All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

Because the Bai family has a complete training mechanism, any member of the Bai family who is good enough will be promoted after working for a certain number of years. No one is allowed to break this rule. The person who created this mechanism is this 108-year-old man.

Bai Jingqi looked at the noisy environment and gestured to a junior behind him to push his wheelchair. The junior behind him was overjoyed when he heard Bai Jingqi's call, and his face turned slightly red. He did not expect that the old man would take a liking to him. This was a legendary figure in the Bai family. He carefully pushed the wheelchair, not daring to go too fast or too slow. However, the sweat on his palms showed that he was particularly nervous at the moment, and his hands trembled slightly.

The wheelchair was slowly pushed to the balcony, where a turbulent river flowed outside. This was the retirement home that Bai Jingqi had personally chosen for himself. Every time he saw the turbulent river below, he felt a surge of excitement, as if he were seeing his younger self. He needed passion and excitement.

But now he was too old. Even if the river was raging, he was unmoved. He sat in his wheelchair, slowly raised his head, and watched the red sun slowly rise in the sky. The sunlight was so warm, but for some reason, he felt as if it was raining. But the sun was still high in the sky, and there was not a drop of rain. Why was his face so cold?

Bai Jingqi squinted and asked in a daze.

Is it raining?

The younger man who had been watching him closely didn't hear what he said clearly, so he quickly bent down and listened to what the old man was saying. But after listening for a long time, he didn't hear a sound. It wasn't until he looked at the old man again that he realized that the old man had stiffened and had an indescribable sense of relief on his face.

The younger man's heart was pounding. A thought flashed through his mind, making him somewhat incredulous. His hands trembled as he reached out to the old man's nose. After a while, he finally came to his senses, but his whole body went limp, and he knelt down in front of the wheelchair with a thud. The grief and panic in his eyes made him speak incoherently. He wanted to call for help, but his mind was a complete mess.

Finally, the people in the living room saw what was happening on the balcony and rushed there. Upon seeing who it was, the younger generation finally realized what was going on and shouted in a hoarse voice.

"Quick, quick... Someone help! The old man is gone!! The old man is gone!! Waaah!! The old man is gone!!!"

Actually,

Chapter Twenty-Four: Regret

A cool sensation washed over him once more, and Bai Jingqi—no, Zhang Peng—slowly opened his half-closed eyes.

In his line of sight, a chubby face gradually came into focus, from blurry to clear, and finally Chen Ling's face appeared before him.

Chen Ling was wiping Zhang Peng's face with a wet towel. Zhang Peng looked at the bright sun outside, groaned with a wry smile, sat up, and asked Chen Ling.

"How long have I slept?"

Chen Ling put the towel into the basin, rubbed it for a bit, and said helplessly.

"It's already three in the afternoon! How long have you been sleeping? Why did you drink so much? You didn't sleep well all night, just tossing and turning in bed!"

Zhang Peng shook his head helplessly to clear his mind. He picked up the basin from Chen Ling's hand, went to the bathroom, poured in a basin of cold water, and then grabbed a handkerchief and vigorously wiped his face.

The stimulation of the cold water gradually dispelled the images in his mind, and his consciousness completely returned to his body. His century-long life experience had finally come to an end!

Looking at his unremarkable, round face in the bathroom mirror, Zhang Peng forced a smile. Life is ever-changing, and the world is but a fleeting dream, all things now just memories.

This dream had a more profound impact on Zhang Peng than any other dream before, because it was almost like being reborn. The dream fragments in his mind intertwined with his real memories, making him feel a tightness in his chest.

He even had the illusion that he had suddenly transformed from an old man into a young man, as if all the muscles in his body had suddenly relaxed. This sudden change was difficult for him to adapt to at first.

He turned on the tap again and splashed his face with water. The intense stimulation brought him back to reality. He was Zhang Peng!

Seeing that Zhang Peng had been in the bathroom for a long time, Chen Ling called out from outside.

"Let's go out and get something to eat, fill our stomachs. Mom took Huilin to the park. Are you going to the shop this afternoon?"

Zhang Peng walked out of the bathroom and saw two plates of freshly reheated leftovers on the living room table, along with prepared bowls and chopsticks. He couldn't help but smile and go over to say something.

"I'll go check it out. I'll buy groceries and come back tonight. What would you like to eat?"

Chen Ling said nonchalantly.

"We still have some vegetables at home, so please take some greens with you. The New Year is coming soon, so please see how the store plans to celebrate!"

Zhang Peng picked up his bowl and chopsticks, casually picked up a piece of meat, chewed it, and nodded as he spoke.

"Okay, then I'll pick a day to take a holiday. You can never earn all the money in the world!"

Chen Ling hummed in agreement, picked up the mop from the floor, and slowly began to mop the floor.

Although Zhang Peng and Chen Ling have only been together for a little over a year, they are like an old married couple with great understanding. This is what Zhang Peng is most satisfied with about Chen Ling. The two of them never have conflicts over trivial matters, and they understand each other's feelings.

The two are neither handsome nor beautiful, nor are they children. They have never had lofty goals regarding the quality of life or future plans. Their shared ideal is for their family to be healthy and safe.

Although Zhang Peng's dream is affecting his real life, he has never had any other thoughts. He feels that things are fine as they are. His wife and children, his career and work, and his life are slowly getting better. This is good!

In the previous dream, Bai Jingqi, despite his large family and business empire, never truly relaxed throughout his life. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.

Once you have a certain amount of money, it becomes just a number. To keep that number, you can only keep creating more numbers. In the end, you'll be controlled by money and power your whole life, and you'll no longer be able to make your own decisions about many of your thoughts and actions.

After finishing his meal and clearing away the dishes, Zhang Peng got up and went out. He walked to his shop, where business was still booming. Seven or eight delivery drivers were squatting nearby playing on their phones while waiting for orders. Inside, the shop staff were busy working. Watching this scene from a distance, Zhang Peng couldn't help but sigh helplessly, "This is life."

Now this store has basically become a model store. Many people who want to franchise "Master Zhang's Clay Pot Noodles" will come to this store to work as an employee for a week, firstly to see how the business is, and secondly to learn how to cook clay pot noodles.

In fact, cooking clay pot rice noodles is something any normal person can learn in a week. It's a very simple process. As for the tableware, Zhang Peng has also contacted suppliers. As long as you pay, everything will be arranged for you.

The real core of this is the seasoning for the clay pot rice noodles. Bai Jingqi rented a special place to prepare the ingredients. At first, it was done manually, but now the machine does it, and he prepares the ingredients himself.

The prepared ingredients are delivered to the franchise stores once a week, allowing him to understand the franchise stores' business situation based on the availability of the ingredients.

In reality, his daily work involves preparing ingredients and then driving his tricycle to deliver them to the franchise stores. He collects money every day, and his work is neither particularly easy nor particularly tiring.

With a monthly income of tens or hundreds of thousands, this was the life he had always dreamed of. But after experiencing Bai Jingqi's dream, he now felt a lack of interest in this small-scale, workshop-like operation.

Zhang Pengqiang composed himself and walked into the shop. When the shop assistant saw Bai Jingqi, he quickly called out to the boss. Bai Jingqi smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work, everyone." He then checked the ingredients and nodded in satisfaction. He wandered around the shop for a while, told everyone that he would have a meeting after get off work, and then left.

Now, 80% of the business at this store comes from takeout orders. There are also security cameras at the cashier area. Most young people nowadays use QR code payments, so there's virtually no chance of theft.

The store now has a manager, a young man in his early twenties who was one of the employees when Zhang Peng first opened the store. The young man had always performed well and later frankly told Zhang Peng that he also wanted to open a store like this in the future.

Zhang Peng immediately said that as long as he worked hard as the store manager for a year, he could open a store for free based on his performance. Of course, apart from the franchise fee being waived, all other fees would remain the same.

After incorporating some of Bai Jingqi's personality traits, Zhang Peng is no longer as interested in small shops as he used to be, but he is still not very satisfied with his current income.

Earning one or two million a year is indeed a life of success for ordinary people, but having experienced many ups and downs, he is now unmoved by this small amount of money and even wants to spend it lavishly.

Yes, he's planning to buy a car. Actually, on the way here from his rented apartment, he was thinking about one thing: his future life is destined to get better and better. Since this is real life, why not make sure he and his family live a better life?

With less than a month until the Chinese New Year, Chen Ling's reminder made him realize that it was time to go home.

He had mentioned opening a shop to his family, but he didn't go into details because he's not one to show off. His family thought he just opened a shop selling clay pot noodles. His mother came to visit for two days when his child was born, but then she had to go back home because of other family matters.

In Zhang Peng's hometown, the custom is to hold a wedding banquet together with the baby's first birthday celebration. Other celebrations, like a baby's one-month celebration, are generally not held with a banquet. Most of his relatives are still unaware that he is wealthy, since he has only been rich for a few months.

Zhang Peng felt there was no need to flaunt his small amount of money; the most important thing was that his life had improved.

Having experienced so many dream lives, he is now used to being calm and composed. Life is just a journey, and even in real life, one should make oneself more comfortable rather than letting various emotions control one's life.

He checked the time; it was already 4:30. He hailed a taxi and went to the car market in the city center. He planned to choose a car first, and then tell Chen Ling his opinion after he made his selection.

In the car market in the city center, there are a dozen or twenty brands of all sizes. At a glance, all of them are foreign brands. Zhang Peng couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Reality is indeed reality.

Zhang Peng didn't have any particular feelings about whether or not to buy a domestically produced car; he just felt a sense of frustration seeing all the foreign brands on the market.

No great person harbors xenophobia; great people are more concerned with gains and losses.

Zhang Peng ultimately chose a seven-seater version of the BYD Song. The reason was simple: he thought it was pretty good.

I called Chen Ling and told her. Although she was a little surprised, she didn't have any objections. After all, it's convenient to drive home for the New Year, and it also makes you look good in front of relatives and friends!

As for his driver's license, Zhang Peng had been trying for many years, but he had never actually driven a car. For him now, it was a piece of cake; he could even fly a plane, let alone a car.

Zhang Peng quickly signed the car purchase contract, spending over 100,000 yuan on the top-of-the-line model. He handled all the insurance and other paperwork at the dealership. Since it was too late that day, the dealership assured him he could pick up the car the next afternoon.

The car isn't luxurious, but it's good enough. I'll buy a better five-seater next year. Isn't that what life is all about? Take it one step at a time!

When Zhang Peng returned to his ingredient preparation room and saw the small workshop-like processing scene, he couldn't help but frown.

Incorporating some of Bai Jingqi's life experiences, he now exudes an aura of authority without anger. Having controlled the world's number one pharmaceutical company for decades, Bai Jingqi possesses a treasure trove of knowledge. He even has information on several world-changing drugs in his mind, which he could produce given the right conditions.

However, Zhang Peng had no intention of following in Bai Jingqi's footsteps. The ordinariness of the real world made him enjoy this peaceful life. Earning a little money and living his life well was enough for him.

If you want to become a great person, there are plenty of worlds in your dreams; why bother messing with your one and only life?

However, Zhang Peng was still somewhat dissatisfied with this small-scale processing scene. Oh well, the New Year is just around the corner, so he decided to stop for now and make proper arrangements after the New Year.

To develop a chain of stores, as long as you master this secret formula, becoming rich is only a matter of time.

That evening, Zhang Peng held a short meeting with several employees at the store to announce the holiday schedule for this year and the start date for work next year. The holiday would begin on December 20th and end on the 20th of the Lunar New Year next year, a full month-long break. Everyone was overjoyed to hear that they would have a month-long holiday.

In reality, every working person wants to stay home and enjoy the Spring Festival for a few more days, but it's all for a few coins.

Zhang Peng didn't care about this small amount of money, so he simply took a month off to rest and spend more time with his family.

Before I had money, I would rush home every year, and before I could even enjoy the New Year, I had to leave to work in another city. Now that I have money, I can make all the decisions for myself and do whatever makes me happy.

Zhang Peng also plans to take this time to carefully consider how to develop next year. He doesn't really care about these things right now. In this world, he just wants to live a peaceful life. He doesn't need to be too high-profile. He just wants to live a stable life and enjoy this rare tranquility.

For a true tycoon who has the mind of a world-class pharmaceutical company, this "Master Zhang's Clay Pot Noodles" is nothing more than a piece of cake.

He doesn't plan to make the brand very big, but one or two million a year is really not enough. He wants to increase it at least tenfold, to earn ten million a year, so that his family can live a carefree life.

And it can't take too much time; for example, the ingredients must be prepared by fully automated machines.

Apart from the ingredients, all other processes are handled by others. There's no need for people to personally deliver the goods and inspect them every day. As long as you have the secret recipe in your own hands, you won't have to worry about not having business or franchisees coming to you.

He plans to set up 50 franchise stores, no more and no less. Too many stores would take too much time to prepare ingredients, and too few would not make any money.

In terms of management, you can hire a small team to manage it, pay them performance-based wages, and just focus on preparing the ingredients and controlling the secret recipe. There's no need to be high-profile, but you must make the brand have a unique appeal.

With more stores, it will naturally become a large-scale operation, and the secret recipe for the ingredients will eventually be leaked, which would be pointless.

He opened this shop purely to make a little money; if he really wanted to make big money, he wouldn't bother with such small projects.

From now on, every franchise store must be standardized. Not only will the franchise fee increase, but the price of ingredients will also have to be raised. He wants to gradually turn "Master Zhang's Casserole Noodles" into a high-end brand.

In terms of ingredients, we need to redesign the menu, offering more varieties and creating a shop format similar to mala tang (spicy hot pot). We need to select high-quality ingredients, and as long as the taste is authentic, we won't have to worry about not having customers.

The former Zhang Peng combined Lei Dongbao's personality; he was daring and enterprising, and he felt that down-to-earth clay pot noodles could be sold with a low-profit, high-volume strategy.

Now, having absorbed Bai Jingqi's personality, Zhang Peng's business acumen has gained an additional layer of thought.

He felt that since it was an exclusive business, there was no need for a low-profit, high-volume model. Since it was an exclusive business, it had to be priced high, just like selling medicine. Without profit, how could pharmaceutical companies monopolize the market?

This is perhaps the mindset of a true capitalist: even in a small business, they must earn every last drop of their hard-earned money.

From now on, franchisees will only sign three-year contracts, and the entry requirements for franchisees will be raised. If you don't have at least a few hundred thousand yuan, don't even think about becoming a franchisee. In addition, franchisees will be assessed every year. After three years, 20% of the franchisees with poor performance and service will be eliminated to create a strong sense of competition.

Of course, all of this depends on your product having irreplaceable advantages compared to other similar products. You absolutely cannot achieve this with just these three types of casserole powder.

He still had a lot more ideas in his mind. He planned to develop another ingredient, and from then on, "Master Zhang's Casserole Noodles" would rely on two unique recipes to conquer the world. Two unique flavors would be enough to make everyone remember this brand.

The next day, Zhang Peng picked up his car and took his family for a drive around the neighborhood. Everyone was delighted; having their own car made all the difference.

Before they knew it, the year was coming to an end. Zhang Peng gave everyone a holiday. They packed up, got on the bus, and prepared to head back to their hometown.

The month-long holiday made him feel quite relaxed. Now, even just looking at the scenery along the road makes him happy. When he had no money, even the most beautiful scenery looked gloomy to him. Perhaps beautiful scenery has always been a luxury for the poor.

With over a million yuan in bank savings, a wife, and children, this kind of simple life is Zhang Peng's truest dream. Now everything is moving towards that dream, and it's great.

Zhang Peng's home is in a small city in southern Hunan that is not too remote. The house price here is three or four thousand yuan, the salary is one or two thousand yuan, and the cost of living is comparable to that of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Therefore, eighty percent of the young people here work outside and basically only go home for the Spring Festival every year.