The Day You Choose Someone Else

“Other livestreams are selling mangoes of the same quality for 2,1 dollars, but you insisted on 1,85 dollars.”

“That’s a difference of 0.25 dollars per pound. With thousands of pounds sold across the village, that’s not a small amount.”

A few villagers behind her immediately realized this and crowded around. “Exactly! That price difference needs to be paid! At least another 28.000 dollars!”

Yovie threw herself in front of me to shield me, her voice trembling. “Have some conscience! The other sellers’ mangoes are premium, each individually bagged during cultivation. The mangoes from Leverant Village vary in size. If it weren’t for Lora carefully sorting and packaging them, selling them at 1,85 dollars would already be considered high!”

She pulled out the shipping documents and slammed them onto the boxes.

“Just for shipping insurance alone, we spent about seven thousand dollars! And what about the boxes, ice packs and labor. Weren’t all of those paid out of our own pockets? And now you’re complaining that we sold them too cheaply?”

Welsey, eyes red, added, “Do you know how many favors Lora had to call in on the platform just to negotiate this price?”

Hearing this, Olive sneered and proudly lifted her chin. “I studied business in the city. Don’t try to fool me with these words. The cost difference between premium and regular mangoes isn’t even 0,28 dollars. That price gap is just your kickback. Besides, shipping insurance definitely wouldn’t cost seven thousand. You must have inflated the numbers. I’ve seen this kind of trick many times!”

A few villagers immediately started shouting in agreement, “The university student said it, it must be true! Hurry up and make up the difference!”

Yovie’s voice trembled with anger, “The money for your studies was funded by Lora. This is how you repay her? And what kind of business course did you study if you can’t even account for packaging loss?”

Uncle Jackson waved his hand, clearly not wanting to listen and shouted loudly, “Stop with the useless talk! If you don’t pay today, don’t even think about leaving!”

I held back Yovie, who was about to argue again and opened my phone. “28.000 dollars, right? I’ll pay.”

The payment confirmation beep sounded especially clear in the warehouse.

The villagers craned their necks, staring at the screen; some even stood on tiptoe. “Now … can we go?”

The village chief rubbed his hands and nodded repeatedly, “Of course, of course! Lora really is a big internet celebrity—so straightforward!”

I helped my parents walk out and my team quietly followed.

Behind us, villagers cheered and someone shouted, “We’re rich!”

Back in our large apartment in the city center, my mom was still wiping her tears, “That’s 28.000 dollars…”

I stood in front of the floor‑to‑ceiling window, looking at the stream of headlights below. “Mom, don’t worry. The way they took that money… I’ll make them spit it back out the same way.”

I gave my team half a month off. Their salaries stayed the same and I even transferred an extra seven thousand dollars to each of them as a travel fund.

Two months later, the second batch of mangoes in Leverant Village ripened. The village chief came straight to my company, shouting the moment he walked in, “Lora, livestream for a few days and help us sell this new batch of mangoes! This time you have to sell them for 2,82 dollars a pound. You have a lot of fans, so you can definitely sell them!”

Smiling, I opened a drawer and handed him the contract. “Mr. Brown, I now have 30 million fans. The commission for promoting one batch is 70,000 dollars—payment first, livestream later.”