Chapter 8

At 3 a.m., the night sky was silent, with only a few stars faintly visible above the rooftop.

Inside Leya Supermarket, however, a completely different scene unfolded. Bright lights, bustling activity, people coming and going.

Mu Hanxia and several staff members had been "sent down" to the supermarket to help with counting and moving goods. In fact, nearly everyone had secretly joined the effort that night.

After several hours of hard work, Mu Hanxia was drenched in sweat and leaning against a stack of crates to rest. Just then, He Jing came over with a box of fruit and leaned beside her, also taking a break.

"Hey," He Jing said, "do you really think our big promotion can beat Yongzheng this time?"

Mu Hanxia replied slowly, "Beating them isn't certain. But we can definitely deal them a heavy blow."

"Why's that?" He Jing was still bewildered by the bustle, "Yongzheng can also have big promotions."

Mu Hanxia smiled, "Do you think this time, Manager Meng is just waging a simple price war with them?"

He Jing was taken aback.

Mu Hanxia raised her hand and pointed towards her own cup, "Be a dear, get my water first."

He Jing glared at her but still "served" her water first before she heard Mu Hanxia explain unhurriedly, "It's simple. For a new store, the image at opening is very important. It's like when we go shopping, isn't the first impression of a store going to affect whether we revisit it for a long time?"

He Jing nodded, "Yeah."

"Yongzheng's opening was supposed to include some significant promotions to make customers feel they have good quality, affordable prices, a nice environment, and good service, right?"

"Yeah, that's how Yongzheng is..."

"So, what consequences will it bring them if we suddenly run a major promotion just one week before their opening?"

He Jing looked at her blankly, "What consequences?"

Mu Hanxia grinned slightly and took two pieces of fruit from her box, casually tossing them in her hand, "First, our promotion is very unexpected, definitely beyond their anticipation. If they're caught off guard and can't match our promotion, customers who have just experienced our big sale will be deeply impressed, and they will surely feel that this supermarket isn't that cheap after all, not a great deal. Even if they do everything else right, it would be hard to shake off that impression."

"That makes sense. But what if they set their prices even lower than ours?" asked He Jing.

"Second, even if they set their prices lower than ours, they couldn't go much lower, right?" Mu Hanxia spoke leisurely, "We've already used up most of the room for price reductions, and customer expectations have mostly been met. They'll only feel that Yongzheng is slightly cheaper than Leya, nothing that would cause a huge shock or entice shopping fervor. In other words, because of our strike, Yongzheng would have to spend more but would only see marginal effects. This opening, trying to establish a strong, attractive image in the customers' minds, has become very difficult."

She spoke fluently and naturally, while He Jing listened in silence. It took her a long while to fully digest the meaning and to realize it indeed made a lot of sense.

Unable to hold back, He Jing asked, "Where did you learn this? Did someone from your office tell you?"

Mu Hanxia shook her head and lowered her voice, "I'm just a small fry; they wouldn't discuss the reasoning with me. It's something I figured out on my own." As she said this, a slight smile appeared on her face.

He Jing, however, observed her seriously for a moment before expressing admiringly, "Hanxia, you seem carefree and laugh easily, just like me. But inside, you understand things better than anyone, and you know exactly what you want. That's pretty good."

Mu Hanxia was taken aback, a bit hesitant, "Are you praising me or scolding me?"

He Jing laughed out with a "pfft" and poked her forehead, "Praising you, praising you, praising you! You should definitely keep playing the pig to eat the tiger. I'll always support you."

Mu Hanxia felt warmth in her heart, but she kept a faint, nonchalant smile on her face, "Mhm."

He Jing glanced at the still bustling surroundings and said, "Who knows what will happen tomorrow..."

Mu Hanxia didn't speak. In her mind, however, that man appeared.

All the analysis she had just gone through, she felt she had thought it all through correctly, but if the person on the other side was Lin Mochen, and he said he'd take down Leya in three months, considering his legendary experiences... Mu Hanxia really didn't know how he would control the battlefield.

——

The next morning.

The entire architectural style of Yongzheng was newer, more spacious, and more fashionable than that of Leya Supermarket across the street. At this moment, Lin Mochen sat in the Yongzheng top floor general manager's office, holding a cup of hot coffee, leaning back in the boss's chair, watching the stock market in the United States.

Outside his door, Yongzheng's executives and staff were also ready, just waiting for the opening a week later.

"Knock knock knock—" Someone knocked at the door.

Lin Mochen looked indifferent, "Come in."

A few managers from core departments entered, all of them Cheng Weiwei's confidants, and they all wore anxious expressions.

"Mr. Lin!" one of them said, "Leya started a big promotion today! The prices are really low, some products ridiculously so! Now their whole place is selling like crazy, all the customers around here have gone to them!"

Lin Mochen slightly raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Another manager said, "They're doing this on purpose! They're deliberately throwing this curveball at us. We've been hearing that they were only going to offer a 5% discount, they kept it so tight, but then they suddenly launched a big promotion. It's clearly meant to intimidate us before our opening!"

Everyone chimed in agreement, some of them quite angry. They all looked at Lin Mochen, waiting to see how he would respond.

Unexpectedly, Lin Mochen just took a sip of his coffee and said calmly, "What's the panic? Aren't we also keeping our plans under wraps?"

His words made everyone quiet down. Yes, thinking about the plans Lin Mochen had arranged in these days, every face became hard to read. Sigh, it felt like holding a bomb against one's chest, not knowing whether it would kill the enemy or oneself after it went off...

Lin Mochen ignored their hesitant doubts and looked up, asking, "What surprises me is that, based on previous data, Meng Gang's style of conduct has always been steady and conservative. What is it that made him change his approach, to abandon the relatively mild 5% discount and suddenly go on a full offensive?"

People glanced at each other, and one of them hesitated and said, "Mr. Lin, I heard a piece of gossip, I don't know if it's true... They say that Leya had a salesperson who advised Meng Gang, saying that you, Mr. Lin, are a tough character and that 5% off is not enough..."

——

Mu Hanxia had worked an entire all-nighter and was nearly exhausted. At noon, taking advantage of the empty space, she hid in the warehouse and dozed off directly on top of a stack of goods. The warehouse was cold and dim, her clothes were smeared with plenty of dust, but she didn't care. Back when she was in high school, although her family was not rich, she had at least managed to dress neatly and prettily, even earning the title of class beauty. Over the past few years, working dirty and tiring jobs, she had stopped caring about her appearance, able to get by in any situation.