CHAPTER 7: Persona Collapse Rate: 7%

◎ Shaking Up the Rich Wives’ Circle ◎

“…”

That response was clearly not what Yu Yuezhi expected.

Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth several times, but couldn’t get a word out.

The three madams instantly perked up, eyes full of gossip.

Back when Qin Yangyang had tearfully insisted on marrying Ji Jingxiu, now just a few days into their marriage, what on earth had happened to make her change so drastically?

Faced with their curious stares, Qin Yangyang simply smiled and looked at Yu Yuezhi, whose face was flushed red.

Yu Yuezhi might look proud and willful, but in truth, she was incredibly naive.

Now that all her verbal jabs had landed on cotton, her face turned an even deeper shade of red.

“You’re just showing off—trying to get under my skin!”

With that, she grabbed her bag and stormed off angrily.

Yu Yuezhi hadn’t really been welcome here to begin with. Once she left, the others didn’t react much.

Qin Yangyang smiled and took the opportunity to say, “Since this is my first time attending, I brought a little something for everyone.”

She opened a suitcase she’d brought from home and took out several frog-shaped lanterns.

The round, chubby little frogs had lotus leaves on their heads, and if you looked closely, you could even see dew drops clinging to them.

She pressed a switch, and a warm, golden glow lit up from inside, instantly tugging at everyone’s heartstrings.

Their eyes lit up at once.

“I’ve seen this before! It was a prize from your amusement park event.”

“It’s really cute!”

Qin Yangyang nodded lightly. “I designed it myself. The mascot costume I wore in the video is now officially contracted with LK Group and will represent Dreamland Amusement Park. These lanterns are the first batch of products. I hope you like them.”

Hearing this, the women were even more shocked.

“You can design things?!”

“That’s amazing!”

The three ladies had all quit their jobs after getting married and were now full-time housewives.

Their daily lives revolved around eating, shopping, and socializing.

Everyone else in their circle was the same.

So hearing that Qin Yangyang was still working made them admire her even more. Their tone also became noticeably warmer.

“We were at your wedding with President Ji, but we left early and didn’t even stay for the evening party. I heard it was super lively.”

The moment someone brought this up, the ladies lit up with excitement again.

They’d heard that the music and lights at the Ji residence party had gone on till dawn, and the place had been buzzing with energy.

Several women looked at Qin Yangyang with envy.

Young people really were different—throwing a party on the very first day of their wedding.

Mrs. Li curiously shook the lantern in her hand and asked, “Yangyang, which team did you hire? My husband’s 50th birthday is coming up, and I’d love to throw a lively party for him.”

Qin Yangyang opened her wallet and pulled out Xiaobai’s business card.

“This one.”

The three women leaned in to look—and immediately widened their eyes.

Shocked.

Confused.

In disbelief.

“White… Dragon Club?”

Everyone in Linhai City knew that White Dragon Club was a famous male dance hall.

This was the party Qin Yangyang threw?

Qin Yangyang remained calm and composed.

“Five hundred yuan per hour, tips not included. Pole dancing, boy group dancing, ancient-style dancing—they do it all.”

The women’s eyes widened even further, their expressions like they’d swallowed a fly.

“You actually hired men to dance in your house?!”

“And you hired twenty of them!”

Hiss—

President Ji’s new wife was wild!

This kind of thing—they wouldn’t even dare to imagine it.

“Aren’t you afraid President Ji will be angry?”

Although they were all well-off ladies from high society, with no worries about food or clothing, they were essentially delicate flowers kept by their husbands—obedient and docile, never daring to upset them.

But Qin Yangyang, on her very first day of marriage, brought twenty beefy men to dance at home. It was practically like wreaking havoc in Heaven.

Qin Yangyang smiled lightly.

“Live joyfully while you can.”

The three madams stared, eyes wide, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads, instantly sobered. The way they looked at Qin Yangyang was now filled with awe and admiration.

“What about their housekeeper?”

A housekeeper that big—surely he wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing?

“He watched it with me.”

“……”

They were stunned again, unable to recover for a long while.

Qin Yangyang stood up.

“It’s about time, I’ll head off now. See you next time.”

With that, she waved and turned to get into her car.

Looking back through the window, the three madams were still standing there dazed, frozen in place.

Qin Yangyang thought: I just love giving these young madams a little shock.

Back home, the housekeeper was already waiting expectantly at the door.

“Madam, how did it go with the others?”

Qin Yangyang thought for a moment.

“Everything went smoothly.”

The housekeeper let out a sigh of relief.

Ji Jingxiu had a cold personality and didn’t like interacting with others, so the Ji residence had never had a good relationship with the neighbors.

Now that Qin Yangyang had arrived, those frozen neighborly ties finally had a chance to thaw.

He could almost imagine the harmonious neighborhood vibe returning.

The next day, when the housekeeper stepped out and bumped into Mrs. Li from next door, he went over to greet her.

But as soon as she saw him, her face changed drastically and she fled in a panic.

The housekeeper was confused.

Why was this so different from what I imagined?

——

The day after attending the wives’ get-together, Qin Heping gave her a call.

Since they cleared the air last time, the relationship between him and Qin Yangyang had steadily improved. He called often now.

He had always doted on his daughter and agreed to anything she asked. As soon as he heard she was looking for a job, he immediately arranged one for her.

“The supermarket just got a new batch of cat food. Don’t you have a cat? Come help me check it out.”

Ever since adopting Zhaocai, Qin Yangyang had been posting it on her social media, though the response was always lukewarm. Only Qin Heping consistently gave her likes.

Qin Heping had a high opinion of Zhaocai:

“I think this cat is great. It has a face that says ‘I don’t care whether you live or die.’”

Qin Yangyang nodded.

Didn’t care whether others lived or died.

The “alive” one was her, and the “dead” one was Ji Jingxiu.

Lately, every time Zhaocai appeared in front of Ji Jingxiu, the aloof CEO would keep a straight face, but Qin Yangyang would always receive system rewards.

The amount wasn’t huge—but small profits added up.

Qin Heping’s business was in supermarket chains, with four or five branches across the country. In the early days, they did well, but in the past two years, competition had become fierce and revenues plummeted.

This Si Yan Supermarket was the worst-performing one.

And it was the closest to Qin Yangyang.

Due to years of losses, it couldn’t hold on much longer and was set to close soon.

Qin Heping had her come over mainly to give her something to do and bond as father and daughter.

After all, every product in Si Yan Supermarket had already passed multiple levels of quality control. There was no real need for additional checks.

Qin Yangyang immediately saw through his intentions—but still agreed.

The next day, she packed up her things and headed out with Zhaocai.

Qin Yangyang had always found this supermarket a bit odd.

The location was great—close to commercial areas and residential neighborhoods with high foot traffic. The store had a full inventory, and the prices were reasonable. By all logic, it should’ve been raking in profits. So why was it on the verge of shutting down?

Once she walked inside, the answer was obvious.

The product displays, shelf arrangements, and overall style were completely outdated. Instead of attracting customers, it was practically driving them away.

Just grabbing a bottle of water felt like overcoming a series of obstacles.

The dull, lifeless decor made people want to leave the moment they stepped in.

This supermarket had been opened by Qin Heping twenty years ago. Back then, customers only cared about the products themselves and paid little attention to interior aesthetics.

But in recent years, big supermarkets had popped up like mushrooms after the rain—diverse and full of creative ideas.

Si Yan Supermarket had remained stuck in the past, refusing to adapt. It was no wonder business was failing.

She sat there for half a day, and the total number of customers didn’t even exceed five. A few employees sat at the cashier shooing flies.

Empty aisles, bleak business.

Qin Yangyang looked around and called the staff over.

“Let’s temporarily close the shop. We’ll all work together to reorganize the store.”

In her past life, she had helped many supermarkets design promotional posters, so she’d seen her fair share of successful cases and had heard about the key factors behind them.

The shop assistants all looked glum.

“Isn’t that too much trouble? Boss Qin said this store is going to close soon anyway.”

“Yeah, it’s too late to do anything now. If it were that easy, we would’ve done it already.”

They remained seated, unmoving.

This branch was already set to close, and Qin Heping had begun looking for new tenants to rent the space out. As a result, starting from a few months ago, they had all more or less entered a “let-it-rot” mode, just waiting for the store to shut down.

The employees were all middle-aged. Before she came, Qin Heping had specifically reminded her that these staff members had been with him since the start of his business and had worked at Siyen Supermarket for twenty years. She was to maintain a good relationship with these veteran employees.

They should’ve had deep feelings for the store, but right now, they just looked disinterested.

Qin Yangyang turned to look at the supermarket behind her and said:

“My dad told me that you’ve been working here since the day this store opened. You’ve witnessed its bustling glory days. Now that it’s hit a low point and is on the verge of shutting down, don’t you want to see it flourish again?”

Hearing this, the employees smiled bitterly.

“It’s not that we don’t want to—it’s that we can’t.”

Back when Siyen Supermarket first started going downhill, they’d noticed right away and made changes immediately, from the store’s layout to the product selection. But the more they changed, the worse business got. Fewer and fewer customers came.

Panicked, they reverted the renovations and product lineup back to how it was, but the sales still continued to plummet.

In the end, all they could do was accept reality.

Truthfully, watching the store decline and inch toward closure was just as hard for them.

Qin Heping had said that after this store closed, he would transfer them elsewhere with no pay cuts. But this was where they had worked for twenty years. They had built emotional ties—they didn’t want to leave so easily.

But what could they do?

“It’s no use. We’ve tried changing things five or six times. Nothing worked. Besides, the store’s about to shut down, and a renovation would cost a fortune.”

Qin Yangyang smiled, her eyes gleaming with confidence.

“How will we know it won’t work unless we try? Besides, we don’t need a full renovation. Just a few adjustments will do.”

The two of them looked shocked.

They had assumed that “adjustments” meant a full remodel.

The store was practically destined to close—investing in renovations now would be throwing money into a black hole. But if it didn’t require full remodeling, then maybe… maybe it was worth trying.

Seeing their wavering expressions, Qin Yangyang pressed on:

“Let’s give it one last shot before the store shuts down. Who knows, we might just witness a miracle.”

The two looked at each other. They didn’t want to just sit back and watch the supermarket they’d worked at for twenty years go under. Gritting their teeth, they finally nodded.

“Alright! Miss Qin, tell us what to do—we’ll cooperate!”

The supermarket doors were quickly shut, with a “Temporarily Closed” sign hung up.

Holding a sketch, Qin Yangyang began rearranging the shelves by category, organizing them according to purchase frequency. The maze-like layout from before was eliminated, making items easy to see and grab at a glance.

She designated the most prominent area as a special offer zone, complete with brightly colored signs to catch shoppers’ attention.

Old, outdated decorations were taken down and replaced with quirky, fun displays, complemented by bright lighting—transforming grocery shopping into a pleasant experience.

The team worked nonstop the entire day, only finishing when night had fully fallen.

The employees stared in disbelief at the transformed store. Qin Yangyang hadn’t moved a single brick or touched the walls, yet the whole place had undergone a dramatic change.

“Is this really our supermarket?”

It looked completely different!

Under the bright lights, the neatly categorized shelves were filled with a wide variety of products, all clearly visible at a glance.

Adorable, colorful cartoon signs peeked out from between the shelves, blending harmoniously with the themed displays. The once dull and lifeless supermarket now felt like a whimsical fantasy forest.

There was a play area for kids and a cozy rest zone for customers—both cleverly integrated into the layout.

In the beginning, everyone had their doubts.

Qin Yangyang was young, pampered like a princess by Qin Heping, used to having everything done for her. She had never managed a supermarket before. Could she really turn this failing store around in just one day?

But the results were now right before their eyes.

She could.

And she could do it well.

Looking at the completely transformed supermarket, everyone’s spirits lifted. Hope began to stir.

“Do you think Siyen Supermarket can bounce back now?”

Qin Yangyang simply replied:

“It still needs one more spark.”

The store had been in decline for three to four years. Its bad reputation had already spread in the neighborhood. Without some kind of major stimulus, no customers would willingly walk in.

She could use the knowledge from her past life to redesign the layout, create a more customer-friendly experience, and cater to modern tastes—

But as for how to get people through the doors?

She was at a loss.

When the others heard this, their joy was instantly dampened, and they returned to looking glum.

“I wonder if we’ll even get the chance before the place shuts down.”

Qin Yangyang wasn’t sure either. All she could do was wait and test it for a month. If things still didn’t improve, she’d find another solution.

What she didn’t expect was—

The opportunity came the very next day.