"How much did you say?" Xu Zishuai's eyes widened.
The slanting light of dusk streamed in, cutting out a brilliant halo.
"Five hundred sixty-nine thousand, forty-six taels and three qian." Hedgehog repeated himself and handed over the ledger. "Many guests had thrown around money like it was nothing, spending lavishly. They paid in full with Treasure Silver, which, when taken to the bank, could be exchanged for standard Sterling Silver weighing fifty-two taels and four qian.
"Of the wealthy patrons who paid in Treasure Silver, some collected fifty-two tickets, while others took only fifty. Most handed over two ingots at once and bought a full hundred tickets. Either way, there was surplus income. The Martial Hall disciples kept a close eye on things and gave the ticket sellers no chance to shave off corners.
"Besides, even when some people bought few tickets, they paid in such a rush to snatch them up that they still overpaid by half a qian or so. That alone added over a thousand taels to the accounts. If this momentum holds, all one million tickets should be sold out by this time tomorrow."
One million tickets—one million taels!
"Good heavens, one million in thirteen shichen, just over a day?" Xu Zishuai was dumbstruck. "There are far too many people coming. At least a hundred thousand must have bought tickets, right?"
Hedgehog added, "A hundred thousand or so is only the number of ticket buyers, accounting for twenty to thirty percent of the visitors. Today's actual foot traffic should be around six hundred fifty thousand."
Xu Shi and Long E Ying, who had come to help, also leaned closer at this, clicking their tongues in astonishment.
This was simply too profitable.
"No wonder you said we needed to build so many latrines. The manure produced by