to shift the blame, "we’ve been in business for over ten years. You know our cooking procedures. To ensure consistent flavor and quality, we have strict standards for everything—the amount of ingredients, the cooking temperature, the grams of seasoning for every single dish. I can guarantee you the problem isn’t with our food."
The head chef and Yan Ming started bickering, each trying to pin the blame on the other. Lu Zhiguo lit a cigarette, took a long drag, and sank into thought.
In all his years in the restaurant business, he had never encountered a situation like this.
’The head chef has a point,’ he thought. ’A large restaurant has to maintain consistent flavors. We can’t have one taste today and another tomorrow. The problem is unlikely to be there.’
’But Yan Ming is right, too. How many people come to a restaurant just to eat the staple food?’
’And yet, it’s a fact that business has plummeted these past few days. Our daily revenue has shrunk by nearly a third.’
Meanwhile, the two restaurants next door were getting busier by the day. Lu Zhiguo just couldn’t figure it out.
Wanrong had been around the longest and had the best reputation in the neighborhood. For years, it had always out-competed the two restaurants next door.
But recently, the tables had suddenly turned. Wanrong, the old champion, was being left in the dust by its neighbors. What on earth was the problem?
"President Lu, the rice is ready," a waitress said, entering the room with a bowl of steamed rice. Her expression was a little excited.
This bowl of rice had been cooked using the bag of Hongyun Rice that Yan Ming had left sitting unused in the warehouse. The rice was truly special. In her seven or eight years working in restaurants, she had never seen anything like it. The aroma... it was unbelievably fragrant!
The head chef had seen other chefs in a group chat post about this type of rice. It had recently become a bestseller in major restaurants across Shimen City, hyped to the moon and back by his peers. And yet, Wanrong Restaurant hadn’t purchased any.
The head chef had a feeling this rice was the most likely source of their problem. He’d had that bag from the warehouse brought to the kitchen, opened it, and put a pot on to cook.
"So this is that Hongyun Rice?" Lu Zhiguo took the bowl from the waitress. The rich, fragrant aroma that wafted up to his nose was startling.
He lifted the bowl and looked closer. The grains were perfectly distinct, each one plump and glistening. It instantly made his mouth water.
He took a bite with his chopsticks. The rice was soft, smooth, and wonderfully chewy, filling his mouth with a lingering fragrance.
’What the hell... Is this really rice?’
Lu Zhiguo was stunned.
The answer was crystal clear. The problem was this stuff called Hongyun Rice!
If this wasn’t the cause, he’d let someone twist his head off and kick it like a ball!
Lu Zhiguo made a decision on the spot. "Yan Ming! Contact the distributor for this Hongyun Rice right now! Order me one hundred—no, two hundred bags!"
"G-Got it, Brother-in-law. I’ll call the distributor right now." Cold sweat broke out on Yan Ming’s forehead. He hadn’t tasted the rice, but he’d smelled the aroma. This wasn’t just any fragrant rice; the scent was overwhelming!
’So after all that, the problem really was with raw material procurement,’ he thought. ’I’ve really screwed up this time!’
The restaurant had lost tens of thousands of yuan in business over the past few days. Thank God they’d figured it out in time. If it had taken any longer, he probably would have been told to pack his bags and get out.
Yan Ming pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and found the number he’d saved under "Hongyun Rice." He dialed nervously. The phone rang twice before the call was disconnected.
"What happened?" Lu Zhiguo demanded, glaring at him.
"I’ll... I’ll try again." Yan Ming didn’t dare to meet Lu Zhiguo’s gaze as he nervously redialed.
This time was even more direct. After just one ring, the other end hung up.
Yan Ming stared blankly at the "Hongyun Rice" contact on his phone screen.
Suddenly, he remembered. He’d called this distributor one morning three or four days ago. His tone had been a little aggressive. ’Are they holding a grudge against me?’
"What are you standing there gaping for? Order the rice!" Lu Zhiguo’s anger flared again, seeing that Yan Ming couldn’t even handle such a simple task.
"Brother-in-law, I mean, President Lu," Yan Ming explained hastily. "They’ve probably closed for the day. I promise you, I’ll definitely get this Hongyun Rice tomorrow."
"Useless trash! Do you know how much business you’ve cost me!" Lu Zhiguo snorted, rising to his feet and storming toward the door. He paused before leaving, turned back to Yan Ming, and said, "If you don’t get this sorted out by tomorrow, don’t even bother showing up for work."
With that, Lu Zhiguo turned and walked out of the office. The head chef shot Yan Ming a gloating look before following his boss out, leaving Yan Ming standing there, stunned and alone.
’What do I do? What do I do?’ he panicked. ’If I can’t get in touch with this distributor, I’m in big trouble!’
’Wait, Qian Na is related to this distributor.’ Yan Ming suddenly remembered Qian Na, who had quit just a couple of days ago. It was like grasping at a final, life-saving straw. He frantically found her number and dialed.