Super Zoo

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Although Great Sage Liquor Industry is a "small winery," with the current scale, if they put full effort into production, reaching an annual output of a hundred tons would be absolutely no problem; especially fruit wines, which have a much higher production volume than white spirits.

Mixing white spirits and fruit wines to produce just a mere ten tons of alcohol is too embarrassing to even mention as a winery. To the uninformed, they might think it's some small family workshop.

"The winery is just starting out and currently has no market. Producing too much at once can easily lead to overstock. Even with this batch of liquor, I'm not confident it will definitely have a market. I plan to start by distributing through personal connections, sending it to various restaurants. You have a lot of resources at your disposal too, right? Those restaurants that buy your fish, the bosses you collaborate with and the like—start by giving them a batch to slowly build up a good reputation, and then we can move on to advertising. Oh, your Weibo can also be put to good use, with nearly a hundred thousand followers…"

Zhao Yun's idea was very steady. According to his plan, step by step, the winery would gradually expand without too much financial strain in the short term. If they produced several hundred tons all at once before establishing a market, although the liquor wouldn't spoil, a large stockpile with no cash flow could lead to insufficient funds for subsequent investments.

Nowadays, advertising costs are astronomical, and even with Nangong's connections, Yangchuan City TV Station wouldn't give the winery free advertising. Even a short TV commercial could lead the winery into a financial crisis.

As for Weibo marketing, Suming did consider it. It's not that it wouldn't work, it's just that the effectiveness might not be very pronounced.

An audience of a hundred thousand might be more than enough to make a killing as a Weibo merchant, but for promoting a large winery, it seemed rather insufficient.

That's why those top celebrities command exorbitant endorsement fees. One look at their Weibo, with fans ranging from the millions to tens of millions, and it's clear why.

"What about using those monkeys for promotion?" Zhao Yun asked. Utilizing monkeys in liquor making as a publicity stunt was their biggest trump card.

"Of course we can, but specifically, how should we advertise?" Suming pondered, rubbing his chin while his eyes rolled around in thought.

Should they just shoot a short video and put it online as their promotion?

Although this could attract some attention, it felt a bit low-end, didn't it? It still looked like a product from a handicraft workshop.

Or should they stick to the original plan and seek a report from the TV station?

But the effectiveness of that was also dubious. After all, Yangchuan City TV Station was just a local channel, with a limited audience, and just one program of a few minutes or even ten minutes would end and that was that—lacking sustainability. The reason advertisements are effective is that they bombard you every day for a long stretch of time, over a month or two, making a lasting impression.

The key issue was still the lack of funds. The more money you make, the more you need to spend. If there were tens or hundreds of millions of spare cash at hand, there would be no such frustration—they'd directly buy prime-time advertising spots on national television, bombarding viewers day after day with phrases like "Don't accept gifts during festivals, only accept Da Sheng Liquor..."

In no time, even if no one had actually drunk Da Sheng Liquor, Great Sage Liquor Industry would become a nationally known brand, followed by orders that flooded in like snowflakes, leading to marrying a rich beauty and reaching the peak of life...

"You're not really delusional, are you?" Zhao Yun coldly doused him with reality, "Where would you get a billion, and spare at that? If you had a spare billion, would you still be sitting here doing psychopath tests with a seven or eight-year-old girl?"

Indeed, if he had a spare billion, he'd have long gone to cure his madness...

Suming estimated that if Zhao Yun was willing to sponsor them, with his net worth, they could probably scrape it together. But Zhao was not one to venture down such risky business paths. Throwing a few million into an investment "for fun" was one thing, but asking him to drop a billion on advertising, especially with no profits in sight...

"I guess not even if I were your own son, right?" Suming asked tentatively.

"You know me!" Zhao Yun laughed loudly.

…

Jiao Shou. Not a kind of wild beast that can make noise, certainly not a beast that can't, and neither a domesticated animal that can or cannot make noise.

Jiao Shou literally means "calling beast," a title given to a group of people. Netizens refer to those experts with a certain level of scientific expertise, even a certain status in academic circles, but who often flatter the authorities and deliberately distort facts for personal gain and reputation as "Jiao Shou," also known as "brick experts."

But the "Jiao Shou" in question here is none of the above; his online handle happens to be Jiao Shou.

Jiao Shou is currently very troubled.

When people are troubled, they usually scratch their heads, and Jiao Shou is no exception. His bald forehead is scratched with crisscrossing blood stripes, but Jiao Shou is completely oblivious, still scratching furiously, indicating the depths of his inner turmoil.

Even when extremely troubled, most people wouldn't scratch their head to the point of bleeding, but Jiao Shou is not most people.

Ever since he embarked on the path of creation, Jiao Shou's life had undergone earth-shattering changes. Whether it was making small self-media videos or now producing web series, Jiao Shou spent a vast amount of time and energy writing scripts every day. Explore more adventures at empire

Wracking his brain, he couldn't recall how many brain cells had died. Sometimes, he couldn't come up with a single interesting joke for days on end, or, having finally thought of an episode's script, he'd immediately scrap it because it didn't satisfy him. He'd lost count of how many times this had happened.

It was a bit better when he was a self-media creator, as he hadn't yet hit the boom period of self-media. Back then, it was just a hobby with no economic considerations. But now, working on a web series was a matter of survival, not just for him but for the whole team! As the pillar and soul of the team, when a hobby became a job, when it became a responsibility, sometimes it wasn't so fun anymore.

The web series he was currently working on, "Never Would've Guessed," had become a smash hit after its second season and had already become the benchmark leader among domestic web series.

Behind the joy he brought to audiences on the screen was Jiao Shou's round-the-clock writing, leading to the demise of countless brain cells.

One can't excel in creativity without a touch of madness; every creative person is a madman, each with an extreme side.

"Jiao Shou, stop scratching your head, you're bleeding!" said a member of the writing team who looked both masculine and feminine, trying to persuade him.

"It's okay, you get used to it after a while."

Jiao Shou raised his head aimlessly, the blood streaming down his bald head. He didn't care, and as he gazed at the group of drama staff looking at him with odd expressions, he muttered as if talking to himself, "I'm so frustrated, I can't figure out what to film for the next episode. What should I do? My head hurts so much…"

"That's because your head actually is broken. Cough cough, I think, Jiao Shou, you'd better bandage your head…" Another actor coughed a few times, then made a gesture to the actress sitting opposite.

The actress silently stood up, walked to a cabinet in the office, and opened it. The cabinet was neatly stacked with hemostatic medicine, gauze, and the like. It was apparent that this wasn't the first time Jiao Shou had scratched open his head; everyone had gotten used to it and had long been prepared for it.

She grabbed some gauze, then dipped a brush into a lot of hemostatic powder and carefully brushed it onto Jiao Shou's head, layer by layer. Her movements were very skilled, looking like she was brushing oil on a scallion pancake. In no time, a layer of what looked like vegetable oil—oh, no, hemostatic powder—coated Jiao Shou's bald head.

Then the actress wrapped the gauze around Jiao Shou's head like one wraps a pancake around scallions. In the end, she tied the ends of the gauze into a neat butterfly knot with her slender fingers.

"Yay! All done!" The actress stood behind Jiao Shou and made a "scissors" gesture to everyone.

Immediately, someone in the office whipped out their phone and took a quick picture, posting it to their social media in a flash.

"Do you think that just because my head isn't bleeding, my heart doesn't hurt?" Jiao Shou turned around and asked the actress sadly.

"Jiao Shou, it's just that the number of viewers has decreased a little, and those who stayed are expressing dissatisfaction with the recent episodes, that's all. It's not a big deal," one of the actors said.

"Today we lose one, this week ten, next week it will be twenty, and the week after, twenty-five!" Jiao Shou got angry.

"Why will it be twenty-five the week after next, not thirty, eh? Jiao Shou, it seems your math isn't very good!" someone asked with wide eyes, seriously.

"That's not the point! The point is, this indicates that the quality of the show is declining. If we don't come up with new plots, more interesting storylines, no innovation, 'Never Would've Guessed' will soon lose a large audience and the market! Then none of you will make money!"

After being bandaged up, Jiao Shou seemed to think a lot more clearly and finally steered the conversation back on track.

"Innovation? 'Never Would've Guessed' as a web series is the biggest innovation already... Besides, where could we find that many 'never would've guessed' things? If someone were trying to kill me, I'm sure I'd be able to think of anything!" the lead actor said.

"Then I'll just kill you."

Jiao Shou fetched a huge, nail-studded club, commonly known as a Wolf Fang Club, from under the table and advanced step by step towards the lead actor, chuckling, "Heh heh, I'm going to kill you. Come up with a 'never would've guessed' plot twist before I kill you…"

Cornered against the wall, the lead actor watched as the nails on the Wolf Fang Club nearly touched his face and then suddenly shouted, "Wait, I've got it!"

Everyone in the office showed signs of joy! Truly worthy of Jiao Shou, he had thought of such a powerful way to stimulate the creative inspiration of the staff!

"Speak, what's the idea?" Jiao Shou also became somewhat excited, his hand holding the Wolf Fang Club trembling slightly.

"Eh, not my handsome face…"

With a finger, the lead actor carefully pushed away Jiao Shou's Wolf Fang Club and moved closer, smiling apologetically, "Jiao Shou, how about we add some animals?"