Chapter 518: Let You Open a Food Shop, You Open for Business at 3 AM

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

Monday evening, Lu Feng arrived at Food Street an hour and a half early as usual.

He had just taken the fresh ingredients he bought from the System Mall out of the Storage Room to sort and arrange them, and was about to lower his head to wash them, when he heard hurried footsteps coming from the restaurant entrance.

Lu Feng looked up and saw Hu Xiaoyun carrying a bamboo basket on her back, sweat on her forehead, her cheeks slightly flushed, looking as if she had jogged all the way here.

"Boss, hello."

Hu Xiaoyun put down the bamboo basket on her back, her face inexplicably showing a few traces of anxiety.

However, the first thing she did upon arriving at the shop was still to politely greet Lu Feng first.

"Xiao Yun, why are you here so early today? It's still over an hour before business hours."

Lu Feng joked with a smile in the kitchen: "Are you too idle staying at home, wanting to come over early to work?"

He knew Hu Xiaoyun and Hu Daye lived far from here, and had told her before that she didn't need to come so early; arriving half an hour before business started was enough.

Hu Xiaoyun was very obedient in doing so; before, she usually arrived at the shop when there was about half an hour left before business hours.

But today she came this early, such a long time in advance, which was very rare.

Hu Xiaoyun had no mind to respond to Lu Feng's joke just now, her face showing an extremely anxious expression.

She quickly walked to the kitchen door, looking at Lu Feng leisurely handling the ingredients, and couldn't help but ask: "Boss, why are you still so calm? Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?"

Lu Feng paused in his hand movements, asking with a puzzled expression: "Did something happen?"

"I saw many people saying in the Foodie Chat Group over the weekend that a big company is coming to Food Street to buy out the shops! The bosses of several shops next to ours have already started talking with that company's people! According to them, that company wants to merge all the small restaurants in this area into one large high-end restaurant!"

Hu Xiaoyun took out her mobile phone from her pocket, opened the chat records in the "Lu Boss Business Notice Group" and handed them to Lu Feng, her voice urgent and flustered, her face full of worry: "Boss, this matter... don't you know about it yet?"

Lu Feng glanced at the chat records on the mobile phone screen, then shook his head: "I indeed don't know, but now that you've told me, I know."

His indifferent attitude made Hu Xiaoyun even more anxious in her heart.

"Boss, now that you know, aren't you anxious?"

Hu Xiaoyun's face turned red with anxiety, her tone very nervous as she said: "I heard someone in the group say that the company coming to buy out this time belongs to a very large catering group domestically, with over a hundred high-end chain restaurants nationwide, and extremely strong strength!"

"And I just took a look at those few shops over there; four of them are already not open for business today, probably because they've already reached an agreement and are preparing to move away!"

"Oh, they're acting pretty fast then."

Lu Feng responded casually, his hand movements still unhurried, without a trace of worry on his face.

"Boss, it's already at this point, how can you still be so calm?"

Hu Xiaoyun stamped her foot anxiously; she studied economics and management in university, although she had only studied for a year, she understood some of the ins and outs: "Boss, this kind of large-scale commercial merger and acquisition generally has support from the local government! For small restaurants like ours, compared to the high-end restaurant they want to establish, whether it's scale, service, or brand effect, we are at no advantage; if they want to take over our shop, the government side will also support them!"

"Oh? Why? Wouldn't it be fine if I just don't agree to be acquired by them?"

Lu Feng wasn't so clear about this point; after all, he majored in computer science in university and didn't know much about market management.

Hu Xiaoyun explained with an anxious face, though her tone seemed somewhat tactful: "That's naturally because... compared to that kind of high-end restaurant, small restaurants like ours... still have gaps in all aspects, and most importantly... the government values shop tax revenue the most; although our shop's business is booming now, it's ultimately just a small scale, and the tax we pay definitely can't compare to that soon-to-be-built high-end restaurant, so..."

"In other words, whoever pays more tax, the government will be more inclined to support whom?"

Lu Feng touched his chin, thought for a moment, and asked.

Hu Xiaoyun nodded, her face showing the expression of "Boss, you finally understand."

Lu Feng smiled, his expression becoming even more relaxed: "Then since that's the case, there's even less need to worry."

"Ah?"

Hu Xiaoyun was stunned, the anxiety on her face not yet completely gone, and a few more traces of bewilderment appeared in her eyes.

She looked at Lu Feng's figure busily working in the kitchen with a relaxed face, and asked cautiously: "Boss, why? Don't you worry at all about the shop being forcibly acquired? We're just a small restaurant; that big company is coming with great momentum, and several nearby shops are preparing to move away; can we withstand it?"

In her view, after all, the other party was a wealthy and powerful large catering group, and no matter how booming Lu Family Restaurant was, it was still just a small restaurant.

In terms of scale, resources, and all aspects, no matter how you looked at it, they didn't have the capital to contend with a big company.

Lu Feng lowered his head to handle the ingredients in his hand, his movements calm and unhurried; hearing Hu Xiaoyun's further questioning, his tone was steady and confident: "In any case, our shop won't be acquired; you don't need to worry, just continue to work well here."

A faint smile was on his face, and his tone sounded inexplicably reassuring.

As if the unsettling news Hu Xiaoyun had just mentioned was, to him, nothing more than an insignificant trivial matter.

"Oh oh, okay, Boss."

Looking at Lu Feng's confident appearance of having everything under control, Hu Xiaoyun was still somewhat doubtful in her heart, but couldn't help but nod and agree.

But Lu Feng's words reassured her quite a bit, and her originally tense complexion gradually relaxed.

Hu Xiaoyun truly didn't want to see Lu Family Restaurant acquired by another company from the bottom of her heart.

The hourly wage here was one hundred yuan, the boss never deducted wages, and there were often extra bonuses from time to time.

Such treatment, let alone on Food Street, would probably be hard to find such a part-time job even in the entire Jiang City.

And for Hu Xiaoyun, working part-time at Lu Family Restaurant during this period had long been no longer as simple as just earning money.

The working environment here made her feel comfortable; there were no complicated interpersonal relationships, the boss had a gentle temper, and never put on airs in front of her.