Super Rich: It all started when I met a young woman in a sleeper car.

Chen Xun looked at the three girls and said, "Today is just the first battle. They lowered their prices, but we held on with quality and online traffic. But the competition isn't over yet."

"Don't be afraid!" Lin Xinyue pumped her fist. "We have our secret broth, our team, and you, Big Brother!"

"Yes!" Yang Xiaotao nodded vigorously.

Li Qian said softly, "Let's continue tomorrow."

Looking at them, Chen Xun suddenly felt the pressure from the competition dissipate.

"Okay," he said. "Let's continue tomorrow."

The four people locked the shop and walked back to their apartment.

The streetlights cast long shadows of the four people.

Yang Xiaotao suddenly said, "Big brother, you looked really cool when you said 'wait' today."

Lin Xinyue chimed in, "Of course, Big Brother is always handsome."

Li Qian didn't say anything, but walked next to Chen Xun.

Chen Xun smiled but didn't reply.

He knew that the real battle had only just begun.

But at least tonight, they won their first battle.

The four of them walked back to their apartment, their shadows stretched long by the streetlights.

Yang Xiaotao was still grinning foolishly, "Big brother, we won today!"

"Win my ass." Lin Xinyue pouted. "It's only the first day. They're having a three-day price reduction promotion. Tomorrow and the day after are the real battles."

Li Qian didn't say anything, and kept looking down at her phone.

Chen Xun walked at the front, his mind filled with the smiling face of the buzz-cut owner of the "Instant Noodle Research Institute".

That smile, no matter how you look at it, seems to say, "We'll see."

The next morning, the four people opened the door as usual.

The morning went well; regular customers started arriving one after another, all saying they'd seen it on Douyin and came specifically to try the upgraded version.

But by noon, the shop visibly became deserted.

"Where are they?" Yang Xiaotao stood at the door looking around. "They were all packed at this time yesterday."

Lin Xinyue glanced at the data on the checkout counter: "Online orders have also decreased."

Li Qian picked up her phone and swiped a couple of times: "They've released a new video."

She handed me the phone.

In the video, the owner, sporting a buzz cut, shouts through a megaphone: "Family! Day two! Day two! All-you-can-eat for fifteen yuan! Extra toppings are free! Don't miss out!"

The background music is that kind of cheesy, high-energy DJ dance music.

It has already received 20,000 likes.

"Damn, that's really curly," Lin Xinyue cursed.

Chen Xun didn't say anything, but walked to the door and looked around.

Across the street, there was a line outside the "Instant Noodle Research Institute," which, though not long, had more people than the store itself.

"Big brother, should we also..." Yang Xiaotao asked softly.

"No price reduction." Chen Xun shook his head. "If we lower the price, we'll fall into their trap. They just want to force us into a price war."

"What should we do then?" Lin Xinyue asked anxiously. "Are we just going to watch our customer get snatched away?"

"Wait." Chen Xun used the same word again. "Online traffic needs time to build up. The hype from yesterday hasn't completely died down yet."

That's what they say, but things got even worse in the afternoon.

There were only two tables of customers in the restaurant.

One table was occupied by regular customers, while the other table was filled with curious passersby who came in to take a look.

Li Qian sat behind the cashier, her fingers flying across her phone screen.

Suddenly, she stopped moving.

"Chen Xun." She looked up, her expression not good.

"What's wrong?"

"Look at this." Li Qian handed over her phone.

It is a chat log from a local community group.

Someone posted a few pictures of a bowl of instant noodles. The soup was cloudy and there was something in it that looked like hair.

The accompanying text read: "Warning! That trendy instant noodle shop on XX Street looks clean, but they actually use some kind of rotten meat, and there was even hair in the soup! I threw up!"

Someone replied below: "Really? I just went there yesterday."

"It's true! My friend got diarrhea after eating it!"

"No wonder it costs twenty; they probably spent all the money on hiring internet celebrities, right?"

"Blocked".

Chen Xun scrolled down and found that it was being shared in more than one group.

The content is all similar; some say the ingredients are of poor quality, others say the hygiene is bad, and still others say they were hospitalized after eating there.

"This is fucking..." Lin Xinyue leaned closer to look, her eyes wide. "This is pure fabrication! The meat we use is the freshest from the market!"

Yang Xiaotao saw it too, her face turning pale with anger: "How could they do this!"

Li Qian looked at Chen Xun: "What should we do?"

Chen Xun returned the phone to her, his face expressionless.

"Don't panic," he said. "The fact that customers believe these things means our reputation isn't fully established yet. They're getting desperate and starting to resort to underhanded tactics."

"We can't let them talk such nonsense!" Lin Xinyue clenched her fists.

"Of course not." Chen Xun glanced at the two tables of customers in the shop. "Here's what we'll do: you three continue operating as usual. I'm going out for a bit."

"Where are you going?" Yang Xiaotao asked.

"Let's go check out the other side," Chen Xun said. "Let's see what they're up to."

"I'll go with you!" Lin Xinyue said immediately.

"No need," Chen Xun shook his head. "Too many people would just draw attention. I'll go alone and pretend to be an ordinary customer."

He went back to the kitchen, changed into a regular T-shirt, and put on a baseball cap, looking no different from any other young person on the street.

"Wait for my news." Chen Xun said, then pushed open the door and went out.

He crossed the road and walked to the entrance of the "Instant Noodle Research Institute".

There were five or six people in line, not many, but better than in their store.

Chen Xun stood at the end of the line, head down, playing on his phone.

After waiting in line for about ten minutes, it was his turn.

Behind the cashier was a young man with dyed blond hair who looked familiar.

Chen Xun remembered that when he came to investigate last time, it was this blond guy who was in charge of the cash register, and his eyes were darting around.

"What do you want to eat?" Huang Mao asked without looking up.

"The signature beef noodles," Chen Xun said.

"Fifteen, scan the code."

Chen Xun paid the bill and found a seat in a corner.

The interior decoration of the store is almost exactly the same as theirs, with an industrial style, a photo wall, and even the lighting angles are similar.

This is incredible; it's pixel-perfect plagiarism.

The noodles were served quickly.

Chen Xun took a bite.

The soup was very bland, and the beef was the kind of frozen synthetic meat slices that tasted like plastic when chewed.

How dare they sell this for fifteen?

He ate slowly while observing out of the corner of his eye.

The kitchen is semi-open, and you can see two people working inside.

One of them was the boss with the buzz cut.

another……

Chen Xun narrowed his eyes.

The other one was a tall, thin man with dyed green hair and a tattoo on his neck.

Chen Xun knew this person.

To be precise, I have seen it.

Last time Yang Xiaotao was surrounded by thugs at the convenience store, one of the three was this green-haired guy.

I have a very deep impression of Chen Xun dislocating his arm at that time.

What's Green Hair doing here?

Chen Xun lowered his head, pretending to play with his phone, but actually turned on the recording function and pointed the camera at the kitchen.

The short-haired boss and the green-haired man were talking, but they were too far away to hear clearly.

Judging from their body language, the two seemed to know each other well and it wasn't their first meeting.

Green Hair patted the short-haired boss on the shoulder, grinning lewdly.

After a while, Green Hair went out through the back door.

Chen Xun waited for a few minutes before getting up and leaving.

He went around to the back of the shop, where there was a narrow alley with several trash cans piled up.

Green Hair disappeared without a trace.

Just as Chen Xun was about to leave, he suddenly heard a noise behind the trash can.