Chapter 240: Promotional Event
The name Dao Xuan Tian Zun was largely unfamiliar to most residents of the county town. While a few locals had sought medicine from Mrs. San and heard the Venerable title of Dao Xuan Tian Zun, they only knew of his name, but little of his deeds.
They remained utterly in the dark about the true nature of this immortal.
However, that had changed in recent days.
That small group of devout followers of Dao Xuan Tian Zun could finally recount tales of the Heavenly Lord.
Just then, two such believers met on the street and exchanged greetings.
“Hey, Old Zhang, has your child’s illness cleared up?”
“Yes, thanks to the divine medicine bestowed by the Heavenly Lord through the lay devotee.”
“Honestly, I used to think Dao Xuan Tian Zun was like a ‘Medicine Buddha,’ just an immortal who gave out remedies. Only in the past few days, I heard from another fellow devotee that the Heavenly Lord is incredibly powerful, even capable of vanquishing demons and evil spirits!”
“What a coincidence, I know about this too, and I even have a book!” Old Zhang said, triumphantly pulling a comic book from his sleeve. He pointed to the title on the cover, beaming. “Can you read? I know you can’t, haha. This line here says, ‘The Heavenly Lord’s Tale of Demon Extermination,’ and it tells the story of the Heavenly Lord vanquishing evil.”
“No need for me to tell you; even those who can’t read can understand this book.” Old Zhang proudly flipped through the comic book in his hand, showing it page by page. “See? The Heavenly Lord’s immortal magic can make one of his hands grow enormous. With a mighty slap, *splat*, the demon is flattened......”
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“Wow, brilliant! Absolutely thrilling! Where did you get this book? I want one too.”
“This book was given to me by the lay devotee. If you truly desire one, go seek her out. If she sees your sincerity, she will give it to you.” “Oh, then I’ll head to the City God Temple.”
Such discussions circulated among a small number of people.......
Initially, only a dozen or so were spreading the word. In the blink of an eye, it grew to twenty or thirty. Then, hundreds began sharing the tales. The poorest residents of the county, those too sick to afford a doctor or medicine, all began to spread the stories from "The Heavenly Lord’s Tale of Demon Extermination."
A few days later...
A massive transport convoy arrived at the gates of Chengcheng County.
Leading the way was Mr. Wang, who had spent a fortune to acquire the Chengcheng Bookstore. The old soldier guarding the gate recognized Mr. Wang.
He hurried forward to greet him, “Mr. Wang, you’re back in the county?”
“Yes, I’ve returned to manage the bookstore’s business. I can’t let such a large establishment sit idle.”
Mr. Wang smiled. “After acquiring the bookstore, I was busy for half a year. Now that I have some free time, I must return to—" The old soldier felt a surge of awkwardness. He thought to himself: *Mr. Wang is a good man, but he’s a bit dim-witted. What kind of era is this? Who would buy books? Your bookstore is just treading water now, not making money, but not losing it either. If you actually put effort into selling books, you’d probably lose your shirt.*
*In these times, it’s not about striving, it’s about just surviving!*
*Entrepreneurship is a shortcut to ruin!*
The old soldier casually inspected the convoy of book carts. No issues there. The front carts were filled with thick comic books. But when he checked the latter half of the convoy, he found the large carts were filled with bags of white flour.
*A grain merchant? In these times, running a grain business could actually make some money, far more than running a bookstore.*
Seeing the flour, the old soldier couldn't help but pat his stomach and swallow. “Mr. Wang, are you changing professions again?” Mr. Wang chuckled. “No, no, as a scholar, running a bookstore is naturally more fitting for me. These provisions aren’t for a grain business; they’re for a promotional event.”
The old soldier asked, “What does ‘promotional event’ mean?”
Mr. Wang stroked his beard and smiled. “It’s a new term. It means ‘an activity designed to boost sales’.”
The old soldier shook his head, still confused.
Mr. Wang smiled. “It’s like this: if you buy a book from me, I’ll give you two taels of flour as a gift. Don’t you think books would sell well then? That’s what a promotional event is.”
Upon hearing this, the old soldier’s mouth dropped open, his jaw almost hitting the ground. “This... this is how you’ll do it?”
Mr. Wang asked, “Is that a problem?”
The old soldier blurted out, “I’ll buy fifty books—no, no, five hundred books!”
Mr. Wang replied, “Each person is limited to one book.”
The old soldier froze, then suddenly abandoned his post at the city gate and sprinted home. “Mr. Wang, wait for me! I’m going to call everyone in my family to buy a book each. That’s allowed, right?”
Mr. Wang chuckled inwardly, but said aloud, “Slow down, don’t trip.”
But the old soldier wouldn't slow down. Such a golden opportunity—buying a book and getting two taels of grain—wouldn't come again! He couldn’t be slow, he had to be fast! Though he was nearing old age, in that moment he burst forth with superhuman speed. Wudang Cloud-Stepping Art and the Carefree Sect's Lingbo Micro-Steps were utterly insignificant before him; he was practically racing against a warhorse powered by pure fighting spirit!
The old soldier's figure blurred twice and vanished around the distant street corner.
Mr. Wang laughed inwardly: *The Heavenly Lord’s marketing strategy was absolutely outrageous, it cut straight to the heart of human nature!*
*Now there’s no one even guarding the city gate, tsk!*
The convoy passed through the main street of the county town, moving through a crowd of ragged refugees. The refugees, catching the scent of flour from the carts, roused themselves from the street corners and peered at the convoy.
The Gao Family Village Militia guards escorting the convoy were all robust and clearly not to be trifled with. The refugees dared not riot, and could only watch with dull eyes as the grain carts passed before them.
Li Daoxuan watched this scene and felt a pang of sadness.
Lowering his head, he spoke to Gao Yiye, who was disguised within the convoy. “Yiye, send a command: tell the militia to ‘accidentally’ overturn two carts of grain.”
Gao Yiye, wearing a bamboo hat and a straw cape, immediately straightened up. This was her first time in the county town, and she had been curiously looking around. As a child, she had yearned for the county town, but now that she was here, she found it bleak, dilapidated, and lifeless, far inferior to Gao Family Village.
She leaned close to Mr. Wang’s ear and whispered the Heavenly Lord’s divine decree.
Mr. Wang understood and was about to turn back to relay the command when, at the very end of the convoy, Padi Tu, in charge of the last cart, let out an exaggerated cry of “Ouch!” With a forceful push, his cart slammed into the grain cart pushed by Zheng Gouzi.
Both grain carts overturned simultaneously, and the flour sacks tumbled to the ground.
Zheng Gouzi tried to turn and protect the sacks, but Padi Tu cried “Ouch!” again, tackling Zheng Gouzi. Both of them fell and rolled aside.
The tie-ropes on the flour sacks had somehow come undone, and when the sacks rolled over, the flour spilled across the street.
The nearby refugees, seeing this, could no longer restrain themselves. With a roar, they rushed forward, scooped up handfuls of flour from the ground, and ran off.
Padi Tu whistled, deliberately not stopping them. Instead, he pulled back Zheng Gouzi, watching as the refugees thoroughly plundered the two carts of grain before him.
Mr. Wang and Gao Yiye exchanged a slight look of surprise, then simultaneously murmured, “That fellow, he overturned the grain carts on his own initiative, even before receiving the Heavenly Lord’s command.”
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