Chapter 94 The Stars Return, the Figure Appears Again Under the Moonlight
After intensive preparations, the physical store of Meow Meow Mimi Farm, located in the cultural and creative park, officially opened for business on a sunny weekend morning.
The store's exterior retains its original rustic charm, except that the glass windows are polished to a shine, making them almost invisible from a distance, resembling an open space with no reservations.
The shop window was specially decorated as a miniature corner of a farm, lifelike and vivid, and it was also the corner that took the most time and effort to decorate in the entire store.
Su Qing was determined to make the opening a big event, and she was eager to make the decision. She even contacted professionals to set up the scene, showing more enthusiasm than Shi Wan.
On the soft, grass-like carpet, several adorable cat paw-shaped cushions are scattered. The background is a hand-painted pastoral landscape mural. The most eye-catching feature is a slowly rotating display stand in the center, which displays the farm's entire product line in a staggered manner, from basic cat food to high-end custom products, and to small and cute cat-themed merchandise. Each item is as exquisite as a work of art.
A wooden sign hangs at the entrance, with a style similar to that of Meow Meow Mimi Farm. The store name is written in cute cat paw font, and next to it sits a Q-version sculpture of a glutinous rice ball wearing an orange hat, attracting passing boys and girls to stop and take pictures, constantly exclaiming how cute it is.
The store's interior design fully embodies the concept of natural healing.
The light wood-colored shelves are neatly arranged, and the products are clearly divided into functional zones.
Green plants and flowers are everywhere, and a faint calming fragrance permeates the air. Shi Wan searched the entire system store and found a fragrance extraction machine, which she placed in the main house's storage room. She extracted the Vitality Grass series fragrance specifically for use in the store.
She firmly believes that scent is also a form of memory, and she wants to make this unique scent a special presence imprinted in the memories of all her customers.
In the corner, there is a comfortable interactive area with a thick carpet, cat trees, and toys.
Today, the two cats chosen to come to work are the beautiful Ragdoll cat Mianmian and the curious but still needing a small support frame.
Occasionally, Ju Bao can be seen in the photos posted by Shi Wan. Netizens are very curious and sympathetic towards Ju Bao. Today, we specially brought it to show everyone. The little baby has recovered very well and looks very healthy.
The walls are covered with adorable photos and silhouettes of the farm's cat "employees" at work, from DouDou driving a tractor to Granny pressing buttons. These are all photos that ShiWan and XingLin discussed and selected to be displayed to the public, and each one is full of stories.
The opening activities were also carefully designed, including new product tastings, gifts for spending a certain amount, and a custom cat paw stamp for customers who spend a certain amount. Collecting a certain number of stamps can be exchanged for limited-edition merchandise.
On opening day, the scene was even more popular than they had expected.
Lin Xiaowei, a regular customer whose cat is a CEO, actually brought her husband, Wang Panghu, who had successfully lost weight, to the store herself.
Grandpa Fat Tiger seemed quite satisfied with the vibrant herb fragrance in the store, and unusually, he didn't put on a sour face. He even glanced at Mianmian, who was elegantly grooming herself, from afar in the interactive area, and made an ambiguous gurgling sound in his throat.
This made Lin Xiaowei tense. She suppressed the restless cat's head and quickly explained, "The president has already passed away. It's my father-in-law."
Shi Wan couldn't help but laugh when she saw the glare from Grandpa Pang Hu.
"Congratulations on the opening!" Lin Xiaowei excitedly grabbed Shi Wan's hand. "This store is amazing! It's not too far from my home, and there are plenty of other places to shop around here. Fatty Tiger seems to really like it here. Now we have somewhere to go on weekends!"
Many of the farm's regular customers, who got to know it through the online store, are local residents and came from all directions. The store suddenly became as lively as an online friend meetup.
"Shopkeeper! I've finally seen it in person! Oh no, I mean I've finally seen you and the real cat!"
"Is this our excavator master DouDou? He looks cool in the photos, but he's even more impressive in person! Did you bring your excavator? Can you show off your skills?"
"Oh my god, Orange Baby is so cute! Its little support is so cool! Is it undergoing rehabilitation here?"
"I want to buy this cat food endorsed by the CEO, and I'll also grab one of the new mousse cans to see if my cat will eat it. If she does, I'll stock up on more. Oh, and I also want that new canvas bag with the Tangyuan King logo! Is this enough for the free gifts? If not, I'll grab some freeze-dried food..."
Su Qing, dressed in a sharp suit, handled inquiries from various distributors and peers with ease, displaying professionalism and confidence in her speech and demeanor.
Shi Wan is more like the store's mascot, busy introducing products to customers and sharing stories about the cats. She always has a gentle smile on her face, and her voice is almost hoarse from talking, but her heart is like a little sun, warm and bright.
The opening day was a resounding success, with sales far exceeding expectations. A thick stack of membership cards were issued, and the resulting inventory was almost sold out.
Shi Wan and Su Qing exchanged a glance, and both of them subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the sofa, not wanting to say a word.
The new employees were also taken aback, and were a bit flustered and unable to cope. Mainly, they were not familiar enough with the products and business, and were somewhat timid. Shi Wan would need to train them for a while longer.
The booming opening also means even more demanding work ahead.
The new store needs to be set up, online and offline inventory needs to be synchronized, customer feedback needs to be followed up in a timely manner, and new orders need to be coordinated with the second district to speed up production.
Thus began Shi Wan's arduous daily routine of running between the farm and the store.
During the day, she sits in the store, handling various affairs and dealing with all kinds of customers. She also mentors new employees, helping them adapt to the style of Cat's Paw's business as soon as possible and creating their own business culture.
When she drags her tired body back to the main house in the first section of the farm at night, it is usually already late at night.
She had gotten used to curling up on the softest sofa in the living room, eating the late-night snack the cafeteria lady had left for her under the warm light. The snack was a bit cold, but she would heat it up in the microwave and pair it with an iced cola, and it would become a delicious meal again.
Instead of watching dramas or videos while eating, they take the time to review the day's store operation data, record customer feedback, think about which displays can be optimized, which products need to be restocked, and communicate with the manufacturers responsible for peripheral production about design details and delivery time.
Shi Wan usually takes out many messages that she forgot to reply to during the day and checks them again at this time to make sure that all the messages and comments that need to be replied to have been replied to, so as not to delay the overall progress.
She dares not delay any longer.
Tangyuan and Jubao knew she was working hard, so they always stayed quietly by her side.
Tangyuan would often walk around her, carefully observing whether she was tired or thin lately, and then start nagging loudly. Finally, she would squat on the sofa armrest with her paws tucked in, trying to force her to rest quickly with her wise eyes.
Orange Baby then tried to move to her feet, curling itself into a small orange ball of fluff, and kept her company with soft purring.
That evening, Shi Wan, as usual, reviewed the dishes on the sofa.
She had just replied to the embroidery factory about the embroidery patterns for the next batch of limited-edition cat scarves when they found out they were still working overtime late into the night and quickly sent her the revised design for confirmation.
Shi Wan first felt a pang of sympathy for the other party, then reflected on whether she herself had become the wicked client who made people work overtime, before opening the design drawings sent by the other party to take a look.
But she was so tired. The sofa was warm and soft after washing up, making her drowsy. She forced her heavy eyelids open, but her brain felt like it was filled with lead and was working slowly.
“…the outline of the cat's paw here…it needs to be a little more rounded…” she murmured to herself, trying to convert the speech to text, but her voice trailed off. “The color…”
Her eyelids drooped uncontrollably, then jerked open again. After repeating this several times, she finally succumbed to the overwhelming drowsiness. She tilted her head, leaned against the soft armrest of the sofa, and fell into a deep sleep while holding her phone.
The half-eaten late-night snack was still on the coffee table next to it.
The only sounds in the room were her even, long breaths and Ju Bao's soft snoring.
I don't know how much time passed, maybe just a few minutes.
In her dazed state, Shi Wan felt a strange sense of weightlessness.
It felt as if I was floating on the clouds, or as if I was being gently lifted up by warm clouds.
A long-lost, reassuring aura lingered around her, crisp and familiar, carrying the scents of sunshine and grass, and a feeling she couldn't quite describe, yet which inexplicably made her feel incredibly trusting and relaxed.
She struggled, and with great difficulty, she opened her eyelids, which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
The first thing that caught my eye, even with my blurred vision, was the sleek and elegant jawline that was right in front of me.
Then she found herself being picked up horizontally in someone's arms.
His arms were steady and strong, yet his movements were as gentle as if he were handling a rare treasure, carefully avoiding any touch that might make her uncomfortable.
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze rising, and met a pair of eyes as deep and silent as the night sky.
Those eyes held no stars, yet seemed to contain the tranquility and profundity of the entire universe. They were lowered, gazing intently at her, clearly reflecting her bewildered and astonished expression upon waking.
He was dressed in simple dark clothes, and had a tall and slender figure.
Her short, black hair looked soft, with a few wisps of hair casually falling across her forehead.
His features are gentle and handsome, upright and refined, without any aggression, but rather with a gentleness and patience that comes with the passage of time.
It is the arrival of a star.
It is not sound, not data, not an intangible existence.
It was Xinglin who truly appeared before her.
Shi Wan's mind went blank for a moment.
Her eyes widened, her mouth slightly open, but she couldn't make a sound.
Was it a dream?
Could it be that she's too tired and is hallucinating?
Seemingly sensing her awakening, Xinglin paused slightly and looked down at her.
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