"Phew."
Only after putting some distance between them did Old Meng finally let out a sigh of relief.
He no longer dared to get close to Director Hu Tao.
He never wanted to experience that feeling again.
As he caught his breath, Old Meng looked with lingering fear at the purple needle in Hu Tao's hand. That thing was too bizarre.
When he had returned to normal, he had checked the spot where he was poked. There was no puncture mark, no injury, and no blood.
Yet he had clearly felt the piercing pain of the needle.
On top of that, he had been turned into a sheet of human skin without flesh or bone, yet without losing a single drop of blood. The thought of that strange state terrified him.
What kind of needle was that? Why was it so strange?
It wasn't just Old Meng. The other two Wangsheng employees also stared in fear at the needle in Hu Tao's hand, keeping their distance, afraid she would poke them next.
They had clearly seen Old Meng being used as an experiment twice in a row. Refusing was useless; his only mistake was not keeping enough distance from the Director.
"Hehe, Old Meng, how was that experience? Not bad, right?"
Seeing the terrified Old Meng keeping his distance, Hu Tao looked at the needle in her hand and grinned. "Let me tell you, this needle can't just poke people. It can poke things, too."
"For example, if you have something you can't move, or heavy luggage, you just need to poke it with this De-thickening Needle, and it will become light and airy, just like you were."
As she spoke, Hu Tao poked a nearby table.
The solid, ancient wood table was like soft tofu against the De-thickening Needle. The needle sank in effortlessly.
Instantly, the poked table deflated like a punctured balloon, rapidly becoming flat and thin.
Hu Tao lifted the table. It felt as light as a piece of cloth, completely weightless.
"Huh? Even a cloth has some weight. How does this table have no weight at all after being transformed?"
Hu Tao weighed the flat, thin table in her hand, her beautiful plum-blossom eyes showing surprise.
She had assumed that even after being flattened, an object would retain some of its weight.
But holding it now, there was nothing.
"Here, Old Meng, you try holding it."
Hu Tao tossed the cloth-like table to Old Meng.
It floated through the air like a leaf, light as a breeze.
Old Meng, who had been staring at the needle in his director's hand, instinctively reached out and caught the "table."
"Magical!"
When the table landed in his hands without any weight, Old Meng gasped in surprise.
He truly felt no weight from it at all.
His director had just poked the table right in front of him and turned it into this.
It was all thanks to the needle in her hand.
He had seen it with his own eyes.
His director had said this came from that magical Jar Shop.
After experiencing two bizarre and unbelievable items back-to-back, he was now genuinely curious about the Jar Shop.
And about the mysterious shopkeeper. No wonder his director was so captivated.
Who wouldn't be fascinated by things like this?
"It's so light, my goodness."
"Is that really from the Jar Shop the Director mentioned? Then the fire dragon egg must be real, too."
At that moment, the other two employees curiously gathered around Old Meng.
They touched the table in his hands. It had no weight at all. It felt like they were grabbing air.
Their faces filled with wonder.
That Jar Shop was really as magical as she said.
"Anything poked by this needle will return to normal when it touches water."
Hu Tao explained as she poured water from a nearby basin onto the table. Instantly, the flat, thin object expanded back to its original form.
"Bang!"
As the table returned to normal, its weight came back with it. Old Meng couldn't hold it, nearly falling over.
It took all three of them scrambling to catch it to keep it from crashing.
"Phew."
After setting the table down, Old Meng and the others sighed, then looked at their director helplessly. "Director, next time you change the table back, give us a warning. We could have been crushed."
"Now you've seen the wonders of the De-thickening Needle, right? Tomorrow, all of you are going to open jars!"
Hu Tao's eyes gleamed as she stared at the three of them. "No, we're going now. Each person can buy ten jars. 100,000 Mora each. I don't care about the other things you pull. I want more tools like these."
The shopkeeper had asked her to recommend customers. She would send her own employees to buy jars!
If they pulled more interesting tools, it would be a huge win.
Hu Tao didn't care much for the other items.
"100,000 Mora per jar!"
Hearing this, Old Meng's face turned green. "Director, I don't have that much money. My salary isn't that high."
Ten jars would be one million Mora. For the three of them, that was three million.
Forget three million; they couldn't even come up with 300,000.
"You idiot. If I'm telling you to go, I'm obviously letting you use the Parlor's money. It's not coming out of your own coffin fund."
Hu Tao said with annoyance. "All three of you are going to open jars. On second thought, I'll take you myself. Let's go, let's go!"
With that, Hu Tao put the speaker aside, grabbed her Soul Staff, and excitedly headed out.
She didn't feel safe leaving the fire dragon egg at the parlor.
Even though it had protective formations and no one would dare steal from Wangsheng, she felt it was better to keep it with her.
What if it hatched?
Most creatures inside pet eggs imprint on the first person they see upon hatching.
Hearing Hu Tao's words, Old Meng and the others' faces twitched, but they didn't hesitate. They quickly closed the door and followed.
The Director was taking them to the magical Jar Shop, and they didn't even have to pay.
Only a fool would refuse such an offer!
Even if the Director took all the items, it didn't matter. They just wanted to see the magical jars for themselves.
And to meet the shopkeeper.
What kind of person would put such things in jars for others to find?
"Director, I think with these two items, we can expand our business."
Old Meng said hurriedly as he caught up to Hu Tao. "We could offer a 'Soul Dialogue' service, and also a 'Moving Service.' With these things, we'll never have to worry about a lack of customers."
"I was thinking the same thing. So go ahead and hang the sign for the new services at the door."
Hu Tao skipped along without looking back. "Wangsheng Funeral Parlor has never offered a service for people to talk with their deceased relatives. Usually, that requires me to personally travel to the border of life and death. But now, with the Soul Staff, families can talk to the souls directly. I don't need to go anywhere."
"And if we offer an 'Out-of-Body Experience' service, I'm sure people will come just to try it. These days, having an out-of-body experience is a high-class thing."
"As for the moving service, you guys can arrange that as you see fit."
Hu Tao's face was flushed with excitement.
She never thought her parlor's business would boom because of the Jar Shop.
Business had been slow, but with these two items, they would surely become famous throughout Liyue!
It was all thanks to those magical jars!
The owner of that shop was amazing. To think he would put such things in jars. She really wanted to get to know him better.
As Hu Tao excitedly led her employees toward the Jar Shop, back on Chihu Rock street, inside Wanmin Restaurant...
Felix had finished his bowl of instant noodles.
The familiar taste was nostalgic.
He hadn't eaten instant noodles in a long time. It was still pretty good.
"Shopkeeper, would you like more?"
Seeing Felix finish, Chef Mao offered enthusiastically. "There's still plenty. You can eat until you're full."
"No, thank you."
Felix shook his head with a smile. "One bowl is enough."
Instant noodles were just a novelty for him. Eating them all the time would get boring.
"By the way, where's Xiangling?"
Felix looked around Wanmin Restaurant but didn't see her.
The restaurant was mostly empty now.
It was probably getting late. Even the number of pedestrians on the street had dwindled.
"That child is busy in the back kitchen making more instant noodles."
Chef Mao replied quickly. "If it weren't for her help, we would have run out long ago. Tomorrow, I need to find someone to custom-build a machine so we can mass-produce them."
"I see."
Felix nodded. "Alright then, I'll be going. I'm going to wander around a bit more."
With that, Felix stood up and walked out of the restaurant.
"Take care, Shopkeeper."
Chef Mao walked him to the door and watched him leave before turning back.
"I say, Chef Mao, you're so warm to that young shopkeeper. What did you pull from those jars?"
One of the remaining diners teased him.
He knew Felix sold jars but didn't have the money to try his luck. He knew some jars could be empty, and that would be a huge loss.
"My daughter pulled something very good."
Chef Mao chuckled. "If you have the money, you should give it a try. If you pull something good, there's a high chance you'll strike it rich. It could change your life."
"Mm, I will."
The diner nodded.
If he had the money, he definitely would.
But the problem was, he didn't.
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