Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 325 Unexpected Event?

In many time-travel novels, after the protagonist travels to other worlds, he uses his knowledge to make great strides in the business world and build a business empire.

But Li Wei said... "I'm not a capitalist!"

They've already opened eight branches! We're completely exhausted!

Li Wei knew that the Betty the puppy doll would definitely make money, but he never expected so many people to buy it!
No, or rather, he had thought of it, but Li Wei had never experienced real commerce, so he couldn't really understand this nationwide frenzy of buying.

Li Wei didn't actually open this shop to make money. He had a share of the profits from the car company, and he just wanted to use this doll shop as an experiment.

In fact, similar doll shops existed in Li Wei's time, but they are probably no longer seen today. Li Wei remembers seeing shops like "XX Boutique" on the street when he was a child. These shops were characterized by their small size and the strange and wonderful things they sold, such as music boxes, flower baskets, snow globes, boats in bottles, photo albums, diaries, rocket art made from bullet casings, and so on.

When I was a child, places like this mainly sold birthday gifts. You'd buy those unusual and interesting things, wrap them up, and give them to friends. At least they wouldn't be too bad.

However, these boutique stores are no longer seen on the streets; they have mostly become online stores.

Doll shops in this era are somewhat similar to boutiques, selling items that are essentially works of art or gifts.

Because of Li Wei's understanding of boutiques from his memory, he didn't pay much attention, thinking that such stores would only be popular for a few days.

However, as the line grew longer and longer, Li Wei was forced to pull himself together and start helping Eileen take care of the doll shop that had involuntarily appeared.

Li Wei hadn't originally intended to make money from this; he hoped to sell the dolls through these doll shops to earn some power for his dog Betty. But the fact that someone was offering him a gun was somewhat unexpected.

This is actually quite normal. Chongqing is a metropolis with a population of tens of millions, and there are at least hundreds of thousands of children. The fact that pet shops in Chongqing sold out of dogs before is enough to illustrate the current supply-demand imbalance. Moreover, for many families, although their children are crying and begging for a puppy, wealthy families are afraid the puppy will hurt the child, while poor families can't afford a dog. Therefore, many families don't have dogs.

But you don't have to worry about dolls!

Dolls don't need to be eaten or drunk, and children can play with them all day long without worrying that they will hurt someone.

That's why even more people are buying them. Those with children buy them for their kids. Those without children can buy them as gifts.

Li Wei spent two days dealing with Eileen's antics, and he was completely exhausted. So he simply found an agent to manage things out of her care, and decided to let her do whatever she wanted, he didn't care anymore.

Incidentally, because the "authentic" products are in high demand, many puppet workshops in the city that were on the verge of bankruptcy have also jumped on the bandwagon. After all, puppy dolls are among the least technically demanding items, and Li Wei has even provided physical copies. Anyone can buy them, study them carefully, and then make their own knock-offs.

Li Wei, of course, had no objection to this.

He never intended to make money from the puppets; rather, he wanted to use them to expand people's awareness. Li Wei even considered continuing even if it meant losing money—after all, he wasn't in a position to lose.

Li Wei is overjoyed that someone is willing to spend money to help his business; he would never bother them.
In any case, Betty the puppy's image has already been designed and is fixed. There won't be any problems; everyone who receives the doll will only like the image of Betty the puppy even more.

For Li Wei, that was enough.

The only slightly troublesome thing is that once this happened, everyone suddenly remembered it.

It's been a long time since Levi released a sequel to "Betty the Dog"!
"Everyone's been talking about Sir Levi's Dollhouse lately, and the doll with Betty the dog. Could you tell me what happens next in the picture book...?"

At the Golden Mead Club, Li Wei often encountered people asking him similar questions. Although they only asked a question or two, Li Wei still felt like he had trapped himself in a cocoon.

If he had known he was just making trouble for himself, he should have… Oh well, what can he do? Life goes on, doesn't it?

"Next month."

Li Wei raised his cup, took a sip of black tea, and looked at the three people sitting beside him. They were none other than the three members of the Golden Mead Club's quartet: the rider Ister, the painter Borent, and the writer Matilda…

Well, speaking of which, both Easter and Borent brought Levi a case each. The former resulted in Levi gaining an adopted daughter, while the latter led Levi to launch a special crackdown operation...

Fortunately, neither the writer, Miss Matilda, nor the actress, Miss Joan, came to Levi to report any mysterious events.

This time, the group had afternoon tea with Levi at the club, and then Bolent couldn't help but ask a question.

Upon hearing Bolent's words, the rider next to him burst out laughing.

"What? Borent? You want to learn from Sir Levy and draw those interesting picture books? I'd like to see what you can come up with..."

"Do not."

Borent shook his head.

"I don't think I have the story-writing ability of Miss Matilda and Sir Levy, but I do admire Sir Levy's strange..."

Borent hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"I'm interested in the unusual panel layout."

"Ah, I see, I see."

The rider, East, immediately nodded.

“Every time I look at that painting, I feel like each panel is a separate painting, but they can also be connected, like a storybook…”

Storyboarding...

Li Wei silently sipped his tea, but didn't interrupt. This was a rather difficult topic to discuss, especially since the movie hadn't even been released yet... You're talking about storyboarding...

"So I want to look at more of Sir Levi's paintings and draw inspiration from them."

Borent didn't mention coming over to ask for advice. He knew that Levi was a detective who was always busy and didn't have time to discuss this issue with him, so he could only study it himself.

“I…I really like puppies…Betty’s story…”

At this moment, the writer Matilda, who had been hunched over, also picked up her teacup with both hands, squinted her eyes, and spoke.

"The puppies inside are so cute... I want to have one too..."

"So, Miss Matilda, are you planning to keep her as a pet?"

Upon hearing this, rider East became excited.

"Let me tell you, animals are very intelligent. I love my racehorse. Don't let its age fool you; it's only four years old, but it's incredibly smart and sensible. It knows almost instantly what I want to do, as if it has a telepathic connection!"

"Huh? I... I can't keep a dog..."

Matilda also hurriedly put down her teacup and waved her hands in front of her chest.

"I can't even take care of myself... so taking care of a dog... is even more out of the question..."

“Miss Matilda, would you like to buy a Betty the puppy doll? They’ve been selling it at Dollhouse lately.”

Levi chimed in at this moment, asking a question, while Matilda glanced at him timidly.

"I...I want to buy it, but..." "But?"

"There are too many people...I'm scared..."

Ah, I can understand. Even Li Wei was a little scared of that crowd, and this guy is a bit socially anxious.

"Then I'll give one to Miss Matilda."

It's just a doll anyway, it's not worth much.

Upon hearing Li Wei's words, Easter's eyes lit up.

"Sir Levi, may I have one too?"

"you?"

Li Wei glanced at the rider silently.

At your age... that's a fluffy doll, are you sure?

"Alright then, I'll just bring one for each of you."

Seeing East's embarrassed, sly grin, Levi guessed that he didn't want the Betty the puppy doll for himself, but probably for wooing girls. However, he was too lazy to say more.

Since we're all giving them away anyway, we might as well all give them away.

“Da da da………”

Just then, a series of footsteps sounded. Hearing the familiar footsteps, everyone turned to look and soon saw the last member of the group of four, the stage star Miss Joan.

"Sir Levy, good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone."

Joan first curtsied to Li Wei, and then greeted the others.

"Oh, young lady, why are you so late today?"

East raised his hand and waved at Joan.

"What? Could it be that you were kept behind to practice?"

"No, that's not true..."

Joan sighed as she spoke, then sat down next to Matilda.

"It's just that the next script is a bit troublesome..."

"trouble?"

"Yes, actually..."

Qiong hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke.

"Never mind, you'll all see it in the newspapers soon enough anyway. Mobis, who plays the lead role in our new play, was just injured! He's been taken to the hospital, and the whole troupe is in chaos, not knowing what to do!"

"I remember your new play is supposed to start in a week?"

Upon hearing this, Easter widened his eyes and looked at Joan in surprise.

"How come the lead actor is injured now?"

"It's strange..."

When this topic came up, Joan frowned.

“I remember it very clearly. We were rehearsing when suddenly a prop fell down and hit Mobis directly. Luckily, he managed to dodge it, otherwise, if it had hit his head, he probably would have died on the spot! Although the director took Mobis to the hospital in time, the rest of the actors were all panicked, afraid that something else would fall and hit them. So the deputy director calmed us down for a while before letting us go.”

"That Mobis is really unlucky."

East immediately shook his head.

"I remember he was the little prince of your Goddess's Eyes Theater Troupe, wasn't he? Was he badly injured?"

"It's hard to say..."

Joan's expression was also somber.

"At least it didn't hit my head, but it did hit my leg, sigh..."

"Then we're probably doomed."

East knew that the legs of the troupe's actors were very important, and if the one named Mobis became lame, his acting career would be completely over.

Ok?
Thinking of this, Easter looked at Levi.

"Sir Levi, do you think someone might be deliberately trying to frame him?"

"Oh?"

Li Wei raised his head and glanced at Easter.

"It's not impossible. Since he's playing the lead role, there will definitely be people who don't want him to play it, and they might do something to ruin him. Of course, we'll have to investigate the situation on-site before we can say anything..."

"Then, Sir Levi, would you please come with me to the theater company now?"

Upon hearing this, Joan seemed to have grasped at a lifeline, her eyes lighting up as she looked at Li Wei.

"Everyone is worried because they don't know why this happened. If you could go to the scene and find out what happened, we would all feel much more at ease!"

"Um…………………"

Faced with Joan's request, Li Wei thought for a moment.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this case, and as a detective, it would be good for me to do some of my job.

I'm drawing comics and making figurines every day, I'm almost forgetting who I am.

"Since I'm free anyway, I'll go take a look."

With that in mind, Li Wei gave his answer.

(End of this chapter)