Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

Wendy sat directly on the roof and started chugging from the bottle.

"Has the matter at the snow mountain been resolved?"

Jiang Bai rolled his eyes. "Aren't you just asking a question you already know the answer to?"

If the problem isn't solved, why would I have the leisure to sit here and wait for him to come to me?

"What exactly happened? Was that really Dulin? Wasn't Dulin dead?"

"Yes and no."

"How so?"

"It is a new life born from Dulin's consciousness, and the ley lines gave him a new life. He is Dulin, but he is not Dulin."

“We’ve brought him to Mondstadt. Aren’t you worried something might happen to him?”

"Alas, I am but a bard..."

"I don't believe you!"

Chapter 592 Hu, the Capitalist, and Tao

After leaving the drunken poet, Jiang Bai went straight back to the Hall of Rebirth. As soon as he returned, Hu Tao blocked the door.

Walnut stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at him menacingly.

"Where have you been these past few days? My new business is waiting for you to get started, and you've just vanished!"

"Huh?" Jiang Bai looked completely bewildered.

What new business?

Why didn't he know?

Too lazy to explain to him, Hu Tao simply pulled out a basket of wooden signs. "These are the customers who have reserved our new business. Come on, come on, let's go to their homes."

Pulled away by Hu Tao, Jiang Bai still couldn't recall any new business opportunities.

Which new business is it?

"Which one could it be? It's the stone sculpture! This batch of orders are all from elderly people who are still alive. We should go to their homes as soon as possible and finish making these sculptures while they are still alive."

Jiang Bai's eyes widened. He thought Hu Tao was just talking, but he didn't expect her to actually do it.

He could only say that the efficiency was truly impressive, befitting a hall master.

"So many customers have already placed orders so quickly?"

Looking at that basket full of wooden signs, Jiang Bai felt there were at least a thousand of them.

"It's all thanks to my excellent publicity work," Hu Tao said, raising her chin with pride.

During the few days Jiang Bai was away having fun, she had been doing promotions, and these are all her achievements.

"As expected of the Hall Master, he is truly formidable!"

"You should learn something, okay?"

Jiang Bai leaned closer to her and rubbed his fingers together. "Master, I've got a new job. Will my salary go up?"

Hu Tao glanced at him sideways. "How dare you say such a thing? Tell me, how many days of work have you done in a month? And that million yuan I gave you for Mora's advertising last time, it probably all ended up in your pocket!"

"This isn't my fault, Master. We only have about twenty spots left. I can't exactly curse our clients to die, can I? Besides, the 'Returning Home' business is incredibly risky; it takes at least half a month to get started. You can't judge it by the working hours..."

Jiang Bai's eyes darted around, avoiding any mention of the one million Mora.

"Alright, alright, I know you too well, stop playing the victim. A raise is out of the question. This stone carving business is practically free, I wasn't even thinking about making money from it. I haven't even made any money myself, and you still want a raise?"

"Besides, this is a learning and training opportunity given to you by me, the master of this hall. With so many figures to refer to, this is an excellent way to hone your control over elemental power. As long as you persevere, within a month, your manipulation of elemental power will definitely reach a new level..."

Hu Tao, the capitalist, spoke eloquently, leaving Jiang Bai completely bewildered.

It's been a long time since I've heard the Master make empty promises, so why am I actually quite happy to hear this again?

Hu Tao followed the addresses on the wooden signs and went to each of the houses one by one.

Jiang Bai also witnessed the rather impoverished lives of the lower-class people in Liyue Harbor.

Although Liyue Harbor is a bustling trading city, it is not all rich people. Many people live in low-rise houses and struggle to make a living.

Being wealthy is not a simple matter, and each person who is poor has their own reasons for being poor.

Perhaps it's due to illness, lack of education, limited perspective, or the death of a family member...

The collapse of a family's breadwinner is often a devastating blow.

Although the General Affairs Department and Ningguang regularly provide relief funds to these impoverished families, it is barely enough to make ends meet.

There are too many people in Liyue Harbor, so if a huge sum of money is divided up, there won't be much left for each person.

In Liyue City, Hu Tao pushed open a low door and entered the narrow, enclosed house. "Grandma Li, how are you feeling?"

"It's Hall Master Hu..."

An elderly woman with gray hair sat up in bed upon hearing the sound. Her eyesight was failing, and she groped her way to stand up.

Hu Tao reached out to support her. "It's me. I've come to make a stone statue for you."

A girl of about fifteen or sixteen who was washing clothes in the pond next to her saw someone coming and quickly put down what she was doing and ran over.

"Hall Master Hu!"

"It's Xiao Lu. I've brought people to make stone statues for you."

Feeling her empty pockets, Xiao Lu didn't dare to look up, her toes unconsciously drawing circles on the ground.

"Just make one for Grandma, that's all we ordered..."

Seeing the little girl's embarrassment, Hu Tao's expression remained unchanged.

She smiled and patted the little girl on the shoulder, "You are the first customers of our new business, and the first customer will receive a complimentary family portrait package. Go and help yourself and your grandma get ready; this is something you'll keep forever, so you need to look your best."

"Really!"

"Of course, when has this hall master ever gone back on his word?"

The two waited outside the door, and after a short while, Xiao Lu helped Grandma Li out.

Grandma Li's somewhat messy hair was meticulously combed, and she changed into a much cleaner set of clothes. Although they were still old, they were the best clothes they could afford.

The two stood together, looking ahead with smiles.

Hu Tao took a picture of them with a camera, and Jiang Bai quickly solidified the stone carving into shape.

The stone sculptures are uncolored, but their postures and expressions are lifelike.

Xiao Lu happily placed the stone carving into the old man's hands. The old man traced the outline of the stone carving and felt relieved.

She and her granddaughter depend on each other for survival. Now that she is nearing the end of her life, she can leave her granddaughter something to remember her by.

"Xiao Lu, this is also included in the package, remember to keep it safe." Hu Tao handed the photo to the old man and the child.

I took the photo and looked at the time that seemed to have been frozen in time.

A wave of emotion welled up in Xiaolu's nose. "I don't think this was included in the package..."

She didn't know how it was done, and she had never seen anything like it before, but she could tell that the value of these things far exceeded the little Mora she had paid.

"Yes, you just didn't notice. Would I, the master of this hall, allow myself to do business at a loss? We still have to move on to the next place, so we won't stay any longer."

Hu Tao waved and led Jiang Bai away.

After they had walked a distance, Jiang Bai asked Hu Tao how many Mora he had collected for this order.

"Master, this is the 23rd one already. How much did you charge this one?"

"Not much, only three hundred Mora."

Three hundred moiras—you couldn't even buy a single sheet of paper for a photo, let alone a picture.

But Walnut came with a photo, a stone carving of a family portrait.

"Master, won't we lose money?"

"How could you lose money?" Hu Tao retorted.

Hu Tao pulled out a wooden plaque. "This Mr. Huang ordered a life-size stone sculpture of himself, and I only charged him 30 Mora!"

The character "才" (cái) is very spiritual.

Jiang Bai gave a thumbs up.

"It has to be you, Master, who's truly amazing!"

Although it's a budget-friendly business, there are always some wealthy bosses willing to spend money on their special services.

Regardless of their family circumstances, the funeral rites at the shrine of the deceased are performed equally for all, and have never been neglected for thousands of years.

Chapter 593 Walnut's Money-Making Plan

For several days in a row, Jiang Bai followed Hu Tao everywhere.

From wealthy families to impoverished elderly people, their stone carving business spread rapidly throughout Liyue, and the demand continued to increase.

At first, Hu Tao only intended to use the stone carving as a memorial for the deceased. However, many people saw that the stone carving made by Jiang Bai was exquisite and beautiful, and that it was indistinguishable from a real person except for the lack of color. So they wanted to pay for one for their family members as well.

As a result, every family photo they took at every store they visited was a family portrait.

Each piece alone is an exquisite decorative item; when placed together, they create a breathtaking scene of four or five generations living under one roof.

Some artisans who saw the business opportunity quickly sought to collaborate with Hu Tao. One side made the stone carvings, while the other side painted them, which inexplicably sparked a trend of buying stone carvings in Liyue.

If it were just for her and her family to make stone carvings, that would be one thing. But Hu Tao went even further and used her business acumen to collaborate with Yun Jin, a well-known figure in Liyue, to launch a unique collection of collectible figurines.

Dressed in theatrical costume, Yun Jin holds a fan to cover her eyebrows in one hand and makes a delicate pinky gesture with the other. The surrounding scenery includes frozen auspicious clouds, a stage, and beautiful views. The costume sold out instantly upon release.

Many people are urging us to restock as soon as possible.

Jiang Bai was kept extremely busy.

"Master, I can't go on anymore, I really don't have a single drop left..."

Jiang Baisheng slumped helplessly in a chair, surrounded by a room full of stone sculptures.

These stone sculptures are mostly made of lilac, with different clothing, poses, makeup, and backgrounds...

Jiang Bai felt like he had become a machine on an assembly line, constantly creating stone sculptures, whether he opened his eyes or closed them...

He never imagined that rock elemental power could be used to make so much money.

Sigh, there are countless ways to make money, but the head of the hall has half of it in his head.

Hu Tao poked his cheek. "You're a little weak. You're already exhausted after doing so little... I'll have Bai Zhu prescribe some medicine for you to help you recover..."

Jiang Bai wept silently.

It's not that he's weak, it's that you, Master, are exploiting me.

However, thanks to Hu Tao, his refined control over his original elemental power has improved at a visible rate during this period.

Hu Tao didn't urge him to continue. "This is enough for now. Making too much would diminish its scarcity..."

After selling out of the opera series, she's temporarily suspending sales. She plans to launch the Thousand Rock Army series, the Rock King Emperor series, the Immortal series, the Yaksha series... and make a fortune!

Thinking of this prospect, Hu Tao seemed to see countless Mora running towards her, eagerly jumping into her pocket.

She tossed Jiang Bai a large bag of Mora, saying, "Here, your share."

Looking at the considerable amount of Mora in the bag, Jiang Bai felt like he was back in action!

Isn't this much faster than making money by collecting scraps?

You should know that the trash he collected in Heguan hasn't been completely sold yet.

"You rest first. I'll take these to the workshop for coloring. Tomorrow we'll go find Xiao and try to get the Yaksha series on the agenda!"

"Alright!" With so many Mora coming in, Jiang Bai was exceptionally motivated.

"Looking for Xiao... Master, wait a moment."

After Jiang Bai pondered for a while, an exquisite stone carving appeared on the table in front of him.

Looking at the stone sculpture, Hu Tao asked uncertainly, "Is this... the Emperor?"