I open a bookstore in the human world

"...That's how things are." Xiao'e looked at Song Lan's face anxiously, and whispered.

Song Lan rested his chin on his hands, and stared unconsciously at the photo frame on the table, which contained a group photo of the bookstore clerks. His eyes fell on the face of the tall man standing in the center, who was so handsome that he couldn't believe it. After a while, he said quietly: "That is to say, Xie Daonian wanted to give me a surprise, so why didn't he tell me in advance?"

Xiao'e nodded slightly, and added: "Even Tang Chi only found out after he arrived in Shanghai. It turns out that brother Xie has long planned to open a restaurant, and everything he is doing now is laying the foundation for the restaurant."

"Why did he do such a big thing so quietly..." Song Lan murmured to herself.

Xiao'e didn't want to interrupt, she kept her eyes on her nose, her nose and her heart, and kept silent, pretending to be dumb.

"Okay, I've figured everything out, you can do your own thing." Seeing Xiao'e waiting for orders in a restored state, Song Lan ordered.

Xiao'e hesitated, her expression was tangled, and she didn't move.

"Is there anything else?" Song Lan asked calmly.

"Brother Song," Xiao'e finally made up her mind, "Can I apply to Shanghai for help?"

"You want to go to the devil's capital?" Song Lan was stunned for a moment, then realized, "Could it be that you and Tang Chi have..."

"Brother Song!" Xiao'e blushed, and gave Song Lan a half-angry look, preventing him from continuing.

"I really didn't expect that," Song Lan said with a smile in his eyes, feeling a little emotional, "The look of you two at the same time is still imprinted in my mind. Let me just say, why did you suddenly come to the Devil's City to find Tang Chi? ...Okay, okay, I won't say anything, don't stare at me like that. As for going to the capital—"

Song Lan intentionally lengthened the ending, and after appreciating Xiao'e's expectant and anxious expression for a while, she said leisurely, "I'm not unreasonable, anyway, there is only one bookstore left in Xingzhou, and you are not bad, I think Just go."

"Brother Song, you are so kind!" Xiao'e couldn't restrain her excitement and screamed in a low voice.

Song Lan gave her a white look: "It's okay to find out about me now? You two are really together, why are you keeping it secret? Why, are you afraid that Brother Song will beat mandarin ducks?"

"It's not really..." Xiao'e rubbed the back of her head embarrassingly, "I just feel a little ashamed, after all Tang Chi and I got into trouble back then, I, I was afraid you would laugh at me..."

"You, you, it's just that your mind is too sensitive. Do you know that you are tired from thinking so much all day long?" Song Lan couldn't laugh or cry, and suddenly thought of Zuiyue and Qin Shi, she sighed softly, "But you two are still good. Yes, that pair is called entanglement..."

"Ah? Brother Song, what did you say?" Xiao'e asked curiously.

"It's nothing." Song Lan came back to her senses, and quickly prevaricated, "Since you want to leave, then go back and pack up, and then go to Shanghai with me."

***

For this dessert shop, Xie Daonian really put in a lot of thought and money: Shadow Dessert House opened on a bustling commercial street in Shanghai, where it was a concession 100 years ago, and Western-style buildings can be seen everywhere. Dessert House The store is also rented in one of them. The area is not too big, about sixty or seventy square meters, but the rent is not cheap.

The decoration of the store is still the fresh and natural style that Xie Daonian likes, the room is full of green plants, and the tables and chairs are wooden tables and chairs in original colors, which look simple but not crude.Each table is separated by shelves and plants. Although this takes up a little space, it forms a relatively confidential space and allows guests to relax psychologically.

The wall is painted beige as a whole, and one side is ingeniously designed as a postcard wall, on which postcards with guest messages are hung with wooden clips and hemp ropes. This is one of the characteristics of the store: all customers who come to the store can After getting a shadow card postcard, many people simply wrote it on the spot and hung it on the wall as a souvenir of their visit.

There are [-] or [-] tables in the store. At present, every table is fully occupied. There are also many waiting customers in the waiting area outside. Most of them have already placed orders on their mobile phones and are waiting in line to get their numbers. .

Compared with Shadow Tea, the items sold in Shadow Dessert House have added a lot of varieties and are more beautiful in appearance. In addition to the classic flower and fruit teas of various colors, there are also many exquisite and unique desserts that people can't bear to eat.

Compared with the dessert shops of the same level in the surrounding area, the price of these desserts is [-]-[-]% higher, but it does not affect the interest of the customers who come to order.The reason is very simple. These desserts are not only beautiful, but also taste first-class. The price is a bit expensive, but it is definitely worth the money.

There is no group that likes to join in the fun more than the fashionable men and women in the magic city. Every time there is a good store in the city, within a few days, that store will be stepped on by the soles of its feet and become an online celebrity store in an instant.The Shadow Dessert House has only opened for a few days, and it has already blown up its Weibo circle of friends, becoming one of the most popular dessert shops nowadays.

Most of the online celebrity stores are actually just check-in spots, and countless people go there in a hurry and return disappointed. The reasons can be summed up in a few ways: too many people in the store are too noisy and the environment is not good; the things are not as advertised It's as delicious as it is; the clerk's service attitude is not good and the ordering speed is slow...

No matter any of these reasons can make people lose their appetite in an instant, and there are very few repeat customers, which has caused many online celebrity shops to be ignored after their popularity.But at present, it seems that Shadow Dessert House doesn’t need to worry about this. In addition to the excellent quality of the food itself, there is also a flow-limiting system in the store——

Once the tables and chairs in the store are full, no one will be let in. Unless someone leaves, the later people can only sit in the waiting area outside the store and wait.Of course, people who are waiting are not just waiting. They can choose to place an order on their mobile phone and take it away, which is cheaper than dine-in.

As for customers who consume in the store, it is stipulated that they can stay in the store for free for two hours. Once the time is exceeded, the fee will be increased by 5.00% according to the length of time. That is to say, the longer you stay, the more money you have to pay.

As soon as this regulation came out, it was not without objection and ridicule, saying that since everyone has already consumed it, why should they pay?Of course, such voices are still a minority after all, and most people still clap their hands and say yes: A meal of dessert can’t be eaten for two hours, why can you occupy a seat for nothing and let others wait outside?

No matter how heated the online debate is, there is still a steady stream of customers waiting outside the dessert house every day, and there is a growing trend: many of them are repeat customers.

When Song Lan came to Shanghai, what he saw was such a bustling scene.

Even Song Lan, who is used to seeing big scenes, was a little stunned: To be honest, he thought that the dessert shop might be very popular, but he didn't expect it to be so popular, and the dozens of small benches provided in the waiting area were not enough to sit on , There are still many standing people waiting eagerly.

"Sorry, sir, if you want to line up, I'm afraid you will have to wait for more than two hours." Seeing Song Lan walking towards the store, the clerk at the door thought that Song Lan was also one of the customers who came to buy, so he hurriedly reminded, "If If you don't mind, you can place an order on the WeChat Mini Program and take it away, it will be faster."

Song Lan smiled crookedly: "I'm not here to eat, I'm looking for your boss."

Under the surprised eyes of the clerk, the glass door of the store was pushed open, and a surprised head poked out inside: "Brother Song, you are here! Uh... Where's Xiao'e?"

Tang Chi looked around behind Song Lan. He knew that his girlfriend came to Shanghai with Song Lan, but where is she now?

Seeing Tang Chi's eagerness to find a wife, Song Lan held back her laughter, reached out and tapped her head: "Don't look, Xiao'e saw a discount in a clothing store on the way here just now, so she went to try on clothes."

Love of beauty is the nature of any woman. Even if she becomes a ghost, Xiao'e still cannot resist the charm of those beautiful dresses in the human world, even though she doesn't need to change clothes.

"Okay..." Tang Chi obviously knew Xiao'e's temperament, and he was not too disappointed when he heard the words, but warmly welcomed Song Lan into the store, "Brother Song, sit down and drink some water. Brother Xie has something to go out , should be back soon."

Before he finished speaking, Song Lan heard someone calling him from behind: "Song Lan."

In the past few months, Song Lan heard the low-alcohol and magnetic voice through the handset of her mobile phone countless times in the past few months, but this time it was so real.

Joy suddenly climbed up the corners of Song Lan's eyes and eyebrows, he turned around with a smile, and waved in greeting: "Long time no see."

Xie Daonian walked up to Song Lan with big strides, first stared at Song Lan for a few seconds, until he felt a little uncomfortable looking at the latter, a gentle smile bloomed on the corner of his lips, and said softly :"You came."

Looking down, Song Lan's eyes fell on the faint golden color on the neck of the other party, and he purposely put on a straight face: "If I don't come, I don't know that you are making such a big move." His tone became a little serious .

Xie Daonian was taken aback, his smile froze on his lips, obviously he didn't expect Song Lan's first sentence to be a questioning of the teacher.A flash of panic flashed in his eyes, and he quickly explained: "Actually, I didn't intend to hide it from you deliberately, but I just think you have more things to do, so I don't want you to worry about it..."

Seeing Xie Daonian's orderly explanation, Song Lan couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Okay, okay, I know, it scares you, what's the matter..."

Xie Daonian was stunned for a moment before he realized that Song Lan was just teasing him, and couldn't help shaking his head and laughing helplessly: "You..."

He stopped talking halfway, but stared fixedly at Song Lan's smiling face, distracted for a moment.This move made the latter confused, so he asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's okay." Xie Daonian shook his head, retracted his gaze from Song Lan's face, and changed the subject, "What do you think of this store?"

"Very good," Song Lan nodded with a smile and gave a thumbs up, "To be honest, it's even better than I imagined."

Xie Daonian's eyes flashed with joy, he coughed lightly, and said, "It's just the beginning, and it will be better in the future."

"You are really good at doing such a big thing without making a sound." Song Lan said with emotion, "I heard that you still want to open a restaurant in the future?"

Xie Daonian was not surprised how Song Lan would know these things, he had already prepared: "It's a preliminary idea, but it will take some time to implement it."

"Can you tell me what you think?" Song Lan's eyes widened curiously, and she looked at Xie Daonian carefully, "It's fine with Huaguo tea shop, after all, this is your specialty, but I don't seem to have seen you talking about catering before. Do you have any special interest?"

Xie Daonian's eyes flickered slightly, and the corners of his lips were slightly curved: "Didn't you say that the bookstore will come to Shanghai to develop sooner or later?"

"Yes, but what does this have to do with your opening a restaurant?" Song Lan was taken aback, not expecting to get such an answer.

"Let me explore the way for you. If the restaurant can take root in Shanghai, the bookstore will encounter less resistance in the future." Xie Daonian looked into Song Lan's eyes quietly, with a serious tone.

Song Lan's pupils shrank slightly, obviously he didn't expect to hear such an answer, and when he wanted to say something, he stopped when he reached the tip of his mouth, and it took him a long time to utter a sentence: "You, you..."

"You" for a long time, but did not say a complete sentence.

Xie Daonian was not surprised by his reaction, and smiled lightly: "Didn't you say that the devil's capital is deep in water, and it's hard to survive without a backer."

"So you came to be my backer?" Song Lan finally choked out a sentence.

Xie Daonian frowned slightly, just smiled and didn't speak.

"To be honest, I'm really surprised..." Song Lan took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled, "Very, very surprised, I didn't expect you to have such an idea. When you came to Shanghai, I thought You just think that the market in Shanghai is better, and you want to come and test the waters."

"It was indeed the reason at the beginning, but then I changed my mind." Xie Daonian raised his brows slightly, and said lightly, "Even if Shadow Tea becomes popular again? After all, it's just a flower and fruit tea shop with a dozen square meters or even a few square meters. Some people seem to be just making small noises and can't get on the stage. If you want to help you, you have to make Ying Cha stronger, so that no employer will dare to underestimate you."

"But it's too risky for you to do this," Song Lan frowned disapprovingly, "Have you ever thought about what to do if the dessert shop fails? At present, the most important task of Ying Cha is to expand the facade, you use expansion I don’t think this is a very good idea. What if there is an accident in the middle? I think it’s safer to expand one store at a time.”

"Perhaps slowly expanding can eventually achieve the goal, but this is too slow." Xie Daonian shrugged and smiled nonchalantly, "Isn't this a success now? The dessert shop is so lively every day, and the turnover is higher than that of the three flower and fruit tea shops. The total turnover is more than that, and there are also a lot of profits when going out to the store to rent water, electricity, labor, etc., and more importantly, 'Shadow' has gradually formed a brand with a wider market coverage than the original flower and fruit tea shop. Yes. When the restaurant is opened in the future, I think more people will know the brand 'Shadow', and if you open the bookstore in Shanghai, it will be more accepted by the local citizens."

"Have you seen the postcard wall? Every customer who comes to the store can receive a free shadow brand postcard. About every five customers who receive the postcard will ask about the origin of this postcard. I asked the clerk to send it to our bookstore. Recommend to them the online store, won't this indirectly increase the popularity of the bookstore?"

"I don't know if you have noticed, but the tableware and cups in the store are also from the shadow brand. Later, I will sell some cultural and creative products created by the bookstore in the store, so as to further let customers know about the bookstore."

After a pause, Xie Daonian smiled confidently: "I plan to let the citizens accept our shadow bookstore subtly, so that when the bookstore officially settles in Shanghai, we can promote it."

Song Lan listened to Xie Daonian's plan in a daze, and then said with emotion after a while: "I didn't expect you to plan so far...Compared to the first time I saw you, the change is really big."

A look of doubt flashed in Xie Daonian's eyes, and he frowned slightly: "It's strange to say, in the past I wasn't interested in doing business, expansion and the like, and I didn't even listen to it. I don't know what happened after you came. Slow is not so repulsive to these things, and I am still interested..."

"This is probably near Zhu Zhechi?" Song Lan teased, patted her chest and boasted, "With such an excellent role model like me, of course you are not consciously affected."

"I don't think it's that simple..." Xie Daonian lowered his eyes and said to himself, "Forget it, let's not talk about it. You haven't eaten the desserts in the store yet? Servings, what do you want to eat?"