Chapter 81 - 76: Going This Big?

Chapter 81: Chapter 76: Going This Big?

While Zhao Han, the director of the Tourism Bureau, was working hard to find traditional bamboo craft masters for Li Yuan Farm, the Agriculture Bureau’s second "Support the Farmers" live stream was also underway at the farm.

Wei Yuan, having learned his lesson from last time, had prepared 200,000 pounds of Furong plums and 200,000 pounds of blueberries.

But once the stream went live, he was shocked to discover that the viewer count for Li Yuan Farm’s stream was holding steady at over 50,000.

A steady 50,000-plus viewers didn’t mean that only 50,000 people had watched in total, but rather that at any given moment, as some people were leaving, new ones were constantly joining.

This was all due to the hype generated by the Bamboo Maze blowing up earlier in the day.

Then, an awkward situation arose: the Furong plums and blueberries prepared by the Agriculture Bureau had sold out again.

It was clear they still lacked experience in this area.

Zhang Lin was tempted to remind the Agriculture Bureau to prepare more next time. After all, everything sold on the stream made him money, too.

Their agreement stipulated that Li Yuan Farm would purchase the fruit at the wholesale price from the growers, then sell it with a markup. Even though the Agriculture Bureau organized the live stream, the profit from the markup belonged to Li Yuan Farm, while the political achievement belonged to the Bureau.

The sale of these blueberries and Furong plums tonight would bring Li Yuan Farm a profit of over two million.

However, the payment would only be settled after the Agriculture Bureau finalized everything. For now, the money was still in the Bureau’s official account.

With everything sold out, the host, Lin Mengxi, found herself in an awkward position. The screen was flooded with bullet comments asking about the Bamboo Maze, so she had no choice but to make small talk with the audience about that very topic.

Fu Yao, meanwhile, continued to chime in from the side, "Everyone, please click that follow button!"

She hadn’t actually tried the Bamboo Maze herself; she had classes during the day and simply had no free time.

As Zhang Lin was watching the live stream from a corner of the lounge, Zhao Lin entered from outside. She walked over to him and reported, "Boss, there’s a man outside claiming to be a producer for the show *Super Brain*. He’d like to see you!"

"???" Zhang Lin was taken aback.

’It was one thing for the *Super Brain* contestants to team up to try my Bamboo Maze today, but who knew the show’s production team would come looking for me too?’

’Is all this really necessary?’

After thinking about it for a moment, he could understand their reasoning.

The show *Super Brain* was in a rather awkward position. It had been on the air for a long time and seemed quite famous, but its ratings were consistently low.

It was like that one singing competition show. There was a balladeer who always ranked near the bottom but somehow never got eliminated. It was both frustrating and agonizing to watch!

*Super Brain*’s status in the reality TV world was pretty much the same.

Today, thanks to the hype around the Bamboo Maze, the name "*Super Brain*" had appeared in two major trending topics. The show was undoubtedly happy to piggyback on all that traffic.

He’d heard their latest season was about to start, so what better promotion than to ride this wave of popularity?

’Nobody’s a fool, after all.’

"Zhao Lin, go bring him in," Zhang Lin instructed after considering it.

"Yes, Boss!" Zhao Lin nodded and left. A moment later, she returned with a middle-aged man, steering him around the live-streaming area. When they reached Zhang Lin, she made the introduction. "Mr. Chu, this is the owner of our farm, President Zhang."

Chu Heng looked at Zhang Lin, somewhat surprised. "President Zhang, my name is Chu Heng, the producer of *Super Brain*. I didn’t expect you to be so young."

"Mr. Chu, please have a seat," Zhang Lin said with a smile, inviting him to sit.

Chu Heng sat down and got straight to the point. "I imagine you’ve already guessed why I’m here, President Zhang."

"The Bamboo Maze?"

"That’s right. Since some *Super Brain* contestants are coming to take on your Bamboo Maze, President Zhang, we figured we might as well film a special live broadcast. We’re hoping to collaborate with Li Yuan Farm on this."

"I’m listening, Mr. Chu." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"We’ve already contacted ten champions and finalists from previous seasons to form a *Super Brain* All-Star Team. They will come tomorrow to take on the Bamboo Maze challenge. We will follow each contestant with a live broadcast, and we’re prepared to pay a site fee of one million yuan."

"Since you’ve made such a sincere offer, Mr. Chu, I’ll naturally agree," Zhang Lin said, having no intention of refusing the proposal.

For one, it would certainly push the hype to new heights. For another, everyone who was following the Bamboo Maze, including the tourists who had already been through it, was surely curious about what the inside actually looked like.

Many of the tourists who went in today came back out without ever getting a clear sense of the interior.

The *Super Brain* live stream was the perfect opportunity to show all those curious people more of the maze’s interior.

And third, of course, was the one million yuan fee.

It would be foolish not to take money that was being handed to him.

As for the show, they would get a massive influx of viewers and free promotion for the new season of *Super Brain*.

Considering the current hype, the show was definitely getting a great deal.

"President Zhang, shall we sign the contract, then?"

"Alright."

Zhang Lin took the contract Chu Heng produced and looked it over. It was a simple agreement with clear terms, so there was no need to call a lawyer. He signed his name on the spot.

After the contract was signed, Chu Heng spoke again. "President Zhang, the money will be in your account by tomorrow morning. I do have one request, though. We’ll need to trouble your team to edit a promotional video tonight. Let’s add each other on WeChat. I’ll send you video clips of the contestants so you can edit them into the promo."

With that business concluded, Chu Heng left in a hurry, needing to make arrangements for the next day’s live broadcast.

Zhang Lin also left the service center and headed for his prefab office. It looked like he would have to work overtime. He needed to edit a promotional trailer for the ten *Super Brain* contestants’ live-streamed challenge tomorrow.