Chapter 45

“Fengshan Sweet Potato Flour: One Yuan with Free Shipping, Limited to Two Hundred Million Orders!”

“Fengshan Farm Strikes Again: Profit Analysis of One Yuan Sweet Potato Flour.”

“Fengshan Farm: The Mysterious Longxia Enterprise.”

…

Over the next two days, topics related to Fengshan Sweet Potato Flour topped the trending lists. This was the second time #FengshanSweetPotatoFlour# hit hot topics. Beyond the event itself, netizens were pondering one question: How does Fengshan Farm make a profit?

Amid the current food crisis, sweet potato flour prices have surged from 7.2 yuan to 15 yuan. Fengshan Farm sells 1KG packages at a market price of 30 yuan. Calculating costs at 5 yuan plus shipping, each order loses at least 10 yuan.

Two hundred million orders—that’s two billion yuan in losses.

“OMG!”

Netizens stopped wondering how Fengshan Farm profits. Instead, they wondered how much Fengshan Farm is losing!

…

“Has everyone placed their orders for the one yuan Fengshan sweet potato flour?”

While netizens were still dazed, at Sichuan University of Economics and Trade, Wang Pengfei looked at the Fengshan news and asked. Now Fengshan Farm was advertising on Longxia News and variety shows nationwide. As he scrolled through the news, memories of Fengshan Farm’s viral explosion six months ago flashed through his mind.

After Wang Pengfei asked, the dorm leader downstairs said, “No.”

“Haven’t seen the news? It’s the official flagship store.”

“Seen it, didn’t buy.”

The dorm leader was famously frugal—previously, he waited from 9 PM until midnight just to get six drinks for one yuan. Usually, he compared prices for clothes and instant noodles, so Wang Pengfei was quite surprised he hadn’t grabbed this deal.

At that moment, the second dorm mate returned from class.

Wang Pengfei immediately promoted, “There’s a one yuan sweet potato flour deal online, it’s the same stuff the school handed out before, perfect for hot pot!”

The second mate put down his book: “Fengshan sweet potato flour?”

“Yeah!”

“I saw it trending but don’t want to buy.”

“It’s pretty tasty.” Wang Pengfei felt a bit woozy.

During the recent heavy rains in Central-South, their school was in the disaster zone. The local government sent supplies—besides instant noodles, each dorm got a bag of sweet potato flour.

The four of them bought some hot pot base and cooked hot pot together. With Fengshan sweet potato flour in their bellies, everyone felt the warm, comforting flavor. Just after the disaster, feeling the world was beautiful was no exaggeration! Now that the rains had passed, they had searched online for Fengshan sweet potato flour but found none for sale.

The dorm mates lamented this for a while, but now… something felt off.

Just then, the third dorm mate returned.

“Did you guys see the news? Fengshan sweet potato flour opened an online store.” The third asked as soon as he walked in.

“Yeah, did you buy?”

“One yuan, felt awkward pulling the trigger.”

One yuan sweet potato flour was a giveaway deal, but freebies needed to be taken wisely. As the ads continued, many netizens deeply dug into Fengshan Farm’s history—from Longxia ads, affordable flour, three hundred million yuan donations to disaster zones, to jointly researching Longfeng 001 with Longxia…

The joint research was done by an agricultural student comparing DNA data of Fengshan No.1 and Longfeng 001. According to his analysis, the similarity was 72%, suggesting Fengshan No.1 was the progenitor of Longfeng 001. Such detailed information was state secret, but he was confident in his research based on the data he had.

This was a relatively simple data analysis, and after his paper was published, many related professionals agreed.

Besides, the official Longxia agriculture Weibo accidentally liked some posts—though quickly undone, more and more netizens became convinced. If Fengshan Farm truly had official backing, this would explain how the farm secured ads on Longxia News. Even without that, affordable flour, Longfeng 001, and one yuan sweet potato flour… Fengshan Farm was clearly a pioneer of domestic enterprises.

People love freebies and getting something for nothing. But with Fengshan Farm… many felt it was bullying honest folks and hesitated to take advantage.

There’s a code even among thieves.

Fengshan Farm had long faced shortages and had no scandals. According to netizen revelations, besides the three hundred million yuan donated to the Central-South disaster, Fengshan Farm also donated one hundred million yuan during heavy rains in Huai Province and purchased one hundred million yuan worth of acid rain-resistant fabric for post-disaster rebuilding in Yunyu and Central-South regions. These details weren’t publicly known until the affected provinces released donation breakdowns.

Fengshan Farm was like a prodigal child throwing money around, but even a prodigal child wouldn’t be this reckless.

They all felt a pang of sympathy.

“Damn!” Wang Pengfei had wanted to buy the sweet potato flour, but hearing the dorm’s analysis made him uneasy.

“No moral coercion now. If you want to buy, just buy it. Bring some back so we can try.” The dorm leader saw Wang Pengfei’s hesitation and quickly said.

“Yeah, if I buy it, I feel burdened; eating yours feels fine.”

“Buy it and make some hot and sour noodles.”

The second and third mates chimed in.

“Bastards!”

Wang Pengfei flipped them off.

It was 10 PM. He reopened Fengshan’s official website. Before asking the dorm leader, he had only added the item to his cart without purchasing. The flour was cheap, but if he bought it, he felt an odd discomfort.

He hadn’t noticed before, but hearing the dorm’s analysis, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to buy—it was that he didn’t want to take advantage of honest people.

Wang Pengfei sat sulking for a moment and looked at Fengshan’s data.

Sales: 6.27 million.

Stock: 193.73 million.

Followers: 39.56 million.

He casually glanced, then froze when he saw the sales and follower numbers. According to the farm’s rules, following the store allowed purchase, and the followers outnumbered sales by 33.29 million. In other words, compared to those grabbing freebies, many more netizens just quietly followed.

Wang Pengfei zoned out for a moment, then opened a market complaint forum.

Just opening it, a large headline floated on the homepage: [Fengshan Farm: Who Does One Yuan Sweet Potato Flour Look Down On? Hurry, Immediately, Restore the Original Price!]

“I’m a staunch freebie hunter, and this time I just can’t snag anything.”

“Me too, looking at the one yuan price makes me uncomfortable. Don’t know when it’ll go back to normal.”

“Ah! Can I order thirty and make them only send one?”

…

Below were scattered comments from netizens.

This was Fengshan sweet potato flour’s first public sale. Since the Fancy Challenge event began, everyone had anticipated the flour’s launch. But seeing the one yuan price, many felt reluctant to buy.

Now netizens were extremely agitated. They had one demand: please raise the price; one yuan freebies are painful to grab.