That evening, Zhao Lao Er and Zhao Lao San told the two old men everything, and Old Master Zhao and Old Lady Zhao were at a loss for what to do.
Both elderly people had made their living by farming and had never run a business in their lives, so they naturally didn't understand the tricks of the trade.
In reality, Boss Zhao's methods are no match for Jiang Bai. Putting aside everything else, there must be something fishy about things that are not normal. The fact that he set such a low price means there must be a major flaw waiting for him.
Expensive doesn't necessarily mean good, but cheap definitely isn't good enough; there's no such thing as a free lunch.
The third son's wife hesitated for a long time before asking, "Should we discuss this with our eldest brother and sister-in-law?"
"What are you going to discuss?" Zhao Lao Er asked anxiously. "Are you going to let Jiang Bai laugh at how bad we are at doing business? She won't even give a penny to the milk tea shop, and she'll actually do her best for us? I don't believe it."
On this point, Zhao Laosan was not very supportive of his wife.
He said, "The deed is done, and it will probably be of no use if my elder brother and sister-in-law step in again."
The third brother's wife looked unwell and hesitated for a long time before saying, "I didn't mean anything by it, I just think that my eldest brother and sister-in-law have a wide network of connections and might be able to speak on behalf of Boss Zhao."
"Let's forget it. What if Jiang Bai makes us order milk from that abandoned woman's cattle farm again?" The second son's wife rolled her eyes. "I don't want to fall into one pit, finally climb out, and then be kicked into another one by Jiang Bai."
Seeing the heated discussion below, Old Mrs. Zhao coughed a few times and said, "I told her at the time that we should think it over more and not make a decision on a whim..."
"Mother, you didn't say any of these things before, okay?" Zhao Lao Er was at his wit's end. "Stop being wise after the event and quickly think of a solution."
"What solution is there? This old woman can't think of one." Old Mrs. Zhao rolled her eyes, but couldn't bear to scold her son, so she just muttered.
Old Master Zhao smacked his lips and said, "In the next few days, Third Brother, go and try to catch up with Boss Zhao again and see what his attitude is. Second Brother, open for business as usual. If all else fails, do what you said and lower the prices first."
Zhao Lao Er and Zhao Lao San nodded.
Grandma Zhao couldn't help but ask again, "How was the milk delivered today?"
The four younger members below all smiled wryly. Zhao Laosan lowered his head and whispered, "It's the same as yesterday."
A little milk was added to the water, making it semi-transparent in color, and you could smell a faint milky aroma when you drank it.
Thinking about the difficulties ahead, the family sighed together and fell silent.
-
Zhao's Milk Tea Shop's business is getting worse and worse. Even though they lowered their prices and tried to make more milk tea, they still have fewer and fewer customers.
Zhao Lao Er scratched his head, puzzled, and said, "That's impossible. I haven't received any feedback saying it tastes bad."
That's natural. Those who support him are all his fellow villagers and neighbors. Even if these people don't like the milk tea, they won't break ties with the Zhao family.
After all, Zhao Yi is doing so well, and there will inevitably be times when he needs someone's help. It wouldn't be good to hurt their relationship.
Although they didn't want to break off relations, these customers weren't fools. Yes, he was indeed selling cheaply. Seven coins could buy a large cup of milk now, but a bowl of milk was only three coins.
What's so technical about making milk tea? Isn't it just boiling milk and tea together?
Any skillful wife can make it; even if the taste isn't exactly the same, she can still make it pretty close to it.
Even without tea, you can buy a pot of milk, boil it, add some sugar, and it will still taste good. It's much more affordable than those milk teas from Zhao's Milk Tea Shop that are so weak you can't even taste the milk. At least you buy the ingredients yourself, so it's genuine, isn't it?
The milk tea sold by the Zhao family uses diluted milk, and the ingredients have been sitting for who knows how long. Once, the tapioca pearls inside were even hard!
Although they are from the countryside, they have certainly tasted good food. For example, the Anle Milk Tea Shop in the county town has its own flagship store, so they can buy a cup anytime they want. Not to mention its amazing "healing" effects, the taste is more than a hundred times better than the one run by the Zhao family.
The price-performance ratio is not high, so there are few customers, and there are almost no repeat customers. Sometimes, a few cups of milk tea are not sold all day. The ingredients are not used up, and they are used again the next day, and the taste of the milk tea is even worse.
It's a vicious cycle.
Zhao Laosan's situation wasn't going well either. He couldn't catch Boss Zhao at all for the first few days. On the fifth day, he finally ran into him. After pestering him and staying until dark, he finally got a chance to talk to him.
Boss Zhao squinted, maintaining his airs, a far cry from the way he used to beg the Zhao family for early payment. Beside him sat Wang Yingying, her belly already quite large, the couple smiling at Zhao Laosan.
Zhao Laosan rubbed his hands together, feeling outnumbered and helpless, and for the first time regretted not bringing his wife with him.
He hesitated for a moment and said, "Mr. Zhao, it seems there's something wrong with the milk you've been sending us these past few days."
"Oh?" Boss Zhao raised an eyebrow. "What's the problem?"
"I don't know if you've been fooled by your subordinates, but our milk has been diluted with a lot of water..." Zhao Laosan replied.
Mr. Zhao leaned back in his chair, paused for a few seconds, and then said, "You must be mistaken. We never dilute milk with water."
“But it’s true.” Zhao Laosan stood up and brought in the bucket of milk from outside.
He's been bringing a bucket of milk with him every day before he comes over, just in case the other party denies it and he doesn't have any evidence.
Wang Yingying craned her neck to take a look, then covered her mouth in feigned surprise: "It really has been diluted with a lot of water."
Boss Zhao waved his hand: "Third Brother Zhao, you should investigate your men and see if they're the ones who did this..."
“I unloaded every single barrel of milk myself. The delivery guys were hired by you, Mr. Zhao. I don’t know which part of your process went wrong, but it’s definitely not my fault.”
Wang Yingying cleared her throat and said softly, "So, according to you, you're sure we sabotaged you?"
"I didn't say that." Faced with the aggressive pregnant woman, Zhao Laosan lowered his head to avoid eye contact.
Wang Yingying said, "There won't be any problems with the dairy farm. If there were, why are you the only one who came looking for us? Do you think everyone else is willing to be scammed because no one else is coming?"
Zhao Laosan shook his head.
Mr. Zhao said, "The milk price we set was already so low, so it's no big deal if there are any problems. In the end, you're the ones who profited."
As soon as he said that, Zhao Laosan knew that there was no hope of getting them to solve the problem.
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