Chapter 263: A New Program
Mid-June, Third Fleet Main Ship, Nongda Affiliated High School campus.
The students who had finally finished their last exam cheered as they ran to their respective club activity rooms to share the good news, and conveniently discussed the arrangements for summer vacation outdoor study together.
Meanwhile, the students who had already arranged club activities gathered unreservedly in the A Bite of China Club’s small restaurant, sipping fruit milk and eating cake contentedly while discussing their holiday travel plans.
As for the A Bite of China Club’s club president herself, she was sprawled entirely on the table, eyes vacant and face expressionless.
“What’s wrong with Classmate Xiang Chuan? She’s not usually like this after exams.”
Class President Lu Daiqing said worriedly.
“This guy isn’t worried about the exam at all. Even if she hands in a blank paper at the end, the principal and Teacher Zhu will let her graduate smoothly.” Ainuo snorted, “This guy’s current state is apparently because the Cultural Affairs Bureau and Agriculture Bureau want to talk cooperation with her sister’s live stream room, which disrupted this guy’s original plan.”
“Isn’t that right…” Xiang Chuan, sprawled on the table, said gloomily, “It was so hard to get Prison Break, Game of Thrones, and House of Cards audited and approved by the Information Bureau. Xiang Xue and Lin Ming had already scheduled next week’s live streams, but then my mother came home last night and said, ‘Xiao Chuan, Xiao Xue, can you adjust your summer live stream plans a bit?’ That’s not fair.”
“I’ve heard about this from my family.” Ouyang Yating said, “It seems the Agricultural Products Increased Production Ratio Adjustment Draft is preparing for a second public meeting at the end of July or early August, but some residents and agricultural practitioners still have doubts and dissatisfaction with this adjustment plan, so they’re calling on the government on SNS to postpone the draft’s issuance.”
Hearing this, Chou Manman, sitting next to Xiang Chuan, looked puzzled and asked, “What does that have to do with little sister Xiao Xue’s live stream room?”
Nancy chuckled and leaned in, saying, “Actually, it’s just that the government has taken a liking to little sister Xiao Xue’s live stream room’s popularity. Now with the Information Bureau and Cultural Affairs Bureau as backing, the live stream room’s viewer count is approaching nine digits. In this situation, if they want to do some promotion, having little sister Xiao Xue promote it is way more efficient than directly sending promotional ads to our personal terminals’ spam email boxes.”
“Um… so the Agriculture Bureau and Cultural Affairs Bureau hope that Classmate Xiang Chuan and little sister Xiang Xue can help promote the necessity of the draft’s correctness, right?” Class President Lu Daiqing summarized, “But what does that have to do with Classmate Xiang Chuan looking like a dead crucian carp right now?”
“This metaphor doesn’t need to be so specific…” Xiang Chuan couldn’t help lifting her head, a black line on her forehead as she looked at her own class president, “The troublesome part is that the Agriculture Bureau and Cultural Affairs Bureau directly threw the image promotion and production tasks to me and Xiao Xue. Where have we ever been in contact with the production process for this kind of government promotional video? Sigh…”
With that, Xiang Chuan face-planted onto the table again.
The main thing was she couldn’t figure it out! How, even 30,000 years later, did she still have to “enjoy” this kind of task assigned by leaders that was like making PPTs.
Damn it, I’m a first year high school student! My sister just started junior high! They’re exploiting child labor! Xiang Chuan thought viciously.
But she could only think about it—who made the head of the Cultural Affairs Bureau her own mother. When the Agriculture Bureau’s uncle came to ask them, Xiang Chuan was preparing to refuse outright, but then she met Lin Minzhi’s business smile gaze.
That gaze was so sharp, it made Xiang Chuan recall the unrelenting sharp look from her immediate superior when smilingly handing her a whole week’s work schedule, and then she inexplicably agreed.
Absolutely not because she was worried about getting rewarded with a serving of stir-fried meat with bamboo board from mom—definitely not.
——
Looking at the listless Xiang Chuan, everyone exchanged glances.
Ouyang Yating asked, “Does the Agriculture Bureau specifically require image format for the promotion? Can’t they use print ads or websites or something?”
“They came specifically because they liked Xiao Xue’s live stream room, so we can’t just pull up a black screen next to streaming dramas and slap the promotion on it, right?” Xiang Chuan recalled the interfaces in some live stream rooms from her previous life plastered with promotional posters, and shuddered all over.
Modern live streaming culture was just starting up—she couldn’t be the one to bring this bad trend first.
“How about… asking the Information Department or Image Department clubs to help out?” Chou Manman suggested.
“No need for that. My mother and the Agriculture Bureau’s uncle said that if I need manpower, they can send a team from the Information Bureau.”
An Information Bureau team—that level of quality naturally didn’t need Nongda Affiliated High School club students.
“What I’m really troubled about now is, I can’t figure out how to make this promotional video. Actually, during the first recollection, the content the Agriculture Bureau wanted to show had already been displayed in the live streams and archived videos. What more can I do now?” Xiang Chuan muttered, “And if I do too much, I might accidentally leak some draft details, which would backfire.”
Hearing this, the A Bite of China Club members, along with Nancy and Chou Manman, also frowned. Yeah, the first meeting’s introduction to the draft was already detailed enough. As long as the first meeting’s live stream replay was still up on the Agriculture Bureau’s homepage, what Xiang Chuan and Xiang Xue could do remained limited.
Thinking of this, everyone also started racking their brains.
——
At that moment, Class President Lu Daiqing suddenly spoke up:
“Perhaps, Classmate Xiang Chuan, you can try a different approach?”
As soon as this was said, everyone turned to look at Lu Daiqing in unison.
“A different approach?”
Xiang Chuan asked doubtfully.
Lu Daiqing nodded and said:
“The most fundamental reason the Agriculture Bureau is issuing the draft is because of the ancient ingredients food processing technology and various recipes that you, Classmate Xiang Chuan, have shown. Before, these things were sold to the public by Yue Xiang Group in the form of restaurants, and people saw them as new processing technology launched by Yue Xiang Group.”
“And with this draft’s issuance, Classmate Xiang Chuan’s ancient food processing technology and ancient recipes will be seen as a brand new technology by people who weren’t previously concerned with Yue Xiang Restaurant’s inner workings, which will cause some unease and confusion among everyone. What’s more, it involves ingredients like pork and poultry internal organs that are too unfamiliar and seem horrifying to the public.”
“Since that’s the case, Classmate Xiang Chuan, you can start from popularizing ancient methods, approaches, and even history of processing ingredients, make a video for the viewers watching dramas in the live stream room to understand these things. As long as everyone knows the origins and theoretical basis of these processing methods and ingredients, I think it will be enough to dispel the public’s unease and concerns.”
Hearing this, Ainuo excitedly snapped their fingers and praised, “As expected of you, old Lu. Handling it from this angle would make it much easier for this guy, right?”
Saying that, they looked at Xiang Chuan.
However, at this time, Xiang Chuan didn’t show the excited smile or hurriedly pull Class Eight people over to discuss as everyone expected.
Instead, she opened a blank light screen whose content the others couldn’t see, and stared blankly at something on it that everyone else couldn’t see.
“This thing…” Xiang Chuan muttered, “Actually, there’s already a ready-made one.”
She looked at the light screen in front of her, which showed a video website page with the video title—
A Bite of China.
