I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

The black-and-white television screen flickered with static, and a deep baritone voice cut through the electrical noise: "Nourishes and strengthens the body, replenishes vital energy, prolongs life, suitable for all ages. Brain Gold protects the health of the entire nation."

Huaihua walked over with her rice bowl in her hand, her brows furrowed, and reached out to turn the tuning knob.

"The culmination of twenty years of research by a renowned Japanese university, Brain Gold is specially formulated for the Asian body."

"It's Brain Gold again." She muttered to herself as she turned the knob. "Oh, how come I remember this Brain Gold being produced by the foreign company where my aunt and uncle work?"

Upon hearing this, all eyes of the Jia family at the dinner table turned to the television. Huaihua spun the TV vigorously again, but before the channel could be changed, the GG video continued playing.

On the screen, a foreigner holds up a box of oral liquid and shows it to the camera, speaking broken and halting Chinese: "Brain Gold, it's truly an incredible invention. We still haven't been able to replicate a product like Brain Gold, it's truly unbelievable."

"What auntie, what uncle? We're not related to that guy at all." Sha Zhu raised his hand and slammed his rice bowl down hard, his tone tinged with dissatisfaction.

Seeing this, Qin Huairu quickly reached out and patted Sha Zhu's arm, signaling him to say less.

Jia Zhangshi, standing to the side, smacked her lips and exclaimed, "Yes, yes, Brain Gold! I remember it clearly. Li Jing'an gave me a box before. Oh, since I finished it, all my old ailments have improved. It's really effective! It's a pity they came back after I finished it." She paused, then turned to Qin Huairu, "Huairu, when you have time, go to the backyard and talk to Jingru. See if she can get me a few more boxes from the company. She shouldn't need any more, right?"

"Mom, how can I bring myself to ask? You don't know, Xu Damao and Qin Jingru walk around without looking at the ground. How can he see me?" Qin Huairu said helplessly.

"Hey Mom, Auntie's company is a joint venture, I heard the salary is pretty high!" Xiao Dang immediately perked up.

"I know, I know. That couple has already shown off, saying that Xu Damao earns two thousand a month and Qin Jingru five hundred." Jia Zhangshi smacked her lips after saying that, looking worried for them. "Oh dear, how do they spend all that money?"

"Don't listen to his bragging, he's just patting himself on the back," Sha Zhu retorted. The thought of only earning four hundred yuan a month working at Yan's restaurant, less than Qin Jingru's salary, made him feel depressed.

"This should be achievable. Didn't you see that his family has a refrigerator and a washing machine? They've equipped them with everything recently. If he didn't have such a high salary, would he have spent the money to get all this?" Qin Huairu said.

Upon hearing Qin Huairu defend them, Sha Zhu lost his appetite, put down his chopsticks, and left. Qin Huairu rolled her eyes at Sha Zhu, knowing he had been outdone by his arch-rival and felt humiliated.

"Hey Mom, why don't you go talk to Auntie and let me work at her company too?" Xiao Dang said.

"Then you're quitting your job as a teacher?" Qin Huairu replied, frowning.

"What kind of teacher am I? This is just a job set up for unemployed children of factory workers. I'm just a temporary worker." Xiao Dang said angrily. She was so old and still teaching at the steel mill's affiliated primary school, not even a permanent employee. The thought of working for this foreign company filled her with excitement.

"Yes, yes, Mom, me too. I studied accounting, but this is just a temporary job. Why don't you go ask Auntie?" Huaihua quickly chimed in after hearing her sister's suggestion.

Qin Huairu kept her head down, drinking the soup in her bowl, without responding.

Seeing this, Jia Zhangshi also joined in the persuasion: "Huairu, look at the children, they're getting older. How can they work as temporary workers? Look at Xiaodang, she doesn't even have a husband yet, isn't it because of work that she's been delayed?"

Hearing Jia Zhangshi say the same thing, Qin Huairu could only sigh: "Alright, Mom, I'll go ask."

Xiao Dang and Huaihua exchanged a glance, their smiles widening.

Madam Jia looked at Qin Huairu with satisfaction, then added, "Don't forget to ask if you can bring me a few boxes of medicine. I've only seen medicine for treating erectile dysfunction, but I haven't seen any for sale."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The national trade fair held in Beijing was packed with people, mostly purchasing agents from wholesale and pharmaceutical stations across the country. Each booth was overflowing with various goods, and some vendors, acting like hawkers, began to hawk their wares: "Come and see! Our 'Longevity Brand' royal jelly! Drinking it guarantees you immortality and an unyielding spirit! Young wives will run away covering their eyes!"

"Come and see our Northwest Wind brand fans! They have a large air volume, low power consumption, and low noise. You won't regret buying them!" At each stall, there were several people gathered around asking questions.

Further in, the space suddenly opens up in the middle – three booths are connected together, with a large banner above them bearing the words "Brain Gold" in bright gold, making it particularly eye-catching. You can see it from a distance just by looking up.

This booth was different from the others. The others looked like display cases or small stalls selling things, but this booth had no counter, only four or five round tables, each surrounded by four chairs. At that moment, all the tables were full of people, with those without seats standing in a circle around the back. Each table had several boxes of "Brain Gold" (a popular health supplement).

At one of the tables, Xu Damao was holding a box of Brain Gold and talking animatedly.

"I think you've all heard of our product, Brain Gold."

What Xu Damao said was utter nonsense. This "Brain Gold" product has been playing on radio and television stations across the country on a loop lately; it's hard not to know about it. Just turn on the TV, and you're guaranteed to see its promotion. But since everyone has only seen the promotional material and never the actual product, it has certainly piqued everyone's interest. Purchasing agents from all over the province were all drawn together by this curiosity.

"Our China Tianhe Group is a joint venture between mainland China and Hong Kong, with strong financial resources. As everyone has seen, we can spend a large sum of money to play GG on a loop throughout the country without any distribution. And our products are different from those currently available in China. They were developed in Japan and clinically tested in Hong Kong, and all their efficacy has been verified."

"Hey, Manager Xu, we know all that you're saying. It's on TV every day, I can recite it by heart." A purchasing agent standing behind Xu Damao couldn't help but interrupt, he was tired of hearing it. "Just tell me the price."

"Yes, yes, the price." Everyone echoed.

"Haha, you all seem to be impatient. Alright, I won't beat around the bush either." Xu Damao picked up a beautifully packaged box of Brain Gold from the table, weighed it in his hand, and showed it to everyone. "Like this box, there are fifteen vials in one box, and our ex-factory price is fifteen yuan."

As soon as Xu Damao spoke, everyone started discussing it.

"This is way too expensive."

"Yes, the better quality royal jelly used to cost seven or eight yuan, or even nine yuan. This price has almost doubled."

Hearing their conversation, Xu Damao smiled, letting them finish their discussion before speaking. Once their voices had subsided, Xu Damao said, "Our suggested retail price is twenty-five. How much you ultimately pay the department stores or state-owned pharmacies is your business. But our company stipulates, and it's written in the contract, that it cannot be lower than twenty-five; that's the bottom line."

"The profit margin is quite large, but the price is too high, twenty-five, which is equivalent to more than half a month's salary for a person. Will anyone buy it? I doubt it." The crowd started discussing again.

"Haha, don't worry everyone, you get what you pay for. Once people have tried our product, I believe they will definitely repurchase it. Moreover, this product doesn't need to be taken every day; the dosage is relatively large, and the effect is strong. One bottle lasts for two days, and this box is a month's supply."

Xu Damao paused, then gave a mysterious smile. Seeing that he had captured everyone's attention, he said mysteriously, "Because our company is a foreign-invested joint venture, we focus on environmental protection and recycling. See our packaging boxes?" Xu Damao pointed to a stack of medium-sized cardboard boxes behind him, all labeled "Brain Gold." "This box contains ten boxes, and we will buy them back at ten yuan per box."

"What? Recycling?"

"Really? Ten yuan, that's one yuan per box."

The crowd whispered amongst themselves, full of surprise, and began to calculate how much they could sell in a month, how much money they could recoup, how to distribute the money, and how much they would each get.

Xu Damao now had a confident expression on his face. This was all instructed by Li Jing'an—since they couldn't directly give kickbacks to terminal sales staff, department store counter clerks, and state-run pharmacy salespeople, they came up with this method: uniformly collecting cardboard boxes, essentially earning a one-yuan rebate for every small box sold. And if they wanted more rebates, they'd have to get their downstream retailers to actively promote the product, which would inevitably involve sharing profits with the salespeople. This would incentivize salespeople to work incredibly hard to promote the product, coupled with nationwide blitz marketing… Xu Damao could already see the bustling pharmaceutical factory and the salespeople lining up at the company entrance.