Chapter 18: [Far Ahead]

"A basket of Five-Diced Baozi!"

"Two baskets of Three-Diced Baozi!"

"Two baskets of Five-Diced, one basket of Three-Diced!"

"Master Xiao Qin, how much longer until the Five-Diced Baozi are ready?"

"Can we still add orders for Five-Diced Baozi?"

"Add six more baskets of Three-Diced Baozi!"

According to Qin Huai's original plan, the morning of the first day of business should have been—

Wake up early at 4:00 to prepare, start slacking off happily at 6:00, continue making dim sum at 8:00, and get off work at 12:00 to start a happy day.

Alas, plans couldn't keep up with changes.

Qin Huai knew that the residents nearby were rich.

The housing prices were right there; you couldn't live in this area without money.

Qin Huai also knew that the salaries of the office workers nearby wouldn't be too low. After all, the rent for the office buildings nearby wasn't cheap, and companies couldn't rent here without some strength.

But he didn't expect everyone to be strong to this extent.

In fact, at first, the sales of Three-Diced and Five-Diced Baozi weren't good.

After all, baozi all looked the same, and these two types didn't bloom like flowers. Placed next to the 1.5-yuan meat baozi next door, they looked like "IQ tax" products exclusively for the rich, comparable to a 4,000-yuan key-head hair tie from a certain luxury brand.

But he couldn't stop people from wanting to buy them, nor could he stop the large number of people buying baozi during the morning rush hour.

Even if the purchase rate was only 1%, for every 1,000 meat baozi sold, 10 Three-Diced/Five-Diced Baozi would be sold.

Most people's first reaction upon receiving a baozi that wasn't fresh out of the steamer and scalding hot was to take a bite.

As a canteen covering over 700 square meters across two floors, the walking speed of a normal person wouldn't be fast enough to walk out of the shop before taking that bite.

As everyone knows, baozi have a fragrance.

Most of the time, it's the wheat fragrance brought by the dough—this is the standard taste of carbohydrates, the taste of the morning, the taste of breakfast.

But clearly, the meat aroma of Five-Diced and Three-Diced Baozi was far greater than the wheat aroma.

A Five-Diced Baozi that was still warm, when bitten into, didn't release an aroma that was too rich, nor could it diffuse too far, but it was enough to attract people. Especially enough to attract office workers who had gotten up early to take the subway, were starving by the time they reached the office door, and urgently needed to eat a breakfast to keep their lives going.

Not to mention that Five-Diced and Three-Diced Baozi had dedicated "eating show" performers.

Take a bite, confusion, shock, ecstasy, hunger, wolfing it down, wanting more, stopping, lingering, hesitating, making up one's mind, have another one—every reaction of these performers could be performed in different postures.

But every performer was telling the audience around them: this baozi is delicious.

Although it's expensive, it's delicious.

You can't afford a 4,000-yuan hair tie, but can't you afford a baozi that costs 24.5 yuan after a discount?

Getting up early for work is bitter enough; what's wrong with rewarding yourself with a slightly more expensive baozi?

Doesn't such a delicious-looking baozi deserve a try, and then a social media post to amaze everyone?

With this mindset, the consumption concept of many diners changed from "Damn, a 1.5-yuan baozi is 30% off, I have to earn this cheap deal" to "A 24.5-yuan baozi, I have to taste this flavor."

Sales of Three-Diced and Five-Diced Baozi surged.

The more people bought them, the better they sold. Most people have a herd mentality when buying things at a new shop; seeing everyone buying them, they feel that this thing must be good and have to try it.

Thus, the absurd scene appeared in the Cloud Canteen during the morning rush: the 1.5-yuan meat baozi were ignored, while the 35-yuan Five-Diced Baozi were swarmed.

This led to Qin Huai not only failing to achieve his "work two, rest one" goal but also nearly steaming himself into a blur in the kitchen.

Qin Congwen was equally confused.

Qin Congwen, who had sold baozi for a lifetime without the price ever exceeding two yuan, couldn't figure out why anyone wouldn't like the 1.5-yuan big meat baozi.

How delicious... and affordable.

Qin Congwen, who had been busy all morning and had started to rest, took a bite of a meat baozi and recalled the taste of the Five-Diced Baozi he had just eaten.

Well, when it comes to eating, if the economy allows, humans still pursue deliciousness over cost-effectiveness.

Damn it, when it comes to talent, the gap between people is truly greater than the gap between people and a rolling pin.

How could his son's baozi be so delicious?!

"Huaihuai." Qin Congwen, who was finally free, looked at Qin Huai, who wished he could grow eight arms. "Can I have another Five-Diced Steamed Bun?"

"If not, Three-Diced is fine too."

"Brother, Brother, Brother, I want another one too!" Qin Luo, who was sitting by the shelf playing with her phone, raised her hand actively. "I can still eat!"

Qin Huai:...

Qin Huai, who thought his life after inheriting the canteen and becoming the boss would be leisurely making dim sum and enjoying life, squeezed out a smile: "Wait until I finish this batch."

Qin Huai looked at the waiters in the lobby outside.

Although there were many customers, the vast majority bought them to go and didn't dine in, so three waiters were enough to handle it, and they could even slack off occasionally.

So, why is the busiest person in a canteen the boss?!

Octopus Qin Huai stayed busy until nine o'clock.

In fact, the Five-Diced and Three-Diced Baozi had already sold out at 8:10.

But he couldn't stop the enthusiasm of the diners.

These days, everyone likes to post on social media. Had a car accident? Take a photo and post it. Colleagues fighting or tearing each other apart? Take a photo and post it. A new delicious restaurant opened nearby? Take a photo and post it. Ate an expensive and delicious baozi in the morning? Take a photo and post it.

Five-Diced and Three-Diced Baozi appeared on the social media feeds of countless office workers nearby. For some office workers who were keen on following trends and checking in, getting up early for an iced Americano was bitter enough. Colleagues had already eaten the "amazing/heavenly/treasure shop/delicious to the point of crying" baozi, and if they couldn't eat it and couldn't post it on social media, how could they hold their heads high on WeChat in the future?

This check-in must be done!

Even if they had to wait for the boss to make, wrap, and steam them on the spot, they had to check in!

Upon learning that the Three-Diced and Five-Diced Baozi were sold out, the vast majority of customers chose to switch to meat baozi, but a small number of customers still expressed that they could wait—they would rather wait on an empty stomach.

The heart that wants to eat baozi is moving.

Huang Xi felt this was a great opportunity to maintain customers, so she immediately built a food delivery group, stating that orders could be placed and reserved in the group, and meals could be delivered to the office within 1 kilometer for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

As of 9:00, there were already 117 people in the group. Some people didn't place orders at all; they just joined when they heard there was a group, mainly to join in the fun.

Qin Huai could only earn money with tears in his eyes, starting from kneading the dough, everything all over again.

Seeing all this, Qin Luo, who had been slacking off for three hours and had long since entered the anti-addiction mode of Honor of Kings, using Qin Huai's account to continue playing, expressed:

So opening a dim sum shop is this tiring.

I'll just go home and inherit the breakfast shop later; the breakfast shop is easier.

Qin Huai's hard work continued until 12:00 noon.

It wasn't that work was finished; it was that the boss went on strike.

According to the original plan, the dim sum Qin Huai was going to make this morning included: crab shell yellow, walnut crisp, donkey-rolling-donkey, pea cake, and snowflake crisp.

When he had been making baozi until 10:00, Qin Huai immediately stated: There's no need to make so many dim sum on the first day of business.

Crab shell yellow is troublesome, walnut crisp requires pounding walnuts and takes effort, and pea cake needs to be refrigerated for more than 4 hours, and he didn't want to delay getting off work.

Let's just make snowflake crisp, which is simple and can be stored for several days in jars, and donkey-rolling-donkey, where the raw materials are already prepared and can be put on the shelves just by rolling them up!

There is only one boss, and if he dies of exhaustion, you won't find a second one.

Let's make less; anyway, the customers don't know the menu.

"So this is the reason why there is no crab shell yellow to sell today?" Ouyang, who was eating lunch on the second floor, heard this bad news and tears were about to flow down.

Heaven knows how long Ouyang had been looking forward to eating crab shell yellow.

It wasn't that he couldn't buy it elsewhere; it was mainly that he wanted to eat what Qin Huai made himself.

Of course, the main reason was that Ouyang had been a bit short of money recently and wanted a freebie.

"Who told you that plans can't keep up with changes?" Qin Huai said helplessly, changing the subject. "Are you at the neighborhood committee this afternoon? I've been pondering a new flavor of salad these past two days and want you and Sister Hong to help me taste it."

The elm bark he ordered online finally arrived, so the bark salad could also be put on the agenda.

"I'm here." Upon hearing that he could taste a dish, Ouyang instantly perked up. "What kind of salad? Avocado? Beef? Salmon? Or Caesar salad?"

"It's... salad."

Ouyang:?

Although he felt something was wrong, who cares? As long as there's something to eat.

"So now the Cloud Canteen sells breakfast in the morning, dim sum in the morning, operates normally the rest of the time, and is empty in the afternoon?" Ouyang asked.

Qin Huai said with a straight face: "We sell dim sum in the morning and afternoon; we are a high-quality canteen that operates all day."

"But didn't you just tell me that because you cut corners and only made two items, your dim sum sold out as soon as you made them?" Ouyang was expressionless.

Qin Huai shifted his gaze: "Isn't this because... I didn't expect it."

Qin Huai silently looked at the dining tray of the diners at the next table.

Green water spinach, charred yellow fried fish, red and yellow tomato scrambled eggs, white rice, donkey-rolling-donkey mixed with mung bean paste and red bean paste, and a small jar of snowflake crisp that had already been opened and half-eaten.

Colorful, with a bizarre combination.

Look, is this lunch for a normal person?

Qin Huai indicated that he didn't know the power of "Popularity +200" was so great. As soon as it was time to get off work, the office workers who brought their work badges to eat the 30% off meal swarmed in. Before 12:20, a line had already formed. Some customers only had an hour for lunch, so to save time, they directly carried their trays and ate standing up.

Donkey-rolling-donkey and snowflake crisp weren't high-priced dim sum to begin with, and after being cut into small pieces, put into small jars, and discounted by 30%, they didn't cost much at all. Many diners didn't even realize that these were dim sum sold in the morning and afternoon, and felt that this canteen was quite good, even serving dessert at noon.

30% off, cheap, buy, taste it!

"Who would have thought this location is so good and business is so booming. It's the first day of business, I didn't expect it either," Qin Huai sighed from the bottom of his heart. "If I had known, I would have hired a dim sum chef."

Ouyang only felt like he had been shot in the chest.

At this moment, he just wanted to grab Qin Huai by the collar and roar at him.

You damn craftsman, do you know how hard it is to do business?!

Do you know...

Forget it.

You won't understand.

After Ouyang left in grief and indignation after eating, Qin Huai went home to get his express delivery and take a nap. Qin Congwen, Zhao Rong, and Qin Luo had long since gone back to take a nap. Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong hadn't slept all night due to opening anxiety, and after the Five-Diced Baozi sold out and their hanging hearts finally settled, sleepiness quickly struck, and they couldn't hold on anymore and went back to sleep before 10:00.

After returning home, Qin Huai finally had time to click on the quest panel to check the newly acquired main quest.

Main Quest:

1. 【Far Ahead 1】: As a qualified protagonist, being slightly ahead of your peers as soon as you open is your basic quality. Please defeat 25% of the catering shops in the area in terms of reputation and become a well-deserved star of tomorrow.

Quest Reward: Popularity +500, 【Affirmation of the Neighborhood】, 【A Dream Segment of Chen Huihong】 (Choice: Yes/No)

Qin Huai:?

There's a "Far Ahead 1"?

Does that mean there are 2, 3, and 4 later?

You just issued the novice quest and now you're issuing a series of quests?

Game system, do you know how many restaurants are nearby?

Do you understand the gold content of the CBD?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 19 =====