After the Autumn Festival holiday, the number of people coming to Ke Jin Ka Chi finally dropped back to normal. Although Saturdays and Sundays still need to adopt the "appointment limit flow" mode, Ke Jin can be much more relaxed on weekdays when there are fewer visitors.

But this doesn't mean he can completely relax.

After the system released the new task, Ke Jin studied it carefully. To open thirty branches in one year, at least two or three branches must be opened per month on average. This task is actually very arduous. Moreover, Ke Jin was just a college student in the past world and had no business experience at all. The abilities and experience required to manage a small store and open thirty branches in a row are completely different.

As the saying goes, sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood. Although time is tight and the pressure is high, Ke Jin decided not to expand it in a hurry. Although his card pool has achieved some success, along the way, the successful completion of many tasks can be attributed to luck and the help of friends. Ke Jin dare not have too high expectations for his luck. There will always be a day when "beginner's luck" will end. He must plan the road ahead carefully.

So in the first month, Ke Jin spent half of his time collecting and learning the knowledge of card pool operations in this world, and the other half of his time on frequent business trips - the card pool industry in Qixing City is still too weak, and there are very few local chain card pool stores. Ke Jin wanted to visit large card pool chain stores in other cities in Chikongzhou. Even if the other party was unwilling to communicate, at least he could experience the difference between chain card pools and native card pools.

Ke Jin went out so frequently that it was impossible for people around him not to notice. He did not try to hide his intention to open a branch store and told his friends about it.

Oloy thought it was natural - the card pool he first drew had to be expanded. If Ke Jin wanted to stay in such a small place for the rest of his life, he would be the first to disagree.

Qi also thought it made sense - he had wandered around so many places and had seen quite a few card pools. Ke Jin's original card pool was of very high quality and had the potential to become a first-class large-scale chain card pool.

Gu Qianqian felt that it was a natural thing to do - she had always been optimistic about Ke Jin's card pool, and it was only a matter of time before it expanded and grew, and she also gave some suggestions.

"Now that your card pool has become famous, there should be a lot of people interested in you. You can consider cooperating with some investors. After all, if you want to open a branch, you will need a lot of funds in the early stage."

Ke Jin had thought about this a long time ago, and recently someone did approach him to discuss investment cooperation. But during the actual negotiation, Ke Jin found that he was not in an advantageous position - after all, he had only been in business for a few months, and the foundation of the card pool was still very weak. The investor was not optimistic about his management ability, and wanted to use his card pool's reputation to open a store, which would put Ke Jin in a very passive position during the actual operation.

After interviewing several companies in succession, Ke Jin felt that he did not have the bargaining chips to negotiate with those big conglomerates at the moment. Forcing cooperation would undoubtedly be counterproductive, so he temporarily gave up the idea.

"I'll think about it again." Ke Jin smiled at Gu Qianqian, which was considered as a tactful rejection of her proposal.

Gu Qianqian is also a smart person. She guessed that Ke Jin must have encountered difficulties in finding investment, so she immediately changed the subject.

"If you want to learn about some experience in opening a branch, there is actually such a card pool in Qixing City. Although it is not as good as before, if you go there to learn from them, they should still be happy to communicate with you."

"Oh?" Ke Jin heard this information for the first time and was very interested. "Which company is it?"

"It's the only SSR first draw card pool left in Qixing City besides yours." Gu Qianqian said, "It's the one run by Su Yufeng. Do you want to go take a look?"

***

The next morning, when Ke Jin brought the prepared breakfast to the table, he saw Ounuo and Qi sitting at the table again, glaring at each other with unfriendly expressions.

Ke had seen similar scenes countless times this morning. In the beginning he would give some advice, but now he has become numb - go ahead and make some noise, as long as you don't blow up the house, as long as you are happy.

However, what was a little different from the past was that Ke Jin saw Xiao Jiu also appeared at the dining table, sandwiched between Ounuo and Qi, and was trembling with tears in her eyes.

Qi glared at Ounuo fiercely, and very rarely glared at Xiaojiu on the table with a very fierce look: "Can you come over? Do you really think he is your new master?"

Ounuo held several SSR cards in one hand and tapped them gently on the table. His expression was as arrogant as ever, looking down on the huddled "little jelly": "Think carefully, how many of my SSR cards have you eaten? Do you want to just walk away? Believe it or not, I will make you explode into a jelly firework right on the spot!"

Xiaochu trembled even more violently, crystal drops of water condensed in his black eyes, and he made a "wooooooo" sobbing sound from his mouth.

"What are you two arguing about?" Ke Jin felt that Xiao Jiu was really pitiful and couldn't help but interrupt, "Do you have to be so fierce? Look how scared Xiao Jiu is."

"Xiao Jin!" Qi just realized that Ke Jin had come out of the kitchen, and immediately rushed to his side as if he had seen a savior, "Come and judge for yourself - didn't we agree that you could return Xiao Ju to me after a month if there was no problem in the card pool?"

In fact, before the Autumn Festival holiday, the "Butter Cookie" whose energy was robbed by Qi could continue to be drawn from the card pool. According to the previous agreement, Xiaochu, who was detained as a "hostage", could indeed be returned to Qi, so Ke Jin nodded and admitted: "That's right."

Qi immediately looked at Ounuo with an expression that said "Look!"

Oloy didn't feel that he was in the wrong at all. He crossed his arms and said confidently, "I didn't intend to stop it. It just ate too much before and knew it was in the wrong, so it wanted to stay and 'sell itself to pay off its debts'."

Qi was so angry that he almost vomited blood: This damn kid is so shameless. Who was the person who threatened to blow Xiaochu into fireworks like a little devil just now?

"Besides, if you take it back now, can you afford to feed it?" The boy sneered and said slowly, "It has been eating SSR cards for more than a month. You plan to continue feeding it those junk SR cards? I'm afraid it will starve to death in a day or two."

Qi: “…”

These words undoubtedly hit Qi's weak spot - he had seen Ounuo feeding Xiaochu high-end cards every day before, and he felt something was wrong. Now it was true! It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it's hard to go from luxury to frugality. This kid is so vicious!

The two sides were at loggerheads and at a stalemate. Ke Jin was really worried that the two would start fighting and overturn the table (after all, this was not without precedent), so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and step out to act as a peacemaker.

"Okay, okay, both of you stop interrupting and let Xiaochu make the decision."

Ke Jin looked down at the "little jelly" who had shrunk into a ball, and said softly: "Xiaochu, who do you want to follow next? Don't worry, no matter which side you choose, I can ensure that you will not be bullied by the other side."

Oloy and Qi didn't say anything, just stared at the "little ball" on the table expressionlessly. Xiaochu poked his head out tremblingly, his small black eyes still gleaming with tears, he looked at Oloy, then at Qi, and suddenly "wooooed", rolled directly in front of Ke Jin, and jumped into the black-haired young man's clothes.

Oloy & Qi: "..."

Ke Jin was also very ashamed: This little guy was really forced into a corner. He didn't dare to offend the new and old masters, so he simply turned to himself as a neutral party...

Seeing two pairs of eyes focused on him, Ke Jin coughed and spoke in a serious tone.

"Well, as you can see, Xiaochu can't make up his mind. Until he makes up his mind, I will take care of him for a while. How about that?"

Although Qi felt a little regretful, he had no objection to having Ke Jin take care of Xiao Jiu, which was definitely a thousand times better than Ounuo. As for Ouloi, he had even less objection - in his opinion, Ke Jin and he were no different, and there was no difference between raising the child himself and Ke Jin raising the child, that's right!

***

After breakfast, Ke Jin asked Qi to help look after the card pool, and then went out with Ounuo.

"You're going downtown today?" Oloy was a little surprised.

"Well, I'm going to visit a card pool." Ke Jin said, "We may go somewhere else after that. When you get out of school in the evening, I can pick you up on the way."

In the past, Ke Jin would sometimes stop by Xingchen International School to pick up Ou Nuo and the boy was always happy to do so. But this time, his expression suddenly froze, and then he pretended to be calm.

"Oh, no, I can come back by myself tonight."

"Hmm?" Ke Jin was a little surprised, "Why?"

Olloy said nothing.

"You really don't need me to pick you up?" Ke Jin asked again.

"No need." The boy said affirmatively, "It's more convenient for me to take the school bus back. You don't have to worry about me."

When I picked you up before, I didn't hear you say it would be more convenient to come back by car by yourself...

Ke Jin was confused, but when he thought about his uncertain schedule and the possibility that he might not be able to pick up Ou Nuo, he did not insist.

***

After sending Ou Nuo to the station and watching the boy get on the school bus safely, Ke Jin bought a bus ticket for himself and took the bus all the way to the city center of Qixing City.

Yesterday, Gu Qianqian suggested that he go find Su Yufeng, and Ke Jin was very hesitant at first. After all, Secretary Xiaobai had told him not to "talk" to Su Yufeng, and Su Yufeng was the only card user in Qixing City who had not shown up at the card exhibition for five days during the Autumn Festival, which clearly showed that he was not willing to communicate with his peers.

But as a local, Gu Qianqian has a good impression of Su Yufeng's card pool. According to her, she often went to that card pool to draw cards when she was a child, and she witnessed the most glorious period of that card pool. Gu Qianqian also knew about Su Yufeng's car accident, and she also told Ke Jin: Because Su Yufeng's health was not very good, he didn't stay in the card pool yard very often, and there was someone else who actually took care of the card pool. Ke Jin could completely bypass Su Yufeng and communicate with other people.

After returning home, Ke Jin thought about it for a whole night. In the end, his curiosity was stronger than his own, so he decided to pay the visit directly.

After getting off the bus at the bus terminal, he walked towards the northwest of the station while referring to the map he had checked in advance.

The area near a city's main station is usually the most crowded and bustling commercial area, and the same is true for Qixing City. Ke Jin walked along the avenue for about a few hundred meters, turned in an alley, and came to another avenue. The surroundings instantly faded away from all the noise, and the buildings in sight were no longer bright and colorful, but dim and quiet, like a quiet dark river sleeping under the prosperity.

——In the past, this place was the most prosperous card pool gathering area in Qixing City.

Ke Jin walked forward along the broad avenue. Compared with the streets outside, this place seemed desolate and empty. All that could be seen were idle and closed card pool courtyards. The few that were still open were all located in the best locations at the corners of the street. However, there were very few customers drawing cards in the courtyards, and they looked half-dead.

Ke Jin is now a celebrity in the card pool industry in Qixing City. Not only card masters, but also many card masters recognize him. When he walked by, many card masters recognized him and greeted him enthusiastically. Some of them were very familiar with him and asked Ke Jin why he came here directly.

"Ah... Are you going to Su Yufeng's card pool?" After hearing Ke Jin's answer, the two card masters who had gathered around him had slightly strange expressions on their faces, and said to themselves, "There are so many people looking for him recently..."

"Huh?" Ke Jin didn't understand.

"Oh, nothing." A card master immediately pointed ahead, "Mr. Ke, go another 200 meters forward, turn right at the fork in the road, and you will see his house."