Nie Zhiyuan was, after all, a young man with a lot of enthusiasm. He didn't understand why opening a bookstore was a beneficial thing for the base. Since Xu Lin had the ability to run it, why should she give up on herself because of the base's termination of the contract?
“After we terminate our contract, the base will definitely open another bookstore, and everyone can still go there to read and rent books. Moreover, the base may also provide movie screenings, making it even more comprehensive than ours,” Xu Lin said.
Xu Lin's idea was to show movies and documentaries, and she submitted a detailed plan to the base last month. She originally planned to start after the New Year.
It's clear that the base is very interested in Xu Lin's ideas, and even the people inside the base are eager to try. They haven't acted yet because Xu Lin signed the contract first. Now that Xu Lin has terminated the contract, those who have ideas will definitely be impatient. I believe that a new bookstore will open soon.
“No matter what others say, I think our bookstore is the best! Sister Li, say something too,” Nie Zhiyuan said to Li Jingjing.
“Xiao Nie, we understand your thoughts, but this is not the peaceful world before the apocalypse. Now it is the apocalypse, and everyone is thinking about how to survive. Xu Lin has done enough for the base, and we cannot morally blackmail her,” Li Jingjing said.
“You are still young. You were well protected by your family before and have not been exposed to the dark side of humanity. Outside the base, there is burning, killing, looting, cannibalism, and moral decay. It is already difficult for us to protect ourselves,” Li Jingjing continued.
"Xiao Nie, you should go back first. Your sister Li and I have something to talk about," Xu Lin said to Nie Zhiyuan.
After Nie Zhiyuan left, Xu Lin told Li Jingjing about her plans. Since Li Jingjing was now in charge of the bookstore, it was impossible to take the books without her permission. So Xu Lin simply told Li Jingjing her plans.
Knowing Xu Lin and Zhou Pin's capabilities, Li Jingjing didn't press them for details when she heard Xu Lin say she would slowly move the books away. She simply told her that starting tomorrow, she would personally check the inventory.
For five consecutive days, Xu Lin took books from the bookstore in batches after everyone got off work. Although she did it in a rather discreet manner, she was still discovered, but Li Jingjing made up an excuse to fool her.
A week after Xu Lin terminated her contract with the base, a bookstore opened on the commercial street. It was much larger than Xu Lin's and had many more staff. Nie Zhiyuan inquired and found that its business model was not unrelated to Xu Lin's bookstore, but rather exactly the same.
Xu Lin admired the base's efficiency; it could be prepared in just one week, whereas she herself had spent a month preparing in a flurry of activity.
According to the information Nie Zhiyuan had gathered, the new bookstore, spanning two floors and totaling 2,000 square meters, was a project invested in by the base, essentially a "state-owned enterprise." It was named "Spiritual Canteen," and surprisingly, it used Xu Lin's slogan, which Nie Zhiyuan found distasteful. However, he had matured and wouldn't directly confront the bookstore like a shrew, but he would still hurl insults at it behind the scenes.
Nie Zhiyuan even went home because of Xu Lin's contract termination with the base. I don't know what his family said to him, but after he came back, there was no more trouble.
Nie Zhiyuan is too close to the base's higher-ups. He used to be Xu Lin's hidden trump card, but now he's a hot potato. We need to find a way to distance ourselves from him.
While Xu Lin was figuring out how to distance herself from Nie Zhiyuan, he was worried about the bookstore's operation. The newly opened bookstore was superior to Xu Lin's in both scale and services, and if things continued this way, Xu Lin's bookstore would eventually go out of business.
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