I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 815 Joy Turns to Sorrow: The First Live-Stream Sales Event Ended in Failure
They then visited several farmers' homes, where the situation was slightly better than what they had just seen, but the circumstances varied. Some had children who needed money for school, some had houses that were in disrepair, and some simply couldn't make money from farming and couldn't sell their produce.

For example, this family planted one mu (approximately 0.16 acres) of gastrodia elata last year, but they couldn't sell it.

"Gastrodia elata is a medicinal herb, mainly used to treat dizziness, headache, and vertigo. It is also sometimes used as a medicinal food ingredient, such as Gastrodia elata stewed chicken. It is one of the cash crops that farmers in our Qinba Mountains often grow, but due to inconvenient transportation and lack of information, it often cannot be sold and the price is relatively low."

Yang Fan explained from the side.

Upon hearing this, Tanaka Tani said, "Aoba, isn't TikTok currently piloting live-streaming e-commerce? We can help them sell agricultural products."

Yang Fan had already learned the identities of the various business owners who came to inspect the area from the information provided by the county's poverty alleviation office. He knew that the man in front of him, who was about the same age as him, was the famous chairman of ByteDance. Now, hearing Tanaka Tani's words, Yang Fan was stunned and couldn't help but ask.

"Can Douyin (TikTok) also be used for live-streaming e-commerce?"

"We're preparing for a pilot program to promote black rice in Machang Town, Yangzhou," Fang Qingye briefly explained.

Yang Fan was delighted to hear this: "That's great! Our work team is trying to figure out how to help these farmers sell their agricultural products. If Douyin (TikTok) allows live-streaming e-commerce, we'll implement it immediately!"

"Once this pilot program is successful, we'll add this feature!" Fang Qingye said. "At that time, we'll give preferential treatment to poverty alleviation efforts in the Qinba Mountains in terms of traffic allocation!"

Yang Fan was both surprised and delighted.

Don't underestimate the word "inclination"—it's something many self-media creators dream of!

"However, we can't sell counterfeit goods in the future, that would ruin our own brand! If we receive reports, we will limit traffic or even shut down the store," Fang Qingye said with a smile.

"I understand that once this is implemented, we will suggest to the poverty alleviation office that relevant measures be introduced to ensure the quality of live-streaming e-commerce," Yang Fan said immediately.

Today, the inspection team spent the day touring several villages deep in the Bashan Mountains, gaining a deep understanding of the production and living conditions of local impoverished households.

On the fourth day, based on their understanding and the situation of their own businesses, the members of the inspection team began to conduct in-depth investigations of the projects that interested them.

Tanaka contacted the local human resources department to prepare to recruit some impoverished laborers to work for his company to increase their labor income. This also involves training.

Fang Qingye drove to Machang Town in Yangzhou to hold her first live-streaming sales event today.

In the afternoon, a temporary live-streaming studio at a black rice processing plant in Machang Town, Yangzhou, was bustling with people, creating an atmosphere even more lively than during festivals.

Not only were Fang Qingye's team and factory staff present, but the local Yangzhou County Party Secretary and County Head, the Director of the County Poverty Alleviation Office, and the Party Secretary and Town Head of Machang Town also arrived early.

They were all gathered in the factory's conference room, where a projection device was specially prepared so they could watch the live broadcast in real time.

The live stream title was particularly eye-catching—"ByteDance Chairman Fang Qingye makes a surprise appearance in the live stream to endorse Yangzhou black rice!" This news, which was promoted in advance by the Douyin platform, has already sparked curiosity across the entire internet.

Douyin has also started live-streaming e-commerce!
Moreover, the chairman himself was selling rice!
The camera panned to the live stream, revealing a poised and elegant young woman named Lin Xiaoya. She was the factory manager's sister, and after graduating from university, she resolutely returned to her hometown to help her brother run the factory, which held the hopes of her fellow villagers. Beside her sat Fang Qingye, who appeared slightly uneasy but tried her best to maintain a smile.

"Hello everyone on Douyin! I'm Xiaoya... Today we have a special guest—Chairman Fang Qingye of ByteDance!" Lin Xiaoya had a sweet smile and excellent stage presence.

Fang Qingye waved to the camera: "Hello everyone, I'm Fang Qingye. Today I'm here to promote Yangzhou's precious black rice."

As soon as he finished speaking, the live chat went crazy!
"Holy crap! It really is Fang Qingye?!" "The chairman's been kidnapped, blink twice!"

"I give this crossover a perfect score!"

"I'll buy this rice because of Chairman Fang!"

Thanks to the pre-event promotion on Douyin and the huge buzz surrounding "the chairman personally promoting the products," the number of viewers in the live stream skyrocketed. Within ten minutes of starting, the number of online viewers exceeded 200,000, and the scrolling comments were so fast that they were almost impossible to read.

In just ten minutes, it jumped to 500,000! The speed at which the comments scrolled was dazzling.

Seeing this scene in the conference room, the county official couldn't help but whisper to the county head, "My God, this...this is a hundred times, a thousand times more than the number of people in our entire county attending the meeting!" The county head also widened his eyes and nodded repeatedly, his face full of disbelief.

These officials never go into the live broadcast room; at most, they sometimes browse Douyin (TikTok). They've never seen anything like this crazy spectacle.

The town's Party Secretary and Mayor watched from behind with beaming smiles, while the Director of the Poverty Alleviation Office held his phone, constantly taking pictures of the soaring number of online users and the scrolling bullet comments, preparing to keep them as "historical data."

Lin Xiaoya, a popular Douyin (TikTok) user and a somewhat well-known content creator, was clearly unprepared for such a scene. She paused for a moment, but quickly recovered and cleverly steered the conversation back to the product itself: "Seeing everyone so enthusiastic, our Chairman Fang is getting shy! Come on, Chairman Fang, tell us, what made you choose our 'local specialty'?"

Fang Qingye gradually relaxed and continued the conversation, saying, "It's like discovering a treasure. Yangzhou black rice is a national geographical indication product..." He tried to explain in simple terms, and occasionally he was amused by the strange questions from netizens.

"Mr. Fang, will eating this rice help me achieve the same success as you?"

"Uh... this might be a little difficult, but it will make you healthier!"

"Mr. Fang, do you get a ByteDance offer as a bonus when you buy rice?"

"Here you go! I'll give you a 'good luck'!" Fang Qingye replied humorously.

One was a generous and approachable local college student entrepreneur, the other a tech mogul with a built-in following yet down-to-earth demeanor—this combination created a wonderful synergy. Viewership easily surpassed 1.5 million! The order notification sounds incessantly filled the backend. Zhang Nan stared at the ever-increasing sales figures, his palms sweating profusely.

"Chairman Fang, Xiaoya, the number of viewers is almost over two million!" Li Yue announced in a low voice, unable to hide her excitement.

Just as Fang Qingye and Lin Xiaoya exchanged a smile and were about to seize the opportunity to introduce their flagship product, an unexpected incident occurred.

The screen froze on Fang Qingye's smile, and then the live stream went black with the message: "Network connection interrupted."

"What happened?" Lin Xiaoya asked instinctively.

"It's crashed! The live stream crashed! There are too many people! The server can't handle it!" Zhou Qiang's voice was filled with despair.

The sudden surge of traffic overwhelmed the temporary system like a tsunami. The technical team contacted the headquarters in Beijing, and after nearly twenty minutes of emergency repairs, they were unable to salvage the situation. The planned three-hour live stream was abruptly ended after two hours and fifteen minutes.

The first live-streaming sales event ended in failure.

(End of this chapter)