Ch 125: Bringing a Farming Game System to the 1970s

Among the twin daughters born to Lin Yining, the elder sister, Wang Yushan, had more ideas of her own and a firmer sense of purpose. Even before entering university, she had already mapped out a plan for her future.

The younger sister, Wang Yuyan, tended to go with the flow. She attended a good university, but had no clear direction for her future. When she saw her sister take the civil service exam, she followed suit, but found that she could not adapt to that path.

During their four years of undergraduate study and two years of graduate school, both sisters lived rather freely. Studying was never difficult for either of them.

Beyond academics, their university lives were colorful and full of variety. They made many new friends and discovered many new sides of themselves.

The two sisters also dabbled in investments, with both gains and losses.

Each of them sold off a property and converted it into cash. The elder sister invested her money into a project run by her senior schoolmates, while the younger sister invested in a television drama.

Second-generation circles have their own social worlds. Within that circle, the sisters were considered well-behaved girls. Some people inherited their family businesses at a young age and had bright futures ahead. Others were idle, uneducated heirs, and some had no bottom line at all, capable of any wrongdoing.

Naturally, the sisters aimed to become the first kind.

When an acquaintance approached Wang Yuyan, she read through the script, asked about the lead actors, and decided to take a share.

Online dramas did not require much capital. Compared to projects that easily ran into the tens of millions, this was small-scale. Wang Yuyan was not worried about being laughed at. Everyone knew each other well enough. Her family was strict, and she did not have much cash on hand. “Those big projects are beyond me right now. I’ve never even been exposed to them. Let me ease into this first.”

This low-budget web drama only required a few million in total investment, and Wang Yuyan contributed one million.

When she saw the finished product, she knew she would not even click on the next episode. She was a bit disappointed, though it was not entirely without merit. In the end, after dividends, she lost a little over one hundred thousand yuan. Her first investment had failed.

For her second investment, Wang Yuyan turned to stocks. She bought three: one rose, one fell, and one stayed roughly the same. In the end, she made a small four-figure profit, but factoring in the time she spent, it was effectively a loss.

She withdrew from that as well and decided to go back to investing in television dramas. If she happened to hit a breakout hit, the returns could multiply. This time, she learned from experience. She read the script herself and only proceeded after confirming it was interesting. She also positioned herself as the largest investor, keeping out unnecessary outside interference so the production could proceed properly.

In her first investment, although the male and female leads had not been changed, the role of the daughter had been altered. If she had seen the revised script beforehand, she would never have invested.

This time, Wang Yuyan did quite well. Her returns doubled.

That was the difference between having experience and not. The first time, she had been too lax, trusting too much simply because they were acquaintances.

That second female lead had been her friend’s “friend.”

She had learned her lesson.

No matter who you do business with, you cannot be careless.

After that, Wang Yuyan made a few more investments here and there, some short-term, some long-term, but all relatively small-scale. She did not devote much effort to managing them.

After all, she was still a student.

She was also pursuing a double degree.

Later, she took the graduate school entrance exam. It only made her more certain that she did not like her major. So she followed her sister and took the civil service exam. After passing, she resigned in less than a year.

That path was not for her.

Though it was a path many people could only dream of, she had the freedom to choose otherwise.

After relaxing at home for a while, she went to her grandmother. “Grandma, I want to try doing business and see how I do on this path.”

She was not like her mother, who could practice calligraphy day after day for decades, nor did she have any particularly strong personal passions. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. But she knew she needed a career. Otherwise, she would just be living off others without purpose. She did not have grand ambitions, but she also did not want to become a freeloader.

So she decided to spend some time working with her grandmother. If it did not work out, she would try something else. And if that still did not work, she would try again.

Before turning thirty, she had time to explore at her own pace.

Her grandmother readily agreed and placed her in the Meiyan business department.

Meiyan was a well-known brand in the country.

Its best advertisement was her grandmother herself. At her age, her skin condition surpassed that of many young people.

Its two most famous product lines were anti-aging and spot-removal and whitening. These two lines were the pillars of the brand.

Naturally, they were also expensive.

At the business department, she essentially started as a salesperson. When she learned of this arrangement, Wang Yuyan felt a bit awkward.

After all, it was uncommon to start from such a low position within one’s own family business. It seemed her grandmother did not approve of parachuting people into high positions.

When she had asked her sister what kind of position her grandmother might give her, her sister had guessed it would likely be a small department manager, or perhaps a nominal deputy manager title without any real subordinates.

Her mother thought the same.

None of them expected her to be placed directly into a high-ranking role. That would not match her grandmother’s personality. Her grandmother preferred steady, step-by-step progress.

After the initial surprise, Wang Yuyan accepted it. Starting from the bottom just meant working hard.

At first, she found it difficult to put herself out there and actively promote products to customers. She would only stand there with a polite smile. Even so, her performance was not poor, because she had the advantage of her own appearance. Customers would see her skin and ask what products she used.

With such a living example in front of them, a considerable number of those who asked ended up placing orders.

That gave her confidence.

If she was going to do something, she would do it to the best of her ability. Taking the initiative to promote products was just the beginning, and it turned out not to be as difficult as she had imagined.

She already had knowledge of clothing and accessories. After some additional learning, she could roughly estimate the value of what people were wearing. Combined with her looks, she had a natural advantage in sales.

After four months, she ranked first in performance for the first time. After that, something clicked. Those fair-weather friends of hers had to shop somewhere anyway, so why not buy from her?

Come place your orders.

Now it was time to test those friendships.

At first, people did not even know she was working as a sales associate. Once they found out, what could they say? Buy, buy, buy.

The products would not expire anytime soon, so of course they would support their friend.

With that, Wang Yuyan’s performance became outstanding. Soon after, she received a promotion and was appointed business department manager for Meiyan in a certain district of the city, overseeing more than a dozen counters.

Because her résumé was still shallow, some people were dissatisfied.

Especially the deputy managers. They had worked hard for this position for a long time. Why should she get it? Their performance had not been bad either.

For Wang Yuyan, this was a challenge. If she handled it poorly, she would be sidelined.

Some suspected that she had been parachuted in through connections. And she had.

But Wang Yuyan had no intention of revealing that. Even if it brought people to her side in the short term, would they truly respect her?

Yu Xiang’an had been quietly observing her progress.

If she did not like being a civil servant, she could choose another path. But Yu Xiang’an hoped she would understand that no matter what line of work she chose, none of them were easy.

Every path came with its own set of problems.

Sometimes you could take shortcuts, but there would always be moments when shortcuts were impossible.

Wang Yuyan’s choice also stirred some whispers.

The family business of Yu Xiang’an’s household, who would it eventually be passed on to? By taking this path, was Wang Yuyan positioning herself to compete for it?

Among Wang Yuyan’s classmates and friends, many came from business families. In terms of economic scale, her grandmother’s enterprise ranked at the top. Yet compared to them, they all kept an exceptionally low profile.

Other people’s children had mansions and luxury cars, yachts and helicopters, but what about them?

As one of Wang Yuyan’s friends joked, they lived so quietly and modestly it was almost as if the family were on the verge of bankruptcy.

Word of it also reached Xu Zhenzhen. The person relaying the news did not embellish anything, but the look in their eyes gave them away, and Xu Zhenzhen could tell there was a hint of watching for drama.

Xu Zhenzhen kept her composure. “The child has graduated. If she’s interested in the industry, then let her go. It’s the family business. Learning more is a good thing.”

After the person left, Xu Zhenzhen sat in her department for quite a while, thinking.

She was a military doctor assigned to a unit. She had met Lin Yihong when he was injured and she was assigned to care for him. That was how they came to know each other, and later, through a matchmaker, they got together. Now their son was already in his first year of college.

And he was attending a military academy.

Barring any surprises, he would follow in his father’s footsteps in the future. Naturally, that meant he could not get involved in business and could only receive dividends.

So how exactly was the enormous family fortune on his grandparents’ side supposed to be handled?

When she married Lin Yihong, she had not known his parents were this wealthy.

If one had to put it plainly, marrying Lin Yihong had been marrying up for her.

Though not by too much. For three generations, the Xu family had also been part of the military system.

Still, if anyone said Xu Zhenzhen felt no envy toward the family fortune of her child’s grandparents, that would definitely be a lie.

Who did not like money?

Money could buy many things. It was not as if she was stealing or robbing for it. If she obtained it, she could spend it freely.

Although his parents still looked very healthy and likely had a long time ahead of them, had they decided anything about an heir yet?

Did they intend to hand it over to their granddaughter?

Then what about their side?

The more Xu Zhenzhen thought about it, the more she felt she needed to ask Lin Yihong.

She wanted to know whether he had any idea what his parents planned to do.

Were those businesses meant to be managed by a professional manager in the future, or what?

When Lin Yihong came home, he first took off his military uniform and changed into comfortable pajamas. Xu Zhenzhen brought over a plate of fruit, set it down, and said, “I need to talk to you about something.”

Lin Yihong stretched a little, his joints cracking audibly.

“What is it?”

Xu Zhenzhen said, “Someone told me today that Yuyan has gone to help her grandmother manage the business. Did you know about it? Are your parents planning to hand their business over to her in the future?” She got straight to the point.

She did not beat around the bush.

It was not as if she were doing anything wrong.

Of course Lin Yihong had already asked about it. At his age, there was no way he could choose to inherit the family business. When their son was taking the college entrance exam, he had hesitated for a long time, but the boy’s choice had been the same as his mother’s, so there had been nothing more to say. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Naturally, they had to follow their child’s wishes and let him choose the path he wanted.

Once the choice was confirmed, Lin Yihong had called his mother to tell her the news. Then he had asked whether, in the future, the family business would be managed by professional managers.

The answer had hit him squarely. His mother had said this:

“Your father and I are both in excellent health. If you’re worried about the distribution of the family property, then let me say something blunt. With your line of work, if you don’t take proper care of yourself, there’s no telling, we might outlive you. This family business was built by us, so we have the right to dispose of it as we see fit. Of course, once we’re gone, it will go to you children. Your father and I do not favor sons over daughters. You and your sister are both our children. As I’ve always said, if neither of you wants to manage the business, then after your father and I are gone, we’ll hire a professional manager. I’ll also establish a family trust. If one of the children is willing, then we’ll see whether she can shoulder that burden.”

Lin Yihong had felt thoroughly stabbed in the heart. With his great-grandfather’s longevity as precedent, he truly did not dare say he would outlive his parents.

He was healthy now, but once he got older, who could say?

And when it came to business, both he and his sister had had little exposure to it, so they did not really have much standing to voice opinions. For example, when it came to the family’s charitable donations, he had only learned about them after the money had already been given.

Then he asked how much of their annual net profits his parents gave to charity every year, things like building Hope Schools, repairing bridges and roads, and so on. The numbers together formed an astronomical sum.

A lot of people did charity for show, but his parents were sincere about it. Many of their donations were never even reported publicly. Only people who specifically paid attention to such matters knew about them. Watching that money flow out in great white streams, did it hurt?

Yes, it did, because altogether it was more than what his parents had given him.

When he and his sister were admitted to university, their parents had already prepared houses and storefronts for them and separated their household registrations. Later, when the siblings each started their own families, his sister received a dowry, and he was given a sum of money on his side as well.

At the time, their parents had said, “This is for you to start your own households. From now on you each have your own little family. To put it in old-fashioned terms, once the children are married, the family divides and each branch lives its own life. From here on, you’ll make your own plans for your lives. Your parents may subsidize you, or they may not. You’ll have to manage for yourselves. Don’t go spending everything, because if you do, there won’t be any replacement.”

After that, he had been extraordinarily well-off. What his parents had given him had already made him a wealthy man. A large part of the reason his life was so comfortable now was because of that.

The salary they actually earned was not much at all. Forget everything else, if he relied only on his own salary and wanted to buy a house in the capital now, that alone would consume his entire life.

Even so, in his everyday life, Lin Yihong remained very frugal. He worried that a luxurious lifestyle would erode his willpower. Once a person got used to good things, going back to worse ones would require effort.

When he did not need the money, he put it into financial management. When he did need it, he took it out and used it. If the families of some of his comrades were in hardship or had suffered an accident and came to borrow money from him, he lent it.

If there were minors whose parents were gone, he would donate to them too.

Money gave a person courage. With this sum behind him, he had a way out, so when others tried to tempt him with sugar-coated bullets, Lin Yihong remained especially steadfast.

Offer him money? Did he lack money?

When it came to matters of principle, no amount of money could change them.

As for not favoring sons over daughters, he was long used to that. Ever since childhood, whatever their parents prepared had always come in doubles, basically identical.

Now, hearing his wife speak this way, it was obvious she had some thoughts about the matter.

Lin Yihong knew that although people said men and women were equal, in the vast majority of families, if there was no son then that was one thing, but if there was a son, the family business would generally go to him.

But his family was not like that. And if one had to say it, the one who had spent the most time by his parents’ side was his sister. The one who had shown more filial devotion was also his sister and his niece. If the larger share of the family business went to his sister, he had no objections.

He did not feel much about receiving his own portion, because to get it meant his parents would have died, and then it would become an inheritance. He did not want his parents to die at all. Was the money in his own hands not already enough for him to use?

Lin Yihong repeated what his mother had meant back then: “Don’t think too much. Have you been working overtime again these past few days? If you don’t pay attention to taking care of yourself, you’ll age quickly. Think about how long my great-grandfather lived. My parents are in even better shape than he was. They hardly ever get sick, they’re incredibly healthy, and our family isn’t short on money. Once you have enough, money is just a number. If we don’t take care of ourselves, we might as well think about what to do with our money for our son after we’re gone. Should we transfer it to him in advance and save on inheritance tax?”

Xu Zhenzhen drew in a breath. Her reaction was exactly the same as Lin Yihong’s had been when he heard Yu Xiang’an say those words. It stung.

If she did not take good care of herself, then maybe she really would not outlive her parents-in-law. And if it came to that, then none of this would matter anyway. She would not even be alive.

Thinking that way, Xu Zhenzhen felt that she must really have been too exhausted from all the overtime lately. Otherwise, how could she have forgotten something so obvious?

Isn’t this just worrying over nothing?

…

To bring those two deputy managers to heel, Wang Yuyan put in no small amount of effort. She had no intention of being looked down on.

Even if she had been parachuted in, she was a capable one.

Everything would be judged by results.

Once she had subdued her subordinates, Yu Xiang’an took a more democratic approach this time and asked her, “Where do you want to go next?”

Wang Yuyan hesitated for a moment. “Grandma, where do you think I should go? Why don’t you decide for me? I don’t know where I’ll end up, but that makes it feel fresh and exciting. I’ll listen to you.”

Yu Xiang’an said, “Alright.”

Yu Xiang’an then sent her to a food city, where Wang Yuyan became an inspector.

She was responsible for checking the hygiene of the businesses there, their licenses, whether larger shops were bullying customers, and all sorts of miscellaneous issues.

For this, she underwent additional training. Without it, she would not even have known what to inspect.

It was necessary. If a shop’s hygiene was seriously substandard or even dangerous, they themselves would also be implicated.

Occasional spot checks served as a safeguard for both sides.

After arriving there, Wang Yuyan’s pace of life slowed down noticeably. She would stroll through one shop, then wander into another. After working there for a month, she gained three pounds.

The number on the scale left her in disbelief. It had only been one month.

She knew she had eaten a bit more during inspections, but wasn’t this too much?

She had clearly been restraining herself.

Looking at the softness on her stomach, Wang Yuyan felt like she could cry.

This wouldn’t do. Starting tomorrow, she absolutely had to stop eating like this.

Taking a bite here and a bite there did not seem like much, but the sheer number of bites added up.

While reflecting on this, she even asked her colleagues for advice. Her colleagues simply patted their own bellies. “What is there to ask? Look at this. What don’t you understand?”

Wang Yuyan fell silent.

It was too real, and frankly terrifying.

Not a single one of her colleagues was slim. That was horrifying. She absolutely could not go on like this.

When Yu Xiang’an later asked how her work had been going, she was met with Wang Yuyan’s tearful complaint. “Grandma, this is the first time I’ve realized how weak my self-control is. I’ll work out properly.” For the sake of her waist, she would give it her all.

Yu Xiang’an burst out laughing.

“Besides gaining weight, did you gain anything else?”

There were other gains.

Compared to the Meiyan sales department, life here was far more relaxed, and her colleagues were very friendly. In the sales department there had been competitive pressure, but here it felt almost like coasting toward retirement.

There was not much she needed to do. As long as she stuck to principles and paid attention to detail, inspections were enough.

But she would not remain an inspector forever, so she also took the opportunity to observe other things.

For example, foot traffic and customer preferences.

In any given city, theirs was not the only one. There were others, and some food streets were even organized by the government.

After seeing enough, she realized that most food streets and food courts were quite similar. They all offered the same mix of stinky tofu, spicy hot pot, skewers, grilled meat, cold noodles, hot pot, sushi, chicken wings, chicken feet, pig trotters, everything thrown together.

Because everyone had everything, it was hard to stand out. At that point, the advantage came down to taste and price. Whichever food court had more delicious options and more affordable pricing would attract more foot traffic and customers.

Her grandmother’s food city had one advantage: it had been operating for a long time, with many returning customers.

Rent was also relatively low, which reduced costs for merchants. As a result, their prices could be slightly cheaper than others. That small difference should not be underestimated.

Many people would walk one or two kilometers just to save that one yuan.

Another key advantage was the mature surrounding infrastructure. Besides food, there were clothing stores, shoe shops, and other retail options. They complemented each other, so it would be strange if business were poor.

As for flaws, they did exist.

More than once, Wang Yuyan heard long-time customers looking at menus and saying there were no new items, that many shops lacked innovation.

Many people like trying new things. Even if it turns out not to be good and they will not return, they still want to try at least once. Who knows, they might discover something special.

This mindset is very common, including in Wang Yuyan herself.

Yu Xiang’an asked her, “If it were up to you, how would you improve this? You’ve seen it. The shops that don’t do well can’t hold on for long because the rent is not cheap, and new businesses will replace them. The ones that survive already have good business and stable customers, so they do not spend much energy on innovation.”

Thinking further, Wang Yuyan felt that from this perspective, the issue was not too serious. The market naturally weeds out the weak. Shops that are not good enough cannot survive, and those that remain already have customers who like them. In that case, they are less inclined to risk innovating with uncertain new products, while struggling businesses will desperately try new things to stay afloat.

That way, a sense of novelty still emerges.

Yu Xiang’an said, “Stay for another two months.”

During those two months, she observed more carefully and realized that menus were not completely fixed.

They changed with the seasons, introducing seasonal items.

What she had noticed earlier was true, but for the most part, it was sufficient.

As for introducing a new item every week, most businesses simply did not have the time, energy, or money for that.

After three months, Wang Yuyan’s probation period ended, and she resigned.

As usual, when asked where she wanted to go next, she again let her grandmother decide.

Each new workplace exposed her to things she had never encountered before, allowing her to truly experience the problems involved.

Every new place and new job brought different insights.

It all felt very fresh.

Wang Yuyan was then assigned to a seaside resort hotel to work in logistics.

Before she went, her grandmother gave her a question: if she were to host a wedding banquet for over a thousand people, would she be confident?

Her grandmother wanted her answer after one month.

In less than a month, Wang Yuyan submitted her answer: she could not do it.

The hotel did have a venue large enough for such an event, but organizing it was a massive undertaking, something not often encountered.

Tables, chairs, decorations, the host, food, drinks, service, all of it posed a challenge for the hotel.

Half a month after arriving, she had the chance to participate in organizing a wedding banquet for six to seven hundred people. It nearly wore her out completely.

The bride had many demands regarding the setup. The customer was always right, so they had no choice but to coordinate with the wedding planning company to satisfy her.

For most people, a wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Wang Yuyan fully understood the desire for perfection, but this was truly exhausting.

Just the floral arrangements were revised more than ten times.

Though unmarried, Wang Yuyan already felt exhausted by weddings.

The hotel was not even the direct target of the bride’s nitpicking. That burden fell on the wedding company, yet it was still enough to give her a headache. The menu went through repeated revisions, and there were also the theme, the colors and patterns of tables and chairs, and so on.

It was overwhelming.

The service industry was truly not easy.

With easygoing clients, things were manageable. With difficult ones, it was utterly draining.

Lin Chuanbai looked at his granddaughter’s exhausted appearance and smiled at Yu Xiang’an. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Yu Xiang’an did not deny it.

This client was indeed difficult. She had originally booked another hotel, but was dissatisfied with the communication and chose to switch, even giving up her deposit. She did not lack money.

Clients like this were hard to deal with, but they were also the most effective for training someone.

Meanwhile, Lin Chuanbai found himself wondering something else. After going through an experience like organizing such a wedding, would she end up developing a psychological aversion to weddings in the future?

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