Chapter 79: We Could Just Sell It

Most of his work these days involved just a few things: purchasing fabric and materials for the workshop and handling food supplies for the cafeteria.

Workshop materials were replenished on a regular schedule, and the cafeteria procurement was even simpler. Aunt Dong had already planned out the daily menus. Wang Maonian would estimate the required ingredients based on the menu and call the designated market vendors.

Everything would be delivered directly to the cafeteria—he didn’t need to do much of anything himself.

The only thing left for him to do was keep records of the purchase lists and receipts, compile them into a report, and send it to the company’s finance department.

So, aside from spending a bit of time learning office software, he basically had nothing else to do all day.

Now, hearing that there was another issue with the cafeteria, he perked up immediately.

“It’s not a huge issue,” Wang Maonian said. “It’s just that President Chen is worried the employees might not be getting enough to eat, so he told me to make extra of every dish.”

“I did make more, but there’s always leftovers.”

“I thought I could just make a bit less next time, but then it wasn’t enough.”

“I can’t get the portions right. To make sure everyone has enough, I have to over-prepare. But that means we’re wasting a ton of food at every meal. It’s just too wasteful.”

He sighed heavily.

Seeing all that food go to waste every day really pained him. That was all good grain, after all.

Li Shen listened and thoughtfully stroked his chin.

Waste was shameful.

It definitely shouldn’t be wasted.

But if they didn’t over-prepare, they couldn’t guarantee everyone had enough to eat.

And ensuring the workers were well-fed was absolutely essential. So the extra food was necessary.

Which meant the only issue left was how to handle the leftovers in a way that wasn’t so wasteful.

After a while in deep thought, Li Shen’s eyes lit up as he looked at Wang Maonian.

“I’ve got it—we can take the leftovers and sell them!”

“Sell them? How?”

Wang Maonian looked at him, puzzled.

“Think about it. Every afternoon and evening, there are food trucks that show up at the gate of the industrial park to sell boxed meals. We can do the same thing—take our leftovers, package them up, and sell them.”

“I used to eat those boxed meals a lot—two meat dishes and one vegetable for 13 yuan. But their containers are all segmented, and each compartment only has a small amount of food.”

“We don’t need to be that fancy. We’ll just buy a batch of disposable meal boxes, put two dishes and a serving of rice in each. Sell each for 15 yuan.”

“Fifteen? Isn’t that a bit expensive? You just said theirs are only 13 yuan for two meats and a veg. Ours is only two dishes, and you want to sell for 15? Will anyone buy that?” Wang Maonian asked worriedly.

Li Shen shook his head. “It’s not expensive at all. First, your cooking skills—you guys in the cafeteria are basically gourmet chefs. The food is way better than the food truck stuff.”

“Second, our cafeteria serves six dishes at every meal, most of them meat. So any two dishes we include will basically be two meat dishes. And then there’s the portion size. Even though the food trucks offer three dishes, each is a small compartment—nowhere near the amount we’ll put in one of our boxes. Plus, we’re giving a full box of white rice.”

“All things considered, it’s worth 15 yuan. And we’re just using up leftovers anyway, so it’s not like we’ll have a huge amount. We won’t have to worry about not selling out.”

“Even if we don’t sell all of them, there’s no loss—it’s all surplus food.”

“And the best part is, our factory finishes shifts earlier than the others. By the time our workers are done eating, employees from other factories probably haven’t even clocked out yet.”

“That gives us plenty of time to box up the leftovers.”

“Wanna give it a try?”

Wang Maonian hesitated a little. He’d never done anything like this before and didn’t know if it would work.

But like Li Shen said, they’d just be using leftovers—no loss if it didn’t work.

“Of course we should try it!” Li Shen slapped the table and stood up. “I’ll go buy the disposable boxes right now. Let’s test it out at dinner tonight and see how people respond.”

…………

“This is the place. Let’s go in.”

Wu Yu checked the office building, confirmed it with the GPS on his phone, and spoke to the two colleagues beside him.

Each of the three carried a gift box as they stepped into the building.

They took the elevator up and stopped in front of one office door.

Cangxue Games.

“So this is President Chen’s other company, huh?” Wu Yu looked around curiously, then led the other two inside.

“Hello, who are you here to see?” the receptionist asked as the three entered.

“We’re from Changfeng Clothing Factory. We’re here to see Director Wei,” Wu Yu replied.

“Oh, you’re from Changfeng?” The receptionist instantly became more polite—after all, that was President Chen’s other company, and Director Wei had been transferred from there too.

Who knew—maybe these visitors were high-ranking transfers as well.

She quickly picked up the phone and called Director Wei’s office.

A moment later, she returned to them with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, Director Wei doesn’t seem to be in his office right now. Please wait a moment—I’ll go look for him.”

“Sure, no rush.”

Wu Yu smiled.

The receptionist hurried into the company interior and made her way to the staff work area.

Sure enough, she found Director Wei sitting beside an employee, notebook in hand, jotting down notes.

She approached and quietly said, “Director Wei, there are some business reps from Changfeng Clothing Factory here to see you.”

Wei Yan raised an eyebrow—Changfeng business reps? Wu Yu, maybe?

Could it be a business problem? But if so, a phone call would’ve been enough—why come all the way here?

With that thought, he got up and followed the receptionist out.

“Hello, Director Wei!”

Wu Yu quickly greeted him as he walked out.

Wei Yan glanced at Wu Yu and then at the gift boxes in his hand. He immediately understood.

“Come on in.”

Once inside the director’s office, Wu Yu handed over the gift box.

“Master, we didn’t know what to get, so we bought some tea. Hope you like it.”

As he spoke, he signaled to his two colleagues.

They quickly handed over their own gift boxes too.

Wei Yan casually accepted the boxes and placed them on his desk, then smirked at Wu Yu.

“Not bad. You picked up the trade fast after just a little fieldwork.”

“It’s all thanks to your teachings, Master.”

Wu Yu grinned sheepishly.

“Come on, I didn’t even teach you for that long—I don’t deserve the ‘Master’ title.”

“Now tell me—what brings you here?” Wei Yan waved him off and sat back in his chair.