The Young Nobles of Wuling East of the Golden Market, Silver Saddles and White Horses Ride the Spring Breeze Chapter 142: A Fundamental Change

However, Zhao Bin was clearly somewhat dissatisfied.
"What is Lu Zhen's deal? Skipping work the moment he gets back. Fang Yu, how can you put up with a guy like that?"
Fang Yu waved his hand to signal him to drop the subject.
"Alright, it's rare for the guy to go on a date, isn't it? Besides, when he was working at the bubble tea shop earlier and Cheng Chen and I were unreliable, we owed a lot to his hard work covering shifts. Now it's about time he got to enjoy himself."
Zhao Bin's emotions flared up instantly.
"I just can't stand people like this. He clearly has a girlfriend yet he messes around outside, and he's always so lazy and slack with his tasks. I'm the one doing all the work!"
Seeing that Zhao Bin was about to throw a tantrum again, Fang Yu quickly dug into his pocket, pulled out a newly bought wallet, and handed over a few bills.
"Alright, alright, we're all brothers. How about this—you take tomorrow off, go out and enjoy a nice shopping trip. I noticed you didn't buy much when you came to Shawang. I don't have a ton of cash on me right now, but take this, don't mind the amount, go buy yourself some clothes or something."
Zhao Bin rolled his eyes, but he still took the money, though his mouth didn't stop running.
"I'm only doing this for your sake. Otherwise, the next time Lu Zhen shows up, I'd give him a thorough beating."
Finding this a headache to listen to, Fang Yu raised a hand and beckoned Xia Churan over from the cashier counter.
"Churan, I'm starving. Didn't you say you were cooking? Where's the food?"
Xia Churan walked over with a beaming smile.
"Ahal, so you finally remember this young lady? I brought the dishes with me, but there's no microwave here, so they must be all cold by now."
"Where are they? It's fine if they're cold, I don't care much for hot food anyway."
The young woman fished an insulated box out from beneath the counter. She must have gotten that from Shi Jichen, probably used for delivering takeout.
Four small side dishes were neatly separated into several plates, thoughtfully wrapped in plastic film by Xia Churan. Fang Yu leaned in to take a look: braised beef brisket with curry, broccoli in superior broth, and stir-fried fish fillets. These were all dishes he loved, and there was even a plate of crispy stir-fried shrimp he had specifically requested. It was obvious the young girl had put a lot of thought into it.
"Heehee, they're not completely cold yet. Eat up, eat up." The young woman handed him the chopsticks with a sweet smile.
Just as Fang Yu picked up his chopsticks, Cheng Chen lifted the door curtain and walked in, sniffing the air.
"Smells amazing. One sniff and I knew it was dishes cooked by the senior sister. I saw it at noon already."
Guarding his food like a dog protecting its meal, Fang Yu pulled the plates tightly behind his back.
"Damn it, your drool is about to drip onto the plates. Scram, scram, go eat the food your woman made for you."
Cheng Chen wore a bitter expression.
"Don't even mention it. Everything Li Jing cooks gets burnt; it's even worse than my mom's cooking. Fang Yu, have a heart, let me have a single bite, will you? I promise, just one tiny bite."
At that moment, Li Jing also stepped inside, pinching Cheng Chen with an aggrieved, pouty look.
"Hmph, hubby, you don't love me. It's rare for me to cook a meal for you and you can't even finish it."

Watching the two of them display their sweet couple affection, Fang Yu quickly shoveled down his rice and dishes in two or three bites. This tasted infinitely better than the gutter oil from the snack street.
Before long, the four side dishes and three bowls of rice were completely swept away by him like a whirlwind. Xia Churan hadn't touched a single bite; she just smiled gently as she used a tissue to wipe away a grain of rice from the corner of his mouth.
"Oh my, it even got on your face."
He awkwardly rubbed his mouth.
"Uh, I ate it all. Churan, what are you going to do for dinner? Should I order takeout for you?" He reached for his phone as he spoke.
"No need, I've already eaten, and I'm not hungry right now." True love keeps you full.
Meeting Xia Churan's burning gaze, Fang Yu felt slightly sheepish. The young woman was lively, charming, and possessed wonderful culinary skills—truly the ideal choice for a devoted wife.
It was just a pity that a white moonlight doesn't need to do anything at all; merely standing there is enough to surpass everyone else.

The next day, he woke up bright and early, drove the 640 all the way at breakneck speed to Songyu, and pushed open the door to Zhang Hao's office right at 10:00 AM.
"Whoa, haven't had breakfast yet?" he asked cheerfully, eyeing the two breakfast trays on Zhang Hao's and Hang Jia's desks.
"Ah, old Fang, you're here. Have a seat. Today, President Yu from Baimu is coming over to discuss the mass production of the mobile phones."
He nodded and took a sip of the tea handed to him by Sun Han.
"How much financing are they planning to raise this time?"
Hang Jia proudly held up two fingers.
"Twenty million US dollars!"
"Pfft!" That nearly caused Fang Yu to choke. He hurriedly spat out the tea leaves in his mouth.
"That much? Are these guys planning to swallow our entire company whole?"
Zhang Hao quickly reassured him.
"Don't worry, old Hang has already negotiated it. The equity being given away is about the same as last time, though we might have to carve out a bit more after going public in the future."
He nodded. He trusted Hang Jia's work. After a few seconds of contemplation, he spoke decisively.
"Alright then. Here's what we'll do: once the funding comes through, help me do something—I want to acquire a few factories."
Zhang Hao looked puzzled.
"What kind of factories? Our company doesn't produce raw materials ourselves."
"For the bubble tea company. I want to bind production and sales together." He waved a hand.
Right now, the sales momentum of "Qinglu" was quite good, and both Zhang Hao and Hang Jia were very optimistic about the industry, though they still held some reservations.
"Old Fang, a bubble tea company is, at the end of the day, just small change. To split away funds that were so hard-earned through financing just for this—don't you think it's a waste?"

Fang Yu pondered for a few seconds before looking at the two of them with a smile.
"Have you heard of Nestlé coffee?"
"Of course, who hasn't? But the taste is mediocre, and it seems like it's not doing too well lately. Nowhere near as high-end as Starbucks." In 2006, Starbucks had also opened a direct-managed store in Songyu, leaping into a dazzling new star in the coffee world, with many high-end white-collar workers taking pride in working in Starbucks with their laptops.
"True enough. It looks like just about anything could crush Nestlé coffee. That stuff costs a fraction of a dollar a packet; it really doesn't have much class, right?" He smiled and lit a cigarette.
Following that, he used over a decade of advanced hindsight to give a lesson to these two tycoons of the takeout industry.
After several rounds of cyclical hype in the new consumption sector, if there was any category that remained steadfastly resilient, coffee could certainly be considered one of them.
After all, addiction is an eternal pursuit of humanity.
In the numerous articles praising new consumer coffee, you could always spot a fallen old face—Nestlé.
And usually, it was portrayed in a less-than-positive light.
Nestlé coffee made for a convenient punching bag.
Just as every new e-commerce platform had to challenge Taobao and JD.com (Pinduoduo couldn't actually beat them), every new energy vehicle had to challenge BYD and Tesla, and every new handsome guy had to challenge people like him.
Everyone implicitly assumed that any brand could give Nestlé a severe thrashing, considering Nestlé's taste was right there.
People kneaded Nestlé like dough yesterday, spun it like a top today, and tied it into three hundred different novelty packages tomorrow.
Yet when you opened up Nestlé's various revenue and financial reports, the numbers were so overwhelmingly strong it was as if Lü Bu were riding Dian Wei and Zhao Guan were carrying Guan Yu—undefeated as the main theme.
From the perspective of the business track, Nestlé played American-style iaijutsu, while new consumer brands played freestyle kickboxing.
The gap between the two was wide enough to require driving on a highway.
Why has Nestlé always been mocked, yet it survives more fiercely than all these new coffee brands combined?
Because strictly speaking, they are not in the same weight class, nor are they on the same track.
Because the essence of new-consumer coffee is a toy for overworked corporate slaves.
While the essence of Nestlé coffee is a mass-market, cheap caffeine supplement.
Mass-market products beating up corporate slave toys is only natural.