Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

Hu Tao was making her own plans.

This book should not only be sold in Liyue, but also in Mondstadt, Sumeru, and other places from winter to summer!

This book is the key to launching their "Returning to One's Roots" business!

Chapter 172 Now I Have Money in My Pocket

The whole thing went very smoothly, even far exceeding everyone's expectations.

This story was very popular among storytellers, and the audience was always full every time it was performed.

This book encompasses adventure, romance, and mystery, offering thrills and excitement while also delving into the past of the Dragon Ridge Mountains, making it excessively captivating.

In addition, the book is not officially sold to the public yet, and only a few people have a few copies. Almost no one knows the story that goes on. The audience is itching to hear the storyteller start the story every day.

Because of this book, the value of several famous storytellers in Liyue has increased significantly.

Fortunately, the Feiyun Chamber of Commerce controlled the daily pace of storytelling, which prevented vicious competition and the situation where the storyteller finished telling the whole story before the book was even sold.

The hype generated by Hu Tao and Xing Qiu, two people with considerable business acumen, over the course of more than half a month was certainly not for nothing.

When the storyteller was telling the most exciting part of the story, the Feiyun Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with various teahouses, launched a sales event for "Snow Country Tales" directly in the teahouses after the storyteller finished telling a section of the story.

With a month-long build-up of popularity, its sales were naturally booming. Almost everyone who came to listen to the audiobook bought a copy, and all the stock was sold out in just one afternoon.

Seeing such good sales, Hu Tao immediately arranged for a second batch of printing.

The second batch won't be sold like this; instead, it will be sold in bookstores like other books, and those who want to read it can buy it directly from bookstores. At the same time, we will also contact merchants who specialize in foreign trade to take this set of books to other countries for sale.

Given Liyue's immense popularity, there's no need for Hu Tao to say much; plenty of merchants are eager to buy the sales rights for any given region.

Seeing how effective this marketing was, Xingqiu also wanted to try having a storyteller tell his book, "Chenqiu Picks Up the Sword Record," but after thinking about it, he gave up on the idea.

Putting aside the fact that his book wasn't a popular genre, the imaginative concepts of spaceships and other fantastical elements were probably incomprehensible even to a storyteller, let alone explain to an audience.

Secondly, he went through a lot of trouble to buy this book within the Liyue area just to prevent those few acquaintances from seeing it. Wouldn't doing this be tantamount to self-destruction?

For various reasons, his "Shen Qiu Picks Up the Sword" could only gather dust at home.

Xingqiu sighed deeply, wondering why no one appreciated his books.

......

In the Hall of Rebirth, Walnut, sitting in a hanging chair, was engrossed in reading a book.

"I didn't expect Xingqiu's book to be so interesting!"

Despite its novel setting and interesting ideas, it is not popular in Liyue due to its genre.

Jiang Bai hummed a song as he walked into her courtyard. Seeing her engrossed in reading, she curiously peered up behind him.

He had a lot of free time during this period, either wandering around Liyue or pestering Zhongli to teach him martial arts.

Although Zhongli rarely takes action, he looks like a refined scholar.

But as Hu Tao said, he was extremely skilled and knowledgeable, able to explain the ins and outs of any weapon.

【Snow Burial Star Silver】is a rare and exquisite greatsword. Thanks to the belief that was once placed on this greatsword, Jiang Bai can cut through the wind and snow with just a light swing and clear a path in the blizzard.

However, while the weapon itself was excellent, the person using it was rather incompetent.

Jiang Bai wielded this greatsword haphazardly, which Hu Tao, who couldn't stand it, ordered him to learn swordsmanship properly. Jiang Bai also felt that his current approach was not good enough, so he would pester Zhong Li to teach him whenever he had the chance.

Fortunately, he has a good learning ability, and after studying for a while, he finally started to look promising.

Besides learning swordsmanship, he spent his free time opening up many anchor points, including some that were easily visible along the roadside, which made things much more convenient.

In addition, once he goes out, he doesn't miss anything that might be valuable, and people often come to the temple with his flyers to do business, which has made his wallet quite full now, no longer as poor as it was at the beginning.

With money in your pocket, how can you resist spending it?

And here I am, showing off to Walnut.

Jiang Bai quietly leaned close to Hu Tao's ear, and seeing that she hadn't noticed at all, deliberately spoke loudly:

"Master, what are you looking at?"

Suddenly a sound rang in his ears, startling Hu Tao, who was engrossed in his book. He almost jolted awake and slapped the book in his face.

"When did you arrive? Why did you walk so quietly?"

"It's because you were too engrossed in watching, Master!" Jiang Bai refused to admit that he had deliberately scared her.

Hu Tao rolled her eyes. "You'd be a fool to believe that."

She didn't hide what she was looking at, and closed the book to show Jiang Bai the cover, "The book 'Chen Qiu Picks Up the Sword Record' written by Xing Qiu."

She had been wanting to find time to read it properly, but she kept getting distracted by other things. Fortunately, she was almost finished.

But reading quickly also has its drawbacks: "It's a pity that I'm about to finish the first volume, and this is the only one I've ever bought."

"Let's go to the bookstore and buy some, and do some shopping while we're at it," Jiang Bai suggested.

Hu Tao was tired of reading and wanted to go for a walk. "Let's go! Let's see if the bookstore has any copies of Volume 2."

She put the book in her room and spent about half an hour changing her clothes before coming out.

The temperature in Liyue Harbor has been much colder than usual lately.

Walnut changed into a blue round-neck robe with a white fur collar. Two small pom-poms hung down from the collar, and she bounced as she walked.

She wore a matching long skirt that covered her calves, and boots with fur trim.

Instead of tying her hair in two ponytails as usual, she wore a fluffy hat adorned with two red plum blossoms, which matched her red belt perfectly.

This outfit was completely different from the kind of clothes she usually liked that allowed her to move around easily; she looked like a gentle and refined lady who was well-read and had an otherworldly air.

That is, if she doesn't speak.

"How about it? My new clothes are great, aren't they!" Hu Tao twirled around, proudly showing off her new outfit.

Jiang Bai coughed lightly, covering his slightly reddened earlobes. "To be honest, this outfit is just so-so in my opinion..."

Seeing that Hu Tao's embroidered eyebrows were about to furrow, he changed the subject, "But when the hall master wears it, it's a completely different story! It's like a thoroughbred horse meeting a discerning eye, finally revealing its true value, to the point that my meager vocabulary is utterly inadequate to describe the hall master's beauty..."

Hu Tao blushed slightly at his praise and muttered, "What kind of nonsensical analogy is that..."

Who compares clothes to a thoroughbred horse and its discerning owner?

Chapter 173 Today it's on me!

Jiang Bai grinned and said, "Whatever the metaphor, I only want to express one thing—the hall master is really handsome!"

Even someone as thick-skinned as a walnut couldn't handle such praise.

Ignoring her slightly flushed face, Hu Tao walked forward nonchalantly, "Let's go, let's go!"

It was still early and the weather was nice. The two walked one after the other, the sunlight shining on them, as if they were gilded.

"Master, how long until your birthday?"

Hu Tao turned her head and asked in confusion, "There are still five days left, right? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I'm just afraid I might have misremembered."

Jiang Bai smiled; his smile was especially radiant in the sunlight.

After Hu Tao's birthday, she will be 16 years old. After the Lantern Festival, she will be 17 years old (by Chinese reckoning), which means she will be close to adulthood.

"What gift do you plan to give me, the head of this hall?"

What's the point of telling people about the gift if you already know?

"Master, how are you planning to celebrate your birthday?"

"Just treat everyone to a meal, have a get-together, what else can we do?"

"Whom does the hall master plan to invite?"

"You also have Xiangling, Guoba, Xingqiu, Chongyun... that's enough, too many people isn't good."

"Aren't you going to invite Mr. Zhongli?"

Hu Tao spread her hands, looking somewhat helpless. "Inviting him over is futile; he can't fit into the atmosphere of us young people, and he tends to make the atmosphere overly formal."

"I really wanted to invite Qiqi, but I'm sure she wouldn't want to come."

Although her relationship with Qiqi had improved considerably, Qiqi still didn't like her, and coupled with her poor memory, she still avoided her every time she saw her.

"Who told you to scare her every time?" Jiang Bai said speechlessly.

Although Hu Tao no longer sees Qi Qi off to her final rest, she still likes to scare Qi Qi whenever she sees her, such as suddenly appearing behind her or suddenly peeking out from the roof beam. What child wouldn't be afraid of such an act?

Walnut skipped and hopped forward with her hands behind her back, "Oh, this is fun! It's so funny to see them so scared!"

Life without any fun would be terrible.

The two soon arrived at a nearby bookstore.

There are many bookstores in Liyue, but most of the books are not free to read; you have to buy them if you want to read them.

Stepping into the bookstore, the shelves are filled with a dazzling array of books.

Besides books, the bookstore also sells calligraphy, paintings, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

Without glancing at the dazzling array of books on the shelves, Hu Tao went straight to the shopkeeper at the desk and asked:

"Boss, do you have 'The Record of Chen Qiu Picking Up the Sword' here?"

The boss adjusted his glasses and peeked out from under the book.

"Oh, it's Walnut. I vaguely remember the book you mentioned. About two months ago, the Feiyun Chamber of Commerce bought up all the few copies I had. There aren't any left."

He only has a few sets of this book because it's a very niche book with very few buyers.

It was rather strange that the Feiyun Chamber of Commerce bought all the books that time.

"They actually bought them all a long time ago! That damned Xingqiu!" Hu Tao clenched her little fists.

In order to prevent them from reading his book, this guy actually bought all of it!

There's no need to go to any other bookstores now; this book is definitely sold out in the entire Liyue Harbor.

"Master, shall we visit other bookstores?"

"No, let's go straight to the Feiyun Chamber of Commerce!"

Right now, it seems only Xingqiu himself has this book; if you want to read the sequel, you'll have to contact him directly!

“I saw Xingqiu at Tianheng Mountain a few days ago. He’s away on a long trip and not at home these days.”

Can Jiang Bai send Hu Tao to Xing Qiu's house?

Of course not!

He specifically invited Hu Tao out shopping, and the money was all prepared. How could he let the head of the hall go to another man's house!

“It’ll be the same if we look for him again next time. Let’s go shopping instead, Master!” Jiang Bai grabbed Hu Tao’s shoulders and turned her around abruptly.

"Alright, alright." Hu Tao didn't doubt whether Jiang Bai was telling the truth or not, and there was no rush to get the book from Xing Qiu anyway.

Her younger brother seemed really interested in shopping, so she reluctantly agreed to accompany him.

Jiang Bai pushed her into a clothing store: "It's always the Hall Master who buys clothes for me, I've never bought clothes for the Hall Master before! Hall Master, please pick whatever you like, I'll pay today!"

Hu Tao usually wears only a few clothes, all in rather dark colors, but the new outfit she's wearing today is a rare bright color.

We should buy more new clothes; pretty girls should wear more new clothes!

"Oh, why are you being so generous today?" Hearing this, Hu Tao felt as if the sun had risen in the west.

"Master, what are you saying! I didn't have money before, but it's different now, I have money!" Jiang Bai patted his bulging wallet.

Just two words—

proud!

"Oh my, since you're so rich, then this master won't stand on ceremony!" Hu Tao's eyes lit up.

This is a rare opportunity where she doesn't have to pay the bill.

Looking at the excited walnut, Jiang Bai suddenly felt a little guilty as he touched his purse.

He has over 1.3 million Mora in his pocket, surely that's enough?