Chapter 1788: Failure in Love, Success in the Workplace 2

Zirui did not believe in evil; just because others couldn't do it didn't mean he couldn't.

He didn't want to listen to Accountant Hao's nagging, so he waved his hand and said, "It's settled then. Save this money. Next time, no matter who comes, just serve ordinary meals. If the villagers can eat it, they can eat it too. When the time comes, just listen to me..."

He whispered a few words into the accountant's ear, and the accountant immediately beamed with joy.

"Fine, let's do it your way. You really have more ways than anyone." Accountant Hao's form of address for him had changed.

Before, he would call him "Sir" every other word; although it was polite enough, the honorific also implied distance. He was respectful on the surface, but in his heart, he had never taken this college-student Village Chief seriously.

He thought he was no different from the others, just someone sent from above to get some gilding on his resume, not someone here to do real work.

But now it seemed different. This Village Chief was genuinely doing what was best for the village, which meant he was one of their own, and his tone had changed unconsciously.

While Accountant Hao began to treat Zirui as one of his own, Zirui also let down his guard against him. Originally, he had thought the accountant's delay in producing the account books had to do with the money his second brother had donated.

As it turned out, that wasn't the case. Since it was unrelated, he could only keep looking and take things one step at a time.

Zirui called for another village meeting and put forward several proposals.

The first was to launch a livestreaming business and build Phoenix Village into an internet-famous village.

This proposal immediately stirred up everyone's fond memories!

Back then, Teacher Lu and Teacher Sheng from the town school had also made such a proposal, and everyone had gotten it up and running with great enthusiasm. At first, the traffic was very good and orders were constant, but soon they were copied by others.

Those who copied them saw they weren't doing as well, and instead of improving themselves, they reported them everywhere, framing them for using inferior agricultural products to fool consumers. Once that happened, a perfectly good business with great prospects was ruined.

There is a positive mindset called "if there's money to be made, let everyone make it."

There is also a negative, self-defeating mindset that says, "If I'm not doing well, don't even think about doing well yourself!"

The more impoverished a place is, the more people there are who hold this kind of thinking. Litian's livestreaming business back then was lost to this kind of internal friction.

Because the livestreaming career was cut short, Litian thought of the donation tactic back then, but ended up donating himself into heartbreak.

Now the new Village Chief was proposing livestreaming for sales again, and opinions were split fifty-fifty.

There were those who opposed it, and those who supported it.

In the end, Zirui made the final decision: "It's settled. I'm the Village Chief, so what I say goes. If we make money, it belongs to everyone; if we lose money, I'll take the hit."

The Village Chief was imposing and mighty; the livestreamer chosen was the woman from Old White's family—that shrew!

This time, even more people opposed it; almost the entire village was against it. Why should she be the streamer?

She was a sinner to the whole village; she shouldn't be allowed to make more money.

If it hadn't been for her family back then, Teacher Lu and Teacher Sheng from town wouldn't have been cheated so miserably!

Zirui announced to everyone: "The Teacher Sheng and Teacher Lu you are talking about are my second brother and second sister-in-law."

Once he made the announcement, the news was like cold water dropped into a pot of hot oil; it instantly boiled over!

The villagers didn't believe it at first, but after Zirui showed the family portrait on his phone, the villagers believed it now.

"No question about it, Teacher Sheng's younger brother is our Village Chief, I support him one hundred percent."

"I support him too. Whoever dares to oppose our Village Chief is my enemy, and I'll kill them."

The words were crude but the sentiment was sound. Although what they said didn't sound pleasant, the meaning was simple and clear: they supported the Village Chief, and as Teacher Sheng's brother, he had to be supported.

Moreover, those who held this view accounted for the vast majority of the village.

Zirui didn't know whether to laugh or cry; he hadn't expected that all the work he had done wasn't as effective as the title "Teacher Sheng's brother."

Since the Village Chief was Teacher Sheng's brother, no one opposed his wish to have the woman from Old White's family livestream to sell goods, so the woman from Old White's family successfully became the streamer.

Facts proved that the Village Chief's eye was steady, accurate, and ruthless!

The woman from Old White's family had a knack for cursing and acting like a shrew, and she had a knack for selling goods too.

The way she twisted her water-snake waist while walking through the fields was enchanting and alluring, very eye-catching.

Zirui sought help from Zihan to find a professional filming team. Professional filming combined with an outstanding streamer brought a large number of viewers to the livestream room.

People living in the city were more willing to watch someone who looked a bit like a rural person, but not entirely like a rural person, livestreaming.

The traffic for Phoenix Village rose steadily, and agricultural products were sold continuously. Orders poured in like snowflakes, making quite a few people green with envy.

On the surface, it looked like the woman from Old White's family was capable, but in reality, it was the credit of the top-tier filming team Zirui had found.

These people were found with Zihan's help; they were all professionals with rich experience, skilled at grabbing the audience's attention.

But Zirui didn't say anything, and the villagers didn't know, so everyone thought the credit belonged to the woman from Old White's family, and their attitude toward her improved a lot.

The woman from Old White's family was equally smug. She began to be dissatisfied with selling goods for the whole village and wanted to sell goods for herself, so that the money she earned would all be her own.

She found Zirui and proposed to resign.

All of this was within Zirui's expectations. He said calmly, "When I chose you, no one agreed. It was I who overcame all opposition to pick you. Now that there are just some results, you want to resign and go solo. Do you think you're being fair to me by doing this?"

The woman shouted, "You chose me because you owe me; it was the village compensating me. Don't try to moral-bind me; I'm not buying that..."

Her voice was loud, and she soon attracted many villagers who came to watch the excitement.

As more and more people came to watch, everyone said the woman from Old White's family was in the wrong, an ungrateful wretch.

She was scolded and became angry out of shame, and immediately quit!

She thought she would earn more by going solo, but once she truly tore her face off with the Village Chief, she realized things were completely different from what she had imagined.

First of all, the village's account was registered in the name of the village, so she couldn't use it.

If she couldn't use it, she wouldn't. She thought that since she had been able to gain millions of followers in three days before, she could do it again now.

The filming team was brought in by the Village Chief, so of course she couldn't use them either. It wasn't that she hadn't thought about "poaching" them, but she couldn't poach them; she wasn't willing to pay the high price, and the price she was willing to pay only earned her a round of mockery.

Hmph! Forget it, save the money and film with a phone.

Anyway, many people could film with just a phone; if others could, she could too.

The idea was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

The reality was that her follower growth this time was pitifully slow. She didn't know where the original followers had popped up from, but now it was so hard to find even one follower.

Without followers, she couldn't monetize. She regretted it and wanted to go back.

Only then did she discover that her position had been replaced by someone else!

The person replacing her, she knew.

Not only did she know her, she was very familiar with her; it was a woman from another village whose husband had also gone in, and they had once both gone to the school in town together to cause trouble for Teacher Sheng.