Jiang Yuexuan also has strong connections; her family and she herself are not to be underestimated, so everyone is willing to give her face. In addition, this is only one of the modern worlds, and there are significant differences between different modern worlds.
In other dimensions, it might seem far-fetched to think that you can set up a movie theater in a few hours, but here it's not that difficult, as long as you have enough power and connections.
Ye Xu was unaware of these things, so he didn't question them. He heard that the mall was operating without any problems and there was no need to worry about being ordered to close by the authorities, so he happily went back to continue filming his videos.
After a half-afternoon of fussing, Han Yingchen said his stomach was a little empty again, so he could try a main dish. He was waiting for Ye Xu to come and film.
A note from the author:
Oh no, I've been a bit reckless lately, and I only have three chapters left in my drafts. I'm so sad.
I prepared 50,000 words before I started writing!
Chapter 33 Drunkenness
Over the next period of time, business improved as word of mouth spread.
Ye Xu was overjoyed as he watched his points skyrocket. This time, he had purely benefited from the success of the livestream; he hadn't put in any effort himself. His food vlogging career was just beginning, and he hadn't brought much traffic to the mall at all, which was quite shameful.
This is the joy of sucking up to someone's leg!
It seems there's no need to worry about paying off the store's debts for now; at this rate, we'll definitely accumulate 1 billion points much faster than in the previous world. The main reason is the massive customer traffic in modern cities, which is incomparable to anything in the Western fantasy world.
After no longer worrying about points, Ye Xu began to worry about other things.
For example, isn't it a bad thing that this world ended too quickly? What kind of online store closes down and runs away after only one month of operation?
Besides, Sister Xuan promised to write a new book. If they run away, who knows how many years it will be before Sister Xuan comes back, and the new book will be a long way off.
That won't do; Ye Xu would feel guilty. So he went to discuss with Sister Xuan whether they should wait until the new book was released before going to the next world.
"You're worried about that?"
Jiang Yuexuan was about to say no, but she could purchase a special service that would allow her to return to the point in time when she left this world, which was what she had done before.
But remembering that Ye Xu was unaware of his past, and that the price of that special service was a huge sum for Ye Xu, he shouldn't be able to casually mention buying it as a sales clerk who only received a 2% commission.
Left with no other choice, Jiang Yuexuan swallowed her words and nodded in agreement to the suggestion of selling books first. Writing, after all, wasn't difficult for her.
Jiang Yuexuan has been traveling through various worlds over the years, generating a lot of inspiration. However, since there's no rush to publish, she only wrote a detailed outline and didn't start writing. Now, presenting the story in its entirety won't take much time.
"Then you need to think it over carefully. Besides the time spent writing my new book, there's also the time spent on revisions. Preparing for publication also takes a lot of time, and then there's the promotional work to do when it's released," Jiang Yuexuan reminded her.
The entire process could take a year, and Ye Xu needed to figure out if he could wait that long.
Ye Xu didn't think much of it. He was already familiar with the modern world, so staying for an extra year or an extra month wouldn't make much difference to him. This place wasn't like the Western fantasy world, which always gave him a sense of alienation from which he couldn't fit in.
"Sister, you just need to focus on your work," Ye Xu assured her. "While you're busy with these things, you don't need to worry about the shop. I'll try my best to handle it."
As the store manager, he can't just ignore everything; even a notorious swindler wouldn't go that far.
Jiang Yuexuan thought that the time Ye Xu spent managing the shop was a good opportunity to give him some experience. Large shopping malls are different from small individual shops; they require coordinating many aspects, which is very good for developing one's abilities.
By the time I finish writing, the tasks in the current dimension should be almost complete. Even if Ye Xu accidentally causes the mall to go bankrupt, it won't matter. I'll cover for her; there's no need to worry about Xiao Xu not being able to get back up after falling down.
"Let's forget about messing around with it." Ye Xu was a little nervous. The current shopping mall was the result of Sister Xuan's hard work, and he would feel uneasy if it were ruined.
Jiang Yuexuan patted Ye Xu's head reassuringly: "It's okay, I'll be upstairs writing, and you can come up to me anytime for advice. We also have a system chat group, so long-distance communication is no problem. If all else fails, just ask the system for help; it's very easy to talk to."
Knowing that he had two powerful backers, Tong and Xuan, Ye Xu felt a little less worried. But his fighting spirit was completely ignited. After all, he was a grown man and couldn't rely on others forever.
Ye Xu decided to step up and train himself to become a qualified store manager as soon as possible.
Even when you're a hands-off manager, there's a difference between "purely abandoning responsibility to slack off" and "delegating power and sitting back to oversee things." If Sister Xuan were to write a book, it would probably be the latter—it feels incredibly cool and pretentious. Ye Xu wants to be like that too.
Every boy dreams of being cool, and Ye Xu imagined himself being admired by others, feeling a slight surge of excitement. But he quickly calmed down; he hadn't even started studying yet, and it was too early to be dreaming.
In short, from that day on, Ye Xu entered a phase of frantically absorbing experience.
Jiang Yuexuan's offer to mentor Ye Xu was no mere formality. In addition to teaching Ye Xu how to handle various emergencies and daily tasks within the shopping mall, she also introduced him to some of her personal connections.
"Does a dimensional shop also require socializing?" Ye Xu was a little confused, not expecting there to be a socializing component.
Ye Xu had read novels before, and it seemed that the shopkeepers of these interdimensional systems were all rather independent and didn't interact much with the natives. After all, once the operation of a dimension ended, they would leave, and making friends with the natives wasn't very useful and would only be a waste of time and energy.
“If you’re leaving in a month or two, you don’t really need to make connections.” Jiang Yuexuan led Ye Xu into the upscale restaurant. “But now we might be staying here for about a year. If we don’t know anyone, we won’t be able to find anyone to help us if we run into trouble.”
In modern business competition, it's rare to find someone deliberately eating at your restaurant, then using other medications to induce diarrhea, and finally coming back to complain that your food is unclean and killed them. Most of the time, those who cause such a scene aren't actors sent by competitors, but rather purely eccentric customers who don't know what they ate but insist on blaming the restaurant.
It would be easier to solve if it were just a staged performance. Just take the actor to the hospital to check what medication caused the diarrhea; the diagnosis would be spot on. This method only worked in ancient times when medical care was underdeveloped and there were no reliable doctors nearby.
So what competitive tactics do modern people often encounter? Reporting, of course.
Regardless of whether your restaurant has any problems or not, frequent complaints mean that personnel from the health bureau and other departments will always come to inspect. Even if there really is no problem, the sheer scale of the inspection can make people suspicious and hesitant to eat there.
At this point, knowing people in the relevant industry is very important. You can make a connection with them so you can prevent malicious reports from being made in advance. Alternatively, when having someone investigate, try to keep a low profile and avoid causing a public uproar that could affect your business.
Ye Xu didn't understand: "Will every false report be accepted?"
"We'll see," Jiang Yuexuan thought for a moment. "I don't know about other modern worlds, but it's likely to happen in the current world."
The errand runners are all low-level employees, and the whistleblower hasn't violated any rules. The higher-ups don't want to take responsibility, so they send employees out on field inspections. As for whether it was a malicious false whistleblower, it's very difficult to prove. Even if it is proven, it will probably just result in a warning, and no one will pay a heavy price.
"Besides reporting it, another option is to have your fire safety checked. If your store isn't perfectly compliant with fire safety regulations, they can openly shut you down."
This kind of situation makes it easy to nitpick, so Jiang Yuexuan had already arranged a meal with the relevant department leaders. They didn't expect anyone to do them any favors; they just hoped the inspectors wouldn't be maliciously nitpicky.
Ye Xu suddenly felt that opening a shop in the modern world was too troublesome: "There aren't so many things on the Transi Continent."
The only time he encountered trouble was with a particularly brutal duke, and he was knocked out right at the start.
Jiang Yuexuan raised an eyebrow: "You're wrong, those worlds are really hard to navigate."
In modern worlds, people have to use legal means to cause trouble, but in other worlds, they don't. For one thing, in ancient worlds, any prince or noble could easily force you to close your shop. You can't possibly befriend an emperor in every world to find yourself a powerful patron, can you?
“That’s true.” Ye Xu realized that he hadn’t encountered many problems in the previous world, which might just be due to his good luck, rather than the fact that the Transi Continent was particularly peaceful.
As they spoke, the two arrived at the private room they had booked in advance.
Ye Xu didn't say much during the ensuing social gatherings; he wasn't good at it. Everyone present was an important figure, and he was a little nervous.
Fortunately, Sister Xuan remained calm throughout and introduced him to many older brothers and sisters. Everyone treated him very politely out of respect for Sister Xuan.
Jiang Yuexuan said he was her younger cousin, a recent college graduate who wanted to make a name for himself and hoped everyone would take care of him. Ye Xu put on his best acting, trying his best to show a slightly naive and shy smile, attempting to portray the image of an innocent young master.
In the past, Ye Xu's disguise would have been easily seen through by shrewd people. Fortunately, as the fusion with the dragon bloodline deepened, the noble temperament of the dragon race and the innocent purity of the young dragon became his best camouflage, perfectly matching the character setting given to him by Jiang Yuexuan.
Seeing this, everyone understood that Ye Xu was probably just dabbling in opening a shopping mall and wouldn't last long. Since that was the case, there was no need to go against him. Let the kid have a good business experience; he'll leave when he's had his fill.
Afterwards, this group of people informed their acquaintances and leaked some information to other business owners who were competitors of the mall. Upon hearing that Ye Xu was just dabbling, their wariness lessened considerably, and they decided not to cause him any trouble.
During the small banquet, Jiang Yuexuan drank quite a bit of alcohol without changing her expression. Ye Xu, on the other hand, was not allowed to touch a drop of alcohol because she claimed that "underage dragon cubs are not allowed to drink alcohol."
Everyone present had a good relationship with the Jiang family, so of course they wouldn't force them to drink. Since Jiang Yuexuan volunteered to drink on her behalf, they added Ye Xu's share to her drink and drank it all together.
When the banquet ended, Sister Xuan remained completely unfazed, a true example of someone who could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. Ye Xu was filled with admiration and envy; he also wished he could develop such a capacity for alcohol—perfect for showing off.
Unfortunately, Sister Xuan would definitely not let him practice his alcohol tolerance. Ye Xu decided to find an opportunity to drink secretly; maybe he was naturally good at drinking and wouldn't need to practice.
Jiang Yuexuan turned around and immediately noticed what Xiaoweiba was up to. She smiled slightly but didn't expose him.
Back at the mall, Ye Xu quietly slipped into the kitchen of the barbecue restaurant to get some beer. He figured that since it was his first time drinking, a low-alcohol beer would be more suitable.
The process of getting the beer went exceptionally smoothly. With the help of the system's inventory, Ye Xu didn't need to hide anything and could openly go upstairs empty-handed. After entering the room, he quickly closed the door, then took out a beer and began to enjoy it.
To be honest, the first time I tried beer, I thought the taste was a bit strange and I didn't find it particularly delicious. But since he had already brought it home, and he himself said he wanted to work on his alcohol tolerance, I couldn't just give up halfway.
Ye Xu closed his eyes, steeled his resolve, and lifted the bottle to drink straight from it. If he drank fast enough, his taste buds wouldn't detect much, and it wouldn't taste so bad!
After chugging down half the bottle, Ye Xu let out a burp. He smacked his lips, savoring the taste, and found it acceptable. Perhaps it was because the beer the store sourced had a high rating, making it seem less unpleasant.
After resting for a bit, I picked up the bottle again and chugged down the remaining half.
This time, it wasn't a burp from holding in air, but a full burp, and it smelled strongly of beer. Ye Xu immediately frowned, wanting to drink some water to calm down, but unfortunately, he couldn't drink anymore.
Even if the beer has a low alcohol content, it's still quite strong for Ye Xu, who has never drunk alcohol before. At first, he didn't feel anything, but after a while, he noticed that his face felt like it was burning.
I went to the mirror and looked at myself; my cheeks were indeed flushed. I touched them, and they felt burning hot, like I had a fever.
Ye Xu was still able to keep his mind clear. He calmly took out his newly bought phone and searched for information about whether facial flushing after drinking was a serious problem. He saw online that facial flushing was not good, possibly due to a lack of some enzyme that helps metabolize ethanol.
This content... made Ye Xu somewhat regret drinking so much. His constitution wasn't naturally strong enough; trying to build up his alcohol tolerance was practically suicidal. Fortunately, Ye Xu was now in dragon form, not so fragile, and a bottle of beer wouldn't cause alcohol poisoning.
His clear thinking only lasted a short while; after a moment, Ye Xu's gaze gradually became dull. He sluggishly looked down at the contents of his phone again, suddenly feeling a little aggrieved, grabbed his phone, and ran out of the room.
"Knock knock knock." There was a knock on Jiang Yuexuan's door.
Those inside the door were not surprised at all to be disturbed at this time. Jiang Yuexuan guessed that Xiao Xu might cause a drunken tantrum since it was his first time drinking, so she had already made preparations.
As soon as the door opened, she reached out to restrain the person who entered. But before she could move, Ye Xu had already rushed into the room, dodged her hand, and curled up in a ball on the beanbag chair.
Jiang Yuexuan: "..."
Jiang Yuexuan pulled the drunkard out in time to prevent him from suffocating.
"Woo." Ye Xu, who had been forcibly pulled out, let out a pitiful whimper, and his undeveloped dragon horns and tail involuntarily emerged. Judging from the development of the dragon horns, he was indeed a young dragon cub, looking like he had just hatched not long ago.
Jiang Yuexuan couldn't bring herself to be cruel anymore. Like a loving old mother, she patted the dragon cub's head soothingly and asked gently, "What's wrong?"
Ye Xu held up her phone: "Waaah!"
Don't get me wrong, this "aww" isn't the "aww" of the monster, it's just the sound a baby dragon makes. Very well, after getting drunk, not only has its mind regressed to childhood, but its language has also been completely assimilated by the baby dragon.
Unable to communicate with him, Jiang Yuexuan could only glance down at her phone screen. After seeing the contents, she immediately understood.
"It's alright." Jiang's mother squeezed the dragon-shaped bun. "Xiaolong won't get sick from drinking a little beer."
"Eek!"
"Yes, I know. It will be fine tomorrow. I promise."
"Eek."
Startled by the commotion, everyone else opened their doors to see what was going on. After witnessing the long, drawn-out conversation, Han Yingchen couldn't help but ask, "Sister Xuan, can you understand?"
Jiang Yuexuan remained expressionless: "I don't understand, I'm just guessing."
The cub's thoughts are simple and quite easy to guess. Anyway, it doesn't matter if you guess wrong; a little coaxing will make the little dragon befriend you again.
Ye Xu stared blankly at his phone, offering no response to the chatter. Jiang Yuexuan then pulled him to sit on the sofa in the living room, preparing to go to the mall to buy some hangover medicine for Xiao Long.
Before the medicine could be found, Ye Xu suddenly started causing trouble again.
"Waaaaah, waaaah." He said a string of waaaahs to everyone with a straight face, and then opened the employee hiring interface.