Chapter 221: A Woman Like an Eagle Always Has Excellent Willpower
Chapter 221: Chapter 221: A Woman Like an Eagle Always Has Excellent Willpower
"I’m not staying in the hospital," Fu Cheng stated his demand.
He was willing to go for his physical therapy every day, but he refused to be admitted.
Shen Lu understood. Fu Cheng was probably afraid that if he stayed at the hospital, he wouldn’t get to eat the meals that could heal and soothe his Spiritual Sea every day.
It was understandable.
"I’ll have Ye Fan take you there every afternoon."
The restaurant was usually closed in the afternoon, so Ye Fan would be free to drive him.
Fu Cheng nodded.
Shen Lu quickened her pace, applying medicinal powder to Fu Cheng’s still-healing wounds, wrapping them in gauze, and then helping him into the new loungewear she had bought.
She had bought him two new sets of thicker loungewear—one with blue stripes, the other with gray. The fabric was quite soft and perfect for sleeping in.
After changing Fu Cheng’s dressings, Shen Lu emptied the dirty water, grabbed her pajamas, and took a shower.
After drying her hair, Shen Lu sat on the sofa to do her daily inventory check and use her Lottery Ticket.
[Congratulations, Host, you have drawn prize #174 from the blind box: one Memory Disappearance Hammer.]
[Memory Disappearance Hammer: Everyone has regrettable moments they can’t forget, tossing and turning in bed at midnight, not knowing what to do. With the Memory Disappearance Hammer, a gentle tap is all it takes to erase those vexing memories!]
[Note: This is not a permanent item. Total uses: 10. Can be used repeatedly on the same person.]
Shen Lu was speechless.
The things she was getting from the lottery were getting more and more bizarre.
Still, her curiosity got the better of her, and she took out the Memory Disappearance Hammer to examine it.
It looked no different from a toy hammer, with a yellow and green color scheme that exuded a childish innocence.
Shen Lu even began to doubt if this thing was really as amazing as it claimed to be.
’What should I do? I kind of want to test it on someone,’ she thought.
After much hesitation, Shen Lu gave up on the idea. There were only a few people at the restaurant; even if she wanted a guinea pig, she couldn’t use her own people.
Putting the hammer away, Shen Lu opened the kitchenware upgrade panel, found the entry for the malatang machine, and tapped "Upgrade."
Normally, she wouldn’t have gathered the materials this quickly. The hardest to get was the liquid crystal material. Shen Lu had looked it up on her Light Brain; it was a high-precision material that had to be purchased in person from a company with proper identification.
She had originally planned to find time to make a trip to the Upper City District, but unexpectedly, she had won 20 units of it in a lottery draw two days ago, saving her the trouble.
The upgrade would take an hour. Shen Lu couldn’t be bothered to wait and decided to go to her room to rest.
The time right before bed was Shen Lu’s most cherished private time. She would curl up under the covers and browse her Light Brain.
This world also had its male and female "saints"—as well as digital ones—and the content was strictly categorized by rating.
Because the Light Brain was tightly bound to a resident’s personal information, minors could basically only access content suitable for them. The adult world was far more... abundant.
Shen Lu’s face flushed red as she browsed through the posts from these "saints." She almost sent a "rocket" virtual gift to a male one to see the 5% of his content hidden behind a paywall.
But she restrained herself.
A woman with the spirit of an eagle always had outstanding willpower.
On the next video, Shen Lu swiped to a marketing video for Fragrant Sky.
Shen Lu’s good mood vanished instantly.
After watching Fragrant Sky’s video with a deadpan expression, Shen Lu scoffed.
’It wasn’t enough for them to copy my lottery promotion, now they have to imitate my marketing videos, too?’
’Judging by the number of likes and comments, they must have hired a ton of paid commenters, right?’
’How much money are they losing in a single day?’
Closing the DouDou app, Shen Lu put on a hypnosis video for sleep.
Soon, Shen Lu drifted off to sleep.
She was fast asleep, but Mr. Sun and General Manager Chen were suffering from insomnia.
The two of them sat in a private room, calculating the day’s profits and losses.
"Across our eight Fragrant Sky branches in the Lower City District, total revenue was 960,000. After subtracting the cost of ingredients, labor, the film company’s video production fees, the cost of hiring paid commenters, the fees for buying DouDou views, and other miscellaneous expenses... the money left on the books today is... negative 310,000."
Having finished the calculation, Mr. Sun couldn’t help but slam the table. "DAMN IT! I’ve been in business for so many years and I’ve never lost money like this!"
General Manager Chen looked just as grim, but he still offered some comfort. "It’s alright, Old Sun. We didn’t get into this to make money in the first place."
"Yeah, but to throw away so much money just for some little girl?" Mr. Sun couldn’t stomach it. "Is it necessary? Isn’t this using a cannon to shoot a mosquito?"
"So we stop?"
"We’ve already started, the gauntlet has been thrown. If we stop after just one day, people who don’t know any better will think we’re scared of that girl!"
Mr. Sun pinched the bridge of his nose. He was in too deep to back out now.
General Manager Chen struck the same pose. The two middle-aged men were belatedly realizing they had been played.
And the person who played them was Boss Jin.
General Manager Chen was confused. "What do you think Old Jin is up to? He’s making us go after a young girl with all this fanfare in such a roundabout way. Cutting off her supply chain wasn’t enough, now he wants us to prepare all these follow-up moves."
Mr. Sun sneered. "Who knows? He’s the most cunning one in the Commerce Association. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have become its president."
"So what do we do now?"
"We’ll just treat it as advertising," Mr. Sun said, surprisingly optimistic. "The Kitchen King competition is starting soon anyway. Building up some hype in advance isn’t a bad thing."
"Tsk, I’d almost forgotten about that. Who are you planning to send to the Kitchen King competition this year?"
Mr. Sun threw up his hands. "Who else? The only decent person I have is Old Tang."
"Old Tang didn’t place very well last year. He didn’t even make it into the top ten."
"Then you go find me someone better."
"Now you’re just putting me in a tough spot."
"Alright, let’s leave it at that for today. Tomorrow, just have the store staff shoot a casual video themselves. Don’t hire paid commenters either. At most, we’ll buy some traffic. We need to cut costs where we can."
"Got it."
...
Shen Lu slept quite well. After waking up and washing up in the morning, she went downstairs to check on the malatang machine.
The malatang machine had grown a size larger, going from six compartments to nine. Each compartment’s capacity was double what it was before, the heating power was stronger, and it could bring the same pot of water to a boil in half the time.
Shen Lu was very satisfied with this. While she was at it, she browsed the kitchenware upgrade panel again to pick her next target.
After looking around, Shen Lu decided to upgrade the one-touch washing machine.
The washer’s capacity and speed were far from keeping up with their current needs. More than half of the vegetables had to be washed by hand, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand.
The materials for upgrading the washing machine were more or less the same as for the malatang machine, with only minor differences. For example, it only required 5 units of liquid crystal material, but it needed 60 units of refined steel, as well as 10 gears.
The three kids were still responsible for gathering common materials like refined steel and copper blocks. She still had some liquid crystal material, but the gears were a bit of a problem.
The ones she found at the junkyard might not meet the specifications. Shen Lu planned to check first, and if they weren’t suitable, she would just have them custom-made.
After breakfast, Shen Lu once again signed for a delivery of ingredients from the Bai Family. Watching the truck disappear down the street, she let out a silent sigh.
In two days, Bai Wanwan would be returning to the Imperial City. Where was she going to source her local ingredients then?