Chapter 190 - What To Do if You’re the Villain and the Heroine Likes You

Meng Qingqian dragged He Yunxiao back to the garden cabin. Unnoticed as they were leaving, a glance back revealed that the vivacious He Yunxiao had turned ashen-faced. Meng Qingqian frowned. "What's wrong with you? Internal injury?" He Yunxiao waved his hand. "It's not an injury. I just never expected that old dodger to be Fan Yu!" "So what?" Meng Qingqian smiled. "You, a young master of the Hou Mansion, scared of a commoner?" "It's not about that!" He Yunxiao clutched his head in distress. He's Zi Ruo's biological father! My father-in-law! If I let him get away with hitting her father, can we still be relatives? What if he doesn’t agree to let me marry Zi Ruo? Seeing He Yunxiao like this, Meng Qingqian thought he was intimidated by Fan Yu's former prestige. However, Meng Qingqian had no intention of consoling He Yunxiao insincerely. He, the shameless and despicable scoundrel, deserves to die early to benefit the people of Yinjing City. Seizing the opportunity, Meng Qingqian said, "He Yunxiao, give me the handkerchief, and I will handle Fan Yu for you." "One thing in exchange for another." He Yunxiao stuck to his principles. Meng Qingqian calmly said, "Your novel is in Jian Ling's hands. I'll give it to you when she comes." He Yunxiao shrugged, "Sure, I'll wait." After a short wait, Jian Ling returned. Without even dampening her shoes, it was unclear how she helped Fan Yu. Meng Qingqian picked up the novel from Jian Ling, while He Yunxiao raised a box. They tentatively and gradually passed the items to each other's side. The wooden box containing the handkerchief and several books finally completed the exchange, after which He Yunxiao and Meng Qingqian immediately switched, grabbing each other's items. Then both withdrew simultaneously, shielding what they had received. With the handkerchief in her possession, Meng Qingqian felt elated. "He Yunxiao, play by yourself. I'm leaving." After watching Meng Qingqian depart, He Yunxiao silently reached into his embrace, producing a handkerchief. Tsk tsk tsk. The genuine limited edition handkerchief of Li Qingmeng was still in his hands. The herbalist girl is still too naive. Easily believing in others. Ridiculous, ridiculous. Concealing the handkerchief, He Yunxiao held the novel, feeling regretful about the herbalist girl's intelligence. Leaving the Deer Horn Academy, He Yunxiao sat in the carriage. "To the Grand Qi Bank." After instructing the coachman, he eagerly opened the novel to read. After flipping through a couple of pages, he discovered that the plot seemed inexplicably disjointed. It was smooth when he read it before. Did he somehow mix up the plot? His goodness! Several crucial pages were missing from the novel! They were all the exciting parts! He immediately set aside the book and checked others. To his dismay, all the thrilling content was absent from each one! He was furious. It felt as if he had struggled to download a video with lightning speed, only for the last one percent to hang and not proceed. Is the herbalist manually river crabbing him! Just wait and see! … Although He Yunxiao called Du Yinyin, he didn't ask her to start working today. The standard process for joining dictates that one should sign up today and start working the next day. Hence, the banner of the Grand Qi Bank still had to be temporarily supported solely by He Yunxiao today. Upon reaching the bank, He Yunxiao promptly handed over the signed gold and silver vouchers by the maid to Yaohui New Porcelain and other affiliated stores. Merely delivering the vouchers wasn't enough. In the early stages, the credibility of the gold and silver vouchers was lacking, and people didn't believe they could be used in place of silver notes for purchases. Even the affiliated stores feared that He Yunxiao might flee with the money. Their apprehension was that if a customer used the vouchers to make a purchase and the store accepted them, the store wouldn't be able to exchange the vouchers for silver notes at the Grand Qi Bank. Currently, the gold and silver vouchers were just an adjunct to silver notes. Vouchers that couldn't be exchanged for silver notes were pointless. To address this issue and enhance the early credibility of the gold and silver vouchers for the peace of mind of the affiliated stores, He Yunxiao had to deposit a portion of the funds as collateral at the stores. As the prices at Yaohui New Porcelain were relatively high, he deposited two thousand taels of silver there, and one thousand each at the other four stores, amounting to a total of six thousand taels gone. Although six thousand taels was a sizable sum, for a prominent family actually operating a bank and issuing currency, it was inconsequential. Ordinarily, a bank required a reserve of at least two hundred thousand taels before customers would place their trust in it. He Yunxiao's six thousand taels was equivalent to a drop in the bucket. After securing the funds, He Yunxiao tirelessly searched for a literate scholar to write advertisements on red fabric. Since the Grand Qi Bank didn't have a signboard yet, He Yunxiao procured a red fabric one zhang wide and three zhang long. He then had the scholar write "Grand Qi Bank" in large letters to ensure it was clearly visible. In outdoor advertising, the bigger, the better! The bigger, the more dignified! Bigger is better! First, he instructed the coachman to hang the fabric outside the stores, then he pondered the catchy advertising slogans aimed at promoting the gold and silver vouchers. Crafting slogans was no easy task. The introductory line had to be brief, straightforward, and eye-catching before gradually introducing the product's functionality. Explaining the functionality of the gold and silver vouchers was straightforward; it was essentially exchanging them for silver notes to enjoy discounts. The real challenge lay in the striking opening line. Despite having written novels, He Yunxiao had no experience in creating punchy advertising slogans. Concise yet striking advertising slogans… Suddenly, He Yunxiao thought of a rising star in the retail industry. A perfect advertising slogan surfaced in his mind right away. "Grand Qi Bank's gold and silver vouchers, spend more, save even more." It's brilliant! The scholar: "How could spending more save more?" Inspired, He Yunxiao hurriedly urged the dumbfounded scholar to start writing. Phrases such as "Grand Opening Special, buy ten taels of gold and silver vouchers, get one tael free," and "Acquire membership points upon purchasing gold and silver vouchers"… After preparing several advertising boards to put up at the affiliated stores, He Yunxiao returned to the Grand Qi Bank to stand by. With this advertisement, wouldn't customers flock in to exchange their gold and silver vouchers? He Yunxiao was concerned that the maids from the Hou Mansion might be overwhelmed, so he waited at the bank himself. From morning till evening, and then from evening till night. Despite the bank's spacious two-story storefront, not a single customer showed interest in exchanging gold and silver vouchers all day. In fact, more people asked what a "bank" was than those who wished to exchange the vouchers. Furthermore, some of the old patrons from the original stores came to purchase jewelry. When He Yunxiao attempted to introduce them to the gold and silver vouchers, they callously declined. For the first time, He Yunxiao felt profound frustration. He even began to doubt whether the path he was pursuing was the right one. These recent days of ceaseless busyness, borrowing money, ordering silver notes, renting property, hiring people—all yielded no results. It was almost inevitable to feel disheartened. Today marked the fifth day since making an agreement with Jiang Jiejie, meaning there were only two days left until the scheduled seven days. The confident He Yunxiao, who was convinced that he would surely earn ten thousand taels, now had doubts. Excessive contemplation was pointless. He Yunxiao returned to Linqi Palace to take the medicine. After taking the medicine, the dissatisfied He Yunxiao returned to the Grand Qi Bank. This time, a maidservant from the Hou Mansion happily bounded towards him to deliver good news. "Young Master! We've sold them! A total of eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty taels!" Chapter 191: A Dismal Business Tl. Soothsayer.io