Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

The Mixue Ice Cream stores have not only been restored to their original state, but are even more sturdy and beautiful than before.

When the brand-new "Mixue Ice Cream" sign was hung up again and the bright glass doors and windows were wiped spotless, the surrounding merchants who were still worrying in the ruins looked on with envy.

However, a bigger crisis has only just begun.

The typhoon destroyed most of Hong Kong's water supply facilities, severely polluted ponds and reservoirs, and plunged the city into an unprecedented water shortage.

The Hong Kong government has implemented an emergency water rationing, supplying water only once every four days for four hours each time.

Citizens lined up in front of fire hydrants on the street, carrying buckets of all sizes, in a desperate rush for water. Some even got into fights, with one man wielding a knife.

A barrel of clean drinking water has seen its price inflated on the black market. The water itself isn't valuable, but who has the right to collect it, who gets a larger share, and who gets a smaller share—that's where the drama begins.

Most tea stalls and ice cream parlors are unable to operate because they don't even have enough water for cooking.

Just when everyone was worried about not having enough water, four branches of Mixue Ice Cream miraculously resumed business.

Moreover, they no longer sell ice cream and cold drinks, but instead sell steaming hot milk tea, ginger cola, and... bottled purified water—of course, there will be a certain limit, because they don't have enough to go around.

The deep well that had been dug long ago in the backyard of the main store, and the several sets of large-scale Maifan stone filtration and purification equipment that Zhang Yaoyang had arranged in advance, became the most valuable strategic resources at this moment.

Every store has filtration and purification equipment; it's standard equipment. Every store has its own well; some had it when they bought the store, while others had it dug after purchase. So, no one found it strange that Mixue Ice Cream could produce bottled water at this time.

Five hundred blue Wujialun PC water buckets, each bearing the "Mixue Ice Cream" logo, are neatly stacked at the entrance of the main store.

These buckets were produced in advance by Lou Yufan's plastics factory according to Zhang Yaoyang's design.

"Pure drinking water! 2.5 yuan per bottle! First come, first served! One bottle per person, while supplies last!" Ah Xiang shouted at the top of his lungs as he stood at the shop entrance.

This price would normally be exorbitant, but right now it's an incredibly reasonable price.

Citizens flocked to the scene, and the queue stretched for hundreds of meters.

Then the blond guy from the British Press came over—this business, especially selling water after the disaster, is a huge business!

Cheung Yiu-yeung pulled a stunt: he contacted the police station in charge of the area and donated twenty barrels of bottled water to the officers on duty every day.

In the afternoon, Superintendent Hale from Shau Kei Wan Main Street arrived with his officers. Seeing the orderly queue in front of Mixue Ice Cream and the staff members each holding a cup of hot milk tea, he showed an approving expression.

Then the thugs from the British Press went far away.

"Mr. Roy Cheung." The superintendent walked up to Roy Cheung.

"Superintendent Hale, just call me Yao Yang or Ah Yang." Zhang Yao Yang handed over a cup of freshly made hot milk tea. "Superintendent, you've worked hard. Have some hot tea to warm yourself up."

Superintendent Hale took the milk tea, took a sip, and nodded: "You're very good. It's kind of you to think of our police force at a time like this. Unlike some people who take advantage of the disaster to profiteer, driving the water price up to ten dollars a bottle!"

He was referring to merchants with wells and triad members, as selling water was a highly profitable business during that period. But at places like Mixue Ice Cream, 5 gallons for only HK$2.5 was practically free.

Superintendent Hale glared at the gangsters on the street corner. In those days, the British were like kingpins in Hong Kong. With him in charge, the British Society naturally wouldn't dare to cause trouble.

In addition, Roy Cheung implements a water bucket recycling system, and all buckets are registered. When the water is used up, you can bring the bucket back to refill it. The deposit is HK$2, and there is an extra HK$1 for water delivery.

He adopted the business model of bottled water that would later become popular.

"It's all for the benefit of the citizens," Zhang Yaoyang said with a smile. It wasn't that he didn't want to sell at a high price, but he had already heard the news that many businesses and residents were directly sailing to the mountain streams on the outlying islands to fetch water, and those with the means were even sailing to the Pearl River Estuary to extract fresh water, getting as much as they could.

However, Hong Kong has always been short of water. Zhang Yaoyang vaguely remembers that it was at the end of 63 that the Hong Kong British authorities asked the Guangdong Provincial Government for help. The situation was reported to the higher authorities, who then approved the construction of the Dongjiang Water Supply Project.

Eighty thousand people worked day and night for 11 months, overcoming six typhoons to finally complete the project. In early 1965, the Dongjiang River officially began supplying water to Hong Kong, completely ending Hong Kong's history of severe water shortages.

So the bottled water business can continue for another year, but the price can't be too high, lest it attract too much attention and cause complaints from the neighbors. After all, Mixue Ice Cream is a long-term business.

What Zhang Yaoyang wants is fame. After the water shortage, the benefits will be twofold: firstly, the hygiene and affordability of Mixue Ice Cream milk tea, and secondly, the high quality and low price of Mixue bottled water. With a large base of loyal customers, making money from this will be easy. Therefore, setting high prices now is meaningless and will only offend people.

Superintendent Hale patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, as long as you're in my area, I guarantee your business will run smoothly and no one will dare to cause trouble."

With official protection, Roy Cheung's business flourished even more.

Even members of the gang came to us honestly to do business properly.

"Brother Yaoyang, right? We're from the Lianying Society. We'd like to buy a hundred barrels of water from you to help our brothers out in an emergency," a gang leader said politely.

"No problem, the price is the same, two yuan fifty a bucket. Bring your own people to carry it." Zhang Yaoyang treated everyone equally.

In the face of natural disasters, clean water is the hard currency, and everyone has to bow down to it.

Mixue Ice Cream not only stabilized itself during the city's shutdown thanks to fresh water transported from other regions, but also made a fortune.

The only troublesome thing is that every night when he goes to sleep, he has to sleep in his "little nest" and tie the water pipe with his hands to prevent it from being pushed back. However, he can collect about 1000 buckets, or 5,000 gallons, in one night.

Aside from the water used by Mixue Ice Cream itself, they only sell a maximum of 500 barrels a day to the public, earning a meager 1500 yuan.

Once they're sold out, that's it. If anyone complains, just say the filter isn't enough and needs to be replaced.

The well water is cloudy and has bacteria. Do you want to drink it? If you want to drink it, I'll get it for you right now.

But the real explosion is yet to come.

That evening, Zhang Yaoyang received a call from Lou Yufan at the factory. Lou Yufan's voice was trembling with excitement on the other end of the line.

"Yaoyang! We're rich! We're rich!"

"What's got you so agitated?"