After finishing my work at the site, the car drove back to a familiar neighborhood. I opened the door of the rental house and saw my roommate Su Yan coming out of the kitchen with a glass of water.
"Xiao Yu is working the night shift today?" I asked casually.
Su Yan looked at me strangely: "Yeah, she didn't tell you?"
After saying that, she seemed to have remembered something, and smiled slightly awkwardly, "You all broke up and became a bit unfamiliar?"
Su Yan quickly changed the topic and looked at her. He glanced at me: "You came back so early today? You don't have to go to the evening rush hour?"
I changed my shoes and responded vaguely, "It's a new site. I've been mainly connecting to the new platform and busy with other things these days."
I didn't mention being the webmaster, so I just walked over to my room.
When Su Yan heard this, she immediately stopped me: "You changed jobs? How much did your salary increase?"
Wang Qiuya hadn't discussed the salary with me in detail yet, so I responded vaguely: "It hasn't been much, it's about the same as before."
"New job, new atmosphere, you must treat me to dinner tonight!"
I didn't eat either, so I was too lazy to talk to her: "Then you order takeout, and I'll pay for it."
The takeout didn't arrive that quickly. After I finished speaking, I took a change of clothes and turned around and entered the bathroom.
After the hot water came down, the nerves that had been tense all day relaxed a little.
I was thinking about the website randomly. It was my first time as a webmaster, and I didn’t know if I could control people.
I know those delivery boys, especially those who are single, as long as they say a few words to them, they will stop working.
The most stable ones are those like the Li family and his son, who have goals and want to buy a house and marry a wife, and they will work hard
When I turned off the faucet, I vaguely heard the doorbell ringing outside.
When I wiped my hair and walked out of the bathroom, I saw Su Yan sitting cross-legged in front of the coffee table, unpacking several takeaways.
"Have you finished washing? Come on, it's just been delivered."
I walked over and looked at the sumptuous takeout that was almost covering the coffee table, and couldn't help but ask: "How much did you order? Just the two of us."
"If you can't finish it, put it in the refrigerator and it won't go bad." Su Yan had already picked up a piece of salt and pepper spareribs and put it in her mouth.
Mumbling vaguely, his hands were busy unpacking another lunch box.
I looked at her posture and thought about it, forget it. Recently, for some reason, my appetite has really increased a lot. This table looks rich, maybe it’s not enough for the two of us.
Turn around and walk to the refrigerator, taking out a bottle of cold beer from it.
"Get me a bottle too!" Su Yan immediately raised her hands and shouted.
I looked back at her: "Can you drink ice tonight?" I remember she mentioned that she didn't feel well a few days ago.
"Okay, it's okay!" Su Yan seemed to be hinting to me.
We were chatting while eating, and Su Yan picked up a piece of boiled fish fillet: "How much do you think I spent for a table like this?"
I stopped my chopsticks and took a quick look at the dishes on the table based on my experience in delivering food over the years: a piece of boiled fish, a piece of salt and pepper pork ribs, and two or three stir-fried vegetables and rice.
Him made a rough estimate of the price: "One hundred and seventy-eighty, right?"
"Wrong! It's only one hundred and fifty-six! Isn't it great?" Su Yan proudly told the actual price.
"So cheap?" I was indeed a little surprised. The price was much lower than I expected.
“Hey, you don’t understand this, right? Recently, Dongge’s takeout platform is doing a big event, offering tens of billions of subsidies! I quickly grabbed a 30-yuan cash coupon and deducted it directly. Otherwise, how could it be such a good deal.”
Dongge’s takeout? Ten billion subsidies? Isn't this the platform where Zhang Guangtian is?
What a big deal. It’s obvious that he’s here to seize territory and cause trouble.
I picked up a piece of pork ribs and thought about it in my mind. "It seems that not only Taobao has tens of billions in subsidies, but other platforms are also willing to spend a lot of money."
The smell of gunpowder smoke from a food delivery war has vaguely drifted over.
“But it’s a good thing for customers, as they can buy cheaper things.” I remembered that Wang Qiuya mentioned before that this type of subsidy activity can benefit both customers and riders in the short term.
Su Yan took a sip of beer with satisfaction: "That's it! I really hope that this kind of activity can continue. I can eat delicious food and drink spicy food every day and save money!"
I looked at the sumptuous dishes on the table and thought of Zhang Guangtian's menacing subsidy offensive.
I know clearly: Behind this cheap meal is a bloody price war that no one can escape alone.
But it may not be all bad for me. Taobao has prepared 50 billion to fight this battle this time.
I can’t tell yet how much real money will flow into the pocket of me, the new webmaster, in the end.
I silently thought that if this money could be made available, the site would be able to expand rapidly, and maybe even grab more market share.
After a while, Su Yan stood up lazily after eating and drinking.
她经过我身边时，手指在我肩上轻轻一点：「我先回屋了，门没锁。」
我没接话，看着她走进房间，自己则继续坐着，打算把桌上剩的菜清扫干净。
Just after taking a few bites, the phone rang, and the name "Wang Qiuya" lit up on the screen.
I swallowed the food in my mouth and cleared my throat before answering.
"How's the site going?" The background sound on her side was a bit noisy, like in a bar.
「今天刚把桌椅电脑都弄好了，收拾得差不多。明天对接着平台系统，就可以开始招骑手，准备开工了。」
「动作再快点，我刚得到消息，别的平台补贴战已经打响了，他们现在不光抢客户，更在疯抢骑手。你那边，尽快把人手凑齐。」
"Understood." I chatted with Wang Qiuya a few more times about work matters, and then hung up the phone.
Early the next morning, I came out of Su Yan’s room and straightened my collar.
Su Yan was still wrapped in quilt and sleeping on the bed.
"You can make breakfast by yourself. I have a lot to do today, so I have to leave first." I don't know if Su Yan heard it.
After saying that, he hurriedly opened the door. As soon as he walked to the living room, he happened to bump into Lin Xiaoyu who was returning from the night shift.
"Morning." I said hello with a slight embarrassment.
"...Morning." She stepped aside to get out of the way.
I didn’t stay long, walked downstairs quickly, started the car and drove straight towards Zhang Wei’s community.
On the way, I called Zhang Wei’s number. It rang several times before being picked up.
Her sleepy voice came from the other end: "Hey...brother, what time is it now?"
I glanced at the time and said it was less than seven o'clock: "Get up quickly, I will be at the gate of the community in ten minutes."
"How can anyone go to work so early?" She wailed, which sounded like she was burying her face in a pillow.
I'll do whatever you want."
The other end of the phone was silent for a few seconds, and responded like he was resigned to his fate: "I know, I know."
She yawned hugely, "Oh, I really got on your pirate ship."
At the moment, it’s important to expand the market, and it’s all up to her to connect to the takeout system. Once the initial work is over, she will indeed be free.