Tuan Tuan couldn't help but widen his eyes and glanced back at Tong Ya, then turned his head to look at Tong Ming.

"It's clear that you didn't mean to be fierce with Mom, so I'll go out of my way to call you Grandpa, and I'll accept this thing on behalf of Mom."

Tong Ming couldn't be happier; he swept Tuan Tuan into his arms in one go.

"Hold on, Grandpa, wait!"

Chen Yu raised his eyebrows, it looked like Tong Ming and Tong Ya were cut from the same cloth.

He had thought Tong Ming couldn't accept Tuan Tuan before, but now it seemed his concerns were somewhat superfluous.

"Alright Tuan Tuan, it's time for us to go," Chen Yu stepped forward and took Tuan Tuan into his arms.

"Instead of looking for a new store, why not expand the existing one!"

Tong Ming suddenly spoke up, "I see several shops next to yours are vacant; why not rent them all together?"

Chen Yu frowned slightly, "A fixed location has a limited reach, so I feel..."

"Times are changing, and thoughts must change too. Connect to a delivery system, capitalize on platforms and traffic to turn the shop you have into a brand, and maximize its scale."

The group that Tong Ming controlled was a behemoth, after all; his suggestions were very constructive.

Chen Yu thought carefully about his current shop, which on the surface seemed to have reached its limit, but it only served the nearby neighbors.

And so far, none of his shops had a signboard.

Compared to opening branches, expanding the existing shop seemed somewhat safer.

"Thank you for the advice, sir."

Chen Yu had barely finished speaking when Tong Ming looked somewhat displeased.

"Why still 'sir'? If that damn girl refuses to acknowledge me, won't you change your address either?"

Chen Yu smiled awkwardly and swiftly left with Tong Ya and Tuan Tuan.

Every breakfast shop on this street had to shut down due to the impact of Chen Yu's business.

As a result, many shops were left vacant.

There were precisely five shopfronts between his and Xie Jiang's shop.

These five premises previously operated snack outlets, and within less than a week of Chen Yu moving in, they had posted transfer notices at the entrance of their shops.

Now, aside from Zhang Fan's car dealership and Xie Jiang's home store, there was only one chain convenience store left across the street.

Though the street was bustling with crowds during the day, it looked eerily deserted at night.

Chen Yu took a quick assessment of these few shops' structures, then directly called all five landlords over and also brought Auntie Li along.

"Little Chen, I never expected you to expand the shop so quickly!"

While expressing her admiration, Auntie Li brought out the rental contracts with the five landlords.

This street was already in a busy market area; all the shops were in prime locations.

Therefore, their rent was paid up until the end of the year.

Now it was only May, and there were still a good seven months until year's end.

The five landlords were downcast every day, with their businesses not sustainable and so much rental time left, it was discomforting just to think about.

Now that Chen Yu was taking over, they were profoundly grateful.

Without hesitation, they signed the transfer contracts on the spot.

The scale of these five shopfronts wasn't huge, but fortunately, all five shared the same layout and were closely adjoining.

With minor modifications in the future, they could be directly connected to Chen Yu's shop.

Then his shopfront could almost double in size.

Moreover, the location of the five shops, situated between two residential buildings, meant the rooftops above could also be utilized.

The five shops together only cost a total of twenty thousand in rent per month, which was still quite a bargain overall.

After signing the contract, Chen Yu transferred the remaining seven months' rent to the five owners.

He also prepared a copy of the plans with Auntie Li.

Once everything was settled, Chen Yu immediately went next door to find Xie Jiang.

Having been busy for several days in a row, Xie Jiang could finally take a proper rest.

But when he heard Chen Yu was about to expand the shops again, the goji berry water he was drinking spat out of his mouth.

"Old Chen, your business is getting bigger and bigger!"

Chen Yu, somewhat embarrassed, waved his hand: "Anyway, these shops are vacant, and after the expansion, we two will be real neighbors."

Xie Jiang also got excited, rolled up his sleeves, and stepped out with Chen Yu.

At this moment, Tuan Tuan and Tong Ya were moving back and forth between the five shops, seemingly considering how to perfectly connect the five shops together.

After looking around, Xie Jiang couldn't help but frown.

"It's not easy to do! Each shop has its own unique structure, it's really going to take some effort to connect them all."

"Anyway, as long as it's connected to my existing shop in the end, that's good!"

Chen Yu said it quite casually: "Give me an estimate. How much will it roughly cost?"

Xie Jiang adjusted his breathing slightly: "To connect the six shops without changing the main structure, it would cost at least fifty thousand."

Chen Yu nodded. His first shop was rented as a restaurant, so many things inside didn't need to be changed.

But these shops in front of him were different. It was not just about renovations, some places needed major changes.

The fifty thousand Xie Jiang mentioned was somewhat conservative.

The final transformation would likely exceed one hundred thousand.

"Old Xie, from today, I'll leave this place in your hands. I'll transfer one hundred thousand to you, and we'll stick to the usual rule: return the excess, make up any shortfall."

Xie Jiang gritted his teeth: "Leave it to me!"

After transferring the money, Chen Yu took Tong Ya and Tuan Tuan back to their shop.

It was now twelve o'clock at noon, the time with the highest footfall.

Still, meals were being served as orderly as usual.

Chen Yu casually wandered to the kitchen and noticed Wang Qingshan really just tossing sauce packets into the pressure cooker without even looking.

A smile flickered across Chen Yu's lips; he had indeed not misjudged the man.

At six in the afternoon, at this time, there were hardly any customers left on the first floor, as people coming off work went to the second floor to buy fried cakes and vegetable turnovers.

Tang Xiaowei was once again dressed in her panda costume, bouncing energetically to the entrance.

"Tong Ya, I'm back again."

With an excited shout, Tang Xiaowei directly charged towards Tong Ya and hugged her.

Tong Ya might have still felt a bit guilty, after all, the way she acted before could be considered a betrayal to Tang Xiaowei.

"Are you back to being free?" Tong Ya asked instinctively.

"Kind of. And I already have my own studio brand! It won't be long now, my comics will be turned into a live-action TV series."

Tang Xiaowei said with a proud look, and anyone who didn't know might think she had already become a real comic master.

Tong Ya was genuinely happy for Tang Xiaowei.

Although she had guessed that Tong Ming's visit to the shop was probably Tang Xiaowei's idea.

But she didn't delve too much into it; the two were now even.

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