123 – An Industry That’s Gone.

“Starting! Starting!” the child shouted while striking a gong to attract attention.

“Aiyo, what’s going on, huh?” the old man manning the grocery store walked out upon hearing the noise, “Someone’s here to compete? Such a rare situation!”

“Yeah, Uncle Zheng. Come and watch! It’s a good-looking girl!” the child tried his best to get an audience.

“What? A girl?” Uncle Zheng looked at him in disbelief, “Does she even know how to carve a rune?”

“I don’t know, but you don’t need to come for the competition; just come for her visuals,” the child wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

“Sure thing! I’m coming over right now!”

As soon as Uncle Zheng was about to exit the shop, his ear was pulled forcefully by somebody, followed by a loud voice, “Where the hell are you going, you goat!? You’re so old, yet your eyes shine upon hearing ‘pretty girl’? Get your ass back here, right now!”

“Ah, stop it, my dear wife, stop it! I’ll tend the shop, you can go and watch.”

“Hmph! Better.”

After a few moments, the child brought in a dozen audience members.

Lu Mingshu pointed to the tables situated in the hall and asked, “This… is the arena?”

Uncle Hai rubbed his palm as he put them in place. “We’re a bit broke….”

Not mentioning the grand arenas at the martial arts halls, even a simple and crude pharmacy’s arena can at least hold a hundred people. However, this arena here… was just their hall with two wooden tables. Isn’t it too skimpy?

She was aware of how waning the rune-carving sector was, but she didn’t expect it to be this bad.

“Miss,” a gentleman with a long beard in a gown strolled toward her, “our rune-carving master only needs a brush, everything else are just minor details.”

Uncle Hai smiled at her, “This is our chief.”

Lu Mingshu stared at him in silence for a moment before continuing, “So, what are your competition rules?”

The chief stroked his beard as he answered, “Simple – just draw the rune, and we will decide the winner afterward.”

No wonder they rarely have an audience. What’s there to even watch? The audience probably doesn’t even understand the rules.

“Why? Is Miss dissatisfied with the rules?” the chief looked at her with panic.

“It’s boring,” Lu Mingshu replied coldly.

“In what way should we compete then? We value your suggestions,” the chief added on immediately, as if he was afraid that she wouldn’t want to compete anymore.

Lu Mingshu walked around the hall and stepped out of the hall.

The chief and Uncle Hai followed closely behind her with a tense mood.

The arena had been closed for days already. If it remained closed, they would have to shut the arena down completely.

Lu Mingshu pointed to the rooftop, “There’s nothing up there, right?”

Uncle Hai raised his eyebrows, “The rooftop, you mean?”

“En.”

“Nope….”

“Then let’s go there.”

Uncle Hai looked over to the chief.

“Let’s go!” he nodded.

The customer was always the king; if she said to go, then go.

This shop was set up years ago, so there was nothing much on the rooftop except some grains. Due to them being so poor, they also sold dry goods.

The tables were being moved up, and the dozen audience members followed behind the child.

“Eh, why did you all move the tables?”

“To the roof?”

“Rooftop? Good idea! The lighting there is better.”

“More spacious too, haha.”

“We should’ve done that earlier, man. The hall is so small and warm.”

“I know, right?”

The spectators – neighbors of the shop – walked up the stairs while chattering happily.

As soon as the spectators were settled down, Lu Mingshu repeated her main point once again, “It’s boring to just draw a rune.”

It’s not like this was the first time he had heard such a thing, so it didn’t hurt the chief. He looked at Lu Mingshu in confusion, “So, what did you have in mind?”

“As a rune carver, one must have a good memory and knowledge of runes, so first, the competitors should list out the effects and source of a rune upon seeing it. Secondly, one should know how to carve a rune according to what the customer requests. Lastly, judge the competition by the quality of rune made,” Lu Mingshu then turned to the chief, “What do you think?”

The chief pondered for a while before nodding, “Good idea, Miss.”

“In that case, we will follow those three requirements,” Lu Mingshu pointed at her feet, “I saw that there were some books on runes down there. For the first challenge, how about we pick some books and ask the tester to give us three runes, then we have to locate the runes in the books?”

In reality, a fairer competition would be that one must draw out all the runes in the reference book. Under Lu Mingshu’s suggestion, the host would benefit the most, but their current conditions were too poor for something like that.

“This…” the chief looked at her, “Isn’t that too unfair to Miss?”

“If I can’t do it, that just shows that I need to up my game,” Lu Mingshu answered unenthusiastically.

Since that was what she answered, the chief had no reason to reject her suggestion.

“In that case, we shall not collect an admission fee from Miss.”

“Thanks.”

“What about the other two requirements?”

“For the second one, get ten spectators as volunteers. Each one will give a request, and the competitors will follow the request to draw a rune. The winner will be determined by accuracy, then timing if need be.”

“Interesting,” the chief said, but before he could continue, he was interrupted by the spectators, “Can we make request?”

Lu Mingshu nodded, “Yes.” It was best to use the spectators, but only because this arena had so few.

The chief liked her idea. He looked at her in anticipation, “Then… the third?”

Lu Mingshu started slowly, “Lastly… depend on the rune.”

The chief raised his eyebrows, “You mean…?”

“Martial arts arenas have fights, the weapon industry can fight… why can’t runes?”

The birth of medicine was to cure, but the birth of runes was to fight! Nowadays, the rune-carving industry had waned, and not many people remembered that this industry was made to fight. Back during the war, runes could allow an ordinary person to fight the barbarians, but look at the industry now.

The chief was speechless at her question, “How do you fight with a rune without carving it into a weapon? The effect wouldn’t be easy to…” he muttered to himself.

Lu Mingshu smiled warmly at him, “There surely must be a way! Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

The chief looked at her blankly.

“Chief, so in your opinion, is this method alright?”

“Yes, yes!” before the chief could answer, the spectators started cheering.

“Yeah, it will be way more interesting that way.”

“We didn’t understand your previous competitions anyway.”

“Just agree, chief!”

“Let’s do it, boss!” even his clerk supported Lu Mingshu’s idea.

The chief took a deep breath before nodding, “Ah… okay, okay!” That sounds way more interesting than just drawing a rune.

Lu Mingshu smiled thinly, “Then, shall we invite the host on stage?”

The chief hesitated. The best rune carver in the shop was him, but with his age, he would be taking advantage of Lu Mingshu if he competed against her. However, after hearing her, he knew that she wasn’t simple, so sending a mere student would most likely end in a loss. Who was he supposed to send?

Just then, a young man stepped up, “Chief, I’ll go.”

He heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing him, “Okay, Chu, you will go.”