Although the light was out, the mother and daughter both found it impossible to fall asleep immediately, as the sound of Mrs. Zhen tossing and turning kept coming from the darkness. Zhen Yu maintained a calm and motionless supine position. She really didn’t mean to say that hurtful comment to her mother! Zhen Yu hadn’t even thought that her mother would take the ’lack of gold jewelry’ issue to heart! Indeed, Mrs. Zhen had no gold jewelry. Not a single small ring or earring adorned her. Since Zhen Yu herself didn’t care for such things, she never thought to suggest her mother buy them. Yet, she was keenly aware of what jewelry her mother possessed. It was nothing more than a couple of pairs of silver earrings and a silver ring. She wore the ring year-round and alternated between the earrings. On a regular day, Mrs. Zhen would occasionally mention her future plans of buying gold, saving up, and keeping it to pass on to her daughter and daughter-in-law. Zhen Yu always took these comments as a joke. But she never knew that this had become a serious concern for her mother... It turned out that after being brought up poor by grandma and then harshly treated by Mr. Zhen, her mother’s heart had been so heavily wounded! Just one remark could bring her to such sorrow! Indeed! Zhen Yu sneered sarcastically in the darkness, both at Mr. Zhen and herself! At the tail end of the 90s, gold was all the rage! Which housewife didn’t wear some gold and silver? But her mother dressed so plainly... It seems she must go through with the small-scale takeout business idea! Especially since Mrs. Zhen was bored staying in the store all day doing nothing! Zhen Yu didn’t sleep the whole night, planning and running through various business scenarios in her head until she came up with a rough framework and finally fell into a deep sleep. The next day, naturally, she woke up late, had breakfast, and then left the house. "Mom, I’m going out for a bit." "Where to?" Mrs. Zhen asked worriedly. Zhen Yu had many places to go, so she picked one that Mrs. Zhen knew, "Vocational High School!" "It’s after breakfast now, can you still go for a morning run? Don’t strain your stomach!" "Don’t worry, I’m not running today!" As soon as Zhen Yu finished speaking, she was already out the door. Mrs. Zhen thought she was just going for a walk and left her be. Ever since Han Family left Qi City, Zhen Yu went to the Vocational High School’s sports field for a morning run every day. The reasons for her choice were its proximity to home and the lax supervision there, allowing her to enter with just a greeting. Today, she was here to find someone, Zhen Yan’s senior brother from the Martial Arts Hall, Wang Lin. During her morning runs, she saw him every day! Everyone was running, so naturally, they started to strike up conversations while running... Zhen Yu felt he was a decent person! Very down-to-earth! He was attending a vocational high school, but he was taking the route of a physical education student, learning martial arts, with future plans to apply to sports education universities. Today, Zhen Yu intended to talk about a partnership with him to manage the delivery side of the business. Of course, the delivery would have to be by bicycle! Luckily, the area around the campus wasn’t that big, so cycling would suffice! Zhen Yu’s initial target audience for the delivery service was all college students within the campus area. In a pre-mobile era, ordering takeout was quite difficult. And to address this issue, Zhen Yu had already come up with a solution: advanced ordering with membership-based prepaid cards! During the trial phase, Zhen Yu only planned to approach one restaurant, and that was Gu Family Dumpling House. She would consider contacting more restaurants only if this one could make a name for itself. After finding Wang Lin at the vocational high school’s basketball court, Zhen Yu didn’t specify what the matter was but led him straight to Gu Family Dumpling House. "Welcome, huh?" Gu Qing was surprised as her eyes widened. Was this new neighbor changing boyfriends? He seemed much older than her... Despite clearly noticing the girl’s expression, Zhen Yu pretended not to and asked, "Is Boss Gu here? We have something to discuss with him." "Looking for my dad? Just wait a moment!" Although Gu Qing found it strange, she glanced at Wang Lin and then turned to run into the kitchen. Wang Lin felt extremely embarrassed by the look on the opposite young lady’s face, a blush spread across his dark skin. It was incredibly awkward! He wasn’t the type to go after younger girls! This place was right next to Old Seven’s house. If Zhen Yan got the wrong idea and reported it to the master, he’d be in big trouble! "Zhen Yu..." Wang Lin started to say, "Maybe I should leave first. If there’s anything, you can tell me about it later!" Before he could finish, Zhen Yu interrupted him, "No problem! I’m here, aren’t I? What are you afraid of?" It’s precisely because you’re here that it’s scary, okay?! Wang Lin silently complained. "Dad! Someone is looking for you! It’s Aunt Cheng’s daughter from next door!" "Who? Aunt Cheng’s girl?" Mr. Gu quickly put down his work. Although puzzled, he wiped his hands on his apron and came out from the back kitchen. Upon coming out, he went straight to the point, "Zhen Yu, right? You have something to discuss with Uncle Gu?" "Yes! We have a little issue! Uncle Gu, can the three of us sit down and talk it over?" "Sure! Both of you, please sit down!" Mr. Gu swiftly pulled a chair from the nearby four-seater table and sat down first. "..." Zhen Yu sat down silently across from Mr. Gu, feeling relieved that breakfast time had just passed and it was unlikely anyone would come in at this hour. Wang Lin took a seat next to Zhen Yu, while Gu Qing stood behind her father, staring at Zhen Yu. Clearly, she too wanted to hear what was going on. "Uncle Gu, here’s the thing! I heard from my mom that customers at our game arcade would order dumplings from your place. Based on this, I came up with an idea..." The more Mr. Gu listened, the wider his eyes became. If all the students in this area were to order takeout from his place... he wouldn’t be able to handle it! "Your idea," he scratched his face, "the idea is pretty good! But," "But my place can’t handle the business of so many customers at the same time!" Gu Qing blurted out her father’s thoughts because she was getting anxious. "We can set up the menu for the next day in advance, we can even schedule a week’s worth! Each dish would have a limited number of portions, and once that’s exceeded, no more pre-orders will be accepted." "Pre-orders, huh... Let me think about it!" Wang Lin saw that Mr. Gu stopped talking and immediately asked, "What about the delivery riders you mentioned?" "We can divide them by school, and then divide further into sections within the school, recruiting a student part-time for each section! They would be responsible for the regular collection and distribution of the takeout." "The riders just need to come pick up the food at a set time and deliver it to each section’s pick-up point! We might even stagger the delivery times, like in 10-minute intervals, similar to how buses operate during the lunch rush—delivering in waves!" Finally, Mr. Gu caught on, "How do we place orders? And how do we pay?" "Prepaid cards! After students register with their real names, they can load a fixed amount upfront. Once they have a card, they can order by phone, just by providing the membership card number. After all, local landline charges aren’t expensive."