novelnext Chapter 92 The Attack of Brother 6
Chapter 92 The Attack of Brother 6
Chapter 92 The Sixth Brother's Attack
"Oh?" Hu Yi felt a little uneasy, but maintained a smile on his face. "Selling boxed lunches and dumplings now, are you trying to steal all of our business and Lao Fang's business?"
Li Baoqing muttered unhappily, "That's right, this is clearly targeting us."
"Oh, you're being too presumptuous. There are only so many Chinese fast food options here, aren't there? Sixth Brother is doing takeout to make money, he wouldn't have time to target you. Even if he did, it would just be a side effect, a minor incident." Wang Shen glanced at them sideways. "Sixth Brother has been running a restaurant for years, and business has always been pretty slow. This time, he's put a lot of effort into takeout, determined to make a name for himself. Do you know what his friends over there are saying?"
"How so?"
"With Sixth Brother's abilities, he can do anything others can do; he can also do things others can't do. In short, he can do whatever he wants. That's what you call not making a move until you've completely dominated the Youda takeout market."
"Wow, quite the boast, pretty impressive." Hu Yi smiled and frowned.
"Bullshit!" Li Baoqing spat out, still looking unconvinced, but his tone was softer than before.
Wang Shen had expected their reactions. He reached out and smoothed his hair with a smug look: "How was it?"
Do I still have some value for cooperation?
"That's true to some extent," Hu Yi chuckled. "Then tell me, how exactly do we plan to cooperate? How much should I pay you?"
"We can discuss the cooperation method further. Let's see if you can survive first. As for the money—you two can handle it then." Wang Shen stood up, shaking his head. "I have another piece of news for you: Sixth Brother has prepared two kinds of boxed meals: one meat and one vegetable, priced at 80 rubles like yours, and two meat and two vegetable meals, priced at 100 rubles. But during the initial opening period, there will be a price reduction as a promotion. One meat and one vegetable meal will only cost 60 rubles, and two meat and two vegetable meals will cost 80 rubles."
"Really?" Hu Yi blurted out. Wang Shen's words had only made him slightly worried, but he was still able to pretend to be calm. However, the price surprised him greatly.
Hu Yi panicked a little and hurriedly asked, "How long will their opening promotion last?"
"Oh, I wouldn't know about that." Wang Shen shrugged, looking at Hu Yi meaningfully. "Shouldn't you two also think of a way to deal with this? Otherwise, if they pay three or six months' worth of debts in one go, you'll be completely finished."
"Hmm." Hu Yi replied absentmindedly, "You go back first. I'll think about the cooperation and come up with a way that benefits everyone."
After Wang Shen left, Hu Yi and Li Baoqing exchanged a silent glance, both sensing something was amiss. After a long pause, Li Baoqing spoke up: "Are you really planning to work with this kid? Can you trust him?"
"Let's trust him for now, but even if we work together, we need to be careful. We absolutely can't let him get involved in cooking in the kitchen." Hu Yi pulled up a chair and sat down. "The most pressing issue right now is Sixth Brother's situation. There are only so many Chinese people in the Youda dormitory, the market is too small, and there's not much business to begin with. Now that he's gotten involved, it's going to be a real headache for both of us."
Li Baoqing also felt some pressure, but he was still much more optimistic than Hu Yi: "The chef at Sixth Brother's place is just average. I can't speak for other things, but I think their boxed lunches are definitely not as popular as ours."
"Yes, that's our advantage," Hu Yi analyzed worriedly. "But Sixth Brother has the backing of the restaurant, so he's too powerful and difficult to deal with. Especially since they're planning a price offensive right from the start, our boxed lunches will definitely be affected."
"That's true, the price is a difficult issue to resolve." Li Baoqing gently scratched the scar on his face. "What's the meaning behind him offering two kinds of boxed meals?"
"Their restaurant has the convenience; they can do whatever they want. It's a bit of a hassle for us to prepare two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes every day. This way, they've created a price gap between us and them." Hu Yi's mind went blank for a moment, then he suddenly sneered, "They lower the price of one meat dish and one vegetable dish, which is the same as ours, by twenty rubles, and then lower the price of the next higher-end two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes to the same level as ours. Heh heh, it's a bit like the Tian Ji horse racing strategy."
"What do you mean?" Li Baoqing was confused, but seeing Hu Yi smile, he grinned foolishly and said, "How about—"
Let's lower the price too! We're going to fight them to the bitter end!
Hu Yi thought for a moment, then shook his head firmly: "That's not good. Letting others lead us by the nose is too passive. Besides, it's easy for us to lower prices now, but if we want to put them back on the original price in the future, customers may not be willing to buy them."
"Then—what do you suggest we do? Are we just going to tough it out like this?"
"Let me think of something else. They have a lot of people over there, and hiring people costs money. As long as we can hold out for a while, their discounted prices shouldn't last long." Hu Yi wasn't sure if his guess was valid, but he still tried to sound confident as he said to Li Baoqing, "People who are willing to pay for takeout aren't too concerned about the price; ultimately, taste is the most important thing. So we need to hurry up and improve the dishes. You should put your brains to work."
"Okay! Leave the food to me." Li Baoqing rubbed his hands together, about to get up to prepare dinner, when he suddenly turned back: "What about Wang Shen? Should we really let him come and work with us? How do we settle the bill with him?"
Hu Yi poured the rice into the rice cooker, squatted down and pondered for a while: "No rush, let me think about it some more. It's not too late to talk about it when we really need help."
The next semester started quickly, and Han Shangyun returned to Moscow from China. Hu Yi and Li Baoqing's boxed lunches resumed being served only at dinner time. During this period, the two of them kept an eye on what Sixth Brother was doing, and would go to Wang Shen to inquire about it whenever they had free time, and also to talk about possible ways of cooperation, but they couldn't come up with any ideas for a long time.
A few days later, Chinese students who had gone home for the Lunar New Year returned to school one after another, and Brother Liu's takeout business finally opened on an auspicious day.
Sixth Brother's move was truly extraordinary. Not only were there notices of "Grand Opening Specials" written in calligraphy on red paper and beautifully printed GG logos in full color posted at the bottom of every dormitory building, but there were also people stationed at the entrances of each building in the afternoon to distribute flyers to Chinese people coming and going. Soon, the news that Sixth Brother was doing takeout spread throughout the entire Chinese community at UNU.
Faced with such strong competitors and price offensives, Hu Yi and Li Baoqing suffered a blow that exceeded their own expectations.
As soon as Sixth Brother opened his shop, their boxed lunch sales plummeted, selling only a dozen or so in the first three days. Although they gradually recovered in the following days, daily sales hovered around ten, leaving the two of them looking gloomy and dejected.
"We've tried Sixth Brother's boxed lunches a few times, and the taste is clearly not as good as ours, but they still sell better! That old fox is trying to bankrupt us all at once with low prices! He's so cunning!" Back in the dorm after class, Li Baoqing paced angrily in front of Hu Yi: "Old Hu, you'd better think of something! If this keeps up, we'll starve! I think we shouldn't be so stubborn; let's lower our prices together!"