Chapter 374: Chapter 298: The Taste… It’s Okay? Chapter 374: Chapter 298: The Taste… It’s Okay? Outside the store, the three sworn brothers from dorm 309 couldn’t understand a word Brother Zhu was saying.

“Storytelling?”

The purpose of Brother Zhu opening this shop was to tell stories?

What on earth!

Indeed, the thoughts of successful people are not like ours.

We can’t understand what he’s thinking.

That compelling aura he has is also something we just can’t learn no matter how hard we try.

Dong Dong has been trying to imitate Cheng Zhu’s swagger for a long time but never achieves a good effect.

If it were him, and his high-end milk tea shop was doing so well, he’d be boasting about sales and profits all day long.

Yet, Brother Zhu said something he’s never cared about before; he never concerned himself with sales.

Deep down, Dong Dong started to feel that bragging about having a monthly living expense of ten thousand was truly low-level.

In fact, Cheng Zhu really didn’t care.

The significance of the first Youu Tea store was to tell stories to the capitalists in the future.

What he’s doing now is embellishing that story.

So far, the effect isn’t bad.

Presumably, those capitalists will be very willing to listen in the future.

On the other hand, Xu Shao and Pei Yan had already walked out to the shopping mall, and then, in the winter chill, the two of them stood together by the trash can, smoking.

If the business of the claw machine store was a bit better, they would definitely be smiling and greet Cheng Zhu, and proactively chat up and make conversation.

But the problem is that the business of this store is really worse than before, it’s declining month by month.

No matter how hard they try, they seem unable to change the outcome.

This has become a very embarrassing matter.

And for Xu Shao and Pei Yan, both of them have their own embarrassing methods.

Xu Shao’s embarrassment comes from Zhang Qiqi.

A major part of the resentment he holds against Cheng Zhu comes from this woman he’s been chasing for so long, feeling like he was just one step away from success, but never getting the chance to take that step.

Now, he doesn’t even have the delusion of being one step away.

He can clearly feel that Zhang Qiqi seems to be drifting further away from him!

The pure-hearted warrior racks his brain but can’t figure out: “Why! Why!!!”

And Pei Yan’s embarrassment is that he also considers himself a big deal at Technology University.

As the vice president of the student union, he feels that he has a lot of fame in the school.

Indeed, a lot of people in the school know him.

But the more people know him, the more embarrassed he becomes.

There’s no helping it; he and Cheng Zhu are after all running the same shop.

And this shop is located right at the entrance of Technology University.

When everyone passes by, it’s clear how the business is doing.

Naturally, his classmates will compare him with Cheng Zhu.

Moreover, Pei Yan had also asked people to post on online forums before.

He once followed two boys into the shop, neither noticing Pei Yan right behind them, talking quite loudly.

“The business has gotten so much worse, feels like there are fewer beauties in the shop.”

“Yeah, seriously, passing by used to be fun when you could check out the beauties.”

“This Pei Yan is just a show-off at school, saying how the student union is a place to mold people, but he hasn’t shaped himself up, has he?”

Pei Yan’s face turned green listening from behind.

At that moment, he and Xu Shao, standing by the trash can, took a drag of their cigarettes and, puzzled, said, “Brother Shao, why is his milk tea business doing so well now, he must’ve hired shills, right?”

“I’m not sure, but he really did boost the popularity all of a sudden, almost like when the claw machine shop first opened,” Xu Shao blew out a puff of smoke.

They racked their brains but couldn’t understand why.

A cup of milk tea is so expensive, and it’s even located right across from Starbucks; isn’t that just starting in hell mode?

Yet, he managed to make it thrive.

Now, there are too many people showing off their Youu Tea online; they can even see it every day in their own social circles!

The terror of one’s own failure is frightening, but the success of others is even more gut-wrenching.

Really, what’s the secret behind the booming business?!

They both were even a bit tempted to go buy a cup and try it.

With that thought, Xu Shao and Pei Yan, who had finished their cigarettes, indeed saw scalpers reselling milk tea nearby.

The two exchanged glances, seeing the eagerness in each other’s eyes.

“Let’s try it and see if it’s really the product that’s solid or purely hype.” In the end, it was Xu Shao who made the decision.

He stepped forward and bought two cups directly.

The milk tea was already expensive, plus the scalper’s markup made the price outrageous.

Xu Shao even asked specifically, “Do you get a lot of customers selling it like this?”

“Oh plenty!” the scalper replied with a grin, his smile indicating that he was making a tidy sum every day.

This made Xu Shao and Pei Yan even more speechless.

Damn it, how could it be so popular?!

They had never heard of any milk tea shop becoming so popular that it cultivated a bevy of scalpers!

Each holding a cup of milk tea, they viciously inserted the straws, and that scalper even had the nerve to give them pointers.

“Handsome guys, that’s not how you drink it, you have to open the small cap on top, there’s a cheese cream layer, you won’t reach it if you drink with the straw directly.”

Xu Shao and Pei Yan: “…”

Fuck, there are now drinking protocols for milk tea, huh?

But truth be told, these scalpers are die-hard fans of Youu Tea.

No choice, it’s their cash cow, Cheng Zhu is their God of Wealth.

Xu Shao couldn’t be bothered with him; he insisted on drinking with the straw.

Pei Yan, seeing this, followed suit.

The two walked on while sipping on their milk teas, moving away from the annoying scalper.

After a few sips, they couldn’t help but exchange another glance, reading the same message in each other’s eyes.

“The taste… is okay,” said Pei Yan.

That was the highest praise he could muster from his mouth.

Indeed it’s totally different from the milk teas at the university entrance.

“Uh-huh,” Xu Shao nodded.

Eventually, they both opened the small cap to drink the cheese cream layer.

Instantly, it felt even more spectacular!

The two continued walking and drinking, the more they drank, the quieter they became, the more they drank, the more silent.

Inside the store, Cheng Zhu called out the manager, Wang Wei, for a brief chat.

These past few days, he had asked Wang Wei to pay special attention to a female employee named Lin Yue.

Cheng Zhu intended to nurture her.

He thought the girl had good ideas and should not just be an employee in the shop but join the new product R&D team.

The base for the Cheese Mixed Berries tea was her improvement, she’s got a nimble mind.

In the high-end viral milk tea industry, Cheng Zhu was indeed a pioneer.

He was the first to enter the market, practically opening it up with his own efforts.

He’s carving a brand-new track for himself.

However, once you’ve opened up the market, there will definitely be more and more people joining the race.

In the future, it’s bound to get more and more competitive.

In such times, it’ll be even more crucial to keep rolling out new products.

Cheng Zhu remembered that during the fiercest competition, every big brand would launch several new products every month.

Starting from rolling out popular fruits like strawberries, grapes, and mangoes, they then rolled onto more niche fruits like guava.

Everyone was testing, to understand the public’s reception after the new product hit the market.

Cheng Zhu doesn’t need to worry about this, he clearly knows which ones will be a hit, and this is one of his biggest advantages.

Making milk tea is not difficult, the challenge lies in innovation and marketing.

He’s only launched Cheese Mixed Berries and Roasted Black Sugar Boba Milk Tea so far because he has his own plan.

New products will definitely be rolled out one after another.

After chatting with Wang Wei for a bit, he saw the three sworn brothers from dorm 309 rush back excitedly.

Dong Dong seemed to have been revived, shedding his gloomy demeanor and regaining his usual vibrancy.

“What’s up, cheered up just by looking at some beauties?” Cheng Zhu asked with a smile.

“Brother Zhu, this shameless guy Dong, just went and asked someone for their WeChat and he actually succeeded,” Liu Feng said.

“What’s so special about that, didn’t I also add Zhu Yingying on the road at school? If I hadn’t added Zhu Yingying back then, would our two dorms have had a joint activity? Would Zheng have had the chance to meet Guan Jiayue?” Dong Dong, as the leader of dorm 309, began to get smug.

“Don’t you know what’s called the strongest dorm leader at Technology University? Any dorm leader who can’t organize a dorm mixing is a loser!” Dong Dong’s tail was practically up in the air.

Cheng Zhu glanced at him, questioning, “Where did you add her? In the line?”

“Yeah, Brother Zhu, stop looking over there! Hey! It’s the one right opposite you in the white down jacket! Hey, Brother Zhu, stop looking!” Dong Dong started to feel embarrassed.

Cheng Zhu withdrew his gaze and said to Dong Dong, “Dong, next time after you’ve added a girl on WeChat, don’t come right back to me, understand?”

“Ah? What do you mean?” He was slightly confused.

Liu Feng caught on immediately and burst out laughing, “What would you do if, after you added a girl, you saw that her friend standing beside her was even more beautiful?”

“Uh?” Dong Dong took a while to catch on: “Damn!”

But the fact was that Cheng Zhu was indeed much more handsome than him and taller too; damn it, there’s no denying it.

At this moment, Zheng Qingfeng, who usually didn’t talk much, surprisingly had more to say.

“Brother Zhu, we just saw a lot of scalpers,” he said to Cheng Zhu.

Old Zheng always looked older than his age; at eighteen, he looked closer to forty-eight.

He felt this might not be good for Brother Zhu’s shop, so he was quite concerned, frowning heavily, which made the lines on his forehead deepen, making him look even older.

Zheng Qingfeng was fundamentally a good person, and although his family was wealthy, he was down to earth, not as flashy as Dong Dong.

He also genuinely cared about his friends.

It’s just that he was too introverted and spoke too little.

Acting as if the cool and distant man was really appealing.

Hearing this, Cheng Zhu laughingly patted his shoulder, “No worries, let them be.”

“These scalpers, they’ll be very useful in the future,” he added.

…

(ps: Second update, asking for monthly votes.)