The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

"Why did you call us here in the middle of the night?"

"Yes, my child is waiting for me to come home and cook."

"I don't know. A young woman said she could help me turn the store around, so I came along."

...

Outside the dumpling restaurant, about 70-80% of the vendors from the snack street are gathered.

All the chairs in the restaurant were moved out, and many more were borrowed from several neighboring shops.

Qi Yu carried a case of bottled water and distributed it to the anxious merchants one by one.

Their faces were etched with frustration, and their foreheads were covered with wrinkles of anxiety.

They were attracted by the developer's gimmick of a commercial street near a school and signed long-term contracts to open shops.

Many people emptied their entire family's wallets, only to lose everything.

Wanting to sell to cut losses but unable to find a buyer, they can only grit their teeth and persevere, watching their daily turnover, which is still lower than their blood pressure, and comforting themselves that things will definitely improve next year.

Among them, some businesses knew about the food delivery to the dormitories, such as the owners of sushi restaurants and Ma Xiaopang Rice Noodles.

They either guessed why they had been called here, or they didn't chatter amongst themselves; they simply waited quietly for someone to speak.

...

"Xiaoxi, are you alright by yourself?"

Inside the restaurant, Xu Nian, who was combing Xu Xi's hair, asked with concern.

"Don't worry, brother, it'll be fine."

Xu Xi winked playfully at Xu Nian, revealing a relaxed smile.

She put on the petal hair clip that her brother had bought for her the first time, slipped on a cool little leather jacket, and twirled in front of him.

"Brother, do I look good in this outfit?"

"nice!"

Xu Nian buttoned up the cuffs of her leather jacket and said softly.

My younger sister is a natural clothes hanger; she looks good in anything.

Hehe~

The girl's ahoge (a stray hair on her head) stood up high after being praised.

She opened her arms and gazed into the boy's gentle eyes.

"Brother, cheer me on!"

Xu Nian bent down and gently hugged her soft body.

The faint scent of white rose perfume lingered around his nose, sending shivers down his spine.

"Keep it up, Xiaoxi!"

...

Under everyone's gaze, Xu Xi walked out of the dumpling shop in brown knee-high boots and stood in front of a group of restaurant owners.

Xu Nian, Wen Yao, Zhao Lin, and Qi Yu stood behind her, silently cheering for Xu Xi.

When someone stepped forward, the murmurs of the crowd gradually subsided, and everyone looked at the confident young woman on the steps with her hands in her pockets.

Good evening, everyone.

"My name is Xu Xi. The restaurant behind me is run by my brother and me. Like everyone else, we do business on this street."

Xu Xi's voice was loud and clear, and even without a loudspeaker, everyone present could hear it clearly.

Everyone looked up at the restaurant's signboard and, upon seeing the character "溪" (xi, meaning stream) at the top, nodded and sighed.

"It seems like this shop is newly opened. I remember it was a noodle shop earlier this year, but the owner couldn't keep it going and put up a sublet sign."

"Yeah, why would she open a shop in this place? That girl is so silly. We all want to get out, but she's jumping into a fire pit."

...

"I know that there isn't a single shop on this street that isn't losing money; the profits they make every day aren't even enough to cover the rent."

"I wanted to terminate the lease and find another place, but at the developer's request, I emptied my savings and paid two to three years' rent in advance, so I couldn't get out at all."

"We want to run the business properly, but it's deserted. The university commercial street that the developer talks about has tens of thousands of potential consumers among university students, but we only see a few people coming in to shop every day."

"Our dumpling restaurant is the same."

Xu Xi's sharp gaze swept over the tired faces.

Her words seemed to have an infectious quality, stirring everyone's emotions.

"Damn it, I want to beat the guy who tricked me into opening this shop to death. The streets are so deserted you could raise fish in them. Where are we going to get a steady stream of customers? I've lost all the money I saved for my son's dowry."

"Back then, I believed that bullshit Manager Wang's lies and bet my savings from several years of working to open this shop. Now that I think about it, I really want to slap myself. Why couldn't I just work a regular job?"

"Who's more miserable than me? I was about to get married to my boyfriend, but my relatives dragged me into renting this place for three years as part of the dowry. Two years have passed, and not only have I not recouped my investment, but my boyfriend has also run away!"

"The rent ripped me off! The franchise fee ripped me off too! I can't get either of them back, sigh!"

When the topic of sad events came up, everyone lowered their heads and sighed, complaining bitterly.

They weren't rich; they just wanted a stable career to earn a little money and support their families.

But now, let alone supporting his family, all the initial investment has gone down the drain, leaving him with nothing.

Xu Xi cleared her throat and continued.

"Furthermore, I am a freshman at Yuncheng University, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that our school's cafeteria is run by a group of robbers. They shortchange customers, charge exorbitant prices for low-quality food, and have absolutely no integrity!"

"Food is the most important thing for people. Why would students at Yunnan University tolerate being ripped off in the cafeteria instead of coming to our food street?"

"It's because of the distance that it takes at least an hour to walk from the classroom or dormitory to the food street, which is a long way around."

"University students face considerable academic pressure, and spending more than an hour to solve their meal problem is too extravagant. They have no choice but to eat in the unscrupulous canteens on campus."

"Once the distance issue is resolved, with the pricing and quality offered by all the uncles and aunts here, we can definitely get students who used to eat in the cafeteria to dine here instead."

"Young lady, that's true, but we can't solve the distance problem either."

"It's so helpless," a middle-aged woman wearing a chef's hat said.

"Yes, we can't move the store downstairs from their dormitory."

"My child also studies at Yunnan University, but he doesn't want to come to my restaurant to eat because it's too far."

...

"Of course, the reason we've gathered all the uncles and aunts here today is because we already have a mature system that can perfectly solve the distance problem."

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere in the room instantly fell silent; you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone stared at Xu Xi in disbelief.

"That means, students order food in their dorm rooms and it's delivered to their rooms."

"You may have thought about delivering meals to the school like food delivery, but only students can enter and exit the gates of Yunnan University. Non-students are not allowed to enter."

"We have a complete student food delivery team that can deliver takeout to various dorm rooms in both male and female dormitories on campus."

"With these low prices and direct meal collection, our competitiveness is far greater than that of the cafeteria!"

Upon hearing this, the entire audience erupted in uproar.