Chapter 6

It was already mid-July, the hottest time of the year. Even in the early morning, as soon as the sun came up, the streets of Bonta City were quite sweltering.

Bonta City seemed to have wilted under the scorching sun, the entire city appearing listless. There was hardly any dense crowd, and even the sounds were few and far between.

However, on the commercial street in the west of the city, it was a completely different scene.

This commercial street, which housed over a hundred shops of various sizes, had been gradually filled with hundreds of people since before dawn. What was even more surprising was that these hundreds of people had all gathered in front of one particular shop, as if they had made a prior arrangement.

"Hey? Joseph, why are you here too?"

"Are you kidding? If you can come, why can't I? By the way, Ike, are you here to buy a magic fan too?"

"Of course. You said 'too'? Are you here to buy a magic fan as well?"

"Of course. I paid a deposit a week ago!"

...

Similar conversations could be heard from time to time in the crowd.

Through casual chats, everyone discovered that the hundreds of people waiting in front of this unremarkable "Heinze General Store" on the commercial street were all here for the magic fans!

Only a small portion of them had paid a deposit a week ago and were here to pick up their orders. The rest had heard about the magic fans through various channels and rushed to buy them.

"Hey, there are so many people here. What if the store doesn't have enough magic fans to sell?" someone suddenly asked.

This question didn't just cause a stir; the crowd, which had been chatting idly, suddenly fell silent. A moment later, as if by unspoken agreement, they all surged toward the store's entrance.

"Don't push! I have to buy a magic fan today! Otherwise, my wife will scold me to death!"

"Damn! Do you think only your wife will scold you? Mine said that if there's no magic fan tonight, she'll take my son to sleep on the street!"

"Alright, stop pushing! I've already paid a deposit!"

"Get out of the way! What's the point of pushing if you've paid a deposit?"

...

Xu Yi had already delivered five hundred magic fans to Heinze's general store the previous night. He was currently counting the stock with Heinze when they suddenly heard the commotion outside. They exchanged a glance and went to the front of the store.

As soon as they opened the door, they were shocked by the scene before them.

The crowd, like a flood breaking through a dam, rushed into the store, instantly filling the small shop to the brim.

"Heinze, where's my magic fan?"

"Hey, boss, I didn't make a reservation, but I want to buy two! No, three!"

"Me too, Heinze, I'm a regular customer here. You have to sell me two magic fans!"

"Damn, so what if you're a regular customer? I'll pay you, so you have to sell me one!"

"Why are you pushing so hard for just one? Go to the back!"

...

The weather was already hot, and with the crowd pushing in, the heat intensified. Xu Yi, who had never faced such a situation before, was instantly drenched in sweat.

Heinze, who had never seen such a frenzied shopping crowd before, quickly regained his composure, thanks to his years of running a general store. He shouted, "Everyone, please calm down! We have five hundred magic fans, enough for everyone!"

Hearing the number five hundred, the crowd calmed down slightly.

However, this calm lasted only a moment. Everyone quickly realized that there were hundreds of people outside the store, and even if each person bought only one magic fan, it would barely be enough. Since many had already mentioned buying more than one, five hundred fans would definitely not be sufficient.

Realizing this, the crowd became even more frenzied.

Seeing this, Heinze knew words wouldn't help. He quickly signaled Xu Yi to go to the back with his nephew, Alex, to bring out more fans.

A magic fan weighed less than three kilograms, so Xu Yi and Alex could carry ten at a time. However, as soon as they brought out ten fans, they were immediately snatched up by the crowd, forcing them to return to the back warehouse.

As Xu Yi and Alex made multiple trips between the back warehouse and the store, the four hundred and eighty-seven fans in the warehouse quickly dwindled.

Eventually, the people in the store grew impatient and rushed to the back warehouse with Xu Yi and Alex.

Heinze took the opportunity to move the transaction to the warehouse. In less than an hour, all the magic fans in the warehouse were sold out.

By then, there were still over a hundred people outside the store who hadn't bought any fans. Hearing that the fans were sold out, they were deeply disappointed, and some even started to complain.

"You didn't even prepare enough stock. What kind of lousy store is this?"

Faced with such unreasonable complaints, Xu Yi and Heinze could only exchange a wry smile.

However, their smiles were tinged with obvious satisfaction and relief.

They had expected it to take a long time to sell the four hundred and eighty-seven magic fans, but they were sold out in less than an hour, which was a pleasant surprise.

Heinze, of course, wouldn't give up on the remaining hundred or so people. With Xu Yi's nod, he immediately offered to take more orders for future batches of magic fans.

This time, there was no hesitation. Everyone placed their orders.

After another half hour, the crowd gradually dispersed, and the store finally returned to a peaceful state.

After sending off the last customer, Heinze immediately pulled Xu Yi into the back room.

"Jingle jingle—"

Heinze shook the money bag, and a pile of gold coins cascaded onto the table in front of them.

Looking at the pile of glittering gold, Heinze swallowed hard.

Too much!

It took Heinze a while to calm down before he started counting the coins.

Today, they had sold four hundred and eighty-seven magic fans at two gold coins each, totaling nine hundred and seventy-four gold coins. However, one hundred and thirty-seven fans had already been paid a one-gold-coin deposit, so the total was reduced by one hundred and thirty-seven, leaving eight hundred and fifty-seven gold coins.

After counting, the number was exactly right.

"Xu... Xu Yi, we really made a fortune today!" Even though Heinze had expected this number, seeing over eight hundred gold coins in front of him still made him dizzy.

Heinze's annual income from the store in Bonta City was only about three hundred gold coins, and now, in just one morning, they had made over eight hundred!

He couldn't believe it was real!

Xu Yi, though calmer than Heinze, was also quite excited.

After living in this world for three years, his life had never been particularly affluent. Although he wasn't particularly sensitive to money, this income would undoubtedly make his life much easier.

After a moment of silence, Xu Yi counted out four hundred gold coins and pushed them toward Heinze.

Heinze was taken aback: "Isn't this wrong?"

According to their agreement, Heinze should receive ten percent of the profits, which would be ninety-seven gold coins. Additionally, Xu Yi had borrowed two hundred gold coins from Heinze to buy materials for the five hundred magic fans, which he needed to repay.

In total, Xu Yi should give Heinze three hundred gold coins, but he was now pushing four hundred, which surprised Heinze.

Xu Yi smiled, "There's nothing wrong. The extra one hundred gold coins are for you to help me rent a larger space in the city, so I can produce more magic fans. Otherwise, it will be very inconvenient to continue working from my home."

Heinze nodded lightly. The small house Xu Yi rented was only about ten square meters, which was indeed inconvenient.

Just as Xu Yi was about to make more specific requests to Heinze, Alex, who was guarding the front of the store, suddenly burst in.

"Uncle Heinze, Mr. Xu... a big customer has arrived!"

"A big customer?" Xu Yi and Heinze exchanged puzzled glances. "What do you mean by a big customer?"

Together, they went to the front of the store and immediately understood what Alex meant by "big customer."

The person who had arrived was a middle-aged man in his forties, of average build, with an unremarkable appearance. However, he exuded a shrewdness, and his narrow eyes, which often squinted, gave the impression that he was sizing people up like commodities.

"Thousand units," the man, who introduced himself as Reeves, said bluntly. "I want to order a thousand magic fans."