Our paper horse shop reopened, and immediately many regular customers came to show their support.
My grandfather started chatting away with those old gentlemen and ladies again, describing his recent stroke as extremely life - threatening. As for why he returned home full of energy without any after - effects, it was, of course, thanks to the "blood - activating and stasis - dissipating talisman water" he drank.
Those old folks believed every word of my grandfather's story after seeing him perform the Taiji Bagua Palm two or three times right in front of the shop.
They all rushed to buy those so - called "blood - activating and stasis - dissipating talismans" from my grandfather.
My grandfather had tasted the benefits of limited - daily supply with Du Peilin and knew the value of rarity.
He limited the daily supply of the "blood - activating and stasis - dissipating talismans" to just ten. First come, first served. This made the old folks eager to queue up outside our house before dawn...
I knew, however, that those talismans were actually the "Liuding Liujia Body - Protecting Talismans" wholesaled from Du Peilin. Du Wenzhong bought them for 150 yuan each and sold them to the regular customers at a 5% discount, still charging 988 yuan.
Every time I opened the door and saw the old folks crowding into the shop, I would sincerely advise them to go to the hospital if they were sick instead of believing in those illusory things.
But those silver - haired and wrinkled old people were more realistic than I was.
The talismans were indeed effective, but not for treating strokes or blood clots. One of them was on a trip back to their hometown. When their car was on a mountain road, where there was usually only one path, two or three forks suddenly appeared. They knew they had encountered a ghost leading them astray. The old person who had bought my grandfather's talisman took out the small yellow triangle. They heard a scream in the void. Suddenly, their vision dimmed and then brightened, and the extra forks disappeared, leaving only the familiar mountain road in front of them.
So, the old folks didn't care whether it was a "blood - activating" or "stasis - dissipating" talisman. As long as it was effective, it didn't matter where the effect manifested!
... I was completely speechless about their logic and could only let them be happy.
However, queuing up so early every day would surely take a toll on some people's health.
It was already very hot in summer. Even in the early morning before the sun rose, the heat from the ground still steamed up.
Last night, Si Jiangchen came back from a business trip and stayed in my small room of less than ten square meters. He kept me up half the night, and I didn't dare to make a sound. I was so sleepy that I didn't get out of bed until 8:30 in the morning, sore all over.
After washing up, I went to the front shop to open the door. A man in a suit suddenly collapsed in, which gave me quite a scare.
The uncles and aunts who were about to rush in were also too frightened to enter and stood outside the door.
"What's going on?!"
I quickly stepped forward to support him and helped him up from the ground.
He wore brown rimless glasses, frowned, and had his eyes tightly closed. He looked familiar, as if I had seen him somewhere before!
"Xiao He, this guy came really early," an old person said indignantly. "We came here at around 5 o'clock this morning, and we saw him sitting on the threshold. A young and healthy guy like him, why is he as superstitious as us old folks?!"
As they spoke, several of them pursed their lips in complaint. "He's not even as healthy as we are, yet he still comes to join the fun!"
I saw that the man's face was pale and covered in cold sweat. I immediately knew that he had fainted due to low blood sugar. I quickly grabbed a bottle of "Monster" and pried open his mouth to pour it in.
True to its name as an energy drink, after a few sips of the lime - flavored drink, the man let out a long sigh and finally woke up.
"Hey... Miss Du, you finally opened the door!"
He took the water bottle from my hand, put it to his mouth with a trembling hand, and took a few big gulps. Then he said, "I called you, but you didn't answer. I sent you WeChat messages, but you didn't reply. I heard your shop was open, so I rushed over here as fast as I could!"
This man seemed to be very familiar with me when he spoke, but I really couldn't recognize who he was.
"I... I'm Dong Jianhui!"
Seeing the confusion on my face, the man could only grin awkwardly. "You... boss, you haven't quit my company yet. As long as you don't quit, I'm still your boss."
"Oh oh oh!!!"
I suddenly realized. No wonder he looked familiar. In order to find Du Wenzhong's soul, I applied for a job in a planning company in Haiyue Building. The boss of that company, Dong Jianhui, even knew Si Jiangchen. So he took extra care of me when I was bullied on my first day at work.
"Boss Dong, do you need something from me?"
I hadn't thought about the things related to Hanyu Planning for a long time. I used to work in their execution department. There were only three of us in total, including me, Yang Fan, and Li Xinrui.
Yang Fan was under surveillance in the hospital, Li Xinrui was controlled by the police, and I had been running around with Si Jiangchen. I hardly spent a single day in the company. It was really rare that Boss Dong still remembered the address of my shop and came here.
"Miss Du, you promised me during our last WeChat call..."
Dong Jianhui looked at me tremulously and said, "For this large - scale music festival, could you please help us sign a few well - known singers?"
...
I seemed to remember this. This music festival was said to be the Beijing stop of a national tour. The second, third, fourth, and fifth - tier celebrities from Taoran Media that the planning department had contacted before were not of high enough status. So Dong Jianhui wanted to use my relationship with Si Jiangchen to help him contact a few first - tier music superstars.
I had been busy with Ma Su's matter and had completely forgotten about this.
I felt a bit embarrassed that Dong Jianhui had come to find me in person.
Just then, Du Wenzhong walked out with a steady gait. The old folks immediately surrounded him like stars around the moon.
Du Wenzhong, however, immediately noticed Dong Jianhui sitting on the chair, supported by me. He walked over slowly, sized Dong Jianhui up and down, and suddenly frowned and said, "Sir, I see that your forehead is dull and your eyes are listless. You've been haunted by bad luck recently!"
"Grandpa, this is my friend!"
I was speechless about Du Wenzhong's tricks.
Whenever he saw a new face in the shop, he would use those common - place sayings from the old - school charlatans to try to deceive them into emptying their wallets.
I could tell the good or bad fortune of people.
Apart from being a bit weak, Boss Dong didn't have the problems Du Wenzhong described. Both his financial and career fortunes showed an upward trend. Perhaps this music festival was the turning point for Hanyu Planning to become a first - class company!
"Ah! A friend of Xiao He's!!"
Du Wenzhong's long eyebrows twitched. He grabbed Dong Jianhui's hand even more seriously and looked at it carefully. "Then I must speak even more bluntly! Sir! Your days are numbered!!"