Chapter 7 Rich Guy's Bizarre Artistic Pursuit

On the screen, dense barrages of "I could do that with my hands tied" and "Holy crap" almost turned the display into a sea of white. Li Jiajun was watching with a beaming face, enjoying the Netizens' powerless rage after he had successfully flexed on them.

Just then, a unique bullet comment drifted up from the bottom of the screen.

A White Cloth on the Head: "Streamer, when can we see the finished product?"

The color of this comment was no different from the others, but it was just that eye-catching. Suddenly, Li Jiajun remembered the main business at hand.

'Oh right, the drawing is done, the bragging is finished, it's time to talk business,' he thought.

This was the true tycoon who had tipped forty thousand yuan; he was the key to whether the factory could pay wages next month and whether the workers would still have their jobs.

He cleared his throat and immediately put on what he considered his most professional and sincere smile for the camera.

"family, today's stream ends here. The blueprint is complete, and next is the moment to witness a miracle. Thank you all for watching, especially big brother 'A White Cloth on the Head' for his generosity. Big brother, let's chat in the private messages backstage."

After saying that, he didn't dawdle and shut down the stream immediately.

The stream went black instantly, leaving behind a group of unsatisfied Netizens to discuss frantically across various social media platforms.

"Offline already? I haven't seen enough! I was just getting into it!"

"He's definitely going to talk price with the Top Supporter. My blind guess is the Streamer will quote at least a hundred thousand!"

"Think bigger, brother! A hundred thousand? That's not even enough to cover the tip from those twenty Super Rockets! I think at least five hundred thousand to start!"

"You guys are too naive. With this tech, if it were me, I'd ask for a hundred million! Take it or leave it!"

Li Jiajun couldn't care less about the storms on the internet at the moment.

He clicked into the streaming platform's backend and sure enough, he saw a new private message from "A White Cloth on the Head." The content was simple, just an ID and a line of text: "This is my encrypted communication software account. Let's talk elsewhere."

Li Jiajun looked at the ID, which consisted of a random string of letters and numbers, and curled his lip.

'Keeping it quite mysterious, like a secret agent meeting.'

While complaining internally, he nimbly searched for and downloaded the niche encrypted software the other party mentioned. The software's icon was a black shield, and the interface was pure black—very minimalist, even crude—but Li Jiajun knew that often the more inconspicuous the software, the better its security.

He registered an account with the ID "Little Factory Director Li" and then added the other party as a friend.

Almost instantly, the friend request was accepted.

Li Jiajun could almost imagine the tycoon sitting upright on the other side of the screen, waiting impatiently for his message.

To seize the initiative, he decided to strike first and get straight to the point.

Little Factory Director Li: "Big brother, you there? Are you satisfied with the 'toy swarm drone' I just designed? Regarding the finished product, do you have any specific requirements? Like color, packaging, or maybe adding some RGB marquee lights?"

After typing, he leaned back confidently in his chair, waiting for a reply. In his view, the other party would simply ask about the price or lead time; for high-end customization, these were standard topics.

However, the content of the reply caused Li Jiajun's brain to stall for the first time.

A White Cloth on the Head: "Mr. Li, hello. First, please allow me to express my extreme personal admiration for your talent. What you displayed in your stream this afternoon is no longer mere technology, but a brand new, vital form of art."

Li Jiajun stared at the line on the screen for a long time.

"Art form?"

He blinked, not quite understanding.

'I just drew a blueprint, how did it become art? Why is this guy talking so formally?'

Before he could figure it out, the second message arrived.

A White Cloth on the Head: "I won't hide it from you; I am not an ordinary toy enthusiast. I am a performance artist and also a curator dedicated to exploring the boundaries between technology and art."

The corner of Li Jiajun's mouth twitched uncontrollably.

Performance artist?

Curator?

'Holy crap, what is all this?' He was completely thrown off by these two terms that sounded high-end but seemed totally unrelated to him.

A White Cloth on the Head: "I reached out to you this time because I want to commission you to help me complete an unprecedented, large-scale aerial light and shadow interactive art installation..."

Creation of a light and shadow interactive art installation?

What the hell was that?

Li Jiajun felt his CPU was overloading. He had been running his brain at high intensity all afternoon, dealing with aerodynamics and coordination algorithms; he was exhausted. Now, this rich customer was playing outside the rules, hitting him with this right out of the gate.

He stared blankly at the chat box, momentarily not knowing how to reply.

'Is this guy crazy? Spending millions just for a giant light show?'

He began to seriously doubt if the other party was pulling his leg.

But then he thought, wait, that's not right.

The man had actually tipped forty thousand yuan in Super Rockets just to get him to stop the fanservice and talk business. Would a scammer put down that kind of capital?

Li Jiajun's train of thought began to race in its own unique, eccentric direction.

'Could it be... that the world of the rich is truly this simple, unadorned, and boring?'

He remembered news stories he'd seen online. Some billionaires would spend tens of millions on a watch just to hear it chime; others would spend hundreds of millions on a painting they didn't even understand just to hang it in the bathroom.

In comparison, this big brother spending a few million to arrange thousands of drones in the sky for some "performance art" seemed... quite reasonable?

'Yes! That must be it!'

'It's my poor-man's mindset limiting my imagination! Can an artist's actions be called crazy? That's called a pursuit! Here I am, a broke guy, trying to guess the spiritual world of someone who makes hundreds of thousands a second!'

'I've met a kindred spirit! No, I've met the God of Wealth!'

Once he made sense of it, everything became clear to Li Jiajun.

He felt as if he had grasped some incredible secret to wealth.

That professional and sincere smile reappeared on his face. His typing speed picked up.

Little Factory Director Li: "So you're an artist! My apologies! To be honest, big brother, the moment I saw you, I felt you had a unique artistic aura!"

Little Factory Director Li: "You're absolutely right! This 'toy swarm drone' I designed is an artwork first and a toy second! Every line is full of industrial aesthetics, and every coordinated flight is a perfect interpretation of the spirit of collectivism! It was born for art!"

At this moment, he felt he had reached a spiritual resonance with this rich artist.

On the other side of the screen, inside a secret headquarters in Middle East.

The Leader was also stunned when he saw the two paragraphs Li Jiajun sent.

The adjutant beside him leaned in for a look and whispered, "Leader, this kid... seems to actually believe it?"

A faint, imperceptible smile appeared on the Leader's lips. He had originally prepared a whole set of rhetoric, but he didn't expect the other party to get "on board" so quickly.

Good, it saved a lot of trouble.

He lightly tapped the keyboard.

A White Cloth on the Head: "I am glad we can reach a consensus on artistic philosophy. Mr. Li, can we now discuss the cost of this artwork?"

Seeing the word "cost," Li Jiajun's eyes lit up instantly.

Here it comes! The main topic!

He immediately switched to "unscrupulous merchant" mode, his hands flying across the keyboard.

Little Factory Director Li: "Big brother, since it's an artwork, it can't be measured purely by cost. You see, my burst of inspiration this afternoon—that's priceless artistic conception!"

Little Factory Director Li: "However, since we're destined to meet and share a common pursuit of art, I can give you a discount on my 'artistic direction fee.' But the material costs, R&D costs, labor costs, and the utility bills for my factory—these are hard costs; not a single penny can be spared."

As he spoke, he opened the calculator on his computer and began to crunch the numbers rapidly.

'This rich artist seems to have more money than sense; I have to seize this opportunity to bring the factory back to life in one go!'

He decided he had to quote a sky-high price that even he found ridiculous to be worthy of the other party's status as an "artist"!