After being reborn, my sister insisted on marrying me.

June 27th, very early in the morning.

Wei Yigang had just finished boxing in the garden downstairs and returned when he opened the door and heard Chen Xinyi's voice coming from the living room.

"Siyan, you're in charge of gathering data online. Industry reports, top brand analyses, consumer trend forecasts—make summaries of everything, the more detailed the better. Shilin, you're in charge of on-site work—Wudaokou, Wangjing, Xidan, Sanlitun—go to every place with a milk tea shop. Take photos, write down the menus, estimate customer traffic. Is three days enough?"

Kim Se-rin's voice came through the phone's speakerphone:

"That's enough. Anyway, the restaurant's late-night snack supply during the World Cup has been sorted out. The assistant manager can keep an eye on it during the day."

Lin Siyan sat on the sofa, her laptop already open, and replied without looking up, "Three days, okay."

Wei Yi stood in the entryway changing his shoes, thinking to himself that this level of agility was terrifying.

He mentioned it casually last night.

His sister had already finished assigning all the tasks by 7:30 this morning.

Chen Xinyi hung up the phone and turned to see him:

"Back from your morning exercise? Perfect timing. Let me tell you, we're starting our research on the tea beverage sector you mentioned last night. I already messaged my friends in Guangdong province last night, asking them to visit Royaltea stores in person. I've also contacted people in Henan province to help understand Mixue Ice Cream's business model. We'll summarize everything in three days, and you can come over then."

"OK."

"Let's have breakfast." Chen Xinyi pointed to the dining table. "Plain porridge with the dried flounder you brought. We're tired of eating roast meat these past few days, so let's have something light."

While chewing on the fragrant dried fish and white porridge, Wei Yi suddenly remembered something.

"Sis, I want to enroll in driving school."

Chen Xinyi was drinking her porridge with her head down when she looked up. A hint of surprise flashed in her peach blossom eyes, followed by satisfaction.

"You should have learned this a long time ago. I've been wanting you to sign up, how come you're so willing now?"

"Anyway, I'm just killing time during summer vacation." Wei Yi took a big gulp of congee. "I can't really help you with your research anyway, so I might as well take this opportunity to get my driver's license."

In his past life, he took three years to get his driver's license.

He failed the second driving test three times and the third driving test twice. Every time he failed, Chen Xinyi laughed at him.

She imitated his backing into the parking space in the living room, laughing so hard she almost fell over, while his face turned green.

This life will be different.

In my past life, I drove for so many years in the capital, a place notorious for traffic jams.

I'm already a seasoned veteran.

Chen Xinyi clearly had no idea what he was thinking; she had already picked up her phone and started looking up nearby driving schools.

"There's one on Zhichun Road, another near the University of Science and Technology of China, and there's also an Oriental Driving School which is a bit far outside the Fourth Ring Road..."

"Sis, I can sign up myself."

Which company are you considering? I can help you decide.

In the end, Wei Yi chose the nearest driving school on Zhichun Road, mainly because it was within walking distance.

Chen Xinyi originally wanted to drive him to register, but he stopped her.

"You have to do the research and take care of the business. I can do it myself, I'm not a child."

Chen Xinyi stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Alright, alright, you've grown up. Go on, go on."

The look in her eyes... how to put it?

Like a cat owner watching their cat finally learn to catch mice.

Wei Yi went to the driving school to register in the morning. When he came back, Chen Xinyi was not there, and Lin Siyan had also gone out.

He practiced his boxing twice by himself at home and also studied the odds for tonight.

The World Cup has entered the knockout stage.

He remembered the general trends of the round of 16, the quarterfinals, and the semifinals.

Although the odds aren't as outrageous as in the group stage, there are still plenty of upsets to be had.

He currently has over 23 million in assets under management. If he's cautious, it shouldn't be a problem for him to turn that into over 50 million before the finals.

Let's be cautious.

If you're not careful, you could easily lose hundreds of millions.

Chen Xinyi called in the afternoon to say she wouldn't be coming home for dinner.

She and Jin Shilin went on field research together, trying out milk tea shops one by one.

"I've had seven drinks today." Her voice on the phone carried a hint of resentment. "If I keep drinking, I won't be able to sleep tonight."

"Then don't drink so much."

"No, we have to try every single one. How can we know the differences between the products if we don't try them?"

Wei Yi smiled at his phone screen. That's just his sister's personality; she either doesn't do anything, or she does it to the extreme.

Before hanging up, she added, "By the way, have you registered for driving school?"

"It's all reported."

"That's good. Once you get your license, you can drive my X5, and I'll buy a new one."

"No need, I can afford it myself."

"What? You're looking down on your sister's used car? I only bought this car less than six months ago! I'm still paying off the loan!"

Even over the phone, Wei Yi could imagine the way she glared at him.

He shut up. His past experience told him that arguing with his sister on this kind of issue was a complete waste of breath.

Time flies.

June 30th, private room at a Korean restaurant.

At 2 p.m., the four people sat down around the round table.

Jin Shilin had the kitchen prepare chilled plum juice and several snacks in advance, then closed the door to the private room and hung a "Temporarily Closed" sign outside.

Lin Siyan handed the three printed summaries to Chen Xinyi, Jin Shilin, and Wei Yi respectively.

Eighteen pages, neatly bound, with a clear table of contents, and even a bar chart comparing rents in key business districts.

Wei Yi was somewhat surprised after flipping through two pages.

The abstract is divided into four parts: industry status, analysis of leading brands, consumer trend forecast, and market gaps in Yanjing.

Each section includes data and source annotations, with logic as clear as an academic paper.

Then came Jin Shilin's on-site research report. She projected the photos from her camera onto Wei Yi's computer screen, flipping through them while providing on-site commentary.

"Yanjing currently has about 100 chain milk tea shops with three or more stores, mainly concentrated in university towns and commercial streets. I divide them into three categories: traditional pearl milk tea shops, accounting for about 60%, with an average customer price of five to ten yuan. Their products are highly homogenized, and they are all engaged in price wars. Taiwanese milk tea shops account for 30%, with an average customer price of ten to twenty yuan. They focus on appearance and a trendy vibe, but the repeat customer rate is not high. The remaining less than 10% are high-end shops like Royaltea. At present, Yanjing does not have a truly successful brand."

She found a photo of Sanlitun, showing a popular milk tea shop with a queue that stretched from the counter into the mall corridor.

"This is the hottest milk tea shop in Yanjing right now, called 'Mr. Milk Foam,' specializing in milk foam tea, with prices ranging from 15 to 25 yuan per person. I went at 3 pm and waited in line for more than 20 minutes to get my tea. The taste was okay, the tea base and milk foam were passable, but not amazing enough to justify the price. In other words, its success is based on the fact that its competitors are far inferior."

Finally, Chen Xinyi gave her oral report.

She didn't even make a PowerPoint presentation. Instead, she leaned back in her chair, held a glass of plum juice, and poured out the feedback from friends in Guangdong and Henan provinces one by one, her logic as clear as if she were giving a statement in court.

"Royal Tea currently only has over thirty stores, but each store sells over eight hundred cups per day, resulting in a sales per square meter far exceeding that of ordinary tea shops. The owner is obsessed with quality; the tea leaves are sourced directly from Yunnan, and the fruits are sourced through long-term contracts with the production areas. There are two drawbacks: firstly, the expansion is slow, and secondly, the brand effect has not yet expanded beyond the Pearl River Delta."

"Mixue Ice Cream is the complete opposite. It has proven its vitality in the lower-tier market with a simple and brutal model: low-priced products plus extreme cost control plus rapid expansion. However, the quality control problems brought about by the franchise model are very serious. My friend drank lemon water in Anyang that was obviously diluted with water."

She put down the cup and crossed her arms over her chest.

"The conclusion is this: there is a gap in the high-end tea market in Yanjing, and there is also a gap in the mid-to-low-end tea market. The former is because no one is doing it well enough, and the latter is because no one can do it both cheaply and consistently."

She paused for a moment and looked at Wei Yi.

"We can compete with Royal Tea in the high-end market and with Mixue in the lower-end market. I think we can do both."

Wei Yi didn't interrupt, waiting for her to continue.

"However," Chen Xinyi held up one finger, "both lines will be operated entirely through direct sales."

Jin Shilin frowned: "If we operate directly, the expansion speed in lower-tier cities will be much slower. Mixue is able to operate more than a thousand stores because of its franchise model."

"I don't need a thousand stores," Chen Xinyi shook her head. "I just need every store to make money and every cup to make customers want to buy again. Speed ​​isn't the most important thing; stability is."

Lin Siyan chimed in, "Under the direct-operation model, the management costs will be very high when expanding into second- and third-tier cities. But if it works, the competitive advantage will be much deeper than with franchising."

Wei Yi listened to the three women's discussion and sighed inwardly.

His sister is indeed a genius.

In its previous life, Heytea's quality control collapsed due to its early franchise model, which forced it to change its name to Heytea and shut down all its franchise stores.

His sister bypassed this pitfall with just three days of research.

"Wei Yi, what do you think?" Chen Xinyi asked him.

Wei Yi put down his chopsticks: "Agreed. Direct operation is the right thing to do. The high-end line goes without saying; brand quality is the lifeblood of this price range. Although the lower-end line has a lower average order value, if we can achieve a level of quality control that Mixue can't match, we can create a game-changer in the same price segment."

He paused, then added, "Moreover, direct operation has another advantage. The supply chain can be shared between the two lines. The combined purchasing volume of high-end tea and fruit with that of lower-tier products significantly increases bargaining power."

"More importantly, once the scale is reached, we can build our own logistics channels, which will guarantee both quality and price."

Chen Xinyi's eyes lit up, and she slammed her hand on the table: "Right! Supply chain sharing! Building our own logistics channels is a bit far-fetched, but of course, it'll be necessary once we scale up!"

Jin Shilin glanced at Wei Yi, and then something else appeared in her eyes.

The boy's words just now touched on the topic of supply chain collaboration.

This is not something a typical high school student would think of.

Chen Xinyi stood up, pushed her chair back, and paced back and forth in the private room.

"We've decided on the brand names first." She stopped and turned to face the three of them. "The high-end line will be called Heytea, and the lower-end line will be called Sweet Ice."

Jin Shilin tilted her head: "Heytea?"

"My brother named me this," Chen Xinyi said, gesturing with her chin towards Wei Yi.

Jin Shilin looked over, and Wei Yi explained with a smile, "Drinking milk tea is inherently a happy thing. Besides, the character '喜' (xi, meaning joy/happiness) is easy to pronounce and remember, making it suitable as a brand name for a high-end line. Furthermore, in Guangdong province, when newlyweds get married, they serve tea to both sets of parents, which is also considered auspicious tea."

Chen Xinyi nodded vigorously, her expression one of immense pride.

"What about sweet ice cream?" Jin Shilin asked again, "Isn't it a bit corny?"

"What the lower-tier market needs is something down-to-earth," Chen Xinyi said confidently. "Names that are too fancy can actually create a sense of distance. Sweet Ice Ice is easy to remember and straightforward; you can tell what they sell just by hearing it."

Lin Siyan nodded slightly, indicating her approval of the assessment.

Next, they discussed the action plan. Chen Xinyi used the plum juice as a compass, drawing an invisible map on the table.

"Shilin, you'll be in charge of the initial site selection for Heytea's first store, targeting Sanlitun or Guomao. Those areas have a high concentration of white-collar workers and fashionable people with sufficient spending power. For Sweet Ice Cream, the first store should be located near Beijing Union University or Renmin University, which is most suitable for the student population. Wei Yi and I will keep an eye on this together."

She turned to Wei Yi: "It just so happens that you're going to study at the United University soon, so this is a good opportunity to scout out the location beforehand."

Wei Yi nodded: "Okay."

"The timeline is that Heytea will open three directly operated stores and Sweet Ice Cream will open six directly operated stores by the end of the year. Financially, we will allocate 8 million yuan from the 15 million yuan that Wei Yi gave me as start-up capital. 5 million yuan will be allocated to Heytea due to high costs for decoration and raw materials. 3 million yuan will be allocated to Sweet Ice Cream to get the business model running first."

Kim Se-rin whistled: "Eight million, just say the word."

"Money won't generate any revenue in the bank, and deposit interest rates are so low right now." Chen Xinyi rolled her eyes at her. "We'll invest more once the model is working. The first step is to open the flagship store, refine the products and processes, and then consider replicating it."

Lin Siyan closed her laptop, looked up, and asked a crucial question: "Should we start the brand registration process in advance?"

Chen Xinyi paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously: "I'll go tomorrow. Register the Heytea and Sweet Ice Cream trademarks across all categories."

She paused, then added, "I also registered similar names, like 'Iced Sweet,' 'Sweet Iced Tea,' 'Joyful Tea,' and 'Happy Tea,' just to prevent others from registering them later."

Wei Yi lowered his head and drank the plum juice, feeling a wave of emotion wash over him.

They even thought of defensive trademark registration; their business acumen is truly unmatched.

Keep in mind, she's only a junior in college.