Chapter 412: Chapter 332 Stay with Me for the Rest of Your Life

In the restaurant, only Ming Lang seemed completely unaware of the unusual atmosphere.

He poured water for his sister with great diligence, mentioning he had ordered her favorite dishes.

Upon hearing this, Qingning gave a slight nod, her expression icy cold.

This made Cheng Zhu feel as though he had been transported back to their first meeting.

Back then, he and Ningning were not familiar at all, and he could sense a definite aura about her, as well as that cold demeanor.

Even now, he remembered their first encounter at Jiuyin, where as soon as she walked in, many men’s eyes were drawn to her. They looked towards her as she entered but involuntarily shifted their gaze when she glanced around simply.

Stay away from strangers, utterly aloof, an overwhelming sense of oppressiveness.

At that time, he thought this cool young lady was quite interesting.

But what about her now?

She had told Ming Lang she wouldn’t come for dinner, yet a few minutes later, she couldn’t help but ask him what he was eating, eventually agreeing to Chinese food.

When Cheng Zhu heard this story from his cousin, his heart was slightly poked.

However, since sitting down, she hadn’t said a word to Cheng Zhu.

Ming Lang and Cheng Zhu ate while occasionally clinking their glasses.

The oblivious fellow even glanced at his sister and asked, “Ningning, do you want to drink a little?”

“This alcohol won’t make you feel bad the next day,” he added.

Qingning looked at the bottle and then at their glasses, ultimately shaking her head.

She was feeling very annoyed and confused right now.

Normally, people in such a mood would be more inclined to drink.

But the clear-headed and rational her currently felt a bit of repulsion towards alcohol.

She carefully recalled that her current situation had quite a bit to do with her previous drinking experiences.

Alcohol harms people!

Cheng Zhu turned his head and glanced at her. He had his own plans, so he actually thought it was better if Ningning didn’t drink.

After a few rounds of drinks, Ming Lang started talking about the new venture he wanted to pursue after his bar closed.

“Cousin, what do you think about me opening a high-end coffee shop in Star City?” Ming Lang was full of fighting spirit.

“Then, together, we brothers can take on Starbucks!” he exclaimed.

Cheng Zhu: “…”

Boss Shen, you really are a trendsetter in the industry.

Coffee is coffee, and bubble tea is bubble tea.

My interaction with Starbucks currently involves just some superficial synergy, creating a little buzz by force.

Moreover, it’s only the end of 2014, and the coffee drinking crowd isn’t as large as it will be in a few years.

Besides, he always felt that both Ming Lang and he were eyeing the same location.

“Cousin, where do you plan to open it?”

“West Gate, that digital store’s lease is up soon, and the owner said he won’t renew next year,” Ming Lang had checked.

He reminisced, “That digital store had been in Star City for many years, but with Apple exploding in popularity these past few years, people would do anything to buy a smartphone. There was a girl next to me who… cough, I’ve digressed.”

Qingning was sitting nearby, and he immediately pulled back.

“Then these past few years, XiaoMi has also been really strong, so it’s surviving in a crevice. This year when renewing the lease, they complained about the rent being too high, indicating they couldn’t make their money back.”

Cheng Zhu: “…”

Damn, you really did eye the same spot as me!

Don’t forget, I also want to rent it!

No, I need to persuade him.

The small loss if you fail isn’t the issue; it’s the big impact on my ability to make money!

Because while Ming Lang might lose only a little, I could make a whole lot more.

“Cousin, actually, the coffee drinking crowd in our country isn’t as big as you might think,” Cheng Zhu said earnestly.

And what he said was true.

“The idea of opening a coffee shop is good because the market does have potential, and you are very visionary.”

“But being too visionary isn’t necessarily good; your vision is too far ahead, and the market can’t keep up with you.”

Just two sentences made Ming Lang feel exhilarated.

Holy shit, am I really that awesome?

He was just impressed by how awesome Cheng Zhu’s bubble tea store was doing and thus the idea of opening a coffee shop popped into his mind.

As for other reasons, were there any other reasons?

It turns out my intuition coincides with market trends!

I’m truly a business prodigy.

I got it, I got it now; my previous failures were because I was too ahead of the time!

“Do you really think the coffee market looks promising?” Ming Lang asked.

“Yes, I do think it’s promising. Maybe in the future it won’t catch up with the bubble tea crowd, but it will be several times bigger than it is now,” Cheng Zhu nodded.

But he quickly changed the topic: “But breaking into this market and getting more people to drink coffee will require a lot of money, our own money, which isn’t cost-effective, right, cousin?”

“Ah? Then whose money should we use?” Ming Lang was puzzled.

Qingning was also silently listening on the side.

“Whoever advocates for coffee culture, that’s whose money we’ll use!” Cheng Zhu laughed.

“Who?” Ming Lang was still clueless.

“Foreigners.” Qingning looked at him, unable to bear it anymore, and chimed in.

“Right, foreigners,” Cheng Zhu looked at her appreciatively.

My Ningning is really smart, ha!

In the coming years, Luckin Coffee would emerge out of nowhere, issuing all kinds of coupons, sell ridiculously cheap coffee nationwide, sometimes at a 1.5 discount!

Selling a cup at a loss, but absolutely indispensable for opening up the domestic coffee market!

So, were the initial targets of Luckin’s coupons the domestic leeks (slang for easy targets for financial exploitation)?

Of course not. The Chinese were all scrambling for the coupons, receiving tremendous discounts!

They were cutting foreign leeks.

We’re getting such huge discounts on coffee, who’s footing the bill?

It’s the Americans.

It’s like China has its own tea culture, and foreigners also have their own coffee culture.

They drink coffee themselves, so they think China, with its population of over a billion, has a great future for coffee!

Who doesn’t drink coffee?

Luckin initially aimed very clearly at listing on the stock market to cut American leeks, using American money to open up the market.

It created a miracle.

It was the fastest company in the world from establishment to IPO listing!

That shows just how eager its “scythe” was to cut.

Once listed, it raised $695 million in America, burning through over half of it in a year, all spent giving Chinese people discounts! Selling at a loss! Utterly terrifying!

Subsequent cheeky moves kept cutting American leeks, making them doubt their life choices.

Insiders called it–slaughtering Wall Street!

The scythe was really going crazy!

With the perspective of a reborn, Cheng Zhu saw the rationality in Luckin’s maneuvers, but you have to know, before Luckin burst onto the scene, nobody thought about cutting American leeks like this team did.

So with just a few words from him, Ningning thought of selling “stories” to foreigners, showing an alarming business acumen.

Truly my Ning Bao, bound to achieve great things!

This also made him more resolved in his next step.

Ming Lang, witnessing the in-sync duo, was stunned, “Using foreigners’ money? How do we do that?”

Cheng Zhu vaguely explained a bit, and Young Master Shen started to glow.

“Really? Can we do it like that?”

“Holy fuck, if we can really pull this off, won’t we be incredibly awesome?” he was already eager to try.

Cheng Zhu quickly raised his hand to stop his unrealistic imaginings.

“Cousin, stop thinking about it for now. We don’t have the capital or the conditions to pull off such a scheme,” he said.

Ming Lang’s fiery heart felt like it had been doused with cold water.

Right, he’s a super-rich second generation indeed, but it’s his dad who’s the impressive one.

Whatever project he does, he has to get money from his dad.

If not handled carefully, even with the Shen family’s wealth, such a project could lead to bankruptcy!

Mr. Shen supporting him in this? No way!

“No, I was just talking about opening a coffee shop, how did you steer the conversation to cutting leeks and listing on the stock market!” Ming Lang realized Cheng Zhu had taken the conversation too deep.

“Why can’t we?” Cheng Zhu tapped his glass against Ming Lang’s, “Just because we can’t now doesn’t mean we can’t in the future.”

“Huh?” Ming Lang was slightly startled.

The fire in his heart was continuously stoked by Cheng Zhu.

Drawing such a big picture is one thing, but taking it to the level of cutting American leeks, being a pioneer in the domestic coffee scene, and seeking welfare for the citizens.

Fuck, what man wouldn’t be confused?

Men are naturally inclined to discuss politics.

But they might not necessarily grasp political studies while in school, and exams can be a real struggle.

Right now, Ming Lang just felt: Your talk has inexplicably stirred up my patriotism, it’s just absurd!

Too bad Boss Shen has been facing setbacks in his career lately; he’s gradually realized that he is not the protagonist of the world, with his own abilities, he can’t even manage a single store properly, let alone anything else.

But Cheng Zhu’s thoughts were different.

Cousin, you are indeed trash.

But Ningning truly has talent.

And the Shen family indeed has significant influence.

Strictly speaking, several of Cheng Zhu’s ventures benefited from the Shen family’s support.

Actually, he had indirectly probed Jiang Wanzhou, stealthily investigating, and realized he had slightly underestimated the Shen family’s strength; it was tougher than he expected!

His goal was simple, to tie the entire Shen family to his chariot.

Once this carriage started, no one could get off.

For life.

And this naturally included–Shen Qingning!

Cheng Zhu hadn’t come to dinner today just to provide feedback on Ming Lang’s new project, but to make him abandon his unrealistic ideas and safely follow him.

“Cousin, why do you say we can do it later?” Ming Lang was still puzzled.

“Because my ‘Youu Tea’s’ prospects are good right now. Let’s first dominate the bubble tea market, then wouldn’t it be better to enter the coffee market?” Cheng Zhu said.

“But…” Ming Lang hesitated.

He wanted to say that ‘Youu Tea’ had nothing to do with him, it was just renting space in the shopping center that his family invested in.

But Cheng Zhu’s next words made Qingning, who had been low all day and hardly looked at him, stunned as she raised her head.

“Cousin, do you want to join me with ‘Youu Tea’?”

…

(ps: Second update, last day of the year, asking for double monthly tickets!)