OFR – Chapter 197 The big drama of the year (Part 1)!

The Rare Treasures Online Store!

This online store, founded by Mu Bai just over a month ago, has already become the most prominent shop in the niche industry of rare plants and animals.

Currently, it boasts nearly two million real followers!

Moreover, with almost five hundred million in transaction volume in just one month, it has left all competing stores in awe.

The last time they sold saffron, many rival shop owners bombarded them with malicious negative reviews and tried to stir up controversy.

However, loyal fans of the Rare Treasures Online Store quickly pushed back against the attacks.

At that time, Mu Bai didn’t take it too seriously.

After all, he firmly believed that the truth will always be the truth, and falsehoods can never become reality.

But today, even Mu Bai was caught off guard.

This time, the opposition to his store didn’t just come from the old, established competitors forming an alliance against him—it also involved a newly rising online store that had recently gained tremendous popularity in the high-end market.

Delicacy Heaven!

Delicacy Heaven originally specialized in selling high-end fruits and agricultural products.

However, in the past half-month, it suddenly expanded into the rare plant and animal market, skyrocketing in popularity to become a superstar store in the Taobao niche industry.

In just 15 days, its transaction volume reached 300 million yuan. At one point, it even sold an extremely rare pink rose, which dominated online news headlines for several days.

It’s fair to say that this powerful newcomer, with its rapid rise and incredible earning potential, is in no way inferior to Rare Treasures Online Store.

An Unexpected Twist

Logically, Delicacy Heaven should also be facing opposition from the industry’s veteran stores. But when Mu Bai saw the screenshot that Mi Xuan sent him…

He realized that wasn’t the case.

The screenshot was from Delicacy Heaven’s official Weibo post, including a lengthy update and a flood of comments.

Delicacy Heaven’s Weibo Post:

“Without realizing it, winter has arrived, and Delicacy Heaven has now been with you all for nine years. This year, we successfully entered the rare plant and animal industry, and we couldn’t have done it without your incredible support—thank you!”

“Also, the annual Most Popular Online Store Contest has arrived once again! We’d love for everyone to support us with a simple vote. In return, tomorrow at 6 PM, we’ll hold our final grand sale of the year! Besides offering delicious fruits and crops for just 1 yuan in a flash sale, we’ll also have top-tier plants, golden turtles, arowana fish, seahorses, and other rare species—don’t miss out!”

“Furthermore, as a nine-year-old trusted store, we make a solemn promise: We will NEVER engage in fake sales like a certain ‘rare treasures’ store. We will NEVER use artificial scarcity to manipulate demand like a certain ‘rare treasures’ store. Every product we sell—be it fruit, grain, or rare animals—is 100% authentic and guaranteed by the nation’s largest Liangshi Trading Group. Unlike some stores with no credibility and no guarantees, we encourage all valued customers to stay vigilant when purchasing expensive items online!”

At first glance, this post seemed like a standard promotional announcement.

But the final few sentences were pointed and aggressive.

The phrase “a certain ‘rare treasures’ store” was a direct attack.

Anyone with half a brain could tell who they were referring to.

Ever since Delicacy Heaven aggressively entered the rare plant and animal market, its only real competitor in terms of reputation and influence was Rare Treasures Online Store.

There was no doubt—this post was clearly aimed at Mu Bai’s store!

And the comments below only confirmed this reality.

Weibo Comments:

🔹 Wenwen Aquatic Turtle Store (Verified):
“Exactly! That ‘rare treasures’ store is absolute garbage. Hardly has any stock, but always loves to pull those fake scarcity tricks. Especially those so-called rare flowers—bet they’re just being resold by their own bots. Disgusting!”

🔹 Blue Sky Flower Store (Verified):
“Hah, no need to say much. Ever wonder how that store got popular? Nothing but shameless marketing and hype!”

🔹 Biyun Herbal Store (Verified):
“Honestly, I bet that ‘rare treasures’ store has ties to Taobao’s higher-ups. Remember during the New Year’s Sales Event? Taobao’s official AI even placed their flower products on the aquatic pet industry’s featured section, causing a major uproar among store owners.”

🔹 Golden Arowana Fish Store (Verified):
“Exactly! But that’s nothing compared to this: there were only TWO banner ad spots for the aquatic pet and flower industry last time, and BOTH went to that damn ‘rare treasures’ store! What, is the owner sleeping with a Taobao executive? Supporting Delicacy Heaven all the way—time to bring that fraud down!”

Netizens’ Comments:

🔹 “OMG, I’ve never seen so many verified store owners attack one place before!”
🔹 “Yeah, this looks like a full-on takedown attempt. But wasn’t Rare Treasures Online Store supposed to have amazing quality?”
🔹 “Shut up! That store is nothing but hype and favoritism from Taobao!”
🔹 “Exactly! Trash store! I stayed up all night and still couldn’t get a single rare flower. It’s all a scam!”
🔹 “Support Delicacy Heaven! Take down Rare Treasures Online Store!”
🔹 “Uh… I actually bought an arowana from Rare Treasures Online Store, and it was pretty good. But seeing this massive wave of backlash… I think I’ll just step away. Too many big players involved.”

Mu Bai sat on his sofa, silently scrolling through the flood of comments.

He knew that these verified store owners were either bribed by Delicacy Heaven or genuinely frustrated with Rare Treasures Online Store.

After all, the last time Taobao’s official team gave both homepage ad spots to Rare Treasures Online Store, many store owners were furious.

Yes, it was true—Taobao had given Rare Treasures Online Store more promotional support than its competitors.

But in Mu Bai’s heart, he felt no guilt.

Those ad placements were given by Taobao itself. He had never asked for them.

If accepting them was a crime, then what else was even considered “fair”?

If accepting them was a crime, then he would rather keep “sinning” to the very end!

Apologize for this? Seek forgiveness?
Not a chance.
Even if the system allowed it, he would never lower his head.

“Heh.”

Mu Bai let out a cold chuckle.

Just as his smirk faded and he began thinking about his next move, a new QQ message from Mi Xuan popped up.

Mi Xuan’s QQ Message:

“Mu Hao! Delicacy Heaven has gone too far! They’re outright smearing us! Now, a bunch of random people who never even bought from us are flooding our store with hate comments!”

“In just five or six hours, our follower count dropped by over 100,000! Mu Hao, what should we do?! Our store worked so hard to get here—we can’t let them destroy us like this! 😭”

Mu Bai, seeing Mi Xuan’s frustration and worry, felt his icy demeanor soften slightly.

Mi Xuan was a diligent and reliable girl—in some ways, she cared about the store even more than he did.

So, Mu Bai replied in a calm and reassuring tone:

“Don’t worry. I’ll handle this.”

Mi Xuan instantly responded with firm determination:

“Mm! Mu Hao, I believe in you—always.”

To Mi Xuan, her boss was unstoppable.