Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Sales Increase by Fifty Percent
It was 4:50 in the afternoon, and there were still no customers.
Tong Ya had leisurely wiped down all the tables and chairs, arranging them neatly and orderly.
Chen Yu was busier than ever.
Returning at 12:00 noon, he had been making semi-finished products non-stop until now, feeling half of his body grow numb.
He made a rough count and, in five hours, had produced a total of twelve thousand fried cakes and six thousand vegetable pastry semi-finished products.
Chen Yu wasn't worried about whether these could be sold or not since he now had a cold storage facility.
Even if they didn't sell out today, they could be stored in the freezer.
After storing these semi-finished products, Chen Yu stretched his back and stepped out of the kitchen.
"Tong Ya, I'm going to pick up Tuan Tuan. Don't wander around," he said.
Chen Yu suddenly spoke to Tong Ya as if he was dealing with a little kid.
"Then I'll wait for you to come back," Tong Ya replied playfully.
Chen Yu drove Tong Ya's car straight to the school.
By this time, kindergarten teachers were standing at the entrance with umbrellas, sending out children one by one.
When Chen Yu arrived, one of the teachers busily called out Tuan Tuan's name.
Tuan Tuan, excited, rushed out and dove into Chen Yu's arms.
"Daddy, how come you're picking me up in Teacher Tong Ya's car? Is Teacher Tong Ya here?"
"Yeah, she's at the store right now," Chen Yu tapped Tuan Tuan's little head.
Now this little girl's head was filled with thoughts of Tong Ya.
"Hooray, I'm going back to see Teacher Tong Ya!"
Tuan Tuan cheered and climbed straight into the car.
Chen Yu fastened Tuan Tuan's seatbelt and started the car, soon returning to the store.
By this time, several elderly men and women were already sitting in the hall.
Tong Ya was kindly serving them hot water.
"This rain is so weird; it's been pouring all day nonstop!"
"Tell me about it, I was so bored being cooped up at home."
They usually came out at this time to dance in the square, but it looked like dancing was out of the question today.
Seeing Chen Yu's return, the elderly customers quickly gathered around.
"Young Chen, we calculated on the way here we would need about five thousand fried cakes and three thousand vegetable pastries. Do you think you can manage?"
These elderly customers came from different communities and seemed to have made their plans on their way there.
"Yes, I can manage. I already have the ready-made semi-finished products; just need to fry them up," replied Chen Yu.
The elders quickly took out their prepared lists so they could separate the orders for packing.
"I knew it, businessman Chen is meticulous in his work, he wouldn't take a break even on a rainy day."
"With the grand opening of his new store, how could businessman Chen afford to slack off?"
"My grandson will throw a tantrum if he doesn't get to eat his fried cakes and vegetable pastries every day."
…
While the elders were praising Chen Yu, their gaze suddenly fell on Tong Ya.
Before, they thought Tong Ya was just there to help out, which they barely believed, but now, with the heavy rain and her still in the store, they couldn't help but be suspicious.
"Businessman Chen, don't tell me you've already made this girl your girlfriend?"
Chen Yu became flustered, "No, that's not it..."
"Aunties, you're mistaken; it's just that the rain is heavy, and I'm sick, so he's just temporarily taking me in," Tong Ya quickly explained, then put on gloves and an apron to join Chen Yu in packing.
However, those uncles and aunties kept whispering among themselves, roughly saying that Chen Yu and Xiao Ya made a good match.
By 6:30 PM, Chen Yu had all the fried cakes and vegetable pastries that the uncles and aunties had ordered packed up.
Now, with four large deep-fryers working simultaneously, in just an hour and a half he had fried up a quantity of eight thousand.
This was almost equivalent to a big half of the usual afternoon's shipments.
In the past, this would have been unthinkable with his small food cart.
Just after the uncles and aunties had left, Zhang Fan entered the shop from next door, coming up the steps.
"Old Chen, I've got your food cart deal sorted. They only need to make a few modifications, and they've already transferred the money to me," Zhang Fan said.
"That's great!" Chen Yu was instantly excited.
He no longer needed that food cart, so being able to sell it was definitely an income.
Zhang Fan didn't say much and took out his phone.
"Although the food cart is second-hand, it was converted from an RV after all. It's worth a market price of 150,000," Zhang Fan said.
While saying this, Zhang Fan transferred 150,000 to Chen Yu.
Chen Yu was stunned for a moment, "Didn't you say the other party needs to make modifications? Why did you give me all of it?"
Zhang Fan patted Chen Yu on the shoulder, "The total they transferred was 180,000. I've already kept 30,000 for materials and the cost of modifications, which is enough."
Chen Yu didn't say much, "Then thank you very much."
Zhang Fan waved his hand, "No problem, it's just business! By the way, do you still have your stuff in that food cart? If not, I can haul it away right now."
"I've already moved everything to here; you go ahead and take it."
"Got it!"
Zhang Fan rubbed his hands together and called a few workers from the shop. They hauled the food cart and the trailer into the car shop together.
Seeing the extra 150,000 in his phone balance, Chen Yu decided to buy a car the next day.
In weather like this with heavy rain, it's really inconvenient to get things done without a car.
"Boss, do you have fried cakes for sale today?"
Six somewhat clean-looking young men, holding umbrellas, arrived at the shop.
Chen Yu recognized at a glance that these six young men were the internet cafe youths who often came to buy fried cakes and vegetable pastries.
Compared to before, they looked much healthier.
"Yes, how many do you need?" Chen Yu quickly went back to the kitchen.
"Three thousand fried cakes and a thousand vegetable pastries, is that enough?"
"Of course, it's enough!" Chen Yu called them to take a seat, "Please wait a moment, I'll be right back."
Before long, several more people arrived at the shop one after another.
Apart from those who bought a few items on their way to or from work, the rest were all bulk purchases.
In the end, the half-finished products Chen Yu had made during the day were not enough, so he had to make more.
It wasn't until 10 PM that Chen Yu finished the last big order.
Just as he was about to sit down and rest, the system chimed in with a notification.
[System notification, automatic settlement of the day's revenue at 10 PM.]
[Today's net profit is 12,300 yuan, earning 12,300 points, currently accumulating a total of 169,740 points.]
Chen Yu was surprised for a moment. Yesterday, he had spent 75,000 yuan just on raw materials, not to mention tables, chairs, benches, and the whole set of kitchenware, and yet he still managed to profit today.
However, upon careful consideration, Chen Yu felt relieved.
Before this, he would usually stop doing business by 8 PM due to depletion of raw materials.
But today he had been open until 10 PM, without even a break to rest in between.
Moreover, the raw materials used today were much more than usual, with sales alone reaching over 100,000.
After making some quick calculations, Chen Yu realized that his current savings amounted to 285,320 yuan.