The three-day grand opening promotion was over.
Everyone, from the management team down to the regular staff, received a bonus.
High wages, high quality, a generous compensation policy...
Thanks to these and a series of other measures, sales had been explosive over the past few days.
But even so, the profits weren’t as high as expected. In fact, they were pitifully small.
After paying out the employee bonuses, there wasn’t much left.
Additionally, he arranged an evening activity for the staff that night at Lin Qiangwei’s Night Charm KTV, treating it as another employee benefit.
He, on the other hand, took Chen Jingxian, He Siyao, and He Jing out for dinner.
Since it was just the four of them and it was getting late, they just went to the food stalls at the north entrance of Fenglin International.
"The sales volume these past few days has been astounding," He Jing said. "In just three days, the supermarket alone sold nearly as much as it used to in an entire month."
"In the past, you’d only see crowds like this during the New Year holiday."
As the general manager of Berkeley, He Jing was the most qualified to comment on the recent situation.
"This is just the beginning. The real challenge is yet to come," Lin Jiang said.
"What I’m worried about now is that we’ve set expectations way too high. In the last two days alone, nearly every influencer in the city showed up. I estimate that within the next month, influencers from all over the country will start coming in one after another. Berkeley has become a massive traffic pool; anyone who films here is guaranteed to get views."
After a pause, He Jing continued.
"Right now, we’ve been put on an incredibly high pedestal. If we make even the slightest mistake, the tide of public opinion online could turn against us in an instant. We’d become a target for everyone to attack."
Although He Jing wasn’t very internet-savvy, she knew that this kind of viral attention was a double-edged sword.
Berkeley was built up by this hype, and the higher you’re praised, the harder the fall.
Chen Jingxian and He Siyao nodded as well. They shared the same concern.
Berkeley had indeed been elevated to a level that felt unsustainable. The slightest sign of trouble could become a massive problem.
"’Nobody’s perfect.’ You get it, I get it, and the public gets it too," Lin Jiang said unhurriedly.
"So, it’s not the problems themselves that are scary. What really matters is how well we resolve them."
The women all listened intently.
"All of our methods can be summed up in three words: put people first!"
"We understand."
After dinner, He Siyao and He Jing left, watching with longing eyes as Chen Jingxian led Lin Jiang away.
It was nearly midnight by the time the two of them returned to their apartment.
With a bit of playful scheming, Chen Jingxian changed into a new nightdress she had just bought, then stood before the mirror, washing her face and removing her makeup.
Lin Jiang, of course, wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass. He reached out and cupped her rear.
"Nice nightdress. It just barely covers everything. You’ve taken another step toward becoming an exemplary employee."
"I didn’t buy it for you."
"True. So why were you in such a hurry to change into it the moment you got home?"
"Are you saying I can’t even wear a nightdress I bought for myself...?"
"It seems your awareness isn’t quite there yet. As the boss, it’s my duty to teach you a lesson..."
With that, Lin Jiang lifted Chen Jingxian’s nightdress and began his "instructional session" right there in the bathroom~~~
...
Over the following month, Lin Jiang remained incredibly busy, juggling multiple responsibilities.
During this time, Li Yueting and Xu Yingjun finished registering for the graduate school entrance exams.
Both had ambitiously chosen Zhonghai Jiaotong University. All that remained was to wait for the exams in December.
In other news, the movie had passed its review and was just waiting to be released.
According to Fang Jie, the film would be released in about half a month, and they were about to enter the promotional phase.
Meanwhile, the main focus of his work was still Berkeley.
Fueled by the fermenting word-of-mouth online, Berkeley’s explosive popularity grew by the day.
Even during off-peak hours, you had to wait in line to shop there.
Some people were even starting to mention Berkeley and Donglai Supermarket in the same breath.
Berkeley, for its part, gave Donglai a public shout-out, which was met with a positive response. This drove the hype even higher, and despite the high operational costs, the massive sales volume meant profits were becoming substantial.
As one rose, the other fell. Berkeley’s explosive success left Huipin Mall at Xingcheng Bay Phase II completely in the cold.
The number of customers each day was pitifully small. The massive mall would have only a dozen or so people scattered about, and the salesclerks inside were all listless, showing no enthusiasm for their jobs.
"What the fuck is the mall management even doing? There’s nobody here! How the hell are we supposed to do any goddamn business!"
The speaker was Cao Tianqiang, the owner of Qinghe Roasted Fish.
He was the one who had led the charge to move out of Berkeley, thinking Huipin could crush it and he would find a second spring for his career. He never imagined that everything would fizzle out after just two days.
For the past few days, they’d been operating at a loss just to make some noise.
If they hadn’t sold a few cheap group-buy coupons, they wouldn’t have gotten any customers at all.
"Say no more. If we hadn’t left Berkeley and had signed another multi-year contract, with their current foot traffic, we could have easily made several hundred thousand a year."
The speaker was Wang Dandan, owner of Tanhua Hot Pot. Her face was a mask of regret, and her mouth was full of sores from the stress.
With Huipin Mall failing to recover and practically deserted, the owners who had left Berkeley gathered together again.
Every one of them was grim-faced and sighing.
"If things really don’t work out, let’s just go back," said Wang Jiao, the owner of Jinxiu Women’s Clothing. "Worst case, we spend a little more money. It’s still better than this."
"That’s a thought. If we stick around here much longer, we’re all going to be finished!" Cao Tianqiang said.
"That’s a solid idea. I know for a fact that seven or eight shops are already preparing to move out," Wang Dandan said.
"Let’s contact the others who left with us and go to Berkeley to talk with President He..."
At that very moment, it wasn’t just these shopkeepers who were anxious—so was Han Guangqi.
In his office, an assistant stood before Han Guangqi.
"President Han, three more shops closed today."
Initially, to poach businesses from Berkeley, Huipin had offered many incentives, a crucial one being the waiver of the first month’s rent.
Han Guangqi’s plan had seemed brilliant; he believed that with his experience from studying abroad and the powerful reputation of the Huipin Group, he could easily crush Berkeley.
Then, he would sign them to long-term contracts, and Huipin Mall would rise swiftly.
The reality, however, was that once the month was up, nobody planned to renew their leases.
Every few steps you took in the mall, you would see another closed shop.
Some had left for good, no longer doing business at Huipin Mall.
Others, seeing no customers, had simply closed their doors to stop wasting time while they looked for a new way out.
This plunged the customer experience at Huipin Mall into a vicious cycle, accelerating its demise.
"I know. Is there anything else?"
"Also, the situation with the Northern Market isn’t looking good either," the assistant said.
"Their beef has started selling in the market and has caused quite a stir locally. Hongyang Pastures’ shipment volumes have been directly impacted. I’m afraid..."
Han Guangqi propped his head up with one hand. "You’re afraid Hongyang Pastures will go down the same path as Yong’an."
"Yes."
Lately, on top of the mall’s issues, the investment in Hongyang Pastures had been giving Han Guangqi sleepless nights.
Li Yuan’s strategy was clear: they were simply copying Mu Xing’s playbook.
If this continued, Hongyang Pastures would become the next Yong’an.
And his investment would likely go down the drain.
"I understand. You may leave now."
Han Guangqi leaned back in his chair, exhausted. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead incessantly, clearly tormented. All the triumphant spirit he’d felt when leaving Berkeley was gone.
BRRRING—
Just then, Han Guangqi’s phone rang. It was a call from his father.
"Dad."
"How are things on your end?" Han Shengqun asked.
"Not good, but I’ll figure something out."
"Have you realized the gap between you two?"
Han Shengqun didn’t sound angry, just patient.
"Gap? He’s not worthy of being compared to me," Han Guangqi said.
"I admit he understands the internet better than I do. But this viral hype is a double-edged sword. Berkeley has been lifted to an unprecedented height; it’s bound to fall sooner or later."
"But that day can’t take too long to arrive. The investors don’t have the patience to wait for you."
"I know. I’ll take care of this as soon as possible."
"Go give it a try."
After hanging up, Han Guangqi stood up and looked down at the empty parking lot below, his expression growing even more grim.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—
Just then, a rapid knock sounded at the door.
Before Han Guangqi could say anything, his male assistant pushed the door open and rushed in.
"President Han, we’ve found an opportunity!"
"What opportunity?" Han Guangqi asked, turning his head.
"Someone blew the whistle. They’re saying the processing shop that makes Berkeley’s flatbreads has extremely serious hygiene problems."
As he spoke, the assistant brought out his phone and handed it to Han Guangqi.
"These are photos from the scene."
After seeing the photos on the phone, a delighted look spread across Han Guangqi’s face, sweeping away his prior gloom.
’The opportunity I’ve been waiting for is finally here!’
"Organize all this information and send it to me."
"Got it."
...
That evening, Han Guangqi called for Zhou Jin. Zheng Jianghe and Li Wuyang came with him.
"You called us over so suddenly. Did something happen?" Zhou Jin began.
"I need to use your abilities and connections to drag them through the mud."
With that, Han Guangqi passed his phone over.
"What’s this? Let me see."
As Zhou Jin took the phone, Zheng Jianghe and Li Wuyang leaned in to look as well.
"What did I tell you? I knew their business model was bound to have problems," Zheng Jianghe said.
"Take too big of a step, and you’ll end up pulling a groin muscle."
"True. If this happened somewhere else, it would be a non-issue. But Berkeley has been constantly emphasizing service and food safety. For something like this to come out now, they’re really reaping what they’ve sown," Li Wuyang said.
"This is our chance. We can steer the narrative," Han Guangqi said.
"Your movie is about to enter the publicity phase, isn’t it? You can use this opportunity to build it up by tearing them down. As long as we can tarnish their reputation, it’ll cause a chain reaction. When a wall is about to collapse, everyone gives it a push."
Zhou Jin leaned back in his chair, studying the photo of the filthy, messy workshop.
"This is a classic case of clumsy imitation. If you can’t grasp the essence, you shouldn’t play the game. Now look, they’re about to play themselves to death."
The other three men fixed their attention on Zhou Jin. He was the expert in this field; his opinion was the one that mattered.
Han Guangqi said, "This is just a minor incident. I’m worried this news won’t be enough to do them any real damage."
Zhou Jin lit a cigarette, thought for a moment, and said:
"After all this time, aside from this one piece of dirt, is there anything else?"
"No. The other negative stuff we found was all useless. We couldn’t even find an opening to smear them," Han Guangqi said.
"It doesn’t matter. This is more than enough."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course," Zhou Jin said with a shrug.
"Right now, they’re like a balloon that’s been floated up to the heavens. This dirt is the pin. All we need to do is poke a tiny hole, and they’ll come crashing down."
After a pause, Zhou Jin continued,
"The moment public perception turns on them, that traffic pool they’ve built will become a negative one. Publishing any negative news about them will generate views. So, this is just the catalyst. It’s more than enough to deal with them!"

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