All My Clients Are from the Past

The Great Liang Dynasty is nearing its end. Rebellions are breaking out across the land, the borders are unstable, and enemy states are watching like hawks, waiting to carve up this rich and fertile territory. Just then, a supermarket suddenly appears in the middle of Yunzhou City's busiest district, stocked with all kinds of things no one has ever seen before. Wenren Xiao's mission is to give Great Liang a head start and light up its technology tree by selling modern goods to the ancient world. After the technology tree has been upgraded for a while: Yunzhou City is filled with scenes of bicycles traveling alongside fine horses, and padded cotton coats appearing alongside down jackets. That's not all. The cheap household goods Wenren Xiao brings from the modern era are also making a huge impact on this dynasty. Ordinary people's lives change overnight. In the past, a poor family might own only one set of clothes, and whoever went out wore it. Now everyone has T-shirts, shorts, and secondhand clothes. What, you say showing your arms and legs is indecent? Who cares? When people used to be so poor they went around naked, who's going to fuss over that? Glazed glassware, once incredibly expensive, now costs just a few coins a piece and can be found all over the streets. Everyone eats out of stainless-steel bowls. That shop has anything you could think of, and plenty you couldn't. Everything that comes out of that magical shop is wonderfully colorful. Wenren Xiao even gets several modern factories up and running again, including match, candle, and flashlight factories. As long as it's an early-age item that fits the basic technology tree, Wenren Xiao brings it to Great Liang. She even dangles the same carrot in front of every big shot: "As long as you support my products, once my shop upgrades, I'll get you some high-tech weapons. The future emperor of Great Liang could be you!" "Do you know what high-tech weapons are? You don't? Then watch this VCR." After watching, the big shots are so astonished they can't close their mouths! "Don't doubt it. These weapons are bound to exist someday!" And so, the various regimes obey like donkeys chasing a dangling carrot, diligently helping her complete missions and frantically buying all kinds of goods! On the battlefield, the most popular supplies are spicy strips and instant noodles. The supply wagons are pedal-powered tricycles, charging soldiers wear helmets, and the general stands atop the city wall with binoculars and a megaphone in hand. Seeing this, the enemy realizes there's no way to fight this war. Our side needs to upgrade too. Gradually, Yunzhou City becomes a recognized neutral zone for warlords from all over. Whatever they need, they know to come here. Although that woman keeps making strange demands, like requiring a certain number of literate people in their territory, achieving a certain planting rate for some unfamiliar seeds, or raising the skill levels of their craftsmen. Much later... "Why does his territory have something from the VCR called a railway?" one big shot demands furiously. "Well, that's your own fault. Who told you not to accept that mission?" "You asked me to train doctors to cut open people's stomachs! Was that really appropriate?" "How come nobody else thought it was inappropriate? The mission reward was a railway. You were the one who turned it down." "I was being kind! You never said the reward was a railway!!!" The big shot wails over losing the railway because he hadn't been ruthless enough. He'd wanted one for a long time. "That's not kindness, it's holding everyone back! My medical technology tree still hasn't lit up because you lot refuse to learn!" Premise: Build a harmonious, wonderful new world!