“It’s ridiculous. My mom suddenly secretively asked me, “I hear you have several hundred thousand in savings?”
And I was like, “Several hundred thousand?? Since when did I have any savings? Did you give it to me?”
My mom said that my cousin and her mom (my aunt) said so, so I went and asked my cousin, “Why did you tell people I have hundreds of thousands in savings?”
And my sister was like, “? Last time, my mom was asking me what you do for a living and how much money you have, and I got annoyed so I just said, “Maybe he just has a hundred thousand in savings?””
And I was like, “And then your mom told her mom (my grandma). No wonder last time I went to pick something up from home, my grandma secretively asked me how much I had in savings. I told her I didn’t have any and she wouldn’t believe me. But the time it reached my mom’s ears, it had turned into hundreds of thousands in savings. Soon enough, people might think I have a standalone mansion.”
This is how ridiculous rumours get. I’m never going to get to know anyone through other people’s mouths. I gotta actually see them.”
Comments say, “So, you have a million in savings?”
“I hear you’ve gotten yourself a sugar mommy and now you’re being a sugar baby.”
“Keep it going. I hear he saves a million a day!”
#Beware of hydrofluoric acid in cleaning solutions. “On the 15th of September, Hangzhou City, Yuhang District, Xianlin Street Office posted an announcement that on the 9th of September, Ms. Tu (female, 52-years-old) was walking in an empty area near Xianlin Street when she accidentally came into contact into discarded hydrofluoric acid and became poisoned. She unfortunately passed away at the hospital in the early morning hours of the 14th of September. After the police received the call, they immediately launched an investigation. The environmental protection agency has rendered the place harmless in accordance with regulations. The Street Office is working hard at following up on this case. So far, the cause of this event is still under investigation.
Previously, according to media reports, on the evening of the 14th of September, commenter “LIV Yuanbao” posted claiming that her mother went on a walk at 9AM and accidentally stepped into a puddle of hydrofluoric acid. She immediately lost the ability to walk and was diagnosed with hydrofluoric acid poisoning when she arrived at the hospital. By 3PM, she was presenting with symptoms of heart failure, cessation of breathing, and was admitted to the ICU. That night, she died from heart and lung failure.
Hydrofluoric acid may sound familiar, but the cleaning solutions that most people keep in their homes might contain this component. Hydrofluoric acid is the solution of hydrogen fluoride gas melted in water. It’s colourless but has a harsh smell and is highly acidic. It can corrode through metal, glass, silicates, and even human bones. It can be called a terrifying “bone-melter”. It’s not rare to see patients accidentally burnt by hydrofluoric acid. Doctors remind people that many cleaning products contain highly acidic or basic components and people need to put on proper protective measures. Before cleaning, put on gloves to avoid coming in contact with the cleaning solution with your hands. Put on a face mask to avoid the cleaning solution agitating your respiratory tract. Put on eye-protection in case the cleaning solution splatters into your eye and causes damage.”
Comments say, “Hydrofluoric acid is a dangerous chemical that only professional cleaning solutions in very specific fields would contain. Who the hell would keep something like this at home?”
“What an odd topic. What kind of chores would ever bring you into contact with hydrofluoric acid?”
“Let’s resolve why something so acidic would randomly appear in an empty lot first. Who’s at fault here?”
A compilation of a user’s post on Rednote:
“In 2015, I was working at a cable harness factory for winter break, and at Decathlon for summer break. In 2025, I’m working in state government.”
“My first family photo, taken at my doctorate graduation. My family lives in the oldest house in the village, but it has produced the first doctorate in the village. Poverty doesn’t break someone with ambition. I have the will to kick through my family’s poverty.”
“My mom is coming to Beijing for the first time after spending half her life working in the fields in order to attend my doctorate graduation ceremony. She took this photo in front of Tian’anmen Square. She says she’s going to get it printed out, mumbling, “My daughter’s taking care of me. I never thought I could leave our town to come so far away. This might be the only time in my life I come here.” Honestly, my parents took care of me. The flourishing of a family takes three generations of hard work. If my parents didn’t support me with everything they had, I wouldn’t have my accomplishments today.”
[A screenshot of her thesis presentation which is something about satellites? This is way outside of my understanding.]
“End of August, start of school. My father is driving me to the train station again, but this time, I’m not going to school as a student, but to work there now. I’m going to keep working hard towards my dreams.”
Comments say, ”Punching through your family’s poverty, at least for the next three generations. That’s awesome, sis. And your captions are so low-key.”
“Oh my god, at only 26-years-old, graduated from a doctorate from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is a professor at a top university…Your destiny lies in the stars. Even fictional novels wouldn’t make up a plot like this.”
“Her parents know to support her and not make her marry early and have kids. This is why kids from normal families can’t accomplish what OP has, and is the hardest step to accomplish.”
“My mom didn’t let me pursue postgrad education because she wanted to save money. I knew she didn’t want to give me money, so I just graduated and started looking for work. The first year of work, they found a breast nodule that was already 2cm. The doctor suggested surgery, and she told me it can wait until after I’m married so my in-laws can pay for it…so I worked hard and saved up a bunch of money and finally had enough to remove the nodule, but the pathologist said that it had already become malignant.”
#Luo Yonghao tells Yu Donglai to stay out of this. “Luo Yonghao [famous influencer and tech startup] once again posted on the 15th of September regarding Yu Donglai, founder of Pang Donglai [a tremendously successful supermarket chain known for taking good care of their employees] posting about Xibei. Luo Yonghao claims, “President Yu, I’ve always respected you as an entrepreneur. I hope you don’t become misdirected by internet comments and get yourself involved in this before you understand the truth and damage your own reputation. Over the last few days, I think it’s become clear to everyone that if anyone in this world truly wants to ruin Xibei, it would be President Jia [founder of Xibei] himself.””
Comments say, “Yu Donglai is a hero of the 1.4 billion people. Nobody can hate on him in these circumstances. You don’t have to waste your time, Mr. Luo. And from my point of view, Yu Donglai probably just wants to save the business and give them a chance to fix their mistake and protect tens of thousands of workers and put food on their tables for their families. Cornering people isn’t a great strategy. Let’s settle internal problems in a peaceful way.”
“Luo-san, aren’t you going to go back to your island to make your hometown’s precooked food?”
“President Jia’s already said that he doesn’t have to keep Xibei going if he doesn’t want to.”
“I just thought of Chicecream, a great brand that fell because of its own arrogance and the negative press that drew.
Is Chicecream really an ice cream assassin? [If you’ve ever been to an Asian market you might know that ice cream in China is just piled in a freezer with no price markings. You pick one out and take it up to the register and sometimes get surprised when the price is ten times what you predicted, hence “ice cream assassin”—they kill your wallet unexpectedly.]
I think at least in the early days, the answer is no.
In the early days, on online platforms, everyone knew it was expensive. Its users knew better than anyone. They were buying it because of the brand name, because they were attracted to the idea of a better lifestyle, or because they just enjoy it. Its expensiveness was never hidden. But the fact that an ice cream was this arrogant was enough to draw hate.
Another reason to Chicecream’s bankruptcy is that it expanded too fast. In 2020, it sank into 200 cities and over 400,000 ice boxes. A bunch of imitators followed right in suit and caused the “ice cream assassin” phenomenon. But as far as Chicecream was concerned, the future was bright. As a leader of the industry, it and its followers are training users…
At the same period, Naixue and Lelecha are all cutting prices.
Chicecream had a cost issue too. Its cold storage costs were always at 46%, significantly higher than the 32% industry average. They buy all their raw ingredients from other producers too, so their price is pushed high by that.
Chicecream desperately needed higher profit margins.
Chicecream died because of a batch of “luxury ice cream” priced at 66-88RMB. In 2021, they spent all year pushing out the “rose lychee”, “persimmon”, “cheese”, and “pear blossom” flavours. In order to promote these new flavours, Chicecream invited all kinds of influencers to post reviews daily. Their sales volume on Tianmao were rising at a ridiculous rate every day. This is when the rumours about it not melting and being made from Carrageenan started up.
And immediately afterwards, a speech by Chicecream’s founder Lin Sheng went viral. He talked about a Ecuadorian Pink Diamond ice cream that acme out in 2018 priced at 66RMB, which cost 40RMB to produce. His famous line, “Take it or leave it,” completely destroyed Chicecream’s reputation.
Lin Sheng said he was clipped out of context. His original line was, “Our suppliers say this is what it costs, take it or leave it.” Which was turned into the host asking him, “Why is Chicecream so expensive?” And Linsheng replying, “Take it or leave it.”
Lin Sheng sued that media company and that host and made them pay 2.3 million RMB, with the media company paying 2 million, and the host paying 300K.
But today, who cares about the outcome of that lawsuit? Chicecream has become a distant memory of the past. What people remember is Lin Sheng’s arrogance.
At the time, a lot of people say that an ice cream made out of carrageenan should only cost 5RMB, and now, a original flavour Chicecream that was 16RMB at the time only costs 7RMB now…
It’s infinitely close to the viral comment. I almost want to buy it again.”
Comments say, “I’ve never tried Chicecream to this day.”
“I’ve heard about Chicecream so many times and now I kind of regret never trying them. I kind of want to try it once.”
“It’s better than Magnum.”