Ch 205: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Watching the meeting devolve into unrestrained chatter, it became clear that it could drag on all night without achieving anything.

With a near-relentless tone, Lu Yao took control of the meeting, effectively halting the lively social interactions.

“Alright, everyone. Today marks a rare gathering of the primary staff from eleven different shops. I understand your excitement, but let’s not forget the primary purpose of this meeting.”

Organizing a cross-world online meeting with hundreds of participants was no small feat, even with the internal network. Lu Yao had expended a significant amount of willpower using the Regulation Rod and worked alongside the Dream Fulfillment System for days to construct this temporary virtual space.

While it resembled an ordinary online meeting at first glance, the reality was much more complex. The staff from various worlds were now situated in a virtual conference room specifically created by Lu Yao and the system.

The inspiration for this space came from Ghost Street, resembling the highly immersive virtual worlds built by Polaris. However, this version didn’t require specialized equipment to pull people’s consciousness into the space.

Participants felt no discomfort and likely believed they were still in their respective shops.

The internal network, originally limited to the physical storefronts in Yaoguang City, could not cover such a specialized virtual space. However, since Lu Yao successfully established a willpower supported network in the Golden Kingdom, her understanding and mastery of her abilities had grown significantly.

Now, some of the floating screens and virtual components of the meeting space were sustained entirely by her willpower.

To the staff from various worlds, however, it all seemed like an ordinary online work meeting.

Once she reined in the scattered attention of the staff, Lu Yao steered the meeting toward its formal agenda.

Before the meeting, Lu Yao had already prepared a general outline for the Mid-Autumn Festival event, but she wanted to hear the staff’s ideas to adjust the details based on the shops’ unique characteristics and circumstances.

During the meeting, any shop could freely share their ideas. Once someone started speaking, though, the rest had to stop chattering and listen attentively.

The agenda and meeting time had been shared with the staff three days prior, and many had already privately discussed their ideas. The meeting was now for compiling and refining those ideas.

What Lu Yao didn’t realize was that a significant portion of the staff, particularly from otherworldly shops, were attending such an event for the first time.

Unbeknownst to her, a subtle sense of competition between the shops was beginning to emerge.

Concerned that others might “steal” their ideas, no one wanted to go first.

After several minutes of silence, no one stepped forward to speak.

[Lu Yao: If no one volunteers, I’m going to call on someone.]

[Little Pet Cafe Zhou Su: Are we making mooncakes again this year?]

Last year, when the shopping street only had four shops, each shop designed and produced mooncake gift boxes with unique themes. Lu Yao herself had created a grand four-shop collaborative gift box.

The Mid-Autumn Festival event attracted numerous mooncake orders, and simply making the mooncakes consumed an enormous amount of the staff’s time and energy.

Last year’s main competitive point was the innovation and taste of the mooncakes. From the Snack Shop to Little Pet Cafe, the veteran employees remembered it vividly.

The collaborative mooncake gift box designed by Lu Yao, featuring a stunning four-tiered floral and gemstone theme, was a hit among customers and staff alike.

To this day, some employees still hadn’t taken home one of those exquisite boxes and could only keep it in their office storage, occasionally taking it out to admire.

As the conversation continued, the waterdrop seals from the Little Pet Café rolled back from the pier into the fishing room. Soon after, they brought out dessert trays adorned with gemstones and flowers, causing the new employees to look on with envy.

[Childhood Tutoring Center Bai Yi]: Don’t tell me these are Mid-Autumn Festival staff gifts—I’ll be so jealous I might lose my mind!

[Interdimensional Cinema Zhu Zhu]: Regret to inform you, but last year the store did distribute this gift box as a festival gift, along with some incredibly delicious mooncakes!

[Hot Spring Inn Jiexiang]: What mooncakes? Are they that good?

[Creative DIY Workshop Liu Jing]: Is there a display error on the screen? I see a tiny figure speaking—she doesn’t seem taller than a human’s hand.

[Interdimensional Cinema Kuba]: Seeing her up close, she’s so small! I can’t believe beings like this really exist.

[Courier Shop Ding Qing]: Isn’t that tiny person animated? I noticed her at the start and thought she was an AI-generated digital doll.

[Hot Spring Inn Jiexiang]: Calling Jiexiang a digital doll? Crying now!

The small-person employee, with their knack for internet surfing, already understood Ding Qing’s reference to “digital doll.” Jie Xiang covered her eyes with her tiny hands, emitting delicate sobs.

Ding Qing, startled, quickly apologized.

[Courier Shop Ding Qing]: Sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it. Hic—

Though flanked by female colleagues, Ding Qing felt pressure from the many male employees in the virtual meeting space. She had been holding back discomfort throughout the meeting but lost control in that moment, letting out an uncontrollable hiccup.

Jiexiang, intending only to tease the unfamiliar big humans, didn’t expect genuine rejection. Now, her fake crying turned real, and the other tiny employees began looking upset too.

Sensing the meeting was veering off track again, Lu Yao stepped in to clarify.

“You’re looking at Jiexiang, a small-person employee from the Hot Spring Inn.”

Liu Jing, Chen You, Ji Linkai, and Gan Qing from the Creative DIY Workshop leaned closer to their screens to get a better look at the seventh store’s employees. They noticed that, in front of the regular staff’s table, there was a smaller seating area with several tiny individuals of varying heights sitting in a row.

[Creative DIY Workshop Chen You]: They all look different—this is way too cute!

Lu Yao then explained to the small-person employees, “This is Ding Qing, a new employee from the Courier Shop. She doesn’t dislike you; she’s just feeling unwell today and couldn’t hold back her hiccups. Can you forgive her?”

The small-person employees, being simple and kind-hearted, blushed upon hearing Lu Yao’s explanation, realizing their earlier reaction was excessive.

Ding Qing lowered her head, her previously agitated emotions slowly settling down.

The four employees from the ninth store and Ding Qing from the tenth store hadn’t yet received the shop’s mobile devices or joined the internal network, making them less familiar with other store employees.

The unique nature of the ninth store meant Lu Yao was wary of potential intrusions into the network by entities like Polaris. After much deliberation, she hadn’t issued phones to those employees.

However, with the Dream Fulfillment System’s return and Lu Yao’s growing mastery of her abilities, combined with Budu’s presence, she felt confident in the shop’s security. She planned to distribute phones to the Ghost Street employees after the meeting.

As for Ding Qing, Lu Yao decided to observe her a little longer since she had only recently joined.

To steer the discussion back on track, Lu Yao quickly explained the mooncake-related plans.

Last year, the Interdimensional Cinema, which opened after the Mid-Autumn Festival, operated on a different time flow from other worlds. By the time they held their Mid-Autumn Festival event, they still caught the tail end of the mooncake gift box craze.

The shopping street’s mooncake gift boxes were also highly popular in Great Wu Dynasty, sparking a wave of enthusiasm.

This year, the shopping street has expanded to include 11 stores, and each store designing its own mooncake would require significant effort and production capacity.

Additionally, it was already the 10th day of the 8th lunar month in Yaoguang City, leaving only a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Apart from a few stores with drastically different time flows, most stores would be busy preparing their activities during this time. Diverting too much energy to mooncake production would overburden the staff.

However, mooncakes are the soul of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and their absence would be deeply felt.

Lu Yao proposed that each store design and produce one type of mooncake. Together with one additional mooncake from the shopping street itself, they would create a 12-piece mooncake gift box representing the street as a whole.

The staff unanimously approved this proposal. Preparing a single mooncake type per store wouldn’t be too demanding in terms of brainstorming, materials, or manpower, nor would it significantly impact activity preparations.

With the mooncakes decided, the essence of the Mid-Autumn Festival was intact. A box of 12 mooncakes, each representing a different world, embodied the spirit and sincerity of the shopping street.

As the proposal passed unanimously, the staff gradually became more focused.

When activity planning resumed, a staff member from the Nail Salon was the first to raise a hand.

[Nail Salon Eugenia]: Store owner, we’ve recently been learning a lot of new things through our phones, including novel nail art designs and event planning techniques. After a thorough discussion among our team of nail artists, we’ve decided to launch six discounted press-on nail designs for the Mooncake Festival: three for daily wear and three for battle scenarios.

When Eugenia first heard about the meeting, she was overwhelmed with anxiety.

Working daily alongside so many extraordinary individuals was already nerve-wracking; now, she would have to speak in front of an even larger audience. She was so anxious that she couldn’t sleep the entire night.

The next day, inspiration struck while she was at the store. She started browsing the internet on her phone and found herself entering a whole new world.

Eugenia had become proficient at using her phone, primarily using it for learning. Her favorite pastime was watching nail art influencers share designs tailored to various seasons and occasions. Inspired by these, she began experimenting with styles incorporating elements from Alexander’s continent.

While researching topics related to the meeting, Eugenia not only familiarized herself with modern meeting protocols but also stumbled upon examples of activity planning. She eagerly shared these findings with her colleagues, sparking discussions and ideas.

[Nail Salon Ambrose]: Daily nail art designs will be handled by Eugenia’s team, while our group will focus on battle nail art.

The Nail Salon had taken in several apprentices, most of whom were human and under Eugenia’s mentorship.

As a seasoned nail artist, Eugenia had developed an exceptional eye for design and honed her skills to perfection, making her one of the most requested artists in the store.

For this collaborative event, Eugenia prepared three distinct daily nail art designs. The length and shape could be tailored to each customer’s needs, while discounts were tiered based on customers’ previous spending habits.

In essence, the higher the customer’s spending tier, the more affordable the discounted nail designs would be.

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