Chapter 784: So You Want to Drive Up Prices?
While the wealthy citizens of Puzhou City were engaged in bidding up and scalping movie tickets...
...at the newly completed theater entrance in Gao Family Village itself, a subordinate dispatched by Lao Nanfeng to manage the "Gao Family Village Grand Theater" stood watching the unfolding drama.
Just minutes earlier, a small merchant who had traveled to Gao Family Village for business, unable to secure a movie ticket, rushed to the theater entrance and bellowed, "I'll buy tickets at double the price!"
His shout, however, immediately landed him in trouble.
The Old Village Chief of Gao Family Village, emerging from the side in a worn cotton tunic and wooden clogs, stroked his flowing white beard. "My good sir, isn't this price gouging rather unsavory?" he chided. "Are you trying to exploit the poor for their tickets, simply because you have more money?"
The merchant, unfamiliar with Gao Family Village's intricacies and having only conducted business there a few times, had no idea who the Old Village Chief was. Seeing his tattered clothes and clogs, he dismissed him as a common old villager. He scoffed, "What business is it of yours, old man? I'll buy at a high price if I want to, and if someone's willing to sell to me, they will. What's wrong with that? It's not like I'm forcing anyone. Isn't that allowed?"
The Old Village Chief replied, "While it may not be forced buying or selling, your high-priced ticket purchases will only encourage speculators. Soon, people will be snapping up tickets in advance, hoarding them, and then reselling them at exorbitant prices. That will mean those who truly want to see a movie won't be able to."
The merchant shrugged. "I couldn't care less. If people profit from serving my needs, isn't that a good thing?"
The Old Village Chief's expression darkened. "Alright, so you're determined to throw your money around and cause trouble, are you? Don't you even bother to look at where you are? This is Gao Family Village itself, you know."
The Old Village Chief's eyes glinted. "Very well. You said it yourself."
The merchant, seeing that the Old Village Chief had stopped pestering him, once again bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Tickets for sale! Double price! Buying tickets!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Old Village Chief declared, "Tickets for sale! Triple the price!"
The merchant's jaw dropped.
He whirled around and shot a glare at the Old Village Chief. "Old man, if you don't have the money, don't interfere."
"How do you know I don't have money?" the Old Village Chief challenged. "If I dare to make such an offer, I can certainly afford it."
"Fine, you want to compete over who has more money, do you?" the merchant sneered.
"Oh, indeed!" the Old Village Chief replied with a mischievous grin. "I just have too much money to burn, and today, I simply don't want you to get any tickets."
Enraged, the merchant yelled, "Tickets for sale! Four times the price!"
"Five times!" the Old Village Chief countered instantly.
The merchant, fuming, shouted, "Six times!"
"Look how petty you are," the Old Village Chief scoffed. "Adding just a little bit each time is so dull. Learn from me; raise it higher all at once! Tickets for sale! Ten times the price!"
"You... you... you're going too far!" the merchant stammered.
"I'm not breaking any laws!" the Old Village Chief declared.
"Alright, eleven times!" the merchant conceded, sounding defeated.
"Twenty times the price for tickets!" the Old Village Chief boomed.
The merchant collapsed to the ground with a thud.
After lying prostrate for a few seconds, he suddenly sprang up. "You old man, you must be messing around! You don't have that much money, you can't pay for it! When someone comes to sell a ticket, you won't have the silver!"
No sooner had he spoken than a worker, ticket in hand, hurried over, grinning. "Old Village Chief, why are you suddenly buying tickets at twenty times the price? Are you planning to watch? I can just give you my ticket for free, you know."
The Old Village Chief chuckled. "I wouldn't take your ticket for free. Here! Take your silver."
Right in front of the merchant, he produced a small piece of silver and paid for the ticket. The worker hesitated, feeling a bit awkward accepting so much, but the Old Village Chief was a highly respected figure; once he'd spoken, there was no refusing.
As the worker took the silver and was about to leave, the Old Village Chief beckoned him back. "Come, take your ticket too."
The worker blinked. "Huh?"
The Old Village Chief explained, "I bought the ticket only to give it away. Now that I've purchased your ticket, I'm giving it back to you so you can watch the movie. But remember, you must watch it yourself; you cannot pass it on to anyone else."
The worker's eyes widened in bewilderment.
The merchant's eyes widened even further, aghast.
Completely baffled by the Old Village Chief's antics, the worker, still bewildered, left with his silver and his ticket.
Cold sweat streamed down the merchant's face. "You... just who in the heavens are you?"
The Old Village Chief merely smiled. "I'm just an ordinary old man."
No sooner had he said this than Gao Yiye came running from a distance.
The merchant, spotting the Saintess, immediately straightened up in reverence, preparing to offer his respects.
To his astonishment, Gao Yiye ran up to the Old Village Chief, smiling. Like a child, she playfully tugged on his arm, swaying it back and forth as she pleaded, "Grandpa Village Chief, I want to eat chocolate while watching the movie, but the Heavenly Lord's given me has all run out, and I can't find him to get more. Do you have any left?"
The Old Village Chief chuckled indulgently, much like a benevolent patriarch, and handed Gao Yiye a key. "There, there, Yiye, go take some from my house. Just yesterday, I helped the heavenly immortals make a small chair, and the Heavenly Lord rewarded me with a huge bar of silky smooth milk chocolate. It's in the cupboard, you can have as much as you like, eat to your heart's content."
"Thank you, Grandpa! You're the best to me!" Gao Yiye exclaimed, clutching the key with both hands as she dashed off.
The merchant gasped, inhaling sharply.
The Old Village Chief turned back to him. "So, still want to raise the price, do you? Keep going. What's your next offer? Thirty times, or forty times?"
The merchant fell to his knees with a thud. "This humble one was mistaken!"
Only then did he truly understand why the old man had emphasized, "This is Gao Family Village itself." Here, hidden dragons and crouching tigers abounded; an old man in clogs was simply not someone he could afford to offend.
However, the Old Village Chief did not punish him further. The kind-hearted original forty-two inhabitants of Gao Family Village, basking in the Heavenly Lord's benevolent light, had not developed the bad habit of oppressing others.
The Old Village Chief waved a dismissive hand, letting the merchant go. Then, he settled himself at the theater entrance, crossing his legs and swaying them, his clogs slapping rhythmically against his soles.
With him sitting there, no one dared to inflate prices again. Those with tickets watched, and those without simply waited for the next showing, maintaining perfect order.
Soon, the movie began.
"Huh? This time, it wasn't personally made by the Heavenly Lord!" a voice exclaimed.
"The director is now Queen of a Thousand Faces M. Who could that be?"
"Perhaps some female Immortal King from the heavens, like the Queen Mother of the West," another suggested.
"Incredible! The Heavenly Lord invited a female Immortal King to produce it."
The movie quickly got underway.
As everyone watched, a murmur spread. "Wait, this female Immortal King's production skills seem even better than the Heavenly Lord's!"
"Wow, how spectacular!"
"During the fight scenes, there are even slow-motion shots!"
The audience, witnessing "slow motion" for the very first time, cheered with delight.
Next, an even more incredible scene unfolded: the protagonist, Lao Nanfeng, fired an arrow, and the camera inexplicably followed its flight...
Bullet time! Aesthetic violence!
The audience erupted. "Holy cow! That's absolutely mind-blowing! Long live the female Immortal King!"
"Queen of a Thousand Faces M" sneezed. "Ach-choo! Who's talking about me behind my back? And it sounds like someone's calling me a woman. Dammit! I'm a man, alright?!"
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