By the time Huang Fang saw the message in the chat group, the watermelons that she had asked Zhou Kun to deliver had basically been spontaneously distributed by the elderly ladies at the entrance.
“Zhou Zhaodi, what do you mean? Why should the watermelons, which I got Little Zhout to deliver, be distributed by you!?!”
“You secretly replenished your stock without informing us. That’s your fault.”
Zhou Kun watched as the two people, whose combined age was far more than a hundred years old, began to quarrel over the watermelons. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and persuade them to stop fighting. At last, he finally managed to stop the dispute by organizing a group-buy on the spot in the estate and promising to return in order to distribute their stock immediately.
However, there was no way that the friendship between the fellow dancers, Huang Fang and Zhou Zhaodi, would be salvaged.
By the time Zhou Kun delivered the second batch of goods to Jinlan Residences and returned to his store, he saw the worried-looking Chen Peng waiting for him at the entrance.
“Mr. Zhou, you’re finally here!”
“Mr. Chen, what’s the matter?”
“I forgot to leave my contact number with you previously. I’m here for a restock.”
“Restock? Didn’t you just leave with a hundred watermelons this morning?”
Zhou Kun took out his mobile phone, only to realize that it was almost twelve o’clock. He wondered, ‘All hundred watermelons were sold out so quickly?’
“I’m running a milk tea business. Each watermelon can only produce up to six cups of juice. A hundred watermelons will last me until one or two o’clock in the afternoon at most. I’ll be out of stock if I don’t come to purchase once more.”
Zhou Kun didn’t know that Chen Peng ran a milk tea business previously. However, his uncle’s juice store wasn’t doing as well as Chen Peng’s.
“Mr. Chen, your business is doing so well. How many watermelons would you like to order this time?”
“Mr. Zhou, can you help me with the delivery? I need 300 watermelons, I can’t fit that many in this van, so I’ll bring 50 back to accommodate the situation first.”
“Okay, give me an address.”
When Zhou Kun proceeded with the delivery, he saw a queue that had at least two bends in front of Chen Peng’s milk tea store.
In fact, Chen Peng was surprised that Zhou Kun’s watermelon would bring him so much business.
It was because the situation was rather different when the store was opened for business in the morning.
Chen Peng’s milk tea store was called ‘Cha Yan’, and it was set up in an upscale commercial center in Tong City. Opposite his store was his competitor, ‘Hey Tea’.
The two stores were opened just a few days apart—Hey Tea was opened first, but there were numerous Hey Tea advertisements in almost all the train cabins of Tong City. Naturally, Hey Tea was famous before the grand opening.
In contrast, Chen Peng was focused on the reputation of their products and hardly did any marketing or advertising. Originally, Chen Peng believed that he wouldn’t have to be afraid since his drinks were superb. However, the sales method used by Hey Tea taught Chen Peng a lesson.
From the first day of the store opening, there had never been a cease in customers at the entrance of Hey Tea. Compared to the quiet Cha Yan, the business for Hey Tea was excellent.
“What milk tea is this? We actually had to queue for over an hour. There is a milk tea shop right next to it. Let’s try the one next door, shall we?” said a man who was together with his girlfriend.
“No, Hey Tea is the most popular milk tea store in Tong City City right now. I’ve been to this mall several times and never gotten around to buying and trying their drinks. Since we don’t have anything going on today, I’m going to have Hey Tea!” When the girl threw a tantrum, her boyfriend had no choice but to give in.
After a good hour or so of queuing, it was finally their turn. However, the staff of Hey Tea told them that they would have to wait another hour or so to collect their milk tea.
“I’ve never had to go through such a hassle for milk tea. I’m thirsty, I’ll go next door to buy a random cup of drink.” The man was rather straightforward. He didn’t care if it was popular on the internet or a sensational drink. Anything that he could drink now would be a good beverage.
“We’ve already been queuing up for such a long time. You really don’t want to drink it?”
“Buy yourself a cup if you want. I’ll watch you queue up with my milk tea later. Wonderful!”
“Psht, there are no customers at the milk tea store next door at all. How tasty can it be? By then, you’ll be the one regretting.” The store that the girl mentioned was Cha Yan, which belonged to Chen Peng.
After the two of them left Hey Tea, they headed straight to Cha Yan.
“Hello, welcome to Cha Yan.”
“What kind of milk tea do you have here that has a refreshing flavor?” The man disliked milk tea that tasted too overwhelming. Hence, he asked that question.
“You should try our signature beverage, watermelon juice.” Chen Peng had already informed his staff to mainly promote watermelon juice that day.
“What’s so nice about watermelon juice?” The man did not say anything and simply nodded to place his order. However, his girlfriend appeared a little disdainful. She felt that the grape juice from Hey Tea next door was much better.
Chen Peng was very strict with controlling the quality of his beverages. The watermelon drink that he sold was actually freshly-squeezed watermelon juice topped with whipped dairy cream. The watermelon had to be cut on the spot to ensure that the ingredients were fresh.
Hence, after placing their orders, the two of them stood at the side to watch the staff cut up a dark-skinned watermelon, remove the row of seeds skilfully, and weigh them accurately on the electronic scale. After the weight displayed on the scale showed ‘300 grams’, the staff placed the watermelon back into the juicer.
“This watermelon looks good. There’s nothing wrong with the beverage,” the man remarked, commenting about the watermelons.
“Don’t make me start commenting about the standards you have for watermelon.” Clearly, the girl opposed to it.
“It’s true. If you don’t believe me, try it later. The watermelon looks good.”
The girl was originally skeptical and disdainful. However, by the time they got the beverage that was filled with the fresh aroma of watermelon, she began to waver.
“Wow, this watermelon juice sure tastes good.” The girl’s boyfriend took a sip and let out an exaggerated exclamation.
The girl was also a little uncertain because he had teased her way too many times in the past. “Are you really not deceiving me on purpose? Is it really that good?”
“It’s delicious, it’s really delicious! Don’t you believe me?”
The girl took a sip apprehensively.
“Delicious, let me have this. You can get another cup!”
Looking at the watermelon juice that was mercilessly taken away from him, the man had no choice but to buy another cup.
Numerous customers left Cha Yan with cups of watermelon juice, one after another. The rich aroma of watermelon began to diffuse out from Cha Yan.
The people who originally planned to go line up at Hey Tea was lured by Cha Yan due to the refreshing aroma. A short queue also began to form in front of Cha Yan.
There was another feature of amazing drinks like milk tea, and that was, the beverage that others had would forever taste better than one’s own.
Many customers, who bought the watermelon juice, continued to stroll around the mall, and passersby watched as they encountered various cups of watermelon juice while taking a walk. One of them finally couldn’t help but ask, “The watermelon juice in your hand looks good, where did you buy it?”
“I bought it from Cha Yan.”
Another couple couldn’t help but exclaim, “Why is everyone who just passed by, holding a cup of watermelon juice? Which store is it from? Is it that delicious?”
“Judging from the logo, it seems to be Cha Yan.”
Hence, more and more people began to flock to Cha Yan, and gradually the queues in front of the two stores began to change. The line in front of Hey Tea was getting increasingly shorter while the one in front of Cha Yan began to get longer, and there was soon a snake-like queue.
“Old Xu, there’s no one left, do we still continue staying in line?” The scalpers at the entrance panicked a little. They were specially hired to purchase drinks from Hey Tea. Others wouldn’t mind paying 20 yuan extra per queue number.
“What for? They’re not silly. There are no customers anymore. Who would want to pay to buy a queue number?”
“So what do we do?”
Looking at the empty entrance of Hey Tea, before turning to look at the store across, the leader, Old Xu immediately made a decision. “Go, go join the queue at Cha Yan that’s across!”
Hence, the scalpers swarmed towards Cha Yan, which was opposite Hey Tea.