“Uncle Daiwei, there’s no need to be nervous. In a moment, you’ll just be sitting in the host’s seat.”

Lin Qing was rushing in and out of the makeshift livestream studio the group had set up, getting everything ready.

The makeup artist approached Daiwei, and he shoved them away.

Lin Qing handed Daiwei the script. He gave it a haughty glance, then set it aside.

Liang Meng stood with her arms crossed, watching everything from behind the equipment, taking it all in.

Today, no one knew what to expect.

This was Longquan’s very first livestream for its dealer network.

Liang Meng was of course hoping for a good result.

Because that would not only be good for Longquan’s future, but it would also let her sister cash out at the peak.

Ten minutes into the broadcast, the livestream room had only a few dozen viewers.

Those few dozen were almost certainly Longquan’s own dealers and Daiwei’s friends and family.

Just watching, no one buying — zero orders placed.

No matter how hard the co-host worked to engage the audience, Daiwei couldn’t find his rhythm at all. He seemed completely checked out from what was happening.

Lin Qing was both anxious and infuriated.

At the rate Daiwei was going — arrogant, unresponsive, and stiff as a board — they’d probably get more sales by tying a dog to the livestream chair.

Lin Qing had stayed up countless nights preparing his script, and he wouldn’t even read from it!

Liang Meng was slightly calmer than Lin Qing, biting her lower lip, telling herself to give it more time.

“I knew it would turn out like this,” said the production monitor nearby, unable to help sighing.

“These traditional-industry dealers just can’t keep up with the pace of livestreaming. They have absolutely no feel for it on camera.”

“That’s how older people are. They probably don’t even scroll short videos much,” another crew member chimed in.

“So what do we do now?”

“Just kill time. If there’s really no sales volume, we just end the stream.”

Daiwei held on a little longer, but it was genuinely uncomfortable, so Lin Qing signaled the co-host to hold the fort for a while and let Daiwei step down for a break.

“Uncle Daiwei, have some water,” Liang Meng said, handing him a bottle.

Fine beads of sweat had formed on Daiwei’s forehead. He took it. He probably hadn’t expected this result either.

Lin Qing couldn’t bear to watch all her hard work just sitting there neglected, and blurted out: “Daiwei, why didn’t you read the script I wrote you? Today’s prices are already the lowest on the internet — if you’d just followed the script, the sales would have come.”

“I’m not a parrot!”

Daiwei had terrible numbers and still wouldn’t back down.

“Fine, if you have your own ideas, then improvise!” Lin Qing was no pushover either — when it came to losing her cool, she had never once lost a fight. “All you do is bark about how you refuse to read it. The whole team has been prepping for days, and right now our shopping cart shows a big fat zero! Truly, the spirit may be willing but the flesh is weak.”

“You little brat!” Daiwei’s eyes went wide.

Did he not want to make sales? He’d swallowed his pride and sat here in front of all these people — why else?

It wasn’t nothing but for Longquan’s sake.

Maybe that was the generation gap in a nutshell: you talk to him about results, he talks back at you about effort.

Seeing Lin Qing and Daiwei at each other’s throats, Liang Meng suddenly had an idea.

There was friction, there was conflict, there were sparks — that was pure engagement fuel!

In a flash of inspiration, she waved the co-host off the stage, and put Lin Qing and Daiwei both up on the hosting platform instead.

Liang Meng’s words: “If you’re going to fight, fight on camera!”

Under the spotlight, Lin Qing wasn’t intimidated in the least. She had right on her side!

Besides, no one was even watching — what was there to be afraid of?

Lin Qing stood her ground and said: “Daiwei, as Longquan’s very first dealer to try livestreaming, what do you have to say about tonight’s sales figures?”

“What do I have to say? You already said it all, didn’t you? Zero!” Daiwei wore an expression that said he had nothing left to lose.

Lin Qing slammed the script down on the table in frustration: “Can we at least follow a rhythm here? You pulling rank over me and winging it means the whole team goes hungry!”

“How am I pulling rank?” Daiwei shot back. “The reason I’m not reading your script is because what you wrote is garbage! What is this — 9.99 yuan! 18.88 yuan! Factory-direct lowest prices! Don’t miss out! Step right up! What kind of nonsense is that?!”

Fuming, Daiwei picked up the script Lin Qing had angrily thrown down — and hurled it back down again.

“Then go take a nap at the retirement home. I’ll do it myself!” Lin Qing raged.

The livestream room crackled with hostility!

Sure enough, a dog biting a person brings no traffic — but a person biting back brings it flooding in.

The sales count in the room hadn’t surged, but the viewer count had clearly started climbing.

“Daiwei, you’re so last century!” Lin Qing said.

“What’s that? A what? An out? An out what?!”

“No! Daiwei, you need to be reasonable!”

“You’re a Gen Z kid — what makes you think you can understand my reasoning?”

“What does being born late have to do with it? Is that my fault? And what gives you the idea that Gen Z can’t understand what you’re saying? Has your mouth got an expiry date on it?”

“Hey! Who are you calling expired?! Have you even graduated yet?”

“You already expired! Back in your day, blowing bubbles in the bath and thinking you were riding the waves — those days are long gone!”

Lin Qing was pushed into a corner.

“You little brat, what do you know?! Back in the day, I crossed the whole country by myself, hauling Longquan herbal drink all the way to the northeast to open up new markets. You were probably still in kindergarten then!”

With one sentence, Daiwei gave Lin Qing on stage a sudden flash of inspiration.

Personal grudges mattered, sure — but not more than the results of this livestream.

The bigger picture came first.

So under the table, she stomped hard on Daiwei’s foot, then quickly seized on that thread, like grabbing hold of the key to unlocking the audience.

Lin Qing leaned in earnestly and started interviewing Daiwei: “Then tell us all about crossing the country! I was in kindergarten back then — I never got to hear it.”

At that, Daiwei lit up.

Older people loved nothing more than reminiscing.

So Daiwei became like a tap that had been turned on, and began telling the story of his early entrepreneurial days with unstoppable enthusiasm: “Back then, Bao Quan herbal drink wasn’t even called Bao Quan herbal drink — it was called Bao Qi Gui! Because logistics were so underdeveloped back then, by the time summer was almost over, the factories still had warehouses packed to the brim with unsold goods. Everyone in the company was beyond stressed…”

The viewers who had come in for the drama now found themselves listening to a free storytelling session — and no one could bring themselves to leave.

“Stressed! Drink some Bao Quan herbal drink!”

People in the comment section started riffing on the catchphrase.

“Exactly! Feeling the heat? Drink some herbal drink!”

“Bao Quan herbal drink — if you lined up all the cans ever sold, they’d circle the Earth!”

Daiwei told his story with vivid color and expressiveness.

“On a pitch-dark night, I arrived at the train station. Back then they still had the old green-painted trains — the ancestors of today’s high-speed rail. I could only get a hard seat ticket. If you had the herbal drink, there was no room to sit — but if you sat down, you had to hold the herbal drink in your hands…”

The production monitor watched the viewer count shoot upward and broke into a grin, pointing at the screen for the people behind him: “This is better than any thriller drama!”

“Did Daiwei used to be a storyteller? He’s like Longquan’s own master raconteur!”

Perhaps it was because this style of livestream was so rare and unusual, or perhaps it was because Daiwei was so clearly playing the “nostalgia card” — but the sales counter in the shopping cart actually began climbing sharply.

The platform’s algorithm also caught the trending signal, and began pushing more traffic to the stream.

One virtuous cycle later, Daiwei and Lin Qing’s livestream room had clawed its way into the top ten on the food and beverage sales chart.

Liang Meng let out a breath of relief and reminded the team to make sure packing, shipping, and logistics could keep up with the orders.

Many of the dealers who had once followed Daiwei in the early days watched from their screens as he relived those glory days — and many of them were moved to tears.

Many entrepreneurs were also fired up by Daiwei’s pioneering spirit, and went wild in the comments, placing orders!

When Daiwei reached the most emotional peaks of his story, even Liang Meng’s eyes grew moist.

“Homegrown products are the real trend!”

She felt it deeply.

Perhaps this was exactly the reason that, a year ago, Liang Meng had insisted on coming back to China to take over Longquan.

The stream ended on its own natural high — the total merchandise value had broken one million yuan in sales!

The entire studio erupted in cheers!

Longquan’s dealer livestream, built around telling the story of how the brand was built, became that evening’s most talked-about viral event.

The most memorable moments were screenshotted and quoted by countless content creators, clipped into short videos and spread all over the internet.

The attitude of Longquan’s entire dealer network toward livestreaming surged with renewed energy and excitement!

Daiwei — remarkably — had become an internet celebrity in just five hours.

It had to be said: livestreaming was partly about technique, but ultimately it came down to natural talent and the power of personality.

Trust your instincts, trust your people.

Liang Meng had bet on the unbreakable Zhang Weimin — and once again, she had bet right!

Of course, there was also Lin Qing’s wholehearted, all-in preparation behind the scenes!

Because of the “pulling rank” incident, Lin Qing had felt guilty toward Liang Meng, and had worked day and night preparing for the livestream to make up for her mistake.

Liang Meng had seen all of it.

Before long, Liang Xing and Jiang Han, both at the villa, came across Longquan’s trending topic while scrolling their phones.

One rejoiced inwardly, the other did not.

Liang Xing’s joy showed nothing on her face.

Jiang Han stared at the screen projection on the wall, thumb pressing hard on the black-and-gold ring he wore on his index finger.

Wang Zaiwu was also buzzing with excitement over at the Wang family estate!

He leaped off the sofa and danced around with his phone, muttering to himself.

Wang’s mother thought he’d lost his mind, and started messaging her friends one by one, asking for the name of a reliable psychiatrist.

Sure enough.

The next day, Longquan’s stock hit the daily limit up!

This sudden sharp rise caught Wang Xiancheng completely off guard!

He had been planning to wait for a dip and scoop up Liang Xing’s shares in Longquan at a low price — but at this rate, the forecast was for continued gains.

So when Liang Xing named a price of 1 billion yuan to sell her 35% stake, Wang Xiancheng had no choice but to swallow it whole, painful as it was, and buy in.

But still, a silver lining was mixed in.

Because he had already signed a confidential purchase agreement with Jiang Han for Ling Xue SOHO, agreeing to transfer 30% of the shares for 400 million yuan — so he hadn’t come out of it entirely empty-handed.

1 billion plus 400 million — Wang Xiancheng was about to exchange one faded Ling Xue SOHO for 65% of Longquan Group.

From a business standpoint, he should have counted this a success.

“I can’t believe the livestream did so well!”

“I know! Uncle Daiwei was incredible!”

“Boss, tonight was absolutely amazing — I feel so accomplished!”

“Cheers!! Let’s keep it up tomorrow!”

Liang Meng, completely in the dark about everything else, was in that moment still basking in the joy of celebrating with her team.

In the three days that followed, Longquan’s stock hit the limit up three consecutive days, with the single-day maximum gain exceeding 14%.

Liang Meng and Lin Qing practically floated through the office every day, heads nearly touching the ceiling!

Everything looked wonderful!

Every moment felt amazing!

“Sis. You can sell your shares now.”

Liang Meng picked up her phone in high spirits and called Liang Xing.

There was a silence on the other end first, and then Liang Xing’s voice came through, flat and calm: “I already transferred them to Wang Xiancheng — for 1 billion.”

“What?! Who?!”

Liang Meng could barely believe her own ears!

“You heard me. Nothing else — I’ll hang up now.”

Liang Xing said her piece and ended the call.

Liang Meng felt like she’d been struck by five bolts of lightning!

That meant Wang Zaiwu’s father was about to become Longquan’s single largest shareholder.

If Liang Meng and Jiang Han couldn’t unite at a shareholders’ meeting, then Longquan’s future would be whatever the Wang family said it would be.

Once the shock passed, Liang Meng felt cold sweat running down her back.

Why would her sister do this?

But she quickly reassured herself — it didn’t really matter. No matter how much she and Jiang Han had fought, the two of them were still on the same side.

Of that, Liang Meng was confident.

She would always have enough of a hold over Jiang Han to make him yield, whenever it mattered.

That being the case, Liang Meng — as CEO — still had real control over Longquan.