"Alright, Dad, then I’ll come over tomorrow."

Zhang Yuanhang steeled himself.

Only after his father’s analysis did he understand the crux of the problem.

Zhang Baisheng sighed deeply, realizing that though his son had a bit of cleverness, he truly wasn’t cut out for entrepreneurship.

His nerves were too fragile, he wasn’t resilient enough, lacked patience, aimed too high, and was overly concerned with his face; all these made it impossible for him to become the head of a major enterprise.

Perhaps joining someone else’s crew was actually his best path forward.

...

Sure enough, the next day Zhang Yuanhang personally went to negotiate; New Era was no longer under consideration. Brother Xiao Yang made the decision on the spot to agree to let his store become a franchise.

The young master Zhang initially thought the other party would seize the chance to humiliate him, but what he feared did not happen.

The other party maintained a businesslike attitude, seriously discussing franchising matters, without demanding a huge franchise fee. In fact, because it was the first franchise store, there was even a certain discount on the franchise fee, which made Zhang Yuanhang feel quite flattered. He immediately agreed to the conditions for pre-franchise proxy management training proposed by the other party.

Currently, the store management was poor, so New Era’s willingness to step in and help was actually something he couldn’t have wished for more.

Thus, the two parties quickly reached an agreement; the New World flagship digital experience center, barely three months old, became history, changing hands to become the New Era Polytechnic branch.

The renovation was quite simple since New World was merely a copy of New Era, with identical store styles, design, decoration, and counters. They didn’t even need to replace all the signs, just changing the character "World" to "Era" looked completely seamless.

Of course, everything in the store related to the logo had to be changed, such as staff uniforms and posters. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

These are visible changes, yet to become a qualified New Era franchise, deeper changes were necessary.

New Era parachuted in a new store manager to replace the former Zhou Rui.

This person was actually the general manager of the Electronic Technology branch, an old associate of Brother Xiao Yang, who came over to first educate the team at this new franchise store.

Since Su Zelin and Brother Xiao Yang hadn’t anticipated gaining a franchise so soon, the team dedicated to training the franchise staff hadn’t been established yet, so they had to temporarily rely on other store managers to fill the gap.

Of course, this is only temporary. Once the Polytechnic store is up and running, Zhou Rui will take over as the store manager.

Obviously, his position will have to be reduced with the store becoming a franchise; originally, he was the general manager of New World and also a store manager, but now he can’t be the general manager anymore.

However, Zhou Rui was already thanking his lucky stars. After all, new officials have their own rules, and even as a franchise, considering the headquarters’ significant decision-making power, if New Era found him unsuitable to be a store manager, Zhang Yuanhang would probably kick him out without hesitation.

But New Era did not do so.

Yang Fen talked to Zhou Rui, noting that this person had some vision and ability, and it was no surprise if Zhang Baisheng, personally chosen by some unit’s number two, had some insight in selecting people.

Appointing Zhang Rui as a store manager was not a problem; the previous chaos at New Era couldn’t be entirely blamed on him. Young Master Zhang was too confident, incompetent yet meddling, and overly involved in management, only listening to good advice while ignoring the harsh but truthful words. Even if Zhang Rui wanted to act according to his own ideas, he couldn’t.

The rebranding of New World triggered a wave of publicity on the Polytechnic’s BBS, and the previously empty store suddenly became crowded, as if by some miraculous turn of fortune.

This proves that brand image is indeed important; Ken Mai Ji can’t compare to KFC after all.

This is also why many investors are willing to spend money to franchise, utilizing the power of brand influence to achieve success more easily.

Not long after New World changed its branding, Su Zelin received a call from Song Yuwei.

"Boss, when are you free? I promised to treat you to a meal after payday, and it’s already been from the Year of the Snake to the Year of the Horse. If I delay any further, I’ll be someone who doesn’t keep their promises!"

Song Yuwei half-jokingly said over the phone.

Soon after she arrived in Lin’an, she said she’d treat Su Zelin for a meal once she got her salary.

However, the first month’s paycheck came just as the holiday began, and the next day Su Zelin returned to Jianglan.

As soon as the holiday ended and he returned to school, he got busy with the back-to-school promotions, and it got postponed until now.

Only then did Su Zelin remember, after two months, that he might have forgotten about it if Song Yuwei hadn’t mentioned it.

"Haha, well, there’s no time like the present, how about tonight?"

"Sure, boss, what do you feel like eating?"

"I’ll eat anything, I’m not picky."

"Well then, how about coming over to my place? I’ll cook for you."

Song Yuwei tentatively asked.

"Your place?"

Su Zelin was a bit taken aback.

As a store manager, Song Yuwei wouldn’t have a low salary, nor was she particularly frugal.

Yet she specifically invited him to her place to cook, which seemed to have another implication.

"My cooking skills are pretty great, not worse than any restaurant chef’s!"

Song Yuwei added another remark.

However, to Su Zelin, it sounded somewhat like she was deliberately concealing something.

"Alright, then I’ll come over to your place."

His hesitation didn’t last more than three seconds before the rascal agreed readily.

"Boss, I’ll be waiting for you at my place tonight, see you there."

It seemed like the two had reached some tacit understanding, keeping it to themselves.

After hanging up the phone.

Su Zelin’s heart started beating faster involuntarily.

Damn, it’s been too long without meat, acting like a rookie.

...