Chapter 92: Jiang Ning’s Ultimate Move

January 5th, Friday.

The temperature had warmed up a little compared to the previous days.

Early in the morning—Wang Xianwei, as usual, arrived at the office bright and early to tidy up the space.

Then he prepared tea for a few of the department heads.

Once he was mostly done with his chores—He estimated the time, and headed to the hallway, planning to “accidentally” bump into the director.

But today—The one he ran into wasn’t his boss, but a young, pretty girl.

“Good morning, Deputy Director Wang~”

The girl’s bright smile made Wang Xianwei suddenly feel like the seasons had changed.

“Hel-hello, Miss Jiang.”

“Is there something I can help you with?”

Snapping back to his senses, Wang Xianwei spoke up. But in his mind, he was thinking about the recent incident where CFC and McDonald’s had teamed up to target Shi Ning Ji.

To be honest—He wasn’t surprised that the two stores were working together to crush the competition.

Especially after he’d heard—through certain channels—about Shi Ning Ji’s impressive daily sales.

It was only a matter of time.

On one side, you had international giants. On the other, there were whispers that a local government official was backing Shi Ning Ji.

It was a clash between a powerful outsider and a well-rooted local player.

And for small fries like him to get involved—Was basically suicide. The kind where not even bones would be left behind.

So—Wang Xianwei silently decided:

If Miss Jiang brought up anything related to the conflict between the stores—He’d just play dumb and deaf.

However—What happened next caught him off guard.

Miss Jiang had come for one thing only: to rent ad space on the station’s large display screen.

Just a couple minutes of airtime.

And it was for a public welfare educational program.

That really surprised him.

But—Since it wasn’t about asking the station to step in and take sides—Just renting out some ad space—there wasn’t an issue.

In fact, to curry some favor—Wang Xianwei directly slashed the rental price by half.

That made Miss Jiang so happy—She practically sang his name with such sweetness that it almost brought back his youthful spirit.

Later on—When the director arrived, Wang Xianwei reported the matter to him.

The director was silent for a moment, then specifically instructed him to review the content of the ad carefully.

If there was any aggressive language or attack-based rhetoric, reject it immediately.

Better to lose that bit of business than get involved in a mess.

Wang Xianwei agreed outwardly and genuinely approved in his heart.

Meanwhile—As business at the store got worse and worse—Xiao Mingxiu was under tremendous pressure.

She hadn’t slept properly for days. Her mind was a mess, her chin was breaking out, and her period—due a few days ago—was mysteriously delayed.

But none of that mattered.

All Xiao Mingxiu wanted now was to turn the store around.

Yet, facing two corporate giants—No—this couldn’t even be called pressure.

It was like the mere breeze from those giants had already knocked her flat.

What now?

In her office, Xiao Mingxiu had come up with many ideas.

She’d tried discounts, new menu items—anything to draw in business.

But none of it worked.

Truthfully, she’d considered asking for help—But the finance majors she knew from university, once they heard the competitors were CFC and McDonald’s—

All backed out.

Some even advised her to surrender.

“They’re Fortune 500 companies,” they said. “It’s no shame to lose.”

But Xiao Mingxiu just couldn’t swallow it.

Better to die in glory than live in shame.

That was how she truly felt.

And right then—Jiang Ning showed up.

With a bright smile, she greeted, “Cousin-in-law,” and handed over a roll of paper made from some kind of special material.

“What’s this?”

“Ultimate move.”

“Huh?”

Xiao Mingxiu couldn’t keep up with her pace. She paused, then peeked at the document in her arms.

She took a closer look—And was instantly stunned.

“Where did you get this information?”

“Online, of course! One-fifty an hour—I spent a whole three bucks gathering all this.”

“Then another two bucks to print it.”

As she spoke, Jiang Ning grinned and held out her hand.

“Cousin-in-law, reimburse me!”

“Oh, oh…” Xiao Mingxiu blankly pulled five coins from her drawer and placed them in Jiang Ning’s hand.

Jiang Ning pocketed the coins with satisfaction.

“Cousin-in-law, hang this on the door at 3:15 this afternoon.”

“Why 3:15?” Xiao Mingxiu asked, puzzled.

To that—Miss Jiang simply gave a mysterious smile.

“You’ll see when the time comes.”

——————

That afternoon, 3:00 PM.

Though the Spring Festival travel season hadn’t officially started—The station was already packed with more travelers than usual.

Among them was Chen Gu.

He was from Ningzhou, currently a third-year student at Jiangzhou University.

He usually went home every weekend.

So he was very familiar with Jiangzhou Station and its various shops.

Including Shi Ning Ji.

In fact, he had a pretty good impression of the place.

There was a branch near his university campus, and he’d eaten there a few times.

The food was good—just a bit too heavy on flavor for his usual light taste.

His train wasn’t due to board for another 30 minutes.

So for now, he sat on the steps against the left wall of the station.

Bored out of his mind, he looked around for something to kill time.

And that’s when—He noticed the big screen at the front of the station was playing what looked like an educational farming video.

Well, he was bored anyway—So he kept watching.

Just a few minutes in, and he’d already learned a lot.

Turns out—There are so many kinds of chickens.

Ma Huang chicken, Hetian chicken, Luhua chicken, Sanhuang chicken, Silkie chicken, and so on.

And those are just the domestic breeds.

As for foreign breeds like the White Feather chicken and turkey, they really opened his eyes.

Especially the White Feather chicken.

Its growth cycle is only 42 days.

Just think about it—a chicken goes from hatching to market-ready in just over a month.

How fast is that?

Although Chen Gu’s family wasn’t from the countryside, he had relatives who lived there.

He’d visit them during the New Year and other holidays.

So naturally, he’d seen the chickens, ducks, and geese they raised.

But he had never heard of a chicken that could be fully grown in just 42 days.

That made him start to wonder—Are these chickens raised in a normal way?

Wait a minute.

Chen Gu suddenly remembered that he’d seen something about White Feather chickens before.

He thought carefully.

Then suddenly—He stood up and walked toward the other end of the hall.

When he arrived at the entrance of CFC, a group of people was already gathered around, staring at a promotional poster outside the store.

White Feather chicken.

Sure enough, it was this.

Then, he turned around and walked across to McRonald’s.

It was the same breed there too.

In that moment—Chen Gu suddenly felt an inexplicable fear toward these two Western fried chicken chains.

But just then—He remembered that there seemed to be another fried chicken shop in this station.

If they also used White Feather chicken…

Then he’d really have to go back to school and talk to his classmates about it.

————

As if Jiang Ning would use White Feather chicken.

Though, truth be told, she did kind of want to.

After all, this kind of standardized, large-scale breed—once you start using it, your costs would plummet.

But this breed comes from abroad. Not only do they not provide the chickens to you, they even block your access to breeding stock for the White Feather variety.

So—Jiang Ning could only choose the most widely raised local breed: the Sanhuang chicken as her meat source.

Although—This choice meant much higher costs, it also came with much higher acceptance among locals.

Compared to the White Feather chicken, which goes to market in 42 days—The Sanhuang chicken takes 100 days, which actually makes people feel more at ease.

Even though there’s no real difference in meat quality or nutritional value between the two—Jiang Ning was using this psychological angle—To give those two international giants a little jab.

Based on her past-life experience—This kind of localization-based consumer mindset was terrifying.

Even when officials later came out and explained that White Feather chickens and local breeds had no essential difference—In the minds of the average citizen—Fast-growth chickens were still firmly associated with poor nutrition.

Especially in the minds of the older generation—Fast-growth chickens were basically no different from poison.

Jiang Ning remembered that in her past life, Grandma Yan who lived across the hall had once whispered to her in a secretive tone:

“Don’t eat CFC or McRonald’s”

She said those were traps set by foreigners to secretly harm Chinese people.

It made Jiang Ning want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Now, she was using this move early—She wanted to give them a real slap.

She didn’t expect to kill them—After all, companies that big don’t die so easily.

But as long as it hurt them—Enough to make them take her seriously and think twice before pulling dirty tricks again—that was enough.

At 3 p.m.

When Xiao Mingxiu put up the poster board—A few passersby started gathering around out of casual interest.

As they got closer, they realized that the poster board matched the ad playing on the station’s screen.

Only, this board was much clearer.

It introduced two kinds of chickens.

One was the Sanhuang chicken, raised on bugs, broken rice, and vegetable leaves.

The other was the White Feather chicken, raised on formulated feed in automated facilities.

At first glance—The White Feather chicken seemed fancier, and the Sanhuang chicken seemed more “rustic.”

But—Anyone with half a brain, after thinking about it, could feel that something about this ad was off.

In no time—The entrance of Shi Ning Ji was buzzing with conversation.

“Yellow feathers, yellow skin, yellow legs…”

“So that’s called a Sanhuang chicken? I always thought we just called it a ‘native chicken.’”

“Eh? Look at that imported White Feather chicken—goes to market in 42 days. Could it be…”

…

“White Feather chicken? What good ever came from foreign stuff?”

“My grandpa always said those foreigners couldn’t fight wars, but when it came to scamming people, they were masters.”

…

“This place uses native chicken? Isn’t that great? But last week when I was here, someone said their chicken was low-quality.”

“Low-quality? There’s a reason for that.”

“Oh? Tell me more…”

…

At that moment—A short man standing in the crowd heard all the surrounding chatter, his expression turning grim.

He spun around and ran, quickly dashing into the doors of CFC.

Then he ran upstairs, straight to the manager’s office door, and barged in.

“Manager! Bad news! Something’s happened!”

But as soon as he walked in and finished shouting, he saw several people already seated inside.

Among them was the executive manager from McRonald’s—Manager Chu, Chu Zhigang, with his ever-smiling face.

Seeing this—The short man’s face turned green, and he quickly lowered his head:

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt…”

He was about to leave the office—But then, Liu Ju raised a hand to stop him.

“Close the door. Come in.”

With the order given, the short man hunched over and respectfully shut the door.

Then—Liu Ju turned and said sharply:

“Xiao Li, what did you just hear at that other store’s entrance?”

“Tell Manager Chu as well.”

Upon hearing that—Li Wei hesitated and glanced at the others in the office.

After a moment of silence, he carefully gave a somewhat filtered version of what he’d heard.

Even so—None of the people present looked pleased.

Even Manager Chu from McRonald’s, who was known for his affable demeanor, had a frozen smile on his face.

For a moment, the office fell into complete silence.

After a pause, Manager Chu’s smile returned slightly. He shook his head and muttered:

“What a clever move…”

“With just this one cut, they nearly struck our main artery.”

That line made Liu Ju instinctively turn to look at the amiable middle-aged man.

“Brother Chu, what do you mean?”

He could tell Liu Ju was seeking advice.

Chu Zhigang withdrew his smile and looked through the glass toward the nearby fried chicken shop.

“I originally thought they were simply using this ad to promote that they use local chicken.”

“Trying to stir up national pride to get people to boycott us.”

That wasn’t wrong.

So Liu Ju nodded slightly in agreement.

“But…”

Chu Zhigang paused, then suddenly narrowed his eyes and said:

“When I heard this young man repeat what the passengers were saying, I realized I had underestimated the situation.”

“You mean…”

At this moment, Liu Ju seemed to catch on, and his expression darkened.

“Brother Chu! You mean…”

“Exactly. If this situation isn’t contained, just this one video could cost both our stores at least half of our business.”

“Maybe even…”

Chu Zhigang didn’t finish the sentence, but Liu Ju murmured the rest for him.

“Maybe even our entire operations in Jiangzhou City, Linjiang Province… or even across the whole country could be affected…”

When Liu Ju said this, his voice was already trembling.

Then, the office once again fell into a short silence.

“We need to talk to the station, see if we can get them to pull the ad.”

“As long as we stop the ad, we’ll only need to deal with that shop afterward.”

However—When the representatives from CFC and McRonald’s approached the station authorities to request the ad be taken down,

They were told that a one-month contract had already been signed, and taking it down would breach the agreement.

Even when the two companies offered to pay the penalty fees themselves, the station still refused.

The staff from both companies were so furious, they nearly exploded on the spot.

In the end, they could only leave the station’s conference room with dark, sullen expressions.

Since the roundabout approach didn’t work and they couldn’t force the station to turn off the screen,

There was only one option left—to confront the source directly.

So, under the station’s mediation,

At last, around 5 PM,

“Shi Ning Ji” agreed to sit down and talk.

But—To the confusion of both Liu Ju and Chu Zhigang,

The representative from Shi Ning Ji wasn’t that Manager Xiao,

But a young and stunning woman they had never seen before.

(End of Chapter)