Chapter Seventeen

“Jiao, is Qianzhiwei’s bread good?”

Half an hour later, just as Glib Glutinous Rice Ball ended his stream, in dorm 305 of Luo Hai Finance and Economics University, Liu Xiaoyuan stared at the end screen on her phone and asked her roommate across the room.

“Never bought it,” her roommate replied, eyes still on the TV. Then she glanced at Liu Xiaoyuan. “Thinking of getting some bread?”

“A streamer I like recommended Qianzhiwei…” Liu Xiaoyuan recounted the livestream she just watched. As soon as she finished, her roommate groaned, full of regret. “Don’t believe it, it’s all a scam!”

Her roommate, named Meng Jiao, had once been obsessed with livestream shopping. A C-list celebrity had endorsed a cosmetics brand, claiming it was a fan-exclusive deal at half the market price. The stream’s energy was through the roof, and in a moment of impulsiveness, she rushed to grab a set.

The packaging looked just like the store-bought version. She used it twice, and her face broke out in red bumps. After a meticulous comparison, she realized it was counterfeit! She fought for a refund for a month before finally getting her money back. Since then, she’d had zero tolerance for livestream shopping.

To them, viewers weren’t family—just lambs to the slaughter.

Afraid Liu Xiaoyuan might fall for it, Meng Jiao climbed off her bed. “Seriously, don’t buy it…”

“It’s just a box of bread. Can’t be fake, right?”

Liu Xiaoyuan hesitated. She was a fan of Glib Glutinous Rice Ball and had been watching Nuomi Live regularly.

At the end of the livestream, to prove the bread’s quality, Glib Glutinous Rice Ball even opened a bag and took a bite. With a thumbs-up, he said, “Soft, chewy, really tasty!”

It was his first time tasting on camera. His reaction had seemed so genuine—nothing like an act…

It was now 10 p.m. After chatting for a bit, Liu Xiaoyuan opened the official Qianzhiwei website.

Name: Qianzhiwei Original Flavor Bread
Price: ¥17.5
Weight: 20 pieces (1KG)
…

Not cheap, but not expensive either. Liu Xiaoyuan thought about it and went ahead and ordered a box.

Luo Hai was located in the southeastern part of Longxia and home to the country’s largest logistics hub. The next afternoon, Liu Xiaoyuan received a delivery alert just after class. After half an hour of waiting in line, she finally found her package—a small 20×30 cm box. She cut it open with a knife from the pickup station, pulled out a piece, and started eating it as she walked.

The packaging was nicely done. She gave it a squeeze or two and took a bite.

By 7 p.m., Liu Xiaoyuan had returned to the dorm.

“Didn’t go to the cafeteria?” Meng Jiao was doing a face mask and looked over.

“No.” Liu Xiaoyuan dropped the bread on the table and flopped on her bed, clearly deflated.

“What’s wrong?” Meng Jiao asked, curious.

Liu Xiaoyuan pointed to the bread. “Total scam.”

On the way back, she’d eaten three. They were standard cold-processed bread, with a synthetic sweet, milky aroma—nothing like the soft, wheaty flavor from the livestream.

She remembered yesterday’s stream—

“Very wheaty, not sweet, with a coarse, whole-grain texture…”

“Quite tasty, with a full wheat flavor.”

“Delicious!”

…

All a scam.

Meng Jiao saw the look on her face and patted her shoulder with deep sympathy. “My condolences.”

Liu Xiaoyuan was seriously annoyed. After lying on her bed for a while, she pulled out her phone and unfollowed Glib Glutinous Rice Ball.

Seventeen yuan fifty wasn’t a big loss, but she hated the feeling of being tricked by a performance.

…

“Should we respond?” At the same time Liu Xiaoyuan was unfollowing, in a high-end villa in Chong City, a frustrated assistant asked. Across from him sat a clean-cut young man in a cozy cotton jacket—none other than the streamer Glib Glutinous Rice Ball.

The assistant had barely finished when Glib Glutinous Rice Ball took the phone.

There were over 300 DMs in the inbox, and his follower count had dropped from 6.62 million to 6.31 million.

His real name was Zhang Ze, a senior at Chong City Media University. Livestream e-commerce was trendy now—he wasn’t opposed to it, but he wasn’t blindly chasing it either. Partly because his family was well-off, but also because he had just submitted an internship application to Chong City TV Station. His dream was to become a host there, and if he focused too much on selling products, it would undermine his credibility.

He’d protected his image since his very first stream. Who would’ve thought—after all the luxury cigarettes and booze he’d reviewed with no issues, it was humble bread that backfired… If he had taken Qianzhiwei’s money, it would’ve been one thing—but the key was, they hadn’t even worked together!

Zhang Ze opened a can of Coke, sulking.

His assistant, seeing he wasn’t speaking, asked, “Should we post a statement?”

“What kind of statement?”

At this point, even he felt like a livestream salesman.

Zhang Ze finished his Coke. “Did you buy the bread?”

“Yeah.” The assistant opened his backpack.

After yesterday’s chaotic stream, he had tasted all fifteen types of bread to verify No. 7’s flavor. Though slightly stale from being opened too long, No. 7 was crisp and crunchy in a unique way.

It wasn’t the best he’d ever had, but it was definitely the best of the fifteen!

Sticking to the principle of real-time reviews, he described his genuine impressions. Some fans had doubts, but he brushed it off. Who knew that overnight, dozens of DMs came in saying they bought the same bread and were deeply disappointed.

Zhang Ze was confident in his palate. But with that many fans reporting the same issue, he had to take it seriously…

The assistant handed him the bread. Zhang Ze flipped through the packaging—it looked the same as yesterday’s. He opened a bag. A strong artificial milky aroma hit him immediately. He frowned and took a bite. The fake flavor only intensified.

“Pfft!” Zhang Ze spat it out.

The bread wasn’t exactly disgusting, but it tasted nothing like yesterday’s.

“What’s wrong?” the assistant was startled.

“Try it.”

The assistant tore open another bag, took a bite, and immediately frowned. “This tastes… off…”

It really was off.

They found the original bread from the livestream. After careful comparison, they finally spotted the difference—

The livestream bread had a clear logo at the bottom: 【Wheat Quality: Fengshan No. 1】

Supermarket version: None.

Zhang Ze and his assistant stared at each other: 【？？？】

…

“This is outrageous!” Meanwhile, at Fengshan Farm, Liu Wensheng stood fuming, staring at his crops.

Today is November 22nd, and the second batch of wheat has just sprouted. Liu Wensheng and Zhang Hu were wandering around with nothing to do when they noticed a missing patch in the eastern wheat field. On the ground were traces of flattened seedlings, along with prints from hares and some unidentified animals. Clearly, as the weather gets colder, more wild animals are venturing down from the mountains.

“Twenty mu,” the two of them concluded after circling halfway around, estimating the damaged area. Though twenty mu is insignificant compared to the total two thousand, the fact that the seedlings were destroyed right after being planted… it was such a shame.

They turned to look at the scarecrows around the field. All five showed varying degrees of damage.

The scarecrows no longer held any deterrent power.