My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 48: Chapter 47: Splitting the Money

Since Li Xiang was just helping the farmers and not taking a commission, the villagers all pitched in to handle the packing and shipping. To prevent any issues from having too many hands involved, Village Chief Li Jinyu specifically chose a few capable men and women to help. Jiang Cai’Er’s parents were among them. The Jiang Family had prepared quite a lot of goods this time as well.

When it was time to ship, they used the village’s three tractors and seven three-wheeled vehicles, including Li Xiang’s, to form a ”magnificent” and ”mighty” convoy charging toward the SF Express station in the county town.

Using the postal service would have been cheaper, but it’s also slower. Since the buyers were almost all city folk, there was no need to worry about the packages not reaching them.

Along the way, they ran into some acquaintances from other villages. They couldn’t help but stop and chat, and when they explained what was happening, the people from the other villages were incredibly envious.

When they arrived at the SF Express station, the staff inside were stunned.

One of the employees was already familiar with Li Xiang, as he often came by to ship things. However, he had never sent so much at once.

”Brother Xiang, hitting the big time, are we?” Even the station manager was drawn by the commotion, putting down his work and hurrying out to see what was going on.

Li Xiang explained that he was helping the villagers sell their products for free and asked if they could get a discount on the shipping fees.

Village Chief Li Jinyu and the other men who had come along all chimed in. In the end, after some negotiation, they were given a 20% discount. In truth, they probably could have gotten a better price at other courier stations, as SF Express is notoriously difficult to bargain with.

But Li Xiang was most familiar with this place, and SF Express was also the fastest.

”Brother Xiang, you could actually sign a long-term cooperation agreement with us. You’d get even better discounts,” the manager suggested.

Li Xiang nodded and said he would consider it. ’The main issue is that I don’t know how much I’ll be able to sell throughout the year. With sales being so sporadic right now, I don’t have a clear picture.’ After all, live-stream selling wasn’t his main profession. His primary focus was farming, enjoying the pastoral life, and increasing his own Extraordinary power.

’But even a simple pastoral life needs money to sustain it. How else could I guarantee a certain quality of life? On the other hand, if I spend too much time chasing money, running myself ragged and ending up as tired as a dog every day, that would defeat my original purpose for coming back here.’

’So, there had to be a balance.’

After being busy for the better part of the day, they finally managed to get all the goods shipped out.

Village Chief Li Jinyu proposed that everyone go out for a celebratory meal first. After eating, they would withdraw the cash and head home to distribute the money!

Hearing this, everyone grew excited, and even Li Xiang felt a surge of happiness.

In truth, Li Xiang himself didn’t earn much from this particular live stream. Although he received over 50,000 in fan gifts and donations, his own sales only amounted to three hundred kilograms of premium winter bamboo shoots.

The winter bamboo shoots he dug up were all plump and large, each one quite heavy, so they were priced at 12 yuan per half-kilogram. His three hundred kilograms earned him a little over 7,000 yuan; the rest belonged to the villagers. After deducting the platform’s commission, taxes, and shipping fees, the final profit was over 370,000 yuan.

Everyone went to a hot pot restaurant and ordered a massive spread that filled the table. The only shame was that they all had to drive, so no one drank any alcohol. You know, a three-wheeler is still a vehicle, and you can’t drink and drive. It leads to trouble.

There was a guy in the village who once rode his three-wheeler to the next village to play mahjong. He had a few drinks before heading back and ended up driving right into a ditch.

Li Xiang had originally wanted to treat everyone, but the village chief said that after Li Xiang had done such a great thing for the village, it wouldn’t be right to let him spend more money. So, the meal was on the village committee.

On the way to the bank, they passed a *guokui* shop with a delicious aroma wafting out. Everyone went to buy some, and Li Xiang bought ten to take back home.

The *guokui* in their county town was one of a kind. The outer crust was crispy, the meat filling was perfectly seasoned, and the texture was superb. They also sold plain, unfilled *guokui*.

The snack known as *guokui* actually originated in the Guanzhong Region before spreading to several neighboring provinces. When Li Xiang had worked in the Southern Province, they had similar flatbreads, but nothing was as authentic as what he could get in his hometown. He hadn’t eaten a proper one in years.

Withdrawing over 370,000 yuan in cash naturally required an appointment. Li Xiang had already called the bank a day in advance, so the process was very smooth when he arrived. As per procedure, a staff member still asked him several questions, all of which Li Xiang answered truthfully.

With phone scams so rampant these days, banks have become much stricter about opening accounts, withdrawing cash, and making transfers. It was a necessary precaution.

When the bank staff heard the money was earned from a live stream to help farmers, they all broke into appreciative smiles. The lobby manager happened to be present and came over to chat with Li Xiang, mentioning that he had also seen the live stream and thought it was very well done.

Since it clearly wasn’t related to any fraud, the withdrawal went off without a hitch.

Of course, the bag used to carry the money couldn’t be too ”luxurious”—the more ordinary, the better. Li Xiang had brought a simple plastic bag. After the cash was packed, he put it inside two layers of woven plastic sacks and simply carried it out.

The lobby manager called out after him, repeatedly reminding him to be extremely careful.

Li Xiang just smiled and gestured toward Village Chief Li Jinyu and his group. ”Thank you, but there are a lot of us.”

At that, everyone laughed.

’In truth, even without the village elders, no one could have easily snatched this money from him, not with his Tier One Extraordinary power.’

The village chief and the other men were very tense, protectively surrounding Li Xiang as their grand procession made its way all the way back to the village.

The villagers were already waiting at the village committee office. In Li Family Village, Li Jinyu served as both the village Party Secretary and the Village Chief. It was permissible to hold both positions, and it was likely that Li Xiang would one day do the same.

This was mainly due to the lack of talent in remote rural areas; not many young people were willing to come back.

After accounting for the platform commission, taxes, and shipping costs, each household received around 15,000 yuan on average. Families that had sold more goods received a bit more, with the highest share being nearly 20,000 yuan and the lowest still over 11,000. For just a few days’ work, this was a huge sum, and the entire village was filled with a festive atmosphere.

Before distributing the money, Village Chief Li Jinyu, with a flair for the ceremonial, took out a string of firecrackers and set them off.

Of course, a speech was also in order. On behalf of the entire village, he expressed their profound gratitude to Li Xiang. The villagers all applauded enthusiastically. Li Xiang offered a few humble words in response, his standing in the village becoming, for that moment, second to none.

Since Li Xiang’s contact information was listed as the sender on all the packages, tracking their status became his unshirkable responsibility.

Just opening the app on his phone and scrolling through all the packages took a long time to reach the end of the list.

’I could probably get away with not checking, but I have a strong sense of responsibility, so I’ll check on them periodically. It’s also a form of after-sales service to maintain my fan base.’

He even created a few group chats and invited his most valued customers to join.

The woman who had been his top supporter during the last stream was in one of the groups, but she was rather aloof and rarely said anything.

’As for returns, I’m sure there will be some, but not many. Everything that shipped out was personally inspected by me, and the quality is first-rate, so there shouldn’t be any major issues. Even if a few pop up, I can just cover the cost out of my own pocket.’

’It wouldn’t be much money anyway. I could just eat any returned items myself—it’s all good food.’

In reality, they could have used bank transfers, but some of the older villagers didn’t have online banking, hadn’t downloaded the apps, and weren’t very familiar with using ATMs. Distributing cold, hard cash that they could actually hold in their hands was far more exciting.

When Li Xiang got home, he gave the *guokui* to his grandmother. For dinner that night, their main course would be boiled *guokui*.

Because his grandmother was getting on in years and had trouble chewing, the *guokui* was cut into pieces and boiled, which made it quite delicious as well.