My Co-renting Lady Boss
Chapter 126 - 0126: Knockoff Slimming Ice Pops

Chapter 126: Chapter 0126: Knockoff Slimming Ice Pops

Watching the business in his shop get worse day by day, with the staff idly swatting flies all day long, Boss Lei was fuming at heart. Seeing the stream of customers at the shop across from his, he threw his cigarette butt to the ground and cursed vehemently, "Damn it, just watch me deal with you."

That very afternoon, Boss Lei called up the other franchise owners to arrange a meeting. Inside a teahouse, they started with casual greetings and boastful chatter, but soon Lei steered the conversation towards the issue of dealing with the Xia Family ice cream shop.

"Old Lei, you can’t handle a shop that’s just a few dozen square meters? You run a four-story professional ice cream parlor that has every variety under the sun, including the latest ice cream flavors from abroad, right? How is it possible that you can’t do better business than a tiny family workshop?"

A man in his thirties, decked out in gold rings and chains, said with disbelief.

"Exactly, our franchise has a pretty solid brand, and we have a complete range of flavors. The rest of us are making money hand over fist elsewhere, our businesses are doing incredibly well, how could you possibly invest millions and not make a profit?"

Said a bald businessman with a laugh.

With a troubled expression, Boss Lei responded, "You don’t know the situation. That small shop doesn’t have as many varieties as mine and the flavors are much inferior. Not to mention the quality of their ingredients, which naturally can’t compete with mine. But that shop has a type of diet ice pop that my shop doesn’t have, and the only reason her business is so booming is because of these diet ice pops."

"Diet ice pops? What are those? Does she make them herself?"

The bald man asked curiously, as he had never heard of such a thing before.

"Yes, a lot of people go to her shop specifically for the diet ice pops. I sent one of my female employees to buy one to try, and indeed, it was very effective. The next day, that employee’s complexion improved significantly. Now she sneaks over to buy one every day to eat, and she’s noticeably prettier than before. Even her slightly chubby body began to show a figure; you can’t help but believe it."

Lei sighed with a pained look on his face.

"Can it actually cause weight loss? But the kind of diet ice pop you’re talking about, I bet it’s just something that causes diarrhea after eating, like a laxative. There’s nothing magical about that."

After hearing this, the bald man laughed disdainfully, "Aren’t those weight-loss teas and pills just laxatives? The more you go, the thinner you get!"

The others nodded in agreement, and then they began to discuss plans. After a long discussion, they concluded that the diet ice pops were nothing more than laxative-laced treats designed to taste good enough that people couldn’t tell. After eating them, frequent trips to the bathroom ensued, naturally resulting in a weight-loss and detox effect.

Hearing everyone’s opinions, Boss Lei also had a few ideas. When he got back to his shop, he quickly had his chefs start making ice pops with laxatives that tasted quite good. But to be safe, Lei still had the female staff at the store try them first.

Sure enough, after eating the laxative-laced ice pops, the salesgirls noticed a significant improvement in their complexions and started losing weight visibly. This excited Lei to no end, thinking he’d found the key to success.

After the successful trial, the ice cream parlor also started selling diet ice pops. Not only were they priced at just forty yuan, but to fight the Xia Family’s ice cream shop, they even gave out additional items with the purchase. Instantly, the parlor snatched away most of the Xia Family’s business.

But the celebration was short-lived. A major incident soon erupted with the diet ice pops at the ice cream parlor—three customers’ family members came to confront them after their relatives fainted from diarrhea in the bathroom and had to be hospitalized!

Consequently, the families caused quite an uproar, threatening to sue the ice cream parlor until it went out of business unless they received compensation!

This left Lei in shock. Not wanting his investment to go down the drain, he hastily compensated the protesting families to make them leave. However, the word had already spread, and customers no longer dared to try his diet ice pops. They all rushed back to the Xia Family’s ice cream shop; it turns out there’s no such thing as a cheap bargain!

Inside the ice cream parlor, after closing the doors, Lei erupted in a rage. The incident of customers getting sick was already making waves, detrimental for the business. But at the moment, the main priority was to determine the cause of the issue.

Before long, a staff member who had been sent out to gather information returned. He was a young man in his twenties, with a rather astute appearance.

Anxious, Boss Lei immediately inquired, "Xiao Yang, how did the investigation go? Was it our diet ice pops that made people sick, or did someone deliberately sabotage me?"

"Boss, I’ve checked, and it’s true that there’s a problem with our diet popsicles."

Xiao Yang thought about it and decided to tell the truth.

"Oh? No one in our store had any problems after eating them, so why did those three guys get sick?"

Manager Lei asked discontentedly.

"Boss, the diet popsicles contain a laxative. If you eat just one a day, it really shouldn’t affect you, but those three guys were too greedy. They ate several at once, some even seven or eight. So with that amount of medicine, their bodies naturally couldn’t handle it."

Xiao Yang explained, scratching his head.

"Damn it, that’s their own fault. Can you eat that many and not expect trouble?"

Manager Lei cursed.

"But boss, their families have taken one of the diet popsicles to be tested and found laxative ingredients in it. If you don’t compensate them, they will definitely sue us. By then, our refreshment stand won’t be able to operate anymore."

Xiao Yang voiced his concerns.

"Alright, we’ve already compensated, so let’s just forget it. Now, go get me a diet popsicle from the store across the way for a test. If it contains a laxative, get someone to expose them directly, so they can’t do business either."

Manager Lei was furious, naturally shifting his anger towards the Xia Family Refreshment Stand.

The next morning, bright and early, Manager Lei arrived at the store and directly approached Xiao Yang to ask about the situation.

"How are things going?"

Manager Lei asked as he passed over a cigarette.

Xiao Yang accepted the cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and said, "Boss, the diet popsicles from their store don’t have laxative ingredients. This could be tricky."

"What? No laxative? They really do have a unique formula."

Manager Lei asked with disbelief,

"Did they figure out the formula when they tested it?"

"How could that be possible?"

Xiao Yang replied exasperatedly, "Boss, lab tests can only detect certain specific ingredients, they can’t possibly reveal the formula. We should think of some other solution."

It was the same teahouse as before, where Manager Lei and several other store owners were discussing the issue again.

After explaining the situation, the other store owners were somewhat surprised. Could there really be a popsicle with a unique diet formula? If it truly had significant effects and was harmless to the human body, then the value of these diet popsicles would be immense, potentially bringing enormous profits to everyone present!