Chapter 329: Rival's Declaration of War
Just a few days later, the new milk tea launched by the little-known Xiaomeng Taocha Liao was immediately sought after by young people.
At first, there were only a few words on the Internet. "I saw that the line at New Glen Chuxue was too long that day, and I didn't want to wait, so I bought some milk tea from a nearby store. I didn't expect it to be so delicious..."
"I was just walking by and saw the buy one get one free promotion so I bought one cup. It turned out to be really delicious and I got one free. Wow, everyone must come and try it."
“It’s so delicious!”
"Little Moe Tao! Let's go!"
A few days later, the positive reviews on the Internet spread quickly, attracting more and more passers-by. The taste of this milk tea named "City" certainly did not disappoint people. With the continuous positive feedback, Xiaomeng Tao Tea House's business quickly became popular.
The store manager was delighted to find that before the store opened in the morning, there were people waiting in front of the store. At the peak time at noon, customers lined up in a long queue. The business was hot and continued until the evening. This was a scenario he had never thought of. You know, in his past career, the business was the quietest in the morning, but now the customer flow in the morning alone is exaggerated to be equal to the past month. In the past, the best business was when the store just opened, but even then it was a world of difference compared to now. Now the cash register is crackling all day long, and the three of them are spinning like tops all day long. Looking at the daily revenue, the store manager's face is crooked with smiles.
It’s popular. This store is really popular.
He took a look at Lv Lixuan who was busy at the operation table, and the more he looked at him, the more he liked him. In the eyes of the store manager, Lv Lixuan had been upgraded from a lazy gangster to a hardworking young man. He felt more and more that he had really picked up a treasure, and the big star Ren Anzhi really had good taste!
Lv Lixuan lowered his head and was busy mixing the milk tea in his hand. The result of the booming business in the past few days was that his workload increased sharply, and the exaggerated customer flow also made his operation more skilled. From time to time, he would take a look at the customers at the window during his work breaks. His "city" milk tea should be a success. In the past few days, all the old customers have returned, but only Zeng Liangcai, who he has been thinking about, has not appeared.
After closing the lid and putting the milk tea into a reusable paper bag, he handed it to a customer. It was already 9:30 p.m. and the milk tea shop had already closed.
I can close the shop after finishing this order, Lu Lixuan thought.
"I want this milk tea." A voice came from the window.
Lu Lixuan raised his eyes and found that there was no one outside the counter.
"I want this cup of milk tea!" The voice was a little louder, "I'm here!"
Lu Lixuan lowered his head. There was a little girl standing under the counter. She looked to be no more than five or six years old, with two ponytails and two ten-yuan bills in her hands. She glared at him with some displeasure.
"What flavor do you want?" Lu Lixuan asked.
"This is your best-selling product!" said the little girl, pointing to the big sign next to it. "This one!"
A customer nearby couldn't help but laugh when she saw her like this, "Little girl, where is your mother?"
The little girl looked serious and asked, "I bought milk tea, what does it have to do with my mother?"
This serious attitude of a little kid made everyone laugh. But the little girl looked angry, looking up and staring at Lu Lixuan. Lu Lixuan lowered his head and worked for a while, then carefully handed her a cup of "City" milk tea.
"Hold it carefully, be careful not to tip it over."
The little girl reached out to take the milk tea. She first lowered her head to smell it, then raised her head and made an exaggerated expression of disgust and said, "This smells bad, it must not taste good!"
"Then you try it." Lu Lixuan was not angry and smiled at her.
"It definitely doesn't taste good." The little girl repeated again, taking a sip from the straw. Then her eyes widened, "Ah, ah, it tastes good..." Then she quickly changed her words, "It doesn't taste good!"
The customer next to him smiled and said, "Little boy, is it delicious or not?"
"It doesn't taste good! It tastes terrible!" the little girl said stubbornly. However, contrary to her comment that it tasted terrible, she kept taking big sips from the straw with an intoxicated look on her face, but she kept saying, "It tastes terrible. It tastes terrible!"
Seeing the little girl like this, the customers and the staff in the store thought she was cute and funny. "Little girl, why do you keep drinking if it's not tasty?"
"Because I want to see how bad it tastes." The little girl struggled and took another big sip.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha..." Laughter rose and fell among the crowd.
Lu Lixuan didn't laugh. To him, in order to make a better milk tea that Zeng Liangcai couldn't leave, every human's feedback was very important. He lowered his head and asked, "So what's so bad about it?"
The little girl took a few more sips through the straw. Facing Lu Lixuan's question, her face turned red and she finally managed to say, "It just doesn't taste good! It's so bad! Anyway, it's not as good as my mom's!"
"Your mother? Who is your mother?" a customer asked with a smile.
"Xiao Nan, what are you doing here?"
A female voice cuts through the crowd.
The little girl looked back, her face shrank into a ball, "Mom..."
"Xiao Nan, what are you doing here so late?" A young woman walked up to the little girl. She looked to be in her twenties, with neat short hair, a pretty face, and a quiet and gentle feeling. She was wearing an apron with "New Glen's First Snow" written on it.
"Oh, you are..." Lu Lixuan remembered that this person was the store manager named Zhu of their rival "New Glen's First Snow" and it was she who rejected her request to apply for the job.
Facing her mother, the little girl named Xiaonan suddenly fell silent. She held the milk tea cup tightly in her hands, lowered her head and said nothing. Manager Zhu bent down to take the milk tea from the girl and took Xiaonan's hand. When she looked up and her eyes met Lv Lixuan's, a touch of embarrassment flashed across her face.
She took Xiaonan away.
"She's the lady boss of the New Gran First Snow across the street." A customer said, "That's her daughter."
"Oh." Lu Lixuan nodded.
"He looks so young, yet he already has a daughter this old." another customer said in surprise.
The customer who was talking to him turned around and glanced at Manager Zhu's back. "It's not easy for this lady boss to take care of a child alone."
After the last customer left, it was finally time for the milk tea shop to close.
Lv Lixuan was busy cleaning the workbench, while his colleague who was sweeping the floor beside him started gossiping: "Did you know? Our rival, the store manager Zhu, is a single mother."
"Oh? Are you saying that she gave birth to a daughter alone?"
"What are you talking about!" A fellow clerk lowered his voice, "I heard that she had a scumbag husband who cheated on her with a mistress, and the boss lady got so angry that she divorced with her child. Now the New Glen's First Snow was started by her, a woman. She's really amazing."
Lv Lixuan was not interested in the background of this competitor. He was concerned about the little girl's evaluation. So he said, "Her daughter said my milk tea tasted bad. Does that mean that the milk tea needs to be improved?"
"Ha, you took it seriously." A fellow clerk said, "It's obviously just something a kid said."
"Nonsense, why would she say that?"
"You are so naive. Your milk tea is so good that it attracted a lot of customers. Now her mother's store is losing business." The colleague narrowed his eyes, "She also took away our customers at the beginning. In business, you have to rely on your ability. She has nothing to complain about now."
…
…
Zhu Xiaojing, the store manager of New Glen's First Snow, looked at the cup of "City" milk tea on the table.
That was bought by her daughter Xiaonan from Xiaomengtao Tea House.
Not long ago , her store was very popular. She was busy every day, but she was very happy. Her success was within her expectations. She majored in food science and engineering in college, and studied desserts for a year after graduation. She is passionate about milk tea. All the milk tea in her store is the result of her careful preparation and research and development. The quality is completely different from the street milk tea shops. Zhu Xiaojing is confident about this. The success of the store in the early days also confirmed this. But overnight, all her customers were blown away by the wind and moved to the nearby Xiaomeng Taocha Liao. Her store went from a long line of people to a deserted one in just one day. She originally thought that the customers were just trying to have fun and try something new, and they would return after a few days. But she didn't expect that the customers of the opposite store not only did not decrease, but the long line was getting longer and longer.
These days, she could only sit in front of the cold counter and watch the crowds of customers across the street.
It is impossible to say that there is no negative emotion. She staked all her savings on the store Hatsuyuki in Shingelan, and the milk tea is the fruit of her hard work. For her, this store carries the hope for the future of her and Xiaonan.
Why is that?
Zhu Xiaojing stared at the "City" milk tea on the table. This cup of milk tea might contain the answer she longed for.
She reached out, picked up the milk tea, and took a sip slowly.
At that moment, her face was filled with shock, joy, shame and a hint of jealousy.
“That’s amazing…”
Zhu Xiaojing murmured.
Lu Lixuan handed the milk tea to a customer outside the counter.
Today's queue is even more crowded than yesterday's, and the end of the queue even reaches the entrance of the office building next door. The property management of the building simply sent security guards to help maintain order. Xiaomeng Tao Tea House has now become a popular online celebrity store. In the queue, you can often see anchors holding selfie sticks and live-streaming, muttering to themselves, "I've been in line for half an hour now, and I have to wait for at least another hour and a half. Is this really worth it?"
At the front of the line are customers who have already received their milk tea. They often take a sip of their milk tea with satisfaction, then smile at the camera and say, "It's worth it, everything is worth it."
In addition to the famous anchors, there are also scalpers in the team. They often appear in front of passers-by who look at the long queue with trepidation and whisper to sell their purchasing services.
Faced with the endless stream of scalpers, Xiaomeng Tao Tea House had to start limiting the purchase to a maximum of 2 cups per person.
The store manager smiled and said, "Xiao Lu, you see the business is so good now, we can hire two more people, and you can just give instructions from the back, and you don't have to be as tired as you are now."
Lu Lixuan shook his head. For him, standing at the counter and facing the customers directly was a good opportunity for him to meet Zeng Liangcai again. He would not give up this position. The problem was that Zeng Liangcai still did not show up.
All the old customers came back, but Zeng Liangcai was not among them.
Where is Zeng Liangcai?
Why hasn't his future partner who will destroy humanity appeared yet?
"Hello." A voice interrupted his thoughts.
The customer in front of him was a familiar woman with neat short hair, a gentle face, but a little sharp in the eyes. She was Zhu Xiaojing, the manager of New Glen's First Snow. She took the milk tea that Lu Lixuan handed to her.
"Hello."
She looked directly at Lu Lixuan, "I heard that you developed this milk tea?"
"Yes."
"I've tasted it before. It's very vibrant and impactful." She took a sip.
"Thanks."
Lv Lixuan thought Zhu Xiaojing would take the milk tea and leave, but she stood in front of the counter and took a few more sips. "Hmm, it's true that the newly made one feels better. The mint flavor at the beginning can be said to be very bold. Strange, your oolong tea is actually very concentrated and should be very astringent, but why does it feel so mild?" She lowered her head and pondered for a few seconds. "So that's why. It's because the mint at the beginning impacted the taste buds of the tongue, and the use of low-temperature milk pulp alleviated the astringency of the tea, which in turn stimulated the sweetness in the mouth."
"Yes." Lu Lixuan nodded. He was a little surprised . This was the first human who could learn how to drink his milk tea.
"Excuse me, are you a professional pastry chef?" Zhu Xiaojing chose her words carefully. She was very curious about the other party's teacher.
Lu Lixuan shook his head, "I'm not."
Zhu Xiaojing was a little surprised. "Such precise control of ingredients, isn't it?"
"I spent several days thinking about it. It is indeed very difficult."
"You, what did you say?" Zhu Xiaojing was shocked. "This is impossible."
A colleague at the side proudly echoed: "That's right, our Xiao Lu made it in just a few days!"
"That's true." Lu Lixuan smiled, "In fact, I also referred to your milk tea."
"ah?"
"The usage of mint has given me a lot of inspiration." Lu Lixuan said sincerely, "Thank you."
Zhu Xiaojing's face was filled with various expressions. She stared at Lu Lixuan without saying a word. The impatient customer next to her urged, "What are you doing? Just leave after you buy. There are still people waiting in line behind you!"
Zhu Xiaojing turned and left. After taking two steps, she suddenly turned back and said word by word: "Keep watching, I won't lose." Before Lu Lixuan could react, the young woman left like a gust of wind.
"Wow, is this a declaration of war?" a fellow clerk said excitedly.
Lu Lixuan lowered his head and continued to make milk tea. The human woman's declaration of competition did not cause any ripples in his heart. At this moment, he had only one thought in his mind: Why hasn't Zeng Liangcai come yet?
Xiao Zhen proudly waved the "City" milk tea in front of Liu Xingquan.
Liu Xingquan said: "You actually bought it!!! The line was ridiculously long, how did you get it?"
Xiao Zhen took out a cup and handed it to Liu Xingquan. He looked into the distance and said, "This is the role of a substitute."
In front of Xiao Meng Tao Tea House
In order to satisfy the milk tea needs of Xiaozhen, her family, relatives and friends, the slime mold Yanzhen is repeatedly acting as an emotionless queue tool in the long queue.
