The husky was clearly not happy in the airline crate. William White calmed it down for a long time before it finally quieted down. This was despite the short distance; if they had been flying to New York, the dog might have gone crazy.
A dozen large pickups rushed out of the airport. Texans were probably used to such scenes, as no one bothered to find out who this person was.
Back on his own land, his spirits were understandably high. An American landowner with money could still live quite well.
Farmers were like this in the early 1980s: as long as you didn't have too much business with banks, your economic situation wasn't too important.
Were agricultural products not selling well?
Just produce less, and the prices will rise soon. Most farms in Texas were for livestock; the ones growing grapes and fruits had it tougher. If these couldn't sell, you couldn't just destroy the fruit trees.
The worst part was that business was really bad then, but the cost of picking fruit hadn't gone down.
Even in tough economic times, labor costs were still high.
White Farm had a huge grape harvest this year, nearly bursting their wine cellar. To store all the wine, White Farm expanded its wine cellar again.
Based on this year's wine sales, it would take about ten years to sell it all. However, White Winery showed no hint of worry; they were even expanding the planting scale.
The most surprising part was that the price had slightly increased. They also bought excess grapes from nearby farms, blindly expanding production.
Not only did White Winery expand its winery, but it also hired two skilled winemakers. According to their latest plan, they seemed set to launch a grape juice project next year.
For the local economy, this project was crucial. Most Texas brands were regional and not recognized outside the area. William White was obviously aiming to create a national brand.
That era favored carbonated drinks, but as people's living standards improved, natural juice beverages would gradually increase. It would be a gradual process.
Building a brand doesn't happen overnight, and William White was young enough to take his time with it.
In this world, essentials like food, clothing, housing, and transportation are eternal topics, and at any time, these are the most profitable businesses.
...
Wine, while alcoholic, was essentially similar to grape juice, considered a beverage.
William White first needed to establish a health concept. Grapes have great antioxidant effects and can help with allergies, mainly through grape seeds or skins; the pulp isn't as effective.
This wasn't actually important. When you're juicing, you don't remove the seeds. It could maintain youth with its antioxidant properties and help with some allergy issues. For wealthier families, drinking grape juice was clearly better than drinking cola.
You couldn't criticize cola now; it had become an American cultural symbol. Almost the entire world had it, so you couldn't recklessly badmouth it.
What's more, William White planned to intercept Buffett's investments. In the future, he'd be a shareholder of Coca-Cola, so there was no need to rob his own wallet.
As a juice seller, you would never outdo the cola sellers; no matter how healthy it was, it wouldn't make a difference. His target was Great Lakes Apple Juice, a significant seller of juices.
He was sure he could capture a small section of their market.
Texas farms were vast, but the land was relatively poor, far from ideal for grazing like Australia.
However, there were advantages, especially in transportation.
...
William White was planning out his farm. Although it might not be very profitable, it was something he felt he had to do.
You could say it was a sense of social responsibility.
This was clearly just a way to build himself up, but the main purpose was to boost his social status.
Yes, you read that right. Although having money equates to having status, that kind of status has limits. You could be taken down like a fat pig any time.
There are many ways to improve your social standing, like charity work, but that takes time unless you donate a ton of money at once.
Creating jobs is actually the most effective method. Especially as a Texan, you have to do something for the locals, or else you'll definitely get spat on.
The expansion of the White Winery made the local government very happy. This year was full of bankrupt businesses; finally, there was a reliable one coming up, so of course, they would offer some help.
Getting attention was necessary, after all, since he was still a best-selling author. That title works better in certain situations than being a billionaire, and his social standing isn't something you can compare to just a rich guy.
...
If you think William White can only do comedy, then you clearly haven't read his novels.
His latest novel was not a comedy. The Shawshank Redemption was considered a serious piece of literature, with many thought-provoking scenes.
If Forrest Gump was just self-indulgent fantasy, The Shawshank Redemption was a portrayal of society's darker aspects.
His depictions of prison life were spot on, and the main theme of the novel was redemption and a longing for freedom.
No doubt, the Department of Justice got caught in the crossfire, but you really can't take it too seriously. It was clearly written on the book's first page: all the storylines are purely fictional, and any resemblance is purely coincidental.
William White's books weren't bestsellers for no reason: they had a vivid imagery that was a trademark. If you wanted to adapt them into films, you wouldn't need too many changes.
...
Now, no one talks about ghostwriters or plagiarism anymore. This guy not only wrote well, but his output was massive. If anyone dared to talk nonsense, three closed newspapers would be a lesson.
The audiences for novels and movies weren't the same. Have you seen any best-selling humorous comedies?
It's usually the tragedies that dominate, with readers cursing the author while spending their money.
Fortunately, the novel had a happy ending. Good people were freed from prison, and the bad ones were punished.
That era was like that. There could be bad cops, but there also had to be good characters. A plot like Prison Break from later American dramas wasn't allowed.
This novel taught quite a bit about the law. Though it had a teasing tone, it also helped readers learn these concepts.
There were always meticulous readers, and even more during this time. To be frank, there wasn't much entertainment then, and finding flaws in best-selling novels seemed pretty good.
Honestly, the legal experts had already studied it thoroughly. While some parts weren't entirely reasonable, there were no major logical flaws.
The author wasn't proficient in law but had a different take on it. His imagination was big enough, and some elements indeed had potential for implementation.
As a novel, that might have been its extent. If it were any more detailed, it might have turned into a criminal textbook. That label was very dangerous, so purposefully adding flaws was necessary.
Of course, readers raised questions, and William White responded quite frankly. He said he wasn't a legal expert, and gathering such materials was exhausting enough, with no way to make it more detailed. If readers were interested in law, they could fill in the gaps themselves.
This reply made everyone burst into laughter.
Come on! What on earth is "filling in the gaps"? Are you seriously asking readers to complete your novel? Can you get any cheekier?
...
No matter how noisy the outside world got, William White didn't care. Having been through the wave of internet culture, he wasn't bothered by this trivial stuff. If there were no topics, he'd create them. How else to ensure his sales if they didn't argue?
These clowns eventually realized he deliberately left things out. He knew obscure legal knowledge, so why would he mess up the basics? The only explanation was it was intentional.
Since it was deliberate, figuring out the reason was simple. They soon found out that writing it out in detail raised suspicions of inciting crime.
Serious novels and comedic movies really confused America. They didn't know how to define this guy.
*****
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