Abandoned the Immortal Cultivator, returned to his hometown to farm and sing

Chapter 1351, Chapter 1338: War
"She doesn't look like much, just average." Qiangwa looked Liu Piaoliang up and down for a while, then said with a sneer.

That's partly true. At first glance, Liu Piaoliang's outfit is just a gray shirt, white pants, and canvas shoes, nothing special.

If you want to say it's special, it's just that it looks quite pleasing to the eye.

Most of them had a sour taste.

With so many people in that stark white "ward," why is it that you, Liu Ying, are living such a comfortable life?

You're accompanied by a beautiful girl who even dresses you up.

Why is her face so big?

Upon hearing this, Ke Shaotong smiled and said, "This just shows that you, President Qiang, and our President Liu are not on the same page."

"How are we not on the same path?" Qiangwa asked.

Give us back our CEO Liu! So sour, so sour.

"Because luxury goods don't sell the item itself, they sell the class distinction."

"It constructs implicit cognitive barriers through the possession of scarce resources, the mystification of craftsmanship, and narrative monopoly."

"Simply put, I have this item, but you don't recognize it, so we're not in the same social class."

"Imagine if Mr. Liu didn't know you, Mr. Qiang, and had never heard of you before. If you met in a social setting and didn't start a conversation about Mr. Liu's clothes, didn't make eye contact, didn't smile, and even avoided eye contact when others were praising him."

"Then Mr. Liu can conclude that there is nothing to talk about with you, and the polite social interaction will end there."

"Won't you inadvertently miss out on many opportunities?"

Ke Shaotong is explaining the essence of luxury goods.

Qiangwa thought about it for a moment, and it seemed to make sense, but it didn't quite match his own feelings.

It's just really awkward.

So he nodded, then shook his head, "I don't feel anything..."

“That’s because you’re President Qiang, you don’t need to,” Ke Shaotong replied immediately. “As long as you appear in social situations, you will naturally be the center of attention, and others will not look down on you because of your clothes.”

"Take General Manager Luo for example. Even if all he wears is less than two hundred yuan, he is still the famous General Manager Luo."

"And Mr. Chu, even if you dress casually, you are still a big spender on various platforms and a star pursued by various purchasing departments."

"This is determined by one's own strength. You yourself are the class itself."

Look how well you've said that!

Qiangwa immediately beamed with joy, feeling as refreshed as if he had downed a bottle of ice-cold cola on a hot summer day.

Red, in an aluminum can, contains sugar.

Luo Yihang and Chu Jie were quite pleased, even though they knew Ke Shaotong was just flattering them, they still felt good.

"Tell us, what's so special about Yingzi's outfit? Let us learn from it so we won't be surprised if we see her again," Luo Yihang said.

Ke Shaotong stood up and walked to Liu Piaoliang's side.

She reached out and lifted his collar. "Look here, there are a few ink lines."

Then he lifted the hem of his shirt, "There's some here too."

Luo Yihang and his group crowded around and stared wide-eyed. There were indeed a few lines, but they couldn't be seen unless you looked closely.

"What's this?" Qiangwa asked curiously again.

"This is a section of the ink line drawing of the hand-embroidered 'Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains,' using the Suzhou embroidery technique. The brushstrokes of the landscape are subtly revealed when the subject moves," Ke Shaotong replied.

The others looked at each other in bewilderment; who the hell could have figured that out?

I thought it was a pencil scratch.

Ke Shaotong then had Liu Piaoliang turn to the side and turned his pants pockets inside out.

There was a layer of color inside the pocket, like it was dyed.

No wonder I noticed a dark pattern on the pocket earlier, like a banana leaf.

"The inner lining uses yam dyeing and finishing techniques, and natural plant tannins give the fabric a honey-colored gradient texture, with Dunhuang flying apsara ceiling patterns printed on it."

"The trousers are made using Suzhou kesi weaving technique, which incorporates freshwater pearl powder twisted thread into the fabric, giving it a subtle shadow effect under strong light and a natural sheen."

"It means that fine silks and satins are not necessarily expensive; the key lies in the bone structure."

The things Ke Shaotong introduced opened the eyes of a bunch of country bumpkins.

Who came up with this idea? Printing patterns inside pants pockets that have built-in light and shadow effects when viewed from the outside.

Moreover, that's not a banana leaf; it's actually a Dunhuang flying apsara, or rather, a pattern.

Now look at the shoes.

Make Liu Piaoliang lift her foot.

"The outer side of the shoes is pure white, while the inner side is gradually dyed brownish-yellow, revealing a 'yin and yang' effect with every step; the blue ring is made of Xiangxi indigo tie-dyed cotton cloth, and blue is used because blue represents water, and Mr. Liu's element is water."

"The soles of the shoes are inlaid with stems of Lu'an melon seed tea from Anhui, as Mr. Liu's ancestral home is in Anhui."

"These shoes are a custom-made pair by Mr. Liu. The shoe opening is divided into five colors, and the sole is inlaid with famous teas from various provinces, making them a personalized custom-made pair for each person."

"The overall concept of this outfit is that the clothes are cut from pieces of the landscape, the shoes have the fragrance of the homeland, and every inch of the objects becomes a footnote to civilization."

After Ke Shaotong finished introducing Liu Piaoliang's outfit,

Luo Yihang and the others all gave a thumbs up.

"Awesome! If you didn't listen to people, who could tell this thing?"

Dressed in casual attire, she employed four intangible cultural heritage techniques and five traditional cultural symbols, yet somehow managed to make it so that no one could tell.

Or perhaps it was intentional, designed so that only those in the know could understand it.

Then Ke Shaotong introduced himself.

There's not much to say about the Chiwen hair ornament; it's a mythical beast, one of the nine sons of the dragon, and the large agate pieces exude nobility.

The skirt is a modified version of the Song Dynasty style, with the highlight being the buckle on the waistband, which uses celadon crackle patterns—those are applied porcelain shards.

Using porcelain shards to make belt buckles is truly imaginative.

But the most classic item is the shoes. The upper of the high-heeled sandals is hollowed out in the shape of the Chinese character "几" (ji), which is a variation of the "几" bend of the Yellow River, and has the metaphor of measuring commercial territory with one's steps.

It suits her perfectly, a strong woman like her.

"This is the design style of the independent designer in Shanghai. In his words, it's called 'forging the future from fragments of civilization,' which is very innovative."

Ke Shaotong concluded.

"So this is what you meant by mystifying craftsmanship and monopolizing narratives, right?" Luo Yihang interjected.

Ke Shaotong nodded. "You can also think of it as making up stories. Luxury goods need stories; in fact, stories are the core competitiveness of luxury goods, and culture supports their premium."

It's definitely a domestic brand. Even their storytelling is so understated and reserved on the outside, yet they're proud and confident at heart.

Luxury goods, at least high-end luxury goods, are ultimately cultural products constructed by culture, except that their purpose is to build cognitive barriers.

China's five thousand years of culture is unmatched by any other country in the world.

It is a treasure trove of natural riches.

There are talented people in China.

It's not that there's no fertile ground for luxury goods.

The only thing missing is a platform.

That's exactly what the Sunset Alliance does: build platforms.

Although they have now formed an alliance with old Arnault, he is focused on fighting and has also stirred up a power struggle within his own ranks. It's hard to say when things will be sorted out.

Even if things are straightened out, it mainly involves providing channels and pathways.

We can't rely on others alone.

Therefore, Luo Yihang immediately ordered Ke Shaotong to find that designer and design several outfits for Bo Zhihong.

He made a name for himself with his victory in the UFC.

At the same time, arrangements were made for Chu Jie's side to prepare for publicity.

You need a good story, a compelling plot, and the ability to tell that story effectively.
-
After the meeting.

Liu Piaoliang stayed for a while, as there were some things she needed to report to Luo Yihang privately. During Luo Yihang's absence, Qingyin Agriculture was left under Liu Piaoliang's management.

Although there weren't many things to do, signing documents was enough to keep him very busy.

Paying salaries, purchasing, delivery, and distributing goods to various places—there were all sorts of miscellaneous and fragmented tasks.

Liu Piaoliang tossed down a pile of reports, and after a few words, began to complain.

"Brother Luo, you really need to get a vice president position. Even if it's not a vice president, you should at least hire two assistants. The business is getting bigger and bigger, and you can't manage it all by yourself."

Luo Yihang touched his nose, nodding and then shaking his head.

"Sigh, we can't find a suitable candidate."

Qingyin Agriculture has developed too quickly, and there is simply no time to cultivate talent.

Luo Yihang himself is actually quite incompetent and doesn't have any real plans.

They just kept their heads down and kept pushing forward.

If someone else were to run a company like this, it would have fallen into chaos long ago.

That is to say, Luo Yihang is physically strong and powerful enough to run into a brick wall.

They relied entirely on their raw strength to break through one obstacle after another.

Liu Piaoliang also sighed.

His situation is similar; he also doesn't have enough manpower.

In the past two months, besides working on Luo Yihang's business, he has also been integrating the supply chain, transportation, warehousing, training, and production base.

The little cat uses too much oil, and it's not cost-effective to buy it from outside, so it simply produces its own.

Ke Shaotong was busy with the Sunset Alliance, leaving the nationwide store openings and management of Pretty Cat to Zhang Xiaoru.

Zhang Xiaoru is still traveling around; she's a frequent flyer, spending half the year in the air.

However, what Liu Piaoliang needed to report to Luo Yihang was not these routine tasks.

It is a “war” with international seed companies and grain traders such as Bayer.

Luo Yihang even survived an assassination attempt because of this.

We definitely have to retaliate.

The means of retaliation is to register patents globally and wield the weapon of patents.

And they also took down Bayer and their group's closest technology to true Breeding 4.0, the Climate FieldView platform, along with the people and the platform.

The goal is to completely block those people from entering the breeding 4.0 field.

They emerged after Monsanto developed Breeding 3.0 technology, and over the course of more than 20 years, they established control over the world's food and agriculture.

They are trying every means to control technology and block other countries' Breeding 3.0 research.

Using grains to build global hegemony.

The principle is very simple.

As long as you are human, you can't go without eating.

Now that we are about to enter the Breeding 4.0 era, Luo Yihang wants to use their methods on them.

Break their control, sever their roots.

However, this "war" was not started by Luo Yihang.

It was old Arnault.

Old Arnault had one son who almost died, and another who betrayed him.

The old man was furious.

Upon returning, they immediately declared war on Bayer.

The company claimed that Bayer's cotton seeds would cause pollution, and out of a sense of environmental responsibility, decided to abandon Bayer cotton seeds across all its brands.

At the same time, they controlled the media to release a large amount of experimental reports and photos, interviews, interviews with well-known environmentalists, lawsuits, and other evidence.

These things can be real or fake. Everyone has several research institutes under their belt; they can get any evidence they need.

Arnault went all out, wielding the environmental protection stick and giving Bayer a good beating.

Then, as the investigation deepened...

It was also discovered that seed companies such as Bayer were forcing locals in Mozambique to grow cotton and prohibiting the growth of wheat, causing a large-scale famine. Between 160 million and 200 million people faced a food crisis, and 4.6 people, including children, were starving.

In an effort to feed themselves, locals destroyed cotton fields to grow wheat, only to be suppressed by local troops and mercenaries controlled by companies like Bayer, sparking a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands.

Other countries include Sudan, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone...

A number of African countries have been ravaged into a living hell.

These areas are all planted with Bayer cotton varieties.

Bayer is the world's largest cotton seed supplier, with a leading global market share.

If you dare to use cotton seeds from other companies, you'll suffer disasters and reduced yields in no time. The cotton plants will be infested with insects, and even pesticides won't work. Not a single cotton boll will grow; the stalks will be completely eaten away.

Famine, oppression, forced labor, serfs, and then mixed in with ethnic minorities and religions.

Western media are very familiar with this kind of thing; they're just using those Eastern cotton products again.

The only difference is that the cotton from the East is fake, while the cotton from Africa is real.

One reason is political, and the other is a scheme orchestrated by capital.

Capitalist countries have a lot of power.

Although this time, not many brands banned the purchase of Bayer cotton out of "humanitarian" reasons.

However, it caused quite a stir among the public, leaving Bayer in a state of turmoil. Brands that boycotted Oriental cotton and switched to Bayer cotton all experienced varying degrees of sales decline.

This is what they call "lifting a stone to drop it on one's own foot."

Meanwhile, Liu Piaoliang used old Arnault to draw attention away from Liu.

I secretly did a few things.

First, a private equity firm launched a hostile takeover bid for Aquaculture, the Eastern subsidiary of Climate FieldView's parent company.

Then, Aike Agriculture's long-term partner, an agricultural meteorological satellite remote sensing technology company called Jiahe Agricultural Information, stepped in as a "white knight".

Actually, it was Liu Piaoliang who did both things; he was the one attacking himself.

Then Lu Shixue, who was in charge of Climate Corporation's business in China, suggested to the head office that they join the battle and successfully acquire Aike Agriculture and Jiahe Agricultural Information, thus achieving the goal of collecting remote sensing and meteorological data from Eastern Satellite.

Eastern meteorological data is the final, crucial piece of the puzzle for the Climate FieldView platform in controlling global meteorological big data; it is extremely important.

However, we haven't been able to get it because domestic regulations are strict, and many "conventional" methods are not feasible.

Even with multiple layers of cover-up to conceal it, progress was still very slow.

Now that we have this great opportunity, we will definitely join the war.

The head office transferred a large sum of money to lay in wait, just waiting for those three companies to break each other up so they could suddenly emerge and reap the benefits.

As a result, after receiving the money, Lu Shixue immediately joined forces with two other companies to launch a counter-takeover of the climate company.

The money transferred from the head office was not touched. We won't do anything illegal. This move was to cut off the company's cash flow.

They were furious with the climate company and cursed Lu Shixue as a treacherous villain.

In fact, Lu Shixue had already betrayed the country after being threatened (you know what you've done, you're heartless, I'll put you in jail in a minute, believe it or not) and bribed (you only earn a little money working for foreigners, is this enough? I'll give you a chance to earn money while standing tall).

He's in the country; he can't escape even if he wanted to.

Before launching the rebellion, he had already brought his wife and children back from abroad.

We're all just working people; it doesn't matter who we work for.

Who would choose to kneel when they can stand?

Let them curse a couple of times, it won't hurt them.

As for the effectiveness, it must be said that using spies is a really effective tactic; fortresses are often breached from within...

(End of this chapter)