"What are they looking at so intently?"
Beside the counter, a middle-aged Soul Master with a short beard put down a piece of protective gear and glanced at Gu Zheng and the others.
He had been standing there for quite a while.
Those young men hadn't lifted their heads since they got their phones. The one who had declined earlier looked especially close to losing the battle to suppress his smile.
Someone beside him shook his head.
"Must be their first time seeing something so new."
That was what the two said, but both took a couple of steps closer.
Gu Zheng had just scrolled to a new video posted by Liu Ruyan.
The woman in the video had changed into a dancing dress and held a round fan as she turned gently to the music. The fan covered half her face, but her visible eyes and brows were smiling, as if she were looking through the screen at the person in front of her.
Gu Zheng sat up a little straighter without thinking.
The middle-aged Soul Master behind him, the one who had just called him ignorant, suddenly fell silent too.
So you could see things like this on a phone?
He leaned a little closer.
"Excuse me."
The person behind him gave him a light tap.
The middle-aged Soul Master frowned and looked back, only to find that the man he had been talking to had already moved behind him and was craning his neck to see.
It wasn't just here. Several curious customers had also gathered around Yu Feng and Osler.
Some recognized Sword Douluo, while others couldn't tear their eyes away from the bone dragon. One person had been about to leave, but when he heard the sound of wood being whittled coming from a phone, he stopped and came back.
Before long, the small counter by the door was packed with people.
Chen Shun tried to get over there to fetch a box, but even after calling "excuse me" twice, no one made way.
Only then did Gu Zheng finally realize something was wrong.
He looked up and saw several faces behind him.
The short-bearded middle-aged man in particular had nearly stretched his head onto Gu Zheng's shoulder.
Gu Zheng promptly pulled his phone against his chest.
"Everyone, this is my phone."
"We're only looking," someone said with an awkward smile.
"If you want to look, there are phones on the counter."
With that, Gu Zheng pressed the button on the side, and the screen went dark.
Seeing this, the other two young men hurriedly put their phones away as well.
The customers behind them, who had been enjoying the view, suddenly felt a little awkward.
The short-bearded Soul Master stood where he was, his gaze lingering on the darkened screen for a moment before he finally went over to the counter.
"Two Gold Soul Coins, and I can watch all that stuff from just now?"
Lu Ye nodded.
"Yes."
"I don't have to pay again for each one I watch?"
"No. As long as it's a video someone posted publicly, you can watch it as many times as you like."
Hearing that, the middle-aged Soul Master was finally satisfied and pulled out his money pouch.
"Get me one."
He had barely put down the gold coins when another hand reached over from beside him.
"I want one too."
"Give me one first. I was standing here just now."
Chen Shun hurriedly took new phones from beneath the counter and handed them to the customers, then showed them how to turn them on and register.
These Soul Masters were not stupid, and they had spent quite some time watching just now. After trying a few things, they got the hang of the most common operations.
Before long, several more customers in the shop had their heads down, saying nothing.
After getting his own phone, the middle-aged Soul Master didn't even hurry to leave. Instead, he stood to one side and found the video he hadn't finished watching earlier.
This time, no one could turn off his screen.
Lu Ye watched from behind the counter, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from rising.
Now that's more like it.
He had worried that the Soul Masters of Heaven Dou City had never seen phones before and that he would have to do a lot of talking to get them to accept them.
Instead, these people had convinced themselves after watching for only a little while.
It worked even better than him standing there singing their praises for ages!
As the first batch of customers left, word about the phones began to spread.
Some went back to fetch their companions, while others played the video of Sword Douluo right there on the street. Several Soul Masters who had originally been heading elsewhere heard that they could buy one for two gold coins and, forgetting whatever they had intended to do, turned and headed straight for the merchant association.
By the afternoon, more and more people were crowding around the counter.
At first, Chen Shun could still explain the phones while collecting payment, but eventually he was too busy to keep up and had to call another assistant over to help.
"Take the money first, then get the box. Don't mix them up!"
"That one's for demonstration. It's not for sale!"
He had just called that out when a customer who had already taken out his money asked, "Why can't you sell the demonstration one? This one looks good to me. It has everything in it."
Chen Shun hurriedly explained that a newly purchased phone could display the same content.
Only then did the man let go.
Lu Ye watched with delight.
A little later, he was afraid people might even start eyeing his own phone.
By evening, Chen Shun reached under the counter, only to find an empty wooden crate.
He froze for a moment, then crouched down and searched through the two crates beside it.
Empty.
Every last one was empty.
"Young Master Lu, we're sold out!"
Lu Ye was checking the newly registered accounts on his phone. Hearing that, he looked up.
"All one hundred sold?"
"All of them, not a single one left!"
Chen Shun's voice was full of excitement.
Lu Ye had only said to put the stock out and give it a try, and Chen Shun had assumed it would take at least a few days to sell. Who could have imagined that before it even got dark, all one hundred phones would be in other people's hands?
The cash box, on the other hand, had grown considerably heavier.
The few people who had yet to buy a phone were immediately unhappy and gathered around the counter to ask when the next batch would arrive.
Lu Ye hurriedly had Chen Shun put up a sold-out sign and gave them a definite answer.
"There'll be more tomorrow. There's no need to wait here."
After seeing off the last batch of customers, Chen Shun finally let out a long breath and raised a hand to wipe his forehead.
In all his time working at the merchant association, this was the first time he had been so busy selling goods that he hadn't even had time for a drink of water.
The more Lu Ye looked at the cash box, though, the more pleasing it became.
As for that sound, he hoped to hear even more of it tomorrow.
That evening, when Ning Fengzhi received Lu Ye's message, he was also holding his phone.
Seeing the words "one hundred phones sold out," he was a little surprised and immediately sent a call request.
"That fast?"
"If you don't believe me, Sect Master, you can go and see the counter tomorrow," Lu Ye said with a smile. "The customers even wanted to buy the demonstration phone."
Ning Fengzhi laughed too.
"It seems one hundred phones weren't enough after all."
"That's why I'd like to add another five hundred."
As he said this, Lu Ye had already worked out the money in his head.
They had taken in two hundred Gold Soul Coins in total today, but the cost of the first hundred phones accounted for half of that, and there was also the merchant association's sales share. Naturally, he couldn't pocket the whole sum as profit.
Still, with the money he had left on hand, he had enough to add another batch of stock.
He had originally thought that the system's real returns would come from cashback on future top-ups.
He hadn't expected the phones themselves to give him a taste of profit first.
"I'll prepare the stock. As for the counter, sorry to trouble you to assign another person there, Sect Master."
"That's easy enough."
Ning Fengzhi answered readily.
After putting down his phone, he opened the recording Lu Ye had originally made.
The page, which had seen little activity during the day, had now received several comments in succession.
Some people had recognized the man leafing through the account books in the footage, while others asked whether he was Sect Master Ning of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Ning Fengzhi looked at it for a moment and casually gave it a like.
Meanwhile, Gu Rong had already taken his phone to find Chen Xin.
"Old Sword Bastard, look, this one of mine has a few more again."
Chen Xin glanced at it.
"Mine has more too."
Gu Rong immediately leaned over to look.
Then he discovered that Chen Xin had already navigated away from the page.
"What are you hiding?"
"I'm looking at something else."
"Then show me the number from just now!"
Their voices carried into the room. Ning Fengzhi shook his head with a helpless smile, but when he lowered his head, he took another look at the number of hearts beneath the recording.
At the same time, in another small courtyard in Heaven Dou City.
Gu Zheng had just finished a round of circulating his Soul Power when his gaze involuntarily fell on the phone on the table.
He had already spent a long time watching it since bringing it home.
By rights, he shouldn't watch any more tonight.
But what if that girl called Liu Ruyan had posted another new video?
With that thought, he reached out and picked up the phone.
"Just twenty minutes."
"After twenty minutes, I'll continue cultivating!"