Chapter 66

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “Nowadays, young people face tremendous pressure from studies and work, and some youngsters in their twenties have worse hair loss problems than us older folks.”

—As said by a nineteen-year-old youngster.

Even if you don’t need hair growth, don’t your sons and daughters need it?!

Better Tomorrow: “You’re absolutely right. When my daughter comes home during the holidays, her hair is everywhere in the house.”

Indifferent: “My son keeps complaining about his receding hairline.”

Ye Chen fully immersed himself in the role of a concerned father: “Exactly, our family has a hereditary issue with hair loss. My son’s hair is already thinning at a young age, just like his uncle’s. They both use our family’s product because it works quickly and stimulates hair growth through therapy, without the need for topical applications or medications. It’s worry-free and safe to use.”

Xuanwu Cub was lying flat on Ye Chen’s lap, dozing in its basin-sized form. Ye Chen stroked Xuan Xuan’s smooth turtle head and gently placed the hair growth device on its little head, feeling morally satisfied.

Seeing the right moment to play the family card, Ye Chen calmly said, “Young people care more about their appearance than we do, but they don’t know how to take care of their bodies as we do. Buying a useful hair growth product for your children, even if they don’t say it, they’ll remember it in their hearts. If you order now, you’ll receive a complimentary exquisite hair growth device storage box. The quantity is limited, and the offer ends when supplies run out.”

Slowly but surely, people began placing orders. While the pace wasn’t overwhelming, the store’s established reputation and its recent promotion to a five-star shop made things much smoother than when Ye Chen first sold pillows.

After stirring things up in the group for a while, Ye Chen copied the chat log and sent it to several other middle-aged and elderly groups. He kept promoting until all 37 units in stock were sold out.

At 288 yuan each, the total revenue from 37 units was 10,656 yuan. After deducting the costs for the storage boxes, packaging, shipping, and Li Li’s 15% commission, Ye Chen pocketed over seven thousand yuan, easily surpassing ten thousand yuan in liquid assets!

Ye Chen howled: “Awoooo—”

Xuan Xuan woke up startled, retracting its head into its shell, leaving only its round eyes peeking out, nervously watching Ye Chen.

Big Brother Qiongqi quickly picked up Xuan Xuan, gently stroking its shell, and said softly, “Don’t be afraid.”

“How much did Gege make selling the pyramid?” Hou Cub leaned its rabbit headover, resting its round face on Ye Chen’s arm, studying the numbers on the phone screen.

“Ah, about seven thousand,” Ye Chen said, making a show of holding his fist against his lips to suppress his grin, and continued with a serious tone, “A small amount compared to the fifteen million yuan I earned from a season of reality TV over the past half month… although it hasn’t actually hit my account.”

Even a pauper has a need to show off!

“How many ice creams is fifteen million yuan worth…?” Hou Cub was trying to calculate with its chubby little hands but was soon carried out with the other cubs and placed in the yard.

“Kids, play outside for a while. I still have work to finish,” Ye Chen said sternly as he locked the door behind him.

Two minutes later…

Ye Chen got up from the floor, his face flushed, hair disheveled, and his old farming jacket covered in dust from a recent tumble.

“Hee hee hee hee hee!” He even showed a lecherous grin!

…

The carefully crafted hair growth devices were packed into boxes, which were then placed into sturdy packaging bags labeled with “Chen Chen Health and Wellness Studio,” and handed over to the courier. One of these packages arrived in the hands of a woman named Lin Yumei.

Ms. Lin Yumei lived in a first-tier city. A local native, she had invested in several small properties in her early years and benefited from the soaring real estate prices. With plenty of spare cash and nothing much to do, she now part-time collects rent and full-time focuses on wellness, being a devoted fan of all sorts of miraculous, unbranded health products.

She was squatting at the door, unpacking the delivery, when her son came back from walking the dog.

Zhang Shaoyuan, twenty-four this year, was a professional game streamer. With good looks compared to many other gaming enthusiasts, he unfortunately inherited a balding pattern from his family. This condition, exacerbated by late nights and smoking, appeared at a very young age. By twenty, signs were already visible, and by twenty-four, it was quite severe. Despite trying various treatments and even attempting a regular schedule, little improvement was seen.

His baldness was written in his genes.

“Come quickly,” Lin Yumei called out as her son returned, “This is a hair growth device imported from Germany. It supposedly uses negative ion therapy principles. Wear it for ten hours a day, and you’ll see results within seven days…”

“…” Zhang Shaoyuan glanced at the sand sculpture ^[1]Ridiculous or silly device, feeling his scalp tighten as though his pores were dying off again, and said, “Aren’t these just a few broken wooden sticks? Tell me, how many thousands did this scammer manage to con you out of this time?”

“What thousands? It’s only 288 yuan, a bargain, and it even comes with a storage box!” Lin Yumei swiftly placed the hair growth device on her son’s head and warned, “You have to wear it. Don’t take it off until you’ve worn it for ten hours.”

Zhang Shaoyuan’s lips twitched.

His mother had spent a lot of time worrying about his premature baldness, but unfortunately, her efforts had not always been effective. Eager for a solution, she had been easily swindled: previously, she had spent tens of thousands on a “cure-all” frequency spectrum chamber, which was actually just a small heated shelter; she had bought three courses of traditional hair growth liquid, which cost about 800 yuan per application, but only made his scalp smoother and more refined, seemingly tightening the pores and making the hair roots even more closed off; the most outrageous was the plasma hair growth cap she bought for several thousand yuan, claiming to heat up, strongly activate the pores…

Strong!

Zhang Shaoyuan said, “Mom, do you even know what plasma is? If this cap really heats up to a plasma state, my head might just disintegrate.”

Lin Yumei stared at him for a moment, aimed, and shot back, “If you weren’t staying up late playing on your phone every day, would I have to worry so much? All you do is stay up late on your phone! If you didn’t play on your phone, would you be this bald?!”

Zhang Shaoyuan: “…”

At least this one is negative ion, not plasma, Zhang Shaoyuan thought. If worse comes to worst, he would just secretly take it off once inside.

“This is from the same store that sold you the effective pillow. Since the pillow worked so well, this hair growth device should be good too,” Lin Yumei added.

Zhang Shaoyuan’s eyes widened. “The same store that sold the pillow?”

He had poor sleep quality due to years of staying up late and sometimes couldn’t fall asleep after staring at the ceiling all night. Two months ago, Lin Yumei had secretly replaced his pillow. Zhang Shaoyuan, unprepared, slept like a dead pig every night, only realizing a month later when Lin Yumei proudly revealed she had swapped his pillow for a health pillow. Zhang Shaoyuan then understood.

That pillow was the only truly effective item among the many health products his mother had spent over two hundred thousand yuan on, costing only 89 yuan each. The seller was not just conscientious but had a heart of gold. Now, all three of them had a health pillow each.

If it’s from that seller…

Zhang Shaoyuan went back to his room, took off the hair growth device, and found it still looked silly. After a moment of hesitation, thinking about the remarkably effective pillow, he decided to give it a try. It couldn’t possibly get worse than it is now.

So, Zhang Shaoyuan took off the wig that he always wore when going out or live streaming.

He had a Mediterranean-style bald spot, with the top of his head completely bald and only some hair follicles remaining on the sides. He was obsessed with his hair; he couldn’t bear to shave or cut the sides too short, so he let them grow a bit longer, roughly equivalent to double ponytails.

He put on the hair growth device after removing the wig and started editing game videos.

…

One week later.

At 9 PM, during the live streaming session, Zhang Shaoyuan appeared with a well-groomed crew cut as he opened the live stream camera.

He was a popular streamer on a well-known gaming video platform. Recently, his account had just surpassed the one million followers milestone. The moment the video went live, his viewers were stunned.

“Hey? Where did the Japanese-style young man go? Why the short haircut?”

“Round crop! The round crop is the romance of a man!”

“…Are you here to watch games or to watch people?”

“Let him cut whatever he wants. Are we playing ‘Devotion’ today?”

Zhang Shaoyuan cleared his throat, put on the hair growth device, and said confidently, “I used to wear wigs, but now, even though it’s short, it’s all real.”

He preferred longer hair, but now the middle had grown out only this much, and he was eager to show off to his viewers.

His familiar fans weren’t surprised—Zhang Shaoyuan’s baldness had become a running joke in the gaming live-streaming circle. The joke originated from Zhang Shaoyuan’s frequent complaints about severe hair loss on Weibo and his occasional posts about the various useless hair growth products his mother bought for him. He had even showcased the plasma cap and “cure-all” frequency spectrum chamber live in his streams, using them while making sarcastic comments. His plasma cap review video had even won the “Weibo Viral Post” achievement… So, although he had never posted a bald photo, his fans knew he suffered from severe hair loss and relied on wigs to maintain his appearance.

“I’ve always had severe hair loss,” Zhang Shaoyuan gestured to his head, “Before, this whole area was completely bald. But last week, my mom bought me yet another hair growth device, promising visible results in seven days. To my surprise, my mom actually got a real one this time…”

“Actually got a real one?”

“Suspicious that the streamer doesn’t know what ‘actually got a real one’ means, hahaha.”

“Hahahahaha, what kind of sand sculpture is the sand sculpture streamer wearing?”

“Isn’t that the pyramid energy generator from Weibo? The store owner emphasized ‘it’s an energy generator, it doesn’t grow hair’.”

Zhang Shaoyuan took off the hair growth device and showed its details in front of the camera, explaining, “This is different from that store’s. This one is a genuine hair growth device, and it’s guaranteed to work. I was planning to make another video mocking health products, but now I can’t.”

At this moment, someone shared their own experience: “Damn! My mom bought me this too the day before yesterday! She forced me to wear it! She checks on me every ten minutes! …But it does seem to work a bit. The bald patches on my head have grown a bit of stubble this morning. I plan to use it for the full seven days.”

Seeing others sharing similar experiences, viewers with the same concerns began asking for the store’s name.

Zhang Shaoyuan confidently said, “It’s called ‘Chen Chen Health and Wellness Center.’ They’re amazing. They only sell two things: this hair growth device and a pillow that helps with sleep. The pillow makes you fall asleep within three minutes, but it seems to be limited edition, with less than two hundred sold a month… So you probably won’t get it. My mom joined that middle-aged and elderly group, and all those old folks set alarms to grab it.”

“Streamer, tell the truth, is this store run by your family?”

Zhang Shaoyuan anticipated this question and replied calmly, “No, if I were promoting my family’s store, I’d need to stock up more, right? That store’s hair growth device inventory shows just over a hundred. Given the store’s usual practices, it’s likely to sell out quickly.”

Some viewers in the comments still suspected it was a paid advertisement. Zhang Shaoyuan didn’t bother to explain further. After years of struggling with hair loss, he knew well the frustration of seeking help without much success and the slow erosion of confidence due to such laughable reasons. He didn’t think too much about it and just wanted to give hope to those suffering like him.

“This store name feels so friendly.”

“Friendly +1, I thought it was opened by my favorite idol, haha.”

“+1, and there are only two products in the store, one of which is only available less than two hundred times a month. It doesn’t seem like a store set up just for making money. Let me indulge in a bit of imagination…”

“Pfft, decoded in a second! Imagining someone secretly running an online store and packaging ridiculous hair growth devices behind their management company is somehow oddly endearing.”

“Hey, the one who dares to call that person ridiculous, that person will deal with you in three days!”

“Hahahaha, is that the person who criticized the media three times for them?”

“…Everyone, please follow the commenting etiquette. Don’t spam unrelated people. Focus on the hair growth device, I mean, focus on the streamer.”

…

The so-called “that person” was completely unaware of this.

All he knew was that ten minutes ago, the backend of his online store suddenly, without any warning, exploded!