Chapter 219

Wei Sheng had not livestreamed in a long time. When he suddenly announced a preview for a cooking stream the following evening, his fans were ecstatic, and even casual passersby were intrigued enough to plan on dropping in.

After all, this kid ate his way through every place he visited. Not only was he a connoisseur of food, but he was also skilled at unearthing local specialties. Who knew? They might actually be able to snag some local goods during the stream.

Wei Sheng had not actually considered selling local specialties through his livestream, but his current fame was simply too great. Ever since word got out that Wei Sheng was part of this film crew, Nanjiang County, where Jiangliu Village was located, began taking covert action.

On one hand, they wanted to use famous director Zhang Gaojun’s “final masterpiece” to boost Nanjiang County’s tourism profile. More importantly, they wanted to build a good relationship with Wei the God of Wealth. What if they could become the second Nine Streams County?

One had to remember that back when Wei Sheng opened a pharmaceutical factory in a township under Nine Streams County to produce Mosquito Repellent Cream, many people online had attacked him. They claimed he was making the cream just to “chase easy money” and “exploit his fans.”

Who could have imagined that with just that one Mosquito Repellent Cream, Wei Sheng would manage to jumpstart the entire TCM herb cultivation industry in Yuan Stream Township?

It was said that now, not just Yuan Stream Township, but many other townships throughout Nine Streams County had followed suit in developing the medicinal herb industry. Seeing as Wei Sheng had nearly turned this industry into a local “pillar industry,” how could other impoverished counties not be tempted?

Nanjiang County had been keeping people stationed near the film crew, ostensibly to “help the crew with local coordination,” but in reality, they were looking for an opportunity to strike up a conversation with Wei Sheng.

And hadn’t the opportunity just arrived?

Having “heard” that Wei Sheng was going to do a cooking livestream with the female lead and intended to personally pick seasonal wild vegetables by the river, Nanjiang County immediately helped prepare a large variety of local specialty ingredients. They even specifically found an experienced old farmer to lead them to the riverbank to pick vegetables and go out on a fishing boat to cast nets.

Nanjiang County had made ample preparations. They only waited for Wei Sheng’s livestream to make one of their local specialties go viral, so they could take the chance to establish a connection with Wei the God of Wealth. If they could get a few pointers from the God of Wealth himself, wouldn’t they become the second Nine Streams County?

But who could have guessed that a livestream interaction between the supporting male lead and the female lead would neither promote their “chemistry” nor help Nanjiang County make any specialty food go viral? Instead, the eccentric fans actually took a fancy to the two sharp fish-killing knives in the fisherman’s hands…

“Only the knives? That’s fine! Fish-killing knives are also a specialty of ours!”

After a brief moment of disappointment, the people of Nanjiang County quickly pulled themselves together.

Nanjiang County was a classic city “born of the water.” The entire county was a massive alluvial plain with a dense network of waterways. There were several major rivers with well-known names, and the silkworm, mulberry, and fishing industries were highly developed. A large portion of the population made their living by fishing or fish farming.

As everyone knew, in places with a developed fishing industry, the local dining tables were never without various fish and shrimp. Consequently, the local fishmongers basically all possessed skillful fish-killing techniques, and there was certainly no shortage of various specialized knives for the task.

Although Nanjiang County was desperate to please Wei Sheng, they did not resort to lying to deceive him. There really were several factories in the area that specialized in making cutlery and tools.

It could work like this?

Looking at the set of fish-killing knives newly delivered by Nanjiang County, Wei Sheng could not help but feel a bead of sweat roll down his forehead.

It was not that he had not felt Nanjiang County’s enthusiasm. If possible, he was willing to help the county promote some local specialties. But selling knives?

“Sell them, sell them! I’ll have someone tweak the script a bit. We’ll write it so that after the female lead and male lead go abroad, the second male lead strives for self-improvement and returns to the small fishing village. While others sell fish, he sells knives. He takes the road less traveled and earns his first pot of gold^[1] through the knife business,” Director Zhang Gaojun clapped his hands in admiration.

This revised script setting was even more unexpected than the original, and it fit the characteristics of that era perfectly: selling small commodities really was more profitable than selling fish.

Wei Sheng still had to film and had no time to inspect the knife factories in Nanjiang County personally. He could only call his company to dispatch people to conduct a market investigation first.

Upon hearing that their boss wanted to sell fish-killing knives, the internal staff of the company were not surprised at all. After all, their boss had far too many “prior offenses” in this regard!

When he was selling tea tree mushrooms, netizens took a fancy to the fungus substrate bags from the cultivation base.

When he was selling dried purslane, netizens clamored to ask how much the villagers’ specialized purslane-harvesting shovels cost.

The most outrageous instance was once when Boss Wei invited an elderly professor from a medical university to help endorse a product. As a result, some netizen who just wanted to stir up trouble actually sent several of the most expensive digital gifts in a row, insisting on asking where the old professor’s wig was custom-made and demanding Wei Sheng negotiate a group-buy price for everyone…

At that time, Boss Wei had almost broken out in a cold sweat.

One had to understand that this was no ordinary professor; it would not be an exaggeration to call him a contemporary titan in the field of TCM Studies. If they truly offended him, Yuanxi Biotech could forget about ever working in the TCM industry again.

Fortunately, this old professor was approachable and turned out to be quite good at playing along with jokes. He immediately declared that it was impossible!

Because he intended to go talk to the wig brand about an endorsement deal first. Since he had already appeared on camera, he had to make a killing first; otherwise, wouldn’t his turn as a model be for nothing?

That statement had instantly stunned the tens of thousands of fans in the livestream.

This… this was not the expert professor they had imagined! Especially for an old expert whose hair had all fallen out, shouldn’t he speak in a grave and tedious manner? Endorsing wigs? Professor, are you serious?

The fans naively thought the old professor and Wei Sheng were just joking and playing along with memes in the livestream. They never expected that after a while, the old professor would return to the livestream as a guest.

Only this time, the elder had not come to promote medicinal herbs, but to sell wigs…

And it must be said, not only was the old professor highly skilled in his academic pursuits, but he was also even more rigorous than ordinary sales anchors when it came to selecting products for the livestream. He had thoroughly researched everything about the wig factory, from the sourcing of raw materials to various product data. He was nothing like certain celebrity guests invited to livestreams who knew absolutely nothing about the products they were promoting.

Most importantly, the old professor and Wei Sheng joined forces to negotiate a deal for their fans on the brand’s best-selling mid-to-high-end wig, offering a very tempting price. Additionally, there was a special promotion for one hundred custom-made orders, which sold out within seconds of being listed.

It seemed that in modern society, the professors who studied until they went bald were not the only ones troubled by hair loss.

With the “prior record” of selling wigs in the livestream, selling fish-killing knives and the like did not seem so unacceptable anymore.

Furthermore, based on Wei Sheng’s years of culinary experience, the fish-killing knives and scaling knives produced in Nanjiang County were truly better to use than any other tools he had bought before.

How should he put it? It was probably because these tools were manufactured specifically for professional fishmongers, making them incredibly sturdy and durable. There was absolutely no risk of the handle suddenly falling off during use because the handles of these fish-killing knives and scaling knives were cast as a single piece with the blade!

As the saying goes, “One knife lasts three generations; the person passes on, but the knife remains.” He heard that there was a defunct tool factory in Nanjiang County whose products, manufactured in the early years of the People’s Republic, were still being used today by many elderly fishmongers.

It was just a pity they could no longer be bought.

Wei Sheng borrowed one from an old local fishmonger to try it out. As expected, it felt heavy in the hand, yet the edge was incredibly sharp. The entire knife, from blade to handle, was made of cast iron. The old fishmonger’s wife had wrapped a layer of scrap cloth around the handle to prevent slipping. Although it did not look pretty, the grip was top-notch!

Boss Wei was very envious. Hearing that descendants of the owners of that defunct tool factory still lived locally, he planned to find time to pay them a visit. If this craftsmanship could be brought back to the world, what would those ceramic knives from the Land of the Rising Sun^[2] even count for? They wouldn’t even be fit to carry the shoes^[3] of our ancestors’ cast-iron knives!

After reading the industrial investigation report sent by his subordinates, Wei Sheng made a decisive choice: Sell them! He had to make the fish-killing knives of Nanjiang County go viral across the entire internet!

Thus, in the midst of his busy filming schedule, “Wei Sheng’s Little Kitchen” updated its inventory once again.

Since the local specialties of Nanjiang County were various fish, shrimp, crabs, and shellfish, these “local characteristic ingredients” were naturally indispensable when cooking.

It just so happened that a major scene was being filmed today. After sensing that trouble was coming, the second male lead decided to take the fall for the female lead. Before going to turn himself in, he wanted to cook one last meal for her.

Wei Sheng suggested to the director that they should not bother with prop food. Why not let him go to the vegetable market himself, buy some ingredients, and cook a few dishes? This way, they could eat the food immediately after filming, wasting nothing.

There would also be no need for the leading lady to struggle with her acting, holding a prop crab and reciting lines for ages without being able to actually taste it. How miserable would that be?

Zhen Yu almost wept with joy.

“Fake eating^[4]” was the performance art most likely to be criticized by audiences. She simply could not understand why, when real food was clearly cheaper than prop food, the prop department insisted on not preparing real ingredients. Even ordering takeout would be better than spending money to buy a plate of prop buns, right?

Zhang Gaojun had not originally planned to film the grocery shopping segment. However, as he watched Wei Sheng crouching at a crab stall, carefully selecting them one by one, a sudden burst of inspiration hit him.

“Quick! Follow him! Film Teacher Wei buying groceries!”

“It must be complete! Use three camera angles!”

Unexpectedly, after the movie was released, the most tear-jerking scene was filmed right there in that dirty, fish-scented market.

While buying fish, Wei Sheng was completely immersed in the joy of browsing the market, seriously selecting the freshest ingredients and haggling with the vendors, a bright smile on his handsome face.

However, the audience sitting in the cinema, already possessing a god-like perspective, knew in advance that the second male lead played by Wei Sheng was about to go to prison for the female lead. Seeing him acting as usual, busy and happy while buying groceries and cooking for her, the more sensitive viewers were already sobbing uncontrollably. Even some tough men who had accompanied their wives or girlfriends to the movie could not help but tilt their heads back, fighting the urge to cry.

It was too heartbreaking! Director, you are heartless!

The second male lead was so good to the female lead. When she wanted to leave the fishing village to make a name for herself in the big city, he left his hometown without regret to accompany her. They lived under bridges and woke up in the early hours of the morning to scramble for fish. How much hardship had he endured?

Just as their lives were finally improving and it looked like the two of them could make a fortune from their business, the second male lead had even secretly gone to a gold shop to check prices. He was just waiting to earn enough money to buy a gold ring and propose to her.

But who knew the female lead would be so eager for profit? She was set up and scammed by several brokers from a shell company. By the time she realized it, the brokers had already fled with the money. The second male lead only found out about it by accident when he overheard her on the phone trying to borrow money.

In the movie, the female lead was not actually a “silly sweet^[5]” character who stepped on men to get ahead. In fact, she was very loyal. She appreciated the second male lead’s unwavering support and companionship and did not want to involve him, originally intending to shoulder the matter herself.

But the financial hole was simply too large. How could she, a fisher girl who started from scratch with no foundation, possibly carry such a burden?

Soon, creditors came knocking and even called the police. Sensing that the female lead intended to accept her fate and go to prison, how could the second male lead bear it?

Thus came the scene mentioned at the beginning. The second male lead was determined to beat her to it and go to the police station to turn himself in. So, before leaving, he wanted to personally cook a table of delicious food and have a final reunion dinner^[6] with her.

The first pot of gold they had earned when starting from scratch came from selling fish. Therefore, more than half of the ingredients the second male lead bought back were various local river delicacies, spending almost the last bit of money he had on him.

(End of Chapter)