Chapter 462 - 361: Yang Yixue’s Countermeasure

Chapter 462: Chapter 361: Yang Yixue’s Countermeasure

The two of them stared blankly at the conspicuous sign.

Tongtong Restaurant.

’A second company-owned store?’

The shop across the street belonged to Jiang Liu?!!

The big shot who was so well-connected he could get construction done during the day was Jiang Liu?!

Impossible!

It had to be a fake!!

Yang Yixue bit her lip hard, her hand clutching her pants. Her nails, painted with gold-flecked polish, dug painfully into her thigh.

The pain shooting up from her thigh was a frantic reminder of how real, how ironic, all of this was.

To think she had wanted to curry favor with the owner of the shop across the street...

Yang Yixue felt nothing but an endless explosion of shame.

The person she had wanted to suck up to was actually her ex-husband, the one she had abandoned—Jiang Liu!

The big shot she had been so worried about was her own ex-husband, Jiang Liu!

By what right!?

Li Xiaoyan swallowed hard, her eyes wide as saucers. "Daughter, this... W-what’s going on?"

Her stuttering voice was thick with terror.

’This shop was actually opened by that worthless dog of a son-in-law?’

Yang Yixue took a deep breath of the humid air, suppressing her complicated emotions as she explained,

"This is Jiang Liu’s branch store. He must be trying to turn the Tongtong Restaurant brand into a chain, like the Haidilao hot pot chain."

Li Xiaoyan’s face instantly turned ugly, as if she wanted to vomit.

It was as if she’d eaten a pound of cockroaches.

If Jiang Liu opening a shop right on their doorstep had only made her a little flustered,

because even if they couldn’t compete, they could just pack up and open a new shop elsewhere.

It wasn’t a big deal.

But what truly disgusted and sickened Li Xiaoyan with jealousy...

...was her daughter saying Jiang Liu was actually trying to build a brand, create a chain, maybe even make a lot of money—or go public!

She couldn’t accept that at all.

Even losing money had never felt this awful!

"So what do we do now?" Li Xiaoyan asked in a low voice, her lips tightening after she spoke.

Yang Yixue fell silent.

Ever since Feng Jingjing had called her the day before yesterday, she’d felt that Jiang Liu was no longer the same man he was before the divorce.

The old Jiang Liu had been a soft persimmon in her eyes—someone she could pinch and prod however she pleased. But now...

For a moment, Yang Yixue didn’t know how to respond.

A feeling of regret took root in her heart.

Only to be immediately crushed by humiliation and rage.

"What are we going to do, daughter!?" Li Xiaoyan was the first to panic.

She would rather live ten years less just to see Jiang Liu go back to being a wage slave.

Yang Yixue thought for a moment, then narrowed her eyes and said, "We can’t let him have it easy. He wants to open a shop here? Fine, then we’ll fight him head-on!"

"Fight Jiang Liu head-on?"

Li Xiaoyan was stunned. She said timidly, "Are you sure? If not, let’s just forget it."

"I’m sure!"

Yang Yixue already had a counter-strategy in mind:

"Starting today, our second store will also implement a ’premium quality’ plan! I’m going to transfer some elite chefs over from the other stores."

"Also, we’ll step up service training, use only the freshest and best ingredients for our buns, and—all our buns will be made entirely by hand, no machines!"

Li Xiaoyan wasn’t happy about that.

"Doesn’t that mean we’re just copying him? Does he even have the right to make us learn from him?"

Her contempt for her poor son-in-law was still deep-rooted.

Yang Yixue shot Li Xiaoyan a look of veiled disgust.

She wasn’t a brainless fool like Li Xiaoyan.

Making compromises was just a temporary tactic. Only those who could be flexible would achieve great things.

"Mom, I don’t want to do this either, but what other choice do we have? Should we just tuck our tails and run? I’m not willing to do that. Are you?"

Li Xiaoyan immediately said:

"I’m not willing either! Why should we be afraid of him? He’s just a poor wage slave who stepped in dog shit! It’s probably just a stroke of temporary luck. As the saying goes, feng shui turns. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll be the ones to drive him out of business!"

Yang Yixue nodded.

Of course, she wasn’t just spouting nonsense. She was confident she could go up against Jiang Liu.

Even if she couldn’t win, she could at least make life difficult for him!

As for her earlier thought that the owner across the street was some big shot, after finding out it was Jiang Liu, Yang Yixue began to have her doubts.

She didn’t believe Jiang Liu could have that kind of power.

It had only been a month. How could that broke ex-husband of hers have that kind of power?

’It’s probably just a coincidence. He just happened to know a few people, that’s all.’

The two of them discussed it for a bit.

They immediately began transferring chefs from their other stores to the second store.

When the other stores got the news, they were thrown into chaos.

Yang Yixue lacked Jiang Liu’s foresight. Her stores had always operated with just barely enough staff; she saved money wherever she could.

This sudden change was like pouring salt on the wound for her other stores, which were already struggling.

One chef reported the situation to Yang Yixue and offered a suggestion, but he was scolded and dismissed.

’How ridiculous.’

’I’m a big boss. Why should I listen to a stinking chef like you?’

In Yang Yixue’s eyes, a chef was no better than an animal trainer, just some pathetic loser working for her.

’You’ve sunk to the level of a wage earner. If I listened to you, wouldn’t that mean I’m being outdone by a mere worker?’

Yang Yixue created a new group chat for the second store.

She perfunctorily sent a message: "Work hard. If you do a good job, I’ll consider giving you all a raise."

This pie-in-the-sky promise was full of holes.

Everyone replied listlessly, "Received."

Yang Yixue shot a look of veiled resentment at the sign and said:

"Let’s go. We’ll sit in the coffee shop next to his place for a bit."

There happened to be a crosswalk right there.

Yang Yixue led Li Xiaoyan to Ruixin Coffee, next door to Jiang Liu’s shop, and they sat down.

It was a convenient place to observe the situation.

In Yang Yixue’s mind, one must know oneself and know one’s enemy to win a hundred battles. She needed to get a clear understanding of this new shop’s situation.

*

Ten minutes later.

The staff Jiang Liu had assigned—waitstaff and chefs—also arrived.

In total, there was one chef, Wu Qingshan; two apprentices; one cleaner; and four servers. The servers were all young—three women and one man.

It wasn’t a large number of people, but Hu Yongfa had been actively recruiting and training new staff recently.

Unlike the staff at Yang Yixue’s store, everyone under Jiang Liu was in high spirits, looking around excitedly.

Hu Yongfa had even set up a staff dormitory in an alley next to the shop.

It was seven hundred meters from the first store and just over four hundred meters from this one.

Everyone was very grateful to Jiang Liu, their behind-the-scenes boss.

Not only was the work atmosphere harmonious, but the pay was also 50% higher than the industry average, and the benefits were plentiful.

They barely had to spend any money each month and could actually save up.

"Hello, everyone."

Ren Qingqing saw them arrive and came out to greet them graciously.

She wasn’t what you’d call beautiful, but she was somewhat attractive. Around thirty years old, she had a nice figure—curvy in the back, though not up front—and was dressed in black business attire. She wore glasses and held a staff roster in her hand.

Wu Qingshan said humbly, "You must be Supervisor Ren. My name is Wu Qingshan. President Jiang sent me to be the manager. You can just call me Old Wu."

"I think I’ll call you Manager Wu." Ren Qingqing smiled and gestured with her hand. "Please, let me show you the basic layout of the shop."

"Manager Wu, if you feel anything needs to be added, please let me know."

"Alright."

Wu Qingshan didn’t send the rest of the staff away. Instead, he had them tag along, and the whole group toured the shop to get familiar with it.

As Ren Qingqing explained, she secretly observed everyone’s expressions and movements.

She grew more and more surprised.

It seemed the people under Jiang Liu were of a very high caliber. Every one of them was full of energy and looked eager to work.

. . . . . . . . . . .