The End of the Universe Is Live-Streaming E-commerce – CH40

Chapter 40: The 40th Day of Livestream Selling

Qingzhou City, Congshi Town.

Inside the renovation workshop of Kongfang Winery, Director Kong wore an ill-fitting khaki jacket. In just the past few months, he had lost dozens of jin, and the clothes that once fit him now hung loose on his body. While wiping away sweat, he carefully inspected the steam pipes in the workshop. Amid a thin layer of cold mist carrying the scent of metal and old wood, he repeatedly prayed to Mazu, hoping this business deal would go through.

In fact, two days ago, he had just prayed once.

It had been a sacred divination cup.

When Director Kong lifted his eyes again from the shrine, he saw his eldest daughter walking in with two young men. She introduced the better-looking young man, the one accompanied by a round drone, as Boss Lin from the neighboring city, who was interested in opening a winery.

Boss Lin was the better-looking of the two young men, and clearly the one who called the shots.

He seemed very interested in investing in a winery. He also, rare as it was, had no objection to Director Kong writing the condition “old employees cannot be dismissed unless they have committed wrongdoing” into the transfer contract. The negotiation went smoothly. The only slightly strange request was that he wanted to develop some new kind of wine, so he asked to first use the factory’s equipment for a trial run.

Of course, it would be a paid trial.

If the wine was successfully brewed, they would sign the transfer contract on the spot. If it failed, he would still pay Kongfang Winery a site rental fee and compensation for lost work. He might even purchase a batch of the existing white liquor inventory.

Seeing how straightforward the other party was, Director Kong naturally was not the sort of person to make things difficult either. He said that if the contract was successfully signed, then this trial would not cost anything. Using one’s own machines to brew one’s own wine—how could he charge a fee for that? In addition, he said that all the factory’s existing inventory would also be left to the other party for free.

Both sides were very satisfied, which made Boss Kong place even greater importance on this brewing trial.

Before dawn had fully broken, Director Kong had already ridden his electric scooter to the factory. Together with the workers he had temporarily called back to help, he checked the condition of every piece of equipment one by one. Then, he noticed some strange yellow talisman papers pasted onto the machines.

“What are you all doing?” Director Kong was startled. He himself was a superstitious person, but even he did not think they needed to go this far just to sell the factory.

“It was President Lin’s request. He said it was for safety or something,” someone answered.

Oh, oh. Then it was fine. People who did business were all superstitious. A little superstition was good. The more solemn the other party was about this, the more it showed he was serious.

The unease in Director Kong’s heart finally settled a little. He rubbed his wrinkled hands together and patted the familiar saccharification kettle and fermentation tanks. He hoped these new partners, which had only been replaced a few years ago, could show some spirit and satisfy the new boss, allowing him to take over the whole factory so everyone would not lose their jobs.

“Boss, how is the boss lady’s health…” The master brewer’s surname was Huang. He had been here since the winery was first established.

Director Kong let out a long sigh. “Still the same. We’ll take it slowly.” Last year, his wife had fallen seriously ill. A terminal illness. This was also one of the reasons he had no choice but to sell the factory. He needed more time and energy to care for her, and he also needed cash that was not tied up in the factory’s accounts so he could take his wife to a big city for treatment.

“I heard an expert came to Jiangzuo this year,” Master Huang said. That was the real point he had brought this up today. “Specializes in treating genetic diseases. Why don’t you go give it a try? My nephew’s wife happens to be a nurse at the hospital over there.”

Boss Kong once again thought of that sacred divination cup from the other day, the one that had signified everything would go smoothly.

Then they did not continue chatting, because Lin Zhao’s car had arrived. Outside the factory gate, the tall Qin Xiaoman came in first through the half-open side door and waved warmly at the two of them. “Uncle Kong, Uncle Huang, good morning. No need to come over. I can open the gate myself.”

He moved briskly and opened the gate bolt. He pushed open only half of it, which was already enough to let in the Mercedes that had left such a deep impression on Director Kong.

The factory yard was large, so the car could be parked anywhere.

Director Kong could not help glancing at it a few more times. It was the model his son had desperately wanted a few years ago. Ever since his mother fell ill last year, he had never mentioned it again.

This car definitely was not Lin Zhao’s own. To be precise, he rarely even went downstairs, and he barely drove his own electric car either. It was Qin Xiaoman who had reminded him that when going out to discuss business, a car was a person’s face. Although neither Qin Xiaoman nor Lin Zhao really agreed with that saying, they also had to admit that in a society that respected clothes before people, this was the fastest way to display financial strength and avoid a lot of trouble.

So they had borrowed one from Lin Xiang. As for where Lin Xiang’s car came from, neither of them knew.

Lin Zhao had sworn repeatedly to his younger cousin that Qin Xiaoman needed the car for business talks. He would definitely stay obediently at home, cultivate, and recover from illness. How could he possibly run around everywhere?

Then the person who “could not possibly run around everywhere” appeared in the neighboring town.

He had already secretly come over several times.

Lin Xiang had not discovered it yet because Lin Zhao and Qin Xiaoman’s activities all took place after Lin Xiang and Aunt Lin had gone to work. Actually, Lin Xiang had discovered it the first time. However, when he called, Lin Zhao immediately sensed something was wrong based on sheer familiarity and chose to confess at once, saying that he was really too bored at home and had gone out with 1114 to film a vlog.

Although Lin Zhao’s livestreaming career was still entirely dependent on fate, 1114 was very consistent in updating videos for him: one video per week, without fail.

They were all clips it had accumulated in daily life, and it was still diligently helping Lin Zhao gain followers.

Lin Xiang also understood that forcing things too far would backfire, so he did not force his brother to remain bedridden. Instead, he generously said that going out for walks was good too, and reminded him to come home for lunch.

Lin Zhao soon learned from Reinhardt’s analysis how his younger cousin knew he had gone out without installing surveillance cameras: the natural energy field readings were different.

Whether there was someone at home or not, the values were quite obvious.

Lin Zhao quickly found a solution—Third Aunt. When the newly awakened tabby cat was not using her floating ability, the natural energy field readings she produced were similar to Lin Zhao’s as a patient in the early stages of gene collapse. Every time Qin Xiaoman came to pick up Lin Zhao, he would bring Third Aunt along and use one can of cat food as her wages, asking her to play with Doudou at the Lin home for a while.

Third Aunt quite liked it. She liked both the canned food and the fact that her new territory had expanded by another two hundred square meters.

By the way, Qin Xiaoman, who always acted as soon as he said something, had really found a reliable full-time assistant. She could help him look after everything at the supermarket while he and Lin Zhao were out.

To be precise, she was the elder sister of Shen Zhen, the short-haired girl among the college students they had previously hired. Shen Zhen was serious and meticulous in her work, leaving a deep impression on Lin Zhao. Qin Xiaoman had also always wanted to ask her whether she would consider returning to Jiangzuo for work after graduation.

Whether Shen Zhen would come back or not was uncertain, but her elder sister had returned for New Year’s.

Her elder sister had previously been working as an actress in Hengdian. Her self-introduction was: “I’m very good at playing bitches. Cough.” She had simply never become popular. She was the kind of actress who was slightly better than an extra, but not by much—someone who got a few lines.

The reason she came back was partly because long-form dramas had been heavily impacted by short dramas over the past two years and the industry had been shrinking. Another reason was…

“I really don’t want to keep starving anymore, sob.” Shen Zhen’s elder sister, Shen Han, was the type who would steadily gain weight as long as she ate normally. During the two years she spent chasing her acting dream, there had not been a single night when she did not go to bed hungry. “It’s modern society. If I ended up on the news because I starved to death, how ridiculous would that be?” It was not as if no short-drama productions had approached her. Although it was still for the role of a vicious supporting female character, she would have gone from a minor cannon fodder role straight to the top antagonist whose scenes were second only to the female lead’s. But in the end, she still painfully refused.

Because she wanted to eat. She did not even need to gorge herself. She just wanted to eat normally.

“Our company provides unlimited snacks and milk tea.”

With one sentence, Qin Xiaoman deeply conquered Shen Han. Of course, her original plan was merely to find a transitional job so her parents would not worry. Only after she officially joined did she realize the company was truly as good as her sister had described. No, it was even better than her sister had said. She was said to be Qin Xiaoman’s assistant, but that was basically no different from being a supervisor. After all, the entire company currently only had her as its official employee, and all her subordinates were robots.

With Shen Han, who was just as serious and responsible as her younger sister, Lin Zhao and Qin Xiaoman could temporarily shift their attention to the winery with peace of mind.

“Since everyone is here, let’s begin.” Director Kong’s voice sounded slightly dry in the empty workshop.

On the work platform, the strange rice grains, vivid in color like rouge, had just been unloaded from Lin Zhao’s car. It was said that they had just been processed using machinery in town and immediately delivered here. They looked like nothing more than brown rice with an unusually lustrous color. Boss Kong did not understand why Lin Zhao insisted on using this kind of rice.

Master Huang, the brewer, plunged his hands deep into the pile of rice and closed his eyes to feel it. “This rice… feels a little warm.” He muttered, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged slightly, as if he had sensed some subtle electric current—or as though he were touching an extremely faint feeling of life.

“It was just taken out of the processing machine,” Lin Zhao said with a smile.

Boss Kong did not pay much attention to it. He simply watched as the vibrating sieve started up. The buzzing sound instantly echoed through the workshop.

The blood-colored rice grains fell like a waterfall. The qualified grains that had been sorted out were sent into the somewhat old-but-still-usable grinder. After they were crushed into particles of a suitable size, the workers sent them into the rinsing tank. Nitrogen was injected. Along with the flow of water, the surface of the plump rice grains seemed to flash for a moment with a fleeting oily sheen, before quickly sinking into the spiritual slurry that Lin Zhao had also provided.

This was supplied by Lady Hu. After research by the people under her, it had been found to be more suitable for moistening the grain than clear water. The high-temperature soaking tanks lit up one after another, then slowly brightened and dimmed as if breathing.

At that moment, both Lin Zhao and Director Kong panicked.

Lin Zhao panicked because: Damn, this rice slurry mixed with low-grade spirit stone powder—Lady Hu never told me it would glow.

Director Kong panicked because: No way, no way. The machines that have been running perfectly fine for years just had to malfunction today? Where is this light coming from? It’s not going to explode, is it?

Only Qin Xiaoman, like a cheerful big fool, scratched his head. “Whoa, so this is how brewing machines work.”

Lin Zhao and Director Kong both accepted this explanation.

However, the honest Director Kong still pulled everyone a little farther away from the machines, closer to the door.

Author’s Note:

“Qingzhou Congshi” and “Kongfang Jun” are references to a poem by the great Li Qingzhao.

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