Mundane Affairs

He practiced sword fighting for two hours.

After finishing, Zhou Qi searched online for textbooks for Japanese people to learn Chinese. He found a few with good reviews and placed an order.

"But a melon forced off the vine is never sweet. Using knowledge to make them learn Chinese feels a bit coercive. I need to think of a way to make them want to learn Chinese..." Zhou Qi pondered. The country had established Confucius Institutes abroad, but clearly, their effectiveness wasn't as good as Genshin Impact.

Thinking about himself, he started learning English from English songs and Japanese from Japanese movies and anime.

"Perhaps I can learn from them too, starting with Chinese songs, then movies, anime, and so on. Let them watch movies and develop admiration for Huaxia, making them want to learn Chinese and become Chinese..."

Cultural export wasn't an impulsive decision. Zhou Qi might travel to many worlds, and unless these worlds were permanently isolated, he would have to engage in cultural export.

Otherwise, when people from other worlds arrived, they would see that the language spoken was Japanese. Would their sense of identity be stronger with Japan or with Huaxia?

Besides, Zhou Qi wasn't accustomed to staying in a place where a foreign language was spoken.

"Songs are easy to choose. Teresa Teng can carry us for at least ten years. But are there many movies and anime suitable for export?"

Zhou Qi opened his laptop and searched Douban for the highest-rated movie rankings.

The top-rated Huaxia film was Farewell My Concubine. However, it was a bit profound, and without understanding Huaxia's history, one might not grasp it.

Further down, Infernal Affairs?

That didn't seem suitable either. After all, the people here wouldn't know what Morse code was, nor what drugs were.

Moreover, Zhou Qi didn't want overly advanced things appearing here, especially since there was someone named Vegapunk.

The technology in the One Piece world was quite advanced. It didn't appear more advanced than Earth's not because it didn't exist, but simply because Vegapunk hadn't thought of it.

Zhou Qi would have to be out of his mind to try and remind him.

He continued scrolling down.

For A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella, he'd need to bring over Journey to the West first.

He didn't even like watching The Last Emperor.

To Live. He hadn't seen it.

Dying to Survive. The technology was too advanced, and watching it made him feel down.

Devils on the Doorstep and Let the Bullets Fly. War dramas would require a prior understanding of Huaxia's history before they could be introduced, otherwise, they wouldn't be understood.

Havoc in Heaven. This one was feasible. Even without having seen Journey to the West, it could be understood.

Eat Drink Man Woman. He hadn't seen it.

Happy Together, King of Comedy, Kung Fu Hustle...

He scrolled down the rankings one by one. As he scrolled, Zhou Qi noticed something.

Why were there so few of our movies suitable for cultural export in the One Piece world?

He searched for a long time and only found Havoc in Heaven, and it was a 1961 work??

Things that were too advanced couldn't be shown, and depictions of domestic suffering were also unsuitable. After all, he wasn't going abroad to win awards.

The works that purely reflected truth, goodness, and beauty were all animated films?

I can't possibly bring over Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf. Even in the modern era of advanced anime, it wasn't popular, let alone in the One Piece world where movies hadn't even appeared.

This art form was too premature for the people there. Furthermore, the protagonist wasn't human. How could it reflect the kindness and beauty of Chinese people?

"Damn it, what are these directors doing!" Zhou Qi scratched his head. Actually, Huaxia's film and television industry had been exporting its content for years. For example, Africans loved watching Ashes of Love.

But bringing ancient costume films to the One Piece world, whose civilization was comparable to modern Earth?

He scratched his head again and started flipping through the rankings from the beginning. This time, he didn't limit himself to Huaxia films, and suddenly, the range of options expanded considerably.

For example, Spirited Away, The Legend of 1900, The Pursuit of Happyness, Flipped, My Neighbor Totoro, Coco, Up, Dangal, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, Heidi, and a bunch of Disney princess stories.

"These are all great movies!" Zhou Qi drooled as he watched, but unfortunately, none of them were from his own country.

Translating them into Chinese wouldn't help. The backgrounds in the anime and movies were foreign, and the live-action actors were foreigners too...

Unless...

He made a Chinese-localized version himself.

Shaking his head, Zhou Qi didn't know what to do.

"Forget it, I'll put this aside for now. When the strategist arrives, I'll let her decide what to do."

He needed to deal with some real-world matters first.

Zhou Qi took out his phone and opened WeChat. He then realized he had been added to two groups without knowing when.

One was called [Morning Star Pharmaceutical Executive Group], and the other was [Morning Star Linlang Exchange Group].

Both groups already had quite a few messages.

Zhou Qi first scrolled through the executive group. Most of the messages were from subordinates looking for Brother Bing to handle matters. Brother Bing had also @ed him, but since he hadn't opened the Gate of Opening, his phone had no signal, and he hadn't received it.

"The drivers are also on strike, blocking the factory gate with their trucks?" Starting from the beginning, someone from the security department posted photos in the group, saying that seven or eight drivers and their escorts, having heard about their impending layoffs, had blocked the factory gate with their trucks.

The solution was simple: call the police, and let them handle it.

Their dismissal procedures were legal and reasonable, and the compensation was adequate. No matter where they complained, Morning Star was in the right.

Zhou Qi shook his head. He sympathized with the drivers' plight, but there was nothing he could do. While his Zhou family might have few university students, they had plenty of drivers. If they didn't dismiss some, where would they find the space to bring in new people?

They couldn't just keep people on the payroll who weren't working, after all.

Besides, these drivers had previously found all sorts of ways to cheat Luo Baofeng; not a single one of them was truly honest.

Next, the family members of the person hit by Luo Baofeng's son came to the factory gate to hang banners. Brother Bing stepped out and explained that the factory had been sold and Luo Baofeng was no longer the factory director, but the families didn't believe him.

They just kept shouting all morning until the police were finally called to take them away.

Then, people from the sales department actually resigned with clients. Brother Bing wasn't sure if Zhou Qi really had clients, so he told them they could leave in a month.

Additionally, leaders from the Nanan City Science and Technology Bureau also paid a visit. Zhao Fangquan had gone to them to lodge a complaint, so they came to understand the situation.

Brother Bing presented the leaders with the funds Zhao Fangquan had received over the years, the projects he had applied for, and their final outcomes. The leaders' mouths twitched as they read, and then they left without further intervention.

"So many things happening in just a few days!" Zhou Qi said in the group chat.

"...And you have the nerve to say that? You bought the factory and then washed your hands of it, didn't you? You're such a hands-off boss!" Yining suddenly chimed in.

"Oh, Ningning's here? How's work? Are you having any trouble adjusting?" Zhou Qi asked.

"It's pretty good. I flew here and arrived yesterday afternoon..." Yining thought for a moment and sent a private message.

"Um, Brother Qi, is it really okay to have our family members fill all the positions in this factory?"

"What's not okay about it?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Well, won't it just become a family business? This is the era of the market economy..." Yining said, "And I saw those people, they're really pitiful. The cafeteria owner even knelt down and begged me!"

"Heh!" Zhou Qi was speechless. "If you had seen Baofeng's financial audit report, you wouldn't think that way. That owner contracted the factory's cafeteria, and the annual contract fee was 420,000. According to the signed contract, the meal standard per person was 8 yuan, and the selling price couldn't exceed the cost by more than 30%. But for the regular workers' meals, the cost was less than 3 yuan, and they dared to sell them for fifteen or twenty!"

"With that cafeteria, he could earn tens of millions a year! He knelt to you because I cut off their path to swindling money, not because they are pitiful!"

"This..."

"Besides, if they're pitiful, aren't we pitiful too? Ask around the family, which one of us can earn ten million a year?"

Yining fell silent. Ten million a year?

Not even one million!

"My grandmother is over eighty this year, and she's still picking beans in this scorching heat. My uncle is over sixty and still herding sheep on the mountain!"

Zhou Qi typed out the message, paused, and then added, "I know you have a kind heart, but your kindness needs to be directed correctly. You need to become successful yourself first before you can help others, understand..."

"Or if you can't handle it, I'll talk to your brother and have you transferred to manage the supermarket. That way, you won't have to deal with these annoying matters, okay?"

"Brother Qi, I understand now!" Yining actually understood the principle. She had discussed it with her brother, Brother Bing, before, but he had scolded her. She had originally wanted to complain to Zhou Qi but ended up being lectured again...

"Well, of course, I'm not saying you should be completely indifferent to outsiders, but you need to prioritize your own family first!"

"Mhm, I get it. We need to take care of the small family before we can take care of the big one!" Yining replied.

Zhou Qi nodded, hoping Yining truly understood.

His understanding of Yining was still from over ten years ago. He didn't know if her personality had changed over the years.

He switched to the group chat with Linlang and scrolled up. He found that Brother Bing was consulting Yan Yun about the company structure and salary adjustments. He had also asked Yan Yun to recommend some books on company management.

It seemed he was planning to study again.

"That's good..." Having ambition was a good thing. While the benefits of a world were great, they couldn't withstand family members slacking off.

Zhou Qi clicked on another message. The sender was named Cao Song.

"Cao Song, Cao Song from Tongfu Hall?" Zhou Qi recalled. This was where he had made his first fortune.

The store manager of Tongfu Hall's Nanan branch.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou. I am Cao Song from Tongfu Hall. Do you remember me?"

"You sold us a batch of medicinal materials last time. Do you still have any medicinal materials from the same batch or of the same origin for sale?"

"Price is not an issue!"

Zhou Qi's eyes instantly turned grim.