System Daddy: "..."
When it comes to exploiting loopholes, the store manager is a pro. The system had no answer and could only turn a blind eye and let him be.
Soon, all the children received a small cake as a gift from the store manager, one for each child. The servers are robots with excellent memory, so this task can be handled by them without worrying about anyone being missed.
When the parents heard that their children would get to eat free cake while helping out, they were even happier than before. Some families, after eating their fill and going home, left their children behind to help with the chores.
Ye Xu said no need, and that the children should leave with their parents. Society is unstable during extreme weather, and it's dangerous for children to be out alone. Besides, you can't expect someone to work until the shop closes just to make a cake, can you?
It's fine as it is now. When the family is eating, they help out. After they finish eating, they go home with the kids. Anyway, there's a constant stream of new children joining the family, so there's no shortage of customers at the shop.
"The boss is such a good person." The children left with smiles on their faces.
Not everyone is willing to eat the small cake right away. Some children plan to save it to savor, while others can't resist taking it out to share with their families as soon as they get home. Although each person only gets a small bite, it can make the whole family happy for a long time.
"It tastes so sweet! I haven't had candy in ages!" The youngest sister licked her fingers. "Mom, are we going to get some again tomorrow?"
Mom gritted her teeth, thinking about the fuel cost of cooking at home, and then about the two desserts the store had given her, and reluctantly nodded: "Let's have them one more time."
It only costs a few more copper coins per meal, and the family can afford it if they eat it once or twice a month.
Nowadays, the common people in the city all use magic stoves to cook, which requires purchasing magic fuel. Magic fuel isn't cheap, so cooking at home isn't as low-cost as people might think. The only difference is that you can bargain when you go out to buy groceries, saving a few copper coins.
“I’d rather not go.” The sensible eldest son shook his head. “I heard they sell that kind of base sauce. I can buy the base sauce and cook it myself.”
The younger daughter retorted, "Then there will be no cake or cream puffs to eat."
"But one jar of base seasoning diluted with water can last for many meals, which is what John's mother did. She would add a little bit to each stew, and it would taste much better."
It all came down to poverty. The parents exchanged a glance and sighed. Their family used to be relatively well-off, but they didn't know when the cold snap would end. It was always better to save money than to spend it recklessly. No one knew if they would have to rely on the copper coins they saved now to get through the next crisis.
Seeing that his younger sister's eyes were already brimming with tears, the eldest son slapped his forehead in frustration: "Don't cry. I'll go ask the boss if I can still go help out tomorrow if we don't go out to eat. I'm willing to help out all day, maybe he'll give me a small cake."
“Me too, me too!” The other children in the family chimed in.
"Nonsense." Mom glared at the other children. "You can't even do chores properly at home. Are you just going to cause trouble? Let your eldest brother go. Don't be too greedy. One cake is already a luxury."
The children then quieted down and stood by the door, watching their older brother run out with bated breath.
Their family lived not far from the Dimensional Hot Pot restaurant, so the parents felt at ease letting their eldest son go alone. In fact, ordinary people who lived far away probably wouldn't receive news about the restaurant's free giveaway promotion within a day, as people don't like to go out and visit each other in the cold weather.
The boy quickly returned to the hot pot restaurant, took the initiative to find Ye Xu who was still wandering around the lobby, and shyly expressed his purpose.
Ye Xu saw through his intentions at a glance, and after thinking about it, he felt it was unnecessary to make the child run around all day. He pondered for a moment, and suddenly had a new idea.
Many shops run referral programs where existing customers receive a free gift for each new customer they refer. Others simply offer promotions, such as discount coupons or gifts for posts on social media that receive a certain number of likes.
Ye Xu felt it wasn't appropriate to rely on someone to actually bring in a lot of customers; it would be better to focus on promotion. Adults could do this too; they could just talk to their coworkers or relatives and friends while they were out working, and that would be enough.
"Can I get a cake just like that?" the boy asked, very surprised.
Ye Xu nodded and emphasized, "No matter how effective your advertising is, or how long you advertise, I'll only give you one cake. Are you still willing to do it?"
Ye Xu could give more, but charity work can't go on forever. A little kindness is appreciated, but too much can breed resentment; he had to be careful not to cause trouble for himself before leaving Biyue City.
"Of course!" The boy didn't mind that one cake wasn't enough. He had originally thought the owner wouldn't let him stay and help out. If one wasn't enough, he could always go out and work to save up some money and then bring his family to eat skewers.
With the example of boys doing this, many other children who heard the commotion also gathered around, wanting to earn extra money by making cakes. Ye Xu agreed to all of them, and later he simply gave each family a cake when they left after paying the bill, as an advance payment.
In this era, most ordinary people are honest and wouldn't break their promises. Even if he did, the cost of buying small cakes in bulk for one cent was only equivalent to 0.1 copper coins, so Ye Xu wouldn't lose money at all. He could break even if just a few restaurants came to eat after hearing about the advertisement.
As it turned out, Ye Xu's promotional campaign with prizes was highly effective, with the number of civilians queuing up surging the next day. Many adventurers, not wanting to wait in line, went to the reopened restaurant across the street, which significantly reduced Ye Xu's copper coin income but freed up many tables for civilians, resulting in a surge in his points income.
Ye Xu had the unsettling feeling that his high-quality customers had driven out the ordinary ones, forcing the shop across the street to become his sucker. He stood at the door for a long time, looking around, and realized that the shop owner across the street was probably not in the shop, perhaps worried that his bad luck would affect the shop's business.
"Why is he still running the shop?" Shuangshuang asked, puzzled. "Doesn't he know he's losing money?"
Ye Xu took the opportunity to teach him: "This is sunk cost. He probably thinks that if he keeps opening, until our store is squeezed out and forced to close, then he will have a chance to raise prices and make money."
However, even Luna and Han Yingchen knew this was impossible. The number of copycat shops would only increase, and the competition would never decrease.
After Ye Xu moves away, these shops will be trapped in a vicious cycle of price wars unless they raise prices together and establish a new price order. Even if everyone maintains the current low prices and doesn't lower them further, they will all go out of business together, and there will always be fools rushing in to open new shops, preventing prices from ever going up.
"Under what circumstances would no one enter the industry?" Luna, who had developed a slight interest in economics, asked proactively.
Ye Xu replied, "When the surrounding shops are deserted."
Most people who rush in headfirst without thinking don't know how to calculate profits; they only see the apparent boom and not the underlying losses. Setting prices too low ensures a constant stream of customers trying to take advantage of deals, preventing any period of low foot traffic.
The more customers you have, the more money you lose, and competitors will follow one after another. Yet, no single business dares to raise prices and disrupt the balance, for fear of being the first to go bankrupt and lose everything. This vicious cycle continues.
"Then why did you transfer the store? Won't the person who takes over lose money?" Shuangshuang asked doubtfully.
Ye Xu said, "Didn't I already come up with a solution? I'll tell the person who takes over the shop what to do, and I've analyzed the pros and cons. Let him decide for himself whether he wants to enter the industry. It's better for him to take over my shop than to open his own. Opening his own shop would be pointless and lead to internal conflicts. At least if he takes over mine, he'll know how to share the pie with everyone."
Ye Xu didn't intend to let the other shops that followed suit go bankrupt. So it would be best if the person taking over could persuade everyone to raise prices. He just hoped that the shop across the street would lose more money or even go out of business, and that it was none of anyone else's business.
Of course, judging from the current situation, the neighbor across the street may not be able to hold out until a solution is found.
The number of ordinary customers in the shop is increasing, but there are still quite a few adventurers willing to stay. They come for nothing more than the top-quality seafood and monster meat.
The shop across the street doesn't have top-quality seafood, and its monster meat is scarce, so it can't possibly offer unlimited supplies. Add to that the differences in taste and ingredient quality, and the adventurers who aren't short of money naturally don't want to compromise on their culinary needs.
These people quickly discovered a clever trick to avoid queuing—buying seats from children.
Those kids were indeed clever; once they realized that the number of adventurers in the shop who could give them tips was decreasing, they began to set their sights on passersby outside.
The children formed small groups and went outside to attract customers for the hot pot restaurant. They specifically targeted men and women who looked like they had plenty of money, going up to them and bragging about how delicious the food was. If a customer was willing to come in and try it, they would help take care of everything.
There were children responsible for attracting customers, and others responsible for queuing inside. This way, customers could immediately get an empty table as soon as they entered, and the only cost was a tip of two copper coins per person for the small group—it was incredibly cost-effective.
The children didn't find it hard work at all; they worked with great enthusiasm. This kind of job, which only required running errands and queuing, and could quickly earn them a lot of pocket money, was something they had never done before.
Ye Xu was both amused and exasperated, but didn't stop them.
These children did not disrupt the dining experience of the regular customers; they queued patiently. If they hadn't secured a customer by the time it was their turn, they would let the table behind them go in first.
Most customers actually prefer a larger queue of children, since the number of adventurers passing by and willing to come in is limited, and the queue is often empty. 80% of the adventurers go to the other side, contributing to the loss-making business of the shop owner there.
It's truly touching.
While Ye Xu was frantically earning points, the unfortunate story of the shop owner across the street was quietly spreading.
The boss's health condition hadn't really gone unnoticed by anyone, even though he had two unlucky incidents that morning. But the first time it was just a fall, and the second time he was quickly taken to the clinic. After that, the shop closed, and no one had time to gossip about him.
The shop reopened the next day, but since the owner hadn't returned, the customers were unaware of his whereabouts. The owner himself was worried about affecting business, so he stayed obediently in the clinic.
But when bad luck strikes, there's no escaping it. He hadn't even had two days to recover from his injury when another accident happened.
During cold waves, frostbite is common, making clinics another gathering place for people. If you're having a run of bad luck here, you can't really hide it.
At first, it was fine since no one knew the owner's background, but when they heard that he was the manager of another hot pot restaurant, they suddenly got excited. Some adventurers were wary of this, so they advised their friends not to eat at this restaurant. Before long, the news spread like wildfire, and Ye Xu heard quite a bit about it.
The boss's story is so legendary that he has become the latest hot topic in Biyue City.
Ye Xu discovered that he was now being discussed not only by adventurers but also by many ordinary people. Even the story of Han Yingchen didn't have such widespread popularity among commoners, demonstrating that people throughout history and across cultures are always very interested in unlucky people.
Within a few days, the idea that going to the neighbor's house for dinner would bring bad luck was widely accepted.
Since quite a few people have been there, some of them are bound to be experiencing bad luck lately. After hearing the rumors, they naturally didn't want to admit it was just bad luck, and since a boss happened to be the scapegoat, they weren't about to let it go.
With these people adding fuel to the fire with their embellished evidence, the business across the street gradually declined. After a while, a new hot pot restaurant opened on the next street, drawing away many customers. Everyone had a second "second choice," and no one came to eat there anymore.
The shop across the street eventually went out of business before Ye Xu ran away, and the owner disappeared without a trace.
Some say he went to other cities to ask a great magician to break the curse on him. Others say he's been incredibly unlucky lately, and various reasons have caused him to run out of savings, leaving him homeless and forced to seek refuge with relatives in the countryside.
The reason for his misfortune remained a mystery. Most onlookers believed he had offended a powerful wizard and been cursed, but no one sympathized with him.
Those who had witnessed the boss stealing and being thrown out by Ye Xu early the next morning had a vague suspicion. However, since they were close to Ye Xu, they naturally wouldn't talk about it, so the outside world still doesn't know that Ye Xu was the culprit.
Even if some people thought that this incident happened so soon after the shop opened and it was competing with Ye Xu, and that Ye Xu might have been behind it, they had no evidence. Before this theory became the mainstream, Ye Xu had already packed his things and was preparing to leave.
There are more than five shops nearby, and even if they aren't all on the same street, it still significantly impacts business. If they were all on the same street, the shops wouldn't be as easy to sell, so the current situation makes it a good time to transfer ownership.
Actually, there had been indications that the shop across the street was for sale before, seemingly because the owner wanted to at least recoup some of his investment. However, his reputation as an unlucky fellow was too great, and no one dared to take over the shop, which became a burden—neither worth keeping nor worth abandoning.
Ye Xu's shop should have been affected as well, given its proximity. However, business remained exceptionally brisk, clearly unaffected by the bad luck.
This made Ye Xu's plan to find a new business partner go very smoothly, and it was easy to find suitable candidates. He asked the waiters to pay attention to the businessmen when serving guests, as most of them were looking to learn from others and open their own shops. It wasn't difficult to find a suitable candidate among them.
The two sides quickly agreed on the terms, and Ye Xu also informed the other party of the problem he had discovered. The man had been hesitant about entering the industry because of this very issue, but after hearing Ye Xu's words, he became more determined.
Clearly, not everyone is stupid.
Of course, many businessmen have become wealthy by accident, unable to explain why they were able to accumulate their fortunes. In reality, they simply caught a favorable wind and chose the right industry. But there are also many who are naturally intelligent, sensing something amiss before entering the industry, yet reluctant to give up such a good opportunity, thus hesitating.
If the prices in this area weren't so low, smart people would have already opened shops further away. Being further away would mean less competition and the ability to raise prices slightly.
Unfortunately, all the shops here have the same prices. If they were to raise prices elsewhere, they would only be accused of making a killing. The merchants, however, are after adventurers, and most adventurers don't mind walking a little further to find cheaper places to eat; they aren't like ordinary people who have families to support and can't easily travel around.
"So it's better to open a store in another city." Luna learned quickly and gave her conclusion directly.
Some cities don't have hot pot restaurants yet, so why not seize the opportunity to be the first to enter the market? It's a bit foolish to insist on fighting it out in Biyue City.
Ye Xu didn't think so: "Not everyone has the courage to leave their hometown, especially when the overall environment is not good. People would rather stay in familiar places. If they go to an unfamiliar city and don't make money, their situation will only be worse."
In this era of imperfect justice systems, if you accidentally offend someone outside, you have nowhere to turn for help. Compared to that, it's better to stay in Biyue City and work hard to bring the hot pot industry in Biyue City back on track.
Ye Xu posted a notice a few days in advance that the shop would be transferred, and closed the shop and left on the agreed date as instructed.
The news of the shop's transfer surprised everyone, but when they thought about the "noble young master" identity they had imagined for Ye Xu, they were all relieved.
The possibility that the young master would quit after having his fill of running a shop was something they had all expected. The fact that Boss Ye had managed to keep the business running for so long, however, exceeded everyone's expectations.
After the handover of the shop was completed, the hot pot restaurant was moved to another city, to a location that Ye Xu had chosen in advance.
This migration didn't rely on system services, as those were too expensive. The Spacetime Tree cub has one opportunity to use its spatial teleportation skill per plane, which was perfect for this purpose, saving Ye Xu a significant amount of money.
"Xiaoyu is amazing." Ye Xu hugged and kissed the little furball again and again. "She actually managed to take the whole store away in one go."
The original location of the shop was preserved by the small building that was originally there. The dimensional store automatically transformed its appearance based on that building, so it didn't arouse suspicion from the surrounding residents. Now that the shop is gone, the small building that was previously overlapped and replaced has reappeared, and everything seems perfectly natural.
Now, a new location, a new look, and a fresh start. Ye Xu plans to gather the remaining half of his points here, and then he can leave the current plane.
A note from the author:
I've recently been fixing bugs in an old article (I've been hoarding it for four years before I started revising it; you've probably all experienced my procrastination by now...).
In short, don't worry about any edits you see in older posts, mwah!
If any commenter suddenly receives a red envelope (cash gift), it's from a bug-detection comment. The red envelope will be automatically sent after the bug detection is approved in the backend (so please be sure to select 0 points for bug detection in the future!).
Chapter 26 Accumulation