He was the only true "cub" here besides Zhenzhen. Even though he looked like a man in his twenties, he was a genuine phoenix cub, and had been pampered like a cub by a group of parents in the Phoenix Clan territory. So, apart from when he was narcissistic and vain and looked relatively mature, Mo Bei was extremely childish at other times.
Unlike Ye Xu, who couldn't accept being a minor, Mo Bei was clearly quite comfortable with his status as a cub. Seeing the human cub Zhenzhen, he felt a surge of accomplishment as an older brother, considering that no new cubs had been born in the Phoenix Clan for the past twenty years, and he had always been the youngest.
Ye Xu pushed Mo Bei away with disdain: "Don't scare the little girl."
Zhenzhen was indeed nervous for a moment, and snuggled even closer into Ye Xu's arms. Only after Mo Bei was pushed away did she timidly show half of her face and hesitantly call out, "Uncle."
Mo Bei: "How can I be an uncle when I'm still so young?"
"Tch." Ye Xu realized that the guys in the shop had an unrealistic understanding of their seniority.
In Ye Xu's opinion, the little girl's address was correct; one was "grandfather" and the other "uncle," which was very appropriate. He himself didn't mind being called "uncle," so Mo Bei, who was of his generation, and Tong Die, who was a generation above him, should indeed be addressed in that way.
However, Ye Xu was unaware that mocking others would soon bring retribution. Mo Bei, dissatisfied with being called "uncle," leaned over to argue with the little girl, which frightened Zhenzhen so much that she hid in Ye Xu's arms and kept calling him "Daddy."
Ye Xu... Ye Xu's smile froze.
Wait, why is Dad here? Kid, do you still remember your father in the afterlife?
This time it was Mo Bei's turn to laugh heartily: "Congratulations, you suddenly have another daughter."
Ye Xu was extremely frustrated. He didn't really care about adopting a daughter; the problem was that she had her own parents. According to the information, Zhenzhen's father doted on the little girl quite a bit. He couldn't just take her place just because she died young, could he?
This won't do. Ye Xu quickly pulled up a picture of Zhen's father and showed it to the little girl: "She is your father, I am not, I am your uncle."
"Daddy," the little girl pouted, tears welling up in her eyes, "Can't I have two daddies?"
Forehead……
Ye Xu couldn't answer that question.
At the crucial moment, Luna flew over and whispered something to the little girl, learning what she was thinking. It turned out that because Zhenzhen's parents had passed away early, her memories of her father and mother were very vague; she only vaguely remembered that her father was very gentle.
The little girl longed for her father to come back, so when she saw Ye Xu, who was just as gentle and patient as her father, she couldn't help but treat him as her new father. She knew that Ye Xu was not the same father she had before; she just felt that the term "father" was similar to "uncle," a more intimate term, and wanted to give herself another father.
"Why can I have many uncles but not my dad?" Zhenzhen pressed.
Such a young child, who has never been properly taught, cannot distinguish between a blood-related uncle and a regular uncle. Zhenzhen feels that her uncle is not as good to her as a regular uncle, so in her mind, blood ties are fake, and only those who are good to her are her true relatives.
Ye Xu didn't know how to answer, so she looked to everyone for help.
Jiang Yuexuan watched with great interest for a while before finally speaking up to smooth things over: "Zhenzhen has no other relatives and is still so young. Even if the police get involved, they will arrange a new family for her to be adopted. Sooner or later, she will have another adoptive father. In that case, why don't you, Xiaoxu, be her adoptive father? That way, she will have a biological father and an adoptive father, and they will both be her fathers."
The adoption was a matter of personal choice. Xiao Zhenzhen expressed a strong desire for adoption, and Ye Xu genuinely felt sorry for her, so the matter was settled.
Having a daughter before marriage is actually quite satisfying. Having an extra cute and obedient child for no reason is something any daughter-lover would dream of, right? Before having a child, Ye Xuzhen had no idea she was actually a hidden daughter-lover.
While the new father and daughter were bonding on the sidelines, Mo Bei was still bothered by his "uncle" status.
"Stop nagging. You and the shop manager are of the same generation. Now that he's Zhenzhen's adoptive father, you'll definitely be called 'uncle.' There's no room for discussion on that," Han Yingchen said lazily.
Mo Bei looked at him resentfully: "Why didn't you keep quiet? Don't you want to maintain your cool guy persona?"
Han Ying had no interest in explaining to him that her previous taciturnity stemmed from having nothing to talk about with others and being unaccustomed to speaking after a long period of silence. Having gotten along well with everyone over the past six months, her slight social anxiety had naturally disappeared without any treatment.
"Hmph." Mo Beibao stormed off, transforming into his original form and flying far away to wallow in melancholy. Little did he know that his original form, the chubby little bird, was too adorable. Zhenzhen caught a glimpse of him and was immediately captivated, her eyes revealing longing.
"Wait, Dad will help you catch him and pet him." The new dad rubbed his hands together, eager to get started.
Zhenzhen immediately became expectant: "Little bird!"
The more boastful someone is, the more pathetic they'll be afterwards. Ye Xu and Mo Bei are evenly matched; it would be a miracle if Ye Xu could even capture him. Last time, he managed to catch him by surprise, but this time Mo Bei has somehow become more cunning and isn't coming to him anymore, leaving Ye Xu to chase after him.
Jiang Yuexuan was taking stock of what items in the shop needed to be sold for points with Shuangshuang when they were interrupted by a person and a bird. Ye Xu saw Mo Bei flying towards Sister Xuan and immediately shouted, "Grab him!"
Reflexively, Jiang Yuexuan caught the bird. She couldn't help it; Ye Xu held more weight in her heart than Mo Bei. If it were Mo Bei chasing Ye Xu and asking her to catch the dragon, she would instinctively stop Mo Bei.
Mo Bei was furious: "Chirp chirp chirp!"
"Let my daughter play with it for a while, just a little while." Ye Xu took the little bird, offered a perfunctory reassurance, and then happily presented the bird to his daughter.
Zhenzhen was a gentle girl. She carefully stroked the bird's back, but seeing how much it resisted, she felt a little reluctant: "How about we let it go?"
"Okay." As soon as Ye Xu let go, he was pecked in the face by Mo Bei, who was furious. This made Zhenzhen very anxious, and she kept trying to drive him away with her little hands.
Ye Xu was startled and quickly held his daughter tightly. He himself was thick-skinned and didn't feel any pain from being pecked, but Zhenzhen was a human cub with delicate skin and could hardly withstand the sharp beak of a phoenix.
Fortunately, Mo Bei knew his limits and stopped talking in annoyance when he realized a little girl had wandered in. He gave Ye Xu a few "chirps" to indicate that he would settle the score next time, then turned and flew even further away.
After the farce ended, Jiang Yuexuan strolled over leisurely: "Have you decided when to go to the next dimension?"
"Let's try tomorrow and see when the time flow matches up." Ye Xu thought for a moment. "By the way, we haven't decided which dimension to go to yet."
Jiang Yuexuan said, "Then let's choose a suitable world first. Do you have any ideas?"
Ye Xu actually did. He opened the system panel and started chatting with the system as if it were his father: "System, please recommend me."
system:"……"
"You recommended me last time, so I won't trouble you twice. Please take the lead this time as well," Ye Xu said matter-of-factly.
The system snorted coldly and ignored him.
Seeing that this tactic wasn't working, Ye Xu immediately changed his approach: "How about we mark out how many UR cards are waiting to be encountered in each plane?"
You really dare to make such a request! The system is uneasy.
Seeing her father like this, Zhenzhen very sensibly spoke up for him, saying, "Grandpa System, could you please help Dad?"
If the system could withstand the cubs' onslaught, it wouldn't have taken on so many tasks before. Since the little girl had spoken, it naturally had no choice but to reluctantly agree, and indeed marked the number of UR cards for each plane.
However, the system didn't include a filtering or sorting function, so Ye Xu could only look through them one by one, searching for the ones with the most entries. After scrolling for a while, he found that there were at most three people, and it seemed there weren't any more. Moreover, after scrolling for so long, he was really tired, so Ye Xu simply picked one that caught his eye from the few options on the current page.
In reality, there aren't many planes with extreme environments; most planes have normal backgrounds. Ye Xu will open a shop in a normal plane sooner or later, so he doesn't bother to be picky about anything.
"Let's go with this one, the prosperous ancient plane."
This is a prosperous dynasty where all nations paid tribute, and its economy was equally thriving, somewhat like a combination of the Tang and Song dynasties. It's a fictional world, without as many rules as in official history, and is generally quite free.
However, one thing is worth noting: the current level of architecture in this plane is insufficient to build tall buildings, and ordinary shops are not so idle as to build such tall buildings. Therefore, in order to maintain a consistent style, shops are at most two stories high.
“The second floor will probably be used as a dormitory area, so the shops will only be one floor.” Ye Xu pondered, “Our shops have a total of five floors, and the area occupied is too large, so it’s not really suitable.”
Jiang Yuexuan, with her experience, advised, "In this situation, it's possible to open a branch."
"Branch stores?"
"It means that each floor will be set aside as a separate shop, and UR card will be the branch manager. The branches can be opened as the same chain stores, or they can be different. The location is up to you. If you are comfortable with that, we can split up and go to different cities."
When opening a branch, a large area is no longer a problem; half of the area can be set aside as a "backyard." Many shops operate this way: the store is in the front, and the family lives in the back. Converting the backyard can even create a small open-air courtyard, and separate dormitories can be allocated for the corresponding employees.
Of course, renovating the backyard costs money, but fortunately it's not expensive, the same as the renovation cost. After the renovation, the backyard and the original half of the shop coexist, in an overlapping state. Whether to display the backyard or the complete shop is up to the shop manager.
Ye Xu called a few people together to discuss where and what kind of shop would be best to open.
Mo Bei was the first to respond: "So I can be the shop manager? Then I want to open a shop selling beauty and medicinal cuisine. Our Phoenix Clan has many secret recipes that are especially effective. Female cultivators often come to ask for these recipes."
"Are you sure you can get it up and running? There shouldn't be any spiritual plants from the cultivation world in ancient dimensions," Ye Xu pressed.
Mo Bei raised his chin, a sense of superiority rising within him: "Are you stupid? Can't we just buy the panels?"
"Is it possible?" Ye Xu remembered that there were no spirit plants in the purchase panel before. After he unlocked the monster meat, he specifically searched for it, but he didn't have permission to use special ingredients.
Jiang Yuexuan coughed lightly: "You can buy it now."
Ye Xu immediately understood. This was the same principle as when Sister Xuan arrived and the card pool was expanded, and the access to the purchasing panel was also unlocked at the same time.
Since he could buy it, then there was no problem. However, Ye Xu still reminded him to control the effects and not to be too conspicuous, and that ordinary people might not be able to withstand the effects of consuming spiritual plants.
"I know, I'm not stupid." Mo Mei waved her hand dismissively.
Mo Bei plans to use most of the common ingredients in the recipe, and then add a beauty-enhancing herb. The beauty-enhancing herb has no special taste, and its juice is colorless. After dilution, just a little bit added to the dish is enough, and the business is sure to be booming.
This shop needs to be located in a place like the capital city, where there are many high-ranking officials and nobles, specifically targeting their ladies. After the previous live stream, Mo Bei completely understands how to use his handsome face to attract customers, and he can definitely do even better this time.
However, there's one problem: no powerful backer can be found behind this shop, so it might be targeted.
Ye Xu looked at Jiang Yuexuan: "Sister Xuan, do you have any experience?"
“There are many solutions.” Jiang Yuexuan nodded. “I’ve tried many different approaches to solving this problem in my spare time, and I found that one of them is the simplest.”
Everyone asked curiously, "What is it?"
Jiang Yuexuan replied, "Buy the system buff."
The buffs of dimensional shops come in many forms. Just as some can make people overlook the exotic appearance of the shopkeepers, there must also be buffs that make those with ill intentions subconsciously skip over the shop and unable to harbor malicious thoughts. As long as no one has the idea of stealing, naturally no one will cause trouble.
That answer is indeed very true.
Ye Xu never expected it to be done this way. He searched in the store and was surprised to find that he had already bought the buff.
"Huh? When did you buy it?"
“Just like before, when I helped you unlock different product categories,” Jiang Yuexuan replied.
Actually, Ye Xu had already bought another buff, the Socialist Core Values buff, so he didn't need to buy another one to unlock that category. However, Jiang Yuexuan, relying on her experience, knew that some things were essential to have, and since the items weren't expensive, she bought them for him.
Ye Xu didn't actually lose anything by buying so many of these things. After all, no matter what Jiang Yuexuan did, he was ultimately stuck with 2.5 billion points. Jiang Yuexuan buying more non-resaleable items for him now would only reduce her own earnings.
Fortunately, Sister Xuan is a genuinely wealthy woman and doesn't care about such small amounts of money. On the contrary, she quite enjoys the process of helping people with their shopping, feeling like she's playing a management game, and also getting to enjoy the thrill of a shopping spree. What girl could resist that?
"With the buff, things will be much easier. Everyone can manage their businesses as they please without worrying about these things." Ye Xu didn't think much of it. He had forgotten that he had bought the core values buff, only assuming that Sister Xuan bought it to unlock the list.
Following his visit to Mobei, Han Yingchen also elaborated on his business philosophy.
Han Yingchen didn't have any particularly novel ideas. Ever since he learned that he would be going out on his own, he had started thinking about how to run a business. To this end, he read a lot of books on entrepreneurship and even novels, and actually learned a few things.
"I've read a lot of novels about time travelers going to ancient times to do business, and they all love to have the protagonist open a set meal shop," Han Yingchen said. "I think it makes a lot of sense."
These so-called "set meal restaurants" sell boxed lunches, typically consisting of one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, and a soup. Setting up such a place near the ancient docks allows customers to enjoy a proper meal with vegetables, rice, and soup at a cheap price—isn't that more satisfying than just eating steamed buns and pickled vegetables?
Ye Xu, also a novel enthusiast, knew more about this than Han Yingchen, and immediately reminded him: "Those who do hard labor at the docks may not be willing to eat this. They are poorly paid and have heavy work, so many of them bring their own food to save money. You might as well choose a place near an academy, where scholars usually have some spare money and are willing to treat themselves."
Many scholars came from families that were neither rich nor poor, not destitute, but unable to afford to eat out every day. Restaurants serving boxed lunches, similar to canteens, were perfect for them. As long as the food was better than what was served in the academy canteen, even if it was a couple of coins more expensive, the scholars were willing to patronize them.
Furthermore, you can't choose a small academy, because there are too few guests there. You have to choose a large, nationally renowned academy with hundreds or even thousands of students. And it can't be the Imperial Academy, because there are too many wealthy young masters there who wouldn't look down on this kind of food.
After listening, Han Yingchen seemed to be deep in thought, and went back to continue pondering the details of the business.
Only Ye Xu and Jiang Yuexuan remained. After a moment of looking at each other, Jiang Yuexuan said, "I doubt I can open any shop."
When she was a store manager, she had opened all kinds of stores. This time, even if she is just a branch manager, the system might still mess up and prevent her from opening a store.
Ye Xu thought for a moment: "Then we can put the store manager under Zhenzhen's name. Are you the assistant store manager?"
"It should be fine. In the modern world, I'm the assistant store manager, so I wasn't affected," Jiang Yuexuan praised. "You're really good at finding loopholes. I won't have to worry about you getting bullied when you're out there having fun anymore."
Ye Xu: "Let's talk about what kind of shop you want to open first."