A Guide to Running a Shop on an Otherworldly Shopping Street

My new story, The Daily Life of Running a Strange Tale Shopping Street, is now available. Please add it to your reading list! - Lu Yao binds to the Otherworldly Shopkeeping Wish-Granting System. By continually opening shops in other worlds, she can eventually have one wish granted. Before long, an abandoned shopping street in the city is quietly given a new lease on life. The shops are in the present world, but their customers come from parallel worlds. - Shop One: A Snack Shop in a Horror World The Extra-Spicy Chicken Wing Shop on the 99th floor of the otherworld has been packed lately. The owner is an ordinary human with snow-white skin and raven-black hair. Her chicken wings are the real deal: so spicy they burn your throat, leaving you in tears by the time you finish. After work, NPCs from all kinds of horror scenarios like to drop in for a drink and a bite to eat. It’s even more thrilling than their jobs. - Shop Two: A Nail Salon in a Magical World A strange new shop has suddenly opened in the city. They say it offers nail services. What are nail services? A curious dragon walked into the shop. Two hours later, he came out holding up ten dazzling, glittering claws. Nail services are amazing! I have to tell my friends!!! Lu Yao’s nail salon in the otherworld became a hit! - Shop Three, Shop Four… Every shop Lu Yao opens in the otherworld gets rave reviews and draws huge crowds. And at the end of her journey, there’s still… Reader’s Guide: 1. It’s probably an infinite-style shopkeeping story. The setting is entirely fictional, with heaps of invented details. Please don’t compare it to real-life situations. 2. There is a romantic pairing, one-on-one, but the romance is a small part of the story. Readers who prefer no romance, please take note. 3. Anti-piracy measures are in place, but the ratio isn’t 100%. Please don’t send writing advice. 4. Please don’t compare rankings. - Blurb for the upcoming story, Every Day I Get Close to a Rich Lady: Shen Qingxing transmigrates into a lighthearted romance about showbiz and wealthy families as a cannon-fodder supporting actress. The heroine is her half-sister, sharing the same father. The heroine has a universal-beloved aura and is adored by everyone. As a rich heiress, Shen Qingxing insists on joining the entertainment industry. In the story, she’s dragged through one scandal after another and blacklisted. Then she gets into a car accident and becomes disabled, before marrying the third male lead, who is in love with the heroine. Her life ends in misery and loneliness. The System says, “To change the supporting actress’s fate, Host, you have four options: win over the heroine, win over the male lead, win over the villain, or get on the third male lead’s good side in advance. Tip: trying all four at once works even better.” Shen Qingxing: “Tsk, I don’t think so.” The System: “?” At a high-society banquet, the heroine, male lead, villain, and male supporting character all attend, making for a lively scene. The System urges her on: “Host, this is your chance.” Shen Qingxing nods, grabs a glass of orange juice, and heads straight for the circle of rich ladies beside the debutantes. “Hey, rich sister, want to get close?” From then on Shen Qingxing is showered with resources. She lands luxury-brand endorsements, acts in films by famous directors, walks the red carpet, appears on variety shows… and goes from an unknown to a top-tier star. Netizens can’t help wondering: who’s backing her? Someone digs up the fact that Shen Qingxing’s new agency belongs to the Jiang Group, and her manager is the eldest daughter of the Jiang family. The company has signed no one but Shen Qingxing. The president of the Shen Corporation, who often works with Shen Qingxing; the wife of the Xie Corporation’s president; and the matriarch of the century-old Jiang family are all fans of her career… Every one of them is a billionaire tycoon. Netizens: This is freaking ridiculous! - One day, a powerful new member appears in the Rich Ladies’ Getting Close group chat: a mysterious rich lady introduced by Old Madam Jiang. She never shows her face, but when she showers Shen Qingxing with resources, she’s more generous than anyone. Shen Qingxing privately messages Old Madam Jiang and asks, “Which sister is this?” Soon afterward, Shen Qingxing receives a friend request from the mysterious rich lady. Jiang Jingyue: I’m very rich, and I want to get close to you every day. Shen Qingxing: … - Jiang Jingyue is the villain’s older brother, a character even more villainous than the villain himself. Worried that Grandma would be tricked out of her money and affection by an obscure actress, he pretends to like her and joins the group under a rich lady’s secret identity to catch her in the act. He never caught her doing anything, but somehow lost his heart instead. - Blurb for the upcoming story, A Guide to Running a Shopping Street for Nonhumans: After graduating from university, Yu Shuangjian returns to her mother’s old home and inherits a shopping street. The street is remote and dilapidated, with no customers and no tenants. Yu Shuangjian clears the roads, repairs the storefronts, and plants flowers and trees, hoping to attract tenants. On the first day, a scruffy merfolk arrives with a huge bag of round, pink-tinged pearls and begs Yu Shuangjian to help sell them. On the second day, a ginseng spirit who’s nearly bald from selling its whiskers to support its family clings to Yu Shuangjian’s leg and begs her to take it in. On the third day, a fox spirit from the mountains comes to ask Yu Shuangjian to help find its son, who was kidnapped by humans. … In this age of spiritual decline, spirits, demons, and ghosts have been driven into the mountains and forests, teetering on the brink of extinction. One day, a human arrives in the World of Mountains and Seas, puts up the shabby sign of a long-forgotten place, summons the spirits of a hundred clans, and starts running a shopping street for nonhumans. - Yu Shuangjian: “Little spirits, spiritual contracts, offerings, and faith no longer work in this day and age. You need to build closer ties with humans.” The little spirits look eager to learn. “Please teach us, great one.” Yu Shuangjian: “Nothing creates a stronger bond than money.” The little spirits scratch their heads. “We don’t get it.” Yu Shuangjian: “Put simply, empty their wallets.” Yu Shuangjian leads the little spirits in drawing water from spiritual springs, opening shops, and selling pills… drawing countless humans to drive over and soak in springs that preserve beauty and prolong life, buy slimming elixirs, or seek a red thread that grants their heart’s desire… (Blurb saved as a screenshot on 2021.4.7, lightly edited on 2021.7.8 and 2021.10.25, and archived again. Modified and saved as a screenshot once more on 2022.2.6.) Theme: Healing your bad moods