Chapter 7: Household Appliances as the Modern Hua Tuo, the Greatest Nemesis of Government Subsidies

Six o'clock in the evening.

After a grueling day, Wei Xiu finally ended his livestream. Lying back on his sofa chair, he stared blankly at the ceiling, his mind replaying everything that had happened today.

Truth be told, repairing a tank was much more satisfying than fixing a kettle. In the process of the repair, Wei Xiu had mastered the core manufacturing techniques of the Type 59 tank series. If he had the right equipment, it wouldn't be impossible for him to hand-craft a Type 59 from scratch. If he ever got tired of the appliance repair business, couldn't he just build tanks and sell them to clients in the Middle East for a massive profit?

The only pity was that this kind of opportunity was a one-time thing; he figured he could only master the manufacturing process for the 59.

"Sigh!"

Thinking of this, Wei Xiu smiled faintly, pushed away his distracting thoughts, and entered the system.

[Congratulations, Host!]
[Limited-time challenge successful!]
[Received: 4 million repair points]
[Current repair points: 9.46 million]

Seeing the reward, Wei Xiu felt relaxed and content. The growth rate of his repair points had been extremely fast these past few days, almost catching up to the total he had earned over the past year. It really paid to embrace the internet age. Ever since he started livestreaming, his reputation had spread far and wide. Not only were the local villagers coming to him, but customers from neighboring provinces—like "Brother Girl"—had also traveled specifically to see him, adding much popularity to his shop.

Beyond that, the livestream provided both emotional and financial value. Since he started, his account had accumulated 450,000 in revenue. And even then, Wei Xiu often advised his viewers to spend rationally and urged the wealthy ones to refrain from tipping too much. If he were less scrupulous and just harvested viewers like leeks, that figure could easily have been ten times higher.

He had already planned how to use this money. With 80,000, he could rent the small courtyard next door. He could expand his auto repair business using both storefronts. The small courtyard could serve as both a workshop and a warehouse. With a bit more money spent on lifts, machine tools, and other equipment, he would soon be able to scale up his business and reach new heights.

[New task initiated!]
[Would you like to view it?]

Wei Xiu was enjoying the momentum, so when he saw the text in his mind, he answered without hesitation.

"Open it!"

[Limited-time task: Reach 1 million followers within one month.]
[Reward: Industrial Mother Machine *1]
[Do you accept?]

"Accept!"

Wei Xiu wouldn't be a man if he hesitated for even a second. It was exactly what he needed—like a pillow appearing just as he was getting sleepy. It was simply marvelous. He had just been thinking that the key to growing his business was buying machine tools, and now, an industrial mother machine had arrived! It was perfect.

An industrial mother machine is a machine used to manufacture other machine tools. In other words, with this equipment, Wei Xiu would have the capability to manage the entire industrial chain. Need an engine? He could build a machine that produces engines. With the mother machine in hand, theoretically, he could produce anything by simply inputting the parameters. From small home appliances and mobile phones to airplanes and ships, there would be absolutely no bottlenecks.

However, one must endure hardship to become a master. Currently, Wei Xiu only had 180,000 followers, still quite a distance from the 1 million mark.

How could he gain 720,000 followers in a month? The shortcuts for gaining followers were limited. Chasing trends felt beneath him, doing PK battles made him feel like a beggar, and pandering with suggestive content didn't work since he was a man. After much thought, sticking to the repair niche seemed the most reliable path. Only by providing high-quality, professional content and capturing the audience's curiosity could he gain followers in a stable and sustainable way.

But repairing kettles wasn't eye-catching enough; he needed to find something more challenging to fix. He would have to give this some serious thought.

...

The next day.

Wei Xiu hadn't come up with a brilliant plan, so he started his livestream as usual. Since it was market day in town, there were many customers. In just one morning, he repaired 8 kettles, 2 electric griddles, and 4 rice cookers. Even though the netizens knew this was standard procedure for Wei Xiu, the chat was still filled with exclamations.

"The Hua Tuo of home appliances, the greatest nemesis of government subsidies—you truly live up to the name."
"Who understands the sense of salvation when a coupler is fixed?"
"In this age of appliance decay, I never expected to see such a master."
"10 yuan is truly a conscientious price."
"He charged the same price before he became famous."
"You've moved a profiteer like me. From tonight on, I'll only sell my stale braised chicken to college students."
"Your stream moved me, so I decided to support you with 50,000. I've put the money in my wallet's 'Easy Loan' app; just open it and apply."

Watching the influx of new IDs into the chat, a glint of satisfaction crossed Wei Xiu's eyes. You had to admit, these netizens might be good for nothing else, but they were top-tier at making jokes.

While he was lost in thought, a rhythmic *put-put-put* engine sound came from outside. Wei Xiu walked out to find an elderly man riding a tricycle, carrying a washing machine. With a casual glance, text appeared in his mind: [Timer damaged].

"Old timer, is the washing machine only spinning in one direction?"

Wei Xiu's preemptive answer left the old man bewildered. "You knew the problem just by looking?"

Wei Xiu had already pulled out his screwdriver. "It's always like this when you've repaired enough of them."

He removed the back panel, unplugged the connector, and took out the new timer. With needle-nose pliers, he stripped the wires, connected them to the new timer, and wrapped them in electrical tape. He then secured the timer and tightened the screws on the back panel. It was all done in one fluid motion, taking less than two minutes.

The chat was stunned, staring at the screen in confusion.

"The streamer is so fast!"
"Wait, has the streamer's skill improved again?"
"How did you know what was wrong just by looking?"
"Blind repair? Is that even possible?"
"Is the streamer bound to some kind of system?"
"I graduated with a degree in electromechanical engineering, and I truly admire you. We have to stare at the circuit board for ages to find a fault."

Before anyone could blink, the tally of washing machines repaired went up by one. It was truly incredible.

While everyone was still immersed in the satisfaction of the quick repair, Wei Xiu only charged the old man 15 yuan and even helped him lift the washing machine back onto the tricycle.

At this point, the chat was a mix of silent men and weeping women.

"A truly conscientious streamer!"
"If you aren't on 'Touching China' this year, I'm not watching."
"If this had been Woodpecker Repair, wouldn't they have charged 450?"
"The person above just predicted the future. I had my washing machine fixed two days ago, and it cost me 450 just for a broken water pipe."
"The streamer earns 400-500 a day, Woodpecker earns 400-500 per order."
"@WoodpeckerRepair, come out and take your beating."

...

Meanwhile, at Woodpecker Repair headquarters, Chen Zhongyi was furious as he looked at the private messages in his backend. Over five hundred messages, all filled with abuse. And there were countless netizens tagging their official account, telling them to go watch Wei Xiu's stream. Chen Zhongyi couldn't help but switch to his own account and enter the stream.

At that very moment, the chat was entirely dedicated to criticizing Woodpecker Repair, using the most vile language.

"Who the hell did I offend?!"

Chen Zhongyi threw his phone onto the desk. He vented his powerless rage on the two vice presidents standing before him. The company had already been dealing with enough negative press, with various media outlets reporting on them, and the PR department couldn't keep up. Now, because of Wei Xiu's sudden fame, netizens were constantly dragging Woodpecker Repair out to be ridiculed.

Chen Zhongyi couldn't take it anymore and turned to the vice president in charge of public relations.

"It's one thing for the media to pick on us."
"But why should some backwater influencer who does livestreams get to do this?"
"Before the sun sets, I want this guy gone!"

The PR vice president asked tentatively, "Gone from the internet, or...?"

"Everything!" Chen Zhongyi roared in a fit of impotent rage. "First, get the Yinlang platform to ban his channel. Then, send people to deal with him in person. I can't touch the media, but I can't touch a poor loser like this?"