The Day You Choose Someone Else

During the Double Eleven shopping festival, I streamed live for eighteen hours every day. I sold all the mangoes in Leverant Village.

That night, the village chief handed me the payment QR code.

“Lora, you’ve been streaming for more than ten days and have eaten hundreds of pounds of mangoes from our village. Now, a pound of mango sells for more than 1,4 dollars. You’ve been busy for half a month, so we won’t ask for much. Just pay 1,4 dollars per pound.”

The villagers all agreed. “That’s right, Lora, you’re already a big internet celebrity. Don’t take advantage of us villagers.”

I was a little surprised.

After all, for the past half month, I had been helping the villagers sell mangoes for free. I didn’t earn a single cent in commission.

And now they wanted me to pay for the mangoes I tasted during the livestream? I laughed in anger and immediately scanned them for 4,000 dollars.

Two months later, the second batch of mangoes ripened.

The village chief came to me again. “Lora, livestream for a few days and help us sell the new mangoes too!”

I took a contract out of my bag and handed it to him. “Mr. Brown, I now have 30 million fans. The commission for selling one batch is 70,000 dollars. Payment first, livestream later.”

——

The last live stream of Double Eleven was over and my throat was completely hoarse.

For the past two weeks, we had been staring at the screen for eighteen hours a day. Welsey in the team was so tired that he fell asleep right in the chair backstage.

I took out my phone and sent each of them some money, then cleared my tight, sore throat. "Thank you all for working so hard these past two weeks. While other streamers are fighting for traffic and making money during Double Eleven, we’ve been here helping the villagers sell mangoes for free. I know you all gave up a lot of business opportunities. I really appreciate it."

My assistant Yovie rubbed her red eyes. “Lora, you’re the one who worked the hardest. You’ve turned down at least hundreds of dollars’ worth of deals over these two weeks…”

Welsey was awake now, his voice hoarse too. “Exactly. You spent your own money to rent equipment and pay for logistics just to help the villagers, without taking a single cent in commission. Lora, you’re way too kind.”

I looked at the piles of mango boxes in the warehouse and felt a warm sense of satisfaction. Being able to help the villagers sell their mangoes was worth it even if I earned a little less.

The warehouse door creaked open. The village chief walked in with a dozen villagers, all smiling.

He pulled out his phone and showed me the payment QR code. “Lora, you’ve been eating a lot of mangoes these past two weeks, haven’t you?”

He rubbed his hands nervously. “We won’t charge too much. Let’s just say 1 dollar per pound.”

My uncle, Jackson Lufren, chimed in from behind. “You must have eaten at least 2,000 pounds. That’s got to be at least 2,000 dollars!”

I froze, unable to react for a moment.

Yovie suddenly stood up. “Tasting the mangoes is just to show the quality! Every streamer does this! Otherwise, who would buy them?”

She pointed at the warehouse full of mango boxes. “Lora helped you sell every single mango in the village. At market price, you’ve made over 80,000 dollars. And she didn’t take a single cent, yet you’re asking for thousands dollars for tasting? We spent our own money to rent equipment and pay for logistics, over 10,000 dollars and we didn’t even charge you!”

The villagers looked at each other, some lowering their heads. But my uncle Jackson still stuck out his neck. “Everything has to be accounted for properly, even between close relatives. The tasting money has to be paid!”

Yovie’s eyes turned red with anger. “Do you even know how many business deals Lora turned down during Double Eleven? Just one missed deal alone could have bought all the mangoes in this village!”

The girl was both angry and anxious and for a moment, no one dared to speak.