Chapter 43: It’s Not Good to Eat Alone

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: It’s Not Good to Eat Alone

Zhao Han was stunned when he heard what Chen Ting said. "You’re saying Li Yuan Farm isn’t qualified?"

They’ve already gone viral online. And with that kind of scenic value, you’re calling them unqualified?

Then what other scenic spot in You City even meets the requirements?

Chen Ting immediately explained, "Yes, they came to fill out the forms yesterday, and I reviewed them carefully. At the very least, I think we need to conduct more inspections. After all, Vice Director Lin also recommended a bougainvillea landscape, so we need to make a comparison."

Given that the boss of Li Yuan Farm didn’t know how to play ball, he was now planning to recommend the other place.

’Anyway, they’re both Flower Seas. Which one is better is just a matter of personal opinion, right?’

"Don’t you go online?" Zhao Han frowned at Chen Ting, pulled out his phone, searched for a video of Li Yuan Farm’s rapeseed Flower Sea, and tossed it onto the desk. "See for yourself. This is what you call ’unqualified’?"

Chen Ting sensed something was wrong. He picked up the phone, and his pupils contracted sharply.

The video showed a rapeseed Flower Sea, and the view was absolutely stunning.

’And this Flower Sea video was actually *from* Li Yuan Farm?’

’And the video already had 450,000 likes and a ton of comments. It had gone completely viral online.’

’He never imagined Li Yuan Farm’s Flower Sea would be so beautiful, and he certainly never expected it to go viral.’

’If he had known, would he have dared to give them a hard time? Dared to ask them to "be sensible"?’

’In a situation like this, even if he wanted to side with the vice director, there was no way the vice director could defend him!’

"Chen Ting, it seems your judgment isn’t suited for our Tourism Bureau. I’ll call a meeting later and let everyone discuss it," Zhao Han said, looking coldly at Chen Ting. He was furious. If the man had just done as he was told yesterday, they could have established a good relationship with Li Yuan Farm.

’They showed up, and this Chen Ting still said they weren’t qualified. I’d be a fool to believe there wasn’t something fishy going on.’

’Just think about the situation at other tourism bureaus. How many directors have to personally show their faces, even wearing women’s clothes, just to attract views? And how many of them can actually make a scenic spot popular enough to get 450,000 likes on a video? And the number is still climbing!’

’Li Yuan Farm’s rapeseed Flower Sea is so popular now, they don’t even have to lift a finger. It’s just like that online saying: A colossal fortune just fell from the sky and landed on our heads!’

’To not seize this chance to collaborate with Li Yuan Farm and promote You City’s other attractions online would be idiotic.’

’And yet, this Chen Ting actually had the gall to say Li Yuan Farm’s Flower Sea wasn’t qualified?’

’Excellent. The man thought he could push me around because I’m an outsider, paying me lip service while doing whatever he wanted. He just handed me the perfect opportunity.’

"Director Zhao, I can fix this, really, I can fix this..." Chen Ting’s face changed instantly when he heard Zhao Han’s words.

With Li Yuan Farm’s Flower Sea being so popular now, he knew that if this was brought up for discussion in a meeting, he would be finished. So, as he spoke, he was already finding Zhang Lin’s number and dialing it.

...

When Zhang Lin arrived at the farm’s warehouse, Liu De and his men had already finished packing the honey peaches and Sunshine Rose grapes for Lin Tuo.

He also prepared the wholesale order for Zhang Dong: 550 pounds of honey peaches and 550 pounds of Sunshine Rose grapes.

Just then, his phone rang. He frowned when he saw the caller ID—it was that Director Chen from yesterday.

’Damn it, I already said I didn’t want the tourism project subsidy. Why is this guy still hounding me with calls?’

Zhang Lin frowned and answered the call. Dealing with petty officials was a pain, so his only option was to claim he wasn’t in You City.

As soon as the call connected, Chen Ting’s voice came through: "Boss Zhang, I’m calling to talk to you about the tourism project subsidy..."

Hearing it was indeed about this, Zhang Lin quickly cut him off. "Director Chen, I’m so sorry, I had to leave town suddenly today. I’m about to drive, so I can’t talk right now!"

With that, he hung up.

After a moment’s thought, he blocked the number to make his stance clear.

’If you’re going to be corrupt, don’t drag me into it.’

’Besides, Li Yuan Farm is going viral right now. If that guy really tries to pull something, I don’t mind showing him the power of the internet.’

’What’s more, my dad handled all the paperwork and permits through the Agriculture Bureau. A place like ours, an agricultural sightseeing park, can be managed by the Agriculture Bureau. What does it have to do with the Tourism Bureau anyway?’

On the other side, Chen Ting panicked after being hung up on. ’At least give me a chance to explain!’

He immediately tried calling again, only to find that the call wouldn’t go through. This left him completely dumbfounded.

「Li Yuan Farm.」

Just as Zhang Lin was about to put his phone down, another call from an unknown number came in. ’Don’t tell me that’s Director Chen calling from a different number?’

’Why is he so damn persistent?’

He pressed answer, but the voice on the other end surprised him. "President Zhang, this is Wei Yuan, the director of the Agriculture Bureau. Congratulations, Li Yuan Farm’s Flower Sea has gone viral online. I know this call is a bit sudden, but the Agriculture Bureau has a small favor to ask. You see, we in You City’s agriculture sector have been promoting some new fruit tree varieties, but marketing has always been an issue."

"Previously, we were thinking of having the fruit farmers band together and hire an influencer who focuses on agriculture to move their products, since that’s how it’s done online these days. But today, when we saw your Li Yuan Farm go viral, we were wondering if we could have these new fruits for a trial sale at your farm."

"Besides, your farm has a lot of traffic now. You could try doing some live streams to see if you can help sell some of the fruit for those farmers. Of course, we won’t take advantage of you, President Zhang. The Agriculture Bureau will provide your farm with relevant policy support. We’ll also cover any related costs. Business is business, right? We’d have to pay an influencer anyway, so we might as well give the opportunity to one of our own."

Zhang Lin hadn’t expected a call from the Agriculture Bureau, let alone from the director himself.

However, the man’s tone was pleasant, and this director seemed very sincere.

So, after thinking it over, he said, "Director Wei, if it can help those fruit farmers, we can give it a try. It’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before."

He didn’t hesitate on this matter.

’After all, Li Yuan Farm is pretty bare-bones right now. We’re missing a lot. Even though we’ve gone viral and have all this traffic, we have no way to monetize it. The most we can do is attract some tourists, which doesn’t maximize our profits.’

’Most importantly, I understand the principle of not hogging all the profits for myself. It’s better to make more friends and fewer enemies.’

’Since I can’t fully capitalize on this online traffic myself right now, what’s the harm in doing Director Wei a favor?’

’If this actually works out, I’ll get a cut of the profits, won’t I?’

’The only condition is that the quality has to be good.’

’Then again, the products the Agriculture Bureau is promoting are tied to their performance reviews. They’d be even more afraid of tarnishing their own reputation.’

’I can’t believe my Flower Sea just went viral, and I’m already getting back-to-back calls from the Tourism Bureau and the Agriculture Bureau.’

’Looks like in the internet age, traffic really is king.’

’No wonder when that one kid went viral by accident, the local government went all out promoting him, using his fame to attract tourists and milking that traffic for all it was worth.’

Wei Yuan, hearing that there was a chance, immediately said, "Don’t worry, President Zhang, we’ve recently researched this. Are you free now? I can head over to the farm to chat with you."

"Yes, I’ll be at the farm all day today," Zhang Lin replied at once.

"Great, I’m on my way!" Wei Yuan replied. After hanging up, he immediately turned, beaming, to the pretty girl waiting in front of his desk and said, "Mengxi, it’s a good thing you discovered this Li Yuan Farm matter early on. And this President Zhang seems very easy to talk to."

"Now you’ll come with me to the farm. Whether or not we can fully convince him will depend on your plan. If this succeeds, no one will be able to say you only got in because of your uncle."

"Don’t worry, Director. I’m fully prepared." Lin Mengxi’s pretty face was clearly full of confidence.

"Alright, let’s get going then!" Wei Yuan said, also in a hurry.

He really hadn’t expected a farm in You City to create such a stunning rapeseed Flower Sea, let alone for it to go viral online. It was unbelievable.

...