Chapter 72 - 68: Going to Li Yuan Farm to Earn Money in a Maze?

Chapter 72: Chapter 68: Going to Li Yuan Farm to Earn Money in a Maze?

That evening, Wei Yuan hosted dinner at Li Yuan Farm for the staff of the Agriculture Bureau. Naturally, Zhao Han and Zhang Lin were the guests of honor, along with Fu Yao.

Lin Mengxi had picked her up right after school.

Upon entering the lounge, the first thing she did was run up to Zhang Lin to greet him. "Uncle!"

"Good luck. I’ll be watching the live stream tonight!" Zhang Lin said with a smile.

Lin Mengxi came over as well, whisking Fu Yao away to get ready for the broadcast.

She didn’t dare to slack off in the slightest. After all, she had been working so hard for so long just for this farming-aid live stream.

After dinner, Wei Yuan gave Lin Mengxi and the others a pep talk. "Good luck tonight! I had the fruit farmers prepare 55,000 pounds of Furong plums and 55,000 pounds of blueberries. Do your best to sell as much as you can. If you just sell half on the first day, we’ll call it a success!"

Zhao Han didn’t leave after dinner. Instead, he waited with Wei Yuan in a corner of the lounge for the live stream results.

Zhang Lin joined them, watching Lin Mengxi and Fu Yao’s broadcast on his phone.

Lin Mengxi was the main host of the stream, with Fu Yao acting purely as support, chiming in here and there. A pair of pretty girls like them was certainly easy on the eyes, and the broadcast’s visual presentation was excellent.

At the very least, the viewer count was climbing rapidly, and the scrolling comments were constantly praising how beautiful the two girls were.

Thanks to the hype surrounding Li Yuan Farm, the number of concurrent viewers surpassed ten thousand in just a short time.

"Hello, everyone! I’m Lin Mengxi from the You City Agriculture Bureau, and I’m thrilled to be here with you all on Li Yuan Farm’s live stream today." Lin Mengxi began by introducing herself.

Afterward, Fu Yao simply added, "And I’m Fu Yao!"

The moment the two girls spoke, they captured the audience’s full attention, and the chat began to fly.

"Forget everything else. Just based on these two hosts, I already know the You City Agriculture Bureau has won."

"The Agriculture Bureau definitely knows what they’re doing. For that reason alone, I’m buying something, no matter what it is."

"The pressure’s on all the other city’s Agriculture Bureaus now!"

"..."

In just that short time, the viewer count had already surpassed 20,000—a testament to Li Yuan Farm’s popularity.

"Thank you all for joining the stream! Today’s broadcast is quite simple. It’s a farming-aid live stream organized as a collaboration between our Agriculture Bureau and Li Yuan Farm. We’ve prepared 55,000 pounds of Furong plums and 55,000 pounds of blueberries for you today..." This was Lin Mengxi’s first-ever live stream, after all, and she was still a bit nervous.

She couldn’t bear the thought of messing this up. The fruit farmers had been coordinating with the Agriculture Bureau for so long, and every single one of them had such high hopes.

She didn’t want to disappoint the Bureau, nor did she want to disappoint the farmers.

As Lin Mengxi began her presentation, Wei Yuan was already nudging Zhao Han and Zhang Lin to pull out their phones and join the stream. He obviously wanted them to each buy something to show support, which revealed that he was still a little nervous himself.

It wasn’t that he distrusted the hype surrounding Li Yuan Farm; it was just his first time organizing a live stream like this, so a few nerves were to be expected.

Zhang Lin understood. So, the moment Lin Mengxi finished introducing the two fruits and the purchase link went live, he immediately clicked to place an order for blueberries.

But when he clicked to pay, he stared, stunned, at the pop-up notification: the item was already sold out.

Zhao Han’s shocked cry rang out beside him. "Sold out?"

"..." Wei Yuan’s face was a mask of utter bewilderment. He had been worried they wouldn’t sell everything, but who would have thought they’d be out of stock the second it started?

But the most dumbfounded of all were, of course, Lin Mengxi and Fu Yao.

Neither of them had any idea what was happening!

’They’d barely finished the introduction, and now they were being told both fruits were completely sold out?’

’This is insane!’

The girls’ bewildered expressions made the entire audience laugh, and the stream instantly erupted with activity as a dense wall of comments scrolled by.

"DAMN, the link just went live and it’s already gone."

"I barely tapped my screen and it was already sold out. I didn’t even get a chance to participate, damn it."

"Haha, the two hosts look just as confused as I feel."

"Only 55,000 pounds of each fruit? Who is the You City Agriculture Bureau looking down on?"

"..."

But even more confused were the viewers who joined the stream later, only to find there was nothing left to buy. While they could have kept the order link open, it could easily lead to problems if things weren’t properly coordinated with the fruit farmers.

Therefore, Wei Yuan didn’t give the order to continue sales. He couldn’t just focus on short-term gains.

But this also made him realize just how terrifyingly popular Li Yuan Farm was. He felt truly fortunate to be collaborating with them.

Zhao Han was also in utter disbelief, but he was excited, too. Today it was the Agriculture Bureau, and tomorrow it would be the Tourism Bureau; Li Yuan Farm would carry them all to new heights.

Back on the stream, Lin Mengxi quickly recovered from her initial shock and adapted. With no more fruit to sell, she immediately addressed the audience, "On behalf of the farmers, I want to thank you all for your overwhelming generosity. As a thank you for all your support, how about I tell you all about Li Yuan Farm’s Bamboo Maze? I got to try it out today, and it’s seriously so much fun..."

Watching the young woman’s performance, Zhang Lin smiled. ’Smart girl.’

And just like that, the rest of the stream became a discussion about the Bamboo Maze, almost as if it were the official launch event for the attraction.

Poor Fu Yao had never even been to the Bamboo Maze—she didn’t even know it existed. So, she just occasionally chimed in from the side, "Everyone, don’t forget to click ’Follow’ in the top-left corner!"

It was a line she’d heard support hosts shout in other streams. Since she couldn’t contribute to the conversation about the Bamboo Maze, she figured she might as well help her uncle’s farm gain some followers.

As the viewer count continued to climb, and with the lovely Lin Mengxi holding a dedicated discussion with the audience about the Bamboo Maze, curiosity about the attraction skyrocketed. The hype surrounding the Bamboo Maze grew and grew until it reached a fever pitch.

Zhang Lin noticed that in a short period, Li Yuan Farm had gained over 100,000 new followers, and the number was still climbing—a clear indicator of its online popularity.

But naturally, this level of hype also attracted some hostility.

For instance, the Noahda Bamboo Forest Maze, run by the Miao Clan.

As the man in charge of the maze, Ao Youda had always taken immense pride in his creation. Under his management, he constantly upgraded it, and the Noahda Maze had long been known as the number one maze in the country, enjoying the most popularity.

But today, when he scrolled past a video of Li Yuan Farm’s Bamboo Maze, he felt a genuine sense of threat.

His assistant standing beside him sighed. "Mr. Ao Youda, the hype around Li Yuan Farm is just too much. Tens of thousands of people are in their live stream right now talking about their Bamboo Maze. What should we do?"

"The best solution is to leverage their hype to our own advantage while simultaneously crushing Li Yuan Farm’s Bamboo Maze!" Ao Youda said, a confident expression spreading across his face.

After all, he had spent his entire life studying bamboo mazes; he was an unparalleled expert on the subject. Li Yuan Farm couldn’t possibly understand the true essence of a bamboo maze.

The essence of a bamboo maze lies in the maze itself. Theirs was hailed as the best in the country because it was a true labyrinth, something Li Yuan Farm could never hope to match.

This, in fact, was their opportunity.

"Mr. Ao Youda, what’s our plan?" his assistant asked urgently.