Twenty years after the dawn of the new century, on a summer evening, the topic #DuShiGroupWhatOtherFlavorsDoYouStillHaveThatWeDontKnowAbout# suddenly trended.
The topic originated from a netizen's business trip.
"My god, it's truly amazing. Two days ago, I was sent on a business trip to Helin by my company. It was already late when I arrived, so I went to a local convenience store, planning to grab something quick to eat and make do.
And guess what I saw.
Sparkling water with the flavor of frozen pears, potato chips with the taste of roasted silkworm pupae, and even frozen lychee candied hawthorns. Even the instant noodles were a 'dajiang' flavor I'd never seen before!
And these were all produced by DuShi Group.
I'm quite an old user of DuShi Group, but I've never seen these things sold where I'm from. It's truly magical. How many more strange flavors does DuShi Group have that we don't know about?"
This comment kicked things off.
The related topic's popularity quickly skyrocketed.
"I just want to say that anyone who asks such a question must be on their first business trip, or at least their first trip to a relatively far place. Because anyone who travels frequently knows that DuShi Group doesn't just sell snacks, but all sorts of other products regionally. Some things are only sold in certain places.
They've even become childhood memories for locals.
When moving out of town, they have to ask locals to help them purchase and mail items, or find ways to buy them online. "
"I really know this. My favorite chili sauce back home was produced by a chili sauce branch factory under DuShi Group, called 'Qinghong Duojiao Sauce.' In our local area, you could find it in any supermarket, even in small convenience stores.
But ever since I came to this southernmost city to study, I haven't seen this chili sauce in any supermarket. When I asked locals, they mostly looked confused and didn't know about it at all.
I can only ask my mom to mail some over.
But later, I kind of understood why that chili sauce wasn't sold in the city I'm currently in. Back home, I could eat a bottle of this chili sauce in two days without any issues. But after coming here,
If I eat a little too much Qinghong Duojiao Sauce,
I'm guaranteed to get pimples on my face the next day, which makes me afraid to eat it now. It's probably due to the environment.
What's strange is that it's fine when I eat it back home."
"What I know about is the difference in tangyuan. This seems to have little to do with region. It should be divided by the prosperity of the city, right? In my hometown, a small county town, they don't sell durian-flavored tangyuan.
But in the big city where I work,
You can find durian-flavored tangyuan in most supermarkets.
A box costs 49.9 yuan. But I think it's normal. Tangyuan less than a pound for 49.9 yuan, how many people in a small county town can afford to buy it? It's better not to sell it!"
"I wonder if any of you have bought枇杷 (pípa - loquat) canned fruit and 水蜜桃 (shuǐmìtáo - water peach) canned fruit. These two types of canned fruit probably aren't very common either. I've only seen them sold in stores in a few provinces near me, otherwise, you can only buy them online."
"Have you seen mango canned fruit?
They don't sell it here; it's always exported."
"You might not believe it, but they sell 牛瘪 (niúbiē - fermented bovine bile) hot pot base here. It's really terrifying."
"They sold spicy fresh meat tangyuan here."
"I bought steamed buns with potato filling."
"In our local standard breakfast stalls, there are often steamed buns with abalone filling and fish maw chicken filling."
"The meat夹 (jiā - sandwiched) in our lotus root cakes is fish."
"We have sea cucumber mixed noodles here. It's not the sea cucumber mixed noodles from the skit, it's really mixed noodles with sea cucumber in them. It's also a ready-to-eat product from DuShi Group.
You just need to heat it in the microwave for a few minutes."
"After browsing through, I feel like I've seen the world. I've never heard of so many things!"
"Honestly, talking only about varieties isn't comprehensive. I once bought dried apricots sold in my local area and dried apricots sold in another province far from mine. The dried apricots from the outer province were much more sour than those from my province.
They almost made my teeth ache.
It's said to be to cater to the public taste of each province."
"So that's how it is. When I was studying abroad, I ate dried apricots labeled as produced in our country and also by DuShi Group. Those dried apricots were so sweet they almost killed me.
At the time, I thought I had bought a fake product. Now it seems it was indeed to cater to the public taste of people in different regions, because the majority of people in the country where I studied were extremely fond of sweets, to the point of being cloyingly sweet!"
"Wow, I've always felt tired of all the snacks sold locally. I didn't expect there to be so many surprises elsewhere, and snacks with different flavors from our local ones. Is anyone willing to help me buy some?"
"Why doesn't DuShi Group open more online stores and sell all the flavors, and even different types of snacks and other products in their online stores? Although the flavors from other provinces might not suit people in our province, we still want to try them out of curiosity! Really curious!!"
"We can contact customer service and ask."
...
Under the influence of this topic, how many people discovered for the first time that certain flavored foods were only sold in their area and nowhere else? How many people learned at this moment that the taste of certain foods they bought locally might be different when bought elsewhere? This wasn't buying fake products.
It was a deliberate adjustment made by the company.
Although many people knew about this situation in the past, they were still a minority. The number of people who knew now far surpassed the number then.
After learning about this situation, besides being amazed by DuShi Group's thoughtfulness, people were mostly curious about what other provincial snacks and foods tasted like. What were the differences from their own province? Were there any that might suit their taste?
Times have changed. In the past, people valued taste more. Nowadays, although most people still prefer good taste, curiosity and the fact that they have money to spare have led them to develop a greater sense of novelty.
And they are willing to pay for this novelty.
If it doesn't taste good, they just won't buy it again.
Faced with this situation, and with many people contacting customer service hoping to see all flavors of snacks and other products sold online, Ding Yun finally agreed to the proposal of selling all flavored products online.
However, she required that each product's description page should detail the specific taste experience and remind people to purchase rationally.
Besides this, Ding Yun only launched all the domestic flavors. Foreign flavors were still not launched because she felt that although the flavor differences in China were significant, most were still acceptable. Foreign flavor differences might be too extreme to accept.
Consumption must ultimately be rational.
This point should not only be required of buyers but also noted by the sellers themselves during the sales process.
At this point, the topic's popularity gradually subsided.
The changes brought about were mainly twofold. Firstly, the sales volume of DuShi Group's products slightly increased. Secondly, many people developed a habit of browsing DuShi Group's online stores for treasures. "Treasure hunting" meant looking for new flavors and buying old flavors they hadn't tried before.
Perhaps they might find something they really liked.
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On July 12, 2045, Ding Yun passed away.
The result of her will announcement was that she bequeathed all her remaining shares to a person named Liu Xin.
For a time, everyone and the media were in an uproar, discussing and investigating why this person named Liu Xin received such a gift.
"This is truly ridiculous. I thought DuShi Group would undoubtedly be handed over to someone surnamed Du, but why is it now someone surnamed Liu? Could it be that Du Zhongxia, who has always claimed to be unmarried and childless, secretly had a child?
But she's not a celebrity or anything.
Why would she do something like that?"
"Liu Xin is probably not a descendant of Du Zhongxia. If Liu Xin were truly Du Zhongxia's child or granddaughter, the will would surely state that my inheritance be given to my daughter, granddaughter, or granddaughter-in-law, etc.
So, even if they weren't strangers, their relationship wouldn't be too close, and the possibility of a blood relationship is even lower!"
"I remember that Du Zhongxia had a younger brother. I thought she had no children and would leave her inheritance to her brother's children. It seems the relationship between the siblings wasn't very good."
"By the way, will DuShi Group be alright?
If I remember correctly, Du Zhongxia stepped in to resolve several major crises for DuShi Group in the past. Moreover, Du Zhongxia herself is a core R&D personnel of DuShi Group. The company's best-selling products are all Du Zhongxia's achievements. Now that she's gone, I'm afraid the brand will be ruined.
I'm so worried there won't be any new products in the future."
"We don't know who that Liu Xin is, and they've suddenly received a windfall. We also don't know if they have the ability. What if they turn out to be a prodigal and squander DuShi Group in a few years? This is the downside of not getting married or having children. What's the point of having money if there's no heir?
It can only be given to an outsider!"
"By the way, how old is that Liu Xin?
If they're not married yet, do we have a chance to become rich by marrying into wealth?"
"I guess they're definitely not young."
"Perhaps the woman is thirty..."
"I know, that Liu Xin is a classmate at our school, because I've already seen cars entering our school. The lawyer who got out of the car is the one who read the will in the video earlier."
"That might not necessarily be a classmate!
What if it's a teacher, or the dean?"
"Quick, go look at the information from Helin Media. They've already contacted DuShi Group's internal staff and executives.
They've learned about Liu Xin's identity.
Link: /"
.........
"The Mystery of Liu Xin's Identity"
After multiple contacts by our media, we have finally obtained information from some insiders and understood Liu Xin's relationship with Ms. Du Zhongxia.
Liu Xin's grandfather is Liu Dekai. Liu Dekai's mother is Du Hongying, and Du Hongying's father is Du Furú. Du Furú's father is Du Zhong, and Du Zhong's father is called Du Heyun. Du Heyun's father is Du Birong.
And Ms. Du Zhongxia was raised by Du Birong. The specific details are documented in Ms. Du Zhongxia's encyclopedia, which you can check if you're interested.
After Du Birong adopted Ms. Du Zhongxia, he registered her under his grandson, Du Gang.
Du Gang died prematurely at the age of twelve, unmarried and without children.
Therefore, in terms of辈分 (bèifèn - generation/lineage), Ms. Du Zhongxia and Mr. Du Furú are of the same generation. Old Mr. Du Birong, back then, thought all his descendants had passed away.
Those whose remains couldn't be found might have been completely annihilated.
And Ms. Du Zhongxia, after accumulating some assets, had been investigating the situation at the time through various channels. Although she didn't expect to find anyone, she still hoped to find remains, even just bones, to bring back and bury next to her great-grandfather's grave.
She investigated for nearly forty years.
And only then did she confirm that Du Zhong had one survivor.
And found the descendants of their lineage.
So, although the blood relationship between Liu Xin and Ms. Du Zhongxia is so distant that it can almost be considered non-existent, Ms. Du Zhongxia was grateful to Old Mr. Du Birong. After recognizing their lineage, she took good care of them.
And she recognized Liu Xin's ability.
This is why she chose to entrust her remaining shares to her.
It was both to find a successor for the group and to repay the kindness of Old Mr. Du Birong from decades ago.
Ms. Du Zhongxia's gratitude is truly astonishing. This editor, in all honesty, if I were Ms. Du Zhongxia, even without descendants, I would find it hard to part with my fortune and give it to an outsider.
"This is too outrageous. So what exactly is their relationship? I'm getting dizzy looking at so many names, and I can't figure out their blood connection. Also, don't they have anyone else in their family?
Are there no people surnamed Du?"
"Although it's strange, I don't think it's unreasonable. Regardless, Du Zhongxia survived thanks to Old Mr. Du Birong, and even her initial capital came from Mr. Du Birong's inheritance.
If she had children, that would be another matter. In the absence of children, it's understandable to give it to Liu Xin!"
"Why don't I have such ancestors?"
"Regardless, I'm so envious and jealous that I can't sleep. Ancestors, you're not doing enough!"
"By the way, why are you so angry? The people with the most complex emotions right now should be the descendants of Du Zhongxia's younger brother. In terms of blood relationship, they are the closest relatives to Du Zhongxia, but not only did they get no shares, they didn't even get any dividends. Isn't that tragic enough?"
"I don't know what deep hatred there is."
"I'm so envious. Someone woke up and became the heir to hundreds of billions in assets. I woke up and still have to deal with the client's complaints, revise drafts, and work overtime 996...
I really want to be reborn!"
"Stop talking, or I'll be heartbroken."
"I was quite happy yesterday after finally paying off my 30-year mortgage from 2015. But after seeing this news, I suddenly felt like I wasn't that happy anymore."
"If it weren't for the rapid currency depreciation over the years, just the decline in housing prices would have made me furious..."
"What are you looking at? Stop looking and hurry back to work. Now even slacking off is recorded. If you slack off for too long, you'll be fired directly."
"I have only one question: are there no special offers for the passing of DuShi Group's helmsman? Even if there aren't.
Then, when that Liu Xin takes over and inherits,
Will there be any promotional activities?"
"You're sick! Have you ever seen a major group holding a promotion after their CEO dies?
What's the difference between that and dancing on a grave?"
"Some people have limited experience. I once saw a situation where the boss died, and the boss's wife, not interested in running the business, held a storewide sale.
Starting from 20% off..."
"emmmm..."
"As expected, people's joys and sorrows are not shared."
"They were never shared, okay? No matter how sad someone else's family member dies, I just think they're too loud at home and disturbing me.
Because their death has nothing to do with me?"
"DuShi's online store has turned black and white..."
"They think it's mourning, but customers will most likely just feel unlucky and not want to buy anymore..."
"No, if they have a promotional event later, a large number of people will still flock in and buy again!"
...