With the Lunar New Year just over, on the first day back to work, Uncle Cai leaned back in his recliner, yawning.
He was an ordinary grocery store owner, also making a living on a pedestrian street. However, this pedestrian street wasn't called Happiness Commercial Street, but rather Fortune Commercial Street.
Uncle Cai has run his shop for half his life, but he hasn't made much money. He's just barely scraping by.
Fa Cai Commercial Street is located near a middle school. Although businesses resumed operations on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, students hadn't returned to school yet. Business was slow. Uncle Cai was idly leaning back in his chair, scratching an itch, when the electronic doorbell hanging in front of the door whirred.
Welcome!
Uncle Cai's spirits lifted, but after a quick glance, he lost his composure. The customers were two clean-looking female students. His shop had been closed for half a month during the Lunar New Year holiday, and everything was covered in dust and out of stock. Clean-loving young people would likely look down on such a place.
Uncle Cai leaned back in his chair, not uttering a single word. He let the two students wander around the shop.
The two students seemed to have a clear goal; as soon as they entered the store, they headed to a corner. Uncle Cai found it rather strange: that corner was piled with old, unsold stock that was hard to sell but a waste to throw away. What were they looking for?
"Found it!" a girl exclaimed excitedly. "See? I told you this store had it. I went to junior high here for three years and saw it so many times!"
The girl's excited tone made Uncle Cai think the two had struck gold. Peeking closer, he saw that the girl was clutching a dusty, extremely tacky-looking blindfold. He could vaguely make out the words "Overbearing Aura" on it.
This eye mask is of very poor quality. Because it's too thin, it lets in some light, and the four large, tacky characters are outrageously ugly. It's been stagnant for years. This is just one of the many unprofitable deals Uncle Cai has made in his life.
Uncle Cai shook his head inwardly. Such a fine young man, yet his aesthetic sense was so bizarre.
Two students excitedly clutched two blindfolds and went to the counter to pay. One of them asked hesitantly, "Uncle, how much are these blindfolds?"
"Does this piece of junk really need to be handled with such care?" Uncle Cai yawned. "Six yuan a piece."
The two students stared in disbelief, and Uncle Cai assumed they thought it was too expensive. Then he thought it made sense; it was good enough that anyone would buy something so dirty. So he readily agreed, "If you want two, ten yuan will do."
The two students stared wide-eyed, then suddenly turned their heads and scrutinized each other for a while. Uncle Cai heard words like "selling," "giving gifts," and "classmate." He pursed his lips; the gifts students give these days are really stingy.
“Boss,” one of the students turned around and said, “how many do you have left? We need thirty!”
Uncle Cai scratched his neck and rummaged through the corner: "There aren't that many left. Only twenty-seven. Do you want them?"
The students hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes, yes!"
Uncle Cai was eager to clear out his remaining stock, so he found a large bag, filled it with the slow-moving goods, and handed it to the two girls. He even rounded down the price by five yuan for them.
Uncle Cai was very happy to have closed such a big deal on the first day back at work.
The two girls seemed quite happy, chattering away as they walked away. I wonder what they were so happy about; buying up a pile of dusty, unsold goods on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year—is that something to be truly delightful about?
Uncle Cai shook his head, sat back behind the counter, and started scrolling through Douyin (TikTok).
Whether it was due to big data monitoring or not, Uncle Cai swiped his phone a couple of times and suddenly saw something that looked familiar.
Uncle Cai pushed up his reading glasses and held his phone further away.
The host in the video enthusiastically said, "Hello! So many of you have been asking me about this eye mask these past few days~ It's the same one Xiao Ye wore in our movie 'Happy Street'. The link is already up, and it's selling incredibly well! I suggest you buy two at once; one can be folded up to look like a forehead band, and the other can be used as an eye mask..."
Uncle Cai looked on with disbelief. What's the same style? What's the forehead ribbon?
The host proudly declared, "Other brands' styles are super thick; when folded into a headband, they become a huge, bulky blob, like wearing a sweater on your face. But this one I'm recommending is incredibly thin even when folded three times. It's super flattering! Long-faced girls will instantly transform into cool beauties, while round-faced girls will look edgy! Switch effortlessly between cool girl, cute girl, fairy, and heroine..."
Uncle Cai: ...Is he getting old? Is this black cloth, which is as thin as an onion skin, really that good-looking?
"And this 'overbearingly powerful' font is also super special. Other brands use generic online fonts, which don't have the unique style of the movie. The one I'm recommending is a 1:1 replica of a screenshot from the movie 'Happy Street'~ In short, wearing it will make you feel completely different, with a strong aura. It makes you look both intelligent and aloof, yet still a little cute, you get it? It's totally Xiao Ye's vibe~ I've posted a link for everyone, so grab it while you can!"
Uncle Cai occasionally buys things on Douyin and knows how the links work. Moving his gaze down, he saw a display next to the shopping cart at the bottom of the video showing: monthly sales of 43,000.
These things are selling so well? Five yuan apiece, that's over two hundred thousand yuan worth!
Uncle Cai had some doubts. He clicked on the shopping cart link, his fingertips trembling slightly.
A clean-cut, vibrant face appeared on the product description image; it looked somewhat familiar. It resembled a character named Xiaoming from some TV drama. A headband hung from her forehead. For some reason, this thing looked like a tattered rope in her hand; yet on her face, it exuded a unique air of refined elegance, making her incomparably handsome. She really did have a certain... how to put it? "High intelligence."
Below the product image is a long string of text:
[Ye Chu Ye Xiaochu's Same Style Forehead Band Eye Mask Headband Headband Two-in-One Black Ultra-Thin Eye Mask Domineering Side Leak Triple Fold Non-Protruding Cool Fairy Face Shape Modifying Movie Happiness Street Rules Street Same Style]
Right in the middle of the product image and name, the bright red price is prominently displayed:
Starting from 39.9 yuan.
Uncle Cai: "!!!"
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