Chapter 278 Awei! You are such a genius!
The two houses bought by Cailing's family are both in the community next to Fang Wei's home.
Originally, Xu Zhiyuan was thinking of buying a house in the same residential complex as Fang Wei's family, but the remaining houses in Jingui Community were not very good. Following Fang Wei's suggestion, he bought a house in Nangui Community next door, which was built later and has huge potential for appreciation in the future.
The Lujiao Street area is still the old city center of Xuanzhu, while the Guihua Road area, as a newly built area, has gradually shown its potential to become the new core of the city. Large real estate projects have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and industries such as office buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, schools, and transportation have also shifted to Guihua Road bit by bit.
The transfer of industries naturally brings in more people. People who have always lived here may not feel it very much, but people like Xu Caiwei who rarely come to the city on weekdays can feel it very obviously.
"There are so many people on Guihua Road now! It used to be so deserted! I remember when I was a kid, it was mostly rural areas!"
"Yes, now Guihua Village has been expropriated and demolished, and the villagers have become landlords."
"Tsk tsk, that's awesome, getting rich overnight, is it possible for our Pineapple Island to be levied as well?"
"Hahaha, that probably won't work..."
Things like expropriation and demolition also depend on the geographical location and urban development. This kind of thing is hard to come by, and it all depends on the smoke from the ancestral graves. The villager who was farming with a hoe on his back the day before became a landlord with a bunch of keys on his waist the next day. The words envy, jealousy and hatred are so common that they are almost worn out.
Fang Wei drove Xu Caiwei to Nangui Community on his bike.
Although this is Cai Ling's house, Fang Wei is familiar with the place. After parking the car, he helped Sister Cai Wei carry the luggage upstairs.
The two houses bought by Cailing's family are both large apartments with four bedrooms and two living rooms. They are located in the same building, one on the tenth floor and the other on the twelfth floor. Sister Caiwei chose to live in the one on the twelfth floor. In fact, the decoration of the two houses is similar, both are simply decorated and mainly used for rental. She just prefers the one on a higher floor.
"Has Sister Caiwei's apartment on the tenth floor been rented out?"
"I rented it~!"
"So soon? I didn't see Uncle Yuan running into the city. Who did he rent it to?"
"Rent it to me! Hehe."
"...Huh? Sister Caiwei rents so many houses for what? To be a second-hand landlord? Two four-bedroom and two-living-room houses, together they can accommodate at least eight people, right?"
"It's used as a staff dormitory. The dormitory our boss gave us was her own house. This is not only cheap and affordable, but also a great benefit for employees! I tell you, once you've worked here, you'll know that providing food and accommodation is a completely different experience for employees than not providing food and accommodation! We work in the low-level service industry, so if food and accommodation are provided, even if the salary is a little lower, the employees can accept it!"
"That's right. Many of them are young people who come from other places to work. They are unfamiliar with the place. If they can solve their food and accommodation problems, it will save a lot of trouble and make it easier to manage them on a daily basis."
"Yes, I chose to work at the Morning Café because it provided food and accommodation~"
Fang Wei said with a smile: "Sister Caiwei rented a shop and two houses from her family. How much is the rent?"
"Haha, luckily, my dad told me to just pay the monthly installment for him!"
"We have to open a shop, renovate it, rent two houses, and buy a lot of things. Is the savings that Sister Caiwei has saved over the years enough?"
"Hey, I asked my dad for investment! I have to give him dividends when I make money in the future!"
This is probably the benefit of capital. If it weren’t for the improved family conditions now, Sister Caiwei’s dream of opening a store would have to be delayed for a long time.
Compared with before, the relationship between the Fang and Xu families is now closer. Not only are they neighbors, Fang Wei's family has also cooperated with Cai Ling's family to build twelve mussel deep-processing production lines. These days, the two old men are busy looking for a suitable factory in the town to build a new factory.
With capital and cooperation, wealth rolled in rapidly. A few years ago, neither family would have imagined that such earth-shaking changes would take place in the family in just four or five years.
Many times, it is often a choice of direction at some inconspicuous crossroads in life, but not everyone can ensure that they are on the right path under unknown circumstances. Some people may even stubbornly walk on the wrong path for many years before suddenly realizing that if something had happened in the past, things would be like this now.
Taking the elevator to Room 1202, Xu Caiwei took out the key and opened the door.
She came to see him once a few years ago. At that time, the house had just been renovated not long ago, and many furniture and appliances had not been bought yet. In the past two or three months, Uncle Yuan bought them one by one. He gave money to Cai Ling, who lived nearby, to buy small appliances when she was free. So those weekends when he didn't go home became the time for Fang Wei and the other two to go shopping together.
Looking at this house now, it is completely different from what it was then. It has a clean and bright living room, with just the right amount of furniture and appliances that are not too many or too expensive. The whole space is simple yet warm. The several pots of flowers and plants placed on the balcony in the living room add a lot of vitality.
The two younger sisters were cleaning the house at the moment. The floor was wet, obviously having just been mopped.
Hearing the door opening, Cailing and Zhiyi turned around and looked while holding the mop.
"Sister Caiwei~!" Zhiyi said.
"Change your shoes! Don't step in! We just mopped the floor!" Cai Ling said.
Well, listening to this impolite tone, even an outsider can instantly tell which one is the biological sister.
“Wow! You guys made it so clean! It doesn’t even feel like I’m living in a dormitory anymore!”
Originally Xu Caiwei thought that since it was just a dormitory, she could just do some simple decoration, but she didn't expect that her brothers and sisters would put so much thought into giving her a place to live. She was the older sister who should be the one to make the most of the care, but now she was being taken care of by her brothers and sisters, and it was impossible for her not to be touched.
After changing their shoes obediently, Fang Wei and Xu Caiwei carried their luggage into the house.
"How long have you been cleaning?"
"We're here early in the morning!"
"It's really fake..."
"Pay us the cleaning fee!"
Cai Ling stretched out her hand to ask for money, but Cai Wei slapped her hand unhappily and said, "You'll get your share of the spanking fee!"
"Ahhh, you clean up the rest yourself!"
"Okay, I can do it myself. Zhiyi, come to me, come to me. You guys go and have a rest. I brought you some coffee."
"Oh! Coffee!"
Cai Ling moved quickly. She took the bag from her sister's hand and took out four cups of coffee.
"Sister, did you make it specially from home and bring it here?" the girl asked after taking a sip of coffee.
"No, I just bought it with Awei at the coffee shop outside."
"No wonder I said it tasted so bad! It turned out you bought it outside."
"…You've also learned Ah Wei's tricks, right?"
Fang Wei: “…”
Sister Caiwei, if you want to insult my sister, just insult my sister, but don't insult me at the same time! What do you mean by that? How can high emotional intelligence and flattery be the same?
"No! I'm serious! This coffee just isn't as delicious as the one you make." Cai Ling took another sip. She was too lazy to flatter her sister.
"Hmm!" Zhiyi also took a sip, indicating that he agreed with Cailing's evaluation.
Regardless of whether it was flattery or not, Sister Caiwei was still very happy to hear it.
Her room was in the master bedroom, and Cai Ling had already made the sheets for her. The two sisters usually played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would peel garlic at home, so how could they have ever received such thoughtful care!
"Hey, sister, aren't you going to praise me? You can just move in with your luggage! I guarantee you'll live comfortably here!"
"...Why do I hear your tone, as if you're afraid that I'll go live with you?"
"No, no!"
"Then why don't you move back and live with me? This place isn't far from your school, right?"
"Um... I'd better stay with Fang Weizhiyi! I'll leave an extra room for your employees! Am I being considerate?"
"Yes, yes, very considerate!" Xu Caiwei was angry and amused. How could she not know about her own sister? As for whose heart she was being considerate of, she was not blind at all!
……
Thanks to Fang Wei Cailing's understanding, Xu Caiwei was able to move into the city from Shanghai with just her luggage.
Even though it would cost a lot of money to open the store, the older sister was not stingy at all with her younger brothers and sisters. She took them to a restaurant outside for a big meal in the evening.
Now Sister Caiwei has returned to the city, and Sister Susu has gone to Yanjing for further studies. Suddenly, they have no acquaintances in Shanghai, and Fang Wei and the other two have temporarily given up the idea of going to Shanghai for fun.
"Sister, will you return to Shanghai in the future?" Cai Ling asked curiously.
"Of course I will. Hehe, I hope that next time I go back, I won't be working there, but will open a branch there!"
“So passionate!!”
"When does Sister Caiwei plan to start recruiting people?" Fang Wei asked.
"Don't worry, let me finish the preliminary work for opening the store first. Xiaowan and Xiaofeng will come to help me at the end of the month. They are great at making coffee now."
"Sister Xiaowan and Sister Xiaofeng!"
Fang Wei and the other two were surprised. They knew Xiaowan and Xiaofeng. They were both former employees of the Chenxi Coffee Shop and were recruited by Sister Caiwei herself. They had been trained and led by her all along. The two sisters were only a few years older than Cailing and the others. They both started working after graduating from junior high school. They were very nice, smart and hardworking.
"Sister Caiwei, you ran away this time, and you took away half of the Chenxi Cafe? You learned the skills and poached the people! Isn't that amazing?"
Fang Wei admired her. It was already amazing that she could learn the business methods and techniques, and she was even able to poach people from the original employer. That was Xu Caiwei's personal charm. It was obvious that there were many unknown risk factors in a newly opened store, but even so, Xiaowan and Xiaofeng were still willing to follow her.
"Ah, it's not that I asked them to come with me. I was also worried that if I messed up, Xiaowan and the others would lose their jobs. But after they knew that I returned to the city to open my own store, they insisted on coming to help me. I am really grateful to them, but the pressure is also great."
"Sister Caiwei, stay calm. I believe you can do it. This may be the most correct choice for Sister Xiaowan and Sister Xiaofeng!"
"Yes! If I have the ability to open a branch store in the future, I will definitely let them be store managers!"
"Very good, Sister Caiwei already has the potential to be a boss!"
"What is the potential to be a boss?" Cai Ling asked curiously.
"Painting!"
"Haha, what are you talking about? I'm telling the truth!" Sister Caiwei also found it funny.
"When will Sister Xiaowan and Sister Xiaofeng come over?"
"They were anxious to resign with me, but I asked them to continue working in the store until at least April, and I would tell them after I finished all the preliminary work."
……
Except for a week of rest in the village after resigning, Xu Caiwei has been working non-stop on the opening of the new store since arriving in the city.
Sister Caiwei is really an amazing person. Even though she only has a junior high school education, the temperament she exudes is unmatched by many people.
On weekdays, Fang Wei and her two children were busy with their studies, and her parents were busy with the factory, so the work of opening the coffee shop fell almost entirely on her.
Compared to when she was working, she was probably more than twice as tired. She left home at six o'clock every day and often didn't come back until after nine o'clock in the evening. She went to the market, the industrial and commercial bureau, the decoration team, and the purchase of materials. She had to check every corner of the store. When purchasing goods, she did not just compare prices from three different stores. For the quality of a certain coffee bean and the price difference of a few cents, she would specially run to other local markets with her bag on her back to look for it if she couldn't find it in the local market. The happiest thing was to take the bus to the terminal. She didn't have to worry about missing her stop, and finally had the opportunity to take a nap...
It is hard to imagine what kind of motivation supports a little girl like her to complete so much work alone.
Fang Wei originally thought that even if everything went smoothly, it would take at least until May to finish all this. However, in just twenty days, the 'Weifeng Yika' coffee shop on Guihua Road was just one step away from opening.
Her friends, Xiaowan and Xiaofeng, were girls with similar characteristics as her. They resigned on the last day of March and came to the city with large and small bags on the first day of April.
With the help of Xiaowan and Xiaofeng, Xu Caiwei's burden suddenly felt much lighter.
The coffee shop is quite large, and it might be more appropriate to describe it as a cafe. Originally, Xu Zhiyuan was planning to rent the store to someone else to run a restaurant, but now that Xu Caiwei has taken over, the scale of this store alone makes it the largest coffee shop in the city.
The overall decoration style is elegant, fashionable and youthful. It is almost all decorated according to Xu Caiwei's own ideas, and it also incorporates many of Fang Wei's suggestions. It is divided into two dining areas, indoor and outdoor, with oversized floor-to-ceiling windows for lighting, combined with a carefully designed bar and green space. The atmosphere and style alone are enough to make guests in a small city feel refreshed.
In the early stage, including herself, Xiaowan and Xiaofeng, Xu Caiwei's staff configuration is tentatively set at six people. Among them, she, Xiaowan and Xiaofeng can both be baristas and pastry chefs. The other three employees with less experience are mainly responsible for service work. If there are many customers, Caiwei can also maneuver on her own.
The menu categories have also been decided. In addition to the classic coffees, Xu Caiwei has specially added three specialty coffees. She is now considered an excellent barista. The three specialty coffees are all the result of her research over the years. They are not as unconventional as the 'Sauce Flavor Latte' and 'Smelly Foot Milk Tea'. These three specialty coffees are still in line with the mainstream public taste.
Among them, there is one that Cailing and Zhiyi like the most, and the name is also very nice, it is called "Dream Starry Sky"
It is made of cold-brewed coffee liquid, butterfly pea flowers, lemon juice, milk, edible glitter, and vanilla syrup. Butterfly pea flowers are rich in anthocyanins, which will change color when exposed to acid. They are the key to creating dreamy colors. First, add an appropriate amount of cold-brewed coffee liquid to the cup. The mellow color of the coffee liquid is like the deep night sky of the universe, laying the foundation for subsequent color changes. Then slowly pour in the butterfly pea juice, and the coffee liquid gradually changes from dark brown to dreamy purple. Then, gently squeeze in a few drops of fresh lemon juice. When the lemon juice and butterfly pea juice meet, the color changes instantly. The purple will slowly transition to pink, blue and other colors interwoven, just like a nebula blooming in the universe. The whipped milk foam is spread on top of the coffee liquid, forming a nebula-like shape, which sets off the colorful coffee liquid below, creating a realistic starry sky landscape.
If we talk about the two sisters Caiwei and Cailing, Cailing put all her talents in sports, while Caiwei put all her talents in making coffee.
God knows how Sister Caiwei came up with such a genius idea to make such a unique coffee!
Even Fangwei was shocked. After all, he had never seen it in his previous life. He could only say that inspiration was a mysterious thing. He could imagine how many literary girls would chase after this "Dream Starry Sky" when it was launched.
After all, whether it is a milk tea shop or a coffee shop, if you want to make a name for yourself, you must always come up with your own distinctive products. These things that you have and others don’t are the core key to your competitiveness.
The opening date is set for Saturday, April 10th. The next step is to prepare for the opening, with publicity and marketing being the top priority.
The Internet was not well developed in those days, and promotion was mainly offline. Xu Caiwei organized a coffee tasting event in the nearby community, and distributing flyers and opening promotions were naturally indispensable.
During the winter vacation, Fang Wei also installed a computer at home. When he had nothing to do on weekday evenings and weekends, he would type some code and make a simple store membership system for Xu Caiwei.
"member?"
"Yes, the membership system can bind customers very well. For example, you can become a member of our store with a first deposit of 50 yuan, and enjoy a 5% discount on future purchases. You can also get gifts for deposits, such as points for deposits and points for purchases. When you have a certain amount of points, you can redeem them for food or peripheral dolls in the store. In addition, there is a referral system, where old members can get points for bringing in new members!"
“…!! Awei! You are such a genius!”
Sister Caiwei was stunned. It turned out that she was no match for the honest-looking Fang Wei in making money!
Fang Wei also came up with a lot of ideas for making flyers. He is good at taking pictures, so he took a lot of pictures of the store's products. The flyers contain information such as the coffee shop's name, address, opening hours, promotions, and pictures of specialty coffee. He also set up a QQ group number on the flyer, and customers can join the group to get more discounts at any time.
Cailing and Zhiyi are not as smart as Fang Wei. They help distribute flyers on weekends. Unlike doing housework, this time they get paid!
Finally, with Caiwei feeling uneasy, the time came to April 10th, and the 'Weifeng Yika' coffee shop was about to open!
The second monthly exam had just ended, and Fang Wei did not go home during the weekend. Instead, she came to the coffee shop early in the morning, changed into the store's customized employee uniform, and joined in the fun.
How could the parents not come when their daughter opened a coffee shop? Xu Zhiyuan and Deng Xijuan arrived early in the morning.
The older generation pays attention to rituals. Opening a business is a big event and they always need to worship gods. Nowadays, the city has looser control and there was a lively firecracker display at nine o'clock.
The entrance of the store was covered with red sprinkles, and there were beautiful flower baskets on both sides.
Guests who have long been curious about the 'Dream Starry Sky' flocked in, because the first person to come gets a free meal, and so does the eighth, eighteenth... All guests whose last digit of the meal is eight today get a free meal!
In addition to Uncle Yuan and his friends, Fang Xianfeng also brought Uncle Liu over. Uncle Liu came to celebrate the opening of the business and also to see his beloved granddaughter who hasn't been home for more than a month!
"Uncle Fang! Uncle Liu!"
Xu Caiwei, who was dressed beautifully, hurried forward to greet them.
"Caiwei! Second uncle wishes you a prosperous business! I have never had coffee in my life, so I have the chance to try it here today!"
The elders handed her a red envelope for the opening of the business with a smile.
Xu Caiwei was excited. Looking at the friends and relatives who came to congratulate her, and at the bright and clean coffee shop behind her with her name on the sign, she felt her eyes getting hot when her dream came true, as if she was dreaming!
"welcome--!"
Fang Wei, who was wearing an employee uniform, called out to Cai Ling and greeted the elders into the store with a smile.
The sun is shining today and business is booming.
(End of this chapter)
