I've been possessed by a culinary genius, and I've turned Shaxian snacks into a rip-off!

At the entrance of the millet-flavored restaurant.

After seeing off the last guest, Su Su breathed a long sigh of relief. Just as she turned her head, she saw Li Zhibai standing in the hall, hands in his pockets, staring blankly at the abstract painting on the wall.

"Master, what are you looking at?"

"Looking at this painting," Li Zhibai pointed to the priceless artwork on the wall and said, "What do you think this thing is? I look at it from every angle, and it just looks like a blob..."

Su Su: "..."

"Master! This is a masterpiece by contemporary artist Zhang Feng, worth over 200,000 yuan."

Li Zhibai exclaimed in surprise: "Really? Over 200,000 yuan for just one blob... ugh!"

Su Su reached out and covered his mouth: "Master, let's go back to Shaxian."

Su Su drove her white BMW Mini with Li Zhibai in tow towards Jiangdong South Road.

She was in a great mood, her hands gripping the steering wheel, humming a tune, all that was missing was a hot pot meal.

"So happy?" Li Zhibai asked with a smile.

"Of course!" Su Su said with a grin, "The tasting event went smoothly, and the year-end rating is secure. How could I not be happy?"

"Master, thank you so much for today. If you hadn't made that vegetarian braised pork dish at the last minute, the tasting event wouldn't have been so successful."

"Hey! Why be so polite between us? Just don't forget to pay your tuition on time," Li Zhibai said.

Su Su: "..."

She had initially felt a little touched, but that feeling has now faded.

……

When Li Zhibai returned to Shaxian, he saw a man squatting in front of the shop from afar.

After getting closer and seeing what the person looked like, he immediately burst out laughing.

Zhao Lei.

"Hey, isn't this Brother Zhao? What's up, got the money ready?"

Zhao Lei quickly stood up from the steps, forcing a fake smile, and said, "Zhibai, look at what you're saying. It's too formal for us brothers to talk about money."

"I was just passing by and thought I'd drop in to see how business has been these past few days?"

Li Zhibai sneered inwardly: Just passing by? Nobody would believe you!

These past few days he's had this feeling that someone's been loitering around his door. Could it be this guy?

Do you really think that just sitting at his door for a few days will soften his heart? No way!

"It's alright, just enough to make ends meet."

Zhao Lei inwardly scoffed at his words.

Keep pretending!

He has been squatting here for almost a week now, from the time the door opens in the evening until it closes at dawn, rain or shine.

This week of surveillance and investigation confirmed one thing for him: Li Zhibai, that guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, was definitely running a shady business.

It's still the kind of shady shop that's black to the core!

There is considerable evidence to support his judgment.

For example, he often saw guests going in to eat with big smiles, but coming out cursing and complaining about how much money Li Zhibai had cheated them out of, and so on.

They even gave Li Zhibai the nickname "Li the Blackie".

He also searched online and found a terrible 1.8 rating on review websites, with the comments section filled with people cursing the restaurant as a rip-off.

One guy even posted a long review, tearfully recounting his tragic experience of being ripped off for 170,000 yuan at a single meal.

Zhao Lei almost burst out laughing when he saw this popular comment.

170,000!

Is this something a human being would do?!

His uncle had been running a Shaxian snack shop for half a year, working tirelessly from dawn till dusk, and his total revenue probably didn't even reach 170,000 yuan. Yet, Li Zhibai managed to eat up 170,000 yuan in just one meal.

It's incredibly dark!

After several days of investigation and firsthand observation, Zhao Lei finally understood.

These days, if you want to do business, you can't have a conscience, because that's inversely proportional to making money.

The greater your conscience, the less you earn!

The less conscience you have, the more you earn!

No conscience, just take off!

Li Zhibai is a living example. Ever since he was tricked by him, it seems that this guy has suddenly unlocked his potential and grasped the secret to wealth. From then on, he has been far ahead of others on the road to running a black market!

Now that Zhao Lei is certain that he can make money by running a shady business, he still has one question in his mind.

So how exactly did Li Zhibai manage to get those suckers to willingly come to the store and get ripped off?

If someone gets ripped off once, they might just accept it as bad luck and not come back next time.

But he clearly saw with his own eyes that several people came almost every day without fail, ate their meals, came out cursing and swearing, and then showed up again on time the next evening.

Are these people suffering from Stockholm syndrome?

He had been thinking about this problem for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He came today hoping to get some information out of Li Zhibai and see what methods he used to make diners curse while still coming to be ripped off.

Of course, he couldn't ask so directly. He still tried to sound friendly: "Zhibai, we've been classmates for so many years, I won't beat around the bush. It was indeed my fault for the 300,000. Could you talk to your lawyer and we settle this privately? I'll definitely pay you back, but you'll have to give me some time. I'm a little short on cash."

Li Zhibai: "Tight? Tight is good."

"Huh?" Zhao Lei was taken aback.

"If someone who owes money isn't short of cash, would they still be considered to owe money?" Li Zhibai said matter-of-factly. "I can give you time, but there has to be interest. Otherwise, why should I give you an extension? Money in the bank earns interest."

"Okay, since we're old classmates, I can give you a discount on the interest rate, just a little higher than the bank's."

"Interest rates are easy to discuss, easy to discuss... um, I..."

Zhao Lei's main purpose in coming today was to get information out of him, but before he could even ask, Li Zhibai directly told him to leave: "You can talk to Attorney Huo about the details. I'm busy, so I won't entertain you any longer."

Zhao Lei: "..."

This guy really doesn't give people any chance at all; he's kicking people out before they've even exchanged two words.

Just as he was wondering whether he should shamelessly linger a little longer, a young woman in a light gray business suit pushed open the door and walked in.

"Boss!"

Li Zhibai turned his head and saw that it was Wen Ran.

"Wen Ran, long time no see! How's the insurance sales going?"

Upon hearing this, Wen Ran's face fell again: "Don't even mention it, I'm already planning to resign."

"This insurance company is even worse than my last one. I finally managed to get a potential client and followed up for almost two months, only to have my supervisor steal the deal without my knowledge and pocket all the commission! Is this even human?!"

"They're really not human!" Li Zhibai also felt that this was too much, that they would resort to such dirty tricks.

"So, what brings you here today?"

"Of course it's a company department dinner! After I gave that manager a good talking-to, he probably had a change of heart and agreed to treat the whole department to dinner. He asked me to recommend a place, so I recommended this place."

He readily agreed.

"So, boss, you know what to do, right?" She winked.

After listening, Li Zhibai couldn't help but take a closer look at her.

Why does this girl seem to be enjoying herself?

I wanted to do it again this time, after the last one.

Then he had no choice but to sharpen his knife and turn to the pigs and sheep!

The two huddled together and whispered for a while. Wen Ran told Li Zhibai everything about the supervisor's position, approximate income level, how many people were in the department, and whether there were any particularly big eaters among them.

Of course, the menu won't be covered up this time.

Zhao Lei hadn't left yet; he pretended to be tying his shoelaces at the door, eavesdropping on their conversation.

The more he listened, the brighter his eyes became.

That's it!

I see!

This completely resolved the question that had been troubling him for so long: how could Li Zhibai's shady shop have survived to this day, and how could it have managed to rip off so many suckers? Now he understood everything!

This girl is most likely a food shill hired by Li Zhibai!

This isn't your average food scammer!

A typical food scammer targets one person, but this one targets an entire company or department, recruiting over a dozen people.

This vision! This scale! This approach to industrialization!

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!

Zhao Lei became more and more excited as he thought about it, feeling that he had completely mastered all the methods Li Zhibai used to get rich.

In summary, it boils down to four steps: positioning as high-end, setting outrageous prices, using paid customers to attract traffic, and then exploiting customers to generate revenue.

If you follow these four steps, it's hard not to make money!

Zhao Lei suppressed his inner elation and waved to Li Zhibai, "Zhibai, I have something to do, I'll be going now! I'll raise the money for you when I get back, I promise to pay you back as soon as possible!"

Without waiting for Li Zhibai's response, he hurriedly left.

Li Zhibai watched the guy's departing figure, feeling somewhat puzzled.

What's going on? Why is this guy suddenly so eager to pay back the money?