314 Dormitory.
With the start of the semester approaching, everyone had returned.
Su Xiaotian asked Li Jianhong and a few others for help, utilizing their connections to launch a promotional campaign.
Over the past six months, Li Jianhong and her associates had established small businesses across several nearby universities.
They had agents in various universities.
Enlisting Li Jianhong and her friends for promotion would undoubtedly be effective.
Su Xiaotian shared her ideas with Li Jianhong and the others.
It was then that they realized Su Xiaotian had, in a short period, impressively built another significant venture.
They had previously felt they were working diligently and achieving good results, but compared to the prodigious Su Xiaotian, they felt instantly outshone.
"Forget it, I won't compare myself to a prodigy, it only makes me unhappy!"
Fortunately, Li Jianhong had a straightforward personality and could let things go.
In an instant, she decided to ease her own mind and not compete with the prodigy.
However, she took Su Xiaotian's request for promotional work very seriously.
Xiaotian had helped her roommates immensely, but they had helped Xiaotian very little.
Rarely getting an opportunity to assist Xiaotian, Li Jianhong and her friends naturally treated it as their own important task.
Su Xiaotian, of course, did not let them work for free.
"These are vouchers for the Mala Tang and Su Xiaolu shops. You can distribute them to other students."
The vouchers Su Xiaotian had custom-made were not for large amounts, but rather for one, two, or three jiao.
However, one should not underestimate these one, two, or three jiao vouchers. In an era where a meal cost no more than one yuan, these vouchers were quite significant.
After Li Jianhong took the thick stack of vouchers, Su Xiaotian produced some with larger denominations.
"These are five jiao vouchers. Keep them for yourselves for later use."
Li Jianhong quickly said, "There's no need for these, we're just helping out casually."
"Since they are to be distributed anyway, if you don't want to keep them, then give them out!"
As expected, Li Jianhong and the others carefully placed the larger denomination vouchers into their pockets.
"These vouchers can only be used at the Mala Tang and Su Xiaolu shops, as indicated on them. Jianhong, be sure to make this clear during your promotions!"
For other establishments, as they were not familiar with the people involved, Su Xiaotian did not overstep by offering assistance, to avoid thankless effort.
"I understand, Xiaotian. You can trust us to handle this!" Li Jianhong smiled and went out to start the promotional work.
Indeed, Su Xiaotian's method of using vouchers for promotion was quite effective.
Especially in an era where people did not place much emphasis on publicity, the results were surprisingly good.
Soon, the news of the upcoming food city opening spread widely among the students.
In particular, the news that the food city would feature Yu Ling Mala Tang and Su Xiaolu Braised Meat shops circulated extensively among students.
Of course, students were more interested in the Mala Tang.
And the news about the eateries was not only widespread among students.
It had also spread widely among the faculty.
This was thanks to the efforts of Teacher Xie Nan and Teacher Huo Sinian.
Both Teacher Xie Nan and Huo Sinian had personally tasted the food and, confident in its excellent flavor, dared to promote it among their colleagues.
Subsequently, teachers from Peking University shared this news with teachers from other universities they knew, and arranged to visit upon opening.
The name of the food city was finally decided as University Food City, chosen by Li Yuling.
Li Yuling said that "University Food City" sounded very cultured upon hearing it.
However, in reality, Su Xiaotian felt that the name lacked any cultural depth, much like Fourth Brother's opulent Rongfa Business, which also lacked cultural refinement.
But since Li Yuling liked it, Su Xiaotian did not object.
The origin of this food city was due to Li Yuling.
Therefore, if Li Yuling liked it, Su Xiaotian did not oppose it.
Su Xiaotian planned to organize some sort of opening ceremony, but Grandma Su suggested that for students, something more practical would be better.
After a discussion among the grandmother and granddaughter, along with Li Yuling and a few others, they decided to hold a grand opening promotional event.
All students who dined at the food city would receive a 30% discount for the first three days; a 20% discount from the fourth to the sixth day; and a 10% discount from the seventh to the tenth day.
From the eleventh day onwards, prices would revert to normal.
Furthermore, these discounts could be used in conjunction with the distributed vouchers.
Students had never seen such generous discounts.
Those who initially came to try out the offerings with vouchers, after tasting the affordable and delicious food, could not help but spread the word.
As the news spread from one to ten, and then to a hundred, even more people came with a "let's give it a try" attitude.
When the food city opened in the morning, the seats were barely filled. By lunchtime, students were arriving in batches, so much so that "packed to capacity" would be an understatement.
By the afternoon, many people were already queuing outside.
The other stall owners had not expected such a crowd at the opening, but unexpectedly, there were many more customers than anticipated.
Most stalls were operated by two people, who had assumed business would not be too brisk and that two people would be more than enough.
But now, with three to four times the expected number of customers, the two individuals were incredibly busy.
Li Yuling had also hired a helper, a middle-aged woman in her thirties, who was diligent and quick with her hands, but even so, the two of them could not keep up.
It was fortunate that Su Xiaocao and Teacher Xie Nan voluntarily offered their assistance, which barely allowed them to cope.
Li Jianhong and the others, who had come to eat, saw the situation and also voluntarily helped with some simple tasks.
Su Xiaotian, seeing so many people arriving, felt fortunate that the food city had a fast table turnover rate.
Otherwise, she imagined the people waiting in line might starve.
From the opening at nine in the morning until nine at night, the stall owners of the food city, after twelve hours of continuous work, closed down in exhaustion.
"So many customers today, I don't know if my back will still be with me tomorrow morning!"
"It will definitely be there, but whether it can straighten up is another question!"
"Don't laugh at me, I'll see you all well tomorrow!"
Although the stall owners were extremely tired, they were still chatting and laughing due to the good business that day.
"I have some medicinal wine here. Take it back and rub it on tonight, you'll feel better tomorrow!"
Su Xiaotian took out a bottle of medicinal wine and was about to distribute it to others.
The stall owners felt embarrassed and quickly declined.
"No need for this, it's not that bad."
Su Xiaotian insisted, "It's better to rub it on. Just persist for three to four days, and you'll be fine."
The group then thanked Su Xiaotian and each took some medicinal wine to go.
"Auntie, thank you so much today. Shall I give you a massage?" Although Li Yuling was exhausted, seeing that Grandma Su, at her age, had also worked hard all day, she proactively offered to knead Grandma Su's shoulders and back.