Chapter 333: Everyone Is Making Progress

Chapter 333: Chapter 266: Everyone Is Making Progress

The car pulled up to the courtyard gate. The people inside were hesitating about whether to go up and help when the man in the lead turned on his microphone and bellowed:

“Everyone, take a good look! The sheep in our livestream are all lively, running champions that a normal person can’t even catch!

“They eat wild grass! They drink from fresh springs! They bathe in the Helan Mountain sunshine and grow up frolicking and running free!

“Tell me! A sheep like this! Can it be anything but delicious?”

A group of people behind him immediately answered in a roar, “It has to be delicious!”

“A sheep like this, can its meat be anything but tender?”

The group continued to shout, “It has to be tender!”

“Our county has a professional slaughterhouse, and we freeze and ship within an hour of slaughter! It’s kept fresh the entire way with a cold chain! Tell me! A sheep like this! Can it be anything but fresh?!”

“Fresh! It has to be fresh!”

“Sheep!”

“Sheep, sheep, sheep!”

“Our sheep cooperative is made up entirely of poor farmers! This is their biggest hope for the year! A family might only raise two sheep, but if they can sell them, maybe their child won’t have to drop out of school next year!”

“No dropping out!”

“The elderly who are sick will be able to go to the hospital!”

“To the hospital!”

“Pregnant women will have money for prenatal checkups! Greatly reducing the chance of birth defects!”

“For checkups!”

“Who am I?”

“Our beloved county magistrate!”

“No flattery! Who am I?!”

“The magistrate of our Wutong County! Our very own Gan Chunyu!”

“What am I doing?”

“Selling sheep for the impoverished households!”

“Would I ever cheat you?”

“No! We never cheat our customers!”

“Very good! Folks! How much is a pound of mutton at the supermarket? We ship direct from the source, so how much is a pound? Tell me loud and clear! Our leg of lamb! How much a pound?!”

“Thirty-nine ninety-nine!”

“That’s right! Thirty-nine ninety-nine! Only thirty-nine ninety-nine!”

“Today, we’ve brought the price down to its absolute lowest!”

“That’s right! The lowest!”

“Today! It’s a special event price! We’re limiting it to one hundred sheep! First come, first served!”

…

The sheep seemed to have been trained for this.

It just kept running back and forth around the courtyard.

And the group of people just kept yelling about catching the sheep while also shouting their sales pitch.

‘What kind of advanced sales-streaming model is this?’

Ni Bingyan blinked.

And blinked again.

“Is… Is that the county magistrate?”

Last year, he could barely recite his lines selling potatoes. This year, selling sheep, he’d evolved into the ultimate live-selling host. It had to be said, time wasn’t just a cruel butcher; it was also a sculptor’s chisel.

‘Just look at this magnificent specimen of humanity!’

“N-No way, right?”

Pei Jin’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. He pressed against the window, his rapid breaths fogging up the glass.

He couldn’t bring himself to believe that the man shouting himself hoarse to promote products was the magistrate of this county.

The magistrate of a county—what level of official was that?

How could he be live-streaming to sell sheep?

And judging by his sales style, he was the fanatical type.

“In just one year, everyone has really made so much progress!”

Ni Bingyan watched the passionate magistrate, remembering how last year, in his office, he had wracked his brain just to come up with some praise for her.

You could never predict how much people could change.

“Let’s go. We shouldn’t disturb their work.”

Seeing Director Luo from the poverty alleviation office hoisting a camera, Ni Bingyan felt it was time to leave.

These people were still fighting to escape poverty, and their home was already becoming a better and better place.

She believed that sooner or later, their dreams would come true.

Witnessing this scene, Ni Bingyan suddenly felt a sense of peace.

‘No matter how barren the land, as long as someone truly loves it, even the cracks between stones can bloom with brilliant flowers, right?’

The car started, and just as they were about to leave, someone in the courtyard spotted them and immediately ran over.

“Hey! Are you here on official business? Come on in! Today’s poverty assistance livestream is over! Everyone will be back in the office to work in a minute!”

“Poverty assistance” versus “poverty alleviation.” Thinking about the distinction, it felt strangely like people who once had to rely on others for support had now learned to walk on their own two feet.

A strange sense of being moved lingered in her heart.

It felt wrong to just leave when they were being so enthusiastic.

Ni Bingyan rolled down the car window and cleared her throat. “No, we’re just passing through.”

Over there, a hundred sheep had sold out in the blink of an eye. The livestream was shut down just as they saw her open her window.

A beautiful person, like a pearl mixed in with a pile of fish eyes, is always instantly recognizable.

Besides, to this land, she held an extraordinary significance.

It was as if someone had been living in a dimly lit room for a long time, and one day, a person came along and told them, ‘You know, you can actually push open this window.’

Not only did this person tell them how to open it, they even showed them an example.

And then, they even helped them fix the dilapidated window…

Ni Bingyan remembered the county magistrate and Director Luo, so how could they possibly not remember her?

“Miss Ni!”

“So it was you!”

“On such a cold day, where are you coming from?”

“Quick, come inside for a cup of hot tea to warm up!”

…

A crowd of people surged forward enthusiastically. There were no polite formalities, only the warmth of a long-awaited reunion.

Ni Bingyan couldn’t refuse such an invitation. Besides, Pei Jin had already gotten out of the car with a smile and told the magistrate about the show she was filming.

“Is it that travel show, *Wandering World*?”

He shouldn’t have said anything. The moment he mentioned it, the eyes of the crowd outside the car lit up!

These were officials who had tasted the sweet benefits of online traffic. Seeing Ni Bingyan, they felt it wouldn’t be right to proactively try to get free publicity, but if she was filming a show, that was a different story!

They were all willing to appear for free! To be on camera at no cost! To add color and brilliance to the show!

“Yes, Miss Ni chose to come here for the first stop of her show. She rarely gets vacation time and has been wanting to come back and visit, but she never had the chance. Now is the perfect time.”

“Miss Ni is such a good person! A kind girl like her is sure to be blessed.”

Ni Bingyan had just gotten out of the car and immediately shook her head upon hearing this.

“What I’ve done is nothing compared to all of you!”

“We haven’t done much either. Come, come, let’s talk inside.”

A big man deftly tied up the sheep, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and was about to stuff it into their trunk.

“Miss Ni, please, have a sheep! Our sheep are unbelievably good! Once you try it, you’ll have to buy from our online store!”

“No, no! I can’t accept this, I haven’t done anything to deserve it! This is absolutely not okay!”

“This is my family’s sheep! I say it’s okay, so it’s okay!”

No one had expected this to happen.

It turned out the “prop” sheep was also borrowed from a farmer’s family.

“But I don’t know how to slaughter a sheep! I appreciate your kind offer, and when I buy mutton in the future, I’ll definitely buy yours!”

“That’s easy! Wait! I’ll go to the slaughterhouse and have it processed for you right now!”

“No, no! Really, you don’t have to! I have to go film the show next, I don’t even have a place to cook it!”

“Well then…”

“Alright, A Dan, don’t force it.”

The county magistrate spoke, and only then did the big man sigh with regret and walk away, carrying his sheep.

“My apologies for that spectacle just now.”

The county magistrate smiled gently. He looked quite refined, almost like a completely different person from the frantic salesman just moments before.

Director Luo also spoke, full of ambition:

“Our county still has a group of extremely impoverished households. Next year, we’re going to give it our all and lift them out of that ‘destitute’ category!”

Director Luo, who had looked like he was on the verge of retirement last year, finally looked like a proper middle-aged man again.

His wrinkles had smoothed out, his hair was dyed black, and his fingernails were no longer caked with dirt.

“This is wonderful! All of us are getting better and better!”