“There’s something so good like that?”


  “Buy one, get one free and free flow of alcohol?”


  “Order a helping of soup base, and I’ll be able to drink until they close down.”


  The man’s words caused a commotion among the crowd. Their promotion with prices that were lower by 50% and the free flow of alcohol had defeated the Mana Hot Pot Restaurant’s promotion instantly.

  “Isn’t a hot pot simply adding ingredients into a pot of soup to cook? They all taste the same, so let’s choose Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant. We can eat double of everything and drink as much as we want. The price is cheap too. Just walk 500 meters ahead. You might not get it if you are late,” that man hurried them with a smile.

  “Let’s go and try out that Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant. Let’s see what hot pot really is.” Many of them began to turn and leave after hearing that. The crowd gathering at the entrance quickly dispersed.

  “Manager, this technique of yours is great.” The skinny man gave the man who returned full of smiles a thumbs-up and buttered him up. “Not only did you spoil their business, you even got many customers for our hot pot restaurant.”


  “All these are just small tricks. If the boss hadn’t disallowed me to use more drastic measures, I would have found some fierce-looking demons to sit in front of their entrance. We don’t even have to do anything then, and they won’t be able to open for business.” The man smiled smugly.

  “Why is the boss so wary of this hot pot restaurant?” The skinny man couldn’t understand.

  “I didn’t know about that previously, either. I’ve only heard the boss say that this restaurant has very powerful backers. The Marquis Family went against them, and even lost their head of the family because of that. However, just now that man who came with a little half-elf girl was the boss of Mamy Restaurant. The congratulatory flower stands were from Miss Scheer of the Buffetts and Miss Gloria of the Moretons. Obviously, these are proof that it cannot be trifled with.” The man coldly smirked. “However, there are plenty of methods to compete in the business world, as long as we don’t break the laws, the city lord’s castle can’t do anything to us. Let’s see if it’s us, Cassia, who outlast them, or they who outlast us.”


  “Marvelous. With our boss’ capabilities, we naturally are not afraid to drag this out with them.” The skinny man chuckled.

  That manager smiled. “Of course. They will be having an even harder time after we get hold of their supply chain.”


  ***

  “Boss, that man over there came over to make trouble and lure all the customers over to that hot pot restaurant called Cassia,” the server at the door angrily said to Rena when she came out to take a look.

  Rena specially came out to check when she realized the number of customers had decreased. She looked at where the service staff pointed, and saw the fat man and the thin man standing next to a tree in the opposite street. She furrowed her pretty brows, and asked, “How did they do it?”


  That service staff member angrily said, “They told the customers who were about to enter our restaurant that Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant is having a ‘buy one, get one free’ promotion for all the dishes, free flow of alcohol, and their prices are even cheaper than ours by 50%. They even said that hot pots are all the same, of course they must go for the cheaper one. Then, the customers were all lured away.”


  Rena thought inwardly. This hot pot restaurant was one of the bigger ones on Aden Square, and it was situated near their dormitory. She could see it every time she went to work.

  This hot pot restaurant’s prices were slightly higher than in the usual hot pot restaurants, but it was still much cheaper compared to Mamy Restaurant. With its rather elegant decor and quite alright tastes, its business was rather good.

  Rena had gone to try out all the hot pot restaurants on Aden Square personally a while ago. Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant’s soup base wasn’t really authentic, and was way below Mamy Restaurant’s spicy hot pot’s level.

  However, compared to the other poorly copied hot pot restaurants, Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant at least got the spicy part right, and the spice coordination was still reasonable. It belonged to those hot pot restaurants that one could go every once in a while. To those people who hadn’t tried Mamy Restaurant’s hot pot before, it was still not bad.

  However, she had never seen them do any promotions before. She didn’t expect that they would do such a big promotion on Mana Hot Pot Restaurant’s opening day. Obviously, they were trying to strike at Mana Hot Pot Restaurant.

  It was extremely important for a newly opened restaurant to build up its reputation. The boisterous ambiance could accelerate popularity and reputation quickly. Otherwise, every day’s expenditure was a huge sum for such a big restaurant, and normal people couldn’t afford to drag it out for too long.

  The other party’s ploy that inflicted damage on them while they suffered a smaller but comparable level of damage was to drag out and bankrupt Mana Hot Pot Restaurant with their strong capital.

  “Boss, is our opening day’s promotion too weak?” that server asked softly. It would be bad if all the customers were stolen.

  “A bigger promotion will attract the customers for a period of time. If we cannot guarantee the dishes’ quality, we will only restrict our future development and lose even more customers.” Rena shook her head and smiled confidently. She looked at the two men who were peeking at her from afar. “As long as we continue to do what we started to achieve and control the quality well, we will only have better reputation and popularity. We don’t have to rush to win now.”


  That service staff member looked at Rena, and her eyes gradually glowed. The boss’s and everyone’s hard work this time was still visible. Mana Hot Pot Restaurant deserved that price, and they were confident that customers would return to them.

  Gjerj got out from his horse-drawn carriage with his daughter in his arms, and he couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw the name on the signboard. “It should be here, right? Mana Hot Pot Restaurant, Mamy Restaurant. Boss Mag is really terrible at giving names.”


  Parmer got out of the carriage, and said, “I think it sounds rather nice.”


  “Big Sister, Big Sister. Brother, I want Big Sister Amy.” Parber waddled out and grabbed Parmer’s clothes.

  Parmer held Parber’s little hand, and said with resignation, “But she doesn’t want you.”


  Miranda walked out with Angus, who was sucking his pacifier, and smilingly said, “I think it sounds nice too. Boss Mag is a really talented person.”


  “Wooden horse……” Christy in Gjerj’s arms pouted her lips toward the hot pot restaurant, and made a sound.

  “Alright, alright. If you guys say it’s nice, then it’s nice. Your Uncle Harrison must have already arrived. Let’s go in too.” Gjerj smilingly kissed Christy’s cheek, got off the carriage, and walked toward the restaurant.

  “Another big business. Watch me.” That manager, Isaac, tidied his clothes and approached Gjerj and his family. He blocked them with a big smile on his face, and said, “Mister, are you bringing your family to eat the hot pot?”


  “Yes. Are you part of the service staff?” Gjerj halted and sized up the friendly fat man in front of him. Although he was a little slimmer compared to him, the standard of this Boss Mag’s branch’s service staff had really deteriorated quite a bit.