I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Chapter 501 Rise to Fame! Establish Your Name! Become Famous! Become Ten Thousand!

Gu Jinhua's home is in a community with two apartments per floor. The two apartments share an entrance hallway, with their doors facing each other and a half-dead potted green ivy in between.

The household across the street is headed by a man named Qian Dagui, who is a very generous person.

Stepping into Qian Dagui's home, you'll see that his living room is very large, but it's so large it's almost haphazard: the sofa is imported, costing nearly 20,000 yuan for a set; there's a plastic fruit plate on the coffee table, next to which are some garlic cloves; next to the garlic is a box of tissues, and on top of the tissues are a TV remote and a pair of nail clippers.

A cross-stitch of "Flowers Bloom and Wealth Abounds" hangs on the wall, framed in gold, making it appear large and heavy.

There were three things on the TV cabinet: a 55-inch Philips TV, a gold-plated "Bringing in Wealth and Treasure" ornament, and a half-finished can of Nescafé coffee.

Everything in the house was in good condition, but when arranged together, it looked like supermarket shelves had been moved directly into the house.

Qian Dagui thought it was pretty good.

When he was a child, his family was so poor that they could hardly afford to eat. In the 1980s, he went to the south with his fellow villagers to trade hardware. Later, he returned and opened a hardware factory, making parts for several big brands. His annual turnover was several million yuan, and his profit was one or two million yuan.

With Qian Dagui's wealth, he could have lived in a villa, but when he was a child, the village was full of villas, each occupying an entire hilltop. He was tired of living in those, so he bought a house here instead.

The decoration was all done according to his preferences, making it look luxurious and festive, which he thought was great.

But his wife, Hu Xinlan, didn't think so.

Unlike Qian Dagui, Hu Xinlan was a proper college student in the 1980s, graduating from the Chinese Department of Qianda University. After graduation, she worked at the cultural center for a few years. Later, when Qian Dagui's factory took off, she took early retirement and became a full-time housewife.

Hu Xinlan was dissatisfied with the house when it was being renovated, but Qian Dagui was the one who paid for it, so as a full-time housewife, she really had no say.

But after living there for a while, I actually got used to it.

Right now, Hu Xinlan is surfing the internet in that study with a heavy mahogany table, and on the wall directly opposite her hangs a "Bringing in Wealth and Treasure" sign.

She's quite used to it.

She didn't even glance over there; she just stared at the computer screen in front of her, which displayed the Anjia Tongcheng Hui (安家同城汇) website.

At first, Hu Xinlan didn't have a good impression of this "Anjia Tongcheng Hui" (安家同城荟), because Qian Dagui had gone crazy for two days because of it.

That was just a day not long ago.

That afternoon, someone knocked on the door. When she opened it, she found a group of people standing there, all wearing the same uniform.

Hu Xinlan was stunned.

Who are you looking for?

The one in the lead smiled and said, "Mr. Qian invited us to come and clean the house."

Hu Xinlan was suspicious: "You've come to the wrong place, haven't you? We have a housekeeper; we don't need anyone else to clean."

Her family does indeed have a long-term nanny.

Originally, she wanted a live-in nanny, but Qian Dagui wasn't used to it and said it felt strange to have an outsider living in the house, so she changed it to having a nanny come over every day to cook and clean.

Therefore, how could Qian Dagui suddenly hire someone to come and clean his house?

Hu Xinlan was about to close the door when the leader said, "Why don't you call your husband and confirm?"

Seeing how confident the other party was, Hu Xinlan called Qian Dagui with some skepticism.

"—They've arrived, right? Yes, yes, I called them. Just let them go in and clean."

Hu Xinlan immediately found Qian Dagui's behavior baffling: "Don't we have a housekeeper? Why are you calling so many people to come and clean our house?"

Good heavens, she just counted, there are eight people at the door, eight in total!

Even if Qian Dagui really felt that the aunt's cleaning was not clean enough and hired someone else to clean, her house is not a palace, why would she need so many people to clean?

"Never mind, I have something to do." Qian Dagui didn't explain much to her on the phone, but just as he was about to hang up, he remembered something and specifically told her, "By the way, don't worry about how their cleaning went. If they ask you, just say it was great and you're satisfied, remember that."

Hu Xinlan was even more puzzled, but since Qian Dagui was used to being the head of the household, she didn't press the matter further. After hanging up the phone, she welcomed these people into the house and watched them finish cleaning. It was during this process that she learned that these people were from Anjia Housekeeping.

It's clear that these housekeeping and home service workers have never fought such a wealthy battle before.

However, they had a leader who assigned tasks, and they quickly emerged from the chaos and began cleaning in an orderly manner.

Hu Xinlan watched the whole thing from the sidelines.

She was still a little annoyed by Qian Dagui's inexplicable behavior, and consequently, she also disliked the people from Anjia Household Services.

However, it must be said that these people are indeed quite skilled at cleaning, giving her a sense of "standardization." Her housekeeper, although very efficient, seems somewhat "unorthodox" compared to these people.

And these people really do clean better than her housekeeper: for example, the windows are much cleaner and brighter than the housekeeper's.

Hu Xinlan couldn't contain her curiosity and asked what was going on.

The worker said, "I don't know either, it must be because of the glass cleaner the company gave out."

In the past six months, Anjia Household Services has not only trained its employees and expanded its network, but also established a small "laboratory" under the guidance of Shen Kang.

It's called a lab, but it's really just a small team of two people. Their job is simple: buy all the cleaning products they can get their hands on, use them themselves, compare them, and see which cleaning product has the best overall effect. Then, they select the best ones, which are then purchased centrally by the company and distributed as designated supplies for Anjia Household Services staff.

In today's domestic service market, the vast majority of so-called domestic service companies still operate on an intermediary model, only responsible for introducing housekeepers. After the housekeepers arrive, they do the work entirely according to their own habits, mostly using things like dish soap. If they bring a heavy-duty kitchen cleaner, they are considered relatively professional.

The products that Anjia selected were highly professional items that are difficult to find on the market. In comparison, even with the same workflow, the cleaning effect was noticeably different.

Moreover, this laboratory later expanded to include four people, all of whom were chemistry majors. They not only purchased commercially available cleaning products but also began experimenting with formulating their own.

Shen Kang is very lenient in this regard, not setting rigid targets; he says, "Just have fun, the company will reimburse you." However, if you manage to produce something truly remarkable...

Come on, there's a reward.

They became even more proactive. This glass cleaner is one of their achievements. It can't even be called research and development; they simply bought several professional glass cleaners from other companies, disassembled them one by one, compared and tested them, and adjusted the ratio of surfactants and solvents.

The final product wasn't as effective at cleaning as the others, but it was cheaper, dried faster, and left no water stains.

Of course, the statement "the cleaning effect is not better than other brands" here refers to brands like 3M. Compared to dish soap, Anjia's glass cleaner is significantly more effective. Plus, it dries quickly and leaves no water stains, giving customers a better impression.

Hu Xinlan, of course, knew nothing about these things, nor did the cleaning lady; she only knew that the company-issued items were particularly useful.

Seeing that she couldn't get any information out of the cleaning lady, Hu Xinlan stopped asking her.

It's not just this window cleaner.

In several other places, Hu Xinlan also discovered that the people from Anjia Housekeeping did a better job than her own housekeeper. Upon further inquiry, she learned that their cleaning supplies were also "provided by the company."

At their first meeting, Anjia Housekeeping left Hu Xinlan with a "professional" impression.

Of course, hiring eight people to come and clean her house still annoyed her a bit.

That night, after Qian Dagui returned home, she specifically told him about it.

"I also saw those people. They are indeed more professional than our housekeeper, but I only need one person, two or three at most. You called eight! Eight! By the end, those people didn't even know what to do anymore. I felt embarrassed for them."

Faced with Hu Xinlan's complaints, Qian Dagui explained his reasoning: "What do you know? I didn't actually hire someone to clean; I just want a qualification—"

After listening to Qian Dagui's explanation, Hu Xinlan finally understood why he had done what he did: it turned out that Qian Dagui had heard about Anjia Tongcheng Hui from a friend of his who was in business. An intuition made Qian Dagui feel that he had to join this Tongcheng Hui, which was why he had called eight cleaners to come and clean his house today—the normal practice of calling a cleaner once a week was too slow.

But that's not enough.

For the next two days, eight cleaners came to Qian Dagui's house every day. Not only that, Qian Dagui also sold some second-hand items from his home to Anjia, which finally allowed him to obtain the qualification of Anjia Local Club in the shortest possible time.

Qian Dagui was quite impressed at the time.

"Our Xiaohao just didn't take the civil service exam. I heard that those kids who passed the exam could just sell their exam materials to the An family and get the qualification directly! Damn it, being an official is so much better—"

Regardless, Qian Dagui's family has finally entered the Anjia Tongcheng Hui circle.

The night she received her qualification, Hu Xinlan curiously went into Anjia Tongcheng Hui to see what was going on that made her husband, Lao Qian, so eager to get in.

After spending two days researching this local community service platform, Hu Xinlan realized that all the effort was actually worthwhile.

Putting everything else aside, the "Canon Home Culture Tour" alone is enough to recoup the cost.

This is an event on Anjia Tongcheng Hui (Anjia Local Community), co-organized with Canon.

According to the event rules, eligible members can participate in a free travel event jointly organized by Canon and Anjia after the New Year.

The banner for this event is hanging in the center of Anjia Tongcheng Hui.

At first, Hu Xinlan thought it was just an ordinary travel activity. After spending two days here, she finally figured out what this "cultural tour" was all about.

This was actually a "blind date trip".

This immediately captivated Hu Xinlan.

She has a son who is currently working at Lao Qian's factory, familiarizing himself with the business, and is preparing to take over the business in the future.

This son is twenty-six now, but because he's in the factory every day, surrounded by factory girls, he doesn't have much contact with women.

Xinlan thinks that the right person is the right one, so she still doesn't have a daughter-in-law in mind, which makes Hu Xinlan quite anxious.

During the two days of getting to know each other, Hu Xinlan realized that the people in Anjia Tongcheng Hui were all of very high quality.

If Xiaohao could participate in this matchmaking trip, maybe he could find a suitable person?

Hu Xinlan also enrolled her son in some so-called "high-end matchmaking agencies," but in her opinion, the overall quality of the people in those so-called high-end matchmaking agencies was far inferior to that of the people on Anjia Tongcheng Hui.

This is a truly high-end matchmaking agency!

After realizing this, Hu Xinlan immediately felt that Qian Dagui had finally done a good thing.

During this time, she actively searched for secondhand items at home and sold them to Anjia Housekeeping to collect the Miao embroidery bookmark and qualify for the event. Later, when she couldn't find any more, she simply bought them.

The people in this Anjia Tongcheng Hui community are all well-off.

In the process of collecting Miao embroidery bookmarks, some people made some repetitive mistakes, but many were too lazy to sell them. However, some people soon realized: selling wasn't the goal; the goal was to naturally get to know some users on Anjia Tongcheng Hui while selling!

So, people started selling them.

Soon, more and more people were in the same boat, and more and more people with spare Miao embroidery bookmarks began to sell them. It was through this that Hu Xinlan was able to buy all the Miao embroidery bookmarks and also made two new friends along the way.

Later, as they chatted, Hu Xinlan also introduced her husband, Lao Qian, to the other party.

That evening, Qian Dagui was in a great mood as soon as he got home. He gave Hu Xinlan a big hug and laughed heartily.

"I knew I was right! Joining this 'Citywide Community' thing was definitely worth the money, it was totally worth it!"

From Qian Dagui's later words, Hu Xinlan learned that one of the people who sold her the Miao embroidery bookmarks had made a deal with Lao Qian after they met.

From then on, Qian Dagui encouraged Hu Xinlan to spend more time on this local community forum and make more friends.

Over the past few days, Hu Xinlan has come to quite like this place: the people here talk about everyday things that people of their social class talk about, so they have a lot in common.

With Qian Dagui's encouragement, she became even more diligent in her studies.

However, although her husband is rich, there are too many capable people in this industry: she herself is just a housewife. She used to work at the cultural center, but back then she just read newspapers every day and didn't have any special skills.

So, after a long time, Hu Xinlan was still relatively unknown, just one of the many people around.

Then, today, when Hu Xinlan was browsing Anjia Tongcheng Hui in her study, she saw this post.

Let's get back to the present: "Is Anjia engaging in false advertising? Does anyone know Philips' manager in Yangcheng? Please share your experience."

When Hu Xinlan saw this post, her eyes were immediately drawn to it.

"Is Anjia engaging in false advertising?"

She clicked on it immediately.

"I was strolling around Anjia Hutong just now when I saw a post —"

The poster described in detail the lively scene unfolding in Anjia Hutong, and finally asked if anyone knew who Philip's manager in Yangcheng was. If so, could they ask him if he was actually using Anjia's electric toothbrush?

There are already some replies to this post.

"When the people from Anjia came to clean my house, they said something similar. I didn't take it to heart at the time, since everyone understands these kinds of things in business. But then my subordinates started arguing about it?"

"I know Hele's manager here, but I don't really know Philip's."

"I don't know them either. I know a few people who work in the medical device industry, and I do have friends at Philips, but they're all in the medical sector; I'm not familiar with the consumer sector."

"Our industry doesn't have much overlap with Philips Consumer Electronics. If you ask the regional managers at L'Oréal or P&G, I might be able to help you; we were playing cards together yesterday."

"What's the big deal? I bought that electric toothbrush from Anjia too, and after using it, it's definitely not as good as the ones I have that cost over a thousand yuan. But considering it only costs a little over two hundred yuan and has a timer function, I say it's unbeatable. I'm not planning to return it; it'll be fine as a souvenir. Have those people never used an electric toothbrush before? They're not satisfied with this one?"

"Indeed, I bought one too. I've used it and I don't plan to return it; it's a way of showing my support. The product is great value for money. Although I don't know how to use it, I feel it's definitely the first choice for families with suitable financial conditions."

Philip's manager in Yangcheng? Isn't that the Gu family, who live right across the street from my house?

Hu Xinlan was taken aback.

However, she didn't immediately comment that she knew him, but continued to watch silently, refreshing the page every now and then.

After refreshing the page for a while, Hu Xinlan realized that no one knew Philip's manager.

This post gradually gained popularity. Several other related posts even appeared in the community alongside this one.

Unlike the people in Anjia Hutong who were arguing about whether Anjia was engaging in false advertising, the people here were more focused on things like social circles and connections.

They weren't too concerned about whether Philip's manager was actually using it; after all, even if some of them had bought it, it wasn't for that reason. Besides, it's only two hundred dollars, why make such a fuss?

What they seem to care about now is who can be the first to find Philip's manager in Yangcheng and get firsthand information.

If someone does that, it seems to prove that he is more "awesome".

Hu Xinlan watched silently, a faint light flickering in her eyes, reflecting four words that resonated powerfully: Fame! Establishment! Thousands!