"Take care, and come again soon!"
Song Miaozhu wasn't surprised by the car crash ghost backing out at the last minute—after all, he had chosen an item far beyond his means. She brushed it off with a smile and smoothly moved on to chat with the next ghostly customer interested in a proxy purchase.
Fortunately, ghosts like the car crash victim were rare. Most of the others made reasonable selections. One by one, Miaozhu secured deposits for each order.
Sister Xiang Yun was the last to arrive: "That speaker worked wonders! Business at the pavilion was booming today, so I couldn't get away sooner. Sorry to keep you waiting, Sister Song."
"Not at all! It's perfect timing—the shop's out of stock, so there aren't many customers left anyway." Song Miaozhu handed her the quotation list. "Here, I've compiled some of the best-quality speakers available in the human world right now. Prices range from 10,000 to 100,000 hell coins, with different features."
Sister Xiang Yun carefully flipped through every page before looking up helplessly.
"Sister Song, I've read it all… but I don't understand any of it."
She had learned simplified Chinese characters from younger ghosts, that didn't help her decipher this mess of modern terms and jargon.
"No problem, let me explain…"
Song Miaozhu had even prepared demonstration videos for each speaker. She pulled out her phone and played them one by one.
"The 100,000-hell coins one! I want the 100,000-hell coins one!" Xiang Yun declared without hesitation. "Its range is the widest. With this, I can let more guests hear my zither music!"
"Sister Xiang Yun, you've got great taste! Once it arrives, I'll install it for you and teach you how to use it."
After settling the speaker order, Song Miaozhu quickly brought up hiring shop assistants.
"Hiring staff? Well, your store may be small, but business is booming—even I've heard about it in Chunyi Alley."
"Right now, shop attendants in Fengdu City earn between 500 to 800 hell coins per month, while managers make over 1,000. Just post a job notice at the entrance, and ghosts will submit their resumes."
"For shop attendants, prioritize virtue merits first, then skills. For managers, skills matter most, but virtue merits still shouldn't be too low…"
Xiang Yun shared every detail about hiring employees, and Song Miaozhu learned a lot.
"Thank you so much! Now I know exactly what to do."
After seeing Xiang Yun off, Song Miaozhu immediately wrote a job posting and stuck it on the shop door before closing.
"Help Wanted: Two shop assistants.
—Must have passed away within the last ten years.
—Must be familiar with modern human-world products.
—High virtue merits preferred.
—Prior work experience is a plus.
—Six-hour shifts, two rotations per day.
—Monthly salary: 800 hell coins.
—Priority access to human-world goods.
—Holiday benefits included.
—Outstanding workers may be promoted to manager.
Submit resumes (issued by the Records Division) through the door gap between midnight and 3 AM.
—Proprietor of Anshou Hall"
Song Miaozhu even carved a narrow slit at the base of the door just for receiving resumes. She hadn't even had time to count the ghost coins she earned today—she dumped the whole bundle into the Treasure Bowl to convert it into RMB.
She needed the money to restock and set up the Anshou Paper Shop convenience store and printing zone.
As the candle was about to burn out, she barely had time to check the converted amount before leaving the ghost shop.
Her phone buzzed. In the dark, she picked it up and saw a notification:
Wealth Vault Deposit: ¥998,600]
Song Miaozhu counted the zeros in her account balance: "!!!"
She was a millionaire now!
Three days after opening her shop, her account balance had crossed a million—who could believe it?
She had never seen this much money in her life!
Sure, about 440,000 yuan of it were deposits for ghost clients' orders—money she'd soon spend buying their requested items. But once the goods arrived in a week, the remaining 440,000 hell coins would convert to another 880,000 yuan.
"I'm rich!"
Clutching her phone, Song Miaozhu drifted off to sleep, smiling like a cat who'd swallowed the canary.
~
At the sound of her alarm, she shot out of bed.
Even though she didn't need to open the shop for cleaners today, there was still plenty to do.
Time was money—and now, her time was worth even more.
After cooking a simple noodle breakfast, she went online to place orders for the items ghost clients had paid deposits for.
Online shopping was a godsend. In no time, everything was ordered—now she just had to wait for delivery.
Next, she prepared digital catalogs and price lists for the 12 new purchase requests from yesterday. Unlike the day before, most were smaller orders, all under 50,000 yuan.
Still, work was work.
Once the documents were done, she headed to the local print shop.
While she was there, she asked the shop owner how to buy printing equipment for herself. A small tip later, the boss happily passed her a printer supplier's contact info.
After that, she snuck back into the ghost shop to drop off the printed materials. On the way home, she caught the scent of spicy hotpot from a restaurant nearby. Without missing a beat, she pivoted and walked in, ordering all her favorite dishes.
She snapped a photo and sent it to Chen Yuanyuan before digging in.
[Miaozhu]: No regrets today. [Image]
[Yuanyuan]: Whoa! Hotpot! Is it good?
[Miaozhu]: Super good!!
[Yuanyuan]: (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
With a happy belly and a light heart, Song Miaozhu left the restaurant and headed straight to register her new business.
"What kind of store did you say you're opening?" The clerk thought she'd misheard.
"A paper crafts shop. With a small convenience section. Maybe even printing services." Miaozhu repeated calmly.
"A paper crafts? Song Miaozhu… You're the girl from the old paper shop in town, aren't you?" The clerk suddenly remembered.
When she nodded, the clerk connected the dots:
"Ohhh, now I get it! You're worried the funeral stuff won't bring in enough money, so you're diversifying with snacks and printing, right? Well, guess what—the town has policies to support traditional artisans! Even if your family's always done funeral paper goods, you can totally shift to paper-cutting or lantern crafts and still qualify. You know about decorative paper arts, right? With phoenixes, lion heads, qilins... If you can make those, you might even become a local tourism highlight!"
Song Miaozhu recalled The Secrets of Paper Crafting—"I might actually be able to make those! But I'll need time to study."
Living paper crafts that could move were complex—but if it was just about shape and appearance, that was doable.
The manual had detailed instructions, complete with hand-drawn illustrations—her ancestors had made sure future generations could learn.
"Great, great!" The clerk was thrilled. "I'll file a record for you. Once you have something to show, I'll put in a recommendation! With enough promotion, even a shop in a small alley like Huaihua Alley will draw tourists."