My Co-renting Lady Boss
Chapter 127 - 0127: Cold Drink Association

Chapter 127: Chapter 0127: Cold Drink Association

The bosses discussed for half a day and, motivated by a common interest, they all began to devise schemes.

An hour later, a new idea was hatched; the bosses decided to adopt intimidation and deception tactics. They planned to exploit the public’s fear of causing trouble, to force the Xia Family’s cold drink shop to hand over the recipe for their slimming popsicles.

Once they had the recipe, these bosses could split up and open cold drink shops in other cities. The business prospects were almost unimaginable.

They all began to laugh and dream of their prosperous future, clinking their teacups together, just waiting to strike it rich.

Two days later, on a morning when the shop was short on customers, three menacing-looking men entered the Xia Family’s cold drink shop.

"Who’s the boss here?"

The bald man in a suit, accompanied by two younger men wearing glasses and holding briefcases, started shouting theatrically inside the shop.

The cleaner hastily called into the kitchen, "Sister Xu, someone’s looking for you."

"Oh, I’m coming."

Wei’er’s mom walked out of the kitchen and, seeing the trio, welcomed them with a smile, "What would you three like to have?"

"We’re not here to eat."

The bald man took a business card from his pocket, handed it over, and said, "We’re from the Songlan City Cold Drink Association. There have been frequent incidents of cold drink food safety issues recently, and our association has decided to review all the cold drink shops in the city. If the hygiene and other conditions meet the standards, you can join the association and avoid a lot of trouble in the future."

"Oh, that’s great; our shop may be small, but our environment and hygiene are second to none. All our ingredients are purchased from official markets, and we definitely don’t make any unsanitary or subpar cold drinks."

Wei’er’s mom, not very wary, naturally assumed it was an official inspection when she heard it was from some city association.

"Shall we begin the inspection?"

The bald man asked in a staged manner.

"Sure, you can look however you want. I guarantee there are no fakes. Everything we sell here is the real deal," said Wei’er’s mom, smiling.

The bald man and his two associates walked around the shop but found nothing unusual. Moreover, the Xia Family’s cold drink shop used all standard products with no low-quality or counterfeit goods.

After inspecting for about fifteen minutes, the bald man spoke up, "All right, the environmental cleanliness is very nice. However, since we’re from the Cold Drink Association, all members must share their information, including any special recipes. Take the popular yogurt cake, for instance; its recipe has already been made public by the association, so all members can know and even produce it for sale in their own shops, which can significantly boost business."

"Yogurt cake?"

Wei’er’s mom recalled customers mentioning it as quite delicious, so she happily said, "Sure, my shop only sells what’s common in most cold drink shops. Everyone knows the recipes. But I’ve modified some of them, and I believe sharing these will help to add more flavors to everyone’s cold drinks."

As soon as the bald man heard Wei’er’s mom agreed, he smiled inwardly, blandly suggesting, "I hear that your slimming popsicles have been selling like hotcakes lately. That recipe should be shared among everyone, right?"

"The slimming popsicle?"

Wei’er’s mom’s face suddenly turned pale, as she had forgotten about this particular product. She shook her head and hurriedly said:

"No, that recipe can’t be made public."

"No? Don’t you want to join our Cold Drink Association?"

The bald man was annoyed; he had thought she was easy to deceive but didn’t expect her to change her mind so quickly. It was like turning pages of a book.

In fact, the slimming popsicle was formulated by Tang Ming, and neither Xia Wei’er nor her mother knew the recipe. They had never treated it as their own creation, so when the bald man mentioned sharing the recipes, Wei’er’s mom didn’t think about the slimming popsicle. But now that the bald man had singled it out, Wei’er’s mom knew nothing about the recipe. How could she possibly provide it?

"Of course, I want to join your association, but I really can’t provide that recipe."

Wei’er’s mom said with a troubled expression.

"Hmph."

The bald man, seeing that the soft approach wasn’t working, began to threaten, "Let me tell you, the Cold Drink Association is responsible for the review of all cold drink shops in the city. This is a special right given by the city. Didn’t you see the problem with the popsicles from the shop across the street? That’s why we need to strengthen the safety review of food products. Your slimming popsicles and the ones sold across the street have the same name, so it’s very likely that they too may be problematic. We must review your recipe to check for any harmful ingredients. After we confirm there are no issues, we will allow you to continue selling these slimming popsicles. Otherwise, we won’t let your shop stay open for business."

"It’s impossible for these proprietary recipes to be made public. I’ve never heard of any food shop exposing their own secret recipes. I won’t agree to this."

First, Wei’er’s mom did not know the recipe, and second, she understood what the slimming popsicle meant for their family, so she firmly decided not to agree.

The bald man sternly said, "This is to promote the development of the cold drink industry and for everyone to learn new product manufacturing methods. Other shops have now disclosed their recipes. If you don’t believe me, you can ask the cold drink parlor diagonally across the street."

"But I can’t disclose this recipe," Wei’er’s mom replied, somewhat convinced by his words but still troubled.

"Can’t disclose it? You better think about it carefully," the bald man threatened. "If you refuse to reveal the recipe, we will put your shop on the association’s blacklist, announce to the public that your cold drinks do not meet the hygiene standards and have failed our association’s inspection. This will make the evening news, and it’ll also appear in newspaper announcements. If that happens, your shop will lose all its customers, and your business will plummet. Think it over."

After saying this, the bald man left with a sneer, followed by the two men with glasses.

Watching them leave, Wei’er’s mom didn’t know what to do. She wanted to disclose the recipe, but she didn’t know it. It made no sense to demand Tang Ming to reveal it to her—wouldn’t that be taking advantage and asking for more?

For a moment, Wei’er’s mom found herself in a quandary...

That evening, the cold drink shop was still bustling, but Wei’er’s mom looked listless and mechanically sold the cold drink popsicles until Xia Wei’er finished school. Only then did she find someone to confide in. She opened up to her daughter, "Wei’er, today some people from the Cold Drink Association came to the shop. They wanted us to disclose the recipe for the slimming popsicles. They even said that if we don’t agree, they’ll claim we are unqualified and run advertisements against us."