Chapter 208: Spontaneous Promotion

With all his business taken care of, he had cut the original two-to-three-day trip down to just one.

He wasn’t too concerned about his degree, but skipping too many classes still felt wrong.

Early the next morning, Li Xiao and Zhou Shishi returned to Yangcheng.

The renovation company officially moved into the training center to begin a 10-day-long project.

However, a problem cropped up at the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop, which should have been entering a stable period of operation.

Li Xiao’s eyebrows arched slightly as he listened to Lai Chunjiao’s report.

On its first and second days, the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop had perfectly handled the customer traffic from its grand opening.

Just when Lai Chunjiao thought she could send the staff from the old location back and let the new shop run on its own…

…on the third day, customer traffic at the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop surged to a new peak.

The number of customers in the morning alone was equal to the entire previous day’s total.

If Lai Chunjiao hadn’t acted decisively, shutting down the delivery system at the old shop and sending the extra staff over, the new location would likely have been completely overwhelmed.

Li Xiao was a bit surprised by this sudden explosion in popularity.

‘He hadn’t invested any resources in advertising or promoting the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop, so how did it suddenly get so popular for no reason?’

But Lai Chunjiao quickly reported the information she had gathered so far.

The Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop had become so popular because of word-of-mouth from the first two days.

The new shop was located in one of Yangcheng’s bustling commercial districts.

As a result, it had already served a large number of customers in the first two days.

The quality of Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop’s drinks was quite good, but that was a secondary reason. The most important factor was the unique nature of the shop itself.

The main customer base for milk tea shops consists of teenagers and young adults in their twenties.

The sight of a group of resilient young people with disabilities working hard to make a living in society immediately struck a chord and elicited the sympathy of these young customers.

And this particular demographic also happens to be one of the most active on the internet.

They naturally started sharing what made the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop so special on all the major social media platforms.

This not only raised the milk tea shop’s profile but also created a positive word-of-mouth effect online.

Many young people were drawn not just by the delicious milk tea, but also by the unique concept of Xihuan’Er and the heartwarming story behind it, which made them feel a close connection.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiao immediately took out his phone. A quick search confirmed it; he found a ton of information related to the milk tea shop.

While it wasn’t quite trending nationally, there were numerous posts, and most of them were positive.

Clicking on the comments, Li Xiao felt for a moment like he’d stumbled into some kind of online fan club.

He shook his head with a wry smile.

‘This wave of popularity really came out of nowhere.’

He had initially considered promoting the milk tea shop, but he’d scrapped that idea after the first day.

The shop’s operations were already running smoothly. Rashly driving more traffic wouldn’t be a good thing; in fact, it could disrupt their normal workflow.

The milk tea shop definitely couldn’t handle that much customer traffic, so he had canceled his original promotional plans.

He never expected that while he held back on advertising, the customers themselves would launch a spontaneous promotional campaign.

Li Xiao scratched his head, a little troubled.

‘What a mess.’

He immediately asked,

“So what’s the plan now?”

“Can we handle this surge in traffic? If not, have you figured out a strategy to deal with it?”

There was no trace of panic in Lai Chunjiao’s voice.

“Don’t worry, Boss. This surge in traffic is a bit sudden, but it won’t cause us any major problems.”

“Although our training center isn’t ready yet, we already have a group of new recruits in training at the old location. If we can just hold out for two or three days, they’ll be ready to start working.”

“Their efficiency won’t be as high as our current staff’s, of course, but it will help ease the immediate pressure.”

“Additionally, we’ve implemented a ticket-limiting system. Once the queue reaches a certain number, we stop giving out new tickets to make sure customers don’t have to wait too long.”

Li Xiao was quite satisfied after hearing her plan.

It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was a solid A-.

Li Xiao added as a reminder,

“Alright, as long as you have a plan, I’m not worried.”

“Remember, it’s okay if our milk tea shop doesn’t turn a profit, but we absolutely cannot generate any negative publicity.”

“After all, you know what this milk tea shop is for.”

“We’ll need to continue cooperating with the government to expand this model nationwide, providing more of these kids with a place to belong and a decent job that allows them to live with dignity.”

Lai Chunjiao replied with a serious tone,

“Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll keep a close eye on the shop’s development and make sure we don’t stray from our mission.”

Li Xiao hung up and soon noticed a new message on his phone.

“Boss, our first batch of mushrooms has reached maturity. Do you want to come over and take a look?”

Seeing the message, Li Xiao slapped his forehead. Only then did he remember that he also owned a mushroom cultivation company.

He’d been a completely hands-off owner ever since acquiring it.

He had only visited twice during the handover and hadn’t paid it any mind since. He never expected the first batch of mushrooms to already be ready for harvest.

After a moment’s thought, he gave Dong Guojiang a call.

After getting a brief rundown of the situation, Li Xiao hung up.

On Li Xiao’s instruction, the mushroom company had discarded all its original, lower-quality substrate packs.

The company then purchased a large number of high-quality substrate packs and also obtained a batch of mature, stable, new mushroom strains from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

These new strains not only boasted high yields and superior quality, but they were also highly resistant to various pests and diseases, lowering both the risks and the costs of cultivation.

At Dong Guojiang’s suggestion, Li Xiao decided to visit the mushroom cultivation company to inspect it himself.

He wanted to see how the company was doing now, too.

It wasn’t urgent, though. He waited until his afternoon classes were over before getting into his 911 and heading for the cultivation company.

When he arrived at the mushroom cultivation company, a busy yet orderly scene greeted him.

Workers were diligently focused on their tasks inside the plastic greenhouses.

Li Xiao was quite satisfied seeing everyone’s work ethic.

Seeing Li Xiao arrive, Dong Guojiang immediately hurried over to greet him.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Dong Guojiang got straight to the point.

“Boss, we have a rather troublesome problem at the company right now.”

Li Xiao frowned slightly.

“A problem? What is it? Let’s hear it.”