Chapter 70 The Next Step

July 13th, morning.

Moyou Internet Cafe flagship store.

Li Shi sat in a corner, quietly sipping his coffee.

"It's much more lively here, but... I still prefer the way it was before."

Li Shi sighed softly, unaware that he and Pei Qian had reached a consensus on this point.

Although his last confrontation with Boss Pei ended in a complete defeat, leaving Li Shi frustrated and avoiding Moyou Internet Cafe for over a week, he still felt a bit unwilling and hoped to regain his standing in the future.

Besides, coming to Moyou Internet Cafe for a sit-down and a couple of drinks had become a habit.

So, Li Shi visited the Moyou Internet Cafe flagship store again today, wanting to see what the situation was like.

His first impression was that there were definitely more customers.

He knew it would be very lively at night, so he specifically chose a Tuesday morning.

Unexpectedly, even on a weekday morning, there were quite a few customers here.

Some were quietly reading and drinking coffee in the cafe area, some were taking pictures for social media, and some were surfing the internet.

It seemed like business was good.

Daily revenue, plus the percentage of alcohol sales from the singers' tips in the evening...

Li Shi estimated that the Moyou Internet Cafe flagship store was probably making a profit now. It was hard to say how much, but it was definitely earning something.

However, he personally preferred the previous Moyou Internet Cafe.

It was very quiet, with few disturbances.

Of course, the current Moyou Internet Cafe hadn't reached the point of being annoyingly crowded, it just wasn't as quiet as before.

Li Shi took another sip of coffee, feeling like something was missing.

Boss Pei wasn't here, which was normal.

But where were that long face, and the area manager who always followed him?

Li Shi used to visit the Moyou Internet Cafe flagship store often, and he would always run into these two, as if they were permanent residents of the flagship store.

But today, neither of them were there.

"Strange."

"Logically, with business so good at this store, shouldn't they be keeping a closer eye on it?"

Li Shi had been observing the changes at Moyou Internet Cafe for the past few days.

The flagship store had indeed become a sensation because of Chen Lei, turning into a popular internet destination, with many people coming to check in and spend money, resulting in a large flow of customers.

However, the other Moyou Internet Cafe chain stores hadn't seen much improvement. Although their traffic had also increased, and their revenue had improved, they couldn't compare to the flagship store.

He reasonably assumed that while these branches could recover some of their losses, they probably hadn't reached the point of breaking even.

At this time, shouldn't they be focusing on the flagship store and promoting its experience to the other branches?

Why weren't these two here instead?

Li Shi raised his hand slightly, and the waiter nearby immediately understood, coming to his table.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" the waiter asked with a smile.

Li Shi was a regular customer at Moyou Internet Cafe after all, and he had spent a lot of money here, so the waiter naturally recognized this important customer and provided excellent service.

Li Shi put on a casual air and asked, "Isn't Manager Ma here today?"

The waiter smiled and said, "No, Manager Ma hasn't been here for a while, about a week or so."

Li Shi was taken aback.

A week?

That meant that after the Moyou Internet Cafe flagship store exploded in popularity, and after the busiest period, once the customer flow at the flagship store stabilized, the long face hadn't come back.

Logically, the flagship store had a store manager, so the long face could indeed leave it alone.

But the long face and his colleague were management above the store manager, so if they weren't at this store, they must have switched to another store.

What were they doing?

There was probably something fishy going on here.

Li Shi smiled at the waiter: "It's nothing, I was just asking."

...

Two hours later.

Li Shi glanced at his phone, which displayed a message from a subordinate.

"Boss Li, we've found out, they're at the Mingyun Mountain Villa store."

Seeing this message, Li Shi was a little surprised.

But after a moment's thought, he quickly understood.

Clearly, the long face and his colleague had seen that the Moyou Internet Cafe flagship store was a hit and had shifted their focus to other branches for the next phase!

Although Li Shi looked down on Ma Yang, the long face, and thought he was a bit stupid, he didn't dare to underestimate him.

After all, Ma Yang's every move was definitely instructed by Boss Pei!

After the last incident, Li Shi no longer dared to underestimate Boss Pei because of his age and experience.

He knew that while this Boss Pei seemed young and acted against common sense, he had extremely clear and long-term plans, and he always had a backup plan!

Last time, Li Shi suffered a great loss because he underestimated Boss Pei.

He gently stroked his chin, considering the ins and outs of the matter.

"Last time, Boss Pei must have been aware of my actions."

"The long face giving me false information must also have been Boss Pei's secret instruction."

"Sure enough, the long face may be a little stupid, but he's loyal enough to Boss Pei. It was stupid of me to try to find a breakthrough through him."

"This also makes sense. If the long face wasn't loyal enough to Boss Pei, how could he have gained Boss Pei's favor and held a high position."

"This time, I must not make the same mistake again."

"The long face no longer comes to the flagship store, but is stationed at the Mingyun Mountain Villa store, which most likely indicates that Boss Pei's next plan is in that area!"

Li Shi didn't try his previous idea of ​​acquiring Moyou Internet Cafe again.

He knew very well that Moyou Internet Cafe was now thriving and its brand was so well-established that it was basically impossible to invest in it.

Li Shi's interest in Moyou Internet Cafe had waned, but not his interest in Boss Pei.

Since the last incident, Li Shi's evaluation of Boss Pei had continued to rise, and he even felt that he could be considered one of the top entrepreneurs in Jingzhou City in terms of vision.

With such a great figure by his side, his every move naturally had to be closely watched.

Maybe he could discover some business opportunities?

This time was the same. Li Shi investigated the Moyou Internet Cafe in Mingyun Mountain Villa not to invest in or acquire it, but because he was very curious about Boss Pei's next move.

He opened the mobile phone map and roughly checked.

Li Shi frowned.

He didn't quite understand what was so promising about this place.

The so-called "Mingyun Mountain Villa" was actually a high-end residential area in the suburbs of Jingzhou City, mainly composed of detached villas.

But there was a problem with the planning of this place.

Mingyun Mountain Villa was located in the southeast of Jingzhou City, backed by mountains and rivers, with good scenery.

But there were two big problems with this villa area.

First, the surrounding facilities were not good. It was fine to buy it and live there for a couple of days on vacation, but it was not suitable for long-term living, as life was a bit inconvenient.

Second, the developer's strategy had a big problem. It was built entirely according to high-end villas, with an average price higher than other villas in Jingzhou City, but its marketing ability was not strong, and it did not generate enough hype.

Therefore, after being built for almost a year, the occupancy rate was still not high.

And the location of Moyou Internet Cafe in Mingyun Mountain Villa made Li Shi feel completely clueless.

This internet cafe was not located near Mingyun Mountain Villa, but was located a distance away from both the Mingyun Mountain Villa residential area and the nearby Handong Jiaotong University East Campus.

It was a bit far for people in these two places to go to this Moyou Internet Cafe.