Infinite Cosmic Cafeteria Chapter 15: Location Selection

Translator: Stellar Novels Editor: Stellar Novels

"Brother Yang, how many portions did you sell on your first day setting up a stall?" Ma Lu asked curiously.

“I think it was about 5 portions. The aunt selling egg waffles next door said that was a decent result for a newbie. I ate two portions myself, and the rest, fearing they’d spoil overnight, I had to throw out. So, my profit that day was minus more than 300 yuan.

“When I got back, I told my dad to stop messing with me. As long as I stayed home, he could afford to support me. But if I really tried to be ambitious, he might have to sell the house. He got furious and beat me up.”

Brother Yang smirked, “So you guys are planning to sell Fried Meat Patties, huh? Asking for plastic bags in such a hurry, are you planning to set up a stall today?”

“We decided to have a trial run,” Ma Lu said.

“How many portions did you prepare?”

“One hundred and fifty.”

“...”

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, brought out the freshly fried Jackal Patties, and placed them in front of Brother Yang.

Brother Yang sniffed a couple of times, muttering, “Smells pretty good.”

With that, he picked up chopsticks, grabbed a patty, and after taking a bite, his expression changed. “Hot… why’s it so juicy inside?!”

Despite his complaints, he didn’t spit it out; he kept chewing, grimacing and eating at the same time.

Ma Lu quickly said, “Don’t rush, don’t rush, it’s all yours. No one’s going to take it from you.”

In less than half a minute, Brother Yang devoured the patty and even ate the side dishes on the plate. He looked up and said, “One more!”

Ma Lu hesitated, “The rest are meant to be sold.”

Without another word, Brother Yang pulled out his phone and slapped it on the table, “I’ll scan your code. How much?”

“18 yuan each.”

“How much?” Brother Yang was taken aback. “Your patty is only half the size of a palm; isn’t that a bit pricey?”

“Do you want to buy it?”

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

Seeing 18 yuan added to his WeChat account, Ma Lu felt invigorated.

Turns out setting up a stall isn’t that hard—he hadn’t even officially started, and he was already making money.

After seeing Brother Yang off, Ma Lu glanced at the clock. It was 11:25, just about lunchtime, and Old Wang had finished preparing all the ingredients.

Without further ado, Ma Lu waved his hand, “Let’s go, time to make some money with our stall!”

The two of them loaded all the necessary cooking tools and ingredients onto the tricycle and eagerly set off.

Although Ma Lu had never set up a stall before, he knew the importance of location for a food stall.

It’s a simple and obvious rule: places with high foot traffic are always better for sales than places with fewer people.

So, before heading out, Ma Lu had already decided to set up near office buildings.

12 o’clock is when most companies have lunch breaks, and a large number of hungry office workers will pour out of the buildings, wandering nearby like zombies looking for food. It would be the perfect time for the Fried Jackal Patties to shine.

However, as soon as Ma Lu arrived near the first office building, a security guard immediately approached and warned, “No stalls allowed here!”

Seeing this, Ma Lu didn’t argue; he simply turned his tricycle around and headed to the next location.

Ten minutes later, he arrived at the next street, which also had several office buildings. More importantly, there were many small stalls along the roadside, and it seemed like there were no security guards around.

Ma Lu parked and was about to set up his stall when the man selling smoked meat pancakes across the street suddenly walked over.

"Go set up somewhere else."

“Hm?”

“We’ve already taken this spot.”

Ma Lu looked around. “But there’s still plenty of empty space, isn’t there?”

“Go somewhere else, or you’ll affect our business,” the lady selling boxed lunches added.

Ma Lu glanced at the others: the old lady selling rice balls, the couple making mini burgers, even the guy selling lemon tea, which didn’t compete with him at all—they all looked at him with unfriendly eyes.

Ma Lu quickly understood that he’d run into a territory issue. There was no point in arguing; the vendors in this area had joined forces to keep outsiders away, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they had even bribed the nearby security.

Ma Lu pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed it over. “Hey, brother, let us join in, okay? We’ll just sell for an hour and then leave. We won’t come back again.”

The man selling smoked meat pancakes didn’t take the cigarette, but his expression softened. They had worked hard to secure their spot here and didn’t want outsiders taking advantage. Just yesterday, two college students had tried to set up a juice stall here but were chased away by the group, resulting in a heated argument that wasted a lot of time and energy.

Though Ma Lu looked young, he clearly knew how things worked. Still, the man shook his head and said, “No can do. We’ve agreed not to let anyone else join.”

After a pause, he added, “But you can go two blocks ahead; there’s a subway entrance there. It gets decent foot traffic. I used to set up there.”

“Got it, thanks a lot.”

Ma Lu figured it would be tough to find a spot near the office buildings around noon, so he decided to give the subway entrance a try.

If that didn’t work, he’d have to tell Old Wang’s tragic story of being separated from his family and losing his mind to gain some sympathy.

Luckily, they didn’t run into any more trouble at the subway entrance. The other vendors nearby were quite friendly. When they saw Ma Lu and Old Wang setting up, one man even came over to lend a hand. He spoke with a Henan accent and was live-streaming on his phone.

As he helped, he narrated to his audience, “Hey family, today we’ve got a new member joining the Guo Family Village street food team. A handsome young guy and his... dad?”

“Roommate,” Ma Lu corrected, handing the man a cigarette from the pack.

“Right, absolutely right. You can tell this young guy’s going places,” the man said, taking the cigarette and speaking to his phone, “See, family, no matter what you do, you have to know how to handle things. Society is like a martial world; a good man always has a few friends. Even Yang Guo needed a Condor.”

(Translator's Note: Reference to Legend of the Condor Heroes)

While the man spoke, Ma Lu glanced at his phone. The top right corner showed 67 viewers, and the stream was titled “Zen Life.”

It was hard to say what to make of it.

But the guy was genuinely helpful. After assisting, he even said he’d help Ma Lu’s business on his first day and welcome him. However, when he heard that one small meat patty cost 18 yuan, his expression shifted, and he didn’t mention it again. He went back to his stall selling Buddhist bracelets, continuing his chat with his viewers.

Ma Lu stuck the printed A4 paper onto the sign, and on the other side, Old Wang had already started heating the oil.

Everything was ready; all they needed now were customers.

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