Chen Yu rubbed Tuan Tuan's little head.
"Tuan Tuan, you really were Daddy's hero today! Haven't you always wanted to eat the spicy chicken from that place on the east street corner? Let's go now!"
"Yay, long live Daddy!"
After cheering, Tuan Tuan very obediently began to help Chen Yu tidy up the food cart.
This had almost become a habit for Tuan Tuan, as Fang Yuan had been busy filming for years, and Chen Yu managed everything at home.
Whenever Chen Yu did the housework, Tuan Tuan always came over to help out diligently, and it had become a habit over time.
After filtering the waste oil, cleaning the workbench meticulously, and thoroughly sweeping the entire food cart, Chen Yu finally took off his rubber gloves with satisfaction.
[Congratulations to the host for a perfect end to a day's business; reward: contact information for all ingredient suppliers.]
Chen Yu was slightly surprised; it seemed that he wouldn't be able to get the suppliers' contact information if he didn't clean up the food cart thoroughly.
Truth be told, today's ingredients could be considered top-notch, and if Chen Yu had to find the raw materials himself, he probably wouldn't be able to find ones this good.
At this moment, his phone had a few new phone numbers added to it.
"Let's go quickly, Daddy, or they'll be closing up soon! Oh, we have to print out the payment code too. I'm so tired from receiving payments on the phone all day!"
It was already ten o'clock at night, and except for a few 24-hour fast-food restaurants, almost all the shops on the street had closed.
Fortunately, there was a print shop not far from them that hadn't closed yet.
After printing and copying the payment code, Chen Yu took Tuan Tuan to a small Sichuan restaurant.
After ordering two servings of spicy chicken over rice, Chen Yu started making phone calls.
"Flour at three yuan per pound, one hundred pounds per bag, right? Bring me ten bags at four o'clock tomorrow morning!"
"Sweet potatoes, mix of purple and regular, at five yuan per pound, bring me two hundred pounds at four o'clock tomorrow morning!"
"Original sesame seeds at ten yuan per pound, bring me one hundred pounds at four o'clock tomorrow morning."
"White sugar, brown sugar, both at two yuan per pound, bring me one hundred pounds of each at four o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Pure mineral water at ten yuan per barrel, bring me ten, um, barrels at four o'clock tomorrow morning!"
The raw materials Chen Yu bought were double what the system had provided on the first day.
After all, the initial stock of ingredients had sold out in just half a day.
At this time, the Sichuan restaurant wasn't busy, and although Chen Yu's voice wasn't loud, everyone could hear him clearly.
The restaurant owner served the rice and then sat down beside them as if he were an old acquaintance.
"Buddy, you sell breakfast fried pastries, right? Your ingredients are too expensive. Let me tell you a place where you can get flour for just one yuan per pound, which could double your profits!"
Chen Yu just smiled and showed no interest in engaging further with the owner.
Flour for one yuan per pound would undoubtedly be of inferior quality, and buying it would only detract from the quality of his fried pastries.
"Uncle Boss, my daddy doesn't sell just any ordinary fried pastries! We can't be so casual with the choice of ingredients. Flour that cheap must be fake," Tuan Tuan piped up assertively.
If anyone else had said that, the owner would certainly have been furiously embarrassed, as that was the kind of flour he used in his restaurant.
But Tuan Tuan's voice wasn't just sweet; he also looked cute, and even the fiercest-looking person would be disarmed by his charm.
"Ah, but in business, you've got to consider profits first! No matter how well you make the fried pastries, they're still just going to taste the same, no big difference."
No sooner had the owner finished speaking than Tuan Tuan spit out the spicy chicken he had just put into his mouth.
"It's so yucky, not even as good as the pastries my daddy makes! It never used to taste this bad."
The owner was less than pleased at that.
"Little sister, you can't just say anything you like, my spicy chicken is the most famous on this whole street!"
Tuan Tuan pouted, "It's really not as good as the fried cakes my dad makes. If you don't believe me, you can try them tomorrow morning at the mobile food cart on the next street over!"
"Alright, Tuan Tuan, that's not polite! Finish eating quickly and go home, you have school tomorrow!"
With a soft chide, Chen Yu wolfed down a plate of rice covered in meat. He was indeed tired after a long day.
Tuan Tuan didn't talk anymore, but she really couldn't eat any more of the spicy chicken rice, so she called the owner to pack it to take away.
The hard times from her childhood made Tuan Tuan reluctant to waste anything.
"Hmph, despising my rice yet still wanting to take it away! It's just selling fried cakes, what's so great about that? I'll try it out tomorrow. If it's not good, I'll smash up your shop."
Chen Yu didn't even pay attention to the owner, simply taking Tuan Tuan back to their food cart.
After settling Tuan Tuan in the only room of the food cart, Chen Yu quickly straightened up the driver's seat and lay down.
The partition between the driver's seat and the room was not very thick; any noise could be clearly heard, and there was also a small window the size of a head.
"Tuan Tuan, do you miss mom?" Chen Yu suddenly asked.
"No, I hardly ever saw her!"
Chen Yu didn't know what to say, after all, it was her mother.
"Dad, I still think Teacher Tong Ya is very nice. You're so handsome and now we have our own business, I bet you could win her over!"
"You child! Go to sleep quickly! You have school tomorrow, right?"
...
At four in the morning, there was a loud knock on the door of the food cart.
A few cars, as if they had arranged it beforehand, parked outside the cart.
"Boss, your goods have arrived, time to unload!"
Chen Yu hurried out of the cart and after he settled the vendors and their goods, he washed his face and rolled up his sleeves to start working.
However, the noise had awoken Tuan Tuan.
"Dad, you're up so early? I'll come help!"
Chen Yu, feeling helpless, didn't force Tuan Tuan to continue sleeping; she would have been woken up by his noise eventually.
"Boss, you're finally setting up. We've been waiting all night, come on, come on, I'll order a hundred right off!"
A youth who had spent the night at an internet café emerged with dark circles under his eyes, clearly having heard the cart.
"Alright, but I just opened up, you'll have to wait about twenty minutes!"
"Ah! That long? That's enough time for a game!"
The youth hesitated for a moment, then made a call.
"You guys go ahead and play! Don't wait for me, I'm going to wait here for fried cakes!"
"What? Are they the same fried cakes from last night? Then I'm not playing either, I'll be right over."
Before long, the youths who were at the internet café the night before swarmed the place, making the owner worried that someone was stealing his business, so he hurried over.
"Oh boy, boss, your fried cakes smell so good, no wonder these monkeys aren't even going to the net anymore! Give me fifty as well!"
Seeing so many people from the get-go, Tuan Tuan was also excited and quickly grabbed the printed payment code sign and got off the cart.
"Scan the code, pay the money, choose your flavor, everything's right here!"