Chapter 32: Incense "Where is this place?"

After deciding on the time to leave the town, the two prepared to go to the town to buy some things.

As he was walking towards the village gate, Zhou Tinglan heard a fierce quarrel coming from outside the village.

"Making money from selling kitchen knives is our business as a counterfeiter. What does it have to do with you?"

It was Xiao Ruo's voice.

"We're all from the nearby village, and you all know how hard life is there. I heard you've established a knife brand in town. Could you please let us join in and get a piece of the action?"

"Don't even think about it!"

After just a few words, Zhou Tinglan understood the whole story. He guessed that the people from the neighboring village heard that their village had made money selling kitchen knives in the town recently and wanted to join in.

And from Xiao Ruo's tone, she keenly noticed that there seemed to be hatred between the two villages.

Arriving at the gate of the village, Zhou Tinglan called out to Xiao Ruo, who was cursing angrily: "Xiao Ruo, who are they?"

"Miss Zhou, they are from the village on the hill in the next town."

Seeing Zhou Tinglan staring at the people coming from the opposite stronghold for a long time, Xiao Ruo hurriedly said, "Miss Zhou, don't be fooled by them. They were ruthless when they stole our food in the past!"

The people on the other side were also dissatisfied when they heard Xiao Ruo's words, cursing: "Xiao Ruo, we stole it with our own ability, how can it become yours?"

Xiao Ruo was so angry that he rushed forward and punched the person who spoke hard in the face.

In an instant, the two men started fighting.

The sudden change left Zhou Tinglan no time to react. She shouted, "Xiao Ruo, stop!"

Xiao Ruo paused for a moment, and the opponent's fist landed directly on his face, causing him to fall to the ground.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and wanted to stand up and fight back.

Zhou Tinglan stopped him: "Stop!"

She looked at the people from the neighboring village and shouted angrily, "Are you here to fight or to join our brand? If you're here to fight, please turn back now!"

The person on the other side shrank his head and said in a muffled voice, "We're not here to fight. We're here today to join your brand. Your kitchen knives are selling very well. We've been to town to see them, and they're indeed top-notch."

Zhou Tinglan then asked them if they could follow instructions and learn to forge kitchen knives. She didn't want disobedient students.

After getting a definite answer, Zhou Tinglan asked Xiao Ruo to arrange for them to stay in the village to learn how to forge kitchen knives. Food and accommodation were not provided, but they had to pay room fees every day.

Xiao Ruo was puzzled: "Miss Zhou, why did you agree to let them stay?"

He didn't want to look at that group of people all day.

"It's true that you two cottages have a grudge against each other, but I'm keeping them here for one thing: if they can really learn how to forge kitchen knives, our brand can be sold to more towns and expand sales channels. Xiao Ruo, don't you want to make more money?"

"I think! Miss Zhou, are you telling the truth?" Xiao Ruo's eyes lit up.

"Of course, if they can learn it."

Xiao Ruo's eyes dimmed, and he said lamentably, "If they can't learn, then they won't be able to make any money."

Zhou Tinglan was amused. She discovered that Xiao Ruo was a money-grubber.

"How can I not make money? Didn't I ask them to pay for the rent?"

Xiao Ruo reacted and clapped his hands: "That's right."

"Miss Zhou, wait! I will make sure they all learn it!"

Xiao Ruo's solemn promise to Zhou Tinglan before leaving left her confused.

In the next two days, Zhou Tinglan was pleasantly surprised to find that after the people in the neighboring village learned forging, they were able to forge kitchen knives that looked quite good.

Just as she was wondering why the people in the neighboring village had such a strong learning ability, they came running over crying, "Ms. Zhou, please try to persuade Xiao Ruo! We can't stand it anymore!"

Zhou Tinglan quickly understood the good things Xiao Ruo had done in the past two days.

In order to make sure that everyone in the neighboring village could learn the technique, Xiao Ruo forced them to continue practicing forging every night. They were not allowed to sleep if they did not practice, and his room rate was even doubled.

Zhou Tinglan sighed, "This is the Dazhao Kingdom's version of a strict teacher producing outstanding students! High, really high!"

The next day, Zhou Tinglan and others took their luggage and headed towards the next town.

The two towns were very close to each other, and Zhou Tinglan hired a few carriages and arrived at the mountain stronghold at noon.

Zhou Tinglan asked with a smile: "Do I need to pay for living here?"

The people from the neighboring village immediately remembered that they had paid for the room in Black Wind Village two days ago and shook their heads: "No need, Miss Zhou can stay as long as you want."

Miss Zhou is the Goddess of Wealth who can bring them wealth, and she must not be offended.

"What about them?" Zhou Tinglan pointed at Xiao Ruo and the other people in the village.

The people from the neighboring village gritted their teeth and said, "No need for that."

"Thank you for the hospitality."

In the afternoon, Zhou Tinglan and others went to the town to look for a suitable store to purchase.

Fortunately, the owner of a blacksmith shop in the town happened to be away visiting his relatives.

Since he didn't know when he would be back, he wanted to sell the shop to get some money for the journey.

The people in the neighboring village couldn't afford the money to buy the shop at the moment, so Zhou Tinglan asked Xiao Ruo to pay for it.

After making some money, he would pay back a certain amount of money to Xiao Ruo and the others in installments every month, and the money would be paid off within a year.

The shop itself was a blacksmith shop. After a simple tidying up, a sign of Zhou's Knife Shop was hung up, and everyone opened the door of the shop and officially opened it.

Zhou Tinglan was afraid that the people in the neighboring village had limited marketing capabilities, so she asked Xiao Ruo to keep an eye on the shop and tell her if anything unusual happened.

As she expected, on the first day of the official opening, the people from the shop next door had an argument with the customers.

Zhou Tinglan discussed the next itinerary with Xie Zechuan in the back room of the shop.

"Your Majesty must have received the news of our death by now. Given your reputation in Northern Frontier City, I'm sure the news has spread throughout the capital. Are your family members all right?" Zhou Tinglan asked worriedly, "Do I need to send a letter home in advance?"

"No need. My family isn't as fragile as you think. If the spies discover the letter when I send it back now, it will be a complete failure and the loss will outweigh the gain."

Zhou Tinglan thought so too, but Xie Zechuan had only mentioned his mother a few times, so she didn't know Xie Zechuan's identity in Shangjing City.

She supported her chin with her hand: "Xie Zechuan, what do your parents do?"

At this moment, Xiao Ru rushed in: "Miss Zhou, it's bad, they are arguing with the guests!"

Zhou Tinglan was shocked and went out to check.

An auntie, holding a kitchen knife in her hand, yelled, "How did you introduce me to a knife? I told you I wanted a long, thin one. If you don't have one, just tell me directly that I don't have one. I'll just go to the blacksmith shop down the street to buy one. You dragged me through all that nonsense, and now I'm asking you if you have a suitable kitchen knife?"

Zhou Tinglan frowned. She asked Xiao Ruo to pull the man away, and walked forward with a smile to take the kitchen knife from her aunt's hand.

"Auntie, the kitchen knife is a bit heavy. You're tired of holding it. I'll take it."

"Okay, okay, where did this little girl come from? She speaks so sweetly."

Zhou Tinglan covered her face with her hands, pretending to be embarrassed. She said shyly, "Auntie, please don't praise me. Let's take a look at kitchen knives. You want to buy a longer and thinner one, right?"

"Yes, there are some cracks on the blade of the knife at home. I want to buy a new one to cut vegetables and cook."

"Auntie, I'm sorry, I'm the owner of the knife shop. They just gave you a bad experience. I'd like to ask why you want to buy a thinner kitchen knife?"

My aunt thought for a moment and said, "A long, thin knife is relatively light. I injured my wrist a while ago, so I can't lift heavy objects for a long time."

Zhou Tinglan glanced at the knife rack next to her and took a kitchen knife from it: "Auntie, you can consider it."

The aunt looked at the kitchen knife in Zhou Tinglan's hand with a suspicious look on her face: "Little girl, I see that this knife is not long and narrow, it must be very heavy. Is it suitable for me to use it?"

"Auntie, you can try it in the shop." Zhou Tinglan asked Xiao Ru to bring something that could be cut.

Unexpectedly, after searching around, Xiao Ruo only found some iron blocks in the corner.

A piece of iron is just a piece of iron.

Zhou Tinglan reluctantly placed the iron block on the table and said, "Auntie, I'm sorry we can't find anything else to cut right now. However, the iron block is several times harder than the vegetables. If you can cut it easily, then cutting vegetables shouldn't be a piece of cake."

My aunt nodded: "That's the truth."

She took the knife handed to her by Zhou Tinglan, a look of surprise flashed across her face, and then she raised the kitchen knife to cut the iron block on the table.

A minute later, my aunt picked up the iron block on the table that had been cut into two pieces, examined it carefully, and said in disbelief again, "Is this what I just cut?"

"Aunt, it was you who cut it."

Finally, Zhou Tinglan sold the kitchen knife to his aunt at a low price and escorted her out of the shop: "Welcome to visit us next time, aunt."

Xiao Ruo brought the man who made the mistake from the neighboring village to Zhou Tinglan.

Zhou Tinglan looked at the man who lowered his head and dared not say a word: "Do you know what you did wrong today?"

"I shouldn't have quarreled with my aunt."

Zhou Tinglan shook his head: "No, you failed to better meet the needs of customers and introduce them to suitable kitchen knives. Follow Xiao Ruo today and observe carefully how he sells knives."

After that, nothing else happened in the shop. Xiao Ruo took the people from the neighboring village to sell kitchen knives and taught them how to talk to customers.

"Speak in a kind tone, always with a smile on your face, and ask the customer what style of kitchen knife they want and why they want it, then make recommendations based on their needs."

After counting the accounts, the people from the neighboring village were overjoyed and said they would use the money they earned today to treat Zhou Tinglan to dinner at a restaurant.

The two people from the mountain village put aside their previous tense attitude and had a pleasant conversation in the restaurant's private room.

Zhou Tinglan felt a little hot from eating and wanted to go out for some fresh air.

Seeing that Xie Zechuan was being pulled by Xiao Ruo, she walked to his side and told Xie Zechuan that she was going out for some fresh air and would be back soon.

On the corridor of the restaurant, Zhou Tinglan walked around a corner and suddenly felt a sharp pain in her neck. She completely lost consciousness.

When she woke up in a daze, Zhou Tinglan found herself in a dark and narrow space. She couldn't stretch her hands and feet, and the space was shaking slightly.

She smelled a faint scent of incense, her eyelids gradually became heavy, and the darkness gradually deepened.

When she woke up again, Zhou Tinglan slowly opened her eyes, and the surrounding scene seemed to be covered by a layer of hazy white gauze.

She tried to sit up, but found her whole body limp, and she collapsed weakly on the bed.

Zhou Tinglan rolled his eyes with great effort. Everything in the room was very unfamiliar. The air was filled with the unpleasant and rich scent of rouge and powder, and the red curtains were hanging low.

A sense of panic welled up in her.

"Where is this place? Why am I here?"