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The things that Guizhi had instructed yesterday had been completed. When Jiang Nian rushed to the drugstore from the mansion, there was a crowd of people at the door, and the sound of bustling conversations could be heard. The shouts to keep the team in shape were coming from the front of the crowd at the top of their lungs.

Jiang Nian stood on the street and watched for a while, then gave up the idea of ​​entering the pharmacy through the main gate and turned to look for it in another part of the pharmacy.

The side door of the drugstore was through the alley on the other side. In order to avoid being discovered and caught by the other people and asked questions about the drugstore activities, Jiang Nian raised her hand to cover her face and whispered "Excuse me". When everyone took the time to divert their attention and look at her, she leaned forward slightly to pass through the gap left by the crowd in their distraction, and hurried to the alley ahead in small steps.

The noise around him receded from behind him like a tide. After breaking free from the crowd, Jiang Nian suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. After hesitating for a moment, he landed on one of the paths, turned around and walked towards his destination.

The drugstore's special sale was better than expected. It was rare that the people in Pingzhou City were so enthusiastic and willing to buy before the competition began. She thought that most people would wait and see the results of the two drugstores after the competition and then make a choice.

However, given that Liangdu Pharmacy's insect repellent was previously mediocre and only moderately effective, slightly inferior to Xu's, Xu's would inevitably win year after year. And since the public has been watching for years, perhaps they've lost interest in comparisons, and therefore haven't decided to wait and see the results of the two pharmacies' insect repellents this year.

Jiang Nian lowered his eyes and pondered his inferences about the competition in his mind while walking towards the side door of the pharmacy.

It happened that Xiao Shitou was moving the remaining insect repellent into the warehouse. When he saw Jiang Nian, he called out "Miss" in surprise. He stood there with a box of insect repellent in his hands, looking at Jiang Nian happily.

Seeing that the box in his hand was taller than him, Jiang Nian laughed helplessly and said, "Do you have something to tell me? Move the box to the main hall of the pharmacy first and then tell me. Your hand is sore."

Having not heard Jiang Nian's instructions for more than half a month, Xiao Shitou immediately responded when he heard the order from the young lady herself, and ran happily towards the hall in his slippers.

Jiang Nian stood there and looked at his figure for a moment, shook his head with a smile, and walked through the side door into the pharmacy.

—

When she left Liangdu Pharmacy, there were no other changes except for a new sign and slogan.

Jiang Nian stood in front of the warehouse, peering through the half-open door. The shelves inside were empty of insect repellents, but new health formulas had been added. However, the health formulas took up less space and were shorter than the insect repellents, so at first glance, the warehouse appeared to have fewer items than before.

People outside were still swarming into the drugstore, either asking what a "points card" was or trying to count on their fingers the difference in the price of the insect repellent before and after the discount.

But more people are afraid of not being able to take advantage of the "buy one get one free" deal, so they try their best to squeeze into the most conspicuous row of the drugstore and stretch out their hands to grab the goods on the shelves.

The guards surrounding the shelves were unable to resist the people's enthusiasm for saving money, and were pushed back by the gravity of the crowds trying to move forward.

“…”

There are too many people here, so it’s probably impossible to talk to Yu Xubo now.

Jiang Nian turned around silently, went back the way he came, stood outside the warehouse door waiting for Xiao Shitou to restock the goods, and asked him some questions nearby.

There were a lot of people outside, and Xiao Shitou had to open the box and take out the goods to replenish the stock. This series of actions was simple in itself, but it became difficult to take it out smoothly in that crowd, while also blocking the hands from all directions who wanted to take the insect repellent.

Standing behind the counter, Uncle Xu was counting money and making change. He looked up and saw that Xiao Shitou was surrounded by people. He shouted outside, "Guizhi! Go help Xiao Shitou!"

There was another round of chaos, and Little Stone finally managed to squeeze out of the crowd with the empty box that was crumpled by the crowd. When he reached the open space, he saw Jiang Nian standing there waiting for him. She walked over quickly and said happily, "Miss!"

"Yeah." Jiang Nian withdrew his gaze from the hall and lowered his head to look at Xiao Shitou. "It's not convenient to talk here. Let's go to the courtyard at the back."

Although Fuling and Xu Bo take care of the pharmacy, they sometimes have to take time to go to the warehouse to see the progress of their staff in making insect repellent. Running back and forth is very busy, and they may miss some memories. It would be better to ask Xiao Shitou, who has been helping to look after the pharmacy for a long time.

The stone table in the courtyard had not been used since Jiang Nian left. A layer of dust had accumulated on it, and some tree seeds had fallen on the table and rotted. Some small ants were crawling up from the bottom of the table along the ground, searching for the place where the decaying fragrance came from on the stone surface.

Jiang Nian lowered his eyes to the stone table for a moment, then he said, "You've been in the pharmacy a lot recently, and you knew a lot about the situation there. So now I want to learn some things from you."

Little Stone shuddered, and instantly stood up straight, looking straight ahead and replied seriously, "Yes!"

Jiang Nian pondered for a moment and asked the most concerning question first: "The pharmacy launched a discount promotion yesterday. So, how much less customers were there before this? Is it the same as before?"

"No, it's more than before. I heard from Uncle Xu that some people coming south from the border passed through Pingzhou and heard that our pharmacy's insect repellent and health formulas are good, so they came to buy some. Some of them went back and found them useful, so they recommended them to others."

Little Stone recalled what Xu Bo said, and after a moment his eyes met Jiang Nian's again: "Word of mouth has spread, and now everyone in and outside the city knows that our medicine shop's products are good, and people often buy new ones."

The insect plague in Huandu is not as serious as that in Donglan, but sometimes when locusts pass through, the people are overwhelmed by it. Over the past few years, they have developed the habit of buying insect repellents to take home as a backup and taking the insect repellents with them when farming.

Jiang Nian nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "In previous years, the Xu family has always beaten ours. This year's medicine shop competition is about to begin. Is there any news on the streets about the competition between Liangdu Medicine Shop and Xu's Medicine Shop?"

Little Stone scratched the corner of his mouth, looked up at the sky and thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "I just came here this year. I heard from Uncle Xu that there are more people discussing the competition this year than in previous years."

"Many people had planned to buy from another store after the competition, but the lady launched a new promotion yesterday. Some people who had run out of insect repellent were anxious to buy more. Seeing that the price here was cheaper than usual and there was a buy-one-get-one-free promotion, they couldn't wait and came to buy some before the competition."

Jiang Nian nodded thoughtfully, then thought of something else: "Did Uncle Xu hire anyone to promote yesterday's event?"

"No." Little Stone shook his head. "That's not the case. Uncle Xu originally wanted to find some people to promote it, but the customers who came to Liangdu Pharmacy to buy discovered the upcoming promotion when Uncle Xu was setting up the store. Seeing that the prices were even more affordable than usual and there was a buy-one-get-one-free deal, they immediately asked other friends and relatives who needed insect repellent to come and buy it."

No wonder.

Jiang Nian was still thinking that all those who had colluded with Zhu Wang before had been dismissed by her. Even if a new batch was to be used, they should wait for her approval. Where did Xu Bo get the manpower to carry out the publicity activities and gather so many people in just one day.

So that's how it is.

Liangdu Pharmacy also has more loyal customers than before.

Then the result of this competition might be publicized more widely than she expected.

Jiang Nian pondered for a moment, then nodded in response, "I understand. Then—besides this competition, have you paid attention to who is buying and selling more health formulas?"

Although Fuling was previously instructed to count the sales quantity of each item, Fuling is a human being after all, not a machine. Xu Bo, who can help her, is a little presbyopic, and Guizhi is a math idiot.

Therefore, it would be a bit difficult for her to do this heavy task alone, so Jiang Nian changed his mind and asked Fuling to count the daily trading quantities of the president's insect repellent and health formula.

So when she went to check the business situation of the drug store the day before yesterday, she could only see the total and could not know the individual figures.

Little Stone was stunned for a moment, trying to recall the people who had come to the pharmacy to buy things before: "Most of them were young people, and they usually bought moxibustion sticks and health teas and other products."

"But besides the young people, there were also some merchants—especially some wealthy families in Pingzhou. Out of curiosity, a few of them came to the medicine shop to look for medicinal foods and foot bath bags, and bought some to test for their wives."

Jiang Nian listened to Xiao Shitou's words and suddenly fell into reasoning.

Now is the time for people to farm, and the health products she positioned are not expensive. In this era, most people who are conscious of health preservation are nobles. Although ordinary people also want to buy some, because they have no money, most of them just stand and watch from a distance instead of getting close to watch.

So when they saw that the drugstores had launched not only insect repellents but also health formulas, after the insect repellents had a successful first shot, those who were still waiting to see these health formulas started to want to buy them and tried to buy a few packs in the store.

Then, they discovered that the money used to buy these health formulas could be converted into "points". When the points reached a certain amount, they could even redeem some things that they could not afford before.

The idea of ​​buying was planted at that moment. After they took the health formula back and drank it during their breaks from farming, they felt good, and the price was much more affordable than other places. After a few visits, they gradually became regular customers of Liangdu Pharmacy.

As for the wives of wealthy families, they should have the same mentality.

However, people are divided into high and low classes, and Liangdu Pharmacy's target audience is to serve the common people, not just the wealthy. Some merchants who have used Liangdu Pharmacy and found it good because of its target audience of ordinary people will not lower themselves to buy its products even if they are willing to buy because of the class relationship.

Although this resulted in the loss of some aristocratic customers, it actually made the common people more popular. This was because after they purchased Liangdu Pharmacy from the aristocrats, Liangdu Pharmacy not only did not raise prices, but actually maintained the original offset prices, instead of taking the opportunity to raise prices and make a fortune.

This situation, which was in line with people's expectations, actually happened in real life, so people praised Liangdu Pharmacy endlessly.

Gradually, it attracted some people who were not originally the target customers of Liangdu Pharmacy - for example, people who usually bought at Xu's Pharmacy, but happened to see their neighbors using Liangdu Pharmacy's insect repellent to kill insects, and the price was offset but the insect control effect was better than theirs. Then, over time, those people heard more and more people in the neighborhood praising Liangdu Pharmacy, and they also wanted to come and buy.

As time went by, more and more people were attracted by the insect repellents and health formulas. Until now, Jiang Nian didn't even need to bother arranging people to promote the pharmacy's activities. A group of people would gather around on their own and come to buy their products.

"Miss? Miss?"

Seeing Jiang Nian lost in thought, standing motionless beside the stone table, Xiao Shitou, who had just finished wiping the stone table with a rag from the medicine shop, came over to Jiang Nian and gestured to her with his hands spread out: "The stone table is wiped. Miss, you haven't been to the medicine shop for a long time. There are many customers outside and there is no place for you to rest. Miss, please rest here for a while."

Jiang Nian broke free from the reasoning in his mind, and his eyes subconsciously fell on Xiao Shitou's face. Suddenly coming to his senses, he smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll wait here for a while. When Uncle Xu is done, I'll talk to him."