Perfect Match

After learning about the strawberry greenhouses, Lu Weibin drove the tricycle back, taking the four baskets of Jasmine Strawberries to the packing facility along the way.

As soon as he returned, he saw Xiao Li, who handled deliveries, coming back on an electric tricycle.

"Xiao Li, perfect timing. Deliver the packaged strawberries to the store on Erma Road."

"Oh, okay. Let me catch my breath first. I just delivered canned goods from the Canned Food Factory to supermarkets all over the city."

Lu Weibin offered him a cigarette, but Xiao Li, normally a chain smoker, shook his head like a rattle. "I quit!"

"You quit? That's rare!"

"Don't mention it. I took my dad to the hospital for an examination the day before yesterday. Late-stage lung cancer!" Xiao Li's face was full of lingering fear and worry.

"Late-stage lung cancer? Gulp..." Lu Weibin's palms began to sweat as well. Jiang Miao had told him to stop smoking, or he could easily get lung cancer. Thinking of his wife and several children waiting to be fed at home, he began considering whether he should quit too.

After resting for a while, Xiao Li pushed a handcart to the temporary cold storage and moved out more than three hundred boxes of strawberries from inventory.

After signing for confirmation with the warehouse manager, he hauled the goods back to the tricycle.

"Manager Lu? You're still here?"

"Huh? I was distracted just now."

Lu Weibin quickly went over to help Xiao Li carry the boxes.

"Manager Lu, thanks."

"No need, but I'm thinking of quitting smoking too. How about we keep each other in check from now on?"

Xiao Li looked at Lu Weibin and, seeing how serious his expression was, nodded. "Sure."

Before long, the three hundred or so boxes of strawberries had been loaded onto the tricycle, and Xiao Li drove away.

About an hour later.

Xiao Li finally broke free from the sea of electric bikes on Erma Road and squeezed his tricycle up to the entrance of a store.

The sign above the store read: Hai Lu Feng Company Direct Store.

There were also two smaller signs on either side: Eel Restaurant and Strawberry Garden.

He parked the tricycle outside the Strawberry Garden, pulled the handbrake, and took the delivery slip to the front desk. "Meiya, here's the delivery slip. Sign it."

"Wait a moment." Meiya took the slip and went to the cargo bed of the tricycle. She counted the large boxes—nine in total—and only signed after confirming that all the seals were intact.

She and Xiao Li carried two boxes inside together.

Suddenly, a customer needed to check out, so she could only hurry over to the cashier counter.

The customer before her was a pretty long-haired young woman holding a little girl.

"Can I use this benefit voucher here?"

Meiya nodded. "Yes."

"Five boxes come to 58 yuan. The benefit voucher takes off 10 yuan, so you only need to pay 48 yuan."

The payment notification sounded immediately.

Ding-dong! Payment received: 48 yuan!

"Thank you for shopping with us. I'll pack these up for you!"

By the time Meiya finished, Xiao Li had already moved all the boxes inside.

Xiao Li checked his phone and saw that it was already past eleven forty. He took a selfie in front of the store and sent it through WeChat to the Attendance Department's attendance group.

He then parked the tricycle properly and went straight to the Eel Restaurant to order an eel rice set meal.

As a company employee, he could pay for meals at the Eel Restaurant first and submit them to the Finance Department for reimbursement at the end of the month. This counted as an off-site meal allowance, though it was limited to company restaurants. If he ate an off-site meal at a non-company restaurant, he could only claim 15 yuan per meal.

Furthermore, when eating at a company restaurant, employees could only dine in. They could not take food away or waste any, but the advantage was that they could eat as much as they wanted. No matter how much a meal cost, the Finance Department would reimburse it.

Xiao Li went up to the employee-only room on the second floor.

Before long, a large box of eel rice was served.

At the next table sat a warehouse manager and a sales associate from Hai Lu Feng Gold Store, both eating there as well.

Xiao Li was not very familiar with them. After nodding in greeting, he lowered his head and started eating.

The slightly charred Unagi Kabayaki was drizzled with a secret sauce and garnished with a small pinch of chopped scallions. Beneath it was a bed of plump, fragrant Wuchang Rice, accompanied by a plate of boiled vegetables made up of snow peas, celery, and spinach, as well as a bowl of Winter Melon Rib Soup.

The set meal cost 30 yuan.

That price was on the higher side for Shanmei Urban Area, but low compared with Japanese restaurants. And on a commercial, internet-famous street like Erma Road, an eel rice set meal for 30 yuan was reasonably good value.

The gold store sales associate at the next table ate as she complained helplessly, "This eel rice is delicious, but eating it every day gets old pretty fast!"

"You're lucky to have something to eat." The warehouse manager picked up his Winter Melon Rib Soup and took a sip.

Xiao Li paused his chopsticks, smiled at the two of them, and shared a bit of company gossip. "If you want other dishes, you'll probably have to wait a while longer. The company cafeteria is experimenting with char siu and Beggar's Chicken. I've been going there to taste-test these past few days. Once they get it right, they'll probably have the Eel Restaurant start serving char siu rice and Beggar's Chicken."

"Really? That would be wonderful." The sales associate immediately beamed.

Before long, Meiya came upstairs to eat as well.

Meanwhile, Eel Restaurant and Strawberry Garden had become extremely busy.

Because noon and evening were peak hours for foot traffic on Erma Road, not only locals came to spend money—many tourists from out of town also stopped by to check the place out.

Several tourists from Guangzhou seemed to have come after seeing videos online.

"Do you have any seats available?"

"There are still seats on the second floor."

The female tourist carrying a handbag turned around. "Honey, go upstairs and order. I want to buy some strawberries to try."

"Alright! Hurry up."

The female tourist walked straight through the side door from the first-floor lobby of Eel Restaurant and arrived at Strawberry Garden. The interiors of the two shops were actually connected.

The furnishings in Strawberry Garden were very simple: just two rows of refrigerated display cases, several refrigerators, and a cashier counter.

Boxes upon boxes of strawberries filled the display cases.

"Can we sample them?"

Xiaojing, who was filling in for Meiya, took out a box of strawberries. "Of course. These are Vanilla Strawberries."

As she spoke, she washed them and cut them into four pieces.

At that moment, several other customers walked over as well.

"Does your shop only sell strawberries?"

Xiaojing replied with a smile, "These strawberries come from our company's self-operated farm. Everyone, please have a taste."

The female tourist picked up a piece of Vanilla Strawberry with a toothpick. Before she even ate it, she could already smell its rich fragrance. Then she took a bite. "So sweet! Fragrant and sweet—and it really does have a bit of a vanilla flavor."

By then, Xiaojing had already cut up the other two varieties. "These are Cheese Strawberries, and these are Jasmine Strawberries. Everyone can try them."

"Can you make it a little cheaper?"

Xiaojing could only smile and shake her head. "Sorry, the price is set by the company. We do have a promotional offer—you can take a look."

"Twenty off for every hundred spent?"

"I have a benefit voucher from the Eel Restaurant next door. Can I use it as a discount?"

"Yes, you can."

"Then can I use the benefit voucher together with the promotional offer?"

"Yes."

One customer quickly picked out ten boxes of strawberries. "Check me out!"

"Just a moment." Xiaojing hurriedly rang up the purchase, took the benefit voucher, printed the receipt, and packed up the strawberries.

"Thank you for your purchase. Since you spent over one hundred, you'll receive an Eel Restaurant benefit voucher, which can be used for a ten-yuan discount at Eel Restaurant."

Through this method of exchanging benefit vouchers, customers who bought strawberries at Strawberry Garden would go eat at Eel Restaurant, while customers who ate at Eel Restaurant would go to Strawberry Garden to buy strawberries.

Wanting to get a little bargain was a trait shared by most people.

This was also one of the clever tactics the Marketing Planning Office had come up with for physical stores.

During the marketing process, instead of giving customers coupons for the current store's products, they gave coupons for another store. Since the two stores sold different products, customers might make another purchase just to save that little bit of money.

Through this method, the directly operated stores had only been open for a week, yet their daily revenue had already reached thirty to forty thousand yuan.