Chapter 91 - 91 91 All Just a Play

Words : 2025 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

91: Chapter 91 All Just a Play 91: Chapter 91 All Just a Play “Boom boom boom! Clang clang clang!” A thunderous uproar of gongs and drums announced the arrival of the Lin Family Troupe, who took to the stage for an opera performance at the Taiping Town market. “Eh eh eh! Let’s go! The Lin Family Troupe from East Town is performing! Let’s check it out!” “What did you say? The Lin Family Troupe is here to perform? And we can listen without paying?” “Let’s go! What are you waiting for? If we’re late, we’ll only get to stand at the back! We need to secure a good spot!” “...” The loud sound of the gongs and drums instantly attracted nearly all of the villagers and elders from the market. The Lin Family Troupe’s stage was surrounded by people, a sea of heads as far as the eye could see, slightly intimidating. Fortunately, the Lin Family Troupe had brought a large number of people, including a group of disciples who maintained order around the perimeter of the stage. “Fellow villagers! Our Lin Family Troupe has specifically come to Taiping Town today to present to you five operas! We won’t stop till the sky darkens! Do you all agree?” Lin Shanhu stood on the stage and asked the crowd below. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” A thunderous echo of agreement rose from below. Who wouldn’t be happy with a free show? “Today’s first performance is ‘Mu Guiying Breaking the Heavenly Gate Formation!’ Let’s welcome the performance with applause!” Lin Shanhu led the applause and cried out. Below, a wave of clapping broke out to the beat of the gongs and drums, as Lin Mengmei, dressed splendidly as Mu Guiying, took to the stage with a valiant spirit. Liu Hun observed from backstage, alongside Xiao Fang, who looked on anxiously and inquired of Liu Hun, “Brother Guan, do you think our tactics will work?” “Don’t worry! Just watch!” Liu Hun replied with a slight smile. With those words from Liu Hun, Xiao Fang felt much more at ease. Although he didn’t quite understand the opera, he really thought the woman playing Mu Guiying was pretty. If he hadn’t been married, he might have made his move. The performance had just ended to thunderous applause when Lin Shanhu walked back on stage. Liu Hun nudged Xiao Fang backstage and said, “It’s almost time for our performance.” Xiao Fang was a bit nervous. Although he was a salesperson accustomed to addressing various audiences, he had never actually performed alongside Liu Hun in a comic dialogue before. Lin Shanhu addressed the villagers below, “Fellow villagers, did you enjoy the Lin Family Troupe’s performance?” “Good!” came the unanimous response from below, which was even more enthusiastic than before, as they had enjoyed the first show and were now looking forward to the next. “Lin Shanhu hereby thanks all the villagers for their support! Thank you, everyone!” Lin Shanhu bowed to the audience, then stood up and said, “Fellow villagers, not only has our Lin Family Troupe brought you enjoyable operas, but we have also brought comfortable shoes for you all to try! Please welcome the next two presenters!” Lin Shanhu’s speech piqued the curiosity of the crowd below. What did he mean by comfortable shoes? Everyone craned their necks, prepared to see for themselves. Liu Hun and Xiao Fang stepped onto the stage, exchanged pleasantries with the audience, then Liu Hun asked Xiao Fang, “My friend, you say you’ve brought us cloth shoes! Are these shoes any good? How’s the quality?” “You’ll know if they’re good when you try them!” said Xiao Fang, as he began to demonstrate the various superior features of his cloth shoes. The two of them played off each other, their comic dialogue suspending the audience’s expectations at the peak of excitement. Liu Hun knew it was time to strike and asked Xiao Fang, “My friend, it seems your cloth shoes are quite good! How much for a pair?” “Thirty yuan a pair! Fixed price!” Xiao Fang called out loudly. “Uhm...” There were startled gasps from below, as thirty yuan was still quite expensive for many rural folks. “My friend, your shoes seem great! I’d like to buy them! Everyone else does too! Can you make it a bit cheaper?” Liu Hun asked Xiao Fang. Xiao Fang had a face as resolute as iron and shook his head, saying, “No! Not a penny cheaper!” At this time, Liu Hun walked to the edge of the stage and stirred up the people below, “Let’s ask him to lower the price! Shout together! Cheaper! Cheaper!” Prompted by Liu Hun’s agitation, and with a few women scattered in the crowd starting a ruckus, soon the calls for “cheaper” echoed from below the stage. Xiao Fang began to put on an act, pretending to be in a difficult situation and said, “Well... then I’ll drop the price by five yuan! Twenty-five yuan per pair!” Liu Hun ignored Xiao Fang and shouted to the people below, “We want them for twenty-one a pair! Everyone shout twenty! Twenty! Twenty!” This time, many people were really tempted, and even those who were merely joining in the shouting for the fun of it now had the desire to snap up a bargain and began to chant “Twenty!” “Twenty!” Upon hearing this, Xiao Fang immediately pretended to be frightened and yelled out, “I won’t sell them for twenty!” At that moment, Liu Hun rushed to Xiao Fang’s side, grabbed him and covered his mouth, then pointed at the stall beside the stage and declared, “He said it! He’ll sell for twenty! Once this chance is gone, there won’t be another! Hurry up, everyone!” Seeing this scene, the villagers realized it was practically a forcible sale, and who would pass up such a golden opportunity? They’d be fools not to take advantage. Seeing a bargain to be had, the villagers swarmed towards the stall beside the stage. Fortunately, Liu Hun was prepared, or it would have certainly ended in disaster. Just as the crowd surged toward the stall, a few more salespeople emerged in the crowd. Several women from Wanbao Village and a handful of disciples from the theatrical troupe, carrying baskets full of cloth shoes, began to hawk their wares, immediately dispersing the crowd so that it was possible to snag a bargain within a few steps. In less than twenty minutes, Xiao Fang’s stock was completely sold out. Xiao Fang, who was being restrained by Liu Hun, was delighted inside; he had not expected such an ordinary rural man to have such a smart and capable brain. Liu Hun, seeing their success, then pulled Xiao Fang down from the stage. The two put on a bit of a scuffle, which made the villagers laugh heartily, further convincing them that they had indeed snagged a huge bargain. After the two men went down, Lin Shanhu took the stage again, announcing the start of the second act. Once backstage, Xiao Fang, excited, grabbed Liu Hun and said, “Brother Guan! You’re incredible! You’re a genius in sales! I’m no match for you as a salesperson!” “Don’t compliment me! I have to give back! Ha ha...” Liu Hun said with a laugh. As they were chatting and laughing, the women returned with their spoils of victory, and a big pile of money together looked rather daunting. It took quite a while for the group to count all the money backstage. The two thousand pairs of cloth shoes were all sold, amounting to over thirty thousand yuan. With so many people and eyes around, some minor mishaps were inevitable. With such results, Xiao Fang didn’t care about those small profits. He handed two thousand yuan directly to Liu Hun, who asked in confusion, “What’s this all about? Didn’t we agree that I would only take half?” Xiao Fang pressed the money into Liu Hun’s hand, saying, “I won’t hide it from you, Brother Guan. If it weren’t for you, these good cloth shoes would have just lain in the warehouse gathering dust! You must take this money! As long as we can cooperate again, that’s fine! In the future, we’ll do it like you said, half and half! But this time, you must listen to me! You have to take these twenty thousand!” Liu Hun didn’t expect Xiao Fang to be so generous, so he accepted the money, saying, “Alright! As long as you bring more goods, we will cooperate again! Even if you don’t sell here and go elsewhere, you can still use this method! I believe that if we work together, we can definitely make this work!” “Great! Brother, with your word, it’s settled! I’m going to fetch more goods now! I’ll hurry back!” Having said that, Xiao Fang left without delay, taking the remaining over ten thousand yuan and departed from Taiping Town. Liu Hun said to the surrounding women, “Thank you for your hard work! This is what you deserve!” After saying that, he gave a few hundred yuan to each. Although it wasn’t a lot of money, earning a few hundred for such a short job was unimaginably good work, and they were happy to help Liu Hun. With over ten thousand left in his hand, Liu Hun split half with Lin Shanhu’s troupe and kept the other half for himself. He initially thought to divide all the money and be done with it, but after pondering, he realized that he would need to save some for bigger things in the future. Therefore, he kept the larger portion for himself. After the market had dispersed, Lin Shanhu expressed his deep gratitude and said a lot before leaving Taiping Town. These past two months, his illness had caused many delays and almost led to the dissolution of the Lin Family troupe. This sudden gain of a few thousand had greatly relieved the urgent need. Although he had money set aside for his disciples, that was meant to be a severance fund, which Lin Shanhu would not touch until the troupe’s disbandment was imminent. This successful venture created a new sales model for Liu Hun, benefiting the villagers, Xiao Fang, the Lin Family troupe, and himself. However, there were always those who disapproved, like Cooperative Director Bai Hongcai, who had nearly thrown a pair of cloth shoes in Liu Hun’s face before. “Are you brain-dead? Are you really brain-dead?!” Bai Hongcai furiously threw a pair of cloth shoes to the ground and then trampled on them desperately with his leather shoes. No matter how hard he stomped, other than getting dusty, the shoes were undamaged. Bai Hongcai was even more irate seeing the quality of the robust cloth shoes. Next to him, the Cooperative sales clerk, Ren Youtian, who was being scolded by Bai Hongcai, couldn’t help but say, “Director, these cloth shoes are too sturdy. You aren’t able to break them.” Bai Hongcai got even angrier upon hearing that, jabbing his finger hard into Ren Youtian’s forehead, scolding, “Calling you a pig-brain is spot on! You’re an idiot!” After tiring himself by stomping on the shoes, Bai Hongcai sat huffing and puffing on the sofa and said to Ren Youtian, “Today this man surnamed Xiao bypassed our Cooperative and put on a farce with the theatrical troupe and Liu Hun! Tomorrow other people will follow suit! What’s the use of our Cooperative anymore?! If everyone does this, what will we live on?! What will we live on? And you, you idiot, even bought a pair for me? Do you want to infuriate me to death?” Ren Youtian replied with grievance, “Well... Director Bai... I really think it’s quite good, quite worthwhile! There’s a free show to watch, the atmosphere is lively, and these cloth shoes are also of good quality, with thicker soles, better than those sold at our Cooperative, and five yuan cheaper!”

Chapter 91 - 91 91 All Just a Play

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