The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

"The first warm cup of tea in winter, from [Xiaoxi Cafeteria]! Order from your dorm, and we'll deliver to your room!"

In December, as the city lights begin to twinkle, the night in Yuncheng unfolds.

Yunnan Food Street is thriving.

The shops were brightly lit, and the occasional notification of a takeout order would sound, followed by the sound of stoves being lit and the rhythmic sizzling of ingredients mingling with hot oil in pots.

Over the course of a few months, many new businesses have opened on this street.

Shops that had previously posted "For Sale/Sublease" notices have all removed the relevant information.

Xinian Dumplings, oh no, it's not called that anymore.

The original signboard has been removed.

The current name is: "Yuncheng Xiaoxi Canteen Network Technology Co., Ltd."

WeChat requires that mini-programs containing e-commerce services must have enterprise qualifications before they can be listed.

So, Xu Xi suddenly had a brainwave and registered a company.

At this moment, its chairman is comfortably lying in her human-shaped cushion, drinking coffee and holding a tablet, analyzing the sales data of the past week.

Without realizing it, her eyelids began to droop slightly.

"Xiaoxi, if you're sleepy, go to bed early."

The human-shaped cushion reached out and pinched the fair and soft cheek of the girl in its arms.

"Ugh... not yet. I need to adjust the store's ranking on the mini-program homepage next week based on the sales data."

Xu Xi squinted slightly, yawned, and made a soft, sweet "ah-ba-ah-ba" sound.

"It's so annoying. I finally expanded the food delivery business to two campuses, but the school authorities demanded 60% of the profits, otherwise they wouldn't let me continue operating."

"The school cafeterias also joined in to lower prices, competing with us on price, and even organized their employees to start on-campus delivery services, stealing our business."

"Fattening up the fish before killing them! That's so unfair! My precious money... Waaaaah..."

Xu Nian could only shake her head with a wry smile at this.

He didn't know the reasons behind it, only that the team's manpower had doubled and the number of orders had doubled compared to two months ago.

But the money I earned didn't increase.

In fact, Xu Nian was already very content.

"Xiaoxi, the two of us together can earn 20,000 yuan a month, which is already pretty good."

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Your brother is already very proud of you."

Xu Xi stretched, turned around and hugged Xu Nian, burying her little head in his arms and whispering softly.

"Then brother should listen to Xiaoxi and stop helping to collect the food. From now on, stay at home obediently and let Xiaoxi take care of you~"

"Oh...it's okay. I'm used to being busy. I'm not used to having a lot of free time all of a sudden."

Xu Nian scratched his head and said awkwardly.

In fact, Xu Xi had already hired three off-campus meal collectors, so there was no need for Xu Nian to ride her electric bike back and forth through the alleys.

But he can't stay idle at all. He's fine if he rests for a day or two occasionally, but if he's idle at home for several days in a row, he feels like ants are crawling all over him.

This must be what a life of toil looks like.

It could also be said that it is a habit that has been ingrained in one's bones.

For the past ten years or so, he has had to travel around every day to make a living.

If you are idle for several days in a row, then you have lost your job.

The consequence of unemployment is hunger.

"snort!"

Xu Xi gave a light snort, clearly annoyed.

She pouted and pointed to the coffee cup next to her.

Xu Nian immediately understood what her sister meant.

He picked up his cup and took a small sip.

The bitter coffee, mixed with the rich aroma of milk, is perfectly balanced by the sugar.

The moonlight from the window shone on his face. He closed his eyes, lowered his head slightly, and pressed his lips tightly against Xu Xi's.

......

The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning, Xu Nian got up at the same time as usual.

Xu Xi was still fast asleep on the bed, snoring softly, with the tuft of hair on her head sticking up high.

Perhaps running a food delivery team is exhausting, because she's been sleeping longer and longer.

At first, I felt refreshed after sleeping for eight hours, but now even ten hours isn't enough.

Fortunately, she has no classes this morning, so she can sleep until lunchtime.

Xu Nian got dressed, covered her younger sister with a blanket, gently brushed the stray hairs off her head, went downstairs, got on her electric scooter, and began her day's work.

.....

"Pinqida Fast Food, are the five takeout orders ready?"

"Wait for me, just one minute."

"Okay, as soon as possible."

"Xiao Liang's Spicy Mixed Noodles, are your three portions ready yet?"

"Here it comes, just cooked."

"Brother Nian, I have two more servings of fried rice here, could you take them with you?"

"It's full, we can't take any more. Lin Dong and Qu Heng will come to pick it up later, they should have left by now."

The insulated box was packed full. Xu Nian closed the lid and drove towards the school gate.

After Xu Nian left, the restaurant owner whose meal he had refused to accept watched his retreating figure and frowned.

"Old Qin, how's business at your place lately?"

The owner of another restaurant walked up to him and started chatting.

"I closed 54 deals yesterday."

"Not bad, you should be able to earn three or four hundred, right?"

"Where can I find it? We're already going to get 15% of the cut, and a while ago, that Mr. Xu even gave us a notice to lower the prices and compete with the school cafeteria. I'm working hard all day and I only earn less than 200 yuan. I'm so worried."

"Sigh, it's all the same. If we don't lower the price, sales are low. If sales are low, we won't get a good ranking. If sales are even lower, we'll sell more if we lower the price, but we'll actually earn less."

"How much do you think Boss Xu earns in a month?"

"Who knows? It'll probably be at least a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand."

"Damn it, none of these capitalists are any good."

"They're definitely not good people. They talk a good game about helping us turn losses into profits, but behind our backs they're taking our money."

"Male model? Really? Who is he?"

"Just that much of a thought."

"Isn't that her brother? You idiot."

"You're the idiot! What kind of brother and sister sleep in the same bed every day, and even kiss each other?"

"Really?"

"It's true, my shop is right across from theirs, and you can see it clearly from the window at night."

"Wow! That's so exciting!"

......

"Lin, there's a meet-and-greet at school this afternoon. Would you like to come and listen in?"

"Huh? What kind of meet-and-greet is it?"

At the pavilion where the food was served, Zhao Lin nestled in Qi Yu's arms, enjoying the feeling of Qi Yu gently combing her hair with his fingers.

Although his technique was somewhat clumsy.

"That's right, some teachers from the Yuncheng Writers Association will be coming to our school for an offline meet-and-greet, and they'll also be sharing some writing tips. They notified our Teachers' College, but not your Business Administration College?"

"No, are you going?"

"Hmm, wow, my writing skills are a bit lacking, so I'll take this opportunity to learn."

"Then I'll go too."

Zhao Lin nodded slightly in agreement.

Qi Yu smiled and gently kissed her forehead.

"The cargo has arrived to be unloaded!"

Xu Nian's voice came from outside the fence. He parked his electric bike and took all the takeout food out of the insulated box.

"Alright!"

Qi Yu and Zhao Lin stepped forward, took the meals from the gaps in the fence, and placed them one by one in the pavilion.

"This one for Building 2, this one for Building 4, this one..."

"Brother Xu, come back here for a second!"

"What's wrong?"

Xu Nian, who had just driven a short distance, turned back after hearing the shout.

"Here's a meal from outside the school, could you go and deliver it?"

Xiaoxi Canteen not only delivers to on-campus dormitories, but also receives some off-campus orders from addresses that are relatively close to Yunnan University.

These orders are extremely rare, occurring only once every few days on average.

Whenever this happens, off-campus meal delivery workers like Xu Nian are needed to deliver the food.

"Okay, I understand."