The official Weibo account of Sweet's Gourmet Shop had amassed around two thousand followers, all of them genuine. Previously, Bai Jingyang had thought the number was a bit low. But this time, he didn't make a hasty decision. Instead, he asked Yuan Tiantian if they should buy some followers, only to be firmly rejected. In Yuan Tiantian's view, her gourmet shop had no need for such dishonest tactics.
Approximately one - third of these followers were people who had dined at the shop or had friends who had. The rest were food enthusiasts or followers of food bloggers, like the fans of Han Jun. Generally speaking, they were highly engaged. Even those who hadn't eaten there yet were eager to do so.
With the new approach of letting followers customize the daily menu, a large number of followers immediately got involved. Bai Jingyang noticed that shortly after the Weibo post went live, there were numerous comments.
"Looks like this method works," Bai Jingyang said proudly.
Yuan Tiantian saw Bai Jingyang showing off the many comments from followers participating in menu customization. She couldn't help but smile. It was good that it worked, as she felt like she had exhausted all her brain cells trying to come up with new menu items recently.
"Boss, there are new dishes today!"
At around nine o'clock, Li Qing arrived with the day's fresh produce: asparagus lettuce!
This was great news. Yuan Tiantian was quite fond of asparagus lettuce, and she was pleasantly surprised to see Li Qing bringing it.
"These asparagus lettuces are huge!"
Bai Jingyang also came out to help. There was a large amount of vegetables on Li Qing's tricycle. Usually, with Sheng Jing and Bai Ying helping to unload, it would take at least three trips. Bai Jingyang couldn't help but exclaim when he saw the "giant" asparagus lettuces.
They were indeed big, about forty centimeters long and as thick as an average adult woman's arm, like Yuan Tiantian's slender and slightly chubby one.
"Are they too old?"
Bai Jingyang's suspicion irritated Li Qing.
"Old? We dug them out as soon as they were ripe. You young folks don't know, so don't talk nonsense."
Bai Jingyang scratched his head awkwardly. He was just making a casual remark and didn't dare to say anything more. After delivering the vegetables, Li Qing had a private chat with Yuan Tiantian about the produce.
"Boss, Li Mu asked me to tell you that the vegetables on the mountain are growing extremely vigorously. There's a large surplus after supplying your shop every day. He wants to know what you plan to do. If we let them keep growing, they'll get old and won't taste good."
This was indeed a problem. Yu Yongqing had informed Yuan Tiantian through Lu Yong yesterday that they had rented two stores in City B and City H respectively. They were already going through the formalities, and the stores were expected to open in about a week. However, the first - crop vegetables on the mountain would surely get old in this week.
Yuan Tiantian knew they needed a solution. But for now, she decided to have Li Mu and the others harvest the vegetables first.
"Tell Uncle Li and the others to harvest all the ripe vegetables and send them to my shop. I'll figure out what to do with them."
Li Qing nodded quickly upon receiving Yuan Tiantian's answer. He hopped on his tricycle and pedaled back towards the mountain.
"Bai Jingyang, I have something to ask you."
Yuan Tiantian entered the shop and saw Bai Jingyang. She wondered if this rich kid had any relatives or friends who might be interested in the mountain vegetables. She was just giving it a shot, but to her surprise, Bai Jingyang got excited as soon as she explained the situation.
"Boss, I've been wanting to ask if these vegetables were for sale! But I didn't dare to say anything before because I saw you using them all up."
Yuan Tiantian was taken aback for a moment and then smiled.
"Yes, they're for sale this week. After that, if you want to buy them, go to General Manager Yu. We've jointly opened a vegetable store that only sells the fresh produce from my source."
Bai Jingyang slapped his thigh.
"That's great! The vegetables have tasted really good recently. Even someone like me who doesn't usually like vegetables thinks they're amazing!"
Yuan Tiantian smiled on the surface but thought to herself, of course they're good. They're grown in such special soil.
From morning to afternoon, Li Qing made five trips to deliver vegetables. Due to the large quantity, Yuan Tiantian had Sheng Jing sell the vegetables on - site. However, since the price was not low, only a few diners took some away, and there was still a large amount left. Fortunately, it was a cloudy day without the sun, or the vegetables outside would have wilted quickly.
After lunch, Bai Jingyang took away a significant amount of vegetables. As he put it, he was sending them to his aunts, uncles, and three friends. He ended up taking half of the day's supply. He even called a courier and had them packed and mailed on - site.
The courier was puzzled when he saw this, especially when he heard Bai Jingyang and Yuan Tiantian calculating the cost. He couldn't help but think, are these rich people just wasting their money?
When Yun Feng saw the courier, he thought of some old friends and bought about half of the remaining vegetables. He also asked the courier to pack and ship them.
The courier was completely speechless. He began to wonder if Sweet's Gourmet Shop was running some kind of "pyramid scheme."
Taking advantage of Yuan Tiantian going inside to get something, the courier quickly pulled Bai Jingyang aside.
"Dude, are you guys being scammed?"
The vegetables did look great, green, fresh, and much larger than most on the market. The courier suspected they might be hormone - treated. Bai Jingyang burst out laughing and then patted the courier on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. After we're done, I'll treat you to a meal, and you'll understand."
Sure enough, all of the courier's doubts vanished after he tasted the meal Bai Jingyang treated him to.
Today's dishes included stir - fried asparagus lettuce slices with eggs, braised pork with asparagus lettuce, and garlic - flavored lettuce. Bai Jingyang ordered all the dishes that used these ingredients for the courier. Before the food was even on the table, the aroma from the kitchen, especially the unique fragrance of the braised pork with asparagus lettuce, made his mouth water.
As soon as the dishes were served, the courier couldn't wait to pick up a piece of asparagus lettuce and a piece of pork from the braised pork with asparagus lettuce. The moment the food entered his mouth, he was stunned.
"This is so delicious!"
In just a second, he started chewing rapidly. The asparagus lettuce was tender but not mushy, and it wasn't too tough either. There were no fibrous strings, and it had a wonderful fragrance. The half - fat, half - lean pork belly was soaked in the rich sauce, fatty but not greasy. The combination with the asparagus lettuce made it even more delicious.
The stir - fried asparagus lettuce slices with eggs and garlic - flavored lettuce also completely changed the courier's perception of vegetables. He realized that truly delicious vegetables could be just as good as meat.
"This is it! No wonder you guys are going crazy buying these expensive vegetables!" The courier gave a thumbs - up and couldn't help but sigh.
Bai Jingyang smiled. That was right. Sweet's Gourmet Shop always knew how to win over customers!