Chapter 224 - 197: Tea Drink Brand Concept

Chapter 224: Chapter 197: Tea Drink Brand Concept

"This is my brother-in-law."

Faced with the fishing buddies’ teasing, Chen Yuan introduced Yang Yangyang without a hint of hesitation.

Yang Yangyang didn’t say anything, but he was beaming. Having his future brother-in-law vouch for him right off the bat — that was a great sign.

"Oh? Miss Chen’s boyfriend?"

The fishing buddies perked up immediately, giving him a thorough once-over before all landing on the same sentiment.

"Bro, I am so jealous of you."

Yang Yangyang was a little confused at first. He figured they were jealous that he’d landed a girlfriend as pretty as Chen Li — but it was Chen Yuan’s next line that set him straight.

"Jealous my ass. You’re jealous of the fishing spots, more like."

He still remembered when his sister first came back — this bunch of lovable Gods of Wealth had joked about wanting to become his brother-in-law just so they could freeload prime fishing spots without shame.

Now that the real deal was standing right in front of them, of course they were green with envy.

"Ha! No need to be jealous of me. If you can’t be Yuan’s brother-in-law, just get Yuan to be yours — marry into the family the other way and you’ll still get your fishing spots."

Once Yang Yangyang caught on, he played along with the joke.

They all shared a love of fishing, so a few lines was all it took to get the conversation rolling. The vibe was good.

"The family business isn’t complicated — mostly shuttling guests back and forth. Come with me later when I run through the reward redemption process and you’ll get the hang of it."

After handing out the lunch boxes, Chen Yuan and Yang Yangyang settled into the car shed and dug in.

Chen Nan and the others had the good sense to stay out of the way.

"Sure, no problem."

Yang Yangyang was relaxed about it, squatting in the truck bed and shoveling food into his mouth without a care in the world, completely unfazed by Chen Yuan putting him to work.

That was a good thing.

At least it meant his brother-in-law accepted him.

"You’ll need to get familiar with the whole operation. Pitch in when you can, but your main focus is still running the milk tea shop. You won’t need to split the profits from that with anyone."

Chen Yuan said this between mouthfuls.

"Wait, isn’t there a tiered profit-sharing arrangement?"

Yang Yangyang looked up in surprise, a piece of meat still dangling from the corner of his mouth before he slurped it in.

"We’re family. No point shuffling money from one pocket to the other."

In his past life, his brother-in-law had always treated him well. They hadn’t seen each other much because of the distance, but when Chen Li had gone out of her way to help him, Yang Yangyang never said a word against it.

Every now and then, a phone call — and Yang Yangyang always had the same thing to say: life in the city is rough, just say the word if you need anything.

That kind of loyalty wasn’t nothing.

That was exactly why, even after being reborn, Chen Yuan still had nothing but respect for this man.

"No, that’s not how it works. Business is business — we do things by the book, and that’s what keeps the relationship clean."

Yang Yangyang was firm about wanting a proper profit split.

Money was a wonderful thing — nobody didn’t love it — but it was also a blade that cut without drawing blood. More people than you could count had turned on each other over money and ended up with nothing but tragedy.

"Alright, fair enough. Everyone gets treated the same."

Chen Yuan thought about it and didn’t push back. The way he saw it — sure, being generous felt noble, but had he considered how the other person might feel about it?

Besides, when it came to money, he had no intention of shortchanging his sister or Yang Yangyang. He hadn’t even discussed Chen Li’s pay yet.

Chen Yuan had plans for that.

"Deal."

Only then did Yang Yangyang drop the serious look on his face. He also mentioned that the milk tea shop wouldn’t need much space.

After all, he’d just overheard Chen Yuan on the phone trying to recruit vendors — clearly the goal was to bring in as many as possible. His setup didn’t need to take up a big footprint.

"Have you given any thought to how you want to run the milk tea shop?"

Chen Yuan nodded as he asked.

"What do you mean?"

Yang Yangyang wasn’t quite following.

"Your business model."

Chen Yuan finished his food, flipped the box shut, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes — handed one over and stuck one in his own mouth, lighting up.

"The model for a milk tea shop is pretty straightforward — different items at different price points. Easy enough to run."

Yang Yangyang snapped his box shut and set it on the ground, took the cigarette, lit it, and said.

"The simpler it looks, the more the details matter."

Chen Yuan’s mind drifted to the bubble tea wars of his past life. There had been thousands of brands fighting for a slice of the market, but very few actually broke through — each carving out its own niche.

They’d all chased the latest trends to hook young consumers, charging upwards of ten yuan for a single cup of milk tea.

But Mixue Ice City had taken a blunt, no-frills approach and absolutely demolished the competition — clawing its way up from the bottom tier all the way to the top, going from a humble street stall to a company worth hundreds of billions, and leaving the entire industry soaked in blood along the way.

Mixue Ice City’s success boiled down to four words.

Win hearts with low prices.

Truth be told, Mixue Ice City didn’t push out many new products — but what it did have was dirt-cheap pricing, averaging just seven to eight yuan a cup. Its iconic lineup: a two-yuan soft serve, a four-yuan lemonade, and milk tea that averaged around eight yuan.

That single-minded strategy put every other top brand to shame. Mixue Ice City shot to the top of the tea drink world overnight and became the darling of franchise investors everywhere.

"You’re saying go low on price?"

Yang Yangyang was sharp — he’d picked up on the key word buried in Chen Yuan’s point: price advantage.

"Affordable prices and solid quality — that’s always been the most powerful marketing strategy out there. Same product, whoever’s cheaper wins. And on top of that, we’re out in the countryside, so we need something extra to make up for the location disadvantage."

Chen Yuan nodded, then paused for just a moment before adding, "At least in the early stages."

"I get what you’re saying, but the big-name brands out there have serious supply chain muscle — tighter control, finer granularity at every step. Unless you go the franchise route, it’s nearly impossible to pull that off on your own."

Yang Yangyang took a long drag and shook his head with a wry smile.

He’d never thought about building a brand from scratch. With no rent or fit-out costs to worry about right now, he was still on the fence about franchising — though joining as an employee did come with perks, both on the franchise fee and the level of support.

"Leave the supply chain to me."

With the system in his corner, sourcing raw materials was the least of his worries — and the quality and taste would hold up against any brand on the market, no question about it.