ALL NOVEL
Chapter 59
A two-ounce bar of soap cost less than 300 wen. This price was a little more expensive than bean curd, but its cleaning effect was many times better! Many people still did not believe it, thinking there must be a catch - maybe the old man's clothes were not as dirty as they looked!
"You can try it yourself!"
"I'll do it!" A chef covered in oil stains stepped forward and was quickly recognized. "Isn't this Chef Hu from He's Restaurant?"
"You're not cooking in the restaurant. Why are you here causing a commotion?"
"Why can't I come?" Chef Hu said. "Besides, with my clothes this dirty, do you think the food I make would taste better?"
"I..."
"So I'm here to buy some soap and wash my clothes cleaner."
As he spoke, Chef Hu took off his clothes and efficiently scrubbed them in a basin of hot water.
When he lifted his clean clothes, he exclaimed, "My goodness, is this the original color of my clothes?"
The crowd naturally had eyes. They could clearly see his clothes were washed very clean.
"Let me tell you," Chef Hu said, "this stuff is so good, why don't you hurry up and buy some? I'm definitely going to buy two blocks!"
Li Yao felt a headache coming on.
This situation definitely called for a couple of actors, but she had not expected the actors Boss Zou brought to be so unprofessional.
"Chef Hu, don't be impatient." The shopkeeper said.
"What, you won't sell it to me?"
"Of course not. But I haven't finished speaking yet," the shopkeeper continued loudly. "Our boss said that for every bar of soap purchased today, there is a chance to draw a prize! The top prize is 1,888 wen! There are also various other nice prizes!"
Soon, two clerks carried out a large prize box, and there were also rice, flour, eggs and other prizes.
The most eye-catching, of course, was the big red envelope containing 1,888 wen.
"Give me one first!"
The old man whose robe was cut, being close to the action, got the first chance to buy.
"Old Zhang, please draw a prize."
Old Zhang stuck his withered hand into the box and hesitated for a long time before finally selecting a prize slip.
The clerk opened it and immediately shouted loudly: "Congratulations to Old Zhang for drawing third prize - one jin of white flour!"
Although he did not draw the big prize, Old Zhang was still smiling from ear to ear.
This jin of white flour was gotten for free.
"My robe..."
"Go to our shop, the manager will compensate you with a new one."
Hearing that his old robe could be exchanged for a new one, the wrinkles on Old Zhang's face smoothed out in delight.
With someone taking the lead, the onlooking crowd did not wait any longer.
This soap was really good, and most importantly there was a chance to draw prizes. What if they drew 1,888 wen and struck it rich?
"I want one!"
"I want three!"
"I want one too!"
"Can I buy half a bar?" Suddenly, a little girl asked timidly.
The clerk was taken aback upon hearing this - Boss Zou had not mentioned this!
"I'm sorry miss, our shop..."
"Sell it to her." Li Yao stepped forward and personally cut half a bar of soap and placed it in the little girl's hands. "Hold on to it tightly, don't lose it."
"Okay, thank you Lady Li."
Although it was just a small gesture, in the eyes of these poor commoners, Li Yao was like a kind-hearted fairy.
"From now on, whoever dares to say Lady Li is a shrew, I will not let them off!"
"That's right, she deserves to strike it rich."
"Hehe," an onlooking scholar also nodded and praised, "Lady Li has beauty, kindness, great temperament - she's a fairy who descended into the mortal realm!"
Li Yao: ...I'm really wasting my talent not being a livestreamer.
As more and more people bought soap, the prize drawing continued.
Rice, flour, eggs, discount coupons...all kinds of prizes were drawn by people. But that biggest prize still hung there.
Seeing that 400 bars of soap were about to be sold out, discordant voices began arising from the crowd.
"It's fake, definitely fake!"
"There are no big prize slips in that box at all!"
"The final big prize must be kept for their own people!"
"Fellow villagers, you've all been cheated!"
Li Yao frowned. The ones stirring up trouble in the crowd were two servants from Zhang Guangsheng's family. And Zhang Guangsheng himself was currently sitting in the teahouse across the street, looking down at her from above.
Had this guy not learned his lesson after she beat him up last time?
"It's my turn to draw a prize!"
An old lady dressed in rags came to the prize box holding a bar of soap. But she did not hurry to draw a prize. Instead, she put her hands together and muttered.
"Buddha bless me. I borrowed money to buy this soap. You must let me win a prize!"
After that, she groped around in the box for a long time before finally taking out a prize slip. She looked at the clerk expectantly, "How is it? Did I win? It doesn't have to be the big prize, even a few eggs would be good."
"I'm sorry Granny, you didn't get any eggs." The clerk shook his head.
"What about flour then?"
"No flour either."
The old lady suddenly became a little anxious. "Then...then at least I got white flour right?"
The clerk continued shaking his head. "No white flour either."
"I didn't get anything?"
The expectation on the old lady's face instantly turned into immense disappointment.
Just as she was about to leave, the clerk said to her, "Granny, why don't you ask if you got the biggest prize?"
"The biggest prize?" Hearing this, the old lady kept shaking her head. "How could I be so lucky..."
"No, you have to believe in yourself!" said the clerk. "Go on Granny, ask me, hurry!"
"Forget it if I didn't win, don't tease me..."
"Just give it a try, what if?"
The old lady hesitated.
Of course she wanted to win the biggest prize, but the clerk looked unreliable, just deliberately playing a joke on her right?
But what if...
"Alright, I'll ask you - did I win the big prize or not?"
"You did!"
"Hehe, I knew it..." She said. "Wait, what did you say?"
"I said you did!" The clerk exclaimed. "You really do have this luck! Fellow villagers, our shop's biggest prize has been won today! Congratulations Granny!"
What, she really won the big prize?
As the heavy red envelope was placed in front of her, the old lady felt as if she was dreaming.
"This...is really mine?"
"It really is," the clerk said. "Hurry and open it and take a look."
The old lady wiped her hands on her clothes before accepting the red envelope. Her hands trembled slightly as she carefully opened it.
Inside the envelope were really ingots and strings of brand new copper coins!
Seeing the silver coins, the old lady suddenly burst into tears for some reason.
"How wonderful...sob...sob..."
"Finally I can buy more meat for my grandson to eat..."
"Thank you all, thank you Lady Li, you are a living bodhisattva!"
The old lady wanted to bow to Li Yao, but was stopped by her. "Hurry home."
"Alright, I'm going right now."
Under the extremely envious gazes of everyone, the old lady quickly left the crowd. With so much money on her, she did not dare linger and hurried home to hide it.
With the big prize already taken, the enthusiasm of the onlooking crowd dampened.
Additionally, the 400 bars of soap were almost sold out. Some wealthy madams and misses felt it was no longer interesting and were about to head home. But several nimbly-dressed clerks came up to them.
"Lady Wang, please wait. Our shop has other goods today."
"Oh? What is it?"
"It's a product ten times more advanced than soap," the clerk said with a smile. "And it's only open for sale to VIP guests. If Madam is interested, please come upstairs."
Ten times higher grade?
Only open to VIPs?
Just these two points perfectly stroked the vanity of the madams and misses.
Of course.
Everyone knew Riverbend Li's Boutique only sold high class goods.
It was impossible for them, these esteemed VIP guests, to only buy the same stuff as commoners after waiting on the streets for so long.
What kind of VIP would that make them, right?
"Hurry and take me there!" "This way, Madam!"