Expansion

Bei Wei didn't speak, but her eyes widened slightly before she looked at Zhang Yang.

She knew these were all Zhang Yang's friends.

"They're all my friends, I'll go greet them." Zhang Yang smiled and stood up.

He didn't tell anyone about the store's opening; it's likely that Xiang Xiaotian told him through the car club.

Stepping out of the bookstore, the area outside the store resembles a grand feast.

As the door of the Rolls-Royce opened, Su Jiajun stepped out with a beaming smile, carrying a flower basket.

"Brother Zhang, congratulations on your wife's new store opening!"

Behind them, familiar figures stepped off one after another in large Rolls-Royces; they were all friends from the car club.

"You guys..."

Seeing them all come to support him, Zhang Yang was honestly quite moved.

Dozens of large trucks came to show their support.

This promotional effort is truly something else. It seems that Little Sweet Girl's attempt to take a niche and low-key approach to book cafes is destined to fail.

"Xiao Tian told us all this. Oh right, where's Xiao Tian?" Su Jiajun looked around.

Not far away, a pink Rolls-Royce Wraith arrived late.

The car door opened, and a fair-skinned and beautiful figure got out, carrying a money tree, and headed straight for Zhang Yang.

It was Xiang Xiaotian.

"Brother Zhang Yang, congratulations! By the way, where's Sister Bei Wei?" Xiang Xiaotian called her "sister" sweetly.

"They're all inside, please come in." Zhang Yang looked at Xiang Xiaotian for a while, then pointed inside the book cafe. "Xiao Tian, the commotion you've made is a bit much."

"Not too big, not too small, just right." Xiang Xiaotian and secretly winked at Zhang Yang.

The two locked eyes and exchanged glances.

Inside the book cafe, Bei Wei and Gu Jiani had already come out upon hearing the news. Bei Wei was alright, as she had been mentally prepared.

Gu Jiani, on the other hand, stood in front of these dozens of luxury cars, her expression blank, completely shocked.

"Sister Bei Wei, congratulations on your grand opening!" Xiang Xiaotian greeted her with a smile as she presented a money tree.

"You are..." Bei Wei looked at the fair-skinned, beautiful girl in front of her, who exuded the air of a wealthy heiress from head to toe, and suddenly remembered, "Your name is Xiang Xiaotian, right? Welcome, welcome."

The reason it left such a deep impression is naturally because I made a special effort to reinforce it back then.

A woman's intuition, those who know, know.

Xiang Xiaotian smiled and said, "Sister Bei Wei, I like to read books when I have free time. I'd like to top up my card."

"Top up your card? You're welcome!" Bei Wei said enthusiastically. "Would you like to check out the promotion?"

"Okay." Xiang Xiaotian patiently sat down and listened to Bei Wei finish explaining the recharge event. Then she said, "Sister Bei Wei, I'll recharge 200,000 to support you."

"How much? Two hundred thousand?" Bei Wei couldn't help but be surprised.

"Sister-in-law, we also love reading. When I was in school, I was best at Chinese, and I always got high marks on my essays." Someone else waved a card, "I'll top up 100,000 yuan."

"I'll also deposit 100,000."

"I have 150,000."

Instantly, a single stone stirred up a thousand waves, and sounds rose and fell all around.

"Is this really necessary? How long are we going to keep going like this?" Bei Wei didn't know what to say.

She knew, of course, that these were friends who had come to support the Zhang Yang.

"We can definitely finish watching it, sister-in-law, just top it up for us."

"Yeah, yeah, I usually come here to read books, recharge, and have coffee when I have nothing to do. I reckon this money isn't even enough."

The car club members were all talking at once, and Bei Wei couldn't make up her mind. She just glanced at Zhang Yang and gave him a look.

Only after Zhang Yang nodded did...

"All right."

Instantly, the area around the front desk was surrounded.

The shop assistants were dumbfounded. They had never seen anything like this before, and at this moment, they were deeply shocked by the influence and power of their boss, Zhang Yang.

Then, I watched as the amount on the cash register kept piling up.

Easily surpassing one million, two million...

This... this...

Gu Jiani stood to the side, momentarily unable to utter a sound.

Originally, she planned to recharge five or ten thousand yuan as a way of supporting her former roommate, Bei Wei, but now... she felt completely embarrassed.

"Zhang Yang, what kind of person are you?"

She stood there, watching Zhang Yang's figure in the distance, muttering to herself incessantly.

At the front desk, everyone was scrambling and fighting over the offers. The few junior employees didn't dare to say a word, after all, these people in front of them were not only the boss's friends, but also Rolls-Royce owners, none of whom they could afford to offend.

"Everyone, one at a time," Xiang Xiaotian suddenly said loudly.

The people present looked at each other in bewilderment, and then began to obediently line up, one by one going forward to recharge their accounts.

At the back of the crowd, Jin Yanchao watched Xiang Xiaotian actively helping to maintain order, feeling somewhat puzzled and a little envious.

"Jiajun, what do you think Xiao Tian is trying to achieve? She's even trying to win over Zhang Ge's girlfriend!"

"You just don't understand, do you?" Su Jiajun glanced at him. "A man like Brother Zhang has plenty of girls around him. What kind of woman does he need, or what kind of woman would ultimately stay with him?"

Jin Yanchao craned his neck to look, then stared blankly at Su Jiajun.

"What kind? Pretty enough, with a good figure?"

"This is just the entry-level requirement, okay?" Su Jiajun chuckled. "Naturally, it has to be someone obedient, well-behaved, and sensible. You think Xiao Tian came here today to show off and compete? Actually, she clearly wants to impress Brother Zhang."

Jin Yanchao was stunned, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

It's infuriating to compare yourself to others.

Even a girl like Xiang Xiaotian is willing to act like this in front of Brother Zhang...

Ah, as expected, it has to be Brother Zhang.

In that instant, he felt an overwhelming sense of admiration for him.

"Hey, Bei Wei, that girl, you really don't know her?" Gu Jiani gently pulled Bei Wei aside and asked softly.

"We've only met once, of course we're not close," Bei Wei said, turning her gaze away.

"Anyone who didn't know better would think she was your biological sister," Gu Jiani said meaningfully. "If she's not your biological sister, then she must be Zhang Yang's good sister. Bei Wei, shouldn't you be more careful?"

"What's there to pay attention to? Does paying attention make a difference?" Bei Wei couldn't help but laugh. "Contentment brings happiness, and I'm already happy enough."

"You're so magnanimous." Gu Jiani pouted, but then vaguely felt that Bei Wei had actually done the right thing.

Can a guy like that really be tied up?

The kind who resorts to crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide is the first one out. A male god, after all, is always different from ordinary guys.

The arrival of the Rolls-Royce Car Club has undoubtedly made Youjian Book Cafe even more popular, turning it into an absolute sensation.

Rumors were circulating in several nearby office buildings that a certain bookstore/cafe nearby had a grand opening day with dozens of Rolls-Royce arriving to show their support, and people felt an urge to go and check it out.

As the young boss's wife, Bei Wei was naturally extremely busy.

Busy but happy.

In the afternoon, as evening approached, only Zhang Yang walked out of the book cafe. He looked back at the brightly Youjian Book Cafe from afar, and then at Bei Wei, who was busy running around inside but always had a smile on her face. He couldn't help but smile slightly as well.

The sweet girl's little business is finally on the right track.

This is the life he planned and arranged for Bei Wei, but it is also the life Bei Wei ideally envisioned.

In the evening, Bei Jiajia also came over.

Zhang Yang didn't stay in the book cafe any longer, but chose to go back first, letting her sisters come and share their joy.

"Brother-in-law, it's a special day today, let's celebrate properly, shall we?" Bei Jiajia asked, chasing after him.

"I'm leaving now. You and your sister can have a good celebration tonight." Zhang Yang waved and got into the Phantom that had been waiting for him, heading straight for his home in COFCO Seaview No. 1.

I've been back for two days, and I still haven't been home.

··

As night fell, Zhang Yang had just finished showering and had a video call on, listening to the sweet girl share her joy.

"Do you know how much our sales were today?" Bei Wei asked, teasingly keeping him in suspense.

"Let me guess, this number?" Zhang Yang held up a few fingers.

"Binggo, you got it right!" Bei Wei was still excited. "But I know this is just a temporary illusion..."

"Let's take it slow and steady, and build it up gradually," Zhang Yang encouraged. "Didn't you say you wanted to turn this store into something like Eslite in the future?"

"Just kidding, I wouldn't dare," Bei Wei said gently.

"What if?" Zhang Yang said with a smile.

Just like he thought yesterday, he's only twenty-five this year, with a bright future ahead, and everyone has unlimited potential.

In the middle of the night, Zhang Yang went out onto the balcony, leaned on the railing to feel the river breeze, and looked at the night sky over the Huangpu River. Suddenly, he realized that the Mid-Autumn Festival seemed to be approaching.

··

In the following weeks, the Youjian Book Cafe recovered from its grand opening and its business gradually stabilized. Riding on the momentum of its opening day, it attracted a wave of new white-collar members from the surrounding office buildings.

Every day at noon, in the evening, and even on weekends, you can always see stylish urban white-collar workers in the book cafe, ordering a cup of coffee, picking up a book, and sitting there for most of the day.

As Zhang Yang said, it's a steady, gradual process that's becoming increasingly stable.

Meanwhile, at Soup King Hotpot, since the start of the transformation, the menu has been further streamlined and product-oriented approach has been further implemented, resulting in several star dishes in the store.

Wild mushroom broth, a broth you can drink, incredibly fresh...

Premium tripe, made from carefully selected New Zealand tripe, processed with natural papain, completely eliminating the use of alkali in tripe processing.

100% pure duck blood, freshness you can see.

··

While the products may not be entirely new, the emphasis is on the meticulous care and confidence in each dish. Although the quantity has decreased, the quality of each dish has increased.

This series of combined moves truly embodies the product-centric approach.

For a well-established chain hot pot restaurant, this change is nothing short of a dramatic transformation, and its effects are directly reflected in table turnover rate and even revenue.

Some of Soup King Hotpot restaurants even have queues on weekdays.

Thanks to the spontaneous promotion by some self-media influencers, Soup King Hotpot's popularity has been rising, and it seems poised to become a true king of queues.

Soup King Hotpot has received rave reviews.

Riding this wave of opportunity, new stores Magic City, and the first stores in Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the south have all been successfully located in prime commercial districts. As for the first store in Beijing, it has also entered the planning stage.

The first store in Beijing is of particular significance; it can almost be called a flagship store and is the top priority for the next stage.

This expansion speed is naturally incomparable to the nationwide proliferation of stores by a certain hotpot chain. After all, hotpot is financially powerful, with numerous distribution and production bases across the country, as well as a variety of high-quality suppliers, enabling it to manage a massive operation with over a thousand stores nationwide.

But for Soup King Hotpot, this speed is already considered accelerated.

On this day, the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a long queue formed outside the newly opened Soup King Hotpot restaurant in a top-tier business district in Magic City.

On the large screen outside the store, the process of selecting, processing and serving various raw materials for Soup King Hotpot is constantly displayed. Each dish has a story behind it.

Inside the waiting area by the entrance, people chatted idly while waiting for their numbers to be called.

"So, brother-in-law, this is also one of your businesses?" Bei Jiajia stood aside, more shocked than anyone else.

After all, her family also runs a hot pot restaurant, but only a few stores. Compared to Soup King Hotpot, which has seventy or eighty stores nationwide, they can only look up to it.

"Hmm, it seems like the hot pot industry has a lot of potential," Zhang Yang said casually.

"How many stores are there now?" Bei Jiajia asked softly, clicking her tongue in surprise.

"Seventy or eighty companies, I'll try to break through one hundred within a year," Zhang Yang said with a smile.

Looking at the advertisements on the store's large screen, Bei Jiajia exclaimed in amazement, "Brother-in-law, how did you Soup King Hotpot come up with all this? Is it product-centricity? Taking quality control to the extreme? No wonder our family can only open a few small stores, while you're aiming for a hundred."

"Want to learn from their experience?" Zhang Yang asked, half-jokingly.

"No, no, everyone understands the principle, but no one can learn it, and I don't have the ability to do it either," Bei Jiajia quickly waved her hand.

She certainly understood the importance of using raw materials to their fullest potential.

However, whether you call them complacent or stuck in their ways, they ultimately lack the courage to try new business models.

In a stable situation, not everyone has the courage to change it.

Her parents had lost their ambition, and she was more content with the status quo. That was that; the family business was basically set in stone and wouldn't change much.

Zhang Yang smiled but didn't say anything.

Today it was just him and his sister-in-law, Bei Jiajia. As for Bei Wei, she seemed to be completely focused on her career lately and hadn't had time to come out for a meal.

"By the way, brother-in-law, how many stores does your Soup King Hotpot ultimately aim to open?" Bei Jiajia asked curiously.

"Covering first-tier and new first-tier cities, and then extending to second-tier cities across the country, this is a temporary stage goal. Further ahead, perhaps we'll try to go public," Zhang Yang briefly mentioned.

In fact, simply opening stores in first- and second-tier cities is already a remarkable goal.

After all, some cities have more than one branch.

Sinking to third-tier cities or below is something only a certain company has the capability to do; currently, they don't have that plan.