Universe Infinite Canteen

"Little Brother Yang, how many did you sell the first time you set up a stall?" Ma Lu asked curiously.

"I remember it was like 5 portions, I think. I heard the auntie selling egg waffles next door say that it was a pretty good result for a newbie. Then I ate two portions myself, and I had to dump the rest because I was worried they would go bad overnight. So, that day, I ended up with a loss of more than three hundred yuan."

"When I got back, I told my dad to stop bothering me. I said I could live off him just lying around, and if I really tried to be successful, he might have to sell the house. As a result, he flew into a rage and gave me a beating."

Little Brother Yang curled his lips, "So you guys are planning to sell fried meat pies, huh? Are you in such a hurry to get plastic bags from me because you're planning to set up shop today?"

"We decided to try a trial operation and see how it goes," Ma Lu said.

"How many portions of ingredients did you prepare?"

"One hundred and fifty."

"......"

Little Brother Yang opened his mouth, about to say something, when Old Wang's voice came from the kitchen, "It's ready."

Ma Lu got up, carried out the freshly fried Fried Jackal Meat Cakes, and placed them in front of Little Brother Yang.

Little Brother Yang sniffed a couple of times and muttered, "Smells pretty good."

After he finished speaking, he picked up the chopsticks, clamped a meat pie, and his face changed the moment he took a bite, "Hot... Why is there so much juice in here?!"

Even though he said that, he didn't spit it out. Grimacing, he continued to gnaw on it.

"Don't rush, don't rush, it's all yours, no one's fighting you for it," Ma Lu hurriedly said.

In just half a minute, Little Brother Yang had wolfed down one meat pie, then even ate the side dishes on the plate, and looked up, "Another one!"

Ma Lu was somewhat troubled, "The rest are meant to be sold."

Without wasting words, Little Brother Yang immediately took out his phone, slammed it on the table, "I'll scan you, how much?"

"18 yuan each."

"How much?" Little Brother Yang was taken aback, "Your meat pie is only half the size of a palm, isn't that a bit pricey?"

"So, are you willing to buy it?"

Little Brother Yang thought for a moment, silently brought up the payment page, and Ma Lu completed his first sale of the day.

Looking at the extra 18 yuan in his WeChat account, Ma Lu felt exhilaratingly refreshed.

It seemed that setting up a stall wasn't so difficult after all – he hadn't even started and had already begun making money.

After seeing off Little Brother Yang, Ma Lu checked his watch, 11:25, just in time for lunch, and Old Wang had already finished processing all the ingredients.

So, without further ado, Ma Lu swept his hand grandly, "Let's go, off to make money at the stall!"

The two men loaded up all the kitchen utensils and ingredients they needed onto the tricycle and then set off without any delay.

Even though Ma Lu had never set up a stall before, he knew the importance of choosing the right location for a snack stall.

It's a very simple principle: a place with more foot traffic will undoubtedly sell better than one with less.

So before leaving home, Ma Lu had already made up his mind to set up shop beneath office buildings.

12 o'clock is precisely when most companies take their lunch break, and at that time, a large number of hungry office workers would stream out of the buildings, wandering around like zombies looking for food nearby, which would be the perfect opportunity for the Fried Jackal Meat Cakes to shine.

However, as soon as Ma Lu arrived near the first office building, a security guard came over and warned, "You can't set up a stall here!"

Seeing this, Ma Lu didn't argue and quickly turned the handle of his cart, heading to the next location.

10 minutes later, he arrived at the next street over. There were plenty of office buildings here as well, but more importantly, there were a number of small stalls by the roadside that seemed to be unmonitored by security.

So Ma Lu parked and was about to set up his stall when suddenly the elder brother who sold smoked meat pancakes came over from the opposite side.

"Go set up somewhere else."

"Huh?"

"We've already claimed this spot."

Ma Lu looked around, "But there's still quite a bit of empty space, isn't there?"

"Go set up somewhere else, or it will affect our business," the sister selling lunch boxes interjected.

Ma Lu then looked at the old lady selling rice balls on the other side, the couple making mini-burgers, even the guy selling lemon tea, who had no competition with him... all their looks seemed somewhat hostile.

Ma Lu immediately understood he had encountered a local monopoly. Arguing was pointless; the vendors here had united against outsiders, and it was possible even the nearby security guards were on their payroll.

Ma Lu took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offered one, "Brother, let us join in, too. We'll just sell for one hour, and we'll leave right after that hour, never to come back here again."

The elder brother selling smoked meat pancakes didn't accept the cigarette, but his expression softened. They had put in a lot of effort to sell here and didn't want outsiders to take advantage without contributing.

Just yesterday afternoon, two college students who wanted to sell fruit juice here were forcefully driven away by them. A verbal altercation broke out, resulting in a loud quarrel. Not only did it upset everyone, but it also wasted a lot of their business time.

In contrast, although Ma Lu also appeared quite young, he seemed much more savvy. However, the elder brother selling the smoked meat pancakes still shook his head, "No, we've all agreed not to add more people."

After a pause, he added, "But you can go two more blocks down the road. There's a subway entrance there with pretty good foot traffic. I used to set up there before."

"Alright, thank you," Ma Lu responded.

Guessing that it would probably be difficult to find a spot near the office buildings at noon, Ma Lu reluctantly decided to try his luck near the subway entrance instead.

If that didn't work out, he would have to resort to the sad tale of Old Wang, whose family had fallen apart and who had gone out of his mind.

Fortunately, there were no more hitches near the subway entrance. The other vendors selling different items were quite polite, and some even came over to help Ma Lu and Old Wang set up—among them was a man with a Henan accent.

While helping out, he didn't forget to livestream on his phone, "Fam, today a new member joins the Guo's Village Stall Alliance, a handsome young guy with his... dad?"

"Roommate," Ma Lu corrected, as he opened the pack of cigarettes and offered one to the helpful man.

"Wow, jackpot, this lil' bro looks like someone who's in for big things."

The man accepted the cigarette and continued speaking to his phone, "See that, fam? Whatever you do, you gotta be smart about things. Society is just like a jianghu, a hero needs his gang, and even Yang Guo needed his eagle."

While he was talking, Ma Lu glanced at his phone and saw that the online viewer count was only 67. He then saw the name of the livestream—Zen Life.

Hard to judge.

But the brother was genuinely enthusiastic. After helping out, he offered to take care of Ma Lu's business on his first day to welcome him—until he heard that a small Jackal Meat Pie cost 18 yuan, and his expression changed slightly. He didn't mention it again and returned to his small stall selling Buddha bead bracelets, continuing his chat with his online family.

Ma Lu attached the printed A4 paper to the sign, while on the other side, Old Wang started to heat up the oil.

Everything was ready; now all they needed were the customers.