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

Li Qian moved very quickly.

The next afternoon, on the newly painted blackboard wall in the new store, the words "Discover the Flavors of Campus, Youthful Check-in" were written in chalk. On the desk next to it, tin frogs, beanbags, and old textbooks that Yang Xiaotao had collected were piled up.

"I've already sent out the promotional posters for Xiaohongshu and Douyin in the same city." Li Qian handed the tablet to Chen Xun to see. "The copywriting focuses on 'going back to eighteen,' and it includes a check-in topic."

The poster, designed by Yang Xiaotao, uses warm yellow tones and depicts a girl's back as she sits at a desk, accompanied by the caption: "Is your youth worth a bowl of instant noodles with an egg and sausage?"

"Great job, Xiao Tao, this copywriting is absolutely brilliant." Chen Xun nodded.

Yang Xiaotao chuckled, her yellow braid swaying slightly: "Of course, I'm a seasoned retro gamer."

Lin Xinyue, holding a calculator, said without looking up, "We'll be giving away 'Campus Experience Officer' spots through an online lottery. The cost of the gifts and refreshments will be kept under two thousand yuan."

"Okay, let's stick to the plan and do it this weekend," Chen Xun decided.

The pre-launch activities officially began on Friday evening.

The results were even better than expected.

A flood of comments suddenly appeared under Li Qian's shop account.

"Holy crap, this classroom setup is like stepping back into high school!"

"The desks are real! I saw a tin frog! I'm so moved!"

"Where's the address? I definitely want to go this weekend!"

"I've signed up to be a product experience officer, and I hope I've been selected!"

Yang Xiaotao was engrossed in scrolling through her phone, her face flushed: "Big brother, look, so many people have tagged their friends saying they want to come!"

Chen Xun felt quite pleased as he watched the number of reservations and the topic's popularity steadily increase in the backend. The system remained silent, offering no notifications, but he knew that this surge in popularity was the best return on investment.

On Saturday, the first batch of "experience officers" arrived.

They were all young people in their early twenties, who exclaimed "Wow!" as soon as they entered the store, their phones and cameras clicking incessantly. Yang Xiaotao's "hopscotch" squares were pasted on the ground, and some people actually took off their shoes to jump on them. If they won, they could get a five-yuan coupon, and they were having a great time.

Lin Xinyue was in charge of receiving guests and distributing refreshments, and she was busy but organized.

Li Qian, meanwhile, held her phone and silently noted which spots customers lingered at the longest and which offered the best angles for taking photos.

Everything went smoothly.

Until noon on Sunday.

Chen Xun was taking inventory at the old shop when his phone vibrated. It was a message from Li Qian, just a link.

He clicked on it and found it was a popular local forum for eating, drinking, and having fun.

The post title is eye-catching: "Is the new trendy store in MixC World using nostalgia as a pretext to fleece customers?"

The poster, claiming to be a "visiter who went yesterday," said the shop's decor was cheap, the props were rough, and the so-called nostalgia was "completely insincere," just a way to lure young people into checking in and spending money. They also said the complimentary tea and snacks were just the cheapest lemonade and cookies, "costing less than two yuan."

There are already some comments below.

"As expected, trendy online stores are all just a bunch of tricks."

"These days, every Tom, Dick, and Harry is jumping on the nostalgia bandwagon. It's disgusting."

"Luckily I didn't go; I avoided the disaster."

Chen Xun frowned, exited the thread, and found that there were several other threads with similar titles in the forum, with similar content and posted at the same time.

He called Li Qian.

"Did you see it?" Li Qian's voice was calm, but she spoke a little faster than usual.

"Just saw it. What happened?"

"It's not like a typical negative review," Li Qian said. "The posts were made at similar times, the wording was similar, and several of the replies were from newly registered accounts. I suspect it's a group of paid trolls."

"An online troll?" Chen Xun walked outside the store. "Is it coming for us? From the beverage shop next door?"

"It's uncertain, but very likely. Their business has been significantly affected by us recently." Li Qian paused. "Moreover, these posts are only circulating on local forums and haven't spread to Xiaohongshu and Douyin yet, which suggests that the other party may have a limited budget, or they may simply want to damage our reputation locally."

What do you think?

"We can't just confront the deletion of posts head-on; the more we delete, the worse it gets," Li Qian said. "My suggestion is to play along."

Chen Xun walked back into the shop: "Be more specific."

"Didn't they say we were 'exploiting nostalgia' and 'lacking sincerity'?" Li Qian said, "Then we launched a 'My Youth Story' collection campaign on various platforms. We truly let customers share their feelings, and we selected touching stories to give away real benefits, such as quarterly free orders or exclusive souvenirs. We shifted the topic from 'harvesting customers' to 'sharing youth' and 'rewarding customers'."

Chen Xun thought for a few seconds.

"How much additional budget is needed?"

"Prizes and event operations will cost about another three thousand," Li Qian reported.

"Get it done." Chen Xun said without hesitation. "You immediately come up with a detailed plan and promotional materials. If you need money, contact Xin Yue; if you need content, contact Xiao Tao. I'm coming right away."

Half an hour later, Chen Xun arrived at the new store.

Construction has been suspended, and only three women are in the shop.

The atmosphere was a bit somber. Yang Xiaotao sat at her desk, pouting, her finger unconsciously tracing the shape of a tin frog: "Everyone had so much fun yesterday... why is someone suddenly scolding us?"

Lin Xinyue looked at the forum page on the computer screen, her red hair hanging down: "The posts aren't spreading fast, but they're still annoying to look at."

Li Qian had finished typing the last few words on the new proposal and turned the tablet towards Chen Xun: "The proposal is ready. It focuses on UGC, using real stories to combat online trolls and smear campaigns. It will be released simultaneously on Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and our own customer groups."

Chen Xun quickly glanced through it.

"Okay, go with this. Execute it immediately."

He looked at Lin Xinyue: "Is it okay to increase the budget?"

Lin Xinyue nodded: "The cash flow is sufficient, I'll make adjustments immediately."

He then looked at Yang Xiaotao: "Xiaotao, I need you to work with Li Qian to make a batch of 'Youth Commemoration' e-posters, as well as display templates for award-winning stories. They need to be heartwarming and touching."

Yang Xiaotao suddenly looked up, her eyes lighting up: "Leave it to me! I guarantee it'll make them cry when they see it!"

Li Qian has already started posting announcements in the customer group.

Lin Xinyue opened her mobile banking app, ready to transfer money.

【Ding. 】

[Detecting a business crisis facing the host, we decisively adopted effective countermeasures and increased resource investment.]

[Crisis Response Rebate: 80,000 RMB.]

[The money has arrived.]

The system notification sound reassured Chen Xun a bit more.

The counterattack was swift.

That evening, the hashtag "#Searching for Youthful Stories of Instant Noodles" appeared on various platforms.

Li Qian wrote a heartfelt long article in response to the forum's criticisms. Instead of directly engaging in a war of words, she said, "Sentiment cannot be measured by price, but sincerity can," and then launched a story collection campaign with substantial rewards.

The poster designed by Yang Xiaotao used yellowed letter paper and pen drawings, with the caption: "Your story is warmer than instant noodles."

Lin Xinyue strictly controls the cost of prizes and the event process.

Surprisingly, the event was a remarkably successful event.

Perhaps because the negative posts from the daytime actually brought some attention, or perhaps because Li Qian's response was genuinely sincere, a large number of real customers began to share their stories.

"My roommate and I were caught cooking instant noodles in our dorm room during college. It still makes me laugh when I think about it now."

"The first time I took my girlfriend out to eat, I was a poor student and could only afford instant noodles with an egg. She said it was the best thing she had ever eaten. Now she's my wife."

"The year I took the postgraduate entrance exam, instant noodles from a convenience store in the early morning sustained me for three whole months."

The true story and the simple emotions quickly overwhelmed those few dry, defamatory posts.

The sentiment on the forum has also begun to change.

"This event was really well-intentioned, how did it turn into a scam?"

"Those troll accounts are obviously smurf accounts, those who know, know."

"I've already shared my story, and I'm now waiting to win a free order, hahaha!"

The number of followers on the official account of the new store actually increased slightly after the incident.

On Monday morning, Chen Xun looked at the backend data and saw that the reputation rating had reversed and the number of reservations for the new store had reached a new peak.

"It's over for now," Li Qian concluded, "but the person behind it hasn't been found."

Chen Xun hummed in agreement and tapped his fingers on the table.

This time it's just online trolls smearing us, what about next time?

He looked out the window at the bustling streets with their endless stream of cars.

The city looks prosperous and bright, but the competition hidden in the shadows seems to be more troublesome than he thought.

"This isn't over," Chen Xun said. "We need to find out who's behind this."