ryethenovel Chapter 449 First Impressions, Buying Some Goods First
Chapter 449 First Impressions, Buying Some Goods First
What would a southerner do if they saw a snowscape large enough to accumulate into a thick layer on the ground for the first time?
"Wow, amazing! Even the treetops are covered in snow!"
The golden fox girl was wrapped in thick winter clothes, with a warm scarf around her neck, and a pair of plush, warm gloves on her little fox hands. Her face was full of excitement.
Nan Jiayu followed Su Tianqing with a smile, also dressed in winter clothes, holding a snowflake in her hand, watching it quickly melt into a clear drop of water.
Even Fei Yelan was captivated by the snowy scene before her, her wolf tail swaying behind her, as if she had never seen snow before.
Passersby occasionally cast curious glances, but once they saw the group's suitcases, they were relieved and didn't pay much attention to this group of southerners.
The hotel is located on the edge of the city center, but it's not very remote. It's a short walk from there.
"It's so warm in the room. Is this called a heating system?" Su Tianqing asked curiously, pointing to the radiator.
"Yes, this is a radiator. Dad prefers to use a fireplace."
Aurora had a knowledgeable air about her. This petite blonde girl with blue eyes wore a bright red hood on her head and shoulders, just like Little Red Riding Hood from a fairy tale.
Su Tianqing greatly respected the London girl's right to speak on indoor heating equipment. Anyway, as a southerner, I've never seen heating before, so I might as well take a good look this time.
After putting down their suitcases at the hotel, everyone gathered in the room of the two, Cat and Fox, to discuss their next course of action.
"It's getting late, let's start the investigation tomorrow."
"Ye Lan will take Aurora for a stroll around the neighborhood for a bit. Xiao Yu, Tao Tao, and I will go find a good restaurant. How about we have a delicious meal tonight?"
"A feast, delicious!"
Aurora cheered happily.
Ye Lan seemed quite happy to take Aurora around. The two walked to a lively children's park and immediately started a snowball fight with the children around them.
Su Tianqing smiled as she watched the Big Bad Wolf deliberately stand in front of Aurora to take the snowballs, deciding not to expose him for the time being.
"Since that's the case..."
After parting ways with the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood, the trio of cat, fox, and rabbit stood on a sparsely populated street, looking at the town scene covered by universities, unsure of where to go.
"...Where should we start our investigation?"
"Hmm... how about we go for a walk in the commercial area first? If there are any shops or similar stores nearby, maybe they can help Tao Tao remember something."
Nan Jiayu pondered for a while before speaking.
Su Tianqing also strongly agreed with the catgirl's idea.
Since Xia Taotao retains some fragmented memories of when she became a fan of magical girl merchandise as a child, let's start with this key clue; perhaps we can uncover a series of subsequent leads.
With these thoughts in mind, the three of them followed the directions indicated on the map and turned into a relatively bustling commercial street.
Unlike the bustling streets of Chengdu, this place is located on the outskirts of the city. Apart from the hotel, which is quite exquisite and beautiful, the surrounding buildings are rather old.
It seems to be related to the number of tourists?
The commercial area is slightly better, but once you leave this bustling street, the foot traffic immediately becomes sparse.
"This is the shop, right?"
The three of them stopped and looked at a brightly colored shop filled with all kinds of related toys.
The shop wasn't big, but it was packed with customers browsing the surrounding area. The owner, busy with checkouts, couldn't attend to the three people peering out the door; he only had time to greet the customers inside.
Two unfamiliar life-size standees stood at the entrance—a golden-orange magical girl and a petite pink-purple girl, their codenames written in the Hero Association's distinctive gold lettering:
【Calendula】, 【Winter Dream Flower】
"A new magical girl, huh?" Su Tianqing said, feigning surprise.
Although Yue Tianxin had already gathered a lot of interesting information from Nan Xiaofeng and the others, she still pretended that she was hearing it for the first time.
Xia Taotao seemed to have never heard of these two newcomers before. She curiously looked them up and down, then thoughtfully stroked her chin.
"Hmm... Are there only two newcomers here? Are there any other magical girls?"
"Are you three guests interested in Miss Marigold and Miss Winter Jasmine?"
After seeing off the customers, the shop manager, now with some free time, noticed the three people looking at the signboard at the entrance and greeted them warmly.
"I'm just curious, are these two newcomers who just debuted here?" Su Tianqing took over the task of communicating and asked curiously.
"You three must be tourists from out of town. I didn't expect to have visitors from other places here... That's perfect, let me introduce you to these two children."
The store manager immediately transformed into a magical girl fan, walked up to the standee, and vividly recounted the story of the two newcomers.
Although the story was embellished in some ways, it did not prevent the three of them from understanding the general outline of the story.
"So, you're saying these two are just rookies the Hero Association brought in to fill out the numbers in an emergency, and they can't build up any popularity with you guys at all? Their debut limited edition merchandise still hasn't sold out?"
"yes……"
The store manager shook his head with a wry smile and looked up at the banner that had been hanging in the store for almost a month.
[New magical girls! Marigold and Winter Flower make their dazzling debut, limited-edition merchandise is now on sale]
"It's probably because... the economic situation here isn't very good, so everyone thinks the debut merchandise is a bit expensive."
The store manager tried to explain, but he knew that no matter how he explained, it would be in vain. The sales figures were what they were; if they couldn't be sold, they simply couldn't be sold.
From the store manager's story, Su Tianqing could roughly guess why these two newcomers lacked popularity:
Their fighting ability is really worrying.
Dealing with ordinary small monsters is manageable; the two of them can defeat them with some effort. However, if they encounter a monster enhanced by a magic storm, they will immediately find themselves in a tough battle.
"Just the strange person who appeared last week was beyond the control of Marigold and Winter Dream Flower. It was only thanks to the Winter Plum Team from Shencheng who rushed to help that they were able to barely take him down, but he had already caused considerable damage."
"Although no one blames them—they've been working really hard to fight the monsters—the merchandise sales are... well..."
The shelves displaying limited-edition debut merchandise were still fully stocked, with everything from holographic tickets to badges and standees, but sales didn't look promising.
With the mindset of collectors of merchandise, and with the financial support of a mysterious, wealthy fox girl, the three of them each bought a set of debut merchandise, and also bought one for Ye Lan and Aurora. The shop owner's face showed a long-lost smile.
"Actually, the quality of these items is quite good, and the price isn't high either, so why can't they be sold?" Su Tianqing said helplessly.
"Sales performance is also a very important factor in merchandise sales," Xia Taotao reminded her from the side.
"Hyacinth Squad's merchandise has already been sold overseas, and it seems that... our Heart Moon Fox Squad's merchandise is also quite popular abroad."
"Hmm... I understand!"
As she packed away her debut merchandise set, Su Tianqing said...
"Since we're not going to start the investigation until tomorrow, why don't we go find some newbies tonight?"
"TaoTao must really want to see the newcomers here!"
"Newcomer..." The rabbit girl timidly shrank her head, but her eyes revealed an expectant light.
"...Won't you scare people?" Nan Jiayu muttered under her breath.