"Do you still remember what that True Master looked like?" Driven by a touch of curiosity, Chen Yan asked.
Hearing this, the man was about to answer but paused a second later. "Strange as it sounds," he said, frowning as he tried to recall. A perplexed look washed over his face. "I saw the True Master clearly when he arrived, and I even sat and chatted with him for quite a while. But now that you ask me to recall his appearance, Boss..." He sighed and shook his head. "I only remember that he was an amiable person. As for the rest... I can’t remember a single thing."
"It’s fine. Don’t worry if you can’t remember." Seeing the man’s bewildered expression, Chen Yan already had a vague guess as to what had happened. He waved a hand dismissively and changed the subject. "I haven’t asked for your name yet...?"
"My surname is Li, and my given name is Ji." Cupping his hands in a respectful salute, Li Ji hurriedly replied, "The locals in my neighborhood all call this old man Old Ji. You can just call me Old Ji, Boss."
"I’ll stick to calling you Shopkeeper Li." Smiling, Chen Yan glanced around the shop’s interior before gesturing toward a table by the window facing the street. "Why don’t we sit down and talk?"
Soon, the two of them took their seats. Chen Yan glanced at Shopkeeper Li sitting opposite him. The man sat bolt upright with his hands resting on his knees. At first glance, he seemed quite composed, but his rigid posture completely gave away his nervousness.
"Shopkeeper Li." Organizing his thoughts, Chen Yan spoke again. "I want to ask, how did you get here? Also, even though this place looks a lot like the Qinghe Street you know, there are actually huge differences. Why were you willing to come over?"
Shopkeeper Li fell silent for a moment, as if pondering where to begin. "After the True Master left that day, an extra door appeared behind my house," he finally said, looking up. He gestured in the air, a look of wonder on his face. "The True Master said that every day at the hour of Mao, that door could be pushed open, and walking through it would bring me here.
"I tested it last night. Before the right time, there was nothing but a solid wall behind it. But when I went to push the door again at the hour of Mao today, I actually ended up right here in this shop!"
Listening to Shopkeeper Li’s description, Chen Yan imagined the scene. It certainly felt very much in line with the system’s style.
"...The True Master said that once we arrive here, if we want to go back, we have to wait until five quarters into the hour of You to return through the same door..." Shopkeeper Li continued to babble endlessly about the door’s miraculous nature. Chen Yan listened intently, even feeling tempted to go and see this magical Teleportation Gate for himself.
"Boss." Seemingly noticing the temptation in Chen Yan’s eyes, Shopkeeper Li hastily added, "The True Master specifically instructed that the door only allows this old man to pass. Let alone bringing another person, absolutely no living, breathing creature can pass through. I already tried it."
"...All right." Chen Yan hadn’t expected the system to patch even such a minor loophole. He sighed, having no choice but to give up on the idea.
Having dissuaded the eager Chen Yan, Shopkeeper Li immediately steered the conversation back on track. "As for why I was willing to come here... The True Master told me back then that there was a shop here identical to my teahouse on Qinghe Street.
"He said the tax rate for doing business here is incredibly low. For the first year, the tax is one in twenty, and I’m exempt from rent for a year. After that, it becomes a fixed one in ten, with absolutely no other additional taxes.
"I asked the True Master at the time if there were any other fees under different names. Like exemption money, conversion taxes, or forced apportionments? The True Master said no, absolutely none. It was just that single fixed amount.
"I didn’t dare believe it at first. You should know, Boss, over there, for those of us running teahouses, the nominal property tax is one in thirty—barely three percent. But that’s only the formal tax. On top of that, there’s the exemption money, conversion taxes, forced apportionments, and the general management tax...
"With all these miscellaneous fees added together, the Government Office takes away more than twenty percent of everything I earn in a year. In bad years, even thirty percent isn’t enough to cover it!
"But here... one in twenty. That’s only five percent! It’s nearly twenty percent lower than back home, and it’s a single flat tax without any of those convoluted, arbitrary surcharges.
"I thought to myself right then and there: if such a wonderful place truly exists, wouldn’t I be a fool not to go?"
Shopkeeper Li had eloquently ranted on and on, listing many tax names that Chen Yan had never even heard of. Unaware of this, Shopkeeper Li paused for a moment before continuing. "Furthermore, the True Master also mentioned that there is a storehouse here. I can buy tea leaves and charcoal directly from the storehouse instead of running around to source them myself.
"You might not know this, Boss, but for us teahouse owners back on Qinghe Street, simply sourcing the tea leaves was a massive undertaking!
"Every spring, we had to travel all over Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi. We had to pay taxes at every commercial checkpoint along the way. When we finally arrived, we had to deal with the tea farmers. And the farmers couldn’t sell their tea privately; they could only sell it to the official mountain markets, and we’d have to buy our wholesale stock from those markets..."
Smacking his lips, Shopkeeper Li wore a lamenting expression. "After just one trip, my legs would be worn thin from running, and I’d lose a considerable amount of silver coins to the various costs.
"But here, with the storehouse, all these troubles are completely spared. I only need to sit in the shop, manage the accounts, and sell tea."
Having breathlessly explained the entire cause and effect of why he was willing to do business here, Shopkeeper Li finally stopped. He subconsciously reached for the teacup on the table, only to find it empty. Unaware of these minor details, Chen Yan was currently trying hard to digest everything Shopkeeper Li had just said.
He tried to summarize it simply: low taxes plus a reliable storehouse were the key factors that convinced Shopkeeper Li to work here. Chen Yan was not a person of Song, nor was his understanding of the Song Dynasty particularly deep. However, he could still tell from Shopkeeper Li’s words that even in the alternate-world Song Dynasty that the door connected to, the problem of excessive taxation remained a crushing burden on the common people.
The "master" that the system had masqueraded as had accurately pinpointed this exact pain point. By offering a crystal-clear, incredibly low flat-tax policy, coupled with a storehouse that allowed them to buy necessary business materials without even stepping outside, it had successfully lured these native inhabitants over.
Although Chen Yan didn’t know much about ancient trivia, he could still understand the concept of a one-in-twenty tax. A one-in-twenty tax, converted into modern percentages, was essentially five percent. This rate would be considered very low even in modern times; in ancient times, it was practically unimaginable.
It was crucial to note that this was a single flat tax. It meant that once the merchants paid this sum, they could rest easy without any further worries. Even after the one-year promotional policy ended, a one-in-ten tax—meaning a ten percent flat tax—was still far lower than what they faced back home.
He had to bear in mind that he couldn’t simply pocket this tax money for himself; he had to pay the taxes to the higher-ups on behalf of the shop first, and only the remainder would be his actual profit.
Not to mention, on top of all this, they were exempt from rent for the first year and could purchase raw materials directly from the storehouse, which saved another massive sum in expenses. This realization also finally helped Chen Yan understand the specific function of the storehouse.
Beyond that, the fact that Shopkeeper Li couldn’t remember the "master’s" appearance was entirely understandable to Chen Yan.
The system’s primary goal was to invite native inhabitants to run shops in the Ancient City. Therefore, its own image wasn’t important; it just needed to be sufficiently awe-inspiring to bluff them. Once the goal was achieved, the system then blurred the person’s memory of its appearance. This could be considered a highly brilliant strategy that left no loose ends.