King of Kings, start with a perfect record and strive for the top spot.

As time passed, the sun set in the western sky, and Zhang Qing immediately sensed something was wrong.

His shop was deserted all day, with very few customers.

This is not normal.

It was completely back to the time when Ye Lan ruled the entire department store.

He looked uncertainly at the location of Ye Lan's previous shop again. It was indeed a new signboard, and the customer traffic was about the same as his own.

Feeling increasingly uneasy, Zhang Qing got up from the recliner and prepared to go find Manager Wang to ask him why.

The manager's office was on the sixth floor of the department store. Zhang Qing took the elevator to the designated floor.

He strode towards the manager's office.

But as soon as he arrived at the door of the manager's office, he saw that it was surrounded by people.

And they were all familiar faces.

Aunt Li who runs a clothing store, Uncle Cao who runs a hot pot restaurant, Brother Xu who runs an arcade, Brother Long who runs an escape room...

Although their identities varied greatly, without exception, they were all shop owners in the department store.

"There's definitely something wrong with so many people coming to the manager's office at the same time," Zhang Qing thought to himself.

Driven by curiosity, he didn't go in immediately, but instead listened to the gossip from the doorway.

Aunt Li's shrill voice rang in my ears, "Manager Wang, my sales today have dropped by 50%. Has your department store been driving customers away?"

Uncle Cao chimed in, "During lunchtime, my shop is usually packed, but today it's not even a third full. What's going on?"

“You still have at least a third left. I can count the number of escape room guests I had on one hand today.” Brother Long’s tone was calm, but his words revealed an undisguised resentment.

.........

Listening to the complaints of each shop owner, Manager Wang looked bewildered.

"That's impossible. Our department store is close to the subway station, and the customer flow has always been very stable. Is it a problem on your part?"

"Bullshit! Everything is as usual. How could it be our problem?"

Brother Long, who runs an escape room game, has a short temper, a buzz cut, and a black dragon tattooed on his right cheek. He looks like the kind of person you shouldn't mess with.

"Even if it's our problem, it's impossible for so many stores to experience a simultaneous drop in traffic, right?"

"Yes, what a coincidence! It must be a problem with your department store."

"You'd better get your customer traffic back, otherwise we'll definitely have to look for a new store location."

Listening to the cacophony of voices, Manager Wang felt dizzy and his head was throbbing; he had no clue what to do.

The department store hasn't made any major reforms recently, so why has the customer traffic suddenly decreased?

"Could everyone go back first and give me some time to investigate this thoroughly?"

Manager Wang scratched his head, a hint of helplessness on his face.

Brother Long declared, "We're giving you a week. If you can't bring the customer traffic back, don't blame us for breaking the contract!"

With Brother Long taking the lead, the other shop owners were also inspired.

"That's right, if we can't make any money, then you shouldn't live either."

........

Zhang Qing, who had been eavesdropping at the door, now understood everything.

It wasn't just his store that experienced a decline in customer traffic; all the stores in the entire department store were experiencing poor sales performance.

This situation is very unusual, as the department store is close to the subway station and is the area with the highest foot traffic.

Logically speaking, such a sudden interruption of the power supply should not occur.

But even if Zhang Qing just daydreams about it now, he can't come up with a solution.

"Let the department store's management deal with this. If all else fails, I'll just move to another location."

Zhang Qing sighed, shook his head, and walked towards his shop.

The department store and these shops appear to have a symbiotic relationship.

Actually it is not.

For a department store to survive, it needs to attract businesses and shops to move in, thereby attracting customers and achieving a win-win situation.

In other words, without these shops, the department store would just be a building with nothing attractive about it.

But these shops can be found almost anywhere; they don't necessarily need to be in a department store to survive.

If business is bad at the department store, I'll go somewhere else; there's always a place where business is good.

This shows that department stores depend on shops for survival, and what shops want is simply a place with a stable flow of customers to make a living.

This is why Rong Zihao kicked Ye Lan out when her business was booming.

Because he wanted to retain as many shops as possible.

He never imagined that Ye Lan's individual scale was greater than that of the other shops combined.

This is a case of layoffs affecting the very core of the workforce.

After all the shop owners had left, Manager Wang called Rong Zihao and recounted what had just happened.

“Eighty percent of the shop owners said they had no customers. How could this be?” Rong Zihao frowned after hearing this.

Manager Wang: "I don't know either. I'm going to go out and investigate to see what's going on."

"Then go ahead and investigate. Let me know as soon as you find anything."

..........

On the other side, Zhang Longhe lay limply on the chair, his arms hanging down like frostbitten eggplants.

"I feel that if this customer flow continues, my arm will be huge in less than a week."

"Then you'll have even more energy to run around, wouldn't that be wonderful?" Ye Lan joked while sipping her milk tea.

There were many customers today, and because we were closed for the past few days, every customer was very enthusiastic.

It's very common for someone to buy three or four cups of milk tea.

It was precisely because of this that Zhang Longhe and others were able to clear out the inventory ahead of schedule, finish their work early, and leave work early.

Even so, many customers still left disappointed because they couldn't buy anything.

Ye Lan considered whether she should increase the purchase volume, since there was already a situation where supply could not meet demand.

But right now, many problems are facing Ye Lan.

There is currently no second store, and even if Zhang Longhe and others increase their purchases, it will be difficult to sell them all.

People get tired, and it's impossible to repeat high-intensity work for a long time.

Machines emit smoke, let alone mortal humans.

Therefore, the most urgent task at present is to increase the number of stores, while also training new milk tea employees. The two complement each other and neither can be neglected.

Ye Lan still wanted to choose a location inside a shopping mall for the branch store, partly for convenient transportation and partly for easier management.

Just as he was pondering what to do, a man with a beer belly came up behind him.

"Excuse me, are you Ye Lan, the owner of the milk tea shop?"