"No, I wasn’t beaten half to death, but buddy, I’m almost dead broke," Ouyang stubbornly gazed at the sky, for only this way the tears wouldn’t fall. "I even had to borrow Sister Hong’s car to pick you up this time, and I didn’t have money for gas."
"Oh, right, Sister Hong asked me to tell you to meet at Mr. Luo’s house at 4 in the afternoon. She needs to see you for something."
Qin Huai immediately understood, a tea party.
After several months of online tea parties, it’s finally possible to have an offline one. The fruit only tastes sweet when eaten at Luo Jun’s house. The fruit specially sent to Qin Family Village just doesn’t taste as good.
Following Ouyang to the parking lot, Qin Huai asked while walking, "Your being broke shouldn’t have anything to do with me, right? Aren’t you broke because you quit your community job and don’t have a salary? And your parents froze your card, not giving you extra pocket money?"
"Yeah, right now I’m counting on the opening of the Handmade Lemon Tea shop to recoup for me. My dad said if I don’t open the shop, I won’t get a penny."
"How much do they give you for the opening?"
"A two hundred thousand loss fund."
Qin Huai: ...Sometimes I really want to compete with you rich second-generation kids.
For a brief moment, Qin Huai suddenly didn’t want to give Ouyang the fruit tea recipe that Cao Guixiang wrote for him.
"Have you staffed your Handmade Lemon Tea shop yet?" Qin Huai asked.
"Yes, one full-time employee and four college students, should be enough."
"I have a question. Do you mind going the high-end route?" Qin Huai asked.
Can Handmade Lemon Tea even go high-end?
The two of them reached Chen Huihong’s Bentley, loaded the luggage, got in the car, and after Ouyang set the navigation, he asked confusedly, "Why go the high-end route?"
"Here’s the thing, haven’t I been learning a craft these past few days? My mentor, upon hearing you’re opening a Handmade Lemon Tea shop, got very enthusiastic and gave me several fruit tea recipes she developed. After looking at them, I found them very easy to understand and execute, just costly, with high requirements for the quality of sugar, tea, fruits, and juices. There’s no compromise on quality allowed."
"You absolutely cannot use cheap saccharin, blend it with two scoops, or make fruit juice from fruits with rotten parts cut off with this recipe."
"According to this recipe, the cost of each cup of fruit tea is about 8 to 15 yuan."
"If you’re going to sell it, you might have to sell it for over 30 yuan a cup, and the portion can’t be particularly large."
"Forget it, this is hard to explain. Your shop should be renovated, the equipment’s there, and the materials should’ve been bought. Later I’ll first go to Mr. Luo’s house to pick some fruits and make two cups according to the recipe for you to taste, and you’ll understand."
For Ouyang’s Handmade Lemon Tea venture, the first thing Qin Huai did upon entering Yunzhong District wasn’t to lug his luggage home but to have Ouyang help with it and head straight to Luo Jun’s house to select fruits according to Cao Guixiang’s recipe.
Cao Guixiang specifically noted in the recipe to use fresh fruit instead of juice whenever possible; the freshness of the ingredients is key to her fruit tea.
Under the rolling eyes of Luo Jun, Qin Huai returned with two large bags of fruit fully loaded.
As Qin Huai closed the door and left, Luo Jun, who had sat on the couch watching TV without moving once, shouted at Xiao Zhang, "Count the fruits Qin Huai just selected and buy two boxes of each!"
Qin Huai, carrying two large bags of fruit, rushed straight to Ouyang’s Handmade Lemon Tea shop.
It must be said that Ouyang’s recent research in Gusu was not in vain; he learned the essence of handmade lemon tea shop decor—making the storefront green.
If the green were a more profound green rather than vivid, it would be even better; who knows what Ouyang was thinking, but the storefront was a tad too vibrant.
Ouyang’s Handmade Lemon Tea shop is directly opposite Yunzhong Restaurant, named Xiao Ou Handmade Lemon Tea, a very plain and simple name.
The shop isn’t big; Qin Huai vaguely remembers that it used to be a coffee shop selling cheap coffee, with prices ranging from 9.9 to 29.9. Chen Huihong complained to Qin Huai that this coffee shop’s 9.9 coffee was made with a coffee concentrate costing less than two yuan on Taobao, definitely a shady business, advising Qin Huai to avoid it.
Incidentally, Luo Jun had also given a bad review to this coffee shop’s delivery, reportedly using foul language, with the review getting over 700 likes, all from the businesses targeted by him.
The favorite thing for businesses reprimanded by Luo Jun is to like the bad reviews he leaves for other merchants.
Qin Huai couldn’t understand, Luo Jun is 92, doesn’t keep a regular schedule, so why drink coffee, and even drink coffee that’s 9.9?
Pointing out various deliveries and leaving bad reviews is Uncle Luo’s hobby.
The Handmade Lemon Tea shop had no staff; since they hadn’t opened yet, Ouyang didn’t want to pay extra salaries. After basic training, Ouyang let them wait at home/school for notification.
It’s evident that this time in entrepreneurship, Ouyang is very cautious not to fall into debt.
Qin Huai roughly scanned the decor, finding it decent. The shop wasn’t large, and besides the counter, only had two small tables and four chairs.
At first glance, the counter was very clean, the equipment clearly visible, typical of a normal milk tea shop’s setup.
Ouyang had already prepared.
Cao Guixiang wrote four fruit tea recipes for Qin Huai, named according to the ingredients: Strawberry Fruit Tea, Blueberry Fruit Tea, Mango Fruit Tea, and Coconut Drink.
The main ingredients for the Coconut Drink are coconut milk and a famous brand of coconut water, which, according to Cao Guixiang, was developed because Zhang Zhiyun loved drinking that brand of coconut water at some point, and Cao Guixiang crafted this Coconut Drink so her grandson could enjoy it even more.