The next day...
He opened for business and listened to music behind the counter.
Customers: 3. Revenue: 0
The third day:
He opened for business and practiced his craft behind the counter.
Customers: 5. Revenue: 0.
The fourth day:
He opened for business and browsed the forum for tales of the uncanny.
Customers: 8 Revenue: 0 Insults received: 1, insults delivered: 1!
The fifth day:
He washed up, shaved, put on casual clothes and leather shoes, opened for business, and chatted on the forum!
Customers: 6. Revenue: 0.
Liu Zhaodi from next door dropped by.
For some reason, her face suddenly flushed, her eyes darted about, and she stumbled over her words...
Otherwise, nothing was wrong!
The sixth day:
He opened for business.
Liu Zhaodi came over to ask about advanced mathematics.
Unfortunately, he had long forgotten what he had learned in his previous life, and in this one, he had been a slacker scraping by at school. He couldn't answer a single question.
Liu Zhaodi said she understood.
She also said she had to go back to school and would treat him to ice cream next time, lingering reluctantly before leaving!
Also, she stopped calling him "uncle" and called him "Brother Gu" instead!
Customers: 3 Revenue: 0
The seventh day:
He opened for business.
Liu Zhaodi's mother came over.
First, she stared blankly. Then she advised the young man not to waste his parents' money. This business had no future; he would be better off canceling the lease and tightening screws in a factory.
He told her he owned the storefront.
The beautiful woman froze, took another few looks at him, and slowly left.
Customers: 3 Revenue: 0
He was in a good mood today and even talked up his products, but all he got were eye rolls.
Before closing, he saw someone on the forum saying that international flights had dropped off a cliff. He couldn't help worrying whether his parents had enough money to fly home.
...The eighth...
...The twelfth day.
He opened for business. Someone on the Supernatural Legends Forum claimed that their entire family had dreamed of their late father visiting them, recounting it in convincing detail.
Others said countries such as Japan and Goguryeo had begun collecting swords and blades. An argument broke out on the forum. Some called it a sign of authoritarianism, others blamed rising iron ore and steel futures, and some let their imaginations run even wilder, saying those countries had discovered something.
Perhaps it was the weekend.
Liu Zhaodi came over, saying she had no idea why her mother hadn't asked any questions or interfered today.
Zhaodi wasn't as quick-tongued as she had been a few days earlier, either.
Blushing, she even insisted on treating Young Master Gu to ice cream right then.
Gu Zhe accepted and gave her a paper effigy in return. The girl fled in panic!
The sleazy uncle from next door came over.
He sighed about how nice it was to inherit property.
Gu Zhe had no response!
Customers: 9. Revenue: 0 Looks of disdain: 1
The thirteenth day.
He opened for business.
He refreshed the forum as usual. More and more people were taking an interest in mysterious stories. Someone boasted of having entered Peach Blossom Spring and met a peach blossom fairy, recounting a passionate, heart-wrenching tale overflowing with sensuality.
Reading it got Gu Zhe's dick har- ahem, he even forgot some of his heartbreak.
Someone else said they had spotted the armed police switching their equipment, actually carrying melee weapons, and suspected that martial arts were undergoing a resurgence. The forum users had a field day!
He was a little puzzled, a little confused.
The forum seemed to have grown increasingly lively over the past few days, with new posts replacing old ones faster and faster.
His parents sent word.
They couldn't return for now, but everything was fine.
Gu Zhe wasn't surprised. After all, his parents had once been filthy rich. Finding a friend to provide food and lodging wouldn't be a problem.
Zhaodi didn't come to bring him ice cream.
Perhaps the pale, crooked paper effigy Gu Zhe had given her yesterday, paired with his smile, had seemed a little creepy.
She actually hadn't come back to keep coveting Young Master Gu's good looks.
At least he got a rare moment of peace.
Customers: 5. Revenue: ...
Gu Zhe was just about to wrap up today's daily record with a final revenue total of zero.
After all, it was getting late. Normally, no more customers would come at this hour.
"Mom, let's stop buying things. We've got enough. Besides, we believe in science these days. Those things are just for peace of mind."
"Oh, you unfilial boy! Your dad treated you so well when he was alive, and now you're getting impatient after just a little shopping?"
"Mom, listen to yourself. It's getting late, and we've bought enough today. Besides, we can slowly get Dad more things later."
Perhaps she felt her son had a point.
The elderly woman's voice paused.
She said hesitantly, "How about we take a look in this shop? Every funeral goods shop on this street has its own specialties. After this one, we'll stop."
"All right."
As they spoke,
a middle-aged man helped an elderly woman into the paper offerings shop at 49 Calm Heart Street.
The two looked around inside.
Their gazes swept over the obviously shoddy paper figures, horses, and sedan chairs, lingering especially on a half-finished paper house in the corner. Its crude workmanship was painful to look at.
Then they looked at the smiling shopkeeper.
Though handsome, his youthful face lacked any air of maturity.
Understanding dawned on them.
So a novice had opened a shop.
"Mom, let's go! These paper figures and horses, and that spirit house or whatever-if Dad's spirit is watching from heaven, he wouldn't like them either."
Gu Zhe was already used to his customers' "frankness."
He wasn't surprised.
If his work hadn't been imbued with supernatural power, he would have been embarrassed to put it on display himself. It really was spectacularly bad!
If giving them away wouldn't only scare people, he would have given one away long ago to see whether his creations really could find their destination through people's offerings, providing some sort of coordinates.
He wanted to see what happened afterward.
"Ah, let's go, let's go. I was thinking your dad had been lazy his whole life, so once he was down below, I ought to find a few more people to serve him. Forget it. The people here had better not scare him out of his wits."
"Yes, Mom, don't worry. When we get him more things later, we'll definitely find Dad a pretty maid."
Just as the two were saying this,
a soft chuckle came from behind them.
"Heh, a pretty one? Could your old man withstand that temptation?"
"Why do you think I made them like this? It was precisely to help certain people stay faithful husbands down below. What do you think, ma'am?"
Their footsteps stopped.
The elderly woman looked hesitantly at her son.
"That does make some sense. That old rascal mustn't fool around, or later..."
The middle-aged man looked helplessly at the young shopkeeper.
Of course he knew the fellow was conning his mother.
Stay faithful husbands? The man was dead. Death snuffed a person out like a lamp. What 'down below' could there possibly be? Only the older generation believed that.
But even if offerings were just for comfort, they should at least look decent.
Those paper figures of yours look twisted and crude. Stare at them long enough and they become downright terrifying.
Are you sure you're serious?
Seeing his mother's expression,
he said helplessly,
"Wrap them up!"
"Would you like anything else, sir? These paper figures, for example, can protect your home..."
"No, no. I'd be better off cutting them out myself."
"Haha, opportunities don't wait. Miss this chance, and you won't find another..."
"All that mystical nonsense. If it weren't for my mom, who would..."
Gu Zhe said no more.
Although, when he had last made offerings to his ancestors,
he hadn't found his elders' spirits, nor had his offerings become real and appeared in some mysterious place as his talent described,
he was certain of the sensation he had felt then. He truly possessed something extraordinary!
That was why he hadn't minded having zero revenue all these days.
The failure back then had simply been due to a lack of coordinates. The burned funerary offerings couldn't manifest again in reality. Those faint rules and connections had drifted through an unknown world before finally dispersing between heaven and earth.
And now,
Gu Zhe only needed to see what would happen when other people used the offerings he made for the recipients they believed in.
If nobody bought anything, Gu Zhe was prepared to find someone who had just died, learn about their past, come to understand their existence, deliberately invest a little emotion, and then see whether the unseen faith behind the offering could track them down.
Uh, provided the Netherworld, the Underworld, or something like that actually existed...
Though he knew he was extraordinary, Gu Zhe still worried. If those things didn't exist, he would be like an expert swimmer stranded in a desert, with no room to put his abilities to use.
Now all he could do was wait-wait for the seeds to sprout, wait for dawn to break!