Chapter 379: Chapter 302: Forced Prestige Goes Straight to the Max Chapter 379: Chapter 302: Forced Prestige Goes Straight to the Max Outside the mall, Cheng Zhu stood there quietly watching Wang Zhenggang.

Wang Zhenggang was completely dumbfounded, yet his presence was utterly overshadowed by this eighteen-year-old freshman right in front of him!

“Wow.” He subconsciously reached into his pocket and fumbled out his cigarettes, and tangled in his panic, he even pulled out two packs. One of them was the cheaper Liqun brand, and the other was the premium Soft Zhonghua. From the latter, he drew one out and offered it.

Cheng Zhu took it and added, “Don’t bother with a lighter, I’ll light it myself.”

Gangzi: “…”

I didn’t even think about lighting it for you.

Typically, Gangzi only exchanged nods with Cheng Zhu, they had chatted briefly, and they were both in the same business group chat.

This was his first time having such a substantial one-on-one conversation with Cheng Zhu. He felt that this young man was nothing like those university students he interacted with on a daily basis.

He had seen some rich second-generation students at the school, with some even pulling up to the school gates in cars worth millions just to have milk tea.

But Cheng Zhu was markedly different from them.

He just couldn’t pinpoint exactly what made him different.

However, having talked so much, Wang Zhenggang was genuinely curious to learn more. He asked, “Boss Cheng, could your business model work for a milk tea shop like ours outside the campus?”

Cheng Zhu took a puff of the cigarette, then looked at him quietly and said, “Boss Wang, that question isn’t something a franchisee like you should be worrying about.”

You’re just a small-time franchisee, it’s good enough not to be thoroughly fleeced by the franchisor, yet you’re asking if you can replicate my model.

Do you have the capability to replicate it?

Are you qualified to develop new products?

Do you have the authority to set your own prices?

What are you thinking, really thinking we are on the same level as merchants because we were once neighbors on the same street?

Your question is not even something a super-franchisee should consider, let alone a small-scale, entry-level franchisee like you.

Stop studying and observing my shop, think about something that’s actually useful for yourself, Gangzi.

Cheng Zhu raised his right hand and slowly flicked the ash into the trash can.

Upon hearing these words, Wang Zhenggang opened his mouth, hesitating several times to speak.

What the other party said was very blunt, yet undeniably accurate.

He was creating a new brand.

And us?

We are the ones actively paying money, applying for brand’s approval to franchise, and then being audited by the brand to gain the credentials to open a store.

He suddenly felt like all the questions he had were no longer necessary to ask.

“If Boss Wang doesn’t have other questions, I’ll be heading back to work,” said Cheng Zhu.

“Ah? Right, right.”

Gangzi watched him extinguish the cigarette on the garbage can and then head toward Star City in the winter chill.

Star City was substantial, the impressive facade adorned with LED screens showcasing ads for luxury brands and top-trending celebrities.

And yet, following these big-brand videos would be a few short seconds of a Youu Tea ad.

Youu Tea had just made it to the big screen today.

A new milk tea brand like this would normally not qualify to appear on the LED screens of a high-end mall like Star City.

Even Starbucks only had a week-long video feature when it first moved in.

Yet Youu Tea’s presence was due to Cheng Zhu’s connections, albeit a minor reason.

More importantly, the mall hadn’t expected that a shop needing a backdoor just to get in would genuinely increase the mall’s foot traffic on its own merit during this period!

Indirectly boosting the consumption in the mall!

Because it was in Star City, the name had been frequently flashing across the web!

Even managed, under Cheng Zhu’s manipulation, to make those few seconds on the LED screen one of the check-in photo spots for many Youu Tea customers.

Cheng Zhu deliberately made the content simple: a white background, the Youu Tea logo, and the slogan that had been written on the paper walls during the renovation.

Don’t make it too flashy; this way, it’s easier for people to take check-in photos, it’s more versatile.

At the same time, it also highlighted the brand’s stature!

As a result, many customers found angles to hold their milk tea and take selfies with the LED screen as a backdrop.

At this moment, Wang Zhenggang saw someone doing just that.

Gangzi foolishly stared at the big screen, then couldn’t help but read out the sentence written there, feeling the immense ambition of this young man, far beyond his own league, in the cold wind:
“Youu Tea, creating a new force in China’s beverage industry.”

…

…

Inside Star City, Luo Xi and Yue Lingjing were puzzled about where Cheng Zhu had gone.

He had just seen a middle-aged man, exchanged greetings, and then walked together toward the outside of the mall.

They thought he was a friend or a relative of Cheng Zhu’s.

Little did they know he had just gone to make a point.

“Talk nonsense in front of Mr. Chen, tarnish my milk tea shop, and make Mr. Chen unhappy,” Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

“What tier are you to judge my shop?”

By the time he returned to Youu Tea, their four cups of milk tea were still not ready.

This was because it was only the end of 2014, and while the takeaway industry had already entered a period of rapid development, it hadn’t yet reached an explosive growth stage.

Familiar services like Ele.me and Meituan were still in the developmental phase.

According to published data, Ele.me had only covered nearly 200 cities nationwide by September 2014, with just over ten million users and daily orders around one million.

Once everyone got used to ordering takeout, in-store preparation times would slow down even further.

“You can go for a walk in the mall, Luo Xi, I’ll text you when it’s ready,” Cheng Zhu said.

“Eh, I guess that’s not a bad idea!” Luo Xi’s eyes brightened.

This was actually a kind of privilege for high school classmates, adding some prestige in front of her roommates.

The four girls immediately went shopping in the mall.

Girls tend to enjoy shopping; even if they don’t really want to buy anything, they can keep browsing indefinitely.

Unlike some boys, who wouldn’t window shop if they had nothing to buy.

They’d quickly make a purchase and be done with it.

…

…

Meanwhile, at the Shen’s Villa.

Today was Saturday, and after Shen Qingning and Lin Lu finished their yoga class, she returned home.

Now, she was sitting in the living room with her young stepmother, Wang Yushan, watching dramas and waiting for dinner.

Wang Yushan was still watching the previously unfinished “Soul Ferry.”

She was easily scared and dared not watch it alone; she needed Shen Qingning as her drama-watching partner.

When some key scenes came up that she couldn’t miss, Wang Yushan would even call the housekeeper to the living room to join her.

Currently, she looked at Shen Qingning seated cross-legged on the couch, first admiring Ningning’s impossibly long and beautiful legs, then focusing on her expression.

“How can you be so calm? Aren’t you scared at all?” Wang Yushan was curious.

“What’s there to be scared of?” Shen Qingning watched the web series, her heart undisturbed.

This level of horror couldn’t scare her at all.

But if it were Shen Ming Lang or Jiang Wanzhou watching, the former would be screaming, and the latter would probably tremble like a leaf.

Luckily, the escape room trend of later years hadn’t caught on in 2014; otherwise, both of them would surely be the type of customers who got so scared they’d punch the NPCs.

“But I find it quite scary,” Wang Yushan muttered, both timid and an avid viewer.

During the drama-watching session, she even brought up Youu Tea of her own accord.

“Ningning, honestly, I never expected that the milk tea shop your friend with Ming Lang could have such an explosive business,” she still found it a bit hard to believe.

Wang Yushan sat on the couch, hugging a pillow for comfort. She had the kind of looks that grow on you, the more you look, the more attractive, even more appealing than Shen Qingning’s, with an equally impeccable skin condition.

In fact, the so-called attractive-in-time types of women often have great skin. If the skin were flawed, more issues would become apparent with time.

But her skin looked soft and silky throughout.

At that moment, remembering her first meeting with Cheng Zhu, Wang Yushan envisioned the young man’s appearance.

“Honestly, when I first saw him, I didn’t think he looked like someone who would run a milk tea shop, you know?” A smile appeared on her face.

Upon hearing this, the originally calm and cold Shen Qingning also showed a faint smile.

Indeed, a tall and slightly ruffian-looking guy didn’t exactly fit the image of someone who would open a milk tea shop.

Just like when he opened a claw machine arcade, quite a few people in the school had joked, “Brother Zhu opening a slot machine arcade would make more sense.”

His looks and aura were far from matching the business he was in.

Shen Qingning said with a smile, “After he finished with the claw machine arcade, he went on to open a milk tea shop, which definitely shocked me. Plus, he even learned to make milk tea himself.”

As soon as she mentioned this, she recalled the day at Xinhang Apartment building B, where Cheng Zhu, unscrupulously, with his slightly upturned eyebrows, crafted the Cheese Mixed Berries in a cool manner.

And indeed, all the names of his milk tea were AABB duplicated words!

Of course, for this aloof girl, once she thought of that scene, she would also remember the kissing that followed, and…the intimacy of kissing the neck.

This caused her body to subconsciously heat up slightly, her legs crossed on the couch tightened, and her perky bottom shifted slightly on the cushion, rubbing against it.

Wang Yushan looked at her and said, “There’s something I deliberately didn’t bring up with you earlier.”

“Before his shop opened, I actually helped him reach out to the mall to play an ad for him on the exterior wall LED screen.”

“And it didn’t go through.”

Shen Qingning frowned slightly, recalling, “The mall’s advertising business is managed by Aunt Li, right?”

Aunt Li referred to was the wife of another shareholder of Star City.

The only difference was that the other was married only once, while Wang Yushan was Shen’s Villa’s second wife. Some women, just because of this, would feel superior and might even look down on the other.

“Right, you know what she’s like. She even criticized me a few times, saying that broadcasting such a small milk tea shop on the mall’s LED screen would degrade Star City’s class,” explained Wang Yushan.

Shen Qingning’s brows furrowed even deeper as she listened.

But she knew very well that letting Youu Tea appear on the LED screen really was breaking the rules, indeed an act of pulling strings.

After all, the ads there are mostly luxury brands on the first floor and some popular brands.

You’ve got to have either high class or high popularity.

“What about now?” asked Shen Qingning.

“Now?” Wang Yushan’s face lit up with a smile: “Now, of course, your friend has vindicated me!”

“Now, Mrs. Li would love nothing more than for every passerby to know that Youu Tea is in our Star City!”

…

(ps: Second update, mid-month here, let’s rush up the ranking with more monthly tickets, steady at fourth on the total list!)