Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest-Chapter 732 - Shadow of the Willows

Chapter 732: Chapter 732 Shadow of the Willows

Busy until evening, Wang Chen and Su Ziling saw off the last customer.

They closed the door and exchanged a smile.

According to the custom of Thousand Star Immortal City, on the first day of a new store’s opening, business is conducted only during daylight, and in the evening they tally up the sales accounts.

Su Ziling eagerly took out the account book, which listed every transaction of the day.

And the final sum made the young girl beam with joy, “Master, we earned five hundred and seventy-four thousand Spirit Stones today!”

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Wang Chen couldn’t help but laugh and cry, “How can this be considered profit?”

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The five hundred and seventy-four thousand Spirit Stones were merely the turnover; if the costs including rent were considered, they were still far from breaking even—in fact, selling all the stocked goods would not truly cover the costs.

But recouping such a considerable amount of capital was also a good thing. He ruffled the young girl’s head, “Not bad at all. Tonight, I’ll treat you to a big meal. What would you like to eat?”

Su Ziling pursed her lips and smiled, “I still want to eat ice cream.”

She had watched with her own eyes as Wang Chen created an icebox for making ice and had witnessed the entire process of mixing and making ice cream, being the first to taste it as well.

Just from the first mouthful, Su Ziling had fallen in love with this sweet and delicious treat!

Wang Chen, amused by her request, was about to speak when suddenly someone gently knocked on the shop door.

“Who is it?”

Su Ziling hurried to open the door.

Standing at the doorway was an elderly man with white hair, leaning on a dragon-headed cane.

Su Ziling exclaimed, “Old Shopkeeper, what brings you here? Please, come in!”

The elder was the former Village Chief of the street.

The village chief’s role, similar to a community leader, is usually elected by the residents of one or several street blocks and is considered a semi-official position.

Their main responsibilities included organizing local security, mediating conflicts among the residents, and serving as a bridge between the higher authorities and the local community.

Generally, only those with high moral standing and great respect were qualified to serve as the village chief.

And this former village chief had served in this role for a full fifty years; he had resigned only a few years earlier due to age.

Despite this, his prestige remained very high.

Wang Chen and Su Ziling both knew him and respectfully invited the elder inside.

Wang Chen asked Su Ziling to boil water for tea while he intended to prepare some snacks and fruits, but the old shopkeeper stopped him.

“No rush.”

The old cultivator gestured for Wang Chen to sit down and glanced at the merchandise on the shelves, asking, “Shopkeeper Wang, will you continue to offer discounts on these magic artifacts and spiritual artifacts tomorrow?”

Wang Chen thought the elder wanted to make a purchase upon hearing the news and smiled, “Yes, old shopkeeper, if there is anything you like, I can take it down for you right now.”

“My time is short, and I no longer care for such earthly possessions.”

The old shopkeeper shook his head and said, “I am only here to remind you that it’s all right for your new store’s opening day, but you can’t sell your merchandise so cheaply tomorrow, or else…”

Or else it would affect other people’s business, and Wang Chen would be in a lot of trouble!

Wang Chen was taken aback.

He had indeed intended to extend the discounts for three days, selling off all the stock.

Then he would purchase new materials for higher-end business.

Such as custom-made products!

In this regard, Wang Chen had considerable confidence.

His skill in artifact refining might not be the strongest in the entire Thousand Star Immortal City at the moment, but the thoughts and ideas he had were beyond what most artifact refiners could match.

Because these thoughts and ideas came from another world where technology flourished!

But at this moment, Wang Chen, having been reminded by the old shopkeeper, realized he had made a mistake.

Doing something out of the ordinary occasionally wasn’t a big deal under a legitimate guise, but making a habit out of it? Did he really think everyone else was a fool?

Wang Chen immediately nodded and said, “I understand, I’ll revert to the original price tomorrow!”

The Village Chief showed a smile, “That’s for the best.”

After drinking several cups of tea with Wang Chen, he politely took his leave.

After the Village Chief left, Wang Chen and Su Ziling changed the prices of the remaining items in the store.

Was this going with the flow, or was it that the wise adapt to changing circumstances?

But what gave Wang Chen a headache the very next day was that as soon as he opened the shop, a crowd of people swarmed in.

These people weren’t there to buy Magic Artifacts or Spiritual Artifacts, they wanted free ice cream!

Wang Chen was truly at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and could only drag Su Ziling to explain, “The promotion has ended, please come back tomorrow!

I can’t give them away for free anymore, otherwise my whole life would be spent making ice cream.”

Unsurprisingly, his business plummeted, with very few items sold in the following two days.

And yet, there were still people who came asking for ice cream.

“Master, why don’t we switch to the ice cream business!”

After two consecutive days, Su Ziling, too, was annoyed and encouraged Wang Chen, “I think the ice cream business could work!”

Wang Chen laughed and said, “I’ve got it in mind.”

If Su Ziling could notice it, how could he ignore it?

In fact, Wang Chen had already been contemplating this for the past two days.

This kind of food, purely for the pleasure of the palate, was really popular.

Apart from the first day, there were many people asking about ice cream for the following two days.

After thinking it over, Wang Chen simply made another freezer and used both to make ice cream.

These manual freezers didn’t really require much technical skill; it was just the flavoring that was a bit tricky, but even that could be easily cracked by high-tier Golden Core or even Nascent Soul Cultivators.

Wang Chen didn’t expect others not to imitate or copy his idea; after all, there were no patent laws in this world.

To prevent the opportunists from reaping too large a benefit, Wang Chen used all his tricks to make up to a hundred boxes of ice cream in different styles and flavors at once.

After individual packaging, they were put up for sale on the counter.

One box of ice cream was sold for one Low Spirit Stone!

This price was not low, in fact, it was quite high, especially since not all the ingredients were Spirit Grasses or plants.

But Wang Chen had introduced completely new flavors, and so, to his surprise, they sold very well.

He simply left the task of making ice cream to Su Ziling.

After all, it wasn’t rocket science.

And Su Ziling threw herself into the work with tremendous enthusiasm, asking Wang Chen to continue making new freezers, procuring a large quantity of materials, and increasing production by more than tenfold.

What left Wang Chen speechless was that so much ice cream was produced and yet it still sold like hotcakes.

The fame of the ice cream had even spread to half the city, and many people came specifically to buy it.

The Spirit Stones just poured into Wang Chen’s pocket.

Indeed, it was like the saying: ‘You can’t make flowers bloom with intention, but willows planted without purpose can grow into shade trees!’

What left Wang Chen speechless was that so much ice cream was produced and yet it still sold like hotcakes.

The fame of the ice cream had even spread to half the city, and many people came specifically to buy it.

The Spirit Stones just poured into Wang Chen’s pocket.

Indeed, it was like the saying: ‘You can’t make flowers bloom with intention, but willows planted without purpose can grow into shade trees!’