A hundred flavors of life

Chapter 1440: Making Fast Food Restaurants Exhausted! (Please Subscribe!)

University life unfolds slowly, like a newly unfurled scroll, each stroke carrying the fresh scent of ink.

In the Department of Architecture at Tongji University, the 12th graders quickly became a 'special' presence.

He doesn't take many notes in class and sometimes gets distracted, but when the teacher calls on him to ask questions, he always gives accurate and even insightful opinions.

More often than not, people see him immersed in the old papers in the library, flipping through not the latest "Architectural Journal", but the "I Ching", "The Book of Burial", "Ten Books on Yang House", and even the thread-bound "Lu Ban Classic".

The notebook was not filled with structural sketches of modern buildings, but with all sorts of strange constellations, orientations, and landscape diagrams.

Lu Ming, his roommate, was the first to stand it up. One evening after dinner, he earnestly advised him:

"Brother Pengfei, I'm not trying to be mean, but we're studying architecture, building houses, and modern construction! What are you doing studying these feudal superstitions all day? Are you going to rob tombs?"

"Be careful not to go astray and fall behind in your studies. The teachers all say you have great potential, don't waste your talent."

Hua Shier retorted irritably, "What tomb raiding? I'm researching the relationship between feng shui and architecture, and I want to integrate traditional feng shui into modern architectural design!"

Chen Xin adjusted his glasses and said tactfully:
"Feng shui is a vague and unscientific concept. Architecture is a rigorous discipline, and we should focus our efforts on practical aspects such as structure, materials, and function."

Even the most introverted Zou Yu chimed in quietly, "Yeah, Pengfei, your idea is a bit far-fetched."

Hua Shier put down the densely annotated copy of "Qing Nang Ao Yu," looked up, and without a trace of displeasure on his face, simply smiled, his gaze calmly sweeping over his three concerned roommates:

"Don't worry, I know what's going on."

"Architecture is nothing more than a 'tool' that serves people. When the ancients built houses and cities, they paid attention to the right time, place, and people, and pursued harmonious coexistence with nature. There is probably wisdom in this. I just think of it as a different perspective on the relationship between 'people, architecture, and environment'."

His words were somewhat cryptic, but his attitude was frank. Although Lu Ming and the others felt that he was 'not doing his job properly,' they didn't dare to try to persuade him any further.

A few days later, Lu Ming returned to his dormitory dejectedly, plopped down on his bed, and sighed repeatedly.

"What happened? Did you fail the poetry club interview?" Chen Xin asked.

Lu Ming has recently become fascinated with poetry and enthusiastically joined the Tongji Poetry Society.

"pass!"

Lu Ming muttered, then his face showed indignation: "But the club president and a few older members insisted that I have an accent! That it affects the 'rhythmic beauty' of the recitation! They told me to practice my Mandarin more!"

Hua Shier was gesturing towards the window, indicating some direction. Upon hearing this, he turned around and asked with interest:

"Then why don't you practice more and correct your accent?"

Lu Ming straightened his chest and, in what he thought was the most standard accent, loudly proclaimed, "But I! Don't! Have! Anything to correct?"

"Hahahaha!" The dormitory erupted in deafening laughter.

Chen Xin clutched his stomach, while Zou Yu buried his face in his book, his shoulders trembling.

Lu Ming was bewildered by the laughter and felt a little aggrieved:
"What are you laughing at? My Mandarin is perfect! Where's the accent?"

Hua Shier laughed until tears almost streamed down his face, slapping his thigh: "Yes, yes, yes, absolutely perfect, not a single bit 'not'! Not a single bit 'not'!"

Lu Ming then realized that his "no" had been spoken with a Northeastern accent, and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

***
As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the air begins to fill with the faint fragrance of osmanthus and a sense of homesickness.

Hua Shier and Wu Shanshan agreed to go out and buy some gifts for their family in Suzhou before the holiday.

The two went to find Zhuang Tunan first to design the teaching building.

Pushing open the door to the familiar design classroom from my junior year, I saw Zhuang Tunan and several classmates gathered around a huge drawing board, their brows furrowed. Li Jia was among them.

"Tu Nan, what are you busy with?" Hua Shier knocked on the door, indicating that someone had arrived.

Zhuang Tunan looked up from behind the drawing board, his eyes slightly dark, looking like he hadn't rested well. Seeing that it was them, he waved with a sigh of relief.
"Pengfei, Shanshan, come in."

Li Jia turned around at the sound and saw Hua Shier and Wu Shanshan, a gentle smile appearing on her face:

"Pengfei, Shanshan, you're here!" Today, she wore a simple ponytail and a plaid shirt, looking refreshing and capable.

A boy wearing glasses next to you asked curiously, "Class monitor, is this your brother? He looks younger than you!" He was referring to Hua Shier.

Li Jia opened her mouth to explain, but Zhuang Tunan, quick as a flash, stopped her, his expression serious yet tinged with an indescribable weariness:

"Believe me, you shouldn't ask about this. Knowing too much won't do you any good."

The boy and several classmates around him were stunned for a moment.

Zhuang Tunan silently added in his mind: The more you know, the more 'brother' you might have to ask.

Although the saying "curiosity killed the cat" didn't exist in this era, that's what Zhuang Tunan meant. He had seen too many examples of people bowing down to Hua Twelve and calling him "brother" because of curiosity or disbelief. He and Li Jia were among them.

He was 100% certain that once these people heard about his legendary feat of "Brother Pengfei never losing," they would be unable to resist challenging him to a contest.

Li Jia clearly remembered her previous experience, smiled, and readily agreed:

"Zhuang Tunan is right. Let's keep this a little secret between Pengfei and me."

Knowing the truth, Wu Shanshan couldn't help but chuckle, earning Hua Shier a helpless look in return.

The two walked to the drawing board. Hua Shier glanced at the drawing, which was a preliminary design of a medium-sized stadium with clean and crisp lines.

What caught Hua Shier's attention was a modern cantilevered canopy design above the west-side rostrum, with a sleek shape and ambitious design.

However, the draft paper next to it was covered with messy mechanics formulas and crossed-out sketches, revealing the designer's struggle.

"Seniors, what kind of magnificent building is this designed?" Hua Shier asked casually.

Zhuang Tunan rubbed his throbbing temples and sighed, "Don't even mention it, I'm stuck on this group project."

Li Jia called to the other students, "Everyone, take a break, drink some water, and clear your heads."

The students, who were already dizzy and disoriented, felt as if they had been granted a pardon and dispersed to do their own thing.

Zhuang Tunan's gaze, however, remained fixed on the canopy section of the blueprint.

"Where is it stuck?" Hua Shier asked.

"here."

Zhuang Tunan pointed to the furthest part of the cantilevered canopy with a pencil: "We wanted to make it light and imposing. The cantilever span is quite large, but we tried several beam structures and reinforced them again and again. Either the cross-section was so heavy that it looked like a bridge pier, which lost its charm, or the stability was barely up to standard, but we still felt unsafe and had no confidence. Now we're stuck in a rut."

Li Jia added softly, as if explaining the current situation to Hua Shier and Wu Shanshan:

"After considering several approaches, the problem wasn't simplified; instead, it became increasingly complex."

Hua Shier's gaze swept quickly across the drawings and the pile of drafts beside them, without asking any further questions.

He casually picked up a relatively clean piece of draft paper from the wastepaper basket next to him, and his fingers moved nimbly. First, he folded it in half, pressing out sharp creases, then folded it again, and then pinched the middle and gently lifted it upwards.

A flat sheet of paper instantly transformed in his hands into a simple three-dimensional model with a natural arch in the middle and stable support on both sides.

Although rough, the mechanical principles contained in the arched structure are immediately apparent.

He gently placed the small paper model on the cantilevered part of the canopy in the drawing.

"Let's try a different approach!"

Hua Shier's voice was calm, as if stating an obvious fact:

"Don't always think about relying on 'bending-resistant' beams to bear the load. Think about 'compression-bearing' shells, or the simplest continuous folded plate structures, to create overall surface stiffness and use the shape itself to distribute the load, instead of just relying on a few 'bones'."

The classroom fell silent for a few seconds. The only sound was the faint rustling of sycamore leaves outside the window.

Zhuang Tunan stared intently at the simple paper model, his pupils first contracting, then suddenly dilating as if illuminated by a flash of lightning in the darkness. He slapped his forehead hard.

"That's right! The stress pattern has completely changed! We can make it into a lightweight, thin, continuous folded plate shell, or a thin-walled structure with transverse stiffeners! The self-weight can be greatly reduced, and the construction formwork is also simple! Why didn't I think of going beyond the beam frame!"

His shout attracted the attention of the students who were resting nearby.

Several people gathered around the drawing board, discussing in hushed tones with excitement the paper model and Zhuang Tunan's rapidly sketching new ideas.

Li Jia looked at the blueprints, then at the paper model that inspired her, and then at Hua Shier. Her beautiful eyes were filled with undisguised surprise and admiration.
"Pengfei, what's wrong with your brain? This is a problem that has been bothering us for days, and you solved it after just a few glances?"

Hua Shier smiled but didn't say anything.

What could he possibly say? That these structural selection and optimization ideas were already outdated in his existing knowledge base?
Is this merely a 'dimensional reduction' examination of low-dimensional problems from a higher, more advanced perspective?
Zhuang Tunan finally calmed down slightly from his initial euphoria. He turned his head and looked Hua Shier up and down with a completely new, scrutinizing gaze, his expression extremely complex:

"Wait a minute. This involves structural concepts, morphology and force analysis, and basic simplified calculation methods. These are topics that students don't delve into until the second semester of their junior year or even their senior year! You've only been in class for a few days? It's been less than a month since the semester started!"

When he said that, everyone else found it unbelievable.

Hua Shier shrugged at Zhuang Tunan, his face displaying his usual calm and somewhat matter-of-fact expression:
"Geniuses are just unreasonable. From childhood to adulthood, have you ever seen anything that I could do even if I wanted to?"

Zhuang Tunan was speechless, and the floodgates of memory opened, with scenes of 'disastrous defeats' in marbles, iron hoops, chess, studying, and sports flashing through his mind.

He opened his mouth, but all his rebuttals and doubts ultimately turned into a bitter laugh mixed with helplessness, admiration, and resignation. He shook his head.

"Okay, you're pretty good."

Having received the highest recognition among men, "You're impressive," Hua Shier was satisfied and then got down to business:

"You'll definitely be going back to Suzhou for the Mid-Autumn Festival, right? I'd like to buy some gifts for your aunt, Xiaoting, and your parents, and maybe we can go out for a stroll together?"

Zhuang Tunan was just about to say that he had just come up with an idea and needed to work on it quickly when Li Jia spoke up with a smile:

"Now that we have a new direction, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. We've been under too much pressure these past two days. Let's take a day off and come back more efficient tomorrow." Other classmates chimed in.

Seeing this, Zhuang Tunan nodded to Hua Shier: "It wouldn't have worked before, but it will now."

Hua Shier naturally turned to Li Jia and extended an invitation: "Li Jia, let's go together? We can also give Shanshan some advice while we're at it."

Wu Shanshan smiled and urged, "Yes, Sister Jia, let's go together, it'll be more fun with more people."

Upon hearing this, Li Jia's gentle smile paused almost imperceptibly.

She first glanced at Hua Shier and Wu Shanshan, who had extended the invitation, then her gaze quickly, almost casually, swept over Zhuang Tunan beside her. That glance was so fleeting, almost imperceptible, but it seemed to contain a subtle hesitation, or something else entirely.

Then, she looked away, her smile still polite, but she shook her head firmly:

"Thank you, but I won't go. I haven't been sleeping well these past two days, and my head is still foggy. I want to go back and catch up on some sleep. You guys have fun."

What she said made perfect sense, but Hua Shier keenly sensed that beneath that calm tone, there seemed to be a hint of other emotions.

Hua Shier's gaze swept subtly between Li Jia and Zhuang Tunan.

Zhuang Tunan was bending down to neatly place the T-square back on the edge of the drawing board. His movements looked perfectly natural and ordinary. However, when he straightened up, the radiance on his face that had just been shining from solving the problem seemed to have dimmed a little.

After the three left the campus, Hua Shier asked where was a good place to buy clothes, and Zhuang Tunan recommended Liulin Road Market to him.

When we arrived at the destination, it was indeed as Zhuang Tunan had said—a fashionable gathering place for young people of this era.

The streets are lined with shops displaying a dazzling array of clothing: bell-bottoms, floral shirts, dresses, and suit jackets. The styles are much more novel and daring than those in state-owned stores and department stores, and the prices are more flexible.

Following the aesthetic standards of later generations, Hua Shier picked out a soft wool sweater and a silk scarf for Huang Ling, a beautiful dress and a new schoolbag for Zhuang Xiaoting, a crisp jacket for Zhuang Chaoying, and two outfits each for herself and Wu Shanshan.

Even Zhuang Tunan wasn't 'spared'; Hua Shier forced him to try on the most fashionable casual suit of the moment, bought it, and shoved it into his hands.

Zhuang Tunan kept refusing:

"Pengfei, you're spending too much! Your aunt and uncle work hard to earn money in Tianjin, and you're still a student. You should be more frugal!"

Hua Shier handed the money to the beaming shopkeeper, then turned to Zhuang Tunan and smiled:

"Take it if I give it to you. Don't you know my capabilities? This money is all earned by myself, cleanly and honestly."

Zhuang Tunan's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief: "You earned it yourself? How did you earn it? And it's only the beginning of the semester!"

In his memory, although Hua Shier was far more capable than his peers, he was still a student. How could he possibly earn so much money?

Hua Shier just smiled mysteriously and patted him on the shoulder: "I have a brilliant plan. You'll find out later."

At noon, the three hungry people tried to find a restaurant near Liulin Road for lunch, but were repeatedly turned away.

Every restaurant was packed. I finally found one with an empty seat and waited for almost half an hour before I could sit down.

After ordering, while waiting for the food to arrive, Zhuang Tunan looked around at the noisy and crowded scene and couldn't help but complain:
“I heard from a senior who studied abroad that there are fast food restaurants abroad now, like hamburgers and fried chicken, you can eat whenever you want, no need to wait, it’s fast and convenient. I wish we had them here, then we wouldn’t have to suffer like this.”

He does not mean that.

Zhuang Tunan's casual complaint was like a spark that ignited a certain area in Hua Shier's mind.

Western fast food?!

Yes! It's the mid-1980s! Those future restaurant giants haven't even officially entered the mainland market yet! It's a vast blue ocean! No, it's uncharted territory!
A bold, almost insane plan took shape in Hua Shier's mind in an instant and was quickly perfected.

Copying homework! No, it's doing the homework ahead of time so that those who come later have nowhere to go!
Let's open a fried chicken and burger shop and name it "Ken's Good Chicken"! English name? Simple, Ken's Good Chicken. Abbreviation? KGC!

Look how realistic that is!
The products? Just like the future KFC, no, even more diverse and tailored to Chinese tastes! Ice cream, mashed potatoes, salad—give it all.

There's also 'McDonald's Burger,' which sells hamburgers and fries.

"Starry Night" specializes in selling coffee and light meals.

When the genuine Western fast food chains finally manage to enter the Chinese market, they'll be stunned to find that the streets are full of similar-looking "KGC," "McDonald's," and "Starbucks"—with better decor, more delicious food, and more affordable prices. People have already gotten used to them and established a good reputation.

Back then, who was the real deal and who was the imposter? In the eyes of most consumers, the newcomer was probably the real 'knock-off'!

This is what we call: following the path of Western fast food, leaving Western fast food with nowhere to go!
Hua Shier became more and more excited as he thought about it, and his eyes even lit up.

Wu Shanshan noticed the change in his mood and asked in a low voice, "Pengfei, what are you thinking about?"

"Think of something that might be interesting."

Suppressing his excitement, Hua Shier smiled and placed a piece of freshly served food on her plate.

Upon returning to school, Hua Shier immediately took action.

He stayed up half the night to produce a detailed "Preliminary Plan for Establishing a Fast Food Chain Brand and Seizing the Market".

From brand positioning, product design, supply chain management, standardized operations, store image to marketing strategies, it was written in a clear and organized manner with detailed data, and even included a few simple store design sketches.

He plans to use the White House to find a state in the U.S. with a suitable legal environment to register a series of trademarks and corporate entities such as 'KGC', 'McDonald's Burger', and 'Starry Night'.

If that doesn't work, then register in another Western country.

Then, for a symbolic price, such as one dollar, he licensed these trademarks and "technology" to his holding company registered on Hong Kong Island.

Finally, the Hong Kong Island Company, under the guise of "introducing internationally renowned fast food brands," brought its "foreign" fast food into the mainland market.

This approach allows them to both cloak themselves in the guise of "foreign brands," catering to the prevailing "foreign worship" mentality of the time, and firmly grasp core intellectual property rights and control in their own hands.

In his view, the entire plan was a "perfect" closed loop!

　Thanks to 08a, Little Tiger of the Demon Realm, and Brother Li Meng of the God of Death for their donations, and thanks to the brothers who voted for monthly tickets and recommendations. Thank you so much!

　　(End of this chapter)