If these silk handkerchiefs could be sold outside the island, it would not only bring the villagers a considerable income, but also change the current barter-style trading habits on the island.
It would greatly help promote Duofu’s commercial progress and urbanization.
Unfortunately, ideals are full, but reality is too skinny.
Now, due to the dispute between Countries A and K, Duofu has been innocently implicated. People and goods on the island cannot be transported out. Even if Jiang Fuyue has the intention, the real-world conditions don’t allow it.
But it’s not that nothing can be done.
If Duofu’s silk handkerchiefs are to be sold, there are nothing more than two methods: online and offline.
Offline goes without saying, directly handing them over to distributors or retailers. This method is not only unfavorable for building a brand image, but after layers of profit cuts, very little ends up in the villagers’ pockets.
In comparison, the advantages of going online are much more obvious.
First, low cost, the initial investment will be greatly reduced. Second, no middlemen taking the price difference, so the profit return is substantial.
Now that online shopping and livestreaming are so developed, as long as traffic is built up, anyone can become a streamer and sell goods.
Given the reality that goods cannot currently be shipped out, it’s better to first steadily build up traffic. Once the blockade is lifted, selling goods afterward will happen naturally.
“You’re saying… you want to create a short video account?!”
Liu Weihua was shocked, looking at Jiang Fuyue with eyes full of astonishment.
“Yes.”
Once she decided to do it, she acted immediately. Jiang Fuyue gathered the younger generation of villagers and asked what special skills they had.
“My legs are especially long.”
“My hair is especially long.”
“My face is especially long.”
A little kid only five or six years old got anxious: “I, I have especially long snot!”
Everyone: “Hahahahaha…”
Liu Weihua patiently explained that “special skill” didn’t mean something being long, but balabala…
The villagers hadn’t seen much of the world, but they weren’t stupid. They quickly understood the real meaning.
They began scratching their heads, thinking hard.
“Well… I can climb trees, no matter how tall!”
“I can catch seafood, even my dad isn’t as good as me.”
“I can sing. Duofu’s sky, faintly green; Duofu’s water, clear blue…”
“I can hunt. If I’m lucky, I can catch wild boars and badgers.”
“I can make tung-glazed pillows…”
“I can brew wine, raise silkworms, pick mulberry leaves…”
After going through everything, they actually had quite a lot of skills, everything under the sun, and to the outside world, all of it was something fresh.
For example, hunting. Or tree climbing.
On short video platforms, beauty bloggers, food bloggers, and rural lifestyle bloggers are everywhere, but there really aren’t any hunting bloggers.
Rarity means uniqueness, and uniqueness attracts attention.
Jiang Fuyue already had a general framework and operational strategy in mind.
But before that, she needed to establish a “benchmark”, what’s often called “leading the charge” or “a good start”!
Something that could amaze the entire internet while also boosting the villagers’ confidence.
“Who would be suitable?”
Jiang Fuyue thought of someone…
In the bamboo house nestled by the mountains and water, the screen that Jiang Fuyue had previously knocked down was set back up, still placed in its original position.
“…Me? A horoscope blogger?!” After hearing this, Fu Suizhong looked stunned.
“Yeah. Isn’t this what you do? Doing something for the villagers, you wouldn’t refuse, right?”
“I…”
“Alright, it’s settled then!”
Fu Suizhong: “Wait… what’s settled? I, I can’t do it, I have social anxiety!”
“No need to show your face. Just talk.”
“Th-then I’m not comfortable talking either. How about we just forget it? I’m really not cut out for this…”
“Why are you so fussy, making a big deal out of nothing?”
Fu Suizhong: “?”
“This matter is settled. I came today just to inform you.”
With that, she turned and left.
Leaving Fu Suizhong standing there in a daze. After a long while, he finally reacted,
“Master! Sh-she… why is she so domineering? Even crabs aren’t as overbearing as her!”
A trace of a smile flashed quickly in Zhong Cheng’s eyes, gone in an instant.
“That’s just her temper. You’ll get used to it slowly.”
Fu Suizhong: “?” I still have to get used to it? Help!
And so, Fu Suizhong becoming a horoscope blogger was settled. Jiang Fuyue registered a Douyin ID for him called [Little Zhong Horoscope].
For the first episode, Jiang Fuyue gave him three days to write a script. The subsequent filming would be handled by their team.
The only requirement was: it had to have substance, in plain terms, real useful content!
Horoscopes are not like other things; what matters is professionalism and accuracy.
“Sister Yue, I have a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“We’re going to shoot short videos, but it seems we’re still lacking equipment?”
A phone’s built-in camera can shoot, but where would tripods and lighting equipment come from?
And speaking of phones, right now everyone only has one each. Who should contribute theirs?
And clearly, just one wouldn’t be enough. Once the account starts running, more will definitely be needed.
Who would be willing to give up their phone for the greater good?
After listening, Jiang Fuyue said, “That’s simple.”
As she spoke, she called over a few bodyguards and instructed them in front of everyone: “Go to the cargo hold and bring thirty phones.”
Everyone: “!”
Th-thirty?
Are you sure this isn’t a joke?
Why the cargo hold again?
Could there be a whole department store hidden in there?
Aside from Jiang Fuyue and the manager who had helped move goods before, probably no third person knew that she had once gone on a massive shopping spree worth tens of millions, nearly emptying three-quarters of the mall’s inventory, including two underground warehouses.
Soon, the new phones were brought over.
Jiang Fuyue distributed one to each of the five members of the filming team, and also gave them to the villagers selected to be trained as streamers.
But note! These were not free!
The phones were Jiang Fuyue’s personal early investment in them, written clearly in a contract. Once they start making money and earning profits, they must repay it multiplied.
“They even have to pay back more?” someone whispered.
“Actually, since Professor Jiang bought so many, giving them away for free shouldn’t matter, right?”
“It’s like doing business… is that really necessary?”
“…”
As for these doubts, Jiang Fuyue didn’t need to answer at all. Liu Weihua stepped forward immediately.
“First of all, we are not a social welfare organization. We cannot help anyone unconditionally. If that were the case, everyone would just wait to be helped, getting something for nothing, being lazy and idle. That’s not our intention.”
“Secondly, those colleagues taking on filming work are not working for free either. In the end, Sister Yue and Chief Fan’s side will pay them wages, and there will be corresponding performance evaluations afterward.”
“The villagers of Duofu are relying on their own hands to support themselves. We are also exchanging our labor for compensation, aren’t we?”
“Finally, only a healthy business environment can foster a healthy business model, and only then can the villagers truly learn how to trade and do business from the ground up.”
“As for those who speak without feeling the strain, they can be shown the door.”
Only then did everyone understand Jiang Fuyue’s painstaking effort.
She was genuinely doing things for Duofu, wanting this poor and backward island to move toward civilization and enlightenment, to enjoy the dividends of the new era, and to let these villagers all live good lives.
Everyone put away their half-hearted attitudes and began to devote themselves seriously.
Anyway, being stuck on the island meant being stuck. Rather than sinking into pessimism and sighing all day long, it was better to use this time to do something meaningful!
Maybe… they would even create history?
[Little Zhong Horoscope]’s first video, “A Little Science Popularization of Horoscope Knowledge,” was finally uploaded to the short video platform after two days of concentrated production.
Jiang Fuyue contacted Wu Qian and had his side handle promotion and traffic boosting.
Professional matters should be handled by professionals.
That very night, the video surpassed 100,000 likes, 20,000+ comments, and gained 30,000 followers.
The team pressed the advantage and immediately released the second video: “How to Flirt with a Scorpio.”
Wu Qian’s side continued marketing and traffic boosting.
Very quickly, this video began to explode in a concentrated burst, climbing onto Douyin’s trending list, surpassing ten million views, 500,000+ likes, 100,000+ comments, and gaining 600,000 followers overnight!
“It, it went viral?!”
“Holy cr*p! It really went viral!”
“My god! Since when did we doctors become this awesome? We can even run a short video account?”
“I can brag about this for the rest of my life!”
“…”
The video going viral, aside from the content itself being solid, had another major reason,
【Oh my god! Little Zhong’s deep voice is so seductive】
【My ears are pregnant, thank you!】
【Why not show your face? Why not show your face?】
【I really want to know what kind of top-tier handsome guy a horoscope blogger with such long, clean, well-defined hands looks like! Aaaah!】
【It’s heart-fluttering! D*mn it, I can’t escape this voice…】
【The ultimate benefit for voice-control + hand-control fans! Sisters, charge! I’ve discovered a treasure!】
After seeing the online comments, Fu Suizhong felt a bit pleasantly surprised, but even more confused.
“Master, it’s my first time knowing that my duck-like voice can actually be called a ‘deep voice cannon.’”
“And people online say my hands look nice, but… aren’t everyone’s hands like this? I don’t see any difference?”
Zhong Cheng: “Keep it up. Make persistent efforts.”
To Fu Suizhong’s ears, that automatically translated to: Be a good workhorse for her, I’m optimistic about you~
So infuriating!
But these netizens are really enthusiastic, and what they say is so humorous.
Holding his phone, Fu Suizhong scrolled while laughing.
There was none of the earlier reluctance from when he had been forced into it.
Soon, Jiang Fuyue used the same model to operate more than a dozen big-V short video accounts such as [Little Shark Beachcombing], [Monkey Loves Climbing Trees], [Duofu Girl Sings Mountain Songs], and [Magical Hunter].
Even Wu Qian couldn’t help but send a [prostrating in admiration] emoji during their chat, awesome still had to be her.
Whatever field she entered, she succeeded.
Whatever she did, she accomplished.
As long as she wanted to, there was nothing she couldn’t do.
…
In order to allow the island’s villagers to participate as much as possible in this “internet feast,” Jiang Fuyue took out another fifty new phones and provided them to the villagers in a rental format.
Five yuan per day. They could come to the base to charge them, and after charging, they could take them home, as long as they returned them the next day.
To achieve this, Jiang Fuyue first brought internet access to the entire island. Previously, only the area around the base had signal; now villagers could scroll videos at home.
Next, she introduced the concept of “money” to the villagers and clearly stated that renting phones could only be done with money, barter was not accepted.
As a result, villagers who wanted to use phones had no choice but to first exchange goods for money, and then use money to rent phones.
Gradually, other transactions also began to be calculated using money.
After some time, everyone realized that this “money” was truly a great thing!
Before, one goose could be exchanged for 50 duck eggs. But what if I only want 20 duck eggs?
Cut the goose in half?
Obviously not possible!
But if transactions were done with money, it became much easier. One yuan for one duck egg, 20 eggs meant paying 20 yuan, completely unrelated to the goose!
The villagers couldn’t help but sigh,
“Are people outside the island all as smart as Professor Jiang?”
“I hope Professor Jiang and the others can stay a little longer. There will definitely be many more new things!”
“It’s amazing!”
“If Professor Jiang had come earlier, everyone would definitely be living better than now!”
“…”
Now, wherever Jiang Fuyue’s team went, they were met with enthusiastic welcomes.
As for that prophecy that once caused panic,
“If outsiders come to the island within these two years, it will completely overturn Duofu!”
It seemed to have come true.
Jiang Fuyue and the others’ arrival had indeed overturned Duofu, no problem there!
Seeing the villagers’ lives becoming more and more hopeful, Jiang Fuyue couldn’t help but feel gratified.
Everything was developing in a better and better direction according to her plan, which should have been something to be happy about.
But if she hadn’t suddenly discovered that she had gained weight, her weight shooting up by more than ten jin, she might have been even happier.
“What’s going on? Why is it only my belly getting bigger? I’m not eating that much?”
A female doctor lifted the curtain and walked in. Seeing Jiang Fuyue standing in front of the full-length mirror looking herself up and down, she couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re already beautiful enough, and you’re still looking?”
This wasn’t flattery. Jiang Fuyue’s complexion had been getting better and better lately, glowing with health. Even without makeup, she was stunning.
The village children loved crowding around her, each one a little face-lover.
“Jinjin, you came at the right time. Do I look like I’ve gained weight? Especially my belly.” Jiang Fuyue supported her lower back and pushed it forward.
“Hiss, ” The female doctor sucked in a breath. “Now that you mention it, you really have gained some flesh. It’s even protruding. It kind of looks a bit like pregnancy.”
After saying that, she couldn’t help but laugh.
The female doctor was from obstetrics and gynecology, with years of experience. A slight occupational habit, this was completely a reflex, spoken without thinking.
But the speaker had no intention, while the listener took it to heart.
Jiang Fuyue froze on the spot, as if struck by lightning!
Pr, pregnant?!
…
“Master, what is this?”
“If I tell you to deliver it, just deliver it. Why so much nonsense?”
Fu Suizhong rubbed his nose. Lately he had practically become a professional errand runner, today delivering tea leaves to Jiang Fuyue, tomorrow bringing her wild fruits.
After all, he was a well-known, reputable “witch doctor” on the island, wasn’t he?
Even if it was only in name, it still counted, right?
Running errands for Jiang Fuyue all day, didn’t he have any dignity?
“Why don’t you go yourself? Every time she tries to coax information out of me, so sly! She must have already guessed your existence. Why keep hiding? Just meet her directly! Hehe, her expression would definitely be priceless!”
Hearing this, Zhong Cheng didn’t even lift his head, continuing to sort tea leaves: “If you keep chattering, copy the Huangdi Neijing one hundred times.”
Fu Suizhong immediately ran off faster than a rabbit.
“Let me see what I’m delivering this time… Amomum, mulberry mistletoe, skullcap, donkey-hide gelatin, angelica… Hiss! Isn’t this a pregnancy-stabilizing herbal medicine for pregnant women?”
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