Chapter 104

Zhao Hexi, holding a bowl overflowing with vegetables, was both amused and exasperated. "Are you two really that serious?"

Qing Mengzhu: "I'll add some chicken wings for you. Do people at the company often contact you after work? Should we hire an assistant?"

Zhao Hexi: "Not very often, I don't need an assistant."

Zhao Hexi explained, "The crops in the fields and the equipment in the company don't just malfunction during working hours. If a problem is discovered, I ask them to let me know. Some issues are best addressed on the spot, while others are dealt with during work hours. Let me know so I'm aware of the situation."

Qing Mengzhu nodded repeatedly.

Zhao Hexi: "Maike just forwarded me a few messages. I figured it was nothing, so I planned to check them after dinner."

Fu Maike the finance girl at their company.

Qing Mengzhu quickly served Zhao Hexi more food, saying, "You've worked hard on the company."

Qing Mengzhu had absolutely no interest in finding out what kind of miscellaneous tasks she was busy with at the company.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Hexi approached them after dinner and asked them to watch the video together.

Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi sat side by side. "What video is it? Let's watch it together."

Zhao Hexi: "Someone is smearing our company."

Fu Maike sent over several videos, all of which were made by marketing accounts.

The videos all used voice changers, so you could hear a familiar voice as soon as you opened them.

"... Zhuxi's dishes have been incredibly popular lately, haven't they? I interviewed some industry insiders, and Chef Fan Donghua said that Zhuxi's tomatoes are terrible; they never use Zhuxi's tomatoes."

"Hilarious! They rave about it online, but a professional chef immediately rejects it with three straight lines: 'It doesn't taste good, I don't want to use it, and it's forbidden in my kitchen!'"

"Zhuxi Tomato, which had been doing a great job with marketing, has finally crashed and burned. Let's hear what Tire Chef has to say?"

After watching the videos one by one, Qing Mengzhu couldn't help but say, "Who is this? Do they have a grudge against us?"

Zhao Hexi: "A fairly famous chef, with six million followers across the internet, suddenly mentioned our company's tomato."

Ming Chunxi's expression was serious. "It could also be a misinterpretation by the self-media. Don't reply yet, let me find someone to inquire."

Zhao Hexi: "I'll also ask around to see what the reason might be?"

This is the first time that Qing Mengzhu and his team have received such widespread negative reviews in all the years they've been in the market.

Following Fan Donghua's negative review, some people who appeared out of nowhere echoed his sentiments.

Qing Mengzhu was completely baffled; he never imagined that selling vegetables could lead to so many problems.

Ming Chunxi and Zhao Hexi asked around, but before they got any results, Fan Donghua asked Zhou Yan to come and help explain.

Zhou Yan was also speechless, and said to Qing Mengzhu, "Old Fan is my friend, a really nice guy. He said he can't use your tomatoes because it's Friday."

Live streaming

While making the soup, I casually remarked that the tomatoes at my house were too strong in flavor, and it would be difficult to find celery and onions of similar quality in the market. I suggested that it's best not to put them together in the soup, otherwise the tomato flavor would completely overpower the flavors of the celery and onions, making the dish unbalanced.

Qing Mengzhu finally understood. "People just casually offer suggestions?"

Zhou Yan: "Yes, some fans asked in the live stream, and he addressed it. He didn't expect the marketing accounts to stir up such a storm. He said he would explain during today's live stream, and that he had absolutely no such intention."

Qing Mengzhu felt that their family's tomatoes were an innocent victim. "I understand, it's not Chef Fan's fault."

Zhou Yan breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you don't mind. He really likes your food. He even praised it to me before, saying that your tomatoes are top-notch even by world standards."

Qing Mengzhu: "Head Chef, you're too kind."

Zhou Yan: "To be honest, I also think your tomatoes are top-quality tomatoes worldwide."

Upon hearing this, Qing Mengzhu's heart stirred. "You all really like the ingredients from my family's kitchen?"

Zhou Yan: "I love it! Your ingredients are so fresh and taste amazing. It's a shame it's hard to find ingredients of the same quality in the market."

Qing Mengzhu: "Our celery and onions should be ready to harvest soon. Could you take a portion to Chef Fan for me later?"

Zhou Yan was surprised. "So fast?"

Qing Mengzhu: "We planted two batches. One batch was planted in August, but the quantity was small. I'll go check; we should be able to harvest some."

His family's vegetables are grown using fertilizer fermented from fertilizer powder, and they are also watered with pond water. Qing Mengzhu has confidence in his family's vegetables.

Zhou Yan was also somewhat curious.

Qing Mengzhu simply took Zhou Yan to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables.

The celery and onions are ready to be dug up, but the onions are a bit small and not fully ripe yet.

Zhou Yan said it was edible, as the onions weren't as pungent when they weren't fully ripe, making them suitable for Western dishes.

Qing Mengzhu divided the vegetables into two portions, giving one to Zhou Yan and asking him to take the other to Chef Fan Donghua.

After receiving the message, Chef Fan Donghua relayed it to him, saying that he would use his family's dishes in the live broadcast.

Qing Mengzhu told Ming Chunxi and Zhao Hexi about this.

Both of them were somewhat surprised.

Zhao Hexi was especially excited. "Does that mean they're going to advertise for us? A big blogger with millions of followers, are they going to do it for free?"

Qing Mengzhu thought for a moment and said, "The trouble was caused by the other party, so he should be embarrassed to accept the money."

Zhao Hexi: "That's not right. We're just a small company. If he were more assertive, he could just ignore us."

Qing Mengzhu raised an eyebrow. "It's true we're a small company, but we have a good reputation and know a lot of people. We're not some small company that's easy to bully."

Author's Note:

That's all for today, see you tomorrow!

Chapter 104

Qing Mengzhu and her team quickly delivered the ingredients to Fan Donghua's team.

Fan Donghua's young apprentice looked at the newly delivered ingredients and muttered, "They're quite fresh, and the quality is good too."

Fan Donghua glanced at it. "A professional agricultural company like ours, how could the ingredients go wrong? Alright, get ready to start the machine."

Apprentice: "Right away!"

Fan Donghua and his team do a live stream at this time every day, and the theme is to cook dinner with the viewers. Today is no exception.

They quickly logged into their accounts and started broadcasting at six o'clock sharp.

Fan Donghua greeted the audience, "Hello, friends! With the weather getting colder, people always crave hot food. Today we're making a basic tomato seafood noodle dish. The ingredients we'll be using include tomatoes, onions, celery, basil, and shrimp... Our tomatoes, onions, and celery are all produced by Zhuxi Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.."

Qing Mengzhu and Zhao Hexi also watched the live broadcast on time.

After Fan Donghua finished introducing the ingredients, a dense barrage of comments erupted.

[Is this a sponsored video?]

[That Zhuxi company is getting a lot of buzz lately. Is their food any good?]

[Oh, was that previous slip of the tongue just for publicity?]

[Looking forward to it! Old Fan, hurry up and make it, let's eat, eat, eat!]

Zhao Hexi looked at the comments. "Why are all the viewers doubting this?"

Qing Mengzhu: "That's normal. We're a new company, and most people haven't heard of us. This whole thing really does seem like a marketing ploy."

Zhao Hexi: "Even if it's marketing, our ingredients are genuinely good."

Qing Mengzhu: "It's alright, the audience doesn't know yet. They'll find out after it appears a few more times."

Qing Mengzhu and Zhao Hexi watched patiently.

Fan Donghua's live stream is actually quite quiet, and the content is very normal, just various cutting and stir-frying, all in an orderly manner, which looks very therapeutic.

Qing Mengzhu watched his video for the first time, she couldn't help but keep watching and even followed him.

Fan Donghua has quite a few tricks up his sleeve to have so many fans across the internet.

Fan Donghua's video was not sped up, but it was filmed by multiple people.

While he was stir-frying onions and celery in a pan, his team was frying beef.