As soon as the doors of Jufula opened, many customers rushed in.

There were even more people than yesterday.

In front of the stall repairing pots and pans, there was a long queue.

The shelves that were emptied yesterday were filled overnight, and quite a few shopkeepers or clerks from other stores came to observe, clicking their tongues in surprise at Jufula’s restocking capabilities.

When Jufula Supermarket was set to open in Pingchuan County, many shopkeepers and business owners, like Gu Youtian, were not optimistic.

The bustling scene on the first day of opening was a slap in their faces, so on the second day, they came to observe as soon as Jufula opened.

They watched and marveled.

No one expected a general store could be run this way, with a complete range of goods, clerks in uniform with the same smile, and services like letter-writing and repairing pots and pans...

Every offering amazed them, and they admitted to themselves that if it weren’t for being competitors, they’d want to spend money at Jufula too.

"Grandma, quite a few people went to Wu Ji."

Nie Xiaofeng, responsible for security, kept Hua Qiong’s advice in mind, closely monitoring the situation at Wu Ji. He noticed many people had gone into the Wu Ji shop, and after some investigation, he reported back to Hua Qiong.

Hua Qiong replied, "It’s the customer’s freedom to choose. Wu Ji having business doesn’t affect ours."

Nie Xiaofeng believed Hua Qiong was right, but his grandma misjudged. Jufula might not take Wu Ji seriously, but Wu Ji saw Jufula as a competitor.

He learned that Wu Ji had priced their products cheaper than identical ones at Jufula.

Nie Xiaofeng relayed this intel from Wu Ji back to Hua Qiong.

Hua Qiong pondered for a while.

If Wu Ji wanted to do business honestly, that was one thing, but daring to target Jufula was a death wish.

However, she wasn’t planning on a price war.

Given Wu Ji’s scale, Jufula would definitely win a price war, but it would also give customers the impression that Jufula only sells cheap goods.

The result would only be mutual destruction, and a price war brings short-term customer visits. Long-term development needs reliable quality and high-standard service.

That’s the rationale behind Jufula’s three-day grand opening promotion.

Hua Qiong looked outside. The weather was very hot, with a lot of people. She estimated that if it weren’t for the pot and pan repair service, half of them would have gone home.

She chose to open these days without anticipating the early arrival of summer heat.

Fortunately, the cunning Jingzhe wrote to tell Hua Qiong that his senior brother could predict weather changes. The senior said the temperature would spike in the next few days and advised her to take measures against heat for the supermarket opening.

Hua Qiong thought she must not let anyone suffer heatstroke in her Jufula, and she had already prepared a plan.

This plan was initially for a comfortable shopping experience at Jufula, but unexpectedly, it also became a tactic to attract Wu Ji’s customers.

Hua Qiong told Su Chengmin and Nie Xiaofeng, "Arrange for the clerks to place our stored ice in the supermarket corners, then open all doors and windows."

Gu Taohua added, "I’ve already asked people to prepare mung bean soup, so we can bring it up together."

Wu Ji is using cold water to attract customers?

She’d use mung bean soup instead.

Hua Qiong looked approvingly at Gu Taohua.

Su Chengmin and Nie Xiaofeng responded and went to arrange the ice and mung bean soup.

Gu Taohua said, "Wu Ji engaging us in a price war must have been Gu Ruinian’s idea; let him fight it, it’ll wear him out."

Recently in the village, Gu Taohua would encounter Gu Ruinian saying inexplicable things whenever they met.

Gu Taohua didn’t understand why Gu Ruinian kept watching her.

Shouldn’t he be keeping an eye on Jingzhe?

Why fixate on her?

Since he regarded her as a potential enemy, she’d show him what an enemy looks like.

The customer flow at Wu Ji did not decrease because of Jufula’s opening.

With such traffic, today’s sales would be considerable.

Gu Youtian calculated that even with the price cuts, they still made a profit, albeit less than before, but as Gu Ruinian suggested, the high sales volume made up for the low-price profit loss.

Gu Youtian’s mood shifted from yesterday’s gloominess to joy.

"Jufula has placed ice, and it’s not hot at all while shopping."

"There’s also free mung bean soup."

Just then, someone outside shouted, drawing a crowd to Jufula.

For all the shops in Pingchuan County, none have been so generous to place ice in this hot weather.

Even those jewelry and silk shops with ice rooms use them to receive ladies from rich families, regular customers can’t afford to enter.

They heard that the owner of Jufula Supermarket, Widow Tong, worried about everyone getting heatstroke and specially arranged pots of ice in her shop, who wouldn’t want to check it out?

Similarly, customers from Wu Ji, who were also customers, naturally wanted to visit Jufula upon hearing there was ice and free mung bean soup.

Wu Ji’s goods might be cheap, but it was too hot today, and cooling down at Jufula and having a bowl of mung bean soup took precedence.

Hence, more than half of Wu Ji’s customers left.

Gu Youtian and Gu Ruinian tried to stop them one by one but could not withstand Jufula’s allure with ice and mung bean soup.

"That wicked Tong Dajiao, she’s tearing down our Wu Ji’s business because it’s good," Gu Youtian said darkly.

But Gu Ruinian had a different view.

Such a tactic was surely not Tong Dajiao’s doing.

It had to be from his stingy cousin, Gu Taohua.

The aim was not Wu Ji, but him.

"Why did everyone leave?"

Wu Ren, seeing the constant stream of customers, was in a great mood. Thinking he hadn’t had breakfast yet, he happily went to the backyard to eat.

While having breakfast, he calculated that if customers kept coming like this every day, profits were assured.

Once there was a stable customer base for Wu Ji alone, he’d be the first to kick Gu Youtian out.

As for Gu Youtian’s second son, Gu Ruinian, it was simple, he’d invite him to marry his daughter into the family, and just see if he wasn’t tempted by the prospect of Gu Ruinian having his studies funded by him.

After a content breakfast, Wu Ren leisurely walked from the backyard to the shop, finding it as empty as the previous day, and didn’t understand why. He assumed Gu Youtian had taken advantage of his absence to raise prices.

"Youtian, I know you disagree with lowering prices, but you saw today that people only came because of the lower prices. If you raise prices now, wouldn’t that make people say we’re dishonest? Who will come to our shop to buy things in the future?" Wu Ren, with a stern face, chastised Gu Youtian without understanding the situation.

Gu Youtian trembled with anger.

How did this fool become the village chief, spouting nonsense without understanding anything, even reprimanding him?

"Uncle Wu, you’ve misunderstood my dad. It wasn’t my dad raising prices; Jufula is just too cunning. They put ice and free mung bean soup in their shop and lured our customers away."

Gu Ruinian, fearing an exchange of harsh words between Gu Youtian and Wu Ren, quickly stepped in to explain to Wu Ren.

Wu Ren frowned tightly after hearing that.

Tong Pandi’s widow aunt was indeed malicious, how could she press down on Wu Ji like this?