In the blink of an eye,
half a month had passed.
Wang Dong noticed that Lu Ran was often absent from the dormitory. Whenever she asked, he just said it was a secret,
and he couldn't tell her.
Wang Dong gave an angry huff.
A secret?
He was definitely off chasing some other girl again!
Southeast of Shrek City, near Shrek Academy,
Lu Ran and Yan Shaozhe stood in front of a three-story building.
Looking at the elegant storefront, stripped completely bare,
Lu Ran nodded.
"This is the shop the academy prepared for you. It used to be a restaurant, but when the lease expired, we chose not to renew it."
More than half of the land in Shrek City belonged to Shrek Academy.
Anyone who wanted to open a shop on its land had to sign a lease with the academy.
Aside from taxes and its own businesses,
this was one of Shrek's major sources of income.
Lu Ran looked around.
A lively crowd flowed through the commercial street, treading on the broad, hard-packed road paved with blue bricks.
Men and women passed behind them,
all dressed in fine clothes. He even spotted Shrek uniforms among the crowd.
"Let's go inside and have a look."
Yan Shaozhe said.
They pushed open the door and went in.
The hubbub outside was immediately shut out.
The shop was already empty. Reddish wood panels adorned the walls, and sunlight streamed in through the windows.
The waxed wooden floor gleamed,
while the air was filled with the warm scent of wood.
There wasn't the slightest unpleasant odor.
It was hard to imagine that this had once been a restaurant.
"The first floor is two hundred square meters,"
Yan Shaozhe said, his hands clasped behind his back.
"The second and third floors are both one hundred and seventy square meters."
After looking around,
Lu Ran and Yan Shaozhe went up to the second floor.
Ordinary homes had ceilings around two and a half to three meters high, but this shop's ceilings were at least four meters high.
Their footsteps echoed across the empty second floor.
The enormous floor-to-ceiling windows let in plenty of sunlight,
which streamed in warmly.
Across the broad road, diagonally opposite, stood a hotel. It looked to be four stories tall and was dazzlingly luxurious. Even its outer windows were gold-colored, and its storefront glittered with gold. It looked as though they wished they could pave the floors with Gold Soul Coins.
Business was good, too.
At least half the seats by the windows were occupied, and the customers were all young.
Lu Ran nodded.
"Thank you, Dean Yan."
"This location gets plenty of foot traffic. It's just what I need."
The most important things when opening a shop were location and foot traffic. Without them, business was bound to suffer.
Yan Shaozhe asked curiously,
"Xiao Ran, what exactly are you planning to sell?"
Lu Ran answered,
"Drinks."
"I want to open a beverage shop."
That was right.
Lu Ran was about to embark on the entrepreneurial venture every transmigrator had to try:
opening a Milk Tea Shop!
First of all, Lu Ran had a Small World, where he was already growing crops. Anyone with experience knew that in a situation like this,
there were two ways to make money.
The first was to grow crops and sell them directly.
The upside was that it was simple, efficient, and required little effort. The downside was that it wouldn't make much money.
The second was to process the crops before selling them.
It was a little more complicated, but it brought in more money.
Clearly, the second option was the right choice.
So the question was:
what should he make?
Brew alcohol?
He'd need a complete set of equipment and an experienced master to teach him. He'd also have to make sure no one died from drinking it, all while competing against rivals with plenty of experience...
Make canned food?
It was relatively simple, but Soul Masters didn't need it, and poor people couldn't afford it.
No one would buy it...
That was where milk tea's advantages really shone.
It appealed to a wider audience. More people drank milk tea than alcohol.
It was easy to make.
The ingredients were already available, and he could simply buy more if he ran short. They only needed a little preparation before he could make milk tea.
Storage and transportation costs were low.
It didn't matter if some ordinary ingredients spoiled.
The precious fruit Soul Beasts could be kept in a Storage Soul Tool without spoiling at all.
As for transportation, it cost next to nothing.
He could move everything with a single thought.
The technology of this era was advanced enough to produce paper cups, straws, sugar...and all the other supplies.
Lu Ran raised a hand and snapped his fingers. "Snap!"
"Squeak squeak squeak squeak!"
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
"Squeak squeak..."
In an instant, a group of tiny, adorable...white ground rats appeared on the second floor!
They had large, round ears, with a dark dotted marking at the base of each ear—the only spot of a different color on them. Their round, gleaming eyes were as deep as black gems.
They were so fluffy and adorable
that anyone looking at them would want to pet them.
"Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak!"
"Squeak squeak..."
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
They looked around with the curiosity of fox bats.
Their excited squeaks echoed across the empty second floor.
"?!"
Even Yan Shaozhe, for all his composure,
felt the corner of his eye twitch.
What was going on?!
There were more than a dozen ground rats, each reaching his knee. They stood together, looking around.
The ground rat at the front came up to his crotch.
Its ears twitched. After looking around, it met Yan Shaozhe's gaze.
"..."
"..."
Its round, black eyes were full of confusion.
It was thinking:
Why is this human staring straight at me?
Yan Shaozhe was thinking the same thing:
Why is this ground rat staring straight at me?
"..."
"..."
The man and rat stared at each other for several seconds.
In the end, Yan Shaozhe was the first to give in
and look away.
He figured he probably couldn't outstare the ground rat.
"Xiao Ran, what is this...?"
This was beyond anything he could understand. He couldn't even guess what was going on.
Lu Ran gently stroked the head of the largest ground rat.
Its fur felt smooth and soft.
"They're called Cloud Cluster Ground Rats. I ran into them in the Star Dou Great Forest. They're a clever, social Soul Beast."
Cloud Burrowing Rats mostly lived underground.
They could dig out enormous, complicated burrows, dividing them into many rooms according to their purpose, such as bedrooms and dining rooms...
They were social creatures.
And since they had to cooperate when foraging, exploring, and fighting enemies, they were clever and exceptionally good at working together.
They were gentle, cute, the right size, intelligent, and good at cooperating...
They were practically born to be shop clerks!
Perfect for the job—
Mouse Clerks.
Lu Ran said, "Rat Boss, sorry to trouble you."
"Squeak!"
Rat Boss puffed out his chest and squeaked proudly: Leave it to me, boss!
Then,
Lu Ran took out the things he'd prepared in his Soul Tool long ago
and began setting everything up.
He laid out the waiting area, dining area, preparation area, ordering and checkout area, and storeroom.
Even with a Storage Soul Tool, he still needed a storeroom.
Soul Tools were too valuable. Lu Ran only had one, and he couldn't leave it at the shop.
Besides, a storeroom would be better for moving small quantities over short distances at frequent intervals.
Once everything was laid out,
the Cloud Burrowing Rats got to work.
Though they'd never done anything like this before, under Rat Boss's direction,
the carrying rats and arranging rats...worked in good order.
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
"Squeak squeak..."
"Squeak."
The only problem was that they were a little loud. They looked around as they worked and even snuck glances outside.
That was only natural,
after all, this was their first time encountering the human world.
Half an hour later, the whole shop was ready.
Lu Ran and Yan Shaozhe went outside.
They hung the words "Milk Tea Shop" on the empty signboard.
From that day on,
the shop was called: Milk Tea Shop.
Before you continue