Mi Zhuzhu: Is it an energy-boosting drink, like the ones in Korean dramas? Ginseng and stuff?
Lai Jielun: I've interviewed for similar medicinal health products before. They taste a bit bitter. Can it be made into a drink?
Ren Mo: Sister-in-law, I fully support you! As soon as your drink is launched, I'll mobilize all my bloggers to promote it.
Sang Ling: I think there's a big market demand for this, but if the price is too high, sales might be lower.
Seeing everyone's feedback, Liu Chen felt more confident. She estimated the costs and answered Sang Ling's question.
Liu Chen: I'll try to keep the price between three to five yuan, but that might mean the energy-boosting effect won't be as strong.
Mi Zhuzhu: Three to five yuan? At that price, if it has a slight effect and doesn't taste bitter, I'll be a long-term customer.
Lai Jielun: I feel like our schoolmates are also long-term customers… the juniors and seniors are almost always up late, either memorizing lines or making costumes.
Ren Mo: Isn't that too cheap? I saw some bloggers I contacted, and one of them likes to drink supplements and health products. He was drinking some red ginseng water, and it cost over a hundred yuan a bottle!
Sang Ling: If it's three to five yuan, I think we can even export it to Korea. Their market for health products is quite enthusiastic. If it's really effective, selling it there for twenty yuan a bottle could completely sweep away their domestic manufacturers.
Liu Chen was a little impressed by Sang Ling's idea. She had only thought about selling in supermarkets, at most aiming for nationwide distribution. But selling products abroad…
She had never really considered that possibility.
The thought of selling energy supplements overseas made Liu Chen restless. She started writing and sketching on a notepad. Through her reading and research over the past few days, she had discovered something.
The formula given by the system was truly exceptional, but ancient recipes also had similar medicinal formulas. However, they were used to treat congenital weakness and required long-term medication to maintain normal energy levels. Typically, after more than ten years of consumption, the root of the weakness could be eradicated.
This formula shared about seventy percent of its ingredients with the system's given raw materials. The remaining thirty percent consisted of various precious tonics.
Many of the herbs were not only rare but also required a specific age, which made Liu Chen marvel. This medicinal formula was truly something only wealthy families could afford.
What Liu Chen intended to do was to present a simplified version derived from this ancient recipe.
As she worked, the sky outside gradually shifted from the warm sun to sunset, and then to nightfall.
When Liu Chen finally stopped writing, feeling the ache in her eyes, she realized it was already dark outside.
She looked up, stretched her neck, and tilted her head to look at the faint yellow light from the streetlamp filtering in through the window. Liu Chen held her phone in both hands and raised it to her eyes.
After unlocking it, Liu Chen saw the message that everyone had left school for the restaurant. As she was looking at it, a message from Ren Yu arrived.
Ren Yu: I'm downstairs.
Seeing the message, Liu Chen remembered tonight was the first dinner party where she would bring Ren Yu as her boyfriend. She turned on the light in her bedroom, tidied her appearance, and then put on her jacket and scarf before heading out. Before leaving, Liu Chen specifically grabbed a white scarf that matched her own scarf in color.
When she reached the ground floor, it was a late February evening, and Beijing was still very cold. Ren Yu stood outside the dormitory building, wearing a dark blue wool coat with a sharp cut, which made his height of over 1.8 meters look like 1.9 meters.
Huh?
As Liu Chen walked up to Ren Yu, she suddenly noticed that his shoulders seemed higher than usual.
Noticing this, Liu Chen looked at Ren Yu with confusion.
"Ren Yu…"
"Cough, cough, is this scarf for me? That's so sweet, Chenchen. Can you help me put it on?" Ren Yu spoke first, interrupting what Liu Chen was about to say.
Liu Chen was so interrupted that she actually forgot what she was going to ask. Instead, she stood at the entrance of the dormitory, stood on tiptoe, and wrapped the scarf around Ren Yu's neck with both hands. Then she took one end and looped it around again.
After tying the scarf, Liu Chen took a step back, admiring her perfect work. Then she nodded:
"Yes, it looks good. Let's go. Are Xia Tian and Dong Tian in the car?"
As Liu Chen asked this, she subconsciously turned to walk towards the school gate. However, after taking just one step, her right hand was enveloped by a warm palm.
Then, Ren Yu's voice came from beside her:
"Yes, they're in the car. We're going outside the school gate, to ensure your safety."
Liu Chen could barely hear what Ren Yu was saying afterward. Although they were already a public couple online, this was their first time actually walking hand in hand, especially in public!
Furthermore, because they were standing by the dormitory entrance tying the scarf, they attracted the attention of students entering and leaving the dormitory.
However, it was just attention. After all, it was a doctoral student dormitory building, and most students were in a hurry, with dark circles under their eyes that were almost bigger than their eyes.
The fact that anyone paid more attention was due to Liu Chen and Ren Yu's good looks. But even as they looked, no one approached them.
Because these two had not a trace of dark circles on their fair faces, they must be international students living in the apartment building!
Liu Chen was unaware that the impression the residents of the apartment building had of her was that of an international student. She was currently sitting in the back of a large G, listening to Ren Yu talk about the Weibo prize draw.
"The amount has exceeded sixty thousand yuan. Because school has just started these past two days, I had Yu Bing report it to the police. Due to the significant amount, the police are now paying close attention. You need to retweet the official Weibo of Meili Brand at eight o'clock tonight.
As for those who spread rumors on Weibo before, I've already had the law firm send out lawyer's letters collectively. I believe they won't have the energy to randomly spew mud online anymore."
Liu Chen listened and felt a sense of relief. To be honest, these things were not major issues, but it was the accumulation of these small things that could make people feel particularly agitated. Now that these matters were resolved.
All that remained was for her to focus on creating the energy supplements and staying safely in school.
Thinking this, a smile couldn't help but bloom on Liu Chen's face.
Today is a good day!
This statement held a different significance for Mi Zhuzhu and the others who had come to the dinner party with great enthusiasm.
Especially for Ren Mo.
Ren Mo sat in his chair, looking at his older brother Ren Yu, who was sitting to his right, and then glanced at his friend Liu Chen, who was sitting to his brother's right.
He couldn't help but shift his position, moving as far as possible towards his girlfriend Sang Ling.
Liu Chen naturally noticed Ren Mo's subtle movements. She felt bewildered. Ren Yu and Ren Mo usually got along quite normally. Ren Mo was usually a bit afraid of Ren Yu, but he didn't react this strongly.
Because Ren Yu was constantly peeling shrimp for him and never left the table to give Liu Chen a chance to ask, Liu Chen had to keep this question bottled up.
Mi Zhuzhu, on the other hand, was extremely happy at this dinner party. Especially after downing two bottles of Snow beer, her face was as red as if she had applied an entire palette of blush. Mi Zhuzhu leaned on Lai Jielun's shoulder, looking at Liu Chen and Ren Yu and giggling foolishly.
After giggling, Mi Zhuzhu didn't forget to reminisce.
"Hehe, if you had told me two years ago that I would be a blogger in two years, be able to earn money from advertisements, and have a super nice boyfriend, I would have thought you were joking."
"Hiccup~"
As Mi Zhuzhu spoke, she let out a long burp. Despite being drunk, Mi Zhuzhu still felt shy about this action. Fortunately, her half a year as a blogger wasn't in vain. Shyness aside, she had to continue speaking.
So, with an even redder face, Mi Zhuzhu continued:
"Wuwu, Chenchen, I think the luckiest thing in my life is being your friend! And transferring schools with you! Otherwise, otherwise, I don't know where I would be now. Even my dad says you are his lucky star. If you hadn't introduced my dad to buy a house, he wouldn't have renovated it.
If he hadn't renovated it, you wouldn't have asked him to help with the renovation, and he wouldn't have started an interior design company. He's now doing both interior design and construction with his old buddies, and because he worked on your factory construction project, he's now getting requests from factories to take on projects.
Wuwu!! Chenchen, you are my lucky star! You are the lucky star of our entire family!"
It was clear that Mi Zhuzhu was truly drunk, as she had been repeating this for an hour.
Liu Chen had originally hoped that Lai Jielun would stop Zhuzhu, but Lai Jielun simply said.
"It's okay. Zhuzhu always talks for two hours when she's drunk. After she finishes, she'll just fall asleep."
As if to verify Lai Jielun's words, Mi Zhuzhu, who was talking, suddenly lowered her head, rested on Lai Jielun's shoulder, and began to snore rhythmically.
As for Ren Mo, he had gotten drunk much earlier and had been persistently telling his girlfriend that he wanted to get married…
"Wuwu, Sang Ling, let's also start dating publicly, okay? Why don't you make my identity public on Weibo?"
Ren Mo said this while shedding tears, which left Sang Ling stunned as she replied:
"Because I'm an academic blogger. Does anyone care if I'm in a relationship?"
"┭┮﹏┭┮, Liar, that xxx is also a beauty blogger, and she publicly revealed her boyfriend!"
"Oh? Really? Then, shall I make you my boyfriend public tomorrow?" Sang Ling asked, supporting the sobbing Ren Mo, a little uncertainly.
"Okay! Pinky promise, no changing for a hundred years!" After saying this, Ren Mo extended his hand and made a pinky promise in the air next to Sang Ling's face, then let out a silly laugh.
Seeing everyone so drunk, Liu Chen quickly told them to return to school. Outside the restaurant, traffic was heavy. Judging by the traffic jam, Liu Chen estimated it would take at least an hour to get back to school.
As it turned out, Liu Chen's estimation was wrong. It was almost ten o'clock, two hours later, when Liu Chen finally reached her dormitory.
She opened the dormitory door. It was pitch black inside, but it was warm.
Liu Chen turned around and closed the dormitory door, then took off her jacket and scarf, draping them over her arm. It was too warm indoors, and in just a short while, wearing her jacket had made Liu Chen sweat.
She fumbled for the living room light and turned it on. Then she turned around.
"Ah!!!"
Liu Chen reacted almost instantly, screaming and throwing the jacket she was holding at the person standing opposite her.
"It's me, it's me! Qin Cancan! Don't hit me! Don't hit me!"
As Liu Chen sat on the living room sofa, using a cotton swab to clean the iodine on Qin Cancan's face, she asked curiously, "Senior Qin, why are you standing in the living room like this in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
"To think."
"Think about what?" Liu Chen applied a bandage.
"Hiss… To think that if a day had 48 hours, I could sleep for six hours every day."
Hearing Qin Cancan's insane words, Liu Chen remarked:
"Even capitalists would weep hearing what you said, Senior."
Qin Cancan touched the band-aid on her face, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. She stood up from the sofa.
"Our experiment is about to succeed. If the experiment succeeds…"
Before she could finish, Qin Cancan's legs gave out, and she sat back down on the sofa.
Looking at Qin Cancan's frail body, Liu Chen was speechless.
"Senior Qin, looking at your health, if you continue like this, it's questionable if you can even last until the experiment is over…"
Liu Chen's words were sincere and sharp. Qin Cancan leaned back against the sofa and thought deeply, then explained.
"Actually, it's just long-term sleep deprivation and irregular meal times, leading to some malnutrition. Other than that, there are no major problems. I had a physical examination this summer."
Looking at Qin Cancan's heavy dark circles, Liu Chen suddenly realized.
Senior Qin Cancan was the perfect taste-tester heaven had sent her! And she had given her a perfect excuse to suddenly research supplements!
Of course, it wasn't just an excuse. In fact, Liu Chen hadn't paid much attention before. Since she fell ill, she had started to notice that whether students or working professionals, there was never enough energy.
Thinking this, Liu Chen's gaze towards Qin Cancan softened.
"Senior, do you remember that I'm in the Food Science department?"
Qin Cancan nodded affirmatively. "Really? Maybe I wasn't awake then, I don't remember clearly."
"Ahem, that's not important. What's important is that I, Senior, have an idea for a graduation thesis topic recently."
When Qin Cancan heard about a graduation thesis, she thought she was hallucinating. After all, even though she didn't remember what department her roommate was in, she clearly remembered that her roommate was a freshman!
Were undergraduate students at Tsinghua University this competitive now, preparing for their graduation thesis in their first year?!
"This idea is to research a nutritional beverage, one that's portable and can be carried around, but can replenish energy after drinking it."
Qin Cancan nodded in understanding. "I get it, like Red Bull?"
Liu Chen shook her head. "Red Bull boosts your energy, essentially using it up in advance. Mine is to replenish energy, to supplement the energy you've consumed."
Hearing this, Qin Cancan's previously listless eyes suddenly lit up. She looked at Liu Chen and clapped her hands repeatedly, shaking her head and saying, "Your Food Science department has developed so rapidly! With this, won't it be possible to even skip sleep?"