After dropping off Li Xiaoping, they had a quick meal in the county and then drove away.
For most of the drive, Shen Qingqiu was on her phone, scrolling through the relevant news.
"News spreads so fast online. It’s only been a few hours, and it’s already a top trending topic locally."
"I think it’s because they set the bar too high for themselves," Lin Jiang said.
"Normally, these are issues everyone is tacitly aware of. If it were any other supermarket, they’d just issue a statement, deal with the employees involved, apologize, and be done with it. But they were constantly positioning themselves as a rival to Donglai Supermarket, even coining that ’Beidonglai, Nanhui Brand’ slogan. They made such a huge fuss, so now that they’ve run into problems, everyone’s waiting to see how they’ll handle it."
"I remember Berkeley’s dough incident. I think they paid out over eight million in compensation. Huipin’s situation is even more serious, so eight million might not be enough," Shen Qingqiu said.
"A total of four health and safety violations were exposed. Using your case as a benchmark, if they pay eight million for each, that’s 32 million. Their cash flow might not be able to handle that."
"But I don’t think they’ll necessarily pay."
"I don’t think so either," Shen Qingqiu said.
"They’re different from Berkeley. Your ownership structure is simple, so you can react quickly. But Huipin City is under the Huipin Group, which has other shareholders. If they want to pay out that much money, the city branch certainly can’t afford it. The parent company would have to foot the bill, but the other shareholders might not agree. At the same time, this also involves a ripple effect."
After a brief pause, Shen Qingqiu continued,
"Consumers will associate Huipin City with other Huipin Supermarket locations. In the future, any problems that arise will be blamed on the entire brand. That’s the real underlying risk they’re facing."
Shen Qingqiu analyzed the pros and cons from a professional standpoint, seeing the more far-reaching implications.
"I figured they’d have issues, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon. Now there’s a good show to watch."
"The situation between you and Huipin City could definitely be a classic business case study. It’ll provide plenty of material for academic papers."
"We have Wenqi to thank for that. If she hadn’t fanned the flames, the results might not have been this good."
The two chatted as they drove, and by the time they got back to Zhonghai, it was already past 4:00 PM.
The weather had turned a little chilly, so they went for hotpot that evening. He dropped Shen Qingqiu off at her home a little after 5:00 PM.
"Thank you for everything, for coming to spend the New Year with me, and for having your mother come all this way."
"A top student’s brain is really something else. I told you not to say ’thank you,’ so you switched to ’thank you for everything.’"
"I really do want to say thank you, but since you won’t let me, this is the only way."
Shen Qingqiu felt a little wronged, unsure of how else to express her feelings.
"I asked you to come home with me, but you wouldn’t, so my mom had to come here."
"That’s why I feel bad. It’s such a long trip, it must have been tiring for her."
"It’s fine. Just come back with me for the New Year. Of course, it’s up to you whether you go or not. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself."
"I’m definitely going!"
Shen Qingqiu said decisively, "If I don’t go this time, your mom will definitely be angry. And besides..."
A smile spread across Shen Qingqiu’s face.
"Besides, it’s probably pretty boring with just the two of you celebrating the New Year at home. With me there, it’ll be more lively."
"Then it’s a deal."
"Okay."
They chatted for a little while longer before Shen Qingqiu got out of the car. Lin Jiang then drove back to Century Triumph.
He glanced at the time. It was 6:30. Qin Yangyang had said she would come over around seven, so he’d have to wait a little longer.
He opened the box office rankings. The gross for *Xia Luote’s Troubles* had already soared to 140 million, and it had claimed the top spot for daily box office with a rating of 8.6.
’An 8.6 isn’t a low score at all.’
He then checked the total box office for *Farewell, Youth*. It had barely reached 14 million, and its take for the day had just crossed one million.
’At this rate, it’ll be lucky to hit 20 million.’
Closing the box office app, Lin Jiang opened up the trending topics on TikTok.
The topic about Huipin City was still trending.
But even now, Huipin Group still hadn’t issued any response.
However, the negative exposés about them kept coming, one after another.
Unlike Berkeley’s situation, this felt like everyone was kicking Huipin City while it was down.
In addition to the issues Zheng Wenqi had exposed, other customers were also going online to share their own terrible shopping experiences.
And people’s complaints were all spot-on: What right did they have to compare themselves to Donglai Supermarket?
At the same time, as a crosstown competitor, Berkeley naturally became another point of comparison.
The results of the comparison were obvious at a glance; they were being torn to shreds.
Lin Jiang recalled Shen Qingqiu’s analysis.
’Huipin Group’s ownership structure was complex, making it impossible for them to respond as quickly as Berkeley had. They might not even be able to issue a statement within 24 hours.’
’Even if they did respond, they probably couldn’t afford to be as generous as Berkeley.’
’In any case, this silent battle is about to reach its conclusion.’
Around seven o’clock, Qin Yangyang arrived.
She was wearing a thin, black down jacket with blue jeans and ankle boots.
Under the jacket, she wore a tight black top. The swell of her full chest and her flat stomach formed a perfect curve.
Although she wasn’t the bustiest of the women he knew, hers were definitely the most shapely.
The moment she saw Lin Jiang, Qin Yangyang threw her arms around him and gave him a haughty look.
"Did you miss me while you were home these past few days?"
"Look at these dark circles. I missed you so much I couldn’t sleep at night. My mom wanted me to stay a few more days, but I couldn’t stand it for another minute."

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