I Really Didn't Mean to Make Money

Watching the crowd of employees running toward him like madmen, Chen Mo was completely stunned.

What were these people trying to do—tear down his cafeteria?

At the window, Li Shen saw the crowd approaching and quickly turned to Wang Maonian.

“Uncle Wang, are the boxed meals ready? They’re coming.”

“They’re ready. All packed in the cardboard boxes. Thirty-one boxes of dishes, thirty-six boxes of rice.”

Wang Maonian responded quickly, speaking while placing the boxed meals onto the windowsill.

On the other side of the window, someone had already rushed over.

It was a young man. He slammed his money down on the windowsill and shouted loudly:

“Brother Shen, give me ten portions!”

“Aren’t you going to check what today’s dishes are?”

Li Shen picked up the money and counted—exactly 150 yuan. He pointed at the menu just posted on the window.

“No need to check. There’s nothing bad to eat in your cafeteria.”

Li Shen chuckled and, along with Wang Maonian, took out ten boxes of dishes and ten boxes of rice, placing them into the bag the young man brought.

But before that young man even finished, a bunch of people rushed forward behind him, waving money and shouting at the window.

“Give me two!”

“I want one!”

“I was here first! I want three!”

“Don’t f*cking push me! Brother Shen, it’s me! Give me five!”

“......”

About five or six minutes later—

Li Shen tossed the now-empty box aside and shouted at the crowd surrounding the window.

“That’s it for now. If you want more, come back tonight!”

Then he closed the window without hesitation.

Standing behind him, Chen Mo was dumbfounded watching the whole scene.

Was their boxed meal really this popular?

Li Shen, having sorted out the money he just earned from selling the meals, walked up to General Manager Chen and nervously spoke:

“Mr. Chen, I used all the money from selling the boxed meals on supplies for the cafeteria. I promise I didn’t keep a single cent.”

Chen Mo looked at Li Shen, who was trying to prove his innocence, the corners of his mouth twitching as he weakly waved his hand.

“No worries.”

What else could he do? This scheming guy was truly thinking for the company’s best interest.

At the speed those boxed meals were selling just now, thank goodness it was just leftovers. If they actually started a full boxed-meal business outside the company, who knew how much money they’d make!

Chen Mo thought silently, feeling a bit lucky.

He found a table and sat down.

Wang Maonian promptly brought over the dishes he had set aside earlier and placed them neatly on the table—six dishes in total.

“You all sit down too.”

Chen Mo glanced at the few people standing nearby and called them over.

Once everyone was seated—

He looked at Li Shen sitting across from him and said calmly:

“This boxed-meal retail plan... was it your idea?”

“Yes, Mr. Chen. But actually, Uncle Wang deserves a lot of credit too.”

Li Shen responded loyally. Sharing credit and taking blame together—this was a great chance to shine in front of Mr. Chen, and there was no way he would forget the one who had been helping him all along, Wang Maonian.

“Oh?”

Chen Mo nodded slightly, his gaze drifting between Li Shen and Wang Maonian.

These two really were giving him a hard time.

Just as he was about to speak, Li Shen opened his mouth first:

“Mr. Chen, I’ve been tracking the foot traffic of people buying our boxed meals these days. Selling 200 portions a day shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

“I was thinking, why not have Uncle Wang and the others make more? We can prepare an extra 200 boxed meals a day.”

“If we sell all 200, that’s 3,000 yuan. If we do it twice a day, that’s about 6,000 yuan daily.”

“The cafeteria’s daily expenses are only around 3,000 yuan. This way, we’d make an extra 3,000 per day.”

“In a month, not only would our employee cafeteria break even, it could even earn close to 100,000 yuan.”

Li Shen finished speaking and looked at Chen Mo expectantly.

This was the biggest business opportunity he’d discovered while selling meals.

But the key factor was that their food was delicious. And the location, right inside the industrial park, meant people didn’t have to walk far for a decent meal.

That’s why the workers in the park had really taken to it over the past few days—always complaining that thirty-something portions were just too few.

Chen Mo’s chopsticks paused mid-air as he listened to Li Shen.

In the end, he just gave up eating, put down his chopsticks, and sighed.

He hadn’t expected this scheming guy to still have a trump card hidden away.

A month of operation not only covering costs, but making nearly 100,000 yuan... That’s nearly 200,000 extra system funds!

Good thing he came over today and caught this in time.

Otherwise, this guy would’ve started running a side hustle on his own.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Mo looked at Li Shen and spoke slowly:

“Li Shen, I understand your desire to make money for the company. But you have to consider the others too. Look, if you prepare 200 more boxed meals, wouldn’t all that work fall on the cafeteria chefs?”

“Even if the company makes money, would that be fair to the cafeteria staff?”

“Mr. Chen, we don’t mind being a little busier.”

Hearing Chen Mo reach this point, Wang Maonian spoke up.

Li Shen had mentioned it to him the day before, and he’d already talked it over with the other chefs—no one objected.

After all, working in the cafeteria was much easier than working in a hotel kitchen.

Back in the hotel, they worked from morning till night, and the pay wasn’t even as good as it was here in the cafeteria. So what’s the harm in being a little busier now?

Hearing Wang Maonian speak up suddenly—

Chen Mo narrowed his eyes and turned to look at him.

Looks like that morning jog didn’t tire him out at all—he still had the energy to make 200 boxed meals.

“This is a matter of principle. The cafeteria is just a cafeteria. Your only job is to make food for company staff. So don’t even think about those 200 extra boxed meals.”

“As for the leftovers—it’s a shame to waste them. If you sell them, I won’t stop you.”

“But in the end, selling boxed meals isn’t your job.”

“So starting this month, each of the head chefs in the cafeteria will get a 1,000 yuan raise. The rest of the support staff will get a 500 yuan raise. Li Shen will get a 1,000 yuan raise too.”

“Just treat this as payment for your extra efforts.”

“Shen Rou, note this down. Notify the finance department when we get back.”

As he spoke, Chen Mo turned to look at Shen Rou.

Thinking to himself: since you guys can make money, why can’t I spend a little?

Currently, the cafeteria had five head chefs, six support staff, and two cleaners—one was Jiang Cheng’s wife, the other was the newly hired wife of Lu Pengtao’s shuttle bus driver, who just started a few days ago.

Including Li Shen, that would be over 10,000 yuan more in wages each month.

Still less than what they’d make selling boxed meals!

That won’t do.