17: Short video missionary plan, launched!

Time flew by, and it was almost 9 PM.

After devouring three bowls of stinky tofu, Leng Hui was burping non-stop.

He genuinely couldn't eat anymore, so he could only promise Lu Chuan to come back and patronize his business again tomorrow when he had time.

With Leng Hui's departure, the open space in front of the public restroom, which had a hint of lively atmosphere, suddenly became deserted.

Under the dim yellow streetlights of the night, a delicate small cart was parked quietly beside the public restroom.

Behind the stall, the young man was still wiping the counter repeatedly.

This scene looked a bit desolate.

But Lu Chuan had long been accustomed to it.

With his grandmother's passing, he became a lonely wandering soul in this world.

While other children were complaining about the monotony of school life, he had to rush to the mountains to earn money for a living.

When night fell and every household lit up their lights, he would return to his cold, desolate home, covered in bruises and dirt.

While families were enjoying warm dinners together at the table, he was still rushing to sort out his meager earnings to catch the early market the next day.

And this kind of life had been going on for several years.

It could be said that Lu Chuan had long been accustomed to loneliness... "Ding-dong-dong...!"

The alarm clock's chime suddenly rang, interrupting Lu Chuan's thoughts.

"It's 9 o'clock."

Lu Chuan patted his cheeks, dispelling the sorrow from his brow.

Then, he continued to put on a stiff smile, preparing to welcome the next customer.

It was still early, only 9 o'clock.

He had only sold 30 portions today, still far from his target.

Keep up the good work, Lu Chuan!

---

Li An, who had rushed home, didn't even bother to shower and wash away the smell of stinky tofu.

He flung open his computer, his thick fingers danced for a moment, and then his eyes seemed to ignite with fire.

The next moment, his fingers clattered on the keyboard.

In less than ten minutes, a detailed, realistic food review, complete with pictures, was born.

Li An carefully checked the layout and typos, then happily posted it to his Weibo account, which had 300,000 followers.

This wasn't all; he then used editing techniques to create a mixed-cut video, about 30 seconds long, from the photos and videos he had taken of the stinky tofu.

Looking at the stinky tofu with its excellent presentation in the video, he instinctively swallowed, then prepared to upload it to various short video platforms for review.

But just a second before hitting send, Li An suddenly paused again.

"No, it's not perfect enough."

Li An pinched his double chin; his intuition told him that although this video was well-produced and the stinky tofu looked very appetizing, it probably wouldn't make much of a splash.

After all, there were countless similar food videos online, many of which were custom-made by people who paid a hefty price, so it was extremely competitive.

Sometimes, even if he scrolled past these well-produced food videos, they looked very appetizing and appealing at the time.

But to actually make him get out of bed specifically to eat, he'd rather not bother.

Was his bed not warm enough, or were the wives on his phone not pretty enough?

So why should he believe that his video would definitely stand out?

Having figured out this problem, Li An couldn't help but pat his chest in relief.

Good, good, he almost messed up the great mission of his lord.

If he delayed his path to becoming extraordinary because of this, he would never forgive himself.

"I remember in that short video training class, an instructor said that making short videos shouldn't be straightforward; there should be a contrast..."

Li An pinched his double chin again, muttering something.

"Contrast? Comparison?"

"Does that mean I should find some stinky tofu videos or pictures that look unappetizing and edit them in?"

"No, no, such a clumsy technique wouldn't be effective at all."

Li An couldn't figure it out for a moment and felt a headache coming on.

He simply picked up his phone, opened Douyin, and prepared to look for inspiration.

Five minutes later, Li An pulled up his pants and grumbled as he closed the browser.

"This app is bad in this regard; as I'm scrolling, a pair of breasts pops up, almost messing up my important business."

Entering a state of sagacity, Li An's mind cleared up a bit.

Looking at a funny short video playing on Douyin, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him.

"That's right, humorous elements!"

Li An quickly switched to his phone's photo album, searched through it, and then a look of joy appeared on his face.

"Hahaha, good thing I had foresight!"

He laughed as he quickly exported the videos he had secretly taken of Qi Yuan and his two companions, and Worker Meng and his three companions, from his album.

Then, using editing techniques again, he cut in the amusing actions of Qi Yuan, Worker Meng, and the others from these videos.

Ten minutes later, Li An watched the freshly produced food short video with appreciation.

"Excellent, that's the flavor, and if I buy a trending topic, it's a sure hit!"

Click, send!

Three minutes later, with the power of money, various short video platforms began to successively push a food video.

Of course, because the video was released early, even with a trending topic, not many people had scrolled to it yet.

But even so, because the video production was indeed excellent and the recommended food was truly appealing, everyone who scrolled to it watched it all the way through.

Some people who never commented on videos even took the rare step of liking it and leaving a comment.

"[All Four Are Empty: Hahaha, these three guys are too funny, eating by the toilet, kukuku...]"

"[Queen's Arrival: I actually think these repair masters are quite talented, reciting poetry while tasting, very artistic, thumbs up!]"

"[Fuchuan Inner Trousers: The person upstairs is also a cultured individual, that ironic art is mastered, comical~]"

"[Old Glutton: To be honest, don't you think the presentation of this stinky tofu is amazing? It makes my heart flutter, too bad it's a bit far from me, otherwise I'd definitely go try it~]"

"[No Cilantro: The boss looks so shy, he's the gentle young man type, and the stinky tofu he makes looks delicious, I love it, I love it!]"

"[...]"

Curled up in bed, Li An, constantly scrolling through comments on his phone, laughed so hard that his flabby body shook.

Because this short video was continuously being forwarded and commented on, it subtly showed a trend of making it to today's hot list, which also triggered the video platform's recommendation mechanism, leading to more people seeing it.

People who were drawn in also spontaneously left comments and forwarded it.

So, in a short period, the comments under the video doubled and doubled again.

Thus, Li An, who kept scrolling through comments but could never finish, fell asleep with a smile, his head on his pillow.

However, before falling asleep, he suddenly remembered that he seemed to have forgotten something.

"What was it? I can't remember."

Never mind, if he couldn't remember, it probably wasn't very important. Time to sleep!

---

Near the park exit, Xiao Mei, who had been repeatedly rejected by handsome guys passing by, had come to terms with her position.

Perhaps she could only attract people like Li An.

Finally giving up, Xiao Mei stopped being flirtatious, found a place to sit, and began waiting for Li An to return.

She waited for three hours.

"Damn fatso, did he fall into a latrine or run away?"

Realizing something was wrong, Xiao Mei grumbled, borrowed money for a taxi from her sister, and left the scene in a disheveled state.