Chapter 189 - Fairy Wan'er

Silvermoon House...

The Old President was listening to Yun Mo's detailed account of the spectacular event of This Street's First Zither House.

"What!? Building up momentum!? The piano and the Canon was all for building up the hype for a zither house!?" The Old President looked at Yun Mo, astounded.

Yun Mo nodded in affirmation as he continued, "Yes, before everything happened, no one was optimistic about this zither house. Everyone thought of it as a joke, until the piano music appeared. Everyone still believed that it was only for selling the piano, but who would have thought that it was all for the sake of building up momentum, and raising the reputation of This Street's First Zither House!

"Today, everyone is rus.h.i.+ng to the fore, elbowing their way and pus.h.i.+ng everyone aside. What's more is that all the music instrumental stores in the city are going all out to display their goods at This Street's First Zither House.

"President, you have not seen that scene, the cultivators were rus.h.i.+ng to buy the products there like they didn't care about their money!

"The piano was making money, but it seems that This Street's First Zither House would be making a h.e.l.l lot of money, once more. No one can best This Street's First Zither House in making money!

"Gu Hai is truly terrifying. For the sake of advertising This Street's First Zither House, he actually created the Canon, this musical form!"

"What an idle fellow, not even attending to his own pursuit. Indeed, a rotten wood cannot be carved!" remarked the Old President. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Originally, when the Canon came out, the Old President suspected whether it was created by Gu Hai or not. As expected, the Old President wasn't disappointed; a new variant version of Canon appeared within a few days, pus.h.i.+ng the Canon to a higher level immediately. This verified the Old President's speculation that it was created by Gu Hai.

However, such an artistic talent was actually utilized to do business!

So, the Canon was only to serve your zither house!?

Yun Mo forced a smile as he said, "Who would have expected this!? The World's First Zither House across the street was caught unprepared. Who would have thought that Gu Hai would use such a method? This kind of method cannot be copied, unless you can create a sensation to which the entire city would pay attention!"

"The World's First Zither House has suffered a setback this time, hahaha!" The Old President gradually started laughing.

The World's First Zither House hadn't just suffered a big setback. Since the official opening of This Street's First Zither House, its turnover had taken a big dive. In just one day, it had turned cold and deserted.

Watching the long dragon-like queues across the street, Jiang Tianyi's face grew colder and colder.

The only customers entering the World's First Zither House were buying the instruments from the opposite shop. They were entering the World's First Zither House to compare the prices. Once they finished comparing, they would go to the zither house across the street and buy a set.

This Street's First Zither House had been open for business for ten days. In those ten days, it had earned a boatload of money. The ten percent discount had long ended, but nonetheless, This Street's First Zither House was lively with a hubbub of noises and shouts. Their business was booming!

Using the mall method of doing business, Gu Hai's costs might be meager, but he was earning the most.

The merchants who had opened their shops in the mall didn't blame Gu Hai for the deduction at all. On the contrary, they were extremely grateful to him. The sales of these last ten days after deduction was still better than what they had made all of the last year.

The merchants continued to perfect their own instruments. They didn't want to be terminated by the Gu Hai. The principle of the zither house was to only find the best. If you don't keep on improving, there were many merchants waiting outside to squeeze their way inside.

Inside Gu Hai's study room...

Long Wanqing was looking at the strange symbols written on the paper.

"What are these?"

"These are Arabic numeral digits. They are used for accounting. In your hand is our performance report! I taught it to my subordinates way back!" Gu Hai replied with a smile.

Long Wanqing nodded in a daze.

Watching the lively scene at the zither house these days, Mu Chenfeng was also completely flabbergasted.

The pre-selling of the piano was already akin to stealing money, in Mu Chenfeng's opinion. But compared to this zither house, the money earned from the pre-sales was simply nothing! Just a drizzle!

Even those Wood Throne disciples of mine are working hard every day. The daily bonus given by Gu Hai makes their hearts pound like crazy, making each of them work even harder.

Those Wood Throne disciples seemed to have become Water Throne disciples!

This Street's First Zither House was in full swing!

At the World's First Zither House...

Young Master An crushed the teacup in his hand into pieces.

"These last ten days, you have only sold six guqins? This is your performance!?" Young Master An roared out in fury, depressed at what he heard.

Jiang Tianyi bitterly shook his head and said, "Young Master An, I finally understand why Gu Hai so easily took out seven hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones!"

"Why?"

"He did it to buy the World's First Zither House!"

"Buy!?"

"Yes, he has already bought it. The achievements of the World's First Zither House have already run into his pockets. The World's First Zither House is about to close down. If this goes on, we have to completely shut down!" Jiang Tianyi stated bitterly.

Young Master An's face turned unsightly as he said, "Close down!? No, no, no, if my Grandfather came to know that I made the World's First Zither House close down, he will definitely kill me!"

"Yes, the World's First Zither House is one of the properties of His Royal Highness. Although it might not be counted as his biggest industry, it brings a lot of money to His Royal Highness every year. If it is closed down...!" Jiang Tianyi's face turned ghastly as he trailed off.

"What should we do then? I will go and destroy Gu Hai's zither house!" Young Master An said in a frigid voice.

"No, if we destroy Gu Hai's zither house at this critical juncture, our World's First Zither House will also lose our reputation completely. Even if there is no Gu Hai, we won't have any business!" an ashen-faced Jiang Tianyi stopped Young Master An immediately.

"Then, what should we do?"

"We also need to build up momentum, regain everyone's confidence in our World's First Zither House!"

"Oh?"

"Please invite true Zither Grand Daoists to play. Let everyone know, that Canon of Gu Hai is just a joke, that's all. It's simply useless, the Dao of the Zither isn't like that. Our World's First Zither House is the only true great Dao of the Zither. Let everyone be shocked, so shocked that they will come to despise Canon, based on our standard. Our World's First Zither House's guqins are the only legitimate guqins. Guqins aren't for pleasure, they are not cheap, and they are used for battle. The zithers sold by Gu Hai are only playthings, nothing more, nothing less! His are just cheap and shoddy goods!" Jiang Tianyi stated in a calm voice.

"Uh? Will that work?"

"We want to kill the people's confidence in Gu Hai's zither house, kill everyone's confidence in Gu Hai, and take my World's First Zither House as the standard! Therefore, it has to work, it must work, it needs to work!" Jiang Tianyi said in a solemn manner.

"Zither Grand Daoists? Have we not already invited a lot of Zither Grand Daoists?" Young Master An asked in a deep voice.

"Those? Can they be considered as Zither Grand Daoists? They can only be called as zitherists, that's all. Their Zither Conception is nothing! Who we need to invite is a true expert!" Jiang Tianyi stated grimly..

"Oh? Who do you have in mind?"

"Fairy Wan'er!" Jiang Tianyi replied seriously.

"She?"

"Yes, I can't think of anyone else. How powerful her Dao of Zither is, I think His Royal Highness would have mentioned it to you. We will use her to blow Gu Hai away, blow away This Street's First Zither House, blow away everyone's confidence in them!" said Jiang Tianyi.

"Inviting her would be troublesome! Last time she came to play only because my Grandfather invited her. She only came to play one song. If I invite her, would she...?" Young Master An slightly furrowed his brow.

"Young Master An is the grandson of His Royal Highness, you can invite Fairy Wan'er, only you can do it! So, the survival of the World's First Zither House rests on Young Master An's shoulders!" Jiang Tianyi said bitterly.

"Alright! I will give it a try!" Young Master An nodded.

The World's First Zither House was already dead. Young Master An had nothing to do which would stop him. He immediately made a trip to Fairy Wan'er's residence.

At the small courtyard of Fairy Wan'er...

Fairy Wan'er was looking at Young Master An, furrowing her brow.

When Young Master An's eyes fell on Fairy Wan'er, his eyes flickered with a sliver of l.u.s.t, but he suppressed it down very quickly.

"Young Master An, you are asking me to help your World's First Zither House!? To deal with Gu Hai!?" Fairy Wan'er asked, staring at Young Master An.

"As long as you can crush Gu Hai, whatever you want, I can give it to you!" Young Master An said with a confident look.

She giggled softly. “Whatever I want? Young Maste An, didn't I tell you last time? I want that jade pendant of yours!" Fairy Wan'er stated with a charming smile on her lips.

Young Master An's eyelids twitched madly and said, "This is given to me by grandfather, he asked me to keep it always with me!"

"I know it's precious, so I want it. Furthermore, I also can't guarantee that I can crush Gu Hai. After all, the Canon has already reached the highest level of my composing!" Fairy Wan'er said with a smile.

Young Master An sank into silence for a good long while before he finally nodded. "You do your best!"

Fairy Wan'er stretched out her thin and delicate right hand.

Young Master An somewhat reluctantly pulled out a jade pendant from his neck. The jade pendant was in the shape of a dragon, and emerald in color with a sliver of a purple halo.

Fairy Wan'er reached out and took it immediately.

Watching the jade pendant being taken, Young Master An was left with mouth agape, somewhat unwilling.

"Alright, prepare a terrace for me at the World's First Zither House, a terrace just like the piano terrace. I will do my best. Not just Gu Hai, I will give a show that all of Silvermoon City will remember for a long time! Hehehehe!" Fairy Wan'er's laughter was filled with a devilish charm.

"Good!"

With this, Young Master An left, leaving Fairy Wan'er alone. Holding the pendant in her hand, her eyes flickered with mockery.

"Young Master An, oh, Young Master An, you also dare to gift this pendant to me!? Hehehehe! It didn't take any time and effort to get it!" said Fairy Wan'er, giggling.

Putting away the pendant, Fairy Wan'er turned her head, looking in the direction of This Street's First Zither House.

"Canon! It might be a good tune, but so what? Gu Hai, you can only play, there is not a bit of Conception. I suspect that you stole it from someone else, haha! The true Dao of Zither is not like you think. In all of Silvermoon City, the only one who can be my opponent is Silvermoon House's Old President!

"Old President!? Hahaha, I will play a tune that will gather dark clouds over the city, the Miserable World! Let's see if I alone can ruin your city with my tune?" Fairy Wan'er's gaze flickered with antic.i.p.ation.

The next day...

The business of the World's First Zither House was still bleak. But today, the World's First Zither House had closed its doors.

Yet there was an empty terrace on the third floor, right opposite to the distant terrace which had a piano.

Some of the cultivators going in and out of This Street's First Zither House had also come to notice this, they c.o.c.ked their heads to look in curiosity.

"Well! It's Fairy Wan'er! It sure is Fairy Wan'er!"

"Last time, when she played at the World's First Zither House, I didn't know about it! She also left after the show! Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear her playing!"

"The World's First Zither House has invited Fairy Wan'er!? To challenge Gu Hai!?"...

Countless cultivators looked surprised as they stopped everything at hand and turned to that terrace to look.

The terrace was at this moment sorted out in an extremely neat fas.h.i.+on. Placed on one side was a small incense burner, a faint fragrance slowly wafting from it. Dressed in pure white robes and her face veiled by a white muslin, Fairy Wan'er slowly sat down on a futon.

Placed before her was an emerald-green guqin. Fairy Wan'er gently stroked it.

On another nearby terrace, Young Master An and Jiang Tianyi were watching anxiously.

"Will it work?" Young Master An wondered aloud, worried.

"Young Master An, are you still doubting a Zither Grand Daoist who has been recognized by His Royal Highness himself?" Jiang Tianyi confidently a.s.sured him.

A sliver of pride and mockery flashed past Fairy Wan'er's eyes as she used the little finger of her right hand to gently pluck a string.

As she let her hand loose...

BOOM! A thunderclap suddenly reverberated through the sky. Endless dark clouds suddenly emerged out of nowhere above Fairy Wan'er head. Writhing dark clouds were suddenly hanging over the World's First Zither House!