CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 46: THE COLORFUL RED

As expected.

Little Yellow said he would get up at 3:30 to watch the flag-raising, but the next day, Chu River had finished lunch by the time he sleepily walked out of his room.

Little brother felt extremely aggrieved.

"Sis, to climb the Great Wall makes one a hero, not seeing the flag-raising makes my trip to Beijing futile. How did I miss it?"

Chu River pondered.

"Well, since we haven’t come up with anything, letting you roam around spending money isn’t right—so here’s the thing, I’ve seen people online sending deliveries to the Great Wall, why don’t you go work as a temporary employee for a while?"

Little Yellow: "..."

Shocked JPG.

—That’s impossible.

He looked at his own skinny legs, feeling the shabbiness through his ripped jeans.

"It’s not that bad, sis, I don’t actually want to see the Great Wall, I just wanted to join the fun."

Chu River laughed and seemed pretty understanding.

"I get it, I get it, young people, right? Who doesn’t have a dream or two? Feel free to say what you wish, I’ll arrange whatever I can for you."

Little brother stood up very energetically:

"Don’t worry, sis! I’ve come to Beijing to be a part of your business, not to enjoy myself. We’re at the toughest point in our startup, how could I think of traveling? It’s not appropriate!"

Chu River nodded, feeling her coaching had been quite effective.

"Alright then, come inside, let’s talk about what research we should tackle first, how we’ll do it, and how we’ll make money from it afterward?"

Little brother was quite aware of his own limitations, clearly having done his homework after going back to his room last night.

He was full of confidence:

"Sis, in this world, it’s easiest to make money off women and children."

"But kids’ stuff usually involves safety factors, which I don’t know much about, yet..."

He discreetly swallowed the unfinished words: "In any case, we should be cautious when dealing with children."

Doing research isn’t that simple; let’s start with something more grounded, just in case something goes wrong, the worst is to lose money without harming people’s health.

Little brother mulled over it, feeling his thinking was meticulous without overlooking anything, and adjusted the business direction:

"How about this, sis, the first thing we make is lipstick."

"It’s said that no girl can resist lipstick, I’ve seen on sites, all sorts of random colors sell like crazy once they get a new name."

Little brother recalled the livestream he watched last night of a female host applying lipstick and cleared his throat:

"So we’ll take a different approach, striving to make everyone unable to resist its beauty—a lipstick that applies in rainbow colors!"

Chu River: "..."

Rainbow colors?

She immediately got up and left.

This little brother is really not worth having, just throw him out.

Little Yellow panicked: "Sis, sis, don’t go, don’t you think there’s logic to what I’m saying? This lipstick will definitely sell well."

He carefully reviewed his own reasoning, no flaws at all!

Could it be that his big sis doesn’t have aesthetic taste, not aligning with the current young girls’ preferences?

But big sis mentioned, aside from those two or three million, the startup phase doesn’t have the budget to hire product managers or trial color testers...

Students fresh out of school have this advantage, thinking logically; when big sis said two or three million is "only" two or three million, he didn’t feel it was a lot.

After all, the world of adults is quite distant for someone who’s just graduated high school!

The high-school graduate brother contemplated deeply, eventually finding another path—

"Or how about this, you cut costs down and target kids. My little cousin loves applying lipstick. Once the product is ready, put it on short video platforms and get someone to promote it—my god, you’ll sell like crazy, you’ll be the lipstick queen!"

"If it’s so popular..."

Chu River looked at him coldly: "Then why don’t you dye your hair in rainbow colors?"

Little brother felt quite aggrieved too.

"I’ve thought about it, I asked the stylist for highlights, switching different colors, but that’s a different price. This yellow was dyed by myself at home, see, after bleaching, I didn’t nourish my hair, so it’s kind of coarse."

Chu River: "..."

My apologies.

For the first time, she felt a stunning shock to the soul from Mountain and Sea Star’s aesthetic.

Originally thought that the retro era meant aesthetics also returned to traditional, not appearing like the Star Sea Federation where hair is sprayed with transparent invisible coating for odd aesthetic dyeing...

Never expected this.

She finally seriously considered little brother’s idea.

"You’re right, I should respect your preferences—but if I dive into lipstick, I’ll seem more like a businesswoman and less a researcher."

Especially such glamorous research.

So, let’s change it.

Little brother didn’t get discouraged, reached into his pants pocket to pull out a piece of paper with several crookedly written phrases.

"Well if cosmetics isn’t the plan to make money, we’ve got to switch directions."

"Still, sis, the remaining fields all require core competitiveness, do we have it?"

As if rainbow-colored lipstick doesn’t have core competitiveness.

Chu River confidently lifted her chin: "My brains are the core competitiveness."

One dared to say, one dared to listen.

Little brother, being academically challenged, didn’t know the struggles of research, instead showing full confidence, proceeded seriously.

"With core competitiveness, we need fast market capture, boost our reputation, make big money, so it requires developing indispensable things for people!"

"Like toothpaste and toothbrushes, soap and laundry powder..."

Little brother spoke up to this point, suddenly looking at Chu River expectantly:

"Sis, can you create a laundry detergent or powder that makes my white shoes, when soaked, come out clean and bright as new?"

Chu River looked down.

"Aren’t these brown?"

The harm isn’t significant, but the insult is immense.

...

Although, little brother’s ideas were a bit all over the place, upon careful consideration, Chu River found a unique perspective behind them.

Not to mention starting with those small items that everyone needs, indeed seemed to gain her reputation quickly.

Thus further enhancing her influence field.

This way, finally meeting Chang Geng’s requirements?

She decided firmly: "Alright, I’ll research, let’s do this laundry powder!"

Then came the question—

She had absolutely no experience in biochemical and household chemistry!

After all, in the Star Sea Era, who washes clothes? Isn’t this all done by household robots?

Since arriving at Mountain and Sea Star she hadn’t seriously washed, in summer, changing two sets a day, each time using spiritual power to vibrate detergent when washed in water...

So, where do you start with the laundry powder formula?

Chu River sat in front of the computer, contemplated deeply, skimmed through several chemical companies’ formula archives, viewed their production monitoring, and reported eleven unhygienic, messy, non-compliant small brands...

Yet until the evening, she hadn’t come up with a single chemical formula.

Faced with little brother’s expectant gaze, Chu River’s expression remained unchanged, but she inwardly sighed—

This core formula for household products is tougher than fixing the Hover Shuttle!