Love letters are not allowed in the exorcism notebook!-Chapter 438 - 16 Business with the Dead is Still Business

Tianmen City’s Ghost Festival on July 14th this year was quite stable, with no demons or evil spirits wandering around.

Because the main force of the Qilin Army had entered the city.

There was also strong support from major army groups from the Northeast, North China, and Central China military districts.

All the schools in the city that were closed for the summer holiday were designated as temporary camps, and military doctors from all over kept arriving. After brief rests, they would set out again, dispersing to towns and villages of all levels.

Some troops could be equipped with trucks, but most did not even have that luxury. Fortunately, as one of the transportation hubs in the North, Tianmen’s railway network was well-developed; otherwise, they would have had to travel on foot from places thousands of kilometers away.

The Tiger King Army from the Northeast was the most lavish of them all, pulling in trainloads of various supplies from beyond the pass.

All kinds of supplies filled the cafeteria and underground air raid shelter of Qinghe Middle School.

That evening, Wang Yunxiao and Li Mumu stewed a pot of cabbage and luncheon meat for them, and within a couple of days, they received cans of braised pork in return.

Cubes of five-spice pork, two centimeters square, the kind that’s packed solid without any water added, containing only white pork fat.

One hundred cases of canned braised pork, plus two tons of glass noodles, all transported by train.

Glass noodles... The stereotype about the people from the Northeast grew stronger.

Principal Zhou was someone who cared about face and would absolutely not actively beg for handouts. But, out of respect for Principal Zhou’s old face, they never mentioned the word "gift" and just kept moving supplies into the cafeteria.

In reality, these students wouldn’t consume that much in the way of supplies; the real stockpile was already being accumulated for future use.

After all, both flooding and epidemics are temporary problems; once the rainy season passed, floods would subside. With the most basic knowledge of hygiene, the spread of cholera could be effectively controlled.

However, farmland that had been flooded might affect the food supply of millions of people in this land for the coming year.

Before the establishment of the new government, it could be said that disasters were incessant year after year. With the empire’s vast territory, disasters erupted one after another, with hardly a year that could be considered as having favorable weather.

In the first year after the new government was established, even if difficulties arose, everyone could accept them. After all, from top to bottom, no one in the country was unaware of the mess of the past, and everyone was gritting their teeth and persevering.

Now it was the second year.

Setting aside certain restless humanoid creatures, most normal people subconsciously felt that life this year should be at least a bit better.

The least that should happen is that tragedies like "years of great famine, where people ate each other" should not reoccur.

Natural disasters are indeed unavoidable, but the frequency and scale of natural disasters, in the traditional mindset of the People of Ming, are somewhat related to Heaven’s approval of the Son of Heaven.

Li Mumu hadn’t expected Nether Banknotes to sell unexpectedly well.

She had somewhat underestimated the desire of overseas immigrants to integrate into local society and culture.

As the Ghost Festival approached and they saw People of Ming start to burn paper money, the Foreigners became very anxious.

They wanted to imitate this custom but were worried about offending some taboo and causing themselves trouble.

When the New Church of Eternal Life’s Nether Banknotes were introduced, they quickly became widely acclaimed.

The People of Ming stamped seals on yellow paper which they couldn’t understand, but these banknotes looked just like real money and were bilingual in Chinese and English, which they grasped immediately.

For the first print run, Wendy didn’t dare to put too large a denomination on them, keeping them all at a hundred units. She personally designed the pattern, and its exquisiteness was almost indistinguishable from real currency.

The obverse featured the image of the Guiding Bodhisattva, and the reverse depicted a world map. As the deity in charge of escorting Lost Souls in the Netherworld, it was unlikely to provoke displeasure among the locals of Tianmen.

Out of caution, Li Mumu specially prayed to the Guiding Bodhisattva for approval.

The Bodhisattva said, "It shall be so."

The New Church of Eternal Life assures customers that these sacrificial items will have no lingering consequences, nor will they charge any intermediary fees.

As for whether or not your departed loved ones will receive it... after buying it, why do you still insist on questioning the authenticity?

For most people, burning paper is simply a way to express their melancholy remembrance for relatives, nothing more.

It’s not like they burn paper regularly while fantasizing about becoming a so-called "ghost second generation" after death.

The first batch of 20,000 Nether Banknotes printed sold out in just a few days, forcing a rush to print more.

By the time the second batch of Nether Banknotes was printed, even the locals had heard the news and came to purchase them.

The locals found the product drummed up by the foreigners quite interesting; it was far more exquisite than regular Paper Money, and surely their ancestors would feel the sincerity all the more.

Overseas emigrants felt that Ming culture was truly fascinating, amazed that money could be spent in such a way. "Although I’m not wealthy, experiencing the joy of the rich in this manner is quite delightful," they thought.

When the Ghost Festival approached and the second batch of Nether Banknotes also sold out, Max looked at the ledger, puzzled beyond belief, and asked Xia Yubing innocently, "Aren’t we just printing money?"

He even began to reflect on whether the initial selling price he set was too low.

Xia Yubing decisively stopped his naive idea of further increasing the production.

My silly child, do you think you can still sell that much after the Ghost Festival?

With the issuance of Nether Banknotes, the New Church of Eternal Life finally possessed its core competitiveness, no longer just a shell company fooling fools out of their money.

Tangible funds gradually accumulated, and intangible benefits grew as well.

Every night, in the silence, Li Mumu would faintly hear the sound of devout prayers coming from afar.

Wendy said that in Sun Family Town, within the Thousand-Year Dynasty World, the bank they built had already started operations. Truly, souls who had just passed away in the last few days were attracted to it, withdrawing money from the bank.

But even with money, they couldn’t spend it on anything; Sun Family Town was so poor, there was nothing to buy.

This, of course, was unacceptable, so Wendy set up a charged service in the town—warmth by a fire.

Spending money allowed one to draw close to a fire, to enjoy the nourishment of its flames and light.

You really shouldn’t consider it too expensive; the fire in our basin burns Ether Substance, which in a sense, is akin to the fat from an Angel’s corpse.

Even the Demon Lords of Hell and red-robed Archbishops of the Church might not have enjoyed such a luxury before.

To charge you a hundred dollars for ten minutes by the fire is an immense blessing!

Li Mumu felt as if Wendy’s patron deity’s sense of mischief was almost spilling over, yet the deceased were jubilant, like addicts unable to stop themselves.

If one is willing to be struck and another willing to strike, there wasn’t much she could say.

On the day of the Ghost Festival, Xia Yubing sent news that she was about to Advance soon.

She had become as frail as any mortal and needed to find a sufficiently safe environment in the Real World, and ideally, someone to stand guard.

She invited Li Mumu to come and help.

Li Mumu also wanted to see what this so-called Advancement was all about, so she readily agreed.