I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Chapter 502 The Battle for Central Plains

The matter was accomplished in secrecy.

Hu Xinlan didn't comment on the post; she just looked at it. After silently making a plan in her mind, she closed the post on Anjia Tongcheng Hui and started searching online for "tiramisu making tutorials".

The next day, Hu Xinlan got up early.

"Why are you up so early today?" Qian Dagui, who was sleeping next to me, asked groggily.

"Competing for supremacy in the Central Plains".

"oh."

Qian Dagui continued to sleep until he heard Hu Xinlan close the door. Suddenly, he opened his eyes again. What had his wife just said?

A battle for supremacy in the Central Plains?

What nonsense is this? ————

Hu Xinlan wandered around outside for quite a while. When she got home, Qian Dagui had already gone to the factory.

When her aunt saw that she had returned, she brought out a bowl of soup from the kitchen.

"Little sister, you're back? You can have this soup first."

Hu Xinlan glanced at it. "What kind of soup?"

"Poria cocos and longan chicken soup. In our area, if someone is frightened by something unclean, they drink this. It will make them feel better after drinking it for two days."

Hu Xinlan bent down to take off her shoes and casually put the bulging bag in her hand aside.

"Did Lao Qian ask you to make this?"

She didn't need to guess to know that her imposing words that morning must have startled Old Qian, making him think something was wrong with her, which was why he asked the housekeeper to make her some calming soup.

"Um."

"Alright, I'm fine. He's just overreacting."

Despite Hu Xinlan's repeated attempts to persuade her, she couldn't resist her aunt's insistence and finally had to drink a bowl of the soup to appease her. Only then was the matter considered closed.

Seeing that the housekeeper was about to leave the kitchen to run errands, Hu Xinlan casually asked, "By the way, Sister Ning, do you know how to make brownies?"

"What mud?"

"Alright, go ahead and get busy."

Hu Xinlan wasn't surprised. After all, the main reason this aunt could stay at home was because Qian Dagui thought her cooking was authentic and had the taste of his hometown. Simply put, it was "rustic," so it was perfectly normal that she couldn't make brownies.

Sometimes she felt that her husband was a bit of a contradiction. He was used to living in a mountain village when he was young and was afraid of living there, so he didn't like living in a villa. But when it came to food, he liked the tastes and feelings from his childhood. He was just a contradiction.

Thinking this, Hu Xinlan took out the things she had bought that morning, and also took out a newly bought Western-style pastry cookbook, and started making them according to the recipe.

She originally wanted to make tiramisu, but after looking around in the bookstore, she realized that it would take too long to eat, so she changed her mind and decided to make brownies instead.

By 2 p.m., Hu Xinlan had finished making the brownies, a success on the first try. After all, it's basically a dessert version of "American one-pot"—just mix the ingredients together and put it in the oven. The skill required is about the same as a child playing with mud.

Then she took out a white porcelain dessert plate with gold rims, lined it with parchment paper, cut some small pieces from the cooled brownie, placed them in small paper cups, and arranged them in a nine-square grid. Around the edge of the plate were a few small wooden forks, two blueberries, and a mint leaf.

Exquisite, extremely exquisite.

Hu Xinlan was quite satisfied. After tidying herself up in the dressing room, she carried the plate out, head held high.

He turned his chest and walked towards the Gu family's house across the street.

The aunt watched Hu Xinlan's retreating figure from her home, feeling somewhat puzzled. She sensed that her younger sister was a little different today. It was as if—that's right, it was like one year when a wanted criminal had fled to the village, and her husband had gone out with the joint defense team with his shotgun to arrest him, saying that the gun could finally be put to good use.

Meanwhile, Hu Xinlan walked to the Gu family's door, rang the doorbell, and tidied her hair again.

Soon, Gu Jinhua's wife, Shi Xiurong, came to open the door.

Hu Xinlan said with a smile that she had recently been learning to make Western-style pastries, and the brownies she made today were quite good, so she brought them over for her to try.

Shi Xiurong expressed her gratitude, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, she welcomed Hu Xinlan inside.

As soon as Hu Xinlan entered the living room, she saw that there were already people there.

There were three women sitting in the living room.

The three women all looked to be in their forties. Judging from their clothes and appearance, they were quite impressive and clearly came from well-off families.

Let me introduce you—

After Shi Xiurong's introduction, Hu Xinlan learned that the three women were all wives of a manager, surnamed Wu.

There is a section chief's wife, surnamed Hua; and a director's unmarried older sister, surnamed Kong.

"Hello everyone, hello everyone————"

After exchanging pleasantries, Hu Xinlan sat down, her gaze subtly sweeping over the women.

Shi Xiurong sat down as well, still marveling, "No wonder the magpies outside were chirping so loudly this morning; turns out we have so many distinguished guests coming to visit!"

While Hu Xinlan was discreetly observing the women, the women were also discreetly observing her, their smiling faces seemingly concealing something.

This gave Hu Xinlan a bad feeling: Could it be that—

Oops.

Why does it feel like my jinx came true? Is it really true that I'm going to be fighting for supremacy?

Then, the women sat in the living room and started talking.

Hu Xinlan responded while pondering her own thoughts.

Just as she shifted her position, intending to say that she had a sudden stomachache and needed to use the restroom, Ms. Wu across from her stood up with an apologetic expression.

"Excuse me, you guys chat first, I need to use the restroom. Xiurong, may I use your restroom?"

'

Hu Xinlan felt that her premonition might be true.

These three women are likely also users of Anjia Tongcheng Hui, and they came to "collect evidence" after seeing that post!

After a while, when Sister Wu came out of the restroom, Sister Hua stood up again, looking quite embarrassed.

"It seems like I ate something bad at lunch. Xiurong, could I use your bathroom?"

After Sister Hua returned, it was Sister Kong's turn.

This one is even more straightforward and outspoken.

"I need to urinate."

Hu Xinlan no longer needs to use the word "possibly"; she is almost 100% certain that all these people are there to "gather evidence," just like her.

However, she was still a bit reserved and didn't compete with the others.

It was while Sister Hua was in the restroom that Sister Wu suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Oh no, my husband kept reminding me last night to pick up Beibei today, but I forgot."

Then she stood up and said, "Excuse me, Xiurong, I'll be going now."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, you should go ahead."

After Sister Wu left, Sister Hua came out of the bathroom, and it was finally Hu Xinlan's turn to have a stomachache, so she went to the restroom.

As soon as she entered the bathroom and closed the door, Hu Xinlan's gaze swept around the Gu family's bathroom, finally settling on the washbasin.

On the toothbrush holder there were two mouthwash cups and three electric toothbrushes, one of which was the Anjia S1.

Electric toothbrush!

Hu Xinlan was very excited.

She immediately took out her phone and took pictures of the electric toothbrush from various angles, also capturing some background images of the Gu family's bathroom.

After taking the photos, she lingered for a while before finally flushing the toilet and leaving.

When she went outside, good heavens, in just a short while, Sister Hua and Sister Kong had vanished, leaving only Shi Xiu.

Rong was alone outside.

Shi Xiurong also felt it was quite a coincidence: "They all had things to do and left first."

Hu Xinlan calmly said "Oh," understanding in her heart that these three women wanted to rush back first to post the relevant information on Anjia Tongcheng Hui.

The situation is now clear: there are four people involved, and all have been "evidence" collected. In this situation, whoever posts first likely holds the biggest advantage!

After Hu Xinlan came out of the bathroom, she sat down next to Shi Xiurong. After chatting for a few minutes, she slapped her forehead and said that she had something to do at home, so she left.

After leaving the Gu family, Hu Xinlan didn't walk in a hurry. Looking at her own house across the street, she had a smug look in her eyes. "No matter how fast you are, can you be as fast as me?"

After returning home, Hu Xinlan immediately transferred the photos from her phone to her computer, then logged into Anjia Tongcheng Hui and posted a thread.

Just as Gu Jinhua was getting into her car near the end of the workday, she received a phone call.

It was Liang Siyuan who called.

As soon as the call connected, Liang Siyuan's voice came from the other end: "Old Gu, that gun that Shen Kang gave you last time, the one from the An family..."

You actually brought an electric toothbrush home and used it?

"?"

Gu Jinhua was quite puzzled, but didn't deny it. "Yes. I felt that since they are competitors, it would be good for me to use their products, experience them firsthand, and see what they were capable of. After using them, I felt they were just so-so, similar to our HX558, but with an additional timer function that's only available on our higher-end products. Director Liang, how did you know about this?"

"I just met up with a friend, and he told me that during our casual conversation."

Liang Siyuan paused, then said casually, "Old Gu, do you know that someone posted photos of your bathroom on Anjia Tongcheng Hui (Anjia Local Community)?"

"?"

"What photo?"

"This is your bathroom. There are three toothbrushes, two of ours and one from Anjia. The photo is quite clear; the brush heads show signs of use, so it's not staged."

"I'll go back and ask my wife what's going on."

"Okay, go ask."

Twenty minutes later, Gu Jinhua returned home.

When he got back, he saw his wife, Shi Xiurong, eating dessert and watching TV in the living room.

He didn't go over to ask directly, but instead changed his shoes, went to his study, turned on his computer, and logged into Anjia Tongcheng Hui.

They started using Anjia Home Services early on, and even though they didn't sell many secondhand items and none of their children passed the civil service exam, they still got membership in Anjia Local Community.

Normally, Gu Jinhua would occasionally check Anjia Tongcheng Hui, but these past few days, Liang Siyuan and Lu Lan had come over, and it was also during the Spring Festival promotion period. He had to entertain them and arrange his work, so he hadn't been on Anjia Tongcheng Hui for a few days.

Now, as soon as he logged on, Gu Jinhua discovered that he didn't even need to search; he directly saw a popular post on the homepage.

I went to the home of Philip's Yangcheng manager.

After clicking in, I saw that the post contained both text and pictures.

The pictures clearly show Gu Jinhua's bathroom! There are several pictures, taken from different angles, and the center of each picture is three electric toothbrushes. Anjia S1 electric toothbrush is clearly among them, while the other two are Philips.

"Today I visited a friend's house, which happened to be the home of Philip's manager in Yangcheng, the one that has been the subject of much discussion in the community these past few days."

"His wife was a very warm person; she greeted me with a smile and welcomed me inside. There were several other guests present, all well-dressed and with distinguished bearing. We enjoyed afternoon tea in a very pleasant atmosphere. The warm afternoon sun streamed in through the window, casting long shadows on the floor."

Patches of sunlight—I think, in the warm winter sun, such a gathering has a very peaceful and serene feel to it.

Scroll down to skip Gu Jinhua.

He skipped around looking for the important parts.

"—The bathroom wasn't large, but it was quite tidy. The items on the sink were arranged in an orderly fashion, showing that the owner was a meticulous person. My gaze inadvertently fell on the mouthwash cup, which contained three electric toothbrushes. Two were dark blue, and one was white. The white one had a small logo printed on it. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was Anjia's S1. I was stunned for a moment—"

"On the way back, I kept thinking about this. I dare not speculate, but as an ordinary user of Anjia, I have to say that at that moment I had a subtle feeling. Maybe they just left it there casually, and I was overthinking it."

That's enough for now; everything else is just a bunch of nonsense.

There are already quite a few comments below.

Gu Jinhua also took a look.

"Wow, that's impressive. It just happened last night, and you've already successfully obtained evidence today? You even have photos?"

"The original poster has a lot of energy."

"I was waiting for updates on that thread last night, and I saw it as soon as I logged in today. This efficiency is something our company should be able to match."

"Let's learn from their public relations departments."

"Isn't the original poster afraid of offending Philips' manager by exposing someone else's bathroom like this?"

"What did I offend? There are only three toothbrushes in the photo, not even a towel is in the picture, and no one's face is shown or named. Besides, it's normal to use a competitor's product; I even have competitor products in my office."

"That makes sense. If we really pursue it, it would make us seem guilty, petty, and narrow-minded."

Gu Jinhua released the mouse, got up from his desk, went to the living room, and asked his wife, "Who came over today?"

Shi Xiurong looked up from the television and at Gu Jinhua. "Sister Wu, Sister Hua—" She recounted the names of the guests who had come today, and finally asked, "How did you know someone was coming to your house today? What's wrong?"

Gu Jinhua had a headache and waved her hand.

"It's nothing."

Then he turned around and went to the study.

There were quite a few people here today, and he has no idea who did it.

Then, he went to the bathroom and stared at the Anjia electric toothbrush for a long time. The image of Shen Kang enthusiastically giving him the toothbrush resurfaced in his mind.

—Why do I feel like I've been bitten by a dog? Shouldn't top students be polite and refined? Are all top students this scoundrel these days?