Sour Plum Drink

As May arrived, Future Technology had been as silent as a stone dropped into the sea since the start of the year. If it weren't for users interacting with Future Technology's Intelligent Assistant daily, Li Zhou would have suspected Future Technology had been forgotten in some forgotten corner of the world.

Despite the lack of news about Future Technology online, within the company, every department had been exceptionally busy since returning to work at the start of the year.

This was especially true for the 150 Chinese language developers trained under Li Zhou's personal supervision. From early February until now, over three months, they had been working under intense pressure.

Everyone knew they were participating in the development of a massive system. All code written would undergo a three-person cross-check, and only after confirmation from all three could it be finally submitted to the code repository.

All task modules for the development were personally assigned by the boss, Li Zhou.

Although through conversations with colleagues, there were some guesses about what this super system was, its exact nature remained unknown.

If there was any major event for Future Technology in May, it would be the imminent completion of the company's new headquarters.

The lower half of the main building had already been luxuriously renovated a month ago, and the upper half was 90% complete. Once the main structure was topped off, the interior finishing would be completed within a month at most.

All employees knew how much importance the boss placed on the headquarters. Since May began, he had been visiting the construction site every few days, personally overseeing the progress.

At noon on May 20th, Li Zhou returned from the construction site in a good mood.

As soon as he got out of the car, Li Zhou noticed the urban management officers, newly assigned by the county this year to patrol the area around Future Technology, squatting under a large tree.

Opposite the urban management officers was a young mother holding an infant, her eyes filled with worry.

Li Zhou signaled Zhou Song and the others to remain quiet and walked over discreetly.

As he approached, Li Zhou overheard the conversation between the urban management officers and the young mother.

"You, what are you selling?"

"Selling cold drinks."

"Selling cold drinks."

"Yes, these are homemade."

"Ha, so this is your own unique recipe."

The urban management officer asked with a smile, taking out his phone to photograph bags of sour plum drink in a white foam box.

"Ah, yes."

"Your idea is good, but our county has finally produced a high-tech company like Future Technology, and the county places great importance on Future Technology's surrounding image. You know how much change Future Technology has brought to the surrounding area since it settled here. This concerns the entire county, and selling this here is not allowed."

Li Zhou, hearing the urban management officer's words from behind, frowned.

The young mother, holding her infant, instantly choked back a sob.

"Oh, I didn't know. My husband has nephritis and high blood pressure; he needs medication every day."

Seeing the young mother crying, the urban management officer was put in a difficult position. They were all from the same county.

The young mother said, her voice choked with emotion, "How about a fine? I'm not unreasonable."

"No, no, no. How many bags do you have? Here, I'll buy them."

"Give this to me, don't cry, don't cry."

Seeing this, Li Zhou walked forward and patted the urban management officer on the shoulder.

The urban management officer bought all the sour plum drinks. Li Zhou figured the young mother with the infant wouldn't come back next time.

If she didn't come back, it might mean the loss of her income source. In this small town, besides Future Technology employees, Li Zhou couldn't imagine many locals would buy sour plum drink that they could make themselves.

Shao Yang felt someone pat his shoulder and was startled when he turned around.

"Li... Director Li."

"Mm."

Li Zhou looked through the sour plum drinks in the white foam box. He noticed they were still cold, feeling very refreshing to the touch.

Looking at the young mother, who seemed a little scared holding her infant, Li Zhou took out a bag of sour plum drink from the foam box and asked with a gentle smile, "Sister, which village are you from? I haven't seen you before."

Li Ting looked at the young man with some fear. Everyone in the vicinity knew Li Zhou, the boss of Future Technology.

"I... I'm from the neighboring Wangjia Village. I'm Wang Kai's wife."

Li Zhou's eyebrows shot up. Wang Kai, he had some impression of him.

"Why don't you ask your village chief to organize a donation? Don't you know the situation in our town?"

Although Li Zhou's town was rural, everyone was connected in some way. So, whenever a young person in a family fell seriously ill and urgently needed money they couldn't afford, everyone would help by donating.

When Li Zhou asked this, Li Ting's tears began to fall like raindrops.

"I wanted to, but my husband wouldn't agree."

"Hmph! For the sake of so-called face? Is his face more important than his wife and his own illness?"

Li Zhou shook his head and then said, "Never mind, every family has its own burdens."

He unscrewed the cap and took a sip of the sour plum drink.

Seeing Li Zhou drink the sour plum drink, everyone around him dared not speak.

Li Zhou raised his eyebrows, "The taste is decent. Tomorrow, send 400 servings of sour plum drink to the company cafeteria and see how many we can sell. The cafeteria's sour plum drink supply is now yours. You must guarantee food safety, otherwise, I know Wang Kai, and I won't give you special treatment."

Li Ting was stunned for a moment. After realizing what he said, she hugged her infant and kept bowing to Li Zhou, repeatedly saying thank you.

"Alright, the company employees are quite picky, so how much you can sell depends on your own skills."

After Li Zhou paid for a serving of Sour Plum Drink, he looked at the urban management officer.

Being stared at by Li Zhou, who was younger than him, Shao Yang felt uncomfortable all over.

"Li... Director Li."

"Yes, a civilized image is indeed very important, but this is a rural area. Selling things from street stalls has always been a normal thing here. There won't be traffic jams or litter left behind because of street stalls. So, there's no need to change the original living habits of the locals. It's a good thing that someone is setting up a stall at the company entrance; it's convenient for the employees. Tell your leader it's my instruction."

"You did very well too."

Li Zhou struggled to find suitable words of praise after holding back for a long time.

"You're a good person."

Watching Li Zhou leave, Shao Yang felt despair in his heart upon receiving the "good person" card personally awarded by the boss of Future Technology. Meanwhile, Li Ting looked at the departing Li Zhou with gratitude.

"Alright, sis, pack up the remaining few for me. It'll be just right to quench the thirst of a few brothers. I estimate that tomorrow, my buddies and I will be called back to the county by the leadership."

Xiong Kexuan stood on the second-floor corridor and shouted down at Li Zhou with a smile.

"Boss, I didn't realize you were so kind-hearted."

Xiong Kexuan stifled a laugh. "Boss, you're a good person."

Downstairs, Li Zhou, who had also received a "good person" card, made a gesture of contempt towards Xiong Kexuan.