Chapter 81: Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop

If Zhou Shishi could just convince her loaded boss to run a few more accounts, her workload would naturally increase. As a result, her status as an otherwise dispensable little assistant would rise with the tide. Having spent a year at a large corporation, she also knew that managing multiple accounts wasn’t actually as difficult as people imagined. Once she got past the initial account creation phase, the work would become much easier.

Although Li Xiao was no sweatshop capitalist, he obviously wasn’t going to stop his employee from putting in extra effort. After a moment’s consideration, he agreed.

"Alright. If you’re willing to manage a few more accounts and let more people learn about our food, I’m certainly happy with that.

"However, don’t take on too much at once—don’t bite off more than you can chew. Start with one or two new platforms, run them for a bit, and see how it goes.

"As for which platforms to use and how exactly to operate them, I’ll leave those decisions entirely up to you.

"I’ll transfer you ten thousand yuan in startup funds right now so you can buy some traffic or data. If it’s not enough, just ask me for more."

With that, Li Xiao transferred the ten thousand yuan straight to Zhou Shishi.

Zhou Shishi blinked blankly at the bright orange transfer bubble on her screen. She wondered, "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing? What did I even say to my boss? Why did he suddenly send me money?"

Staring at the solid ten thousand yuan in startup funds, Zhou Shishi nearly burst into tears. It wasn’t because it was too little—quite the opposite, it was far too much. In the early stages of account management, unless one was blindly chasing statistics, the actual expenses were quite low. After all, most of the videos could just be reposted directly from the original platform. Moreover, her monthly salary was only ten thousand yuan. The fact that her boss had casually wired her that exact amount without a second thought showed an off-the-charts level of trust.

Zhou Shishi clenched her fists. She decided that as long as Li Xiao didn’t fire her, she would cling tightly to her boss’s coattails until the day she retired. She quickly typed back.

"Don’t worry, Boss!

"I’ll definitely do a beautiful job for you!"

Li Xiao closed the chat window. The others had already tidied up the once-messy kitchen until it was spotless. It was getting late, so he didn’t keep them around the apartment any longer. It wasn’t that they were unwelcome; rather, when they had first invited Zhou Yu’s girlfriend over to hang out, they had agreed to get her back to campus early. She was only a freshman, after all, and Li Xiao didn’t want her getting the wrong idea about them having any inappropriate intentions.

After dropping Zhao Shanshan off at her dorm, Li Xiao and the other three guys returned to theirs. The moment Zhao Shanshan pushed open her door, she was immediately surrounded by her three roommates. Seeing them practically jumping all over her, Shanshan was startled by their dramatic ambush.

Yuan Min clicked her tongue and leaned close to Zhao Shanshan’s ear. "You sneaky little thing. Keeping it all under wraps and fooling every last one of us."

Zhao Shanshan stared blankly at the three girls boxing her in. "Wait, what are you guys talking about? What under wraps? How did I fool you?"

Yuan Min rolled her eyes. "Didn’t you say you were going out to eat with that guy, Zhou Yu?

"Chu Xiaofang was outside hanging up clothes and saw the whole thing. You just came back in a Mercedes-Benz!

"And you tried to tell me your boyfriend didn’t have any money. You’re too much!"

Upon hearing Yuan Min’s accusation, Zhao Shanshan finally realized what was going on. She hurriedly explained.

"Zhou Yu’s family background is actually really ordinary. That Benz isn’t his; it belongs to his roommate, Li Xiao.

"Li Xiao just so happened to buy some Pine Needle Crabs today.

"I happened to be accompanying Zhou Yu to class, so he invited me over to eat the crabs with them."

Chu Xiaofang gasped. "Pine Needle Crabs? The ones from Japan?

"Don’t those cost several hundred yuan a piece?

"This Li Xiao sure is generous."

Beside her, Ning Yueqin quickly chimed in. "He drives a Mercedes! What is a few hundred yuan to him?"

Chu Xiaofang nodded in belated realization. "True, that Benz didn’t look cheap.

"A few hundred yuan is probably just what it costs him to fill up the gas tank.

"Rich people really hit different. A casual treat is easily several hundred bucks."

Hearing her roommates’ chatter, Zhao Shanshan stuck out her tongue. She thought, "A few hundred bucks?"

If it were only a single Pine Needle Crab, then they would be right. But if her three roommates knew that the five of them had polished off nine crabs today—costing at least several thousand yuan—they would probably lose their minds.

Zhao Shanshan was no fool. She didn’t let knowing Li Xiao go to her head, nor did she harbor any wild fantasies just because her boyfriend was close with him. Taking off her shoes, she offered a casual, noncommittal reply.

"Yeah, Brother Li is a pretty good guy.

"His cooking skills are amazing, too. Anyway, alright, alright, my boyfriend is really just an ordinary guy with no Mercedes.

"Now that everything is cleared up, you know I wasn’t lying. So please, let me off the hook, sisters!"

Seeing that the Benz didn’t belong to Zhao Shanshan’s boyfriend, the trio had no choice but to drop the subject. They had originally thought that Shanshan had snagged some secretly wealthy second-generation heir in Zhou Yu. The moment they saw her step out of the Mercedes, they had already plotted to change their weekend dinner plans to a much higher-end restaurant. Now, however, they would just have to stick to their original plan.

Meanwhile.

Li Xiao had just finished showering back at his dorm. He opened his laptop and typed "Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop" into the search bar. Soon, he found the information he was looking for.

He discovered that this shop, which the system had awarded him, had actually been featured in the news before. After reading through all the publicly available information online, Li Xiao fell silent. He finally understood why the milk tea shop had such a strange name.

"Xihuan’Er" was a term used to describe a special group of people suffering from conditions like cerebral palsy, autism, or Down syndrome. The reason they were given such a cheerful moniker was because, throughout their entire lives, they remained "deeply joyful and profoundly innocent." Their faces constantly bore a simple, genuine smile that people often referred to as an "angel’s smile." The vast majority of the staff working at this milk tea shop were precisely these kinds of Xihuan’Er.

Before he could delve any deeper, his phone rang. Seeing an unknown number flashing on the screen, Li Xiao frowned in confusion. Who would be calling him at this hour? Still, he picked up the call. A very gentle female voice immediately sounded from the other end of the line.

"Hello? Is this Mr. Li Xiao?"

Li Xiao hesitated for a second before answering. "Yes, speaking. May I ask who is calling?"

The woman quickly introduced herself. "Hello, I am Wenchu People, a grid worker for the Tonghui District sub-district office.

"I’m contacting you today, Mr. Li, to discuss the handover procedures for the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop."

Li Xiao was somewhat bewildered. "Is there still something that needs to be handed over?"

Wenchu People explained, "Because the shop owner, Tang Wen, has seen a continuous decline in his health, I’m afraid he won’t be able to handle the handover personally.

"Since I am responsible for the grid work in that area, Mr. Tang Wen has entrusted the handover process to me. I was wondering when you might be free?

"This matter is rather complicated, so it would be best if we could meet in person."

Li Xiao glanced at his schedule. His classes were fully packed tomorrow, but he still nodded immediately. "No problem. If it’s convenient for you, how about nine o’clock tomorrow morning?"

Sensing Li Xiao’s eagerness, the woman’s tone lightened considerably. "No problem, of course that’s no problem.

"Then I will wait for you at the entrance of the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop at exactly nine o’clock tomorrow morning."