Chapter 80: The Toy Selling Business
Chapter 78 of "The Great Ming in the Box" begins with suspense: Li Daoxuan carried a large box into his bedroom.The box had the words âNingyang Toy... Donât stop reading!
Li Daoxuan carried a large box into his bedroom.The box had the words âNingyang Toy Companyâ stuck on it, and when he lifted the lid, it was filled with a heap of toys in all sorts of shapes.
However, these toys had one difference from others made by other companiesâtheir âtiny sizeâ.
Ordinary toys were mostly made at scales like 1:100 or 1:144.
But the toys from this Ningyang Toy Company were crafted at a 1:200 or even 1:400 scale, so ridiculously tiny it was almost absurd.
The 1:400 ones were too small for even Li Daoxuan to bother with, but the 1:200 toys caught his great interest.
A 1:200 model airplane, a 1:200 bus, a 1:200 high-speed train, a 1:200 shipâŚ
Darn it, it was almost like they were custom-made for his little people, but the only drawback was that they were just plastic toys with no power systemsâthey couldnât actually move.
A dead toy with no power was completely useless to Li Daoxuan.
The guy who had called him that morning had already added each other on WeChat. Li Daoxuan opened WeChat and sent a message to that person: âReceived the samples. Your companyâs toys really are super small.â
The manâs online name was A Barrel of Pudding, and he felt a bit proud: âYes, our company has been making miniature toys for years now, deeply invested in this market. After seeing your âDaily Life in the Tiny Kingdomâ, I knew you were the perfect TikTok vlogger for us, and our products were just right for you too. Working together would be a win-win!â
âWin-win my foot!â Li Daoxuan ruthlessly mocked: âHavenât you noticed? My Tiny Kingdom daily videos happen in an ancient village setting, and now youâre handing me a bunch of modern toys. How am I going to film that into a video?â
âUh⌠well!â A Barrel of Pudding felt a bit awkward: âYou could film a bit of a modern Tiny KingdomâŚâ
âNo!â Li Daoxuan flatly refused: âI only like filming the ancient Tiny Kingdomâmodern ones are boring. You know, there are tons of vloggers on TikTok doing tilt-shift photography; why havenât their accounts blown up while mine has? Itâs because they always film modern scenes, which are too common. Even after processing into a Tiny Kingdom look with tilt-shift technique, people just glance over modern Tiny Kingdoms without much interest. Mine, with its ancient setting, huge investments, all actors in period costumes, and ancient village backgroundsâthatâs what viewers love.â
This made sense, and A Barrel of Pudding fell into thought: âSo what do you suggest?â
Li Daoxuan said: âMake me some ancient miniature toys! Like a 1:200 scale ancient-style small houseâitâs fine if itâs empty insideâor a 1:200 castle, small attic, small gardenâŚâ
A Barrel of Pudding said: âUh, in that case, weâd need to redo the molds, and thatâd cost quite a bit.â
Li Daoxuan said: âInstead of mass-producing unsellable goods, we should remold to make stuff that sells. The high costs would pay off in profits. What do you think?â
A Barrel of Pudding said: âUh, Iâll have to discuss this with the product team.â
Li Daoxuan said: âNo problem, take your time discussing. Iâm not in a rush. For these little cars and planes, Iâll start by testing them on Little Yellow Bike sales, but I canât guarantee any sales.â
A Barrel of Pudding was overjoyed: âGreat, give it a trial run so we can see how it goes.â
Li Daoxuan closed WeChat and sat in front of his computer. From his video pile, he dug out some clips of two blacksmiths making armor pieces, edited them together, and added a caption: âAnother peaceful day in the Tiny Kingdom begins. Today, the blacksmiths are also working hard to forge armorâŚâ
After uploading the video, he casually set up a Little Yellow Bike showcase for the 1:200 airplane, ship, and high-speed train.
His account âDaily Life in the Tiny Kingdomâ was already gaining some buzz, and as soon as the video went up, viewer comments flooded in.
âYo, that little blacksmithâs shop today looks so realistic. See? The fire is actually burning.â
âWhere did they find actors for those blacksmiths? Their acting feels so genuine.â
âThose actors are real blacksmiths working with old-school forging techniques. Look at that worn-out furnace beside themâsuch high authenticity!â
âWhy not use an electric furnace? A home induction furnace could melt any metal into liquid in a blink.â
âNah, forget modern furnacesâkeep it old-school.â
Amid all their noisy chatter, the products on Little Yellow Bike actually sold a few items, but sales were⌠really pitiful. After all, those little cars, planes, and trains were everywhere onlineâwhoâd want to buy them?
Suddenly, Li Daoxuan had a brainwave. He picked up a little bus in his hand, placed it into the box, and used his own hand to push that bus, making it âdriveâ over to the blacksmithâs shop.
His hand was invisible to anyone, so the villagers could only see a strangely shaped car suddenly drop from the sky and run around Gaojia Village, leaving them totally dumbfounded.
But after the shock wore off, they understoodâit had to be another bizarre magical car sent down from above by the Deity. No need to fear, since the Deity never meant them harm.
A group of little people gathered around and chatted excitedly about the bus.
Soon, Gao Yiye arrived too, keeping a stern face. She called out to the villagers, âThe Deity orders everyone to get on and take a ride.â
After saying that, Gao Yiye hopped right into the bus. The simpleton Gao Chuwu leaped in second, followed by Zheng Daniu, Li Da, Gao Yiyi, and othersâall cramming into the bus.
Li Daoxuan then pushed the bus with his hand and slowly cruised around Gaojia Village.
Gao Yiye exclaimed, âWow, this magical car is so much fun!â
Gao Chuwu said, âIâve never ridden in a carriage before. Is this thing about the same as that?â
âHahaha, fun, fun!â
The bus full of people laughed and joked their way around the village. After getting off, they saw the Deity recall the car back to the heavens, feeling a bit reluctant.
Li Daoxuan took out the car and immediately opened the video he had just recorded, pleased upon seeing itâhis hand was visible pushing the vehicle.
Just as he expected, while the people inside the box couldnât see his hand, the surveillance camera outside the box captured it all.
This made the scene super comicalâa huge hand pushing a bus, full of tiny people in ancient costumes, drifting about an ancient village. The ancient riders looked utterly clueless.
Li Daoxuan, who was terrible at writing captions, suddenly had an inspiration surge. He quickly processed and uploaded the video, adding the caption: âThe Deity gave the ancient little people a bus. For the first time, they experienced what âpush-back feelingâ means.â
The moment the video went up⌠it blew up instantly!