This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 124 The Taoist Priest Opens for Business (Thanks to Yunchen Xiatian Crying Blood-Eyed Sweetie_ for being the Alliance Leader)
Chen Shi'an didn't have many trinkets on display for sale.

Nine wood carvings, four handmade incense sticks, and six calligraphy and painting works.

If they can sell at the bottom price that the two of them just estimated, they can make at least ten thousand yuan.

These things were all made by Chen Shi'an in the mountains. Now he has to attend classes every day, so he is rarely seen tinkering with them. Li Wanyin doesn't know how much time he spends making these things.

Such an exquisite wood carving... it must have taken ten days to half a month to carve it?
Such a detailed painting... wouldn't it take ten days to half a month to complete?
"Shi'an, how much time does it take you to make these things?" Li Wanyin asked curiously.

"It depends on what you're doing."

Chen Shi'an picked up a piece of pine wood carving, "For a small wood carving like this, one or two hours should be enough."

"Preparing the spices and pigments is a bit more troublesome, but kneading the spices and painting is quite quick. As for pigments and paper, I always prepare a lot in advance so I can use them when needed. As for painting, like this one, it takes about an hour or two."

Li Wanyin: "..."

What kind of production speed is this?!

It's one thing that everything they produce is of high quality, but what's with this prolific, so pig-like output?!
Li Wanyin suddenly felt that Chen Shi'an's works should not be sold at street stalls, but should be sold in antique shops. After all, street stall goods are always associated with cheapness, and even if she felt that these things were really worth the price, or even more, they would probably not be easy to sell...

It's a pity my sister doesn't have any money right now. If she did, she would buy it all for him, so that others wouldn't take advantage of her.

There weren't many customers at the moment, as the siblings were sitting in front of their respective stalls, having each other for company was a good way to chat.

Taking advantage of the free time, Chen Shi'an took out a piece of elm wood that he had picked up during his last trip to the mountains and began to carve it on the spot with a small knife.

Elm wood is also known as "elm knot" because of its tough texture, and it is often used for furniture or carving.

Such a hard piece of elm wood was like a potato chunk in Chen Shi'an's hands, quickly changing shape under his carving knife, and soon a human figure vaguely appeared.

Li Wanyin looked at her curiously: "Shi'an, what are you carving?"

"I promised to give Xiaozhi a wood carving, and I plan to carve a little figure of her as a gift for her."

"so good!"

My older sister, who never asks for things from others, just watched quietly, but couldn't help feeling a lot of envy...

As if sensing something, Chen Shi'an turned around and glanced at her.

Just like when she was a child and saw others eating, afraid that they would misunderstand and think she wanted to eat too, Li Wanyin quickly looked away.

"I'll carve one for Sister Wanyin too when the time comes."

"no, I'm fine……"

"I had this plan all along. I was even thinking of carving a little figure of Wanyin opening her house door."

Hearing him say that, Li Wanyin was very happy, she never expected that she would have it too.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and couldn't help but ask, "Why is it a little figure opening the door?"

"Yes, because this is the first time I met Wanyin when we were sharing an apartment. Although we met when you were handing out flyers, I feel that this meeting at home is more meaningful to record."

"You...you actually remember..."

"Sister Wanyin forgot?"

"No, what I mean is, how can you remember scenes from so long ago so clearly..."

Hearing Chen Shi'an say this, Li Wanyin also recalled the scene at that time. However, like most people, she only remembered the important parts. She remembered that Chen Shi'an was standing behind Uncle Lin at that time, but now she could no longer remember Uncle Lin's clothes, demeanor and expression. She only remembered the smile on the face of the little Taoist priest standing behind him.

"Yes, I remember. I have a good memory."

Even though Chen Shi'an said that, Li Wanyin couldn't help but think in a romantic direction. After all, being remembered by someone is a romantic thing in itself.

Unfortunately, such a wood carving is still only in Chen Shi'an's mind and has not yet been carved out. However, Li Wanyin has already developed a strong sense of anticipation. She is really curious to see what the scene of their first meeting in front of the rented house would look like in Chen Shi'an's eyes.

As for the scene of giving the figurines to Wen Zhixia and Lin Mengqiu respectively, Li Wanyin didn't ask, and Chen Shian didn't elaborate either.

But he had already decided that the images he would choose were the ones that left the deepest impression on him when he first met the two girls.

Wen Zhixia remembered that moment when they first met on the bus, she was half-sitting on the seat, bending over and turning to ask him, "Hello! Is this seat taken?"

Lin Mengqiu's story is that when Chen Shi'an first arrived in the class and caused a big commotion, she was sitting in a corner with a single seat and looked up. It just so happened that their eyes met.
The benefits of a good memory became apparent. Chen Shi'an didn't know if they still remembered the scene and feeling when they first met him, but he had a very deep impression of the two girls.

Even after so long, the scene still flows vividly in his mind.

Without needing photos or drafts, Chen Shi'an can easily replicate a scene by picking up a piece of wood. Through the carving process, he uses the magical ability of conveying meaning through objects to imbue the wood carving with his mood and feelings at that moment.

"By the way, Shi'an."

"Ok?"

Li Wanyin thought for a moment and said, "You can post a status on your Douyin account saying that you are selling these handicrafts here. You have a lot of fans. I think they would be very interested to hear that you are selling fortune telling and handicrafts here."

"also."

Chen Shi'an temporarily stopped his carving work, took out his mobile phone, took a picture of the wood carvings, handmade incense, calligraphy and painting on the stall, and then posted it on Douyin.

Like Teacher Wan, Chen Shi'an now also uses Douyin as his WeChat Moments, but not as frequently. He only occasionally shares his life on it and has never actively managed it.

Unexpectedly, the account data continued to grow steadily. The number of followers on the account had reached 25,000, all of whom were active fans. He would post landscape photos, cat photos, and the like, and the photos alone would get more than a thousand likes. This was partly because his photos were indeed very good, and partly because it showed that his fans were of high quality.

Last week, when he went to Mangrove Lake for a barbecue, Li Wanyin filmed a barbecue video for him. Because of his superb barbecue skills and the handsome high school student Taoist priest attribute that was "shown," the ordinary video suddenly received more than 30,000 likes, which helped him gain 6,000 followers.

Chen Shi'an didn't do live streams, sell products, or accept advertisements. After joining the incentive program, his video views will also bring him income.

However, Chen Shi'an usually didn't check it, but when he opened the backend now, he found that he had more than 800 yuan in incentive money.

"More than eight hundred yuan!"

Li Wanyin felt ashamed; it was exactly the amount of money she had saved in her private stash...

Half an hour after setting up her stall, Li Wanyin welcomed her first customer on the banks of the Xijiang River.

She was a young woman with her husband and child.

How much is the mung bean soup?

"Hello, mung bean sweet soup is three yuan a bowl, or five yuan for two bowls. How many servings would you like?"

When guests arrive, Li Wanyin immediately stands up from her small folding chair and opens the lid of the thermos in front of her to show them.

"What about taro sago pudding?"

Even though the prices are clearly written on the price tags, most customers will casually ask another question.

Li Wanyin didn't mind and enthusiastically introduced the prices, while also opening the lid of another insulated container to show the other party.

"you made it yourself?"

"Yes, I made it at home. There are many part-time stalls around here, so I came out to give it a try."

The street vendor economy is very popular recently, with many young people setting up stalls in their spare time. The psychology of customers is also quite interesting. Compared to those more professional stalls, many people are willing to support the hard-working people. In addition, given their youthful nature, they feel that the food from these stalls is cleaner and more hygienic.

Before customers arrived, Li Wanyin felt quite uncomfortable sitting idly at her stall, but as soon as customers came, she quickly got into the zone.

The customer wasn't in a hurry to buy, and Li Wanyin wasn't in a hurry to sell either. For street vendors, the herd mentality of transient customers was particularly obvious. She even hoped that this family could stand in front of her stall for a while longer, so that it would be more lively and attract more other customers.

"Boss, give me two bowls of mung bean sweet soup."

The word "boss" sounded strange to Li Wanyin.

"Okay, that's five yuan in total. You can pay with WeChat or Alipay."

As she spoke, Li Wanyin quickly took out two bowls and packed up the mung bean sweet soup.

Upon seeing the young woman holding the hand of her four- or five-year-old daughter, Li Wanyin proactively gave the couple an extra empty disposable bowl and spoon.

Guests usually don't say anything about these small details, but they feel very touched.

[Received 5 yuan via WeChat]
"Thank you, please take this."

"Okay, thank you."

The young woman took the bag from her hand and looked back to see her husband squatting in front of the high school student's stall next door, curiously picking up the wood carvings to look at them.

"gone."

"and many more……"

The middle-aged man had only intended to casually browse Chen Shi'an's stall while his wife bought sweet soup, but he was unexpectedly captivated by the exquisite craftsmanship of the wooden carvings as he held them in his hands.

Looking up, he saw the high school student guarding the stall still carving wood. He stared at Chen Shi'an's work for a while and thought his skills were superb. He didn't actually know how to carve, but such a hard block of wood was like a potato in the hands of this high school student, which he could easily carve. It would probably take more than ten years of practice to do that!
"Young man, did you carve all these wood carvings yourself?" the middle-aged man couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, I sell some handmade items here, such as wood carvings, handmade incense, and calligraphy and paintings. I make them all myself. If you need your fortune told or your palm read, I can do that for you too."

"...Fortune telling? Aren't you a student?"

"Yes, I am also a Taoist priest."

"Real Taoist priest?"

"A true Taoist priest."

"..."

The middle-aged man was skeptical. If any other high school student had said this, he would have been completely disbelieving. But Chen Shi'an's calm and composed demeanor and his works made the middle-aged man think that he might actually be a Taoist priest.

Without rushing to ask the price, the middle-aged man put down the wood carving, then picked up the handmade incense to smell it, and then picked up the calligraphy and painting to look at them. The look of astonishment in his eyes grew stronger, so much so that the movements when he picked them up were somewhat casual, but the movements when he put them down were very gentle, as if he was afraid of accidentally breaking them.

The middle-aged man finally couldn't resist picking up the wooden carving of the pine pen holder and examining it again. Its function was to serve as a pen holder, and the material was just ordinary pine wood. However, the pine pattern carved using the relief carving technique was exceptionally exquisite. Holding it in his hand, one could immediately feel its literary charm and artistic appeal.

"Young man, how much is this pine tree pen holder?"

"Four hundred."

"..."

The middle-aged man remained silent, neither commenting on the price nor the cost, but a clear look of struggle and hesitation appeared in his eyes.

He gently put down the pine pen holder and then went to inquire about the prices of other items.

"The wood carvings are all four hundred."

"Where's this handmade incense?"

"Six hundred."

How many are there?

"Thirty sticks, each burning for half an hour."

"...Where is the painting?"

Two thousand eight.

"..."

I often visit night markets, but this is the first time a middle-aged person like me has seen something so expensive at a street stall.

Logically speaking, antiques and ornaments at this price would never be something he would even consider. If it were any other stall, he might have scoffed at the price, muttered "Why don't you just rob me?", and then turned and left.

But the things Chen Shi'an put out to sell, he knew were expensive, yet he always felt that the other party's price was already very, very cheap.

So, they couldn't bring themselves to utter the word "expensive".

"Does the guest like this pine tree pen holder?"

"Hmm, it looks really good... Hey bro, can you give me a discount?"

"This is already the bottom price."

"..."

The middle-aged man didn't say anything, but stood up and walked over to his wife, probably to discuss it.

The young woman was drinking sweet soup when she took another empty bowl that Li Wanyin had given her and filled it halfway for her daughter. After all, her daughter was too young to eat an extra bowl and it would be a waste.

When she heard her husband say he wanted to buy a pen holder for four hundred yuan, she almost spat out her sugar water...

"Things at street stalls aren't worth that much. You think they're antiques? Even if they are, they're definitely fake..."

"No, honey, listen to me, this pen holder is really something else..."

"You're a copywriter for social media, you're always typing on a keyboard, it's been so long since you've used a pen, what do you need a pen holder for..."

"It's that kind of literary charm... I feel like holding it in my hand makes my inspiration for writing surge..."

"Are you serious?"

"...Forget it, four hundred yuan is too expensive. I'll save it for when I take Wenwen to the amusement park next time."

"No, what I mean is, if you really think it will be useful to you, then go ahead and buy it."

"Forget it, it's too mystical and unrealistic. Let's go, let's go..."

The couple stood a short distance away chatting quietly. In the end, the middle-aged man decided not to buy anything and left with his wife and children.

When Chen Shi'an first met the middle-aged man, he could tell that the man worked with words. This pen holder was suitable for him. However, Chen Shi'an could also tell that the family was not well-off. Spending four hundred yuan on a pen holder that was not very practical was a bit too extravagant.

Chen Shi'an did not lower the price. After all, when you set up a stall to do business, the price is set and that's it. They were not related or acquainted, so it can only be said that the pen holder was not meant for him.

Li Wanyin's dessert business next door gradually started to improve.

Seeing that people were coming to buy, and because the older sister was young and beautiful, more and more young people started coming to buy the dessert.

Some boys of similar age even boldly tried to add her on WeChat after buying her dessert.

"Sorry, WeChat might not be convenient, I have a boyfriend."

After hearing this, most guys who wanted to add him on WeChat would wisely stop mentioning it.

Maintaining decency among adults is the most basic social etiquette.

Chen Shi'an turned his head in confusion.

"When did Sister Wanyin get a boyfriend?"

"...Of course it's a lie! You actually believed that!"

When others asked for her WeChat, Li Wanyin would refuse without batting an eye. But when Chen Shi'an looked over and asked her that question, Li Wanyin's heart pounded, her pretty face flushed slightly, and she didn't dare to look him in the eye.

That post on her WeChat Moments, which was initially set to be visible only to colleagues, was hidden three days later, but she hasn't deleted it yet.

Even in the dead of night...

I sometimes make a point of looking back at the comments from my colleagues who said the two of us were a good match...

God knows what he was thinking!
"By the way, Shi'an, didn't that person buy your pen holder? You two chatted for a long time, I thought you were going to close your first sale."

"Hasn't the first deal already been completed?"

"Eh?"

"Didn't I just sell a little deer to Sister Wanyin?"

"Yes!"

"Sister Wanyin doesn't think it counts?"

"Yes, yes, of course we'll calculate it."

As the two were chatting, they suddenly saw someone walking straight towards them. Li Wanyin subconsciously prepared to continue greeting the customer, but then she realized that the person walking towards them was the young woman who had just bought sweet soup from her.

Unlike before when the whole family walked together, this time the young woman came alone, and she was walking in a hurry.

As she passed Li Wanyin's stall, Li Wanyin smiled and nodded at her, and she smiled and nodded back. However, she did not stop at her dessert stall, but instead took two steps over and squatted down in front of Chen Shi'an's stall, just like her husband.

"What would you like, sir? I have some handmade items for sale here, such as wood carvings, handmade incense, and calligraphy and paintings. I make them all myself. If you need your fortune told or palm reading, I can also do that for you."

Chen Shi'an smiled and said the exact same words as before.

"Little brother, which pen holder did my husband just mention?"

"this."

Chen Shi'an picked up the pen holder and handed it to her.

The young woman was in a hurry and didn't look closely, only glancing at him briefly before looking up and asking:

"how much is it?"

"Four hundred."

"...Could you make it cheaper?"

"This is already the bottom price."

"..."

Seeing that Chen Shi'an was clearly unable to negotiate the price, the young woman sighed, said no more, and took out her phone to pay.

"Where to sweep?"

"Hold on."

Chen Shi'an hadn't prepared a QR code either. He took out his phone and opened WeChat, only to find two unread messages from Wen Zhixia and Lin Mengqiu.

Without checking the messages, seeing the young woman's anxiety, he first showed her his payment QR code to scan.

"Big brother probably doesn't know that sister came back to buy a pen holder, right?" Chen Shi'an asked casually.

"...His birthday is coming up soon. Since he wants it so much, let's give him a surprise."

"I see."

"Okay, payment has been made."

"Got it, thank you."

The young woman hid the pen holder in her bag, and just as she was about to rush back, Chen Shi'an suddenly spoke up:

"Sister has a beautiful face; she will surely help her husband prosper and bring peace and health to the whole family. May your future be harmonious and prosperous."

"……Thanks!"

(Thanks to Yunchen Xiatian, Crying Blood Eyes, and Tianbao_ for being our patrons! You're so generous! May you all prosper! Thank you so much for your strong support!)
(End of this chapter)