Chapter 10: Explosive Sales
Ningcheng Food Street, 10 a.m.
Today was Sunday, and tomorrow was the Dragon Boat Festival. With three consecutive days off, many people took the opportunity to go out and spend money.
Quite a few of them passed by the food street and planned to buy some baked flatbread to take home. Even though many didn’t actually like eating it, how could you celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival without it?
As they walked, they were drawn by a strange, refreshing fragrance and gradually gathered in front of Shiweixuan.
At the entrance, ten large barrels were lined up in a row—the kind used by restaurants to cook porridge. Wisps of fragrant steam drifted out from them.
A large sign was displayed at the door:
[Legendary Food Returns]
Someone curiously stepped forward and asked, “Waiter, what delicious thing is in there?”
“What’s cooking inside is zongzi.”
The one answering, of course, was Shiweixuan’s poster girl, Xiaobing.
“What’s zongzi?”
“Zongzi is a food people used to eat during the Dragon Boat Festival in ancient times.”
“Isn’t the Dragon Boat Festival about eating baked flatbread?”
“No, back when Earth still existed, people ate zongzi.”
These conversations repeated over and over, but Xiaobing patiently explained every time. She believed her brother’s words. After all, no one now really knew what people ate during the Dragon Boat Festival back in the Earth era.
Perhaps because the gimmick was so strong, quite a crowd gathered at the entrance.
Soon, some food lovers paid on the spot and, ignoring the heat, grabbed the zongzi and started biting into them.
Xiaobing quickly stopped them. “Hey, hey, you need to unwrap the leaves before eating it—the string is here.”
It wasn’t difficult. With someone demonstrating, the following customers quickly learned.
The food lovers just stood there eating. The taste of this novel food was quite good—customers who took a bite couldn’t stop nodding in approval.
“Wow, this tastes really good. Light and refreshing.”
“It’s glutinous rice, and there are red dates inside.”
“Not bad, not bad. I’ll buy a few more to take home.”
“So this is what zongzi is? Didn’t people online say it’s baked?”
With these early tasters leading the way, the customers who had been hesitating no longer held back. One by one, they lined up to buy, and soon a queue of more than a dozen people formed outside Shiweixuan.
And more kept joining.
Only then did Lu Yuan finally relax. Zongzi was basically just glutinous rice with a bit of leaf fragrance. He had been worried whether the people of this world could still accept its taste. But judging from today’s momentum, some things might be forgotten, but they never truly disappear—they flow within the bloodline of a people.
Manager Zhang also felt relieved. She had purchased a large batch of glutinous rice and red dates overnight, spending quite a bit of money. Since no one sold zongzi leaves, the leaves they used were picked early in the morning by Xiaobing and her brother from the park. To make room for zongzi, Chef Wang’s flaky flatbread hadn’t even been made.
After paying such a price, if the sales were poor, the boss would definitely dock her pay—by a lot!
But now, seeing the long lines of customers, she wouldn’t just avoid being scolded—she could even show off in front of the boss!
Many customers, after tasting, decisively bought more to take home—some three to five, others over ten.
Each zongzi sold for ten yuan—and no complaining about the price. There was no other place selling it! The cost, aside from labor, was basically zero—just some glutinous rice, red dates, and leaves. The first batch of three thousand zongzi alone brought in over thirty thousand yuan.
And the second batch was still being wrapped.
Manager Zhang felt delighted.
Chef Wang was a straightforward man. Instead of being jealous of Lu Yuan’s cooking skills, he was deeply puzzled by the zongzi itself.
Why could such common ingredients, combined so simply, gain such widespread approval from customers?
He often developed new dishes himself—for example, the flaky flatbread was his creation. He knew how troublesome it was to launch a new product.
After a new dish was developed, it first had to go through peer tasting, then be tested in a well-established store. Only after six months of stable sales would it be rolled out across all locations.
Lu Yuan had done none of that. It was as if he knew from the start that zongzi would explode in popularity.
Why was he so confident?
Xiaobing, busy serving customers in the front, didn’t think that deeply. She was swamped with work. Though she was amazed by her brother’s performance today, it wasn’t something she found impossible to imagine.
Since she could remember, her brother had always been amazing in her eyes. He tied her shoelaces, braided her hair, and could reach toys from high cabinets for her.
He could do anything!
Lu Yuan himself was in the kitchen, directing everyone to wrap zongzi as quickly as possible. The speed of sales outside far exceeded his expectations. He knew that having something others didn’t would sell well—but seeing a line of hundreds of people, he had never witnessed such a scene!
No matter how hard everyone worked, they still couldn’t keep up with the demand. After all, zongzi took a long time to cook. The situation outside was already getting out of control.
First, the line kept growing longer, winding around and around until it circled the street several times.
Then many young people took out their phones and started posting short videos. In less than an hour, waves of curious foodies flocked to the street, shouting about buying the “legendary zongzi.” Modern social media was truly powerful—and there seemed to be more thrill-seekers than actual people!
The zongzi sold too quickly, and production couldn’t keep up. The crowd outside grew more and more packed.
Some people bought multiple pieces at once and resold them outside.
Those at the back couldn’t squeeze forward and started chanting together:
“We want zongzi! We want zongzi!”
The situation was on the verge of spiraling out of control.
At that moment, a luxury car sped over and screeched to a stop at the entrance of the food street.
Jia Shengnan rushed over with several subordinates.
Manager Zhang was almost in tears. “Boss!”
She had originally planned to show off to him, but now the store was surrounded like a zombie siege. She felt that creating such chaos would get her killed by the boss.
Jia Shengnan didn’t waste any time. He looked at the crowd outside and then at the overwhelmed staff inside.
“Mobilize people!” he ordered loudly. “Immediately bring over employees from all stores—quick!”
His subordinates instantly began making calls.
Only then did Jia Shengnan turn to the stunned manager. “What are we short of!?”
“We’re running out of glutinous rice!”
“Not enough pots!”
“No time to wrap them!”
“Not enough cashiers!”
The overworked staff shouted all at once, no longer caring about propriety.
Jia Shengnan handled everything efficiently, assigning tasks one by one.
It had to be said—this successful entrepreneur was truly capable. After his arrival, everything began running in an orderly fashion.
In less than half an hour, the first batch of over thirty employees arrived by bus, rolling up their sleeves and getting straight to work.
Soon after, ingredients like glutinous rice were delivered. Though the rice needed soaking, they had to make do. If they didn’t get more batches out soon, the “zombie army” outside might tear the store apart.
Jia Shengnan even managed to temporarily bring in several police officers to maintain order outside.
During this time, Jia Shengnan noticed Lu Yuan. Not knowing the full story yet, he was simply a bit curious about why his daughter’s classmate was working in his store, so he only gave a brief nod.
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