Keesokan pagi jam 8:00, Liu Tong tiba di depan Restoran Cepat Saji Xu hampir bersamaan dengan pengantar barang dari pabrik.
Baru sampai di depan pintu, dia melihat televisi baru di luar restoran. Layar memutar segmen Restoran Cepat Saji Xu dari acara *Mengunjungi Restoran Cepat Saji*.
Meski sudah pernah menonton, Liu Tong tak tahan pada potongan-potongan bergaya dokumenter kuliner. Dia berdiri di depan TV dan menonton ulang dari awal sebelum dengan enggan masuk ke Restoran Cepat Saji Xu.
Pandangannya menyapu seluruh ruang, tapi tidak menemukan Xu An dan yang lain sibuk di dapur. Nenek Xu yang familiar masih duduk di belakang kasir.
"Nenek Xu, Bos Xu pergi perluas usaha?"
"Oh, Liu! Lama tak jumpa." Nenek Xu dengan antusias meraih tangan Liu Tong dan mulai mengobrol santai.
Sejak tahu minuman yang Liu Tong antar tak perlu dibayar dan keuntungan penjualan sepenuhnya milik mereka, Nenek Xu jadi sangat hangat padanya.
Siapa yang sanggup menolak Dewa Kekayaan yang hidup?
Liu Tong bersapa-sapa sebentar dengan Nenek Xu, ngobrol lebih lama, baru tahu Xu An sibuk di "Toko Nomor Dua".
\'Toko Nomor Dua?\'
\'Berarti mereka buka cabang baru lagi. Tak heran penjualan cuka apel naik lagi.\'
Mengikuti petunjuk Nenek Xu, Liu Tong mudah menemukan pintu masuk cabang kedua Restoran Cepat Saji Xu, di sana dia melihat wajah familiar Xu An, Xu Heping, dan Liang Dani.
"Bos Xu, lama tak jumpa! Usaha Anda benar-benar maju. Kurang dari setengah bulan, sudah buka toko kedua."
Liu Tong tersenyum sambil masuk, tapi lalu terasa ada yang aneh. Cabang kedua ini sepertinya tidak punya area makan!
"Eh, Saudara Liu, mau inspeksi kerja kita?" Xu An bercanda.
Meski jarang ketemu, mereka sering ngobrol santai lewat QQ, jadi hubungan mereka cukup dekat.
"Iya, tebakanmu benar." Liu Tong melihat ibu-ibu mencuci sayur di area utama toko dan bertanya, "Lokasi ini tidak buka untuk publik?"
"Betul." Xu An mengangguk. "Lokasi ini utamanya untuk persiapan bahan dan memasak."
Sambil bilang itu, Xu An cuci tangan, mendekati Liu Tong, dan mengusulkan, "Mau ke toko pertama aja ngobrol?"
Liu Tong sekali lagi memandang karyawan sibuk di toko kedua, beberapa pemikiran melintas di benaknya.
\'Restoran Cepat Saji Xu tidak cuma tambah lokasi baru, tapi juga banyak karyawan baru. Orang di dapur toko pertama tak pernah kulihat, beberapa orang di sini juga baru.\'
Potongan dokumenter yang menampilkan Xu An mengantarkan kotak makan ke karyawan kantor di Gedung Perkantoran Silver Star terbayang di kepala Liu Tong. Di dokumenter, Xu An menyebut bisnis mereka fokus ke pengiriman. \'Melihat susunan ini, bisnis pengiriman mereka pasti jauh lebih besar dari yang kubayangkan!'
\'Tahukah aku bisa cari peluang di sini untuk naikkan penjualan cuka apel?\'
Kembali ke toko pertama, Xu An memasukkan sandi ke sistem kasir, menampilkan data penjualan khusus Cuka Apel Haiquan.
Data penjualan awal normal, tapi mulai beberapa hari terakhir awal Agustus, angkanya agak aneh. Penjualan yang termasuk cuka apel hampir semuanya terkait transaksi lima yuan.
\'Apakah kotak makan jadi lebih murah?\'
Saat itu, Zhang Dezhen yang sibuk di dapur toko pertama selesai menyiapkan bahan dan mengangkat tutup panci. Aroma kuah baceman yang sudah mendidih dua jam keluar, langsung memenuhi restoran.
Hidung Liu Tong bergerak. Dia tanpa sadar menoleh ke sumber aroma dan melihat Zhang Dezhen memasukkan bahan yang sudah disiapkan—sayur dan daging—ke empat panci sekaligus. Cara memasaknya terlihat agak aneh.
"Ini apa?"
"Ini masakan baru kami—masakan bacem." Xu An menunjuk angka penjualan lima yuan di layar komputer. "Sayur bacem lima yuan per porsi. Kebanyakan pembeli masakan bacem pilih tambah satu yuan untuk dapat cuka apel."
\'Masakan bacem? Cuka apel?\'
Liu Tong pernah makan masakan bacem. Dia tidak benci, tapi juga bukan penggemar berat. Dia juga pernah minum cuka apel, yang cukup disukai. Tapi dia tak bayangkan rasa masakan bacem dan cuka apel bersama-sama.
Tapi karena begitu banyak orang pilih kombinasinya, pasti ada keistimewaannya!
Liu Tong putus tinggal di Restoran Cepat Saji Xu sepanjang pagi untuk mencoba kombinasi masakan bacem dan cuka apel serta mengamati operasional restoran.
Mulai jam sepuluh, aliran orang stable masuk ke Restoran Cepat Saji Xu. Setelah menyapa Nenek Xu, mereka cari tempat duduk acak dan duduk. Hampir dua puluh orang masuk berurutan, dan mereka semua tampak kenal baik satu sama lain.
\'Ada apa?\'
Saat Liu Tong bingung, tiba-tiba suara BEEP BEEP BEEP datang dari dapur. Zhang Dezhen yang sedang menyiapkan rempah untuk kuah bacem panci kedua berbalik dan berdiri di depan empat perebus mie. Dia dengan santai mengambil penyaring besar dan mengangkat tutup perebus pertama.
Dalam sekejap, aroma kaya menyebar ke seluruh restoran. Orang-orang yang tadi ngobrol jadi diam dan menatap ke dapur, mata mengikuti setiap gerak Zhang Dezhen.
Saat Zhang Dezhen meletakkan penyaring besar, semua orang di restoran berdiri serentak. Mereka keluar ke luar dengan tertib dan berbaris panjang di depan pintu.
Liu Tong bingung total. Dia sudah kerja di Perusahaan Minuman Haiquan hampir dua bulan dan kunjungi tidak kurang dari seratus tempat makan cepat saji dan restoran berbagai ukuran, tapi belum pernah lihat pemandangan seperti ini.
\'Apakah Restoran Cepat Saji Xu punya gimmick baru?\'
Dorong rasa penasaran, Liu Tong juga bangun dari kursi dan antri di ujung barisan.
Zhang Dezhen mengeluarkan meja panjang dari restoran dan meletakkannya di ruang kosong di kiri pintu masuk. Lalu dia mengeluarkan empat mangkuk besar penuh masakan bacem dan meletakkannya di meja.
Aroma masakan bacem menembus hidung Liu Tong, membangkitkan minat bahkan pada orang seperti dia yang tidak terlalu suka masakan bacem.
Sementara Zhang Dezhen menyiapkan penjualan, lima atau enam orang lagi antri di belakang Liu Tong...
"Shifu Zhang, berikan sedikit setiap sayur jadi satu ons, dan daging perut babi sepuluh yuan. Catat sebagai dua pesanan terpisah supaya aku dapat dua kaleng cuka apel."
"Baik." Shifu Zhang dengan lincah memasak masakan bacem, kembali mengambil dua kaleng cuka apel beku dari kulkas di dalam, memasukkan ke plastik transparan, dan menyerahkan semuanya ke pelanggan pertama.
"Shifu Zhang, aku ambil dua ons sayur, seperti biasa. Dan dua kaleng cuka apel untukku juga."
"Shifu Zhang..."
Liu Tong dengar jelas dari posisinya antri. Di antara pembeli masakan bacem, dua dari lima orang tambah satu yuan beli cuka apel. Kebanyakan bahkan pecah pesanan jadi dua untuk dapat dua kaleng.
Antrian bergerak cepat, dan giliran Liu Tong tiba sekitar sepuluh menit kemudian.
Liu Tong tidak terlalu tertarik pada tiga mangkuk masakan bacem rasa asli. Pandangannya tertarik penuh pada mangkuk keempat—rasa *mala* pedas super.
\'Ternyata ada masakan bacem rasa *mala* di Kota Hai? Itu langka. Aku ambil ini.\'
Seperti orang lain, dia ambil sedikit setiap sayur lalu tambah satu yuan dapat cuka apel.
Saat dia duduk kembali di dalam restoran dengan tas masakan bacem dan kaleng cuka apel beku, Liu Tong tiba-tiba sadar sesuatu. Pemilik Restoran Cepat Saji Xu menemukan celah lain.
Tapi memikirkannya lagi, kontrak yang mereka tanda tangan hanya menetapkan pelanggan bisa tambah satu yuan untuk minuman dengan pembelian apapun di toko. Tidak menentukan jumlah beli minimum.
Secara teori, bahkal kalau seseorang hanya beli masakan bacem satu yuan, dia tetap bisa tambah satu yuan dapat kaleng cuka apel.
Tapi Liu Tong tidak peduli soal itu. Kalau tidak ada batasan perusahaan, dia mau memberikannya gratis saja. Memberikan seratus ribu kaleng akan jadi cara bagus untuk capai target penjualan yang ditetapkan bos bodohnya.
Masakan bacem enak, tapi saat makan, lidahnya mulai kesem, air liur keluar lebih banyak, dan dia tak bisa menahan redaman "SSSHHH-HAAA".
\'Air! Butuh air!'
Liu Tong tidak nemu air, tapi di depannya ada kaleng cuka apel, berkunang-kunang embun.
Tanpa ragu, dia ambil cuka apel, buka tutupnya, dan minum secarik besar.
Rasa apel segar dingin, bercampur gelembung karbonasi, bertabrakan dengan kesem pedas masakan bacem di tengah mulutnya. Tentara *mala*, meski kuat dan perkasa, jumlahnya terbatas dan cepat dikalahkan oleh tentara karbonasi yang tak terhitung. Tentara karbonasi lalu mengibarkan bendera, menaklukkan kota dan benteng, bergerak tak terhenti dari ujung lidah ke dalam perut. Semua menyerah padanya.
\'Segar sekali!'
Dalam sekejap, Liu Tong akhirnya mengerti kenapa orang beli masakan bacem selalu tambah kaleng cuka apel.
Masakan bacem dan cuka apel adalah pasangan yang dibuat di surga!
Ide berani muncul di kepala Liu Tong. Dia bahkan sempat habiskan sisa makanannya. Dia hanya ambil tas dan kembali antri di ujung barisan masakan bacem.
Dia pesan satu ons setiap dari keempat jenis masakan bacem. Setelah terima dari Shifu Zhang, dia buru-buru pergi.
Saat Xu An selesai kerja dan kembali ke toko pertama, Liu Tong sudah lama pergi.
The next morning at 8:00 AM, Liu Tong arrived at the entrance of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant at almost the same time as the delivery drivers from the factory.
As soon as he reached the entrance, he saw a new television set outside the restaurant. It was playing the segment featuring Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant from the show *Visiting Fast Food Restaurant*.
Even though he had already seen it once, Liu Tong couldn’t resist the food-documentary-style shots. He stood in front of the TV and watched it all over again before reluctantly heading into Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.
His gaze swept across the restaurant, but he didn’t see Xu An or the others busy in the kitchen. However, the familiar old lady was still sitting behind the cash register.
"Granny Xu, has Boss Xu gone out to expand the business?"
"Oh, Liu! It’s been a while." Granny Xu enthusiastically grabbed Liu Tong’s hand and started making small talk with him.
Ever since she learned that they didn’t have to pay for the drinks Liu Tong delivered and could keep all the profits from their sales, Granny Xu had become incredibly warm toward him.
Who could say no to a living God of Wealth?
Liu Tong exchanged a few pleasantries with Granny Xu and chatted for a bit longer before learning that Xu An was busy over at "Store Number Two."
’Store Number Two?’
’So they’ve opened another new store. No wonder the apple vinegar sales have gone up again.’
Following Granny Xu’s directions, Liu Tong easily found his way to the entrance of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant’s second location, where he saw the familiar faces of Xu An, Xu Heping, and Liang Dani.
"Boss Xu, long time no see! Your business is really booming. It’s been less than half a month, and you’ve already opened a second store."
Liu Tong smiled as he walked inside, but then he noticed something was off. This second store didn’t seem to have a dining area!
"Hey, Brother Liu, here to inspect our work?" Xu An joked.
Although they hadn’t met often, they frequently shot the breeze on QQ, so their relationship was quite close.
"Yeah, you guessed it." Liu Tong looked at the aunties washing vegetables in the store’s main area and asked, "Is this location not open to the public?"
"That’s right." Xu An nodded. "This location is mainly for ingredient prep and cooking."
With that, Xu An washed his hands, walked over to Liu Tong, and suggested, "Shall we go over to the first store to talk?"
Liu Tong glanced again at the busy staff in the second store, a few more thoughts running through his mind.
’Xu’s Fast Food hasn’t just added a new location, but also a lot of new staff. I’ve never seen that person in the first store’s kitchen, or several of the people here in the second store.’
The clip from the documentary showing Xu An delivering lunch boxes to office workers at the Silver Star Office Building came to Liu Tong’s mind. In the documentary, Xu An had mentioned that the business was mainly focused on delivery. ’Looking at this setup, their delivery business must be even bigger than I imagined!’
’I wonder if I can find an opportunity here to increase the apple vinegar sales.’
Back at the first store, Xu An entered a password into the register system, pulling up the sales data just for the Haiquan Apple Vinegar.
The earlier sales data was all normal, but starting from the last few days of early August, the numbers looked a bit off. The sales that included the apple vinegar were almost all associated with a five-yuan transaction.
’Did the lunch boxes get cheaper?’
Just then, Zhang Dezhen, who was busy in the kitchen of the first store, finished prepping his ingredients and lifted a pot lid. The aroma of braising liquid, which had been simmering for two hours, wafted out, instantly filling the restaurant.
Liu Tong’s nose twitched. He subconsciously looked toward the source of the aroma and saw Zhang Dezhen adding the prepped ingredients—both vegetables and meat—into four pots at once. The cooking method seemed a bit strange.
"What’s this?"
"This is our new dish—braised food." Xu An pointed to the five-yuan sales figures on the computer screen. "The braised vegetables are five yuan per serving. Most customers who buy the braised food choose to add one yuan to get an apple vinegar."
’Braised food? Apple vinegar?’
Liu Tong had eaten braised food before. He didn’t dislike it, but he wasn’t a huge fan either. He had also drunk apple vinegar, which he quite liked. However, he couldn’t imagine what braised food and apple vinegar would taste like together.
But since so many people were choosing the braised food and apple vinegar combo, there had to be something special about it!
Liu Tong decided to stay at Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant for the morning to try the braised food and apple vinegar combination for himself and observe the restaurant’s current operations.
Starting at ten o’clock, a steady stream of people walked into Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant. After greeting Granny Xu, they would find a random seat and sit down. Nearly twenty such people came in one after another, and they all seemed to know each other very well.
’What’s going on?’
Just as Liu Tong was wondering, a BEEP BEEP BEEP sound suddenly came from the kitchen. Zhang Dezhen, who was preparing the spices for the second pot of braising liquid, turned around and stood in front of four noodle cookers. He unhurriedly picked up a large skimmer and lifted the lid of the first cooking vat.
In an instant, a rich aroma swept through the entire restaurant. The people who had just been chatting all fell silent and turned their gazes to the kitchen, their eyes following Zhang Dezhen’s every move.
The moment Zhang Dezhen put down the large skimmer, everyone in the restaurant stood up in unison. They walked outside in an orderly fashion and formed a long line at the entrance.
Liu Tong was completely baffled now. He had been working at Haiquan Beverage Company for nearly two months and had visited no fewer than a hundred fast food places and restaurants of all sizes, but he had never seen a scene like this.
’Has Xu’s Fast Food come up with some new gimmick?’
Driven by curiosity, Liu Tong also got up from his seat and went to the end of the line to queue up.
Zhang Dezhen carried a long table out of the restaurant and set it up in the empty space to the left of the entrance. Then he brought out four large, overflowing basins of braised dishes and placed them on the table.
The aroma of the braised food drilled right into Liu Tong’s nostrils, piquing the interest of even someone like him who wasn’t particularly fond of it.
While Zhang Dezhen was getting ready for the upcoming sales, another five or six people lined up behind Liu Tong...
"Master Zhang, give me a little of each vegetable to make up a pound, and ten yuan worth of pork belly. Ring it up as two separate orders so I can get two cans of apple vinegar."
"You got it." Master Zhang deftly packed up the braised dishes, turned back to grab two ice-cold cans of apple vinegar from the freezer inside, put them in a clear plastic bag, and handed everything to the first customer.
"Master Zhang, I’ll take two pounds of vegetables, same as usual. And two cans of apple vinegar for me, too."
"Master Zhang..."
Liu Tong heard everything clearly from his spot in line. Among the people buying braised food, two out of every five were adding a yuan to buy apple vinegar. Most of them would even split their order into two to get two cans.
The line moved quickly, and it was Liu Tong’s turn in about ten minutes.
Liu Tong wasn’t very interested in the three basins of original-flavor braised dishes. His gaze was completely captivated by the fourth one—the spicy and numbing *mala* flavor.
’They actually have *mala* flavored braised food in Hai City? That’s really rare. I’ll get some of this.’
Like the others, he got a little of each vegetable dish and then added a yuan to get an apple vinegar.
As he sat back down inside the restaurant with a bag of braised food and an ice-cold can of apple vinegar, Liu Tong suddenly realized something. The owner of Xu’s Fast Food had found another loophole.
But thinking it over, the contract they had signed only stipulated that a customer could add one yuan for a drink with any in-store purchase. It didn’t specify a minimum purchase amount.
In theory, even if someone only bought one yuan’s worth of braised food, they could still add another yuan to get a can of apple vinegar.
But Liu Tong didn’t care about that. If it weren’t for company restrictions, he would have loved to just give them away for free. Giving away a hundred thousand cans would be a great way to hit the sales target set by his idiot boss.
The braised food tasted great, but as he ate, his tongue started to go numb, he began to salivate more, and he couldn’t help but suck in air with a "SSSHHH-HAAA" sound.
’Water! I need water!’
Liu Tong couldn’t find any water, but in front of him was a can of apple vinegar, glistening with condensation.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he grabbed the apple vinegar, popped the tab, and took a huge gulp.
The refreshingly cool apple flavor, mixed with the fizziness of the carbonation, clashed with the spicy numbness of the braised food in the center of his mouth. The *mala* army, though strong and powerful, was limited in number and was quickly defeated by the endless troops of the carbonated army. The carbonated army then raised its banners, conquered cities and stormed fortresses, marching unstoppably from the tip of his tongue down to the depths of his stomach. Everything surrendered to it.
’So refreshing!’
In that instant, Liu Tong finally understood why people who bought the braised food always added a can of apple vinegar.
Braised food and apple vinegar were a match made in heaven!
A bold idea popped into Liu Tong’s head. He didn’t even have time to finish the rest of his food. He just grabbed his bag and got back in line at the very end of the queue for braised dishes.
He ordered a pound of each of the four types of braised dishes. After taking them from Master Zhang, he hurried away.
By the time Xu An finished his work and returned to the first store, Liu Tong was long gone.
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