Chapter 176

"Maybe the other side isn't that big, and we still have the customer base and repeat customers we've built up since we opened earlier, so we shouldn't be able to lose, right?..." Li Xue wiped her tears with a tissue, heartbroken, then blew her nose: "But who knew he'd suddenly become so popular!!" "They stole all our customers in just one day, waaaaaah...!" Li Xue cried loudly, causing Xia Fen, who was standing beside her, to also cry. The once energetic and vibrant girl couldn't help but feel a deep sense of powerlessness. How could someone happily make money for a few days only to suffer a Waterloo? Wasn't she working hard from dawn till dusk just to earn that six thousand yuan to earn some money for her wife or husband to sell themselves?... Now a competitor had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Forget about commissions and bonuses; now, even whether the shop could stay open was a question! The first day of the new year was supposed to be a holiday, a good day when everyone didn't have to work or go to school and could celebrate New Year's Day at home. But... but... Thinking of this, Xia Fen couldn't help but cry even louder, as if she could already see her surroundings and several 648s leaving her. Xia Fen, with her watery eyes wide open, reached out and grabbed Hua Xin's hand: "Sister Xin Hua... waaaaah...!" "What should we do...?" "Yesterday, only four people came to the store to pet the cats all day... The rest of them went to the store across the street... " "That's four people! We can't even make back the money from the cat food! "Revolver and Tank are almost starving cat food, aren't they?..." And, Sister Xin Hua's little hands are so smooth and soft? Could it be that she held hands with her brother with this hand yesterday? Thinking of this, Xia Fen suddenly felt much better. She wiped away her tears, then subtly withdrew her hand, giving the girl beside her a furtive, ambiguous look. No wonder her brother was happier than she was when she came back that day, even more so than when she cleared the Elden Ring without taking any damage... cough cough. Xia Fen imagined Xia Yan and Hua Xin secretly doing that kind of thing together in the small room... Wow! That's too exciting! She suddenly raised her head, her heart warming up and her nose getting a little sore. She didn't know if it was snot or nosebleed. But coincidentally, when she raised her head, she saw the bustling cat cafe across the street. The endless stream of people... Xia Fen's just-recovering heart was dealt another heavy blow... Let's keep crying. Hua Xin looked at Li Xue and Xia Fen, who were wailing, and didn't know what to say for a moment. She herself looked melancholy. Ah... life... Salary. Six thousand yuan. My savings for my funeral. New Year's. Meat. Dried fish... all gone! Waaaaaah!!! I can't go out with Chun Qiu to catch mice for New Year's, can I?... I wonder if Chun Qiu, now so fat, can still run. The girl smiled, but her face was filled with misery. She hadn't expected that after only two days off and a day out with Xia Yan, her hometown and her savings would be stolen. Hua Xin leaned back in her chair, tilting her head. Through the transparent glass, she could see the huge crowd at the entrance of the " Hachimi " cat cafe across the street. It was a stark contrast to the quietness of the shop inside. Wait a minute. If a newly opened shop is this popular... there must be a reason, right?... How could a new shop with no foundation suddenly be doing better and attracting more customers than them? "People? Judging from the other side, they don't seem like the type to have a chain or franchise business... Why?" The girl's eyes suddenly sharpened, as if she had grasped some important clue. Her unfocused gaze instantly turned thoughtful. If she added sunglasses and a pipe, Hua Xin could probably cosplay a gender-swapped Sherlock Holmes. "Alright, alright..." "Things aren't as serious as you think..." Shan Qing came out of the kitchen, wiping the cups in his hands with a helpless expression as he spoke softly. Facing the wailing Li Xue and Xia Fen, he was genuinely at a loss for words. Knowing Li Xue's debuffs, he had already prepared for the shop to fail on the very first day. To this end, Shan Qing had several business plans, all more or less in areas that Li Xue was interested in, and he had clearly planned for the subsequent funding and location issues. If this doesn't work, there's always another one. If the cat cafe doesn't work, there's always the dog cafe, or the mouse cafe. In short, everything can still be worked on. But if you ask Shan Qing why he's so skilled and full of confidence in the future, you probably haven't experienced what it means to have such dramatic ups and downs... In the years since Li Xue's first, second, third, and fourth business failures, Shan Qing has become accustomed to the rollercoaster mentality of "you won't be cursed as long as you don't do cursed things," yet Li Xue never gives up on her business ventures only to fail again. He wasn't without suspicion that they might have some kind of nemesis, that they would open the same shop right across from each other, and he even secretly investigated. But the final result was... it was all just a coincidence. There are all sorts of "holy bodies" in this world, like the Civil Engineering Holy Body, the Live Streaming Holy Body, the FPS Holy Body. And Li Xue is probably the "opening a shop across from her will be a success" Holy Body. "There's a cat in the cat cafe across the street that's an internet celebrity with hundreds of thousands of followers." "I secretly went to scout out the enemy yesterday afternoon." Shan Qing put down his cup and said helplessly. "Internet celebrity cat!" " Hua Xin seemed to have triggered a keyword, and Shan Qing's words brought back the important points she had just thought of. Right! As a new store, there must be something to attract customers. But the girl hadn't expected it to be the internet celebrity cat... stolen? Or...? Hua Xin instantly rubbed her cheeks hard, her eyes filled with regret. How could she have thought of such a hellish idea? Forgive me, forgive me, Amitabha, God bless, Amen, Xuanhuang Fusheng Tianzun..." The girl closed her eyes and sincerely repented. She couldn't lose her job at the cafeteria in heaven because of this. "?" x2. Li Xue and Xia Fen stopped crying, then stared sharply at Shan Qing. Li Xue lowered her head and stood up, then grabbed his shoulders with both hands, her eyes glistening with tears, and said in a very desolate and desperate tone: "So, even you, husband, went to give money to the other side?" "I don't want to live anymore, waaaaaaah...?" 138. Who wants to lay off my job? 3k Hua Xin twitched her lips. To be honest, this was the first time she had seen Li Xue looking so lost and helpless... This was completely opposite to her previous confident and assertive demeanor. Actually, this was normal. No matter how strong a girl is usually, she is very vulnerable when she is sad and doesn't know what to do. Naturally, she also hopes to be protected and have someone to rely on. Based on her memories of those anime and novels, "assertive" heroines are often eventually conquered by a gentle and, in some way, even more "assertive" male lead. But for some reason... a very gentle and handsome face appeared in the girl's mind. Uh? Hua Xin silently moved Xia Yan's shrimp-headed face from