Chapter Twenty-Three

“Cui Ning: The Longxia host kidnapped by capital.”

“Fengshan No.1: A wheat farm built in the Uninhabited Zone, testing whose intelligence?”

“Duan Yujie: The battle for status among the four major actresses.”

…

In the following three days, news related to “Fengshan No.1” frequently appeared on entertainment pages. As the situation continued to ferment, the low-level marketing of Fengshan No.1 was confirmed, and the reputations of Cui Ning and Duan Yujie were affected to varying degrees.

“Goddamn low-level marketing!”

Inside Fengshan Farm, Liu Wensheng rarely cursed. He had been busy with quota distribution these days, and although his team mentioned online public opinion, he hadn’t paid much attention. But now… not only had their flour become a tool for live-stream marketing, it was also testing intelligence?

Liu Wensheng read the critical comments three times, feeling extremely aggrieved, and looked at Qin Yun: “How many tons of flour does the farm have?”

“Seven thousand two hundred tons.” Qin Yun was doing data statistics and asked after reading, “Are we shipping these two days?” Baisheng ordered 15,000 tons of flour, and according to the original plan, they needed to ship everything before New Year’s Day.

“Let me think.” Liu Wensheng pondered seriously. The flour definitely had to be shipped to Baisheng, but due to the poor online reputation of the flour, he was worried about the impact on Starlight Points…

“How much funding does the farm have?” Liu Wensheng looked up and asked.

Qin Yun glanced at the bank message: “Three hundred and seventy million.”

“Shall we shoot some ads?”

Liu Wensheng thought for a moment. In fact, Longxia had always wanted to promote the flour. However, the system rules were complicated, and they were worried that rash promotion might affect the System Task. Now, the [overnight sensation] clearly showed that compliant and legal promotion would not generate a DEBUFF.

“Will production keep up?” Qin Yun didn’t oppose the promotion. But the purpose of advertising is to sell goods, and with the current farm production not keeping up, having an ad would be pointless.

“We’re not counting on selling flour.” Liu Wensheng waved his hand. What he was worried about was not selling flour, but the reputation of the flour.

Liu Wensheng was a man of action. Once he made up his mind, he directly discussed it with the Longxia Team. The next afternoon, two helicopters arrived on the south side of the farm. The first helicopter was an old acquaintance: Zhou Yuanheng and Song Yueshan’s team. The second helicopter carried an elderly man in a jacket, eighty-two years old, none other than Longxia’s treasured director Yuan Qingxing.

“Academician Zhou, Elder Yuan.” Liu Wensheng greeted everyone.

While everyone was chatting, the staff behind them were setting up around the farm. Qin Yun even saw a staff member adjusting the camera while riding a helicopter, the whole scene comparable to a Natal movie.

Qin Yun recalled what Liu Wensheng said yesterday: Shall we shoot some ads?

He thought the ads Liu Wensheng mentioned were like TreeCat videos, but clearly, their ‘point’ was different.

“Secretary Qin, come over here.” Qin Yun was helping with the setup when Liu Wensheng called him over.

“Academician Zhou, Director Yuan.” Qin Yun hurried over.

“Very nice.” Yuan Qingxing patted Qin Yun on the shoulder.

Yuan Qingxing was a third-generation director of Longxia and had won the Natal Lifetime Film Award. Although he was an artist of the older generation, his aesthetics and camera language were very artistic. He had heard about the farm project and directly volunteered when he heard they were looking for an ad director.

“What shots can be taken, and which ones can’t?” Yuan Qingxing inquired about the shooting details.

“The Gobi and the farm can be in the shot, but try not to include the lake and earthen buildings…” Liu Wensheng stated the requirements.

After chatting for a while, the ad shooting began.

The ad focused on the farm and wheat shots, with later close-ups of the flour. It was a simple shooting task, but Yuan Qingxing handled it with great care.

During this bustling shooting, three days later, Yuan Qingxing left with his team.

“Secretary Qin, see you next week.” Zhou Yuanheng and Song Yueshan left together. The two mainly came for employee quotas, and after three days of negotiation, the fifteen quotas were allocated as follows: six for the agricultural research group, three for the biology group, three for the research group, and three for the Field Soldier group.

Since each group had few people, and some large research equipment was inconvenient to transport, everyone decided to take samples once a week and then bring them back to the research institute for study. Now that the farm had AI labor, Liu Wensheng arranged rooms for them and didn’t mind whether they stayed long or short.

Half an hour after everyone left, Liu Wensheng sighed, “We need to improve efficiency…” The current weekly wheat production is 3,750 tons. While 3,750 is a large number for other farms, for Longxia’s two billion shortfall and the potential food crisis, the farm’s production is simply not enough.

“This is Longxia’s agricultural document, take a look.” After chatting for a while, Liu Wensheng handed over a document.

Document title: “Longxia Winter Agricultural Planting and Purchase Subsidy.”

Document content—

1. Provinces and cities will fully purchase grain and increase grain reserves.

2. The state will open winter agricultural subsidies, encouraging farmers to plant winter-appropriate crops.

3. Longxia will increase agricultural imports, with import prices rising by 3%-10%.

…

“When will it be released?” Qin Yun asked seriously.

“Before New Year’s Day.” Liu Wensheng looked at the farm with emotion.

“Isn’t it too risky?”

Qin Yun asked with some difficulty. The international grain market is volatile, and if a food crisis arrives as expected, the country will have greater leverage in the crisis. If there is no food crisis, while the country won’t be severely harmed, it will take at least half a year to recover due to grain stockpiling…

Even though Qin Yun knew about the food crisis, he still felt immense pressure.

“This is the country’s decision.”

Liu Wensheng signaled Qin Yun not to worry. Since Qin Yun reported to the country, Longxia had been studying international situations and Mali’s climate for the past six months. According to Longxia’s climatologists, if Mali experiences heavy rainfall, there is a 3% chance the world will be affected. Although 3% is small, the country cannot afford to lose…

If there really is a food crisis, it is not only the farm that will face it but all of Longxia together.

After discussing the document details, Qin Yun prepared to talk about lighter topics: “Commander Liu, where do we plan to air the ad?”

“Longxia Channel One.” Liu Wensheng said matter-of-factly, then asked, “How about the time slot before and after ‘Longxia News’?”

“‘Longxia News’?”

“Yes.” Liu Wensheng nodded.

Qin Yun: !!!

He initially thought it was just an ordinary satellite TV ad, but now… Longxia is mighty!

In the next three days, the farm once again entered the [planting—harvesting—manufacturing] mode. Three days later, Baisheng Agricultural Trade arrived at the farm with fifty large trucks. After some hustle, the farm sold 10,000 tons of flour, with the rest to be shipped gradually within a week.

Once everything was settled, Qin Yun opened the System Interface.

Host Name: Qin Yun.

Current Task: Operate the farm and earn 1 million Starlight Points.

System Points: 22.31 million

…

Now the points have exceeded ten million. After reviewing, Qin Yun opened the bank card balance.

Current Balance: 673,500,000 yuan.

Qin Yun drove an off-road vehicle to Longxia Bank in Lushui Town. Half an hour later, he completed two transfers—

Recipient: Longxia Television Station. Amount: 200 million.

Recipient: Qingxing Cultural Communication Company. Amount: 80 million.

These were the fees for the TV station and the ad balance. Both recipients had complete procedures, but behind them, there were complex national relations.

After transferring, Qin Yun carefully observed the System Interface. Ten minutes later, with no changes in the system, Qin Yun breathed a sigh of relief. He had always been unsure how to handle the account balance, but now, he felt he had grasped the method of fund transfer.

…

“Director Wu is here?”

“Hello, Director Wu.”

The farm was operating in full swing. On December 28th, Zhao Sheng walked into the TV station proficiently. Zhao Sheng was a director at Longxia Television Station, mainly responsible for “Longxia Legal” and “Longxia News,” and had a certain degree of influence at the station.

It was now 6:30, and with nothing to do, Zhao Sheng pulled a chair over to the assistant director: “Old Cui isn’t here?”

“He is, in Studio Three.” The assistant director pointed towards the studio.

“We should learn from Old Cui, his mental resilience is incredible.” Zhao Sheng sighed.

Recently, Cui Ning had been a star figure at the TV station. In their eyes, Cui Ning privately accepted ads, yet acted as if nothing happened at the station, definitely the director’s favorite!

After some banter, Zhao Sheng was quite curious: “Has Fengshan No.1 been investigated?”

Currently, there was much speculation online about Fengshan No.1’s background. According to registration information, Fengshan Flour Factory was located in Gan Province’s Uninhabited Zone, a famously barren place, which is why there was so much online ridicule about Fengshan No.1.

Growing wheat in the Uninhabited Zone, isn’t that forced stupidity?

Even a dumb script wouldn’t dare write this.

“It was rejected.”

After Zhao Sheng asked, the assistant director sighed. Fengshan No.1 had sparked some online discussions, and a few veteran reporters saw the interview value in Fengshan and reported it to the station. Surprisingly, within a day, the station rejected it.

“The station doesn’t allow digging?” Zhao Sheng was a bit surprised.

“No.”

“Who rejected it?”

“Deputy Director Liu.” After saying this, the assistant director quietly leaned closer to Zhao Sheng: “I heard Deputy Director Liu agreed, but Director Wang didn’t allow it.”

Zhao Sheng was stunned. Director Wang was known for his hatred of evil and had previously planned multiple undercover operations against vice and crime. He thought investigating Fengshan No.1 would be easy, but now it seemed… the waters were too deep.

“Director Zhao, here are today’s materials.” In this daze, the assistant brought in a stack of documents.

The documents mainly contained two aspects—

1. The government announced the new quarterly agricultural planting subsidy policy in the afternoon, with the subsidy content to be broadcast at 19:10.

2. The ad slot content has changed.

“Longxia News” is the highest-rated news program in the country, and the time slots before and after the show are the strongest ad slots in Longxia. Previously, these slots were occupied by national brands like Longxia Spring Wine and Shenghetang Milk Powder. He thought the ad was just a minor adjustment, but seeing today’s ad left him a bit dizzy.

Ad Name: Fengshan No.1 Flour.

Ad Duration: Three minutes.

The advertisements on “Longxia Network” are calculated by frame, with most ads running fifteen to twenty seconds, and the Longxia Spring Wine ad lasting thirty seconds. Network ads rarely exceed one minute, let alone a three-minute ultra-long ad.

Zhao Sheng looked at the ad duration three times and turned to his assistant: “Three minutes?”

“Yes.” This was obtained from the review department, and he hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet.

Zhao Sheng continued to flip through the documents.

Fengshan No.1 is broadcast before and after “Longxia Network,” and in addition, programs like “Longxia Legal” and “Longxia Livelihood” will also have corresponding ad placements. Zhao Sheng took a sip of water and reflexively asked, “Only Longxia Television Station? What about other TV stations?”

“According to colleagues from the review department, the television bureau issued a document, and other TV stations will also have corresponding time requirements…”

Zhao Sheng: !!!

Zhao Sheng searched for the registration information of Fengshan Farm.

Name: Fengshan Farm.

Product: Fengshan No.1 Flour.

Legal Representative: Qin Yun.

Registered Capital: 3 million.

…

The information on Fengshan was quite ordinary. After reading it, Zhao Sheng had the same question as netizens: What is the background of Fengshan Farm?