Chapter 183 - Pre-Sale
Just after coming out of the World"s First Zither House, Gu Hai wanted to set up a store right across from it!
The cultivators in the streets were still reeling from the shocking display of Gu Hai throwing seven hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones out to trample Young Master An"s majesty. In the blink of an eye, they discovered an even stranger matter!
Gu Hai wanted to buy the restaurant across from the World"s First Zither House!?
That restaurant simply hadn"t done any business whatsoever!
Not long after, everyone came to know that Gu Hai was opening a zither house!
"Are you kidding me? Has Gu Hai lost his mind? As expected, a fool and his money are soon parted! Setting up a zither house right across from the World"s First Zither House, he is walking to his own doom!"
"Yes, since the World"s First Zither House opened, the entire rest of Silvermoon City has not sold more than it has. Apart from the Silvermoon House, all good zithers come from here! All kinds of zithers can be found here, no one can compete with it! Opening a zither house on this street is equal to dooming your zither house!"
"Opening up a zither house right across from the World"s First Zither House is no different than seeking your own death, plain and simple!"
"Gu Hai has gone crazy, he is flus.h.i.+ng another forty thousand high-grade spirit stones down the drain!"...
All the cultivators who came to know about this news weren"t optimistic about Gu Hai, even a little bit.
In just two days, the Ascendant Hall acted and obtained all the clearances from the government. Very quickly, they finished registering the business name. After two days, the plaque was hung on the restaurant across.
"This Street"s First Zither House!" The cultivators nearby read the name of Gu Hai"s zither house aloud.
"This Street"s First Zither House! World"s First Zither House! Hahaha, who is exactly the first!? This Gu Hai is really a braggart and b.a.l.l.sy!"
"Gu Hai truly wants revenge!"
"Revenge, is this a joke!?"...
An inquisitive look showed up on the faces of all the cultivators on the streets.
Paving the way with spirit stones, the Great Han officials very soon found a renovation team to renovate This Street"s First Zither House. Everyone had their hands full.
Naturally, everything was clearly seen by the World"s First Zither House across the street.
Standing in the attic, Manager Jiang Tianyi was staring coldly at the plaque across the street. This Street"s First Zither House!? His eyelids started twitching madly.
Next to him stood Young Master An. He, too, was coldly looking at the zither house under renovation right across the street.
"Gu Hai, this overconfident brat, wants to take revenge on my World"s First Zither House!? Opening a zither house! Opening a zither house right across mine!? Overconfident! I will be watching to see how you bring doom to yourself!" A look of disdain showed up on Young Master An"s face.
Manager Jiang Tianyi, on the other hand, furrowed his brow and said, "Young Master An, I don"t know why, but I am having a bad feeling!"
"Nothing bad is going to happen! How many compet.i.tors has the World"s First Zither House has encountered over these years, but have we been defeated even once? I have already sent people to investigate, this Gu Hai only became the Ascendant Hall Water Throne Master because of luck. Hmph, he is an ant who has walked out from a barbaric place, and you are afraid of him? Him!? How many wind and waves has the World"s First Zither House experienced, and you still care about this?" Young Master An rebuked as he broke into a cold smile.
"Yes!" Jiang Tianyi nodded.
Rising Moon Palace…
On the floating island, Mu Chenfeng was walking back and forth with a muddled look on his face. Long Wanqing and Grandmaster Liunian were also waiting there.
After a good long while, Gu Hai finally walked out from a nearby palace.
"Gu Hai, what were those sounds coming from your room?" Long Wanqing asked curiously.
"It"s nothing! A decade back I had created a zither. I had not used it for many years, due to which, it was a bit out of tune. I was just tuning it!" Gu Hai shook his head, and didn"t explain too much.
"Throne Master Gu, are you really planning on selling zithers? It has already spread throughout Silvermoon City that there is an overconfident kid who wants to challenge the World"s First Zither House!" The perplexed Mu Chenfeng started at Gu Hai.
"Challenge? Who says I want to challenge the World"s First Zither House?" Gu Hai refuted with a smile.
"Ah!? You aren"t challenging, then, why are you renovating that "This Street"s First Zither House"?" Mu Chenfeng cried, confused.
"Didn"t I tell you before, I wanted to do some business in Silvermoon City, that"s why I was lazily looking at the various shops and businesses. I just happened to see zithers, so we too are planning on selling zithers!" the smiling Gu Hai replied.
"You don"t want to take revenge?"
"No, I just want to take back the money I lost, that"s all!" Gu Hai stated, smiling again.
"Take back!? How are you going to take it back? Do you want to rob the World"s First Zither House"s business?"
"Since we both are in the same line of business, it"s just fair compet.i.tion, that"s all!" Gu Hai shook his head and did not explain.
"Gu Hai, are you confident of your chances?" the nearby Long Wanqing asked curiously.
"Confident? How can there be anything which one can be sure about? Whether it will sell or not will depend on how my advertising goes, I hope it goes as I planned!" Gu Hai answered, shaking his head.
"Mhmm!" Long Wanqing nodded worriedly.
At this time, Shangguan Hen arrived not too far away from the group.
"Oh? Shangguan Hen, you went out to sightsee Silvermoon City, how did it go?" Gu Hai asked, as an inquisitive smile appeared on his lips.
Shangguan Hen didn"t seem to know about Gu Hai"s plans of opening a zither house. At this moment, he had an anxious look on his face.
"Your Royal Majesty, this minister wants to borrow some money from Your Royal Majesty!" Shangguan Hen pleaded, forcing a smile.
"Oh?" Gu Hai was puzzled.
"These days, I have been searching around the city, and found a few things like the ones I ate last time, it"s just that others haven"t realized their value! I want to buy them for eating before they are recognized!" Shangguan Hen explained grimly.
Eaten last time... that would be the Golden Black Tortoise Armor, the remains of the Black Tortoise Supreme!
"Oh? How much?" an uncertain Gu Hai asked.
"Two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones!" Shangguan Hen replied honestly.
Hearing Shangguan Hen"s request, the nearby Mu Chenfeng"s eyes almost popped out. These subordinates of Gu Hai didn"t even treat spirit stones as money! You are a subordinate, yet you are asking your boss to lend you two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, just to buy something to eat? Are you eating money? Two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones to buy something to eat, would you die if you didn"t eat?
If any of the Wood Throne disciples requested such things from me, I would have slapped them away!
"Two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, huh!? Mhmm, it"s really not much. However, I am currently tight on money, you will have to wait for a few days. I will soon have the money!" Gu Hai calmly a.s.sured him.
Two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones aren"t much!? Mu Chenfeng looked at this pair of ruler and minister helplessly.
"But I am worried that by then those things will be gone...!" Shangguan Hen murmured.
"Alright, if that"s the case, then, we won"t wait for the This Street"s First Zither House to fully renovate. Let"s go, we will build a terrace first!" Gu Hai nodded to Shangguan Hen.
Everyone, their eyes filled with uncertainty, followed Gu Hai to the This Street"s First Zither House.
At this moment, the renovation team was working at their full capacity. Countless cultivators that had gathered around the World"s First Zither House were pointing at the This Street"s First Zither House, and listening to the Zither Daoist invited by the World"s First Zither House while at it.
"Your Royal Majesty!" Several Great Han officials quickly rushed over.
"Ask the renovation team to work on the third floor terrace first! We will do business while they are renovating the rest!" Gu Hai stated calmly.
"Yes, Your Royal Majesty!" The team of Great Han officials immediately left and started getting busy.
"Without the renovations complete, how are you going to do business? Also, Gu Hai, you...you seemed to be forgetting that you don"t have any zithers!? I heard that the manager of the World"s First Zither House, Jiang Tianyi, has ordered an embargo, and none of the other zither makers are allowed to sell guqin to you! Without any supply, what are you going to sell, your farts?" Mu Chenfeng flared up angrily as his eyes widened in shock.
"Who says you can"t sell without the goods?" Gu Hai inquired, as his lips rose into a smile.
"Uh?" A perplexed look immediately took over Mu Chenfeng"s face.
Of course you can"t sell without goods! Wasn"t that common sense?
The team of renovating cultivators started working at an astonis.h.i.+ng speed.
Very soon, a gorgeous deck was built out on the third floor of the This Street"s First Zither House. It was luxuriously decorated and extremely wide and beautiful.
With everything finished, everyone quickly made their way out onto the terrace.
While the other officials were directing the renovations, a few officials closely followed behind Gu Hai.
As Gu Hai took out ink and the brush, the Great Han officials quickly set up a chair and a table. Very soon, Gu Hai started writing on a sheet of paper.
This Street"s First Zither House is preselling its first zither, called a piano! It will be available after half a year! Whoever wants to buy it, please sign the pre-sale contract. The piano will be delivered after you have paid in advance. In accordance with the contract, the piano will be delivered on first come, first-served basis!
"Paste it on the board in front of the zither house!" Gu Hai ordered.
"Yes!" A Great Han official respectfully took the notice and went to paste it on the noticeboard outside the zither house.
At the sight of this whole scene, Mu Chenfeng and the others had long been left gawking. Their eyes were so wide that they were ready to pop out.
"Throne Master Gu, you must be kidding, right? For something to be delivered after a year, you want the customers to pay in advance?" Mu Chenfeng asked, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Isn"t this crazy? Who will give you the money and sign a contract? You don"t even have the goods, they will give you s.h.i.+t!?
"This is called advance booking. As long as they want my piano, they will have to wait for half a year, it"s not that long!" Gu Hai said, smiling.
Indeed, it was not too long. Back on Earth, many real estate properties were booked in advance, and the buyers had to wait a couple years to get the house after paying in advance!
"Are they fools? It"s impossible!" Mu Chenfeng"s look of disbelief was plastered on his face.
"Steel zither? What"s a steel zither? Is it the thing that you were tuning in your room earlier?" Long Wanqing asked curiously.
[TLN: If we break down the Chinese words for piano, it is translated as "steel zither", as opposed to guqin, which can be translated as "ancient zither". In this sentence, Long Wanqing does not know what a piano is. I will be using piano for the later parts, and will be using steel zither where the speaker doesn"t know anything about it.]
"That"s right! Spread the news that I will be revealing the piano to everyone the day after tomorrow!" Gu Hai said with a smile.
"Steel zither? Is it a guqin made of pure steel? Is there anything strange about it?" Long Wanqing pressed for more.
"The piano is something totally new. It"s strange, but more importantly, it is melodious. You will come to know all about it the day after tomorrow!" Gu Hai left everyone guessing.
"Melodious? Didn"t you earlier say that you don"t specialize in the zither!?" a curious Long Wanqing stated.
"I am really not skilled in it, but I can still play a few tunes. You don"t need to worry, this is just for the start, that"s all! Once we are on the right track, we can ask Zither Daoists to promote us!" Gu Hai grinned.
"Alright!" Long Wanqing nodded her acknowledgment.
"Your Royal Majesty, where should we price this piano?" a Great Han official asked curiously.
Gu Hai looked at him and smiled. "Right, since you were the first one to realize this, then, you will be the one to go and announce it! Ah, right, go and hang out that Ultimate Zither that we previously bought at the World"s First Zither House, too!"
"Oh!?"
"A hundred middle-grade spirit stones for the Ultimate Zither, huh! Then, my piano will be sold for a hundred high-grade spirit stones!"
"Yes, Your Royal Majesty!"
"In the notice, write it clearly that the piano is also crafted from non-spiritual wood!" Gu Hai ordered.
"Yes, Your Royal Majesty!" that official immediately obliged.
The nearby Mu Chenfeng stood staring at Gu Hai in a daze. "Gu Hai, I have inquired. Because that Ultimate Zither was crafted from ordinary material and priced at a hundred middle-grade spirit stones, simply no one was willing to buy it. It was not worth it! And this piano of yours is also crafted from ordinary materials, and yet you dare to sell it for a hundred high-grade spirit stones!? You won"t be able to sell it, you can"t sell it! No one will buy it!"
Hearing this, the corner of Gu Hai"s lips rose into a smile as he replied, "If other people sold it, it wouldn"t sell for sure. But if it"s me, others will definitely rush to buy it!"
"Uh, have you gone crazy? You are really crazy!" Mu Chenfeng shouted as he stared at Gu Hai, totally bewildered.
Gu Hai, on the other hand, did not take him seriously. After leaving instructions for everything, he left with everyone in tow.
The two huge notices caused a sensation among the cultivators along the entire street!