"Help with selling agricultural products..."
Ah Qing was taken aback when Tang You mentioned selling, then her head shook like a rattle as she said:
"No... no way, if I sell things, my family's ancestral grave might be cursed to crack open and emit black smoke..."
"Huh? Is there a causal relationship here?" Tang You looked surprised, glancing at Ah Qing who shivered despite the 21-degree weather.
"Yes!" Ah Qing said seriously, as if recalling something: "My family runs a tea shop, but for some hot-selling teas, like Da Hong Pao from the core production area or some rock teas, ordinary tea shops can't get them, at most they can get three to five pounds through connections."
"Good tea is sold on a pre-order basis, and tea farmers and tea factories prefer to sell to major tea merchants or tea enterprises to make it easier."
"Some greedy tea merchants will blend top-grade tea by adding a small amount of second-grade tea into good tea and sell it as top-grade tea. Worse ones will mix a bit of top-grade tea into second-grade tea."
Tea leaves, once picked from the tea garden, are sent to the tea factory for processing into commercial tea, but these freshly shipped commercial teas do not enter the market immediately.
Instead, they circulate among tea merchants or directly enter the warehouses of well-known tea companies.
Only then do they reach the hands of retailers.
When commercial tea arrives at the store, to put it bluntly, ordinary commercial tea is brought in a sack, and later the shopkeeper has to select tea leaves, pick tea stems, and repackage them before they reach consumers.
Ah Qing had seen her dad bring high-end tea that was later messed up by tea merchants, selling boxed tea as real premium tea.
In the end, gift-givers came over with their families, wanting to have a real fight with dad.
They didn't want a refund, they just wanted to punch him twice.
Dad wanted to explain, but they wouldn't listen.
Luckily, dad ran fast, and they didn't hit the old, weak, women, and children, so young Ah Qing escaped unscathed.
Promoting her family's tea is no problem; it's all the tea selected by mom, dad, or part-time aunties. Some tea might have low cost-effectiveness, but nothing to be embarrassed about.
Promoting others' products is uncertain; even if deals are made directly with the factory, during shipping it might be handled by middlemen or retailers.
There are many intermediate steps; they can ensure legal and compliant circulation but not guarantee other aspects.
Blended products, ying-yang goods, accepting money but not delivering goods, keeping funds for investment, or placing them in the bank short-term for interest.
Having experienced it, Ah Qing feels she might not withstand punches, so she has no plans to develop towards being a professional selling live-streamer.
She livestreams to supplement the family's income; once the family no longer needs the supplement, she might stop streaming and just record simple videos, sharing the cuteness of little foxes.
"Oh..."
Though Ah Qing's explanations were a bit abstract, her simple example clearly illustrated the shallow truth of being unfamiliar with a field.
Without contact, one can't truly understand the insider's details, may unknowingly be used by unscrupulous traders as a pawn.
Tang You responded briefly and told his dad over the phone that Ah Qing declined the invitation from Hohhot over there.
"Hmm... declined is declined, my old friend said Ah Qing and the others are welcome to tour the Northern Region, you should spend less time playing games and take friends to visit scenic spots or stroll on the grasslands."
"Let me give you a WeChat ID, contact him and they can arrange fast track access for you at the scenic spots."
Tang You's dad responded briefly, hung up the phone, and continued with his own business without minding too much.
This was a simple matter, just a friend in the development bureau goofing off, saw Tang You in the livestream, and Ah Qing's stream had very high online numbers.
So the friend called, asking for a message to be passed along.
Now that autumn is in the north of Xia Country, it's the hot season for selling cattle and sheep, and the Northern Region Agricultural Development Bureau wants to try the trendy e-commerce approach to lead agricultural development.
......
Time slowly approached noon, lunchtime.
"Ah Qing, get me a roasted lamb leg, it's inconvenient to dip sauce eating hand-held meat, it lacks flavor, I don't like it!"
At the edge of the forest in front of the scenic area, the store arranged Ah Qing's table well, delivering two fat roasted whole lambs and seven or eight specialty dishes through their electric cart service.
The little fox sat on the chair, leaning against the table, looking at the roasted whole lamb on it, licking its mouth.
"Hmm... this one is for Big Orange, I specifically instructed the store not to use seasoning."
Ah Qing reached out and pulled out all the iron skewers from the roasted whole lamb, checked thoroughly to make sure there were no issues, then delivered the entire roasted lamb along with the tray to Big Orange.
"Speaking of roasted lamb, I remember hearing a funny little story once."
While cutting the lamb, Tang You laughed and said: "The legend of roasted lamb originates from a long time ago when a family's house caught on fire. The blazing flames turned the sky red and the owner rushed back home in horror only to see ruins."
"The owner was extremely saddened but while he was crying, he smelled the aroma of meat — the collapsed beams had burned the sheep pen, conveniently a fruitwood was burning."
"Following the scent, the owner found a charred red sheep. He tasted it and his eyes lit up, finding it delicious but still sad because the house was gone. Amid his sorrow and the discovery of a new way to eat lamb, he feasted on it..."
"Wow, even more gluttonous than me!" Momo marveled at Tang You's story on the origin of roasted lamb.
"Just a fun little story." Tang You laughed, shaking his head, roasted lamb had been a state banquet and sacrificial dish during the times Northern people rode horses and herded, surely there weren't that many all-wooden houses back then.
"Still, it illustrates the status and deliciousness of this dish in our Northern Region."
"Crunch crunch crunch..."
The Medicine Spring Mountain Lord opened his mouth and bit into the lamb's butt, eating it with crisp bites. The little fox stood on a chair, holding the lamb's leg with its two front paws, tearing at the meat with joyfully whimpering sounds.
"Ah Qing, help me wipe my paws..."
After their meal, the little fox sat on a chair with a round belly, its tail hanging down and swishing back and forth. Feeling fully satisfied, Ansheng looked at Ah Qing, making a soft sound, wanting to wipe the oil off his paw pads.
"Okay...."
Ah Qing picked up a wet wipe from the table and wiped the little fox's snout first before lifting his small paw to gently rub away the oil stains on the fox's paw pads with the wet wipe.
"Thank you, Ah Qing, but I'm full now and want to go out and show off to my friends. We'll come back in the afternoon."
"And don't worry about my safety; you see, my disciple's muscles aren't for nothing."
Ansheng landed on the back of the Medicine Spring Mountain Lord, patting the tiger's clearly defined back muscles, while the large orange cat looked bewildered, lifting its slightly puzzled tiger head.
What... what's happening?
Isn't Master supposed to be able to split mountains with a single blow? Does fighting even require my help? Or is it to bring back the grilled enemies and sprinkle some chili powder on them?
"Sure, but you must drink all the water first!" Ah Qing nodded and agreed with the little fox, but she took Xiaolan's water bottle and poured a full glass, making the little fox drink it.
Just after eating a whole roasted sheep with so many seasonings, Xiaolan would surely be thirsty later.
Wild animals drinking raw water is normal.
But wild animals don't live long either!
Ah Qing wouldn't allow the little fox to eat and drink randomly outside, still hoping the little fox could accompany her child!
"Gulp gulp gulp...."
The little fox's tongue quickly flicked, curling slightly to scoop up the water in the cup, drinking it into its belly.
"Alright, I'm off to play now."
After finishing the water, the little fox made a soft sound, mounted the back of the Medicine Spring Mountain Lord, and pointed towards the depths of the Spring Mountain Grassland.
"Where are we going, Master..." The Medicine Spring Mountain Lord proceeded to the grassland, glancing confusedly at Master Fuli.
"We're heading to the Da Xing'an Ridge camp." Ansheng fished out Tang Lian's phone on the grassland and called Wang Qiqi, saying they were going to the camp.
In less than fifteen minutes, a helicopter took off from Potou City and arrived on the Spring Mountain Grassland, transporting Master Fuli and the Medicine Spring Mountain Lord to Da Xing'an Ridge.
"Jump."
As soon as Master Fuli got off the helicopter, he witnessed a very strange scene at the camp.
A stranger, an aunt, sat on the ground, holding a metal ring in her hands, facing her squatted a human-faced beetle standing upright, a pheasant, and a meat lingzhi with scars all over its body.
Upon her command to jump, the human-faced beetle, the pheasant, and the meat lingzhi all rushed forward, eager to pass through the ring in her hands.
The pheasant, leveraging its longer legs and taking a push off the meat lingzhi's face, was the first to pass through the hoop.
"Good!"
The woman praised, then took out a cigarette lighter from a nearby toolbox, looking indifferently at the anxious meat lingzhi and human-faced beetle, saying:
"Test question one: please explain welfare capitalism to me in classical Chinese."
"Test question two: in five minutes, discuss in detail how totally unrestrained personal freedom could bring harm to society and the people."
The meat lingzhi and human-faced beetle hurriedly raised their hands.
"What on earth are they doing..." Ansheng stared blankly at the scene, asking Li Wenkang, who was coming over to greet them.
"Oh! Speaking of which, it seems you haven't met my colleague yet from last night...."
When asked by Master Fuli, Li Wenkang's cheeks showed a strange smile, saying:
"The famous [Beast Taming Master] Wu Qingqing..."
"Also the professor who proposed the paper on [The Whip of God and the Logical Differences Between Domestic and Foreign in Western Discourse]."
"What's that?" Hearing this, Ansheng slowly formed a question mark, looking at the eager Li Wenkang.
"It's nothing much, just about why the continent of Europe was subject to invasions by multiple empires, yet produced no resentment, but rather admiration. From Professor Wu Qingqing's paper, we come to know one thing."
"Those who fancy themselves as God's chosen people inherently believe they are a superior species incapable of losing, and if they do lose, how could they be superior?"
"Based on this logic, we conclude that in their religious thoughts, because they are chosen by God, they can't be defeated, and if they are defeated, it's merely God's discipline, the suffering and hardship they must endure..."
Li Wenkang's expression was peculiar, with a hint of mockery, he spoke to Master Fuli: "Hence, according to Professor Wu Qingqing's reasoning, we reach this conclusion."
"If you torment Westerners to bits = you are a divine messenger sent by God to discipline them."
Ansheng looked dumbfounded, sideways, at Li Wenkang who was spouting nonsense: "So you're saying, even if I knocked them all out, they'd still thank us, right?"
"Exactly! They'd even order us takeaway meals to thank us for the effort in tormenting them."
"Nonsense..."
The bizarre chatter between Li Wenkang and Master Fuli naturally reached Wu Qingqing's ears, and she retorted:
"Don't listen to Li Xiao's strange words. I'm just a rural woman raising hunting dogs, what queer titles could I have? It's just that I had some extraordinary experiences and went to school for a few days."
While speaking, Wu Qingqing didn't forget to press the cigarette lighter onto the butt of the human-faced beetle.
The human-faced beetle's face twisted, clutching its burned behind, jumping half a meter, fervently rubbing the smoking rear.
The meat lingzhi and pheasant's eyelids twitched, they earnestly recited the four cardinal virtues they memorized last night in their hearts, contemplating how to translate them into classical Chinese.