Chapter 49: Crying Myself Faint in the Bathroom

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Crying Myself Faint in the Bathroom

Previously, in addition to programming the restaurant’s ordering system himself, Zhang Lin had also created a ticketing system. Mucheng had used this very system to compile statistics on visitor demographics.

Now, the online booking data for tomorrow on the tablet was an alarming red, indicating that the number of reservations had already exceeded their maximum capacity.

Reservations for June 28th: 5,031!

Reservations for June 29th: 4,238!

Tomorrow was the 28th, yet online reservations alone had already surpassed 5,000 people. The day after that was over 4,000. These bookings had all been made in a very short period.

In other words, Li Yuan Farm would be welcoming over 5,000 people tomorrow.

Zhang Lin pulled out his phone and, sure enough, found it flooded with notifications for 50-yuan online ticket purchases.

He had originally thought that after opening, any growth in visitor numbers would be gradual. That would give him time to slowly address the farm’s various shortcomings.

But this sudden explosion to over 5,000 visitors gave him no chance at all.

To put things in perspective, the famous Blue Sky Flower Sea in Mouhai, spanning 3,000 mu, had taken two years of intense promotion just to reach a capacity of 5,000 visitors on weekends and holidays.

And he had reached that on his second day of business.

"Boss Zhang, what’s wrong?" Lin Mengxi noticed Zhang Lin’s strange expression and quickly asked, "Is something wrong with the farm?"

"We’re going to have a few more visitors tomorrow," Zhang Lin said. Since he was now cooperating with the Agriculture Bureau, he didn’t hide anything and simply handed her the tablet.

When Lin Mengxi saw the booking data on the tablet, she couldn’t help but exclaim, "Over 5,000?"

It was no wonder she was shocked. After all, the entire county of You City, with its five national 4A-level and twelve national 3A-level tourist attractions, not to mention various ornamental gardens, Daoist Temples, and other temples, had only received a total of 7.5 million visitors over the whole of last year.

That meant the average daily visitor count was 20,000 people.

Now, on only its second day of business, Li Yuan Farm had reached 5,000 people—a full quarter of the entire county’s daily average. And based on the trend, that number was clearly going to keep climbing.

It was simply incredible.

However, considering the current online traffic generated by the rapeseed Flower Sea at Li Yuan Farm, and the fact that the next two days were Saturday and Sunday, this sudden surge in visitors wasn’t all that surprising.

Viral tourist spots and "check-in" locations were extremely popular on the internet these days.

Once a place was branded with one of those titles and gained enough online traffic, people would come in droves.

For instance, some village built a wobbly bridge that people could stand on and shake. Because an influencer posted a video that unexpectedly went viral and got a lot of views, that village started hosting over a thousand visitors a day just for that single, ten-meter-long bridge.

A dozen or so tourists would be playing on the bridge, shaking it back and forth, surrounded by a dense crowd of onlookers.

Or take another example from a few days ago. A top travel streamer was broadcasting live from a scenic spot to 450,000 viewers. He went to pull a sword from a stone, and when he couldn’t, he declared, "I guess only my one true love can pull this out."

And that’s when it got interesting. For the next few days, countless people went to try and pull that sword, or just to take a photo with it, forcing the scenic area to urgently assign more than a dozen extra security guards to that spot.

These were all crude but powerful demonstrations of the terrifying power of online traffic.

Now, with its rapeseed Flower Sea going viral, Li Yuan Farm was in the exact same situation.

For some reason, she suddenly felt a strange sense of pity for the Tourism Bureau. She seemed to recall that their director had called this Boss Zhang to propose a collaboration and had been rejected.

She thought of that one city that had suddenly gone viral because of its barbecue. Originally, it had painstakingly developed and promoted its top ten tourist attractions, sinking countless funds into the effort with little to show for it. Then, suddenly, its barbecue culture blew up online, attracting an endless stream of tourists.

Then came the interesting part: the local tourism department immediately redirected all the funds for promoting the ten attractions into building up and marketing the barbecue scene. They even stopped subsidizing the ten attractions entirely.

And yet, in this new situation, the ten attractions, just by getting the spillover traffic from the barbecue craze, received ten times more visitors than they had before with all their desperate promotion.

Thinking about it now, You City had produced Li Yuan Farm, which had already reached a quarter of the county’s average daily visitors on its second day and was set to grow even more. And the Tourism Bureau had no way to get in on the action. ’Just how anxious must they be?’

She felt she should report this news to her director later.

Zhang Lin, however, immediately turned to Mucheng and said, "Shut down the online booking portal right now!"

They were already over 5,000 people. In Li Yuan Farm’s current state, it absolutely could not handle any more visitors. The farm only had the single rapeseed Flower Sea, with no other activities to divert the flow of people. When the tourists arrived, what would happen when that many people swarmed into the Flower Sea all at once?

It would be too crowded. No matter how beautiful the scenery, once the number of people exceeds a certain limit, it loses its aesthetic appeal.

Most importantly, there was the trampling and destruction. If this wasn’t handled properly, he feared the entire Flower Sea would be ruined in no time, damaged beyond recognition.

Therefore, he had to plan and prepare for this properly.

"Right away, Boss!" Mucheng nodded and immediately complied.

Hearing this, Lin Mengxi really thought the You City Tourism Bureau was going to go crazy. ’Everyone else is afraid of not having enough tourists,’ she mused. ’They promote so many attractions in You City just to get a few more visitors, yet here’s Li Yuan Farm, actually limiting reservations and turning people away.’

But in this regard, she had to admire Boss Zhang.

She could also see that the farm’s supporting facilities and services were far from complete. An influx of over 5,000 people would be incredibly difficult to manage, and any more would be a devastating blow to the rapeseed Flower Sea.

Faced with this kind of traffic and the obvious profits, very few people his age could remain so clear-headed.

’It really is an admirable quality.’

"Miss Lin, I have to go deal with this problem now. When the fruit growers arrive, please coordinate with the service staff!" Zhang Lin quickly called over a staff member to make arrangements, then hurried off to the office in the prefabricated building.

Soon, a few fruit growers came up, carrying crates of Furong plums and blueberries.

When they didn’t see Zhang Lin, they were confused.

"Technician Lin, where’s Boss Zhang?"

"Yeah, why isn’t he here?"

"..."

Lin Mengxi explained, "Tomorrow is Saturday, and Li Yuan Farm is expecting a peak in visitor numbers. Over 5,000 tickets have already been booked online, so Boss Zhang went to take care of it."

She said this partly to give the fruit growers some confidence.

Sure enough, hearing that there would be over 5,000 visitors tomorrow, the fruit growers were all incredulous.

’With 5,000 visitors, if each person just buys a few Furong plums and blueberries, they’ll be able to sell so much.’

Lin Mengxi looked at the fruit they were carrying and said, "Let’s take the fruit to the service center."

Once inside again, she noticed that Li Yuan Farm’s especially delicious blueberries seemed to have sold out, and many tourists were asking about them.

"How are they sold out already? I still wanted to buy some!"

"Exactly! I heard from other people that these blueberries are delicious."

"Can’t you restock them?"

The employee in charge immediately explained, "Everyone, we’re very sorry. Those blueberries are a special new variety, and we’re still in the trial sales period, so the daily quantity is limited!"

The tourists sighed at her words.

Seeing this, Lin Mengxi seized the opportunity and stepped forward. "Everyone, don’t be too disappointed. While the farm’s special blueberries are gone, You City’s new blueberry variety is also quite good. We’re holding a trial sale today for a special promotional price of just 25 yuan. Feel free to give them a try."

yuan was the price they had set. She didn’t know what final price the farm would decide on, so calling it a promotional price was perfectly fine.

This caught the tourists’ attention. As soon as the growers brought the blueberries over, visitors immediately began to try them.

This new variety from You City, while nowhere near as good as the one from the game system, was still superior to common blueberries, so the tourists were willing to buy them.

"These blueberries are actually pretty good. I’ll buy some!"

"I couldn’t get the special ones, so I might as well buy some of these."

"..."

Seeing this, the fruit growers’ faces lit up with joy.

Lin Mengxi was also smiling. ’Partnering with Li Yuan Farm was definitely the right move.’

Then, she immediately pulled out her phone to call her director. The fact that Li Yuan Farm would be receiving over 5,000 visitors tomorrow had to be reported.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was meeting someone for tea. His guest was none other than the director of the Tourism Bureau, Zhao Han.

He and Zhao Han went way back; they hadn’t just met when Zhao Han was transferred to You City. He knew exactly why he had been invited, and sure enough, the moment they sat down, the conversation turned to Li Yuan Farm.

When it came to Li Yuan Farm, he wasn’t fixated on the idea that it had to work exclusively with the Agriculture Bureau. If Boss Zhang was willing, he wouldn’t object to the Tourism Bureau joining in. A win-win was the only true victory.

So for Zhao Han to invite him for tea specifically over this matter... he was truly underestimating his magnanimity.

’The crucial thing is, he needs to sort things out with Boss Zhang first!’

However, when he heard the full story of what happened between Boss Zhang and the Tourism Bureau, he couldn’t help but roar with laughter. "HAHAHA! Zhao, so the prize was practically handed to you on a silver platter and you still fumbled it, letting our Agriculture Bureau beat you to it! I’m going to be laughing about this for a whole year."

"..." Zhao Han said miserably, "What could I do? You know I was basically parachuted into this position. Every spot is already filled, so it’s normal for people to have their sentiments. It’s just that Chen Ting... he’s a complete idiot!"

He couldn’t help but start swearing as he spoke.

Just then, Wei Yuan’s phone rang. Seeing it was a call from Lin Mengxi, he immediately answered. "Mengxi, how did things go with the fruit growers and the farm?"

"Director, it went very well. There’s something I need to report to you." Lin Mengxi quickly relayed the news about the farm’s online reservations surpassing 5,000, then added, "I feel like the people at the Tourism Bureau are probably crying their eyes out in the bathroom."

"Over 5,000! And they’re capping it?" Hearing this, Wei Yuan shot Zhao Han a strange look.

’Seriously, just demoting that Chen Ting was letting him off easy.’

"Wei, why are you looking at me like that?" Zhao Han asked, perplexed by Wei Yuan’s odd stare.

"Zhao, I have a feeling you’re going to want to find a bathroom soon," Wei Yuan said teasingly as he hung up the phone.

"????" Zhao Han was completely bewildered. "Wei, what are you talking about?"

...