For the next half month, Yan Xiaosan entered a standard vendor's routine.
He set up his stall punctually at the fourth quarter of the Chen hour, and once sold out, he packed up and left without lingering for even a moment.
With Mu Jian having resolved Qingshu's inability to show himself in public, their original plan continued to be implemented.
To take the plan's effectiveness to the next level, Yan Xiaosan launched a "bring a new customer for a discount" promotion.
If a regular customer brought a new customer to make a purchase, they would receive an extra quota that day to buy a third Put Chai Ko at half price.
Everyone scoffed at the idea of a half-price discount—was that really what they cared about?
The third one!
For a time, customers at the stall called upon their friends and companions, resolutely carrying out the one-on-one campaign. Any newcomer who arrived alone out of sheer curiosity without knowing the ropes would even be reproached for not waiting for someone to bring them.
Especially among the lower-cultivation students who had just entered the Penglai Realm, the Put Chai Ko imperceptibly stimulated their social interactions and became the laughing topic of their post-meal chats.
"Have you eaten Put Chai Ko today?"
Yan Xiaosan's Cool Points experienced a small, sudden surge.
......
Before the stall, Qingshu finished eating the face-sized Put Chai Ko Yan Xiaosan had prepared for him, enduring the stares of envy and jealousy from the crowd, and smacked his lips as if still wanting more.
A young student wiped away his drool, looked at Yan Xiaosan with bright, burning eyes, and asked, "Boss, do you still need an adopted son?"
Qingshu immediately glared at the student in vigilance and shouted loudly, "You are not allowed to snatch my daddy!"
Enduring the strange gazes cast from all around, even a student who considered himself thick-skinned could not withstand it and scurried away.
Seeing that the person trying to steal his daddy had run off, Qingshu proudly lifted his little chin; his daddy was the best in the whole world, and nobody was going to take him away.
Everyone knew how much the boss treasured this little immortal child and loved to tease him. Although they didn't know his background, they could guess he wasn't a cultivator from the outside world, being of such an age that he still couldn't receive guidance.
Today, besides helping to sell Put Chai Ko, Meng Haize had an extra task: to inform customers that today was the last day of the new-customer promotion, and from tomorrow on they wouldn't need to drag their newly acquainted friends over to make purchases.
Thanks to the boss's high-quality and precise feeding over this period, the bottleneck he originally thought would take another year or two of grinding effort to break through now showed signs of loosening, leaving him just a hair's breadth away from a breakthrough.
He had prepared for this breakthrough for a long time. If everything went smoothly, his ranking on the leaderboard would see a small boost.
In the Penglai Realm, where geniuses were everywhere, even a small boost was astonishing. Such an achievement would be enough for his father to drag out those sticky-fingered people in the clan and deal with them thoroughly.
In recent years, because of his special constitution, he had consumed massive resources yet remained stuck at the bottleneck without breaking through. The other factions in the clan had long held opinions and made plenty of moves—never minding whose efforts had won those resources in the first place, as if they were even worthy!
After finishing today's vending tasks, Yan Xiaosan went to the Taiping Chamber of Commerce to purchase a batch of spiritual herbs, and as he left, he asked as usual if there were any newly acquired Divine Mobility Spirit Puppets.
Manager He replied, "Aside from the five I've acquired for Young Master Yan over these past few days, there are no longer any public traces of Divine Mobility Spirit Puppets in the Penglai Market. Young Master Yan will likely have to wait a while longer."
Counting the four purchased the first time, Yan Xiaosan had a total of nine Divine Mobility Spirit Puppets in his hands. Although this was much better than having only four, it still fell short of his expectations.
Don't ask where the spirit stones came from; to ask was to admit the debts were piling up higher and higher.
Mu Jian's original words: "I earn more than all this on a single trip into a Divine Miracle. Take them!"
Yan Xiaosan thanked Manager He and took Qingshu back to the wooden house.
Looking at the little wooden house next door where no one had entered or exited for days, Qingshu asked Yan Xiaosan, "Daddy, when is Little Daddy coming back?"
Mu Jian had told him over a dozen days ago that he needed to enter a Divine Miracle, and if anything happened, he should activate the jade pendant he left behind, whereupon Ji Qiyi and Wenren Qi would come to help.
Yan Xiaosan was unsure when Mu Jian would return. "Does Qingshu miss Li... Ah Jian?"
He had almost been led astray by Qingshu's way of addressing him.
Qingshu answered, "Mm. Doesn't daddy miss him?"
Why would he miss him? Yet the moment he denied it in his heart, Mu Jian's image inexplicably resurfaced—sweeping his hand to settle the bill, turning around to shove the items into his hands, and looking at him with that firm, focused gaze......
Bah, bah, bah! He must have been infected by Qingshu.
The truth was, you shouldn't secretly dwell on someone in your mind. Just as Qingshu was munching on snacks and Yan Xiaosan was inwardly despising himself......
Mu Jian descended from the sky.
Before the suspicious blush on Yan Xiaosan's face had time to fade: "......"
Qingshu bounced and hopped straight into Mu Jian's arms. "Little Daddy is back! Both daddy and I missed you so much!"
Mu Jian picked up Qingshu, looked at Yan Xiaosan with burning eyes, and asked with a hint of pleasant surprise, "Really?"
Qingshu nodded like pounding garlic. "Really, really!"
Yan Xiaosan: "......"
You little brat, I'll find a chance to spank your bottom.
Seeing that he didn't answer, Mu Jian didn't press further. While listening to Qingshu recount the interesting events of the past few days, he handed a Storage Ring to Yan Xiaosan.
Yan Xiaosan took the Storage Ring and swept it with his divine sense. Inside lay nine fifth-tier Divine Mobility Spirit Puppets and one seventh-tier battle puppet.
He instantly fell silent. Looking at Mu Jian's slightly exhausted face, he wanted to say something, but his throat tightened and no sound came out.
Seeing Yan Xiaosan take the ring and stand there without a word, Mu Jian became rather flustered. "Do you not like them? If so, I'll go find better ones. Just wait a little longer."
Among the currently explored and publicized ruins of the Divine Miracle, there was the heritage of the Heaven Puppet Sect. Seeing that Yan Xiaosan had mentioned Divine Mobility Spirit Puppets again when he went to the Taiping Chamber of Commerce for his second purchase, Mu Jian had re-entered the Divine Miracle to explore the ruins of the Heaven Puppet Sect.
Though he had managed to luck his way through several trials, his talent in puppetry was truly mediocre, and the rewards he could obtain with all his might were all inside the ring.
Seeing his anxious expression, Yan Xiaosan shook his head and found his voice. "......They're already very good. You don't have to do this in the future; you've already helped me a lot."
Hearing the second half of that sentence and tasting a hint of deliberate distance in it, Mu Jian furrowed his brows so deeply they could crush a fly. "I've said it before: I want to, I will, I can, and doing this makes me happy."
For the first time seeing both daddies fall into such an atmosphere, Qingshu was scared nearly to tears. He ran between the two of them, taking each of their large hands in his own. "Daddy, don't argue. Little Daddy, don't argue either."
Yan Xiaosan sighed, picked up Qingshu, wiped his tears, and comforted him, "We're not arguing, Qingshu is a good boy."
Qingshu didn't let go of the hand holding Mu Jian, and even quietly exerted force to pull Mu Jian toward Yan Xiaosan.
Good boy.
Understanding the gesture, Mu Jian walked over, bent down, and softly explained that they weren't fighting.
Yan Xiaosan looked at the head suddenly drawing close and caught the faint, earthy, woody scent of grass roots about him.
Natural, ordinary, yet faintly giving him a sense of security.
"......Thank you," he murmured.