Business Knocks

After working his ass off for an entire morning, Xue Lei finally finished editing the projector product video around noon and uploaded it to his accounts on five video platforms, including Bilibili and Douyin.

Watching the upload success message, Xue Lei could already imagine the viewers discovering the video like it was a hidden treasure, then the likes and follows exploding, and finally him skyrocketing to become a digital content celebrity across all major platforms, becoming CEO, and winning the white, rich, and beautiful—it was just around the corner!

A little daydreaming is good for the soul. With the work done, Xue Lei collapsed into bed and fell into a sleep as sweet as a baby's in less than ten seconds. He had no choice—he was exhausted. From yesterday until now, he hadn't slept for twenty-four hours.

As Xue Lei's video spread across the major platforms, it quickly gained some attention. After all, he was a somewhat well-known self-media worker, and he did have a decent number of fans.

Meanwhile, in another city, after finishing lunch and taking advantage of a short break, Chen Qingsong picked up his phone and started scrolling aimlessly.

He opened his chat app first to see if anyone was looking for him. Unsurprisingly, those over two hundred friends might as well have been fake. Apart from seeing them in his Moments, the only notifications were from the company group about meetings or work stuff.

Even though few people reached out, Chen Qingsong still habitually opened the chat app during his free time to browse Moments or follow public accounts for news. It was a pretty miserable existence!

Since no one was looking for him, he decided to do something else. Chen Qingsong was the type who wouldn't reach out if others didn't reach out to him—which might be why he didn't have any friends he regularly chatted with.

He browsed Pipixia, checked out Bilibili, living like an emperor every day. People sang and danced for him, and he could see all sorts of big and small events happening around the world. Chen Qingsong even had to regularly like his favorite videos and give them little red flowers—it was exhausting!

After casually browsing two videos he liked, Chen Qingsong hit refresh and found another topic that caught his interest.

"Review of Shenma Technology Company's product, the Phantom Projector—a super value item! Don't miss it if you pass by! A cost-effective projection display!"

Projectors—Chen Qingsong had been paying attention to this kind of product lately.

As a single guy, he liked watching movies and anime in his free time. But going to the cinema cost dozens of bucks each time, which was a bit much, and Chen Qingsong preferred old movies that weren't playing in theaters anyway.

As an ordinary person with some spare cash and no relationship to drain it, a projector was a good choice to satisfy his big-screen viewing needs.

After reading the title and seeing it was from a content creator he trusted, Chen Qingsong didn't hesitate to click into the video and start watching.

It was a ten-minute long video. At the start, the screen showed the reason the content creator made it: the manufacturer had paid a thousand bucks for the promotion, plus sent a free product for review, so the creator took the job.

Then came nearly a full minute of the content creator's experience, wildly exaggerating and praising the product.

If it weren't for the fact that the face on screen was indeed the creator he knew, and Chen Qingsong was an old fan who knew the creator's character—that he wouldn't shamelessly hype something just for money—he would have thought he'd accidentally clicked into some unknown promoter's review.

8K true resolution, sound quality better than a big-brand speaker costing over two thousand bucks, a 144Hz refresh rate, a maximum 200-inch high-definition projection screen, support for automatic brightness adjustment—even clear with the windows wide open during the day. A string of data that finally piqued Chen Qingsong's interest.

What the hell is this thing, hyped up so mysteriously?

Chen Qingsong's doubts gradually found answers as the video played on.

From the start, the content creator clearly didn't think much of the product, with a dismissive attitude practically dripping off the screen. But as the unboxing progressed, especially when the projector turned on, the performance instantly slapped the creator in the face—and there was even a hint of comedic effect.

The projector's movie playback effect was so good that the creator even shoved a 2K HD camera right up to the projection screen, letting viewers check for any pixel grain.

He took out a brand-name speaker he'd reviewed before with great sound quality and played the same track through both the speaker and the projector's built-in speaker, comparing the audio.

He compared the projector's screen effect with his own big-brand monitor, showed the experience of playing games on the large projection screen, and so on.

A ten-minute video, steadily advancing with the creator's commentary. Chen Qingsong watched with full concentration. By the time he snapped out of it, the video had reached the end, revealing the projector's price: the Shenma Technology Company Phantom Projector cost 4,999 yuan, available at the official flagship stores on Taobao and JD.com!

And on the bullet comments, there were already several messages.

"4,999 for a projector? I'm out, I'm out!"

"At that price, I could build a pretty good computer!"

"Should've said the price earlier! I wouldn't have watched!"

"The price is a turn-off."

"Is this a paid promotion? Way too overhyped!"

Below the video, there were already dozens of comments in just half an hour.

"I think it's pretty good. If the specs are real, from a big brand, this thing would cost tens of thousands for sure!"

"Definitely a paid promotion! Since when can a projector be used as a monitor? 144Hz, 1ms response time—those are monitor specs, for crying out loud! At least try to make the ad believable!"

"The creator acts like it's real. Never noticed before, but he's got amazing acting skills. With talent like that, why be a content creator? Go be an actor and make bank every day—wouldn't that be nice?"

"I searched online and couldn't find any other reviews for this projector. The company was only founded a month ago. This isn't some shell company planning to cash out and run, is it? Make the PPT look good, but the actual product doesn't match. Anyone thinking of buying should be careful."

After reading the bullet comments and replies, Chen Qingsong didn't find what he was looking for. No one in the comments had actually bought the product either.

Without someone who'd actually used it sharing their experience, it all felt a bit unreliable.

But thinking about it, this content creator he'd followed for a long time didn't seem like the type to fake a review for money. And many parts of the video—like the comparisons with other products—weren't something you could just brush off with a simple "paid promotion."

Hearing is false, seeing is believing. Chen Qingsong still trusted what he saw in the video.

Could it be that just for a paycheck, the creator taught himself movie-grade special effects editing to make a crappy product look like its display was smoother than a monitor, its sound better than a big-brand speaker, and its colors vivid even in sunlight—achieving perfect daytime projection?

Don't be ridiculous!

Is this real or not?

A small-brand product made him uneasy, scratching his head.

4,999 yuan—if all those specs were real, it was a steal!

As an older single guy who didn't smoke or drink and had no major expenses, his only hobby was watching movies, anime, and playing games. Investing money in a display screen that delivered the specs described would be totally worth it for Chen Qingsong.

Is it real or not?

Full of doubt, Chen Qingsong watched the video again. This time, he set the quality to the highest. In the 2K video, things felt a bit different. With the higher quality, the projector's projection effect was clearer to see, and it really was amazing.

And this was just a 2K video playing on a phone screen. If he could directly watch an anime movie on the projector at its highest 8K quality, what kind of effect would that be? Chen Qingsong couldn't wait!

After watching the video three or four times in a row, all the way until two in the afternoon when work started, Chen Qingsong was still agonizing over whether the video was real or fake.

Should he or shouldn't he buy this Phantom Projector produced by Shenma Technology Company?

For the entire afternoon, Chen Qingsong seemed a bit distracted. There was no helping it—this was the normal reaction of a grown-up boy seeing a toy he liked!

Every cell, every thought seemed to be screaming, "Want it, want it, want it!"

It wasn't until he got off work that Chen Qingsong finally settled his mind: he'd take another look and decide later.

Four thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine yuan wasn't cheap; he had to think it over carefully.

The first thing he did when he got home from work was turn on his computer and watch the review video of the Phantom Projector again, while also searching online for more information about this product.

However, there was very little information about this product on the internet—just the review videos from two Content Creators and the product details on the official flagship stores on Taobao and JD.com.

Chen Qingsong carefully watched another unboxing review video from a Content Creator in the digital tech category. This Content Creator's take was pretty much the same as the one Chen Qingsong had seen before—both were full of praise for this Phantom Projector, and both tested various usage effects of the projector.

Two moderately famous Content Creators recommended it, and the video content seemed very authentic.

It didn't look fake. He really, really wanted it!

Gritting his teeth, Chen Qingsong pulled out his phone, found the official flagship store on JD.com, and sent a message to customer service.

"Hello, I'd like to ask, can your Phantom Projector product guarantee that the actual usage effects match the data advertised in the store? 8K resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and a maximum 200-inch high-definition projection effect?"

At the same time, in another city far away, Ning Yifan was using a projector he had carefully crafted himself to watch a recently released anime, Ranking of Kings. He had to admit, watching on a big screen was awesome!

With a maximum supported projection screen of 500 inches and display effects up to 32K, it was a true cinema-level experience—even better than the movie theater!

The only downside was that the original anime only supported up to 2K resolution, so Ning Yifan had to manually rework the animation effects himself. Other than that, everything was great!

After finishing one episode, the software for the next episode hadn't finished its automatic optimization and production yet. Taking advantage of this time, Ning Yifan checked his merchant backend. Unlike the stagnant calm of the past two days, he finally had his first inquiring customer!

Someone asking about the authenticity of the product.

After reading the customer's question, Ning Yifan thought for a moment and replied.

"Hi, I'm here!

Our product supports 7-day no-reason returns and exchanges. If you're not satisfied with the usage, as long as the product is in resalable condition, we can process a return.

At the same time, the product comes with a 3-year repair warranty and a 1-year replacement policy.

We also include shipping insurance with every product, and shipping is free—SF Express Express Train!"

Chen Qingsong, who had waited over ten minutes for the customer service reply, answered immediately after reading the message: "Got it!"

Since it was put that way, even if he wasn't satisfied with the product in the end, he could just return it. With no more worries, Chen Qingsong gritted his teeth and placed an order for one Phantom Projector, leaving his WeChat balance at negative four thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine!

Two days after opening, Ning Yifan's shop finally had a customer place an order!

It was like a chain reaction had started. Over the next few hours, Ning Yifan gradually received inquiries from seven or eight more customers. Without exception, under the conditions of a 3-year warranty and 7-day no-reason returns, all of them chose to buy the product and give it a try.

By ten o'clock at night, the shop that hadn't made a single sale in two days had sold ten Phantom Projectors in one go!

The products were already packed and ready. Ning Yifan directly called the SF Express courier to pick them up.

Even though it was ten o'clock at night, after receiving Ning Yifan's call, the courier still arrived at Ning Yifan's rental apartment within ten minutes. There was no helping it—the pay was just too good!

Ten projectors, not very big, Express Train service, Supreme VIP treatment—the shipping fee alone was over five hundred yuan!

The commission from this single order made the courier more than willing to make the trip. This one run was equivalent to half a day's work delivering hundreds of packages.

The courier happily came to pick up the packages and left. By then, it was already late.

Returning to his workroom, Ning Yifan spent a few minutes writing a small auto-reply program to handle common customer questions about whether the product data was real and the no-reason return policy. Just as ten-thirty rolled around, Ning Yifan went to bed on time and entered his dream learning mode.

That day, the morning and afternoon were still pretty normal. Ning Yifan took on two outsourced APP development jobs and earned five thousand yuan.

Then, from six in the evening to ten at night, he sold ten projectors one after another. Each projector cost two thousand yuan to make and sold for four thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, with a net profit of about three thousand yuan. Ten units meant thirty thousand yuan!

Even after deducting shipping fees, Ning Yifan's living expenses, rent, and so on, he still made about thirty-four thousand yuan in a single day. Right now, Shenma Technology Company was still a small, unknown company, so there weren't any tax issues to worry about.

Earning over ten thousand a day—it was that simple. And it might even get better from here!

Whoosh, takeoff!