Chapter 164: Promoting And Selling Talismans
Although seniority isn’t really determined by age—there are plenty of young people with high seniority, but that’s all set by family lineage, and there’s no way around it.
But what is Yan Wentao supposed to be? Is there anyone who rushes to be someone’s uncle like him?
He wanted it, but Xuan Xia didn’t.
She wasn’t that interested in being someone’s junior, especially a peer’s junior.
Otherwise, she could have shamelessly called Daoist Master Qin grandfather long ago.
Xuan Xia looked at Yan Wentao for a moment and said to him, “Don’t overthink it. We’ll address each other separately.”
Yan Wentao hurriedly said, “How can it be separate? If others ask, what should we say then?”
Yan Wentao considered himself a very traditional person. Now that he had joined Changsheng Temple, he naturally needed to clarify the seniority. That way, when meeting people later, he could explain it clearly.
Xuan Xia met his gaze.
Then she pointed at herself, “Boss.”
And pointed at Yan Wentao, “Employee.”
Yan Wentao: “…”
After a few seconds, Yan Wentao still felt it wasn’t right and wanted to reason with Xuan Xia again: “You’re family teachings…”
“No family teachings. I’m just the heir. I’m not ordained; I don’t have the certificate.” Xuan Xia quickly interrupted him.
Yan Wentao: “…”
Xuan Xia saw the disappointment on Yan Wentao’s face and truly didn’t understand why he seemed to really want to be her uncle.
Could being her uncle bring him some benefits?
Xuan Xia looked at Yan Wentao strangely again.
Just as the atmosphere was silent, Daoist Master Qin came over.
He had come to call Yan Wentao to the front courtyard to light incense.
Daoist Master Qin had already verbally agreed to take Yan Wentao as his disciple, but according to the rules, he still needed to burn incense and report to the grandmaster to make it official.
Upon hearing this, Yan Wentao immediately agreed and followed Daoist Master Qin.
Even as he was about to leave, Yan Wentao was still hung up on the matter and couldn’t help but quietly tell Daoist Master Qin everything about his conversation with Xuan Xia.
Xuan Xia heard it all and was truly speechless with him.
Daoist Master Qin glanced at him, then turned to Xuan Xia and said, “Those notebooks of Mr. Xuan—I’ll pick a few tomorrow to show him first.”
“Oh, good. Pick whichever ones; I haven’t had much time to look at them lately.” Xuan Xia wouldn’t say no; they weren’t specifically left for her by her great grandfather anyway. They were notebooks meant for disciples to read.
After getting Xuan Xia’s reply, Daoist Master Qin looked back at Yan Wentao and said to him, “Xuan Xia usually studies by reading the notebooks left by Mr. Xuan.”
“If you really want to go by seniority, her master is also Mr. Xuan, which is one generation above you.”
Xuan Xia: “Pfft!”
Yan Wentao: “…Huh?”
At this moment, Xuan Xia and Yan Wentao looked at each other again, and Yan Wentao’s face showed only extreme disappointment and awkwardness.
“However,” Daoist Master Qin continued seriously, ignoring Yan Wentao’s expression, “Xuan Xia hasn’t truly taken a master, so just do as she said.”
Yan Wentao hesitated: “Oh, okay.”
If he’d known, he wouldn’t have brought up seniority.
“Let’s go.” Daoist Master Qin said and took the lead.
Yan Wentao looked at Daoist Master Qin’s back, then turned to look at Xuan Xia, hesitated, and said, “Boss, I’ll go then.”
Xuan Xia was amused, “Go ahead.”
After the two of them left, it was only about half an hour before they returned from lighting incense, and the form of address was officially changed.
Daoist Master Qin no longer called Yan Wentao Daoist Master but addressed him directly by name.
Yan Wentao called Daoist Master Qin “Teacher.”
Originally, Yan Wentao wanted to call him like he did with Chang Zhendong, “Master Qin,” but Daoist Master Qin found it awkward, so he ended up having him call him “Teacher.”
When Xuan Xia heard about it, she was surprised that Daoist Master Qin would feel awkward about the form of address. But calling him “Teacher Qin” was probably because she herself was now called “Teacher Xuan,” which made his form of address seem friendly too.
…
Daoist Master Qin was so familiar with the contents of those notebooks on the bookshelf that he even remembered their exact positions. After the discipleship ceremony, he quickly selected a few suitable ones for Yan Wentao.
Xuan Xia envied his memory, but it also gave her a new idea.
She quickly said, “Daoist Master Qin, do you think we should reorganize all these notebooks?”
“Hm?” Daoist Master Qin curiously listened to her idea.
Xuan Xia said, “There are so many notebooks; it wouldn’t take just one day to go through them all. Plus, the contents recorded inside—I’ve seen them, but sometimes I forget and find it hard to look them up again.”
So her idea was, “Why not organize the notebook contents into electronic files? It would be convenient for storage and viewing. If I encounter a problem occasionally, I could search keywords and maybe find similar answers.”
After hearing her out, Daoist Master Qin nodded without thinking, “You’re absolutely right.”
Xuan Xia knew he would agree with the proposal and continued, “Then this task can be perfectly assigned to Yan Wentao.”
Yan Wentao never imagined that on his first day working at Changsheng Temple, the boss would assign him such a major task.
–
The next day, the newly hired Yan Wentao officially started working at Changsheng Temple.
Xuan Xia originally thought Yan Wentao would take over Daoist Master Qin’s work content, but that wasn’t the case.
The work Daoist Master Qin assigned him was the same as his work content at Qinghui Temple.
That is, receiving believers and occasionally developing new ones.
Recently, Changsheng Temple had a lot of traffic, mostly sightseers, but it also had fixed believers and pilgrims.
Today, the pilgrims who came specifically to Changsheng Temple to light incense noticed there was a new Daoist priest in the temple.
Those who became fixed believers and pilgrims of Changsheng Temple were all people who had dealt with Old Daoist Master Xuan, so they were very curious about this new Daoist priest and inevitably chatted with him about his background.
Some even suspected Yan Wentao was a staff member arranged by the scenic area, since Changsheng Temple now only had one Daoist Master Qin.
In response, Yan Wentao generously explained that he came from Qinghui Temple in Yanjing and was now apprenticed to Daoist Master Qin to learn the Dao.
Upon hearing he came from a major temple in Yanjing, the pilgrims expressed surprise, but it made sense because Daoist Master Qin did have real skills.
Otherwise, why would they pilgrims continue to willingly come to Changsheng Temple?
When other sightseers heard he was from Yanjing, they also came to chat with him, mainly asking about things in Yanjing.
Facing these people, Yan Wentao was not neglectful and answered their questions.
Because of his friendly attitude, he directly won over some people’s goodwill. A few locals who didn’t believe in this stuff surprisingly were willing to listen to him.
Plus, Yan Wentao had real skills and knew physiognomy, so he quickly captivated these listeners.
At this point, Yan Wentao said to the other party, “Would you like an amulet, sir? It can protect you from disasters and resolve misfortunes within seven days.”
The old gentleman hesitated upon hearing this, “This…”
So he’s selling things after all.
Yan Wentao said nothing, just smiled at the old gentleman. That spring-breeze-like smile seemed to say it didn’t matter if he bought it or not; he just wanted to kindly ensure his safety.
The old gentleman looked at Yan Wentao, thinking about how Yan Wentao had just accurately divined his past life experiences. He thought, why not give it a try?
So he asked, “How much is the amulet?”
After asking, he added in his mind, if it’s too expensive, forget it.
Then he heard Yan Wentao say, “Marked price, no deception. Thirty each.”
Thirty? It doesn’t seem that expensive.
The old gentleman and the surrounding listeners all thought that amulets consecrated in other temples cost eighty or a hundred and eighty each.
Yan Wentao continued, “Our temple’s talismans are drawn on the spot, so they’re limited edition—once sold out, no more.”
The words “limited edition” seemed to have a unique appeal to everyone, young or old, male or female.
Anyway, upon hearing it was “drawn on the spot” and “limited,” the old gentleman was immediately moved.
“Then give me one!” the old gentleman said.
Yan Wentao kept his spring-breeze smile, “Sure.” Then he took out an amulet in a protective sleeve embossed with Changsheng Temple. “Mobile payment or cash is fine.”
The old gentleman paid and took the amulet, examining it carefully.
Although he didn’t understand these things, it didn’t stop him from inspecting the goods, and he added, “This is really drawn on the spot by you all?”
Yan Wentao replied, “Yes. Every morning after getting up, we first offer an incense stick to the grandmaster, then draw these talismans at the best time of dawn. So, the amulets we can supply each day are truly limited.”
Everyone who heard this, even though Yan Wentao hadn’t explained it completely clearly, imagined that Changsheng Temple’s Daoist priests drew the most effective talismans at the best time.
People who originally didn’t want to buy now said, “Then I’ll have one too?”
“Sure. Would you like mobile payment or cash, ma’am?”
“Mobile payment.” The other party took out her mobile phone.
Yan Wentao showed the payment code.
After two people led the way in buying amulets, more came one after another wanting to buy them.
Yan Wentao collected payment and delivered one by one.
Not far away, watching Yan Wentao do business, Xuan Xia couldn’t help covering her mouth to hide her smile.
Xuan Xia had long had ideas about the business of selling talismans but hadn’t known how to start it. It was something she casually mentioned to Yan Wentao that morning.
Her original intention was to take advantage of the recent high traffic and see if Yan Wentao could try promoting it.
Of course, she really just planned to promote it a bit and hadn’t expected to actually sell any.
But unexpectedly, Yan Wentao was so eloquent and good at business that in just this short time, he sold seven or eight talismans.
Yan Wentao was truly perfect for this job!
…
After seeing off that wave of talisman buyers, Yan Wentao came to Xuan Xia’s side during the lull.
He counted the remaining stock and reported to Xuan Xia, “Boss, we sold a total of twelve talismans.”
That morning, after Xuan Xia told him about promoting and selling talismans, Yan Wentao had taken thirty talismans first.
Xuan Xia praised him, “Good, good, very well done.”
Yan Wentao smiled, but he had his concerns, “Boss, if this business really takes off, can you really keep up?”
Even if it’s only thirty a day, how long would it take to draw thirty talismans?
Yan Wentao calculated his own speed of drawing talismans and felt it would take a long time.
Xuan Xia said lightly, “Stock up a bit more when you have time.”
She thought about her own speed and then Daoist Master Qin’s speed.
If the two of them partnered up, they should be able to stockpile some.
But Yan Wentao knew nothing about their speed of drawing talismans.
