Chapter 1609: Vicious Competition

Flying Speed Chinese.

Overnight, many noodle shops suddenly sprang up near the University City, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

These noodle shops were different from other noodle shops.

Chenxin Snack's business was very prosperous; before this, quite a few people had been green with envy seeing him make money and opened shops right next to him, but none lasted long before switching to other businesses.

The reason was simple: a large tree cannot grow under the shade of another large tree!

The Chenxin Snack brand had already made a name for itself; what others made didn't taste as good as theirs, and the toppings were insufficient, so they had no competitiveness at all.

But overnight, twenty shops opened right next to Chenxin Snack!

They were called Liangxinsnack.

These shops were very targeted.

The decor was the same, and they also sold noodles, wontons, side dishes, spicy stir-fried chicken racks, and smoked duck racks.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Liangxinsnack was specifically targeting Zichen.

Chenxin Snack's signature dish was seafood noodles, and their signature dish was also seafood noodles.

The topping for Chenxin Snack's signature noodles was mainly mussels, while the newly opened noodle shops used large shrimp as toppings!

Using large shrimp as a topping cost much more than mussels, but they still set their price at ten yuan.

The other noodles and wontons also used more ingredients and cost more than Chenxin Snack's, but the prices were the same!

It was impossible to make money at this price; they would even lose money, yet they were packed with customers, and a lot of Zichen's business was stolen away.

Gu Yuxin was incredibly anxious and asked Zichen, "What should we do? Should we lower our prices?"

Zichen said, "It's a shame you studied Business Administration; don't you know that price wars are hard to win? Our profit margins are already controlled to be very low; we cannot lower prices. Lowering prices means losing money."

Yuxin said, "I know that, but what else can we do if we don't fight a price war? Should we use large shrimp too? Wouldn't that mean losing even more?"

Zichen teased her, "Not bad, even someone who doesn't go to the market knows that using shrimp costs more than using mussels. You are teachable!"

"What time do you think it is? You're still joking with me? Honestly, I'm ignoring you." Yuxin stomped her feet in anger.

Zichen stopped joking with her and said sternly, "You know that using large shrimp will result in a loss, so do you think the boss of Liangxinsnack wouldn't know?"

"They are doing this on purpose, just to force us to lose our footing and make a foolish move. We cannot go head-to-head with them; I want to avoid their sharp edge and take an unconventional path. Sooner or later, they will send money to me, delivering it to my door automatically."

"Are you okay?"

Yuxin looked at him with concern.

Although this was a blow, it shouldn't be enough to drive her boyfriend to mental instability, right?

"I'm fine, don't worry, I'm not talking nonsense."

Zichen whispered a few words in Yuxin's ear.

"Really? How do you know?" She was very surprised.

"If you want to keep something unknown, you must do nothing at all; as long as you do something, you will leave traces." Zichen smiled triumphantly.

What he had just told Yuxin was: "The master behind Liangxinsnack is Huo Zhenteng; Xiao Huang is just a puppet. He can't stir up any trouble, but Huo Zhenteng is old and cunning. If we really lowered our prices or replaced the seafood toppings with more expensive large shrimp, we would fall into Huo Zhenteng's next trap."

"What we need to do now is—do nothing. Respond to all changes by remaining unchanged, let them toss and turn, we are going out to play."

Yuxin nodded in agreement: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

There is a saying: sharpening the axe will not delay the work of cutting wood.

Zichen did what he said, and even acted willfully for once.

He decided not to wait until tomorrow; they would rest now, all the staff would go out for a big meal, and then find a KTV to sing their hearts out—play however they wanted!

The staff all agreed, except for Xiaolong.

Xiaolong found Zichen, incredibly anxious: "What time is it, how can you still be in the mood to play? Boss, don't go out to play, let's think about what we should do."

Zichen said, "The boat will naturally straighten when it reaches the bridge; I'm not worried, so don't you worry either."

Xiaolong took out a bank card and handed it to Zichen: "Boss, I know you have money, but no matter how much money you have, it can't withstand this kind of tossing. I was trained by you, and this money was all earned from you; you take it for your urgent needs first."

Zichen:...

In this vicious competition, he had planned everything, calculating every detail the opponent would make next, but he hadn't calculated this scene!

He was very moved; Xiaolong was someone who would be of great use in the future, but he couldn't take his money.

Zichen stuffed the card back into Xiaolong's hand and refused: "Your family is in such difficulty, why not give it to your parents? Why give it to me? I don't need your money, and Chenxin Snack won't go under. This difficulty is temporary, and it won't take long for us to get through it."

Xiaolong's family conditions were very difficult, otherwise he wouldn't have come out to be an apprentice right after graduating from high school.

The bank card seemed to burn his hand; he refused to take it and stuffed it back again: "Oh, just take it. My parents told me that one must know how to be grateful. I've learned so much here, and you haven't held anything back from me. If I don't help when you're in trouble, can I still be called a person?"

He was so anxious he was about to cry.

Zichen declined twice, then accepted it, and only then did Xiaolong smile happily.

He really didn't lack this bit of money, and he didn't need it, but he would accept Xiaolong's gesture and return it to him in a few days.

Chenxin Snack suddenly closed its doors.

And it wasn't just one shop; all the shops suddenly closed.

They must be unable to hold on, Xiao Huang judged!

He had worked at Chenxin Snack, and he understood Zichen's rules; unless something major happened, the shop wouldn't suddenly close, as that would easily lead to the loss of regular customers.

Sheng Zichen once said—unless it's the end of the world, the shop cannot close early!

What does "end of the world" mean for a business?

It means closing down for good.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt his analysis made sense, so he excitedly called Huo Zhenteng: "Chairman, we won; Sheng Zichen's shops have all closed."

Was it that fast?

Huo Zhenteng knew that doing this would make it hard for Sheng Zichen to hold on, but he didn't think it would be this fast; the timing wasn't quite right yet.

He asked: "Did they post a transfer notice when they closed the doors?"

Xiao Huang said: "No, they just suddenly closed. Their employees said it was for some... team building? What is team building?"

Huo Zhenteng:...

His head ached.

Did he hire a pig as a General Manager?

But even if he had truly hired a pig, he would still have to let this pig wait until the New Year before slaughtering it!

The time was not yet right.

He forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart and had to explain a very simple question to Xiao Huang: "Team building is when a group of people from a team go out to do activities together, eat..."

"Oh, eating a farewell meal!"

Huo Zhenteng:...

He really couldn't hold it back anymore and roared at the phone: "Idiot! Team building is to increase team cohesion, not a farewell meal! Can you put something else in your brain instead of just food!"

Xiao Huang felt quite aggrieved and muttered in a low voice: "You were the one who said eating, not me..."