Chapter 21: The 21st Day of Livestream Selling
When Lin Zhao said he was resting, he was truly resting.
No livestreaming.
No packing.
Because…
College students were on winter break.
He posted the recruitment notice at the door, and relying on word of mouth from the aunties and uncles who passed by during their morning and evening walks, he recruited a large amount of “cheap” labor. Aunties and uncles might not have much spending power, but they were truly capable of calling people over. Lin Zhao had not even had time to post it on a certain direct-hiring app before all the positions were filled.
Of course, this “cheap” was only relative to formal employees. From the perspective of temporary workers doing part-time jobs during winter and summer vacation, Boss Lin was far too good and far too generous.
Because in an eighteenth-tier southern small city like Jiangzuo, the hourly wage for making milk tea at a milk tea shop was only 8 to 14 yuan. At KFC, McDonald’s, or Pizza Hut, the hourly wage was also only 12 to 16 yuan. In other words, even if one worked two shifts in a day, exhausted to death for eight hours, one could at most earn 128 yuan. Some smaller shops even required more than ten hours of work a day, but only paid one hundred yuan.
Boss Lin, on the other hand, started at two hundred yuan a day,* from ten in the morning to five in the afternoon, with paid weekends off.
Lin Zhao had originally wanted to offer an even higher wage. After all, he truly felt that packing work was very tiring. But Qin Xiaoman and 1114 joined forces to persuade him against it. Jiangzuo’s average monthly salary was not even three thousand, and the wage Lin Zhao offered was already so high it made him look like a sucker.
Offering more would not exactly ruin the market, but it would attract some people’s jealousy and sabotage.
Do not underestimate this kind of inexplicable malice. They really would gradually push their luck and sincerely develop an unprecedented possessiveness over your money, believing that your refusal meant you owed them.
“In the village next to my dad’s hometown, if the scallions you planted are sturdier than someone else’s, they might get pulled out in the middle of the night. I’m not saying this kind of thing will definitely happen, but our current ability to withstand risk still isn’t strong enough, you get me? We can raise the benefits for formal employees later.” Having delivered food for so long, Qin Xiaoman felt he had quite a right to speak on the many states of human life.
The smaller the place, the less one could show wealth.
Lin Zhao also agreed with this consideration. In the end, he compromised to at least providing meals, reimbursing transportation fees, and letting them eat the snacks in the supermarket freely.
In fact, calculated this way, the “snack workers” could still earn seven or eight thousand yuan a month, higher than what Qin Xiaoman’s sister earned after working at the cannery for so many years. If not for the large order commissions coming from Lin Zhao and her younger brother recently, and if she had not been promoted into factory management with a promising future ahead, Qin Lixia really would have wanted to ask Boss Lin whether he still lacked employees. Their whole family was willing to swear loyalty unto death.
Mm. After hearing about the benefits Lin Zhao offered, Sister Qin said to her younger brother, “You’re not training potential future formal employees for the company. You’re training death warriors.”
At least the few college students who came to work temporarily at Lin Zhao’s place sincerely felt that Boss Lin and Third Boss Qin were especially good.
System 1114 was Second Boss.
They worked especially hard, their clear eyes full of seriousness. One short-haired girl would even voluntarily check all the packed boxes and inventory once more before getting off work every day. She worked rigorously and methodically.
Qin Xiaoman was so moved that he wanted to ask when she would graduate, and whether she would consider returning to her hometown Jiangzuo for work after graduation. Would she like to take a look at their Pingtu Youcongmu Electronic Trading Company? He felt they had quite a future.
Mm, Lin Zhao’s company name was exactly this: Pingtu Youcongmu. “On level ground, there are clusters of trees; this is called lin,” quoted from Shuowen Jiezi. 1114 had named it back then. It had originally wanted to call it Diligence Brings Wealth, or Lin Group, but Lin Zhao disagreed. Lin Zhao wanted to call it Lie Flat Technology, or Sit and Wait for Coins, but the industry and commerce administration’s review did not agree.
Thus, “Pingtu Youcongmu,” the most ordinary option, came into being.
Its full name was Pingtu Youcongmu Electronic Import and Export Trading Co., Ltd.
To this day, no one could say this tongue twister clearly.
In short, this way, Lin Zhao no longer needed to worry that anyone would discover the secret of him and 1114 transporting things out of thin air, because these college students did not have that many twists and turns in their minds. When it was time to get off work, they would definitely happily go home. Even if the boss was still there, they would only say, “Bro, I’m heading out first. You’ve worked hard,” then ride their little electric scooters home, happily thinking to themselves that they were truly amazing, already adults who knew how to speak social niceties.
After the snack workers could basically operate independently, Lin Zhao seized the time to do the most important thing to him—take the beginner body restoration potion.
He did not recklessly use it on his whole family right away. Only after carefully studying all the instructions did he first test it on himself like a lab mouse.
One tube down…
And he almost died in his little three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment.
In the first thirty seconds after it entered his mouth, Lin Zhao only felt that the potion was cool, carrying a trace of freshness similar to mint and grass after rain. It did not have the bitterness or strange taste he had expected. The potion slid smoothly down his throat, leaving behind lines of gentle, spreading coolness wherever it passed.
Immediately afterward, this coolness turned into a burning sensation that spread from his stomach to all his limbs and bones. He felt his body become extremely heavy and exhausted, and uncontrollably fell headfirst onto the soft bed.
At this step, Lin Zhao had still been somewhat prepared. He had drunk the potion while sitting directly on the bed. When he fell, there was a spring mattress and memory pillow to support him, so there was no need to worry about injuries from falling or anything like that.
But once his body was forced into deep repair because of the medicine’s effect, it was no longer so pleasant.
Although he had mentally prepared himself, it was obvious that his preparation was still not enough.
The temperature on the surface of his body rapidly soared. Every joint in his body felt as though it were about to be shattered and reassembled. The potion urged his immune system and the terminal illness inside his body to immediately launch a fierce one-on-one battle. No greeting, no preparation, just like white blood cells meeting an influenza virus: fight if unconvinced. Either burn the virus to death or burn the host to death. In any case, one of them had to die!
Holding to this decisive killing principle of “whoever backs down is a coward,” the potion opened and closed its attacks grandly inside Lin Zhao’s body, killing its way in and out seven times.
And the most painful part was that he remained in a half-dreaming, half-awake state the entire time. He could clearly perceive this life-or-death efficient war happening inside his own body.
Lin Zhao’s breathing deepened unconsciously, his heartbeat thunderous. His senses of smell and taste became abnormally sensitive. His entire perception system was temporarily strengthened and magnified several times.
Aside from the fight with the terminal illness, Lin Zhao could also clearly feel that his bones, worn down for many years and already beginning to loosen, were being welded back together bit by bit. His muscles, stiff and torn for so long, were being forcefully untangled. Even his internal organs, blood vessels, and the meridians throughout his body felt like clogged rivers being powerfully dredged open.
That sour, refreshing pain—whoever experienced it would understand. It was no less intense than an athlete’s post-competition stretching and tendon rolling.
Only after a full two hours did the restoration potion finally sound the retreat.
Lin Zhao was finally freed, reborn anew. His back had been completely soaked through with sweat, but his entire body had a lightness like someone recovering from a serious illness. Without comparison, he would never have known how heavy and exhausted his previous body had been. Those subtle pains he had never paid attention to had also been swept away like old illness, leaving only the faint tingling of healing.
His body clearly transmitted a signal of “getting better.”
Even with every breath he took, Lin Zhao felt as though he could obtain more oxygen. It was quickly delivered into more vibrant, unobstructed blood vessels. His heartbeat became steady and powerful, his nerve endings reconnected, as if even his genes had been refreshed and reorganized.
Just as the instruction manual said: the most precious thing the beginner body restoration potion gave its user was not a completely healthy body, but the ability and hope for the body to once again “run at full speed toward recovery along the correct track.” He could clearly, orderly, and personally perceive the reboot of his life system.
Lin Zhao was not sure whether the disease that had already been diagnosed as terminal had been eradicated, but at the very least, he felt it could be rediagnosed from late stage back to early stage, or even merely showing partial signs.
This was, after all, a beginner restoration potion. Lin Zhao could not hope for more. In fact, the current result was already unbelievable. What his doctor had sentenced him to death for was a terminal illness in which his genes were gradually collapsing. It was not even incurable in the usual sense—it was a complicated and difficult disease that gave one nowhere to start.
And yet after one tube of potion, more than half of it had improved. No side effects. No need for several hours. The only price he had to pay was two hours of bearable pain.
Oh, and 240,000 RMB.
Enough for Lin Zhao and Kaman’s Mechanic to buy another dozen basic transport robot modules.
No matter what, Lin Zhao still felt this deal was very worthwhile. At the very least, he felt his life was much more expensive than 240,000 yuan. Besides, this money was more or less the gift tips “Shitty Boss Will Drop Dead Sooner or Later” had given him during this period. Of course, this was the amount after platform commission and taxes.
How to put it? He was truly grateful to the number-one boss for supporting his health.
Next…
“You finally remembered to maintain your relationship with the boss?” 1114 was very happy. After scanning and checking its host’s body, reaching the conclusion that Lin Zhao was unprecedentedly healthy, without even the small problems brought by staying up late, it quickly began caring about other matters regarding its host—such as his unmotivated career ambition.
Lin Zhao’s maintenance of the number-one boss was basically equivalent to none.
Aside from saying thank you and privately, tactfully advising the boss to act within his means, he had no contact with Boss Bro at all.
Of course, from Lin Zhao’s point of view, this was not entirely his problem. “Listen to my sophistry—no, I mean, Boss Bro is simply a naturally silent person.” He only consumed and did not speak. He looked like the kind of successful person who was concise, to the point, and extremely busy. Of course Lin Zhao could not delay the boss from striving upward, right? If the boss stopped earning money, where would he go to support him? Not that he meant that.
1114 nodded thoughtfully, feeling that what Lin Zhao said also made sense.
“So, why can’t you chat a few more lines with your future partner?” On the imperial mothership, Adjutant Carlos was also asking his unlucky superior. At a time like this, could he stop putting on airs, bro? He truly worried himself sick over this stubborn, childish, lonely friend of his.
“W-what partner? What kind of words are those? He and I are merely rather congenial…” The superior’s little face flushed bright red.
“Good. Then why have you still not taken action toward the benefactor who is rather fated with you? Is it because you don’t want to?” Carlos had never expected that one day, the scope of his work would include personally teaching his superior how to pursue someone step by step.
Only after quite a while did His Highness Reinhardt say, “I don’t know what to say.”
“?”
If he said hello, he feared it would seem frivolous. If he said “I feel you’re a little thin, you should buy more delicious food,” he feared it would sound too paternalistic. If he said “the first time I saw you, I felt you were very special,” that would only make people think he was a greasy man, right?
It was not that Reinhardt did not want to speak. It was precisely because he wanted to say too much that he instead did not know where to begin. He thought of ten thousand possible phrases, and had ten thousand reasons to reject them.
He always felt that no matter how much he said, it was not as practical as directly giving money.
Adjutant Carlos did not understand.
Adjutant Carlos was greatly shocked: never in a million years did he expect that with such an aggressively handsome face and such a tall carnivorous physique, this guy was actually fucking pursuing pure love.
Author’s Note:
Nonsense Mini Theater:
Reinhardt: Don’t worry about it. I have my own rhythm!
Regarding hourly wages for part-time work, I’m also not sure whether the information I found is correct. In any case, the story will follow my setting. My Jiangzuo, my rules. Not really.
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