Chapter 130: Let’s Call It Nanhe Café

“She’s an employee at my company, but privately, we’re also kind of friends,”

Chen Mo replied.

He hadn’t originally planned on calling Tang Qiu over—he’d just wanted to ask her about the process of opening a store and what procedures were involved.

But the moment Tang Qiu heard his question, she insisted on coming over to talk in person.

Hearing this, Song Xia was a little surprised. She didn’t know how big Chen Mo’s factory was, but it was impressive that he even had a lawyer.

While she was thinking this, she had already opened the door to the milk tea shop.

Chen Mo followed her in, and the two of them waited inside.

After about half an hour,

A tall woman wearing a black trench coat and sunglasses stopped outside the milk tea shop.

Tang Qiu glanced at the sign that read “Huohuo Milk Tea” and, confirming she was in the right place, walked right in.

“Sorry to trouble you with this, Lawyer Tang,”

Chen Mo said with a note of gratitude as he looked at her.

“It’s no trouble. Otherwise, I’d just be bored at home anyway.”

Tang Qiu’s tone was somewhat wistful. Ever since she’d joined Chen Mo’s company, she’d basically had nothing to do.

Apart from the legal awareness campaigns Chen Mo arranged for her, there hadn’t been any other assignments.

Now that someone finally needed her input, she was eager to help.

“Have a seat.”

Chen Mo led Tang Qiu to a seat and gestured toward Song Xia.

“This is Song Xia, my sister-in-law’s younger sister.”

“And this is Tang Qiu—Lawyer Tang.”

After Chen Mo introduced them, the two women gave each other a quick once-over and exchanged greetings.

“President Chen, could you explain the details of the matter?”
Tang Qiu asked, turning to him.

She hadn’t gotten the full picture over the phone.

Hearing this, Chen Mo explained his entire plan.

“You want to open a café, President Chen?”
Tang Qiu asked in surprise once she finished listening.

She knew Chen Mo already owned a clothing factory and a gaming company, and now he was going to open a café?

That was quite a stretch between industries.

None of the three businesses had any relation to one another.

“Yes,”
Chen Mo nodded.

Tang Qiu took a deep breath—she truly couldn’t understand how Chen Mo picked his ventures.

But at least this time, he wasn’t acquiring a failing business.

After thinking for a moment, she began to explain the store-opening process and all the necessary documents in detail.

“That’s about everything. President Chen, how about this: I’ll take care of all of this tomorrow?”

Tang Qiu offered.

Tomorrow was the official start of the workweek, but that didn’t affect her much—she mostly worked from home and didn’t have much to do anyway.

Taking this on would save her from boredom.

But before Chen Mo could respond, Song Xia jumped in.

“I’ve already taken note of all the steps. As the future manager of the café, I’ll handle it.”

“Song Xia, it’s a bit troublesome. Let me do it instead,”
Tang Qiu said.

“No need to trouble you, Sister Tang. I’m sure you’ll be busy at work tomorrow, right?”

Chen Mo looked between the two of them, a bit speechless when he saw neither was willing to give in.

Why were they fighting over a task? After a moment of thought, he said,

“How about… you both take care of it together tomorrow?”

“I’m fine with that,”
Tang Qiu nodded right away. She mostly felt uneasy about getting paid while doing so little at home. Whether she did it alone or with someone else didn’t matter to her.

“I don’t mind either, I’m just worried I might interfere with Sister Tang’s work,”
Song Xia said gently.

“Alright, it’s settled then. You’ll both go tomorrow,”
Chen Mo said, finalizing the matter. Then he turned to Song Xia.

“Song Xia, you have the phone number of the coffee shop owner next door, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Can you give him a call for me? Ask if that shop is available for sublease.”

“You want to rent the space next door too?”
Song Xia instantly understood what he meant.

“Yes. The environment is key for a café, and a single storefront is too small to create the right atmosphere.”

Chen Mo nodded.

Since he was planning to lose money anyway, he might as well go big. Song Xia’s shop was only a little over 80 square meters, which wouldn’t use up much of the system’s funds.

And he had just checked—the wall between the two shops wasn’t a load-bearing wall. During renovations, he could add a circular archway to connect the two spaces.

“That shop is pretty big—around 140 square meters. The rent is 100,000 yuan a year.”

Song Xia reminded him.

If he rented both spaces—hers being 80-plus square meters at 60,000 yuan annually—the total rent would come to 160,000 yuan a year.

That was quite the investment.

“It’s fine. To open a good café, initial investment is unavoidable,”

Chen Mo waved it off. If Song Xia hadn’t mentioned that stores on this pedestrian street were for lease only and not for sale, he would’ve just bought the place outright.

Still, for the second café, he could look for properties that were available for purchase—that would allow him to burn through a large amount of system funds in one go.

Tang Qiu watched Song Xia’s shocked expression and smiled faintly.

That rent might seem steep to her, but to President Chen, it was nothing.

At their last company dinner, just the wine alone had cost over 200,000 yuan.

“Alright, I’ll call now.”

Song Xia took out her phone, found the neighboring café owner’s number, and dialed.

She quickly received confirmation that the space was indeed up for sublease.

They could even sign the contract tomorrow.

Chen Mo decided to leave that task to Tang Qiu and Song Xia as well.

After all, he’d be very busy once work resumed tomorrow.

The clothing factory was beginning its transformation, and once that started, the sales staff would have to adapt to a new line of work.

Starting their own clothing brand would require fashion designers, and there was also the matter of renovating a new workshop.

And then there was Cangxue Games—who knew how much revenue they’d raked in over the holiday?

Hopefully not too much.

Also, it was the beginning of the month. Because of the holiday, October’s salaries hadn’t been paid yet.

But now that he had so much system funding, he planned to increase employee salaries and benefits. The more funds he could burn, the better.

All of this, of course, required his personal oversight.

Thinking about how busy he’d be tomorrow made Chen Mo’s head ache.

Why?

All he wanted was to lose money with his company—how did it still end up being so much work?

“Oh right, President Chen—what will the café be called?”
Tang Qiu suddenly asked, realizing they hadn’t discussed the name. It was something they’d need to register during the paperwork process tomorrow.

The name, huh?

It had to have a good meaning.

Chen Mo thought for a moment—and then suddenly had an idea he liked.

“Let’s call it Nanhe Café.”