Chapter 185 - 121: The World is Full of ’Good People

Chapter 185: Chapter 121: The World is Full of ’Good People

"Of course, President Zhang!" Zhong Miaoying immediately took a seat at the tea table and began to prepare tea.

Zhang Lin also gestured for Zhang Zhao and his companion to sit, then asked, "Zhao, and this is?"

Zhang Zhao hurried to explain, "Lin, let me make an introduction. The county is setting up a new police substation here at the farm, and this is the man in charge, Director Cao!"

"Boss Zhang, hello. I look forward to your support in the future." Cao Xin quickly extended his hand to shake Zhang Lin’s, his attitude exceedingly polite.

"Director Cao, we’ll certainly support each other!" Zhang Lin replied with a smile.

When others were polite to him, he always returned the courtesy.

Zhong Miaoying soon finished brewing a pot of tea and poured a cup for each of the three men.

After taking a sip of tea, Zhang Lin asked, "Zhao, Director Cao, what can I do for you today?"

Cao Xin quickly replied, "Boss Zhang, today is mainly about getting acquainted. After all, our work will require the farm’s cooperation. However, going forward, Deputy Chief Zhang here will be the one liaising with the farm. He’ll be handling most things."

Zhang Lin understood the implication. The county placed great importance on the tourists at Li Yuan Farm, and these men were here to establish the new substation from the ground up.

So, he smiled and said, "Don’t worry, Director Cao. Our farm will give you its full cooperation."

"Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease, Boss Zhang." Cao Xin’s face was all smiles; the purpose of his trip had been achieved.

’So, it paid to be polite to this Boss Zhang and take the initiative to show goodwill.’

’He wasn’t a fool. This Boss Zhang’s influence in You City was clearly significant.’

’First of all, there was the matter of Liu County’s clear favor. The county was paying constant attention to the farm—they’d even built a Night Market Town specifically for its tourists.’

’On top of that, the tourism bureau also placed great importance on the farm.’

’He’d heard that the person in charge there, Zhao Han, was confident that You City could maintain an average of 40,000 tourists per day next year.’

’And then there was the girl preparing tea. She had looked familiar the moment he’d walked in, and he later recalled seeing her at a high-ranking official’s son’s wedding banquet. She seemed to be the daughter of the head of the Zhong Family.’

’For the daughter of such a prominent family to be working here as President Zhang’s secretary meant their relationship was anything but shallow.’

’So, as long as Li Yuan Farm didn’t fail—and in fact, continued to grow—one could only imagine the influence and network this Boss Zhang would command in a small place like You City.’

The new substation was just being set up, so Cao Xin and Zhang Zhao had a lot of free time. The patrol officers had been assigned their routes, and other staff were handling the setup of the office space. This left the two leaders with plenty of time to drink tea and chat with the farm’s owner, Zhang Lin.

For southerners, relationships are often built over the tea table.

They chatted for the entire morning, and by the end of it, Zhang Lin had Cao Xin’s contact information saved in his phone. They had grown familiar with one another. In the afternoon, Cao Xin invited Zhang Lin to join him and his subordinates on a patrol to familiarize themselves with the farm grounds.

Of course, the main goal was to make sure his subordinates recognized Zhang Lin and could put a face to the name. This would prevent any embarrassing mistakes down the line that would cause everyone to lose face.

While patrolling near the Bamboo Maze, they heard the POP of a confetti cannon. They saw a tourist, face flush with excitement, holding a completion certificate.

It was a certificate only awarded to the first 500 tourists to clear the Bamboo Maze!

And naturally, having cleared the maze, the tourist also won the 2,000-yuan prize.

This was despite the fact that the correct path through the Bamboo Maze had been given to a few lucky tourists, some of whom had already posted the map online. At this point, it was safe to say almost every visitor had a copy of the map.

Yet very few people had managed to clear it in the past couple of days.

Of the 800,000-yuan prize pool, over 500,000 yuan remained.

Many people went online to post about why they had failed. One person complained that his girlfriend wouldn’t stop nagging him, causing him to get distracted and completely forget the path.

"Experts" had even begun analyzing it online, claiming that Li Yuan Farm’s Bamboo Maze used repetitive scenery, rapid transitions, and the pressure of a block-style maze to induce immense mental stress, making it impossible for visitors to focus and recall the correct path.

Zhang Lin never responded to any of this. ’Hey, you’re the expert. Whatever you say.’

In any case, the popularity of the Bamboo Maze hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

"Boss Zhang, this Bamboo Maze is a huge hit online," Cao Xin couldn’t help but comment as he watched the bustling crowd in front of the maze entrance. "You’re truly incredible. You’ve taken a simple bamboo forest and made it into something spectacular."

That evening after work, Zhang Lin headed to the operations department.

Lin Muxue had finalized the entire marketing plan for the moisturizing cream, and the promotional campaign was scheduled to launch that night, so he naturally had to go check on it.

When he arrived at the operations department, Lin Muxue and her team were working overtime, bustling with energy.

This was just the nature of online operations. Days could be relatively relaxed, but nights often became hectic, especially during a new product launch, because the internet’s prime time was in the evening.

Moreover, this prime time was trending later and later.

In the past, 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. were considered prime time.

But now, 6 p.m. hardly counted. Instead, prime time was considered to start at 10 p.m.

You could see this shift in the times when top-tier influencers aimed to break ranking records. They would typically announce a 9 p.m. start time to build up hype and gather an audience, with the main event officially kicking off at 10 p.m.

Some statistics even showed that internet traffic at midnight now surpassed that of the old 6 p.m. "golden hour." The term itself was rarely heard anymore.

Everyone was a night owl.

Someone had even posted a statistic online: among adults under 35, eight out of ten were night owls, meaning they were still awake long after a conventional bedtime.