Chapter 96: Reporter Interview, Deputy Mayor Meng Furious

Chen Boss, your supermarket gave out an eighty‑five‑thousand‑dollar grand prize. Aren't you feeling it's a pity?

No! Our original intention in giving out lottery tickets is to share joy with the people. Since customers can win the grand prize, that's their luck. I sincerely congratulate them.

May I ask how long you plan to run this supermarket activity of giving lottery tickets with vegetable purchases?

Let's keep it going for two more days! The supermarket's financial situation is limited; we still need to keep some money to pay staff wages.

As far as I know, your supermarket's profit is very low, and you still give away several thousand dollars' worth of lottery tickets each day. How do you make a profit?

Our operations in Qingshui City are non‑profit in nature. We mainly help county farmers promote hard‑to‑sell products, and at the same time let the general public enjoy affordable home‑grown vegetables.

Chen Boss, sorry I can't understand your meaning. Shouldn't a businessman's purpose be to make money?

All right! I admit that, according to our previous budget, we could have made some profit. Unfortunately, some people don't want us to survive and deliberately suppress prices. To survive, we can only put on a brave front and confront the hostile forces to the end.

Chen Boss, when you say hostile forces, do you mean the boss of the opposite Old Farmer Supermarket?

Huh, you noticed that too?

……, I was just guessing randomly.

Then you should go interview him and ask whether his family has a gold mine. Losing several thousand dollars a day is something an ordinary household could hardly manage.

……

Chen Yang originally thought the beautiful reporter from Qingshui Television Station would give up when faced with difficulty, but unexpectedly she actually went to the Old Farmer Supermarket to interview Meng Bin.

I don't know what question the beautiful reporter asked, but Meng Bin quickly lost his composure and had people drive her and her TV station colleagues out of the Old Farmer Agricultural Products Life Supermarket.

Thus, that night Meng Bin successfully appeared as a negative figure on the headline of Qingshui City's local news channel.

Seeing the news, Deputy Mayor Meng flew into a rage, smashing a tea cup that had accompanied him for years into pieces. Meng Bin was soon summoned to his side and made to kneel.

What grudge do you have with Secretary Lin's son‑in‑law that you need to stir up a storm across the city?

Meng Bin, full of indignation, protested: "Uncle, that Chen fellow has no character; he deliberately used underhanded means to harm my friend. What's wrong with me teaching him a lesson for my friend?

"Friend?" Meng Ziyi looked at his nephew with a puzzled expression. "You've only been in Qingshui a short time—where did you get a friend?

Meng Bin said: "He's the young master of the Zhang Group; we met at a bar. He's quite generous!

Meng Ziyi suddenly realized. "So your money came from the Zhang family's young master? How much did he give you?

Meng Bin confessed: "He originally wanted to give me one million, but I didn't take it and only accepted five hundred thousand.

……, you bastard, do you want to kill me?" Deputy Mayor Meng kicked Meng Bin to the ground with one foot. Lin Jianguo's close ties with the Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary are an open secret in Qingshui City. His own nephew Meng Bin suddenly received five hundred thousand from Zhang Jun—will the city's Discipline Inspection Commission just turn a blind eye?

Over these years, Meng Ziyi has introduced several major projects to the Zhang Group. Some of them still involve great controversy during implementation. If the Discipline Inspection Commission links Meng Bin's acceptance of money with him, even jumping into the Yellow River couldn't wash it clean.

After careful consideration, Meng Ziyi decided to personally bring Meng Bin to the Discipline Inspection Commission to turn himself in. The money spent could be made up from his own savings. If the higher‑ups mistakenly think he has interests tied to the Zhang Group, his career would be completely ruined.

Thus, on the fourth day since the Old Farmer Agricultural Products Life Supermarket opened, people suddenly discovered the supermarket had closed for good. The boss didn't show up, and the workers didn't come to work. Instead, some agricultural product wholesalers who hadn't received payment in time rushed over upon hearing the news. They violently pried open the shop door, found the shelves empty, and one after another jumped and cursed……

"Chen Yang, are we still giving out lottery tickets today?" Seeing that the opposite supermarket was now empty of people, Du Yueya finally let out a sigh of relief.

Chen Yang said: "Since I promised to keep it going for two more days, I can't go back on my word. In business, reputation matters. You don't want what happened to them today to happen to us tomorrow, do you?

Du Yueya worriedly said: "Aren't you afraid another big prize will appear?

"Not afraid!" Chen Yang laughed: "If winning were that easy, there would be no poor people in the world.

Du Yueya sighed. Actually she is very unwilling to run this kind of activity. Not only does she lose money for nothing, she also has to watch helplessly as others walk away with the grand prize.

Eighty‑five thousand dollars! How many days would their supermarket have to operate, how much goods would they have to sell, to earn that amount?

However, the most important thing is that the supermarket's business has returned to normal.

In the past few days, Meng Bin's supermarket disrupted things, causing the Old People's Agricultural Products Life Supermarket's sales to drop by at least half. Storage costs in the cold room also rose considerably. Adding to that, Chen Yang gave away so many lottery tickets. She daren't even keep the accounts now, for fear that the more she calculates, the worse her mood will become.

Of course, Chen Yang and the Old People's Life Supermarket suffered some losses, but Li Hongbing's lottery shop boomed.

Word got out that this newly opened lottery shop had won a first prize, and many people came flocking. Besides the Six‑Plus‑One sports lottery tickets Chen Yang gave out, the shop also sold several thousand dollars' worth of scratch‑off tickets. Just the commissions earned several hundred dollars.

This is far better than them going to work for others.

Chen Yang called Lin Feng to check on Meng Bin's situation, but got no reply. In case Meng Bin makes a comeback, he drove to urge the renovation progress of the other three branches.

Chen Yang is quite clear: as long as Zhang Jun remains in Qingshui and the Zhang Group doesn't collapse, the difficulties his supermarket faces will persist. Having a few more stores to share the pressure also lets him cope more easily.

At the same time, the headquarters in Xingcheng kept urging Chen Yang to come over soon. CEO Shen Anna had carefully prepared two stores during this period, hoping that Chairman Chen Yang could appear in person to cut the ribbon for the new stores' opening.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xiaoli's real‑estate agency had its paperwork approved, and she likewise hoped Chen Yang would preside over the opening ceremony.

Moreover, the realistic photos Chen Yang took of Shuangliu Village received a strong response on the forum of 'Green Net', bringing in a large number of mountain‑product orders. After Liu Qingqing finished the statistics, she also urged Chen Yang over the phone to arrange shipment as soon as possible.

And Su Mingyue, unable to stay idle, recommended several more stocks she thought could make money over the past two days, hoping he would give them serious thought.

When he was first reborn, Chen Yang harbored hopes for a wonderful future life, longing to spend an extraordinary, splendid life journey in an unrestrained manner. But reality turned out cruel and merciless, like an invisible hand tightly gripping his throat.

Chen Yang suddenly realized that wealthy people are not free either……