thefictionvixens Chapter 87 One Step at a Time
Chapter 87 One Step at a Time
Chapter 87 One Step at a Time
"Don't rush, let me think about it." Hu Yi walked slowly a few steps with his hands behind his back and his head down, then waved to Li Baoqing: "Let's not call, let's go directly to him and ask him in person."
"Fine! Let's go find him!" Li Baoqing stormed out of Building 11, heading straight for Wang Shen's house to confront him.
Hu Yi took him to walk around the other dormitory buildings first, and seeing that the same "GG" posters were indeed posted downstairs, they went together to Wang Shen's room in building 10 and gently knocked on the door a few times: "Is Wang Shen home?"
"Who is it? You're here!" Wang Shen opened the door and met the two people. He was slightly taken aback: "Hu—hehe, Old Hu?"
Baoqing? You—what brings you here?
"You still have the nerve to ask?! We're here to settle accounts with you!" Li Baoqing glared and took a step forward, but Hu Yi quickly raised his hand to stop him, and looked at Wang Shen with a smile, saying, "Boss Wang, is business booming?"
"Business? What—what business?" Wang Shen asked with a forced smile, looking uneasy.
"Playing dumb with me? That's boring, you're such a noob." Hu Yi shook his head and sighed. "Didn't you put up the sign for the instant noodle stall downstairs? 'Convenience fast food,' the wording is quite simple."
"Oh! That? Hmm!" Wang Shen pretended to suddenly realize something and said in a low voice, "It's just frying instant noodles, it's not much of a business. It's just to make things easier for the students on campus and make a little money to spend on the side."
"Not bad, not bad, Boss Wang has put in a lot of effort and has a high level of awareness." Hu Yi sneered, "But you're not very loyal. You plagiarized my idea and started doing it all by yourself without even saying hello? That's a bit too much, isn't it?"
"Hey, it's a misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding." Wang Shen looked at Hu Yi with sincere eyes: "I did hear this idea in your room, but after not seeing you two make any moves for several days, I thought you were just talking casually and didn't care about making that little bit of money. So I—hehe, decided to try it out first, also as a result of your inspiration."
Li Baoqing roared, "Who said we don't love making money?! We've been doing this for the past few days—"
Before he could finish speaking, Hu Yi raised his hand to interrupt him, then looked at Wang Shen with a smile and said, "To be honest, we did plan to start a fried noodle delivery business. But after doing the math, it's quite hard work and doesn't pay much, so we've been feeling conflicted. Besides, there are only so many Chinese people at school, and since you've already taken the lead, there's no point in us getting involved."
He paused briefly, then, seeing Wang Shen staring at him with a puzzled look, sighed again: "We bought a whole box of plastic containers for fried noodles, and it looks like we'll never use them. How about we just sell them all to you at full price?"
"Okay—okay then." Wang Shen hesitated for a moment, then his eyes lit up: "So you guys—are you really quitting?"
"I'm quitting," Hu Yi said with a wry smile. "Stir-frying instant noodles doesn't require any skill; anyone can do it. Besides, with you driving the price so low, how are we supposed to make money?"
Wang Shen's eyes darted around, but he didn't say anything. Hu Yi didn't say anything more either, turned around, grabbed the sulking Li Baoqing, and left.
Wang Shen stared at their retreating figures for a while, then suddenly called out, "Hey, wait a minute!"
The two stopped and turned around. Wang Shen walked quickly to them, rubbing his hands together somewhat awkwardly. "Um—Old Hu, Baoqing, don't misunderstand. I really didn't mean to cause trouble for you, it's just—I had no choice."
"Who forced you?"
"Nobody forced me—I'm just short on cash." Wang Shen lowered his head sheepishly. "I happened to hear you guys talking about the idea of making fried noodles that day, and I thought it was a pretty simple job, so I thought I'd give it a try and earn whatever I could."
"Nonsense! We're short on cash too, otherwise who would want to do this little business?" Hu Yi glanced at Wang Shen sideways, then patted him lightly on the shoulder twice. "You're right, this job is indeed quite simple. Keep up the good work, and let us try your skills sometime." With that, he pulled Li Baoqing away without looking back.
Li Baoqing had tried to speak several times, but Hu Yi had firmly stopped him each time. He was seething with anger, and as he stepped into the elevator, he frowned and shouted, "Old Hu, what's this? Are we just going to let him off so easily?"
Hu Yi lowered his head and remained silent until they reached the ninth floor and stepped out of the elevator. Then he said, "What I told him just now was what I really felt. This small business makes too much money in small increments, it's not very meaningful."
"Nothing to do?! What do you mean?" Li Baoqing was utterly bewildered. "Then what have we been doing all this time? We even bought so many seasonings, and it was all for nothing?"
"Of course not, use your eyes! Why are you fixated on stir-fried instant noodles?" Hu Yi crossed his arms and shook his head gently. "Actually, I only came up with this idea to test the waters, practice, and prepare for the next step. I never intended to do it for too long. Now that someone else has beaten us to it, let's just go for it and do something that can make money."
"A one-stop solution? One that can make money? And is it still just food delivery?"
"Yes, takeout again. Don't you like stir-fries? How about we make boxed lunches and fast food?"
"Boxed lunches?" Li Baoqing blinked and chuckled a few times. "I can cook without any problem, as long as—well, as long as they can be sold."
"Don't worry, as long as it's delicious and affordable, people will definitely buy it." Hu Yi opened the door and came in, pulling up two chairs to sit down with Li Baoqing. He confidently analyzed, "I've been observing these past few days, and there are many potential customers for food delivery among the Chinese students at our school. Especially those who go out to work every day, like playing mahjong, and like playing games—"
'
"Right, right, now that you mention it, I remember," Li Baoqing interjected. "There's also a huge group of people running CS teams who train and compete on the LAN every day as soon as they get home. They don't have time to cook at all, so they definitely need to order takeout!"
"That's right. But there's no Chinese food delivery in the dorm, and Sixth Brother's restaurant is too expensive. They don't like the Russian canteen or Turkish kebabs, so they can only come to Old Fang every few days to buy steamed buns and dumplings. Their dietary needs are not being fully met."
Li Baoqing nodded: "Yes, Lao Fang's steamed buns are indeed quite delicious. Dali and I sometimes come to him to buy some."
"It's delicious, that's true, but steamed buns and dumplings are things you can only eat occasionally. Even if he changes the fillings, no one will buy them every day." Hu Yi crossed his legs. "It's the same with stir-fried instant noodles. Don't be fooled by Wang Shen copying our four flavors. Even if he makes eighteen flavors, it's still just instant noodles. You'll get tired of it after a few times."
"Yes, yes, yes," Li Baoqing chimed in with a broad smile, "Dali ate fried noodles with us for every meal for those two days, and almost threw up by the end."
"But boxed lunches are different. As long as the dishes are well-matched and varied, you won't get tired of eating them every day." Hu Yi thought for a moment, then nodded firmly: "I've got it. Let's tentatively decide that each boxed lunch includes rice and one meat dish and one vegetable dish, with generous portions. Selling it for eighty rubles is much cheaper than eating Chinese food at Sixth Brother's restaurant, right? I think it'll definitely be a good business!"
"I think it'll work! Besides, I'm definitely a better cook than the chef at Sixth Brother's shop! To be honest, with my cooking skills, stir-frying instant noodles is a waste of my talent!" Li Baoqing excitedly rolled up his sleeves: "Tell me! How do we do it?"