Ch 21: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Ji Feiming, as the first ordinary employee of the shopping street and the only one who had seen all the non-human employees at the nail salon, was visibly shaken by the response.

Blind Box Shop Ji Feiming: The nail salon has phones too?

The moment he asked, Ji Feiming felt his phrasing was off. Too excited, he fumbled the words, knowing the nail salon employees were powerful and peculiar beings. By the time he wanted to retract the message, it was too late.

Nail Salon Harold: Lu Yao bought it, but she only lets me use it for three hours a day and not outside the nail salon.

Interdimensional Cinema Liu Tang: That’s the teenager mode.

Nail Salon Harold: No, Lu Yao calls it “interdimensional mode.”

Interdimensional Cinema Gao Si: [Laughing-crying emoji] The store owner always knows how to have fun!

Childhood Tutoring Center Bai Yi: Even interdimensional employees can join the group chat. How does the store owner even do it? @Hot Springs Inn Ji Qingyan, do you have any insider info?

Hot Springs Inn Ji Qingyan: Just heard about the app project, the store owner didn’t say much else.

Blind Box Shop Ji Feiming: @Nail Salon Harold, didn’t you have class at Dragon Valley today?

Ji Feiming, who often managed deliveries between stores, had frequently seen Lu Yao urging Harold and Tina to hurry off to class. It was still midday and not dismissal time, plus Harold couldn’t use his phone outside the nail salon, so he must still be there.

Harold, who had been active a moment ago, vanished after seeing the question, leaving no response for a while.

A few minutes later, Harold’s icon turned gray.

He logged off.

Other unaware employees: What’s Dragon Valley?

Blind Box Shop Ji Feiming: It’s their school.

Little Pet Cafe Zhou Su: Harold’s still in school? He told me he was over ninety when he helped out here once.

Interdimensional Cinema Gao Meng: Over ninety? You must be joking. He looks like a fourteen or fifteen-year-old teenager.

Gao Meng had also seen Harold hanging around when delivering materials to the cinema.

Blind Box Shop Ji Feiming: He’s not like us.

But explaining exactly how wasn’t something Ji Feiming could elaborate on.

Only a few people in the chat group had seen Harold’s true form, Bai Yi being one of them. Seeing the ongoing discussion about Harold, she felt a small surge of smugness at being “in the know” and exited to check the “Shopping Street Circle” updates.

During the app’s beta test, her colleagues had been posting like they were chasing KPIs. The shopping street’s updates and their usual social media felt like two completely different worlds.

Ji Zhixin had just posted a new “Waterdrop Seal Slaps Its Belly” video, earning countless likes, with the comment section filled with colleagues losing their minds over the cuteness.

The next update was Ji Qingyan’s video of the “Rotating Teacups at the inn,” showing the little people guests sitting in palm-sized blue-and-white porcelain teacups, drinking tea and chatting. Bai Yi couldn’t even count how many times she replayed it, while the comment section was equally out of control.

Interdimensional Cinema Gao Meng: The teacup little people idea is so cute it’s bleeding my heart. Who came up with it?

Hot Springs Inn Ji Qingyan replied to Interdimensional Cinema Gao Meng: The store owner. The teacup tables and patterns were all personally designed by her. There’s even a 3D car track downstairs.

Little Pet Cafe Zhou Su: I want to work at the inn so badly! Is it even okay to say this?

Little Pet Cafe Ji Zhixin replied to Little Pet Cafe Zhou Su: [Heartbroken seal emoji staring in silence.]

Bai Yi kept scrolling and noticed Harold had posted an update, timestamped from the previous night.

It seemed he got his phone yesterday, but Bai Yi only saw his “Shopping Street Circle” post today after he joined the beta test chat group and expanded his contacts with the other employees.

Curious about what Harold might share, Bai Yi instinctively clicked on the video.

The ten-second clip featured Harold extending his gleaming claws, showcasing them from every angle. Those claws could only be described as “radiantly opulent,” with a luxurious shine that was impossible to ignore.

Dragons clearly loved shiny things. Bai Yi belatedly realized that Lu Yao’s nail salon wasn’t what she had initially thought.

The salon’s clientele probably included not just ordinary interdimensional residents but also many from the dragon clan, like Harold.

Exiting the video, Bai Yi noticed Harold’s comment section had several new remarks from colleagues, all thinking Harold was simply a stylish youth. Comments like, “The nails look great, so shiny!” abounded.

Bai Yi wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead. The gemstones on Harold’s claws were likely not the inexpensive rhinestones people usually imagined.

This nail salon might have gone straight to the heart of the dragon clan when it first opened.

…

Great Wu Dynasty, Interdimensional Cinema

Lu Yao was currently discussing the New Year screening schedule with Fu Chi. His documentary was slated to premiere during the holiday season but hadn’t received any publicity yet.

Fu Chi felt there was no need to allocate too much time or resources for promotion. It could be handled like the other movies typically shown at the cinema—play a trailer, and invite the shopping street colleagues to attend if they wanted.

Lu Yao had prepared a backup of the documentary’s original cut and told Fu Chi: “I’ll contact the two friends you want to invite and also post the trailer on the shopping street’s internal network. If customers are interested, I’ll open a reservation channel. As for the shopping street staff, you can give them tickets. Whether they attend is entirely up to them.”

Lu Yao didn’t want such events to feel like mandatory team-building exercises where employees had to participate.

Her philosophy for hiring was simple: as long as employees were diligent during working hours, she wouldn’t intrude on their personal time unless absolutely necessary.

Lu Yao herself operated almost year-round without rest but was used to it.

Fu Chi sometimes found Lu Yao’s ideas overly idealistic, not like those of a typical business owner.

But the shopping street itself defied conventional logic. After working together for over half a year, Fu Chi had grown accustomed to it.

His own mindset had shifted significantly too—at least when it came to the shopping street, everything followed Lu Yao’s lead.

When Lu Yao mentioned posting the trailer on the internal system and opening a reservation channel, Fu Chi couldn’t help but wonder which world’s customers she was targeting this time.

Lu Yao didn’t explain further. After finalizing the premiere date, she urged the editing team to complete the trailer quickly.

…

The second day after the staff beta test ended, the ice period came to an end.

The morning was unusually bright, with clear skies and a gentle breeze.

Liyan’s team was especially excited. After breakfast, they hurried out the door.

Their priorities were to hunt, pay for their lodging, and search for new hunting grounds and stone potato fields.

Although the season of renewal was approaching, it would take time for the plants and animals in their territory to recover. A new settlement would still be necessary.

Even while trapped at the inn, Liyan‘s team hadn’t forgotten their mission.

Not long after their departure, Yingtong and Jianlan also prepared to leave.

During their stay, they had thoroughly investigated the truth behind the inn and the big human. It was time to report back.

After completing a few film dubs at the inn, Lu Yao gifted them a miniature sled loaded with food.

At the inn’s entrance, Jianlan sat on the sled, holding the reins, waiting for Yingtong.

Lu Yao crouched under the eaves as Yingtong hugged her finger, gently rubbing his face against it before looking up with his bright red eyes. “I hate you.”

After saying this, Yingtong turned abruptly and leaped onto the sled.

Startled, the red pig pulling the sled snorted and began to trot away.

Jianlan looked utterly shocked, glancing between the figure beside her and the still-crouching innkeeper.

The innkeeper didn’t seem angry. In fact, when Jianlan turned to look, Lu Yao simply raised her hand and waved.

Jianlan looked at Yingtong again, utterly baffled. “Why did you say that?”

Yingtong remained silent.

Jianlan crossed her arms, frowning deeply. She truly couldn’t understand and was completely taken aback.

…

With the ice period over, small animals emerged to forage.

By evening, Liyan’s team returned fully loaded with game: a nest of horned rabbits, mountain rats, striped chickens, and even several live red piglets.

The hides of the horned rabbits and mountain rats could be used for warmth. The team processed the animals in the wild, separating meat from fur. They washed the fur with snow water and strung the meat on dry grass to make jerky. The process was crude and nothing like the refined jerky from Xiaguang Tribe, but no one cared in such trying times.

The striped chicken, a ground-dwelling bird about the size of an adult thumb, had feathers patterned like zebra stripes, black and white.

They brought back all the chickens tied by their legs with dry grass, hanging upside down on a stick. Back at the inn, they boiled water at the entrance to clean the game.

Curious, Lu Yao brought over a low stool and sat at the doorway, watching them work while holding a half-assembled miniature train.

The previous one had been blown away, lost to the wind. She hadn’t had the time to assemble a new one until the weather cleared.

Fuxue plucked chicken feathers and quietly grumbled to Lu Yao, “These feathers are so tiny and dense, they’re a pain to deal with.”

Lu Yao picked up a small tuft of striped feathers. “These aren’t useful?”

Fuxue shook her head. “They’re too fine and small. They’re neither warm nor pretty.”

Lu Yao pinched a feather between her fingers, examining it closely. “I’d like them. Could you give them to me?”

Though unsure what Lu Yao wanted with the feathers, Fuxue informedLiyan. Upon hearing her request, the hunting team gathered up all the discarded feathers and packed them together.

In two days, Lu Yao had several bags of soft, fine chicken feathers.

Liyan’s team used hides and red piglets to pay for their stay during the big freeze. They decided to leave before the rainy season arrived. They had already identified a suitable new territory and wanted to return to their tribe to prepare for the migration.

For the Nitean people, migrating as a tribe was a complex and lengthy process requiring extensive preparation.

Originally, the hunting team had ten red pigs. Five were lost during the big freeze, leaving the rest to be housed in the inn’s stables. After two days of hunting, they caught over twenty more red pigs. After paying their lodging fees, they still had seven or eight left, which were enough to carry their supplies.

At dawn, the hunting team herded the red pigs, waving repeatedly to bid farewell to Lu Yao and the inn staff as they left.

They descended the thorns-covered valley and crossed a gentle slope until the inn was no longer in sight, leaving only a trail of chaotic footprints behind them.

Fuxue looked back, her face tinged with melancholy. “It feels like waking from a dream.”

The others stayed silent, their hearts equally empty.

During their days at the inn, they had been anxious and restless, eagerly awaiting the end of the ice period.

Yet when it came time to leave, they found it hard to part ways.

Liyan led a large red pig at the front. “The inn is great. After we migrate, we can always come back to visit. What are you all sulking for? And you call yourselves the bravest hunting team?”

The team heard only: “The inn is great. After we migrate, we’ll come back to visit… the bravest hunting team.”

Suddenly, the mood lightened, and everyone’s spirits lifted.

…

With two groups of guests gone, the lively inn grew quiet.

Zheng and Yuanwei cleaned the large and small kitchens. Heici and Zhu Zhou tidied and cleaned the guest rooms, collecting used bedding, clothes, and towels into laundry baskets and taking them to the downstairs laundry room for disinfection. Ji Qingyan swept the miniature cinema and organized the garage.

[System notification: Lu Yao’s inn has reached 25% basic completion. Current task progress is 12%. Please continue working hard, innkeeper!]

Lu Yao returned from outside and heard the notification, deep in thought. With nearly a third of the month gone, task progress was only at 12%. She needed to find ways to boost the inn’s reputation further. Fortunately, the ice period was over, and attracting more guests should be easier.

She had new ideas for the inn, plans that were perfect for the upcoming rainy season.

But before that, the customer beta test for the shopping street app was set to begin.

After the employee beta test, Dreamland’s technicians had completed several rounds of system optimizations based on the feedback received.

The customer beta test would coincide with the launch of Fu Chi’s new film, along with the long-anticipated opening of the “VIP” tab.

With a meticulous plan and timeline in place, Lu Yao felt confident everything was under control. That night, she returned to the nail salon for a rare rest.

Humming a tune, she pushed open the salon doors. “I’m back.”

The staff sat neatly in the lobby, silent as statues.

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