409: Chapter 403: Booming Sales 409: Chapter 403: Booming Sales Chen Zhonghua and Jiang Meixian, husband and wife, went back and forth with each other.
Every time Chen Hai tried to explain, he barely got a word out before his parents interrupted him immediately.
“Dad, Mom, Qingqing and I have always been on good terms, so where is the problem supposed to be?”
“Just yesterday, I was still on the phone with her.”
“If you don’t believe me, I can call her right now…”
Finally, when his parents began to tire from talking and took a moment to breathe, Chen Hai found an opportunity to speak up and explain.
“Really, there’s no problem?” Jiang Meixian looked doubtful.
She scrutinized Chen Hai up and down for quite some time.
But unfortunately, she couldn’t see even a hint of guilt on Chen Hai’s face.
“There’s a phone in the shop.”
“It’s been a really long time since I last spoke to Qingqing on the phone!”
“How about it, Hai, dial Qingqing’s number so I can have a casual chat with her for a bit!”
After hesitating, Jiang Meixian tried to bring it up tentatively.
It seemed that no matter how sincere Chen Hai sounded, she remained half-convinced by what her son was saying.
Claiming to just want a casual chat with Qingqing, it was clear to anyone that it was merely an excuse.
Her real intention was to confirm whether there was actually a problem between her son Chen Hai and Ye Qingqing.
Chen Zhonghua, on the other hand, didn’t say much, just cocked his head and stared at Chen Hai for a good while.
“Alright, I’ll call Qingqing right now!” Chen Hai said with a resigned smile.
As his own power grew, he had become more assertive in front of others.
But in front of his parents, he was still the weaker party.
Setting his rice bowl aside, he walked swiftly to the phone in the shop, picked up the receiver, and began dialing.
He knew Ye Qingqing’s mobile number by heart; it was etched into his memory.
“Beep…
Beep…” After only two rings, the call connected.
“Qingqing, it’s me.”
“What are you up to?
Have you had dinner?”
“Your Tsinghua University must be about to start winter break, right?
After the break, do you want to come over to Liuyuan County…”
While Chen Hai was on the phone, Chen Zhonghua didn’t show any unusual behavior and simply continued eating his meal.
His mother, Jiang Meixian, at some point, got hold of a rag.
Pretending to wipe the display case in the shop, she purposefully moved close to Chen Hai.
Although she seemed to be wiping the case, her real focus was on eavesdropping on the conversation between Chen Hai and Ye Qingqing.
Chen Hai noticed what she was doing.
Since he was merely exchanging greetings with Ye Qingqing and not discussing anything secretive, he let his mother listen in if she wanted to!
Confirming that the person on the phone with her son was indeed Ye Qingqing, and judging from the tone of their conversation, they didn’t seem to have fallen out.
Jiang Meixian’s face lit up once again with a cheerful smile.
“Mom, didn’t you want to say a few words to Qingqing?
Here, the phone’s for you!”
“Forget it, Hai, you chat with her some more!”
“Our Liuyuan dialect, Qingqing can’t understand it very well, and it’s really hard for me to speak Mandarin, so I’d rather not chat with her too much!”
Jiang Meixian, who had been insisting on having a word with Ye Qingqing, began to wave her hands and graciously refuse when Chen Hai actually handed her the receiver.
For their generation, who had spoken the local dialect all their lives, switching to Mandarin indeed caused some stumbles and felt extremely awkward.
Seeing his mother react this way, Chen Hai decided not to press further.
It wasn’t appropriate for him to express any romantic sentiment towards his girlfriend in front of his parents, so the call was ended after a few minutes.
“Hai, university is supposed to be four years, right?”
“Qingqing is already a junior; in a little over a year, she’ll be graduating too.”
“You two, what are your plans?
Are you preparing to just register and get married when the time comes?”
“I and your dad don’t have any other extravagant hopes; we just hope we can hold a grandson soon…”
After confirming that her son had no problems in his love life, Jiang Meixian beamed with joy, pulling Chen Hai to start chatting about this topic.
“Mom, whether we get married or not, we still have to consider Qingqing’s opinion.”
“After all, her kind of prominent family definitely has many rules.”
Chen Hai explained with a grimace on his face.
Nowadays, his pursuits were almost inhuman, far removed from those of ordinary people.
Yet, even so, he was not averse to the idea of officially registering his marriage to his girlfriend Ye Qingqing and starting a family.
The mother and son chatted away here, while Chen Zhonghua, who had finished his meal, lit a cigarette and turned on the television in the small shop.
Back in Wenchang Pavilion Community, Chen Hai’s family had already upgraded to a large color TV.
The black and white TV that Chen Hai had bought previously was brought to the county town during the move and placed inside the shop.
Unfortunately, installing an outdoor antenna here was not convenient; even the TV’s built-in antenna could only receive two or three channels, and they were not very clear, covered with grainy static.
“Heroes of all corners come from our kin, as one enters Jianghu the years urge on; good wine, for a hero, is Peach Blossom Immortal Brew…”
The familiar advertisement jingle reached Chen Hai’s ears.
He paused his conversation with his mother, Jiang Meixian, turned his head, and looked towards the television.
Li Qingxia’s bright red robe had turned into a gray robe on the black and white screen.
Her scene of drinking in water, albeit lacking a bit of ambiance on the monochrome TV, still held an astonishing appeal.
“See that, Hai?
That’s the Peach Blossom Immortal Brew, the same one I drank at home before.”
“The central station even has advertisements for this wine; it’s very popular now!”
“These past few days, several people have come into our shop asking if we have Peach Blossom Immortal Brew for sale.”
“A bottle of wine for one hundred and ninety-eight yuan, even with money, it’s not easy to get hold of now…”
Chen Zhonghua lamented, pointing at the advertisement currently playing on the television.
His demeanor suggested that being able to drink Peach Blossom Immortal Brew was a matter worth boasting about.
“Dad, has the Peach Blossom Immortal Brew at home run out?” Chen Hai asked with a chuckle.
“There’s still half a bottle left; one must be thrifty with such expensive wine!”
When the subject of wine came up, Chen Zhonghua could not help but lick his lips.
He glanced at Jiang Meixian, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately held back.
“Dad, if you drink some health care wine, without getting totally drunk, Mom probably won’t scold you!”
“If you think the Peach Blossom Immortal Brew tastes good, I’ll have the distillery send a couple of cases over!”
Drawing his gaze away from the television, Chen Hai pondered for a moment and spoke with a smile.
The Peach Blossom Immortal Brew advertisement had begun airing officially on television since New Year’s Day.
As the highest bidder, aside from the golden advertising spot following the central news, CCTV had also specially provided Peach Blossom Wine Industry with many non-prime time advertisement slots.
Throughout the day, their advertisement must have been played close to ten or twenty times.
CCTV really put a lot of effort into making it a highlighted brand.
Under such an all-encompassing advertising bombardment, the name Peach Blossom Immortal Brew had rapidly become a household name.
Whether it was Qiu Dazhi or Sun Jinzhong, they had all reported to Chen Hai about the sales situation of Peach Blossom Immortal Brew.
According to them, ever since their advertisement aired, the sales department of Peach Blossom Wine Industry had nearly been overwhelmed with calls.
Today was January 7th, a week since the advertisement went live on CCTV.
Chen Hai only knew that the sales of Peach Blossom Immortal Brew were booming.
But how booming?
And how much had the total sales accumulated?
He had little idea.
“Peach Blossom Wine Industry is fully owned by me.”
“Perhaps, I should take some time to visit there.”
This thought crossed Chen Hai’s mind, and he muttered to himself.