Well~~ This is What Professionalism Looks Like

The timing couldn’t have been worse.

The day before, the royal wedding of the princess was broadcast live worldwide.

Before the wedding festivities even concluded, cosmetic giants across major regions had already launched global promotions for their products, pushing the X Essence Serum.

These corporations had poured an unimaginable amount into advertising that day.

And then…

The very next day, TC filed for bankruptcy and liquidation.

Not only did all the earlier promotions go down the drain, but even the hype from the wedding was wasted.

A royal wedding, a once-in-a-lifetime event—how could it be squandered like this?

The losses were staggering.

……

At a luxury boutique outside a high-end department store in China.

A woman who exuded an air of sophistication rushed in frantically.

“Three sets of the X Gift Box, Grade B,” she demanded, heading straight for the counter.

The salesgirl offered an apologetic smile. “We’re out of stock.”

“What? How is that possible?” the woman gasped.

The salesgirl explained, “We just restocked a few boxes from the central warehouse, but as soon as they arrived, another woman came and bought them all in one go. Her car was packed full.”

“…”

The woman’s face darkened. “Why didn’t you impose purchase limits?”

“She’s a premium member,” the salesgirl replied.

“So am I! I don’t care—get me three… no, thirty boxes! Grade B, or even Grade C will do.”

“We’re completely sold out across all grades. We’ve requested more stock, but the warehouse isn’t even answering calls anymore. Everyone’s facing shortages.”

The woman panicked. “Then what am I supposed to use? Figure something out—I’m a premium member!”

“Alright, alright, ma’am, don’t worry. Let me make another call.”

Just then, the door swung open again. Before the person even entered, their voice rang out.

“Do you have the X Gift Box?”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Damn it! Why are women so obsessed with this stuff?”

The man cursed under his breath, turned on his heel, and sped off in his sports car.

The woman realized it was hopeless today. Why did it feel like the entire world was suddenly out of stock?

Soon, a few more women arrived—clearly wealthy socialites.

Every single one demanded the X Gift Box, insisting they’d take as much as available and even offering to pay extra.

……

At a store overseas.

A foreign woman managed to snag an X Gift Box.

She’d been lucky enough to secure one through an online reservation.

She’d heard these were hard to come by now.

But it hadn’t seemed that difficult—she’d gotten one right away.

Then a man approached her quietly. “Selling?”

“Huh?”

“Your Grade B X Gift Box—are you selling? I’ll pay this much.” He held up fingers.

The woman hesitated, tempted.

He added another finger. “Double that. Take it or leave it.”

“Sold.” The woman beamed.

The scalper grinned just as wide.

The deal was done in seconds, and the scalper walked off with the box.

This stuff was gold. Anyone with half a brain knew its value was about to skyrocket.

Selling it for several times the original price would be a breeze.

Especially the Grade B or A versions—the higher the grade, the bigger the markup.

The lower grades might see a temporary spike, but they wouldn’t hold their value.

Only the A and B grades were timeless—the longer you held onto them, the more they’d be worth.

Little did this woman know, this transaction would later fill her with such regret, she’d want to kick herself.

With the cash in hand, she marched back into the luxury store.

Pulling out half the money, she declared, “I’d like another X Gift Box, Grade B.”

“Apologies, ma’am. We’re out of stock.”

“But there are some right there!” She pointed.

“Those are reserved for online orders. The customers will pick them up soon. Everything else is gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?”

“Gone means unless you’ve reserved one online or by phone, you can’t buy it anymore.”

“???” She’d thought it was easy—after all, she’d gotten one instantly.

But now…

She sensed something was off.

Gesturing toward the door, she asked, “Someone just paid double for the box I sold. Did I get ripped off?”

The salesgirl raised an eyebrow. “Of course. The price has already tripled.”

“Damn it!” The woman cursed and bolted outside, but the scalper was long gone.

Defeated, she returned to the store, pleading, “For heaven’s sake, can’t you sell me just one more?”

“Sorry, ma’am… We truly have nothing left. You can try reserving online again—if you’re lucky, you might get one.”

“…”

……

Similar scenes played out across the globe.

Lucky buyers were few and far between.

Or rather, because inventory was so scarce, luck was in short supply.

Most people couldn’t secure reservations, calls went unanswered, and physical stores had nothing left.

Other cosmetics were still available, but without the X Essence Serum… no one cared.

Within days,

many companies had exhausted their raw material stockpiles.

Finished products were still trickling out,

but only because sales were being strictly rationed. If purchases hadn’t been restricted, even those would’ve vanished.

Despite the frenzy of demand,

the stock market—always the best indicator of expectations—saw cosmetic companies’ shares plummeting.

Negative reports multiplied.

Even ordinary people who usually ignored the news became aware of the situation.

With raw materials gone, the effectiveness of cosmetics had dropped drastically.

The X Gift Box series was in critically short supply.

Money couldn’t even buy it.

This revealed one truth: these people had money, but not enough.

The truly wealthy could still get their hands on it—

through scalpers, of course, if they were willing to pay the markup.

Don’t think scalping is just a domestic issue. Overseas, scalpers have been around since before 1900, and they’re just as formidable.

Take the last Olympics, for instance.

International scalpers flooded in, driving ticket prices up tenfold at minimum.

Now that’s professionalism.

So,

within a single week, the X Gift Box series—regardless of grade, from the lowest F to the premium A—had surged tenfold, even peaking at fifteen times the original price.

And there was no sign of it stopping.

With prices soaring, many scalpers grew even greedier, hoarding stock and barely selling. They’d release small batches occasionally, just to test market demand.

Once they confirmed demand was still insatiable, they’d hold onto the bulk of their inventory, waiting for prices to climb higher.

This created a vicious cycle.

Even scalpers weren’t selling, making it nearly impossible to buy, no matter how deep your pockets were.

Unless you were filthy rich—the kind who could call the CEO of a cosmetics conglomerate and secure a few boxes straight from the company’s private stash.

But people like that were rare.

Besides,

cosmetic companies weren’t stupid. With prices multiplying outside, why would they sell at retail?

Better to offload stock to major scalpers at inflated prices and let them handle distribution.

Profit is profit.

Why should others reap the rewards and not them?

……

The frenzy was just as intense domestically.

After all, there was no shortage of deep pockets here.

People were pulling all sorts of strings and running around just to stock up on goods.

Even though many still had cosmetics from the X Gift Box series at home, unused and far from running out, they were in a hurry.

They’d use it up eventually, right?

If they didn’t buy now, they might never get the chance again.

...

This all happened during a major holiday.

The frenzy even rivaled reports of traffic jams across the country.

Some media outlets, infiltrated by certain biased voices, seized the opportunity to criticize domestic consumer behavior—how people were scrambling for cosmetics, forming long queues, even staying up all night to line up.

They called it the so-called "national flaws."

Yet they conveniently ignored similar scenes abroad.

And plenty of people actually bought into it.

Online, hordes of people who didn’t even use cosmetics chimed in with snide remarks—how Chinese lacked culture, how they blindly followed trends, how they’d panic-buy salt before and now cosmetics, how they’d join queues just because others did.

The comments were endless.

Seeing these remarks and the deliberate spin from certain small media outlets, Cao Cheng just shook his head and smirked, brushing it off.

Too weak.

Is this all you’ve got?

This is child’s play compared to what’s coming.

Besides,

Cao Cheng wasn’t about to waste his time arguing with these nobodies. It was beneath him.

He could crush them with a flick of his wrist later.

And he wouldn’t have to wait long.

The backlash would come soon enough.

For now, he simply had his team note down the names of these media outlets and their editors.

Then he waited.

...

Two weeks passed.

People started noticing something odd.

Major international cosmetics brands were running critically low on stock for the X Gift Box series, from Grade A to F, with prices skyrocketing tenfold or more.

Only one company remained unaffected.

Miracle Cosmetics!

It was as if Miracle Cosmetics was completely untouched by the shortage, still releasing limited daily stock online for customers to fight over in speed-based flash sales.

No matter how dire the shortage got elsewhere, Miracle Cosmetics kept supplying Bronze to Diamond-tier gift boxes for two straight weeks.

Plenty of people managed to snag them.

And flipping them for profit was as easy as trading premium liquor.

...

On Weibo:

"Thank you, Cao Cheng! I scored a Diamond Box today—love you~~~ (づ￣3￣)づ╭❤️～!"

"Jealous… and at the original price too? Miracle Cosmetics is the real MVP. Every other brand is either sold out or charging insane markups."

"Damn, how fast are your fingers, rich girl? How many years have you been single? Asking for a friend who’s ready to retire from hard work."

"Money and luck? Spare some for us poor folks, will you?"

"Miracle Cosmetics is on another level. How do they still have stock when everyone else is dry?"

"Wait, wasn’t Miracle Cosmetics always out of stock before? Other brands used to have unlimited supply… Why is it the opposite now?"

"Something’s fishy. Smells like a conspiracy to me."

"When it comes to schemes, subtle or overt, foreigners don’t stand a chance against us."

"Are you saying Cao Cheng had something to do with this?"

"No idea, but there’s gotta be some indirect link. How else is Miracle Cosmetics the only one unaffected?"

"Pure speculation. Maybe they just had better inventory management. They were out of stock before—can’t they quietly stockpile now??"

"Fair point."

"Bless me, Cao Cheng—let me grab just one box!"

"Bless you?! I’m not dead yet!!!!"

"LMAO, Cao Cheng just showed up."

"PFFFT, this is gold…"