Risky Business?

Six days passed and Fang Shi did something he hadn't done in awhile, closed the store for the night. When he first opened, he would close up every night, but as he gained employees and puppets, he would stay open all night. Fang Shi had made announcements were made and hung notices around the property to let everyone know two things: the closure of the store for the night, and the announcement of the new goods and services starting tomorrow.

That night with all the lights off and silence in the store for the first time in almost two years, Fang Shi a table on the top of the main store that gave him a beautiful view of everything. He invited all the employees and farmers to join him to eat, drink, and observe the stars in the sky.

"Everyone, I know it's late", Fang Shi spoke to them, "But as a special occasion, if laid out a few tables of our new products that you can sample. Also there are presentations for goods that are not appropriate to bring here you can view at your leisure. And finally, please welcome someone you're familiar with performing for the very first time."

Music began to play as lights illuminated the three Hong sisters. They started singing and dancing wearing robes that were eye catching, but not tacky or provocative.

The tune being played was harmonious with the environment, and everyone smiled as they sat down with food.

"They will perform like this several times a day", Fang Shi said, "But even when they don't, the senior has installed artifacts in all the buildings to play their music."

It didn't take long for the employees to stop eating, and get into meditative stances trying to refine the effects of the meal. Yu Xuan, one of the shops first employees, was also one of the first to finish refining the benefits of the food.

"Owner Fang, why is this food affecting us so much", she asked.

Fang Shi responded, "I don't want to explain several times, so let's wait until everyone has finished before I start."

Yu Xuan nodded, and in the time it took to burn two sticks of incense, everyone else finished their meditation.

"I'm sure you all have questions", Fang Shi stated, "So let me speak first. Hopefully what I'll say will answer whatever you wished to ask me in the first place."

No one spoke so Fang Shi walked over to the table, "Thanks to the senior rise in farming ability, the quality of the spiritual plants have increased. These new plants have the same benefits as the old, but they also carry extra benefits. For instance, our spirit rice has always contained very pure spiritual energy, our the new premium spirit rice not only has that same energy, but it also improves your meridians and dantian slightly. This means that if you keep eating this rice, over time you will see an improvement in absorbing and refining Qi."

Everyone looked at their bowls before walking over to the table, which now had signs in front of each dish describing the benefits of eating it. They cheered when they saw descriptions such as 'improves blood circulation', 'improves physical strength slightly', and other improvements, but when they saw the price, they felt as though cold water was thrown onto them.

Xue Yao raised her hand, "Will we be able to eat this for our meal?"

"Only once every ten days for now", Fang Shi replied, "The quantity of the goods is rather low, and this is a store. Once the senior is able to produce goods of this kind more often, then it will be provided to you more often as well."

Even though they were hoping to enjoy this food more often without paying for it themselves, they thought Fang Shi made a fair point. If they really wanted to enjoy meals like this, they could only pay.

"This is all for now", Fang Shi said as he sat with a drink in his hand, on an outdoors recliner that faced the sky, "Enjoy everything, and if you have too much to drink, a puppet will man your post until you wake. You'll still be responsible for working normal hours once you're ready."

Many of the employees cheered, while some laughed watching a thirteen year old boy acting like an old man. The Hong sisters would sing a song before joining everyone to the festivities, then return to perform another song. Everyone looked over the products that would be sold, amazed by the premium line of food, pills, talismans, and artifacts. Eventually, everyone tired and went home, and Fang Shi had puppets clean up the area before he also went to bed.

The next morning, the gates opened to a large crowd waiting. They streamed into the store, and quickly investigated the reason for the store closure. It didn't take long for them to find the shelves carrying the premium merchandise. To their dismay, not only were the products limited in quantity, but customers could only buy 1 per person.

Several guests immediately grabbed what they wanted and headed to the checkout.

These were all members belonging to the eight families.

"How can you change your policies concerning the purchase of goods", a girl from the Wei family asked.

"It's not my decision", Fang Shi acted innocent, "I receive my instructions from my senior."

All the family scions quieted down, knowing they couldn't do anything if the real power behind the shop had made the decision.

"I'll give you a hint", Fang Shi leaned over to the group of people.

They in turn moved closer before he spoke, "It's true you can only buy 1 per person, but the restaurant, tea house, and bar also have a limited supply of these goods as well. Even if you purchase tea leaves here, you can still enjoy a cup of tea in the restaurant and the tea house."

The young men and women's eyes lit up, and a young man from Lan family said, "I see, thank you for your advice , Owner Fang."

As the young man left, the other family scions also followed him.

It didn't take long for the visitors to discover that the original building that held the shops for alchemy, refining, and other professions, now had a neighbor. The six story building that held pills, artifacts, talismans, farming equipment, arrays, and clothes was now five floors, with a three floor building next to it.

Guests were quick to enter to find the clothing shop had moved to the first floor, but it was the upper floors that shocked them. The guests were greeted with artifacts they had never seen before as they found stoves, lamps, fans, and other items powered by spirit stones or spirit arrays.

"What is this?", a woman said as she looked over the merchandise.

"Honored guest, these are new artifacts our shop have developed to make life easier", a puppet replied, "For instance, this 3rd class stove can use spirit stones or arrays to cook meals very quickly. Guaranteed to last for fifty years with failure, and capable of standing up to attacks from cultivators of the late Qi gathering realm. We also have 2nd class versions as well if you need to cook meals using ingredients of that level."

The store employees bounced from place to place introducing everyone to all the products including refrigerators, air conditioners, and more. Suddenly, music played and everyone directed their attention to the pond in the middle as they several people playing instruments and three women standing on the newly renovated stage on the lake. The gazebo and benches that were placed there before was gone, replaced by a performance stage.

A fast paced and bright sound filled the shops are the three sisters sang their first song in public. Once they finished the first song, they followed it with a beautiful and slower piece, and then a romantic song.

"Thank you for listening, we're Red Silk Serenade", Hong Yan said to the audience.

"We will return later this evening for another performance, so we hope you don't miss it", Hong Li added, "While you wait, please enjoy our music through a new artifact installed by the shop senior."

Everyone applauded as the three sister left the stage with the musicians, but soon the songs they just heard started to play over the store's sound system. It caused so much confusion among the customers, that Fang Shi had to make an announcement.

"To all my guests", he said, "Please visit our new artifact shop if you wish to learn more about this new sound artifact, Thank you for your patience."

Later that day, a few cultivators were preparing to leave after a short session in the cultivation pod when they saw Fang Shi still sitting at the counter.

"Owner Fang", one of the cultivators spoke, "It was pleasant to see the new changes to the shops, but it was easy to see that you didn't add anything to the pod cafe or bathhouse. Will you be changing anything about them soon, or did your senior just forget."

The group of men laughed, as Fang Shi did as well.

"Actually, my senior does have plans for the future", Fang Shi admitted, "I guess just like me, you will all find out what those plans are when he unveils them."

Everyone laughed, and the group bade farewell to Fang Shi before leaving.

Truthfully, Fang Shi had wanted to throw out all his ideas at the same time, but the system threw a wrench into his plans. A few days ago, he had received a task from the system, [New! Keep your eye on the prize]:

[New! Keep you eye on the prize

To grow a healthy business, the host needs both regular customers, and first time customers. For the next 30 days, the host must first have 500 first time customers visit the store, and second, serve an average of 300 customers per day who aren't first timers.

Reward: A 2nd class Inheritance of the host's choice.]

Fang Shi wasn't upset when he saw this because he understood what the system wanted. The system didn't give many task out, and when it did, it was because it wanted to push him to rise to a new level of success.

After giving the problem much thought, he decided, 'Day 1, we will have a somewhat robust launch of several goods and products. Day 8 will be the release of new medicinal baths in the bathhouse using the premium products. Day 15 will be the debut of the Jade Dynasty tv series, and Day 22 would be when 'The Duel' movie would come out.'

Fang Shi felt this staggered release of goods would keep people on their toes, and return often to check for new products. Once he received the reward, he could make the changes to the cultivation pod he had been considering for sometime now.

Cranes could been seen often as they left to deliver both goods and meals. Even though the Rui family abandoned the idea of surrounding the Heaven & Earth pavilion, the crane delivery service was still popular. That being said, the guild across the street had stared at the cranes with covetous eyes, and Fang Shi had to use the system to apply pressure on them to curb their bad intentions.

That evening, the Hong sisters returned to the stage to a much larger crowd. This time, they sang another well known song of the area before singing two tunes from 'Fairy and Sword', much to the delight of some of the audience. Fang Shi sat in his home listening to them sing as he went over the daily report. The first day was a good start, so he decided to use the same method of advertising like before.

As guests came in the next day excited to be the first to buy the new limited products, they also took note of new posters hung around the shops:

[6 days until new experiences are available at Heaven & Earth bathhouse]

The words, along with the beautiful images of the baths, piqued the interest of all the customers that regularly used the baths, and some of the customers who didn't.

Over the next few days, Fang Shi noticed that his biggest customers were the Rui family, and the great eight families of Blue Moon city. Noticing the number of products they bough, he knew their purpose: some of it was to be used by their households, and the rest of was being scrutinized by their refiners so they could make their own version to sell.

The rest of the days were spent working, and fortunately for Fang Shi, his progress on his current task was going as planned. His production of class 3 materials was going so well, that he changed his policies about their mass purchases, and unbanned the cultivators who had previously disregarded his regulation. Despite their removal from the list, he gave them a warning that the senior was paying close attention to them from now on anytime they entered the store.

Finally the eighth day arrived, and guests curious about the changes to the bathhouse entered the store as at first light. They ignored everything else as they headed straight for the bathhouse entrance. Once inside, they went to the familiar counter that displayed all the different kinds of baths available. To their delight, several new rooms were added to include: medicinal baths, mud baths, kids baths, and rooms dedicated to certain elements.

The descriptions explained the effects of the new baths: greater toxin removal, pure elemental Qi absorption, body cultivation assistance, or in the case of the kids bath, promotion of root growth.

It didn't take long for groups of people to make their way to Fang Shi in protest.

"Owner Fang", a man shouted, "How can you promote such a scam to your loyal customers?"

Fang Shi looked at the large group of people in confusion, so he replied, "Can you tell me what scam you are accusing me of?"

"Obviously, we are speaking of the bath for children", a woman Fang Shi had to hold back from naming Karen said.

"So you're saying that you tried it, and it didn't work?", Fang Shi asked.

"No", most the mob answered before the man that spoke prior spoke again, "Who would throw away their spirit stones on an obvious lie?"

"Who told you it wasn't possible?", Fang Shi was becoming frustrated.

"Everyone knows that your roots never change, that's just our fate", the 'Karen' woman sneered, "The sects haven't found a way to change a person's roots, so how could you."

"Tell you all what", Fang Shi thought of a solution, "For anyone in doubt of my services, in this case the kids bath, bring your children here. We will test their roots. Then use the bath for seven days, and we will test their roots again. If the bath my senior set up works, I expect a public apology in front of everyone. If it doesn't, I'll refund twice of what you spent on the baths."

Many of the adults in the crowd became uneasy because no one had actually paid and used the baths, they were just afraid of being scammed.

The two 'leaders' looked at each other and then everyone else before nodding.

"We accept", the man said, "But I still have questions. If it was possible for someone to improve their roots, why hasn't it happened before?"

"Tell me", Fang Shi replied, "What do plants have?"

"Roots, leaves, a stalk, sometimes flowers", the man answered not sure why the owner asked this.

"Yes, all true", Fang Shi agreed, "It's my understanding that plants roots grow, am I wrong?"

"No, you aren't", someone behind the first said.

"So if plants roots grow, why can't ours?", Fang Shi posed this question to the crowd.

Everyone was silent for awhile before someone in the middle try to change the subject, "Why is it only children's roots you can make grow? Why can't adults?"

"That's an easy answer", Fang Shi laughed, "Children are smaller, growing, and their roots can be easily affected given the right elixirs. Adults on the other hand are fully grown, and the pills, elixirs, or potions needed to affect them requires a much higher strength. My senior was lucky enough to cultivate spiritual plants that could strengthen the roots of the young. You'll just have to wait for him to find and cultivate spiritual plants that can help you."