Chapter 34

At the “Xiao Bing Family” seasoning processing factory, the factory director, Yang Shunde, had always lived and worked there.

His wife and children were gone, his home was gone—now, this small food processing factory was his home.

Yang Shunde’s factory was established after the earthquake with the help of a charitable enterprise in Dongguan.

Back then, Yang Shunde was lost, not knowing what to do with his days.

One night, while drinking alone at a late-night food stall, he was spotted by the owner of that very same charitable enterprise from Dongguan.

That warm-hearted and generous man from Dongguan sat with him, drinking through the night.

For middle-aged men—especially men—there were some pains they simply couldn’t put into words. In those moments, “having a drink” became their only way to vent, just like how girls reach for milk tea when they’re feeling down.

As the two got to know each other, the businessman learned that Yang Shunde’s family had previously run a hot pot restaurant, and that his wife had developed her own secret recipe for hot pot base. So he encouraged Yang Shunde to open another hot pot restaurant and even offered to invest in it.

But Yang Shunde silently shook his head.

There were too many people suffering from both physical and psychological trauma after the earthquake. No one realized that this seemingly strong, physically recovered man was experiencing severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

He couldn’t even bring himself to step into a hot pot restaurant.

The moment he did, it was as if he could hear his wife’s cheerful laughter and warm greetings coming from behind the cash register…

However, that businessman’s words had sparked an idea.

He didn’t want to reopen a hot pot restaurant, but he also didn’t want to lose the hot pot base recipe his wife had painstakingly perfected.

And so, the “Xiao Bing Family” seasoning processing factory was born.

Yang Shunde named the factory after his wife, as if by doing so, he could maintain some kind of mysterious connection with her.

He was already fifty-eight years old, with not many years left to live. He only hoped that his wife could wait for him a little longer in the afterlife, and that in their next lives, they would be reborn in the same place so he could find her again!

Over time, Yang Shunde took in many earthquake orphans and hired numerous disabled survivors from the disaster.

He knew that being superstitious wasn’t rational, but he couldn’t help thinking—if he did more good deeds and accumulated more karma, then if there really was an afterlife, maybe next time he could be born into a wealthier family!

And when he found his wife again in their next life, he would never let her suffer as she had in this one.

He would make sure his Xiao Bing lived a life of comfort and happiness, never having to worry about money—a carefree little rich lady.

But starting a business wasn’t as easy as he had imagined.

A small factory like his had no brand recognition. And because he insisted on using only high-quality, locally sourced Sichuan ingredients to make his hot pot base, his costs were too high to compete.

Luckily, Yang Shunde had good fortune—he kept meeting kindhearted people.

The businessman from Dongguan who had helped him start the factory wasn’t a big fan of spicy food himself, but he introduced Yang Shunde to several Chinese supermarket owners abroad. Over the years, overseas export orders had barely kept the small factory afloat.

As for the domestic market… major supermarkets were monopolized by big brands, making it nearly impossible for small, unknown factories like his to get their products on the shelves.

Fortunately, the locals knew that his factory produced truly authentic hot pot base. Yang Shunde worked hard to distribute his products in small town supermarkets, setting prices lower than the big brands while offering larger portions. Many housewives in the area became loyal customers.

A few years ago, Wei Sheng’s grandfather had joined a senior tour group visiting Yingxiang. While staying at a farmhouse inn, he happened to taste hot pot made with Xiao Bing Family’s base and was instantly amazed.

When he later learned that the factory employed disabled survivors of the earthquake, Hu Yuanzheng was deeply moved. He personally sought out Yang Shunde and became the exclusive distributor for Xiao Bing Family products in J City.

To put it simply, ever since Hu Yuanzheng started stocking Xiao Bing Family’s Sichuan seasonings, Wei Sheng had never bought hot pot base from any other brand.

Ordinary people know quality when they see it.

Over the years, Xiao Bing Family remained an obscure brand to most in J Province, but the housewives in the neighborhoods around Hu’s supermarket had practically bought out its entire inventory!

Not only was this brand’s hot pot base cheaper than the big-name ones, but the portions were also generous.

With other brands, the packaging looked big, but when opened, a single packet barely lasted one meal.

But Xiao Bing Family’s was different.

Each simple, unassuming bag contained four individually sealed packs of hot pot base, thoughtfully made with a mild spice level. Plus, inside the bag was an extra packet of dried chili peppers.

The product description even explained: The hot pot base had a mild spice level, but if you wanted it spicier, just toss in a few dried chilies while preparing the broth. That way, it was easy to customize the spice level and make a pot of fragrant, fiery hot pot…

At first, the housewives simply found the hot pot base delicious. Then they discovered that the free dried chilies inside were also fantastic, and they started urging Hu Yuanzheng to stock more chili powder from the factory.

Soon, they weren’t just buying for themselves—they were gifting it to family and friends too!

Some even went to extreme lengths.

When their children studying abroad came home for visits, they would buy an entire extra-large suitcase just to pack it full of Xiao Bing Family’s beef tallow hot pot base, boiling fish seasoning, and Sichuan-style braised fish seasoning to take back overseas!

I heard that an aunt’s daughter married a German man. When she went over to help with postpartum care, she brought a pack of “Xiao Bing Family” dried chili peppers. Feeling bored, she took out some chili seeds, dug a small vegetable patch in her son-in-law’s backyard, and planted some peppers.

Originally, she just wanted to achieve “chopped chili freedom” in a foreign land.

Who knew that these chili peppers would turn out to be so fragrant?

At first, it was just some local Chinese friends who came to ask for a bit to try.

After asking several times, they started feeling embarrassed and began paying for them.

Later, it escalated to the point where Chinese people from nearby cities were driving over to buy chili peppers from her.

I heard that the aunt has now called her husband over as well. With their son-in-law’s help, the couple has rented a farm and plans to grow the same variety of chili peppers from “Xiao Bing Family” on a large scale abroad.

Well, not only has the aunt achieved “chopped chili freedom” in a foreign land, but she might also be on the path to “financial freedom.”

After listening to Wei Sheng’s story, the tens of thousands of viewers who had just flooded into the livestream were left speechless.

Yang Shunde, too, was stunned after hearing what the host had to say.

“You’re telling me that over 30,000 people suddenly joined our livestream? And they’re all placing orders for our hot pot base?” Yang Shunde repeated in disbelief.

The host took out her personal phone, glanced at it, and nearly fainted from excitement.

“Boss Yang! Not just 30,000—look! Our livestream now has over 100,000 viewers online!”

The two of them stood there in a daze.

Then, Yang Shunde suddenly smacked his forehead and urgently asked, “Then why are you running out here? Who’s hosting our livestream right now?”

The host was dumbfounded.

Who’s hosting?

No one!!!

The only host had gotten scared halfway through the stream and ran off to find the boss.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of confused viewers were placing orders on their own in an empty livestream…

Yang Shunde was an older man who didn’t understand the internet at all. Setting up an online store and a livestream was an idea proposed by the sales department.

At the time, Yang Shunde figured it wouldn’t cost much anyway. The factory sectioned off a small space next to the sales office, and a few salespeople took turns appearing on camera for livestreams. The products were their own, the tables and chairs came from the meeting room, and even the shelves were factory-made. The biggest expense was spending a few thousand yuan on a new phone, a phone stand, and a ring light for the livestream.

Originally, Yang Shunde hadn’t even wanted to buy the light—he thought the office’s energy-saving bulbs were bright enough.

But the female sales staff protested, saying they wouldn’t go on camera without proper lighting because the energy-saving bulbs didn’t have a beautifying effect and made them look bad on screen.

Seeing these young women, Yang Shunde couldn’t help but think of his own daughter, who loved to doll up. Instantly, all his irritation vanished.

Fine! A ring light, right? I’ll buy two for you!

When he walked into the livestream room, the young female host on duty suddenly looked up in surprise.

“Boss Yang, do you know a celebrity named Wei Sheng?”

“Wei Sheng? No, never heard of him. Why?”

“Boss Yang, look! Our livestream’s comment section is filled with people saying they came from Wei Sheng’s livestream.”

“Look at this comment—this person says they heard Wei Sheng talk about you and your wife’s story, and they were really touched. From now on, they’ll only buy their hot pot base from us.”

“And this one says they hope our factory’s sales explode so that our disabled employees can get bigger bonuses… Uh, Boss Yang, I’m not saying we should demand a raise. We all know business has been tough these past two years. Everyone’s already happy just getting their salaries on time.”

Yang Shunde looked down at the sales data displayed on the backend and instantly widened his eyes in shock.

A moment later, a broad, honest smile spread across his face.

“Bonuses! Everyone’s getting bonuses! This month, let’s all work hard and make sure we ship out all these orders—everyone will get a bonus!”

“By the way, can you get in touch with this big-shot Wei Sheng? He’s done us such a huge favor. Whether we know him or not, we have to show our gratitude.”

“Wait! Boss Yang! I just found Wei Sheng’s livestream—he’s streaming right now! And he’s eating hot pot! Using our hot pot base!” the host excitedly held up her phone.

Earlier, in their own livestream, the new wave of fans had been going on a “wild shopping spree” that couldn’t be stopped. The host suddenly had nothing to do, so she idly searched for the name “Wei Sheng” on her phone.

To her surprise, she actually found his livestream!

Yang Shunde took the employee’s phone, holding it with both hands. He squinted and studied the screen for a long time before finally concluding—this kindhearted man wasn’t a relative of his, nor was he a relative from his wife’s side.

He felt a little disappointed. If only Wei Sheng was a relative from his wife’s family…

Just as he was about to return the phone, he suddenly heard a familiar name coming from the livestream.

“My grandpa’s name? Now that is a name full of historical significance—his full name is Hu Yuanzheng!”

“Yuanzheng! Do you know what that means?”

Yang Shunde’s eyes widened.

This kid Wei Sheng—he’s from Brother Yuanzheng’s family?!

That explains everything!

This whole thing was happening on J Province’s TV station, and Hu Yuanzheng was also from J Province. Plus, he was their province’s only distributor…

Ahem—

It wasn’t that Yang Shunde didn’t want to expand his business. It was just that he wasn’t smart enough to play those fancy business games with agencies and franchises.

All he knew was how to make good hot pot base, sell it, and keep his employees fed. Just doing that had already taken everything out of him—where would he find the energy to expand his market?

If it weren’t for that accidental encounter back then, when Hu Yuanzheng actively approached him as a distributor, he wouldn’t have even expanded to J Province!

“This kid looks really good! And he has a good heart too!” Yang Shunde couldn’t help but praise.

“Mm-hmm! As the saying goes, ‘appearance reflects the heart.’ Seeing how good-looking he is, he must be kind-hearted!” The livestream host girl had already sneakily followed Wei Sheng’s personal account.

From today onwards, she was a die-hard fan of Wei Sheng!

“Sigh! I was thinking of sending him two boxes of hot pot base, but since he’s Brother Yuanzheng’s grandson, his family definitely doesn’t lack these things.” Yang Shunde scratched his head, unsure how to properly thank Wei Sheng.

“It’s okay, Boss Yang. When our company grows bigger and stronger in the future, you can pay to have Wei Sheng be our brand ambassador! Look at how much he enjoys eating hot pot—he’s a perfect fit to endorse hot pot base!” The livestream host was full of big ideas.

And she wasn’t the only one thinking this way.

Everyone in the company firmly believed that their factory’s hot pot base tasted way better than those big brands dominating supermarket shelves. Plus, their portions were generous and reasonably priced. The only problem was that their boss was too laid-back—he had no ambition to scale up the business. As a result, all the employees practically turned into his “career fans,” metaphorically waving little whips to push Yang Shunde into expanding production.

The online store and livestream channel had only come into existence because they sweet-talked and tricked Yang Shunde into agreeing.

And yet, the company never paid them extra wages for these efforts. Everyone was essentially “powering through on love,” voluntarily sacrificing their free time to livestream and sell products for the company.

Unfortunately, none of them were professional online marketing experts. Even after nearly a year, their livestream channel still hadn’t reached ten thousand followers. Most of them were already thinking about giving up—until this unexpected twist of fate. A celebrity, without charging a single cent, had voluntarily driven traffic their way!

Thinking about the tens of thousands of new followers in their online store, the livestream host girl felt an overwhelming urge to rush back to the dorms and wake everyone up to work overtime!

“Alright, alright, just sell what we have and go get some sleep! Don’t restock for now—there are too many orders, and we can’t handle them all.” Yang Shunde immediately reverted to his usual slacker mentality.

What’s the point of growing the business so big? Instead of working so much, shouldn’t these young folks be cherishing the present?

Go get married if you need to! Have kids if it’s time! Life is meant to be enjoyed, not spent pulling all-nighters at the company!

The host girl rolled her eyes at her boss’s chubby retreating figure.

He was absolutely hopeless!

She had never seen such an unmotivated boss before!

In this economy, running a business was incredibly tough! Didn’t he see how many netizens were already joking about it?

It used to be that employees constantly threatened to quit on their bosses. But now? So many people were unemployed that instead of quitting, employees were filming comedy videos, brainstorming ways to “protect their boss” and “save the company.”

Bosses stopped selling dreams? No problem! Employees would paint their own visions—and while they were at it, they’d paint an even bigger dream for their boss too!

What? The boss secretly went out looking for a job? Absolutely not! If necessary, employees would even unplug the boss’s office internet to stop him from secretly sending out resumes…

The entrepreneurial landscape was already this tough! They finally had a chance to work overtime—how could the boss not cherish it?!

At that moment, the livestream host girl made a silent but firm decision:

Forget about the boss! Let him go to bed.

We’ll just secretly work overtime on our own!

To keep our jobs, let’s hustle, everyone!

(End of chapter.)