The carefree life of Yang Shuisheng, the village miracle doctor

"There are many methods, but the first step is to attract customers."

Yang Shuisheng organized his thoughts, trying to make his words as simple and easy to understand as possible.

"You could offer a 50% discount and a free vegetable delivery promotion."

"Half-price discount? Free vegetables?" Xu Xiuxia blinked her big eyes, looking completely bewildered, clearly unfamiliar with these new terms. "Shuisheng. What does that mean? Can you explain in more detail?"

"A half-price discount means..." Yang Shuisheng thought for a moment and gave an example, "For instance, if a customer comes to your restaurant and orders the first dish at full price, but orders the second dish, no matter what it is, it's half price! Wouldn't that make them feel that ordering an extra dish is a good deal?"

"Oh! I get it!" Xu Xiuxia exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "This way, customers are more likely to order an extra dish. Even if the second dish is only half price, we'll still make more money than if they only order one dish, and the customers will feel like they've gotten a good deal. That's great!"

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean." Yang Shuisheng nodded. "As for the free dishes, you can set a standard, for example, if a customer spends... um, ten yuan, then you can give them a free dish."

"Free food delivery?" Xu Xiuxia frowned again, somewhat worried. "This...is this really going to work? What if they order cheap dishes and don't make up the ten yuan? Also, what if they ask for expensive dishes to be delivered for free? Wouldn't I lose a fortune?"

Yang Shuisheng smiled, as if he had expected her to ask this question: "If he can't make ten yuan, then he can wait until next time. Or, in order to make ten yuan, he might order an extra side dish and an extra bottle of wine."

"As for what dishes to serve, you can't let him order whatever he wants. You can make a list of a few dishes that are inexpensive but look affordable, such as cucumber salad, stir-fried greens, and scrambled eggs with scallions, and serve them as free dishes."

"Once the customer has spent enough, they can only choose one item from this order to deliver."

"This way, customers feel like they're getting a good deal, and you can control your costs."

Xu Xiuxia's mouth gaped slightly after hearing this. She stared at Yang Shuisheng for a few seconds, then suddenly slapped her thigh, her face full of excitement and admiration. She gave Yang Shuisheng a thumbs up: "Oh, Shuisheng, you're so smart! Your idea is great, really great! I'll go and get it right away."

She was so excited that she was about to get up to get paper and pen.

"Sister Xia, wait a minute, don't rush."

Yang Shuisheng reached out to stop her, his fingers accidentally brushing against her forearm, which was trembling slightly with excitement; the touch was warm, soft, and smooth.

Xu Xiuxia blushed, but didn't flinch. She simply sat up straight and looked at him with bright eyes.

"That's not all," Yang Shuisheng continued, seemingly oblivious to the earlier touch. "You can also set a higher spending threshold, such as a discount for purchases over twenty yuan, like a 10% or 5% discount at checkout."

"Although the discount isn't much, customers will feel, 'Oh, I've gotten a good deal again. I might as well take advantage of the remaining amount.' They might even order an extra dish to reach the discount threshold, or come back next time."

"Yes, yes, that makes sense!"

Xu Xiuxia nodded repeatedly as she listened, feeling that every word Yang Shuisheng said had opened the door to a new world.

"Shuisheng, you know a lot and are quick-witted, can you take a look at this for me?"

She quickly got up, ran behind the counter to retrieve her crumpled, handwritten menu, grabbed some paper and pen, and hurried back. She pushed the menu and paper in front of Yang Shuisheng, her face filled with admiration and pleading: "How should I price the dishes on this menu? What about the half-price discount, the free dishes, and the discount criteria? What's the appropriate price? I'll do whatever you say!"

Looking at Xu Xiuxia's completely trusting, even somewhat dependent, eyes, and at her light blue shirt that had slightly opened due to her movements, revealing more of her cleavage, Yang Shuisheng sighed inwardly.

Let's help them to the end, since there's still time before we get the photos.

"Okay, I'll take a look for you."

So, Yang Shuisheng spent the entire afternoon at the Shili Xiang restaurant, where he and Xu Xiuxia sat face to face, discussing the menu and pricing strategy.

Based on the ingredient costs reported by Xu Xiuxia, he helped her readjust the prices of several signature dishes, set a rule of half price for the second dish, and established specific standards for a free side dish with a purchase of eight yuan or more, and a 10% discount with a purchase of fifteen yuan or more. He also suggested that she write down the free dishes and discounts on red paper and post them in the most conspicuous place at the entrance.

Xu Xiuxia listened attentively and took careful notes, occasionally raising her own questions, which Yang Shuisheng patiently answered.

The two were very close. Yang Shuisheng could smell the faint scent of soap and cooking oil mixed on her body. Occasionally, when he looked up, he could see her focused profile and the chest that rose and fell gently with her breath.

Xu Xiuxia gradually relaxed, and when she was happy, she would let out a clear laugh, her eyebrows and eyes curving, which was quite beautiful.

Before I knew it, the sun was setting outside the window, and it was almost six o'clock.

"Sister Xia, that's about enough."

Yang Shuisheng checked the time, stood up, and said, "Try it as we agreed first. If it doesn't work, we'll adjust it."

"Oh! Great! Thank you so much, Shuisheng." Xu Xiuxia also stood up quickly. Looking at the neatly organized menu and activity plan, she was filled with hope and enthusiasm, and her face regained its radiance.

"Shuisheng, you've helped me so much today, you absolutely have to stay for dinner." She said sincerely, "I'll go cook some good dishes right now, and we siblings can have a drink together."

"I really can't today. I have an appointment to pick up something at six, so I have to go," Yang Shuisheng politely declined. "Maybe next time. We can have a nice meal and drinks next time."

Although Xu Xiuxia was somewhat disappointed, she couldn't insist on keeping him. She could only thank him repeatedly and escort Yang Shuisheng to the door. Only after watching him walk away did she turn back to the shop, eager to start implementing her new plan.

Yang Shuisheng bid farewell to Xu Xiuxia and quickened his pace toward the Red Star Photo Studio.

He was preoccupied with those photos; they were the key to bringing down Zhao Youcai.

When we arrived at the photo studio, the door was ajar.

Yang Shuisheng pushed open the door and went in. He saw the boss sitting behind the counter with several freshly developed photos spread out in front of him. He was holding a magnifying glass and staring intently at one of the photos, his expression somewhat strange, as if he were surprised.

Hearing the noise, the boss looked up and saw that it was Yang Shuisheng. His expression quickly changed, and he put on a professional smile, but a subtle calculation flashed in his eyes.

"Comrade, you've arrived. All the photos are developed, 24 in total, not one missing."

The boss stood up and pointed to a stack of photos wrapped in paper on the counter.

Yang Shuisheng walked over and reached out to take it.

"Hey, wait a minute, comrade." The boss reached out and lightly pressed his hand on the stack of photos, his smile unchanged, but his tone carried a hint of difficulty. "These photos are developed, but shouldn't we recalculate the developing and printing fees, as well as the cost of the film?"

"Recalculate?"

Yang Shuisheng frowned: "Didn't we agree yesterday that we'd be paid based on the number of prints? You didn't mention anything else at the time."

"Yes, yes, yes, the printing fee is charged per photo, that's correct." The boss rubbed his hands together, glanced at the stack of photos, lowered his voice, and revealed a greedy smile on his face, "But comrade, the content of your photos is a bit unusual."

"If this gets out, or falls into the wrong hands... hehe, it might cause quite a bit of trouble, right?"

He paused, observing Yang Shuisheng's expression. Seeing that Yang Shuisheng didn't react much, he continued, "I'm just a photographer, a small business. I'm most afraid of getting into trouble."

"Look, I took such a big risk to develop these special photos for you. Shouldn't you at least pay a small fee for that risk and for confidentiality?"

As he spoke, he held up three fingers and waved them in front of Yang Shuisheng.

"Not much, just three hundred yuan."

"You give it to me, you can take the photos, and I promise to keep it a secret and pretend I never washed these things."

"If you don't give them to me, I can't guarantee that these photos won't be accidentally seen by someone, or that something might happen to them."

He saw that the photos taken by Yang Shuisheng contained sensitive content and wanted to take the opportunity to extort money from him.

Three hundred yuan is no small amount; it's equivalent to more than half a month's net profit for his photo studio.