v4 Chapter 11： Root of All Evil: The Blind Box (5K)

Tom's words are pure chicken soup literature, and it is not chicken soup made from chicken, but chicken soup prepared with chicken essence.

But Hermione, who has never tasted this kind of chicken soup, really eats this one!

After hearing what Tom said, Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. Although she felt that something was not right, Hermione had to admit that what Tom said seemed very reasonable.

"It doesn't matter whether a person conforms to mainstream values, it matters what he does." She repeated the sentence, frowning thoughtfully.

The surrounding Weasleys were at a loss. They could understand every word Tom said, but they couldn't understand them together.

Who is Bill Gates? What is Harvard? What is Microsoft and code?

Seeing everyone's confusion, Harry tried to explain it to everyone.

"Bill Gates is a rich man in the non-magical world. It is said that he will soon become the richest man in the world. Microsoft and Code, one is a company, the other is a profession, and as for Harvard, it is one of the best universities in the world...  ." In one of the best universities, it was Harry's last stubbornness as an Englishman.

Once this is explained, everyone will understand.

"Can I understand it as a wizard who dropped out of Hogwarts and started a business and became the richest man in the world?" Ginny concluded.

This summary is quite incisive.

"But don't let Mom hear this," Ron looked around guilty, for fear that Mom would jump out from somewhere and give them a love education.

"You don't know, Mom's been in a bad mood ever since she saw Fred and George's O.W.L grades, and then add this thing--they're both going to take it to Hogwarts. Sell ​​it! It was a big fight that day because Mom wanted them both to work at the Ministry of Magic and they just wanted to open a toy store."

"It turned out that Mommy burned their orders." Ginny told Ron the end of the conflict.

"I feel sorry for them. In my opinion, it would be cool to open a toy store!" Ron sighed with emotion.

Bill scratched his chin. Why does this kind of story of dropping out of school and becoming a boss sound so familiar?

"If I remember correctly, Grindelwald was also fired by Durmstrang?" he asked uncertainly.

"That's right," Hermione, who was proficient in the history of magic, replied, "Although Durmstrang is a school of magic that advocates black magic, Grindelwald was criticized for going too far in the path of black magic. School expelled."

"Is Bill Gates the Grindelwald of Muggles?" Ron made a simple analogy and came to an astonishing conclusion.

Tom, Hermione:  …

This statement is overdone. Although the Muggle community always has various conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, such as Bill Gates is actually the incarnation of the devil, he is planning to clear humans and so on. But compared to Grindelwald, it's still a little bit worse - Grindelwald really started a world war in the wizarding world.

If you insist on finding a Muggle with a similar status to Grindelwald, it is probably only the Vienna art student who fell out of the list - the professor won't let him paint on the canvas, he will paint on the map.

Just as they were chatting, a door on the second-floor landing opened, and Percy's face with horn-rimmed glasses stuck out, showing he was impatient.

"Hermione? Tom, and Harry?" After seeing the three guests standing on the stairs, the impatience on his face subsided a little, and it could be seen that he was still surprised by so many guests.

"Hello, Percy," Tom said.

"Oh, hello and welcome. What are you talking about?"

"Grindelwald."

"Bill Gates."

"The relationship between dropping out of school and becoming a demon king."

Percy: ? ? ?

Each word can be understood, but together it is difficult to understand.

Percy shook his head, as if trying to get the jumbled words out of his head, "Okay, cool topic, but could you please be quiet? I'm at work - work in the ministry lately. It's a lot of stress... the noise outside makes it hard for me to concentrate."

"What are you doing?" Harry was a little curious, and Ron, who was beside him, changed his face when he heard this. He kept winking and trying to make Harry stop, but it was too late.

Percy proudly told Harry that he had been reused in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and that Mr. Crouch had assigned him many tasks, and he had completed them without exception. It can be called the mainstay of the younger generation of Sili.

"Two days ago, I just submitted the standard report on the thickness of the crucible - some foreign imported crucibles have too thin bottoms, and the penetration rate is increasing by 3% per year. This is no joke-"

Ron muttered: "Great report, sure to change the world, the headline on the front page of the Daily Prophet, the headline reads: Leaky Crucible."

Percy's face turned pink, as if he didn't hear his brother's complaints, he continued: "Now I have some arrangements during the World Cup games... It's all chores, and there are many kinds-"

"Well, yes," Ron nodded very perfunctorily, and took the initiative to walk upstairs. Percy took a deep breath, stabilized his emotions, slammed the door slammed shut, and went back to work.

Ron's room is not big, the lighting is good, and the room is still bright. Posters of the Charlie Cannons were posted all over the bedroom, and there was a goldfish tank on the window sill with a giant frog in it, which repels mosquitoes at a glance. Ron's little owl was jumping up and down in his cage, making a lot of noise.

The room was small, and three beds had been squeezed into it, and this was where Tom slept tonight.

Tom quickly stuffed his luggage under the bed. The bedding was ready-made, and he hardly needed to do anything. So stuffing the luggage is basically equal to packing up.

So did Harry. The simple steps made Tom wonder if it was necessary for everyone to carry their luggage up.

Tom walked to the window and looked out the window. This should have the best view of the entire Burrow. The village of Autry San Catchipole was clearly visible not far away, and the vast fields were dotted with several trees. An English-style country house, the scenery in the distance is a little blurry, and the outlines of those hillsides can be vaguely seen.

Looking up close, the Burrow's exterior is also visible. The yard of the Burrow is divided into two parts by the Burrow itself. The first half has a small yard with a chicken coop and a garage in the yard. The garage used to be where Mr Arthur kept the Ford and other Muggle stuff. Now that the garage is empty, the old car has been wandering in the forbidden forest for almost two years, and Mr. Arthur has not dared to get himself a new car.

Mrs. Weasley was training Fred and George in the yard, and Arthur stood aside, looking in a dilemma.

The second half is a huge garden, and there is a small stone house at the entrance, which is the broom shed of the Weasleys. When the boys are at home, they store their brooms in it.

Seeing this little shabby house, Tom remembered that his broom was still in the suitcase.

In the garden was a wild wasteland and a large green pond full of frogs. Tom saw Crookshanks chasing the goblins in the garden with vigorous steps, and could see that he liked it.

Hermione also came over, leaning against the window and looking at the scenery.

"Maybe it's not a good decision to let Crookshanks live in a house every day, not everyone likes to live in a jar like my bird snake." After the summer vacation began, Crookshanks stayed at the Granger's house, Rarely go out, and it's completely different from the performance at Hogwarts. While at Hogwarts, Crookshanks disappeared every day.

"Do you still take it to the World Cup scene?"

"No need." Tom subconsciously pulled Hermione to his side, making her stand closer to him. I didn't bring Crookshanks, mainly because I was afraid that it would play too much and lose it.

"I understand now, you're just sophistry!" Hermione finally figured out the strange smell in the bowl of chicken soup, "There are many people who drop out of school, but there is only one Bill Gates! Not everyone can become Bill Gates's!"

Tom gave Hermione an admiring look: yes, very smart. Unlike some idiots, who really think that a restaurant will wash the dishes seven times, and the toilet water in the toilet can be drunk.

"But there's only one Fred and one George in the world."

It still sounded sophistry, Hermione wanted to say something, but Tom put a finger on her lips.

"Listen to me first—Fred and George's talents aren't studying, and they'd be wasting their talents if they got into the Ministry of Magic."

Hermione: ?

"I shouldn't have mentioned it to you before. Fred and George's products are very popular at the Ministry of Magic. When I was working..."

Tom told Hermione about being a "second dealer".

"So you can sell two Galleons for seven Siko's fake wands?" Hermione was surprised by Tom's marketing ability.

"That's not an ordinary fake wand, it's a limited-edition bull wand!" Tom shook his fingers, "I have a plan to make a lot of money, and I plan to give it to Fred for free. I'll ask you first, you heard Have you ever been in a blind box?"

"Blind box?" Hermione had never heard of such a thing.

"The so-called blind box refers to a toy box in which consumers cannot know the specific product style in advance, and has random properties."

Hermione: ?

"I don't understand... how can there be a business that doesn't inform customers about the specific styles of products?" Hearing Tom's explanation, she was even more confused. She couldn't see any business opportunities here.

The culture of the blind box originated in the United States and originated in Japan. It is essentially a means of hunger marketing, bundling the popular and ordinary models for sale.

"I'll give you a simple example. The fake wands developed by Fred and George can change a total of twelve different animals. The wizards like fire dragons the most, and mice the least. Under normal circumstances, the fake wands are put into What will happen in the market?"

"The fire dragon is sold out, and the mouse is not sold." This question was very simple, Hermione answered without hesitation.

"That's right!" Tom snapped his fingers, "but as a merchant, of course we hope that customers buy as many fake wands as possible. But customers who like fire dragons will only buy fire dragons, and those who like tigers will only buy tigers. Our expectations are not in line with our expectations. In this case, ordinary merchants will increase the production of fire dragon wands and improve the styles of other wands, but blind box merchants do not need it, they only need to put an opaque box on the outside of the wand."

Hermione: (??o??)

She vaguely guessed what Tom meant.

If a wizard wants to buy a fake fire dragon wand, if there is no blind box, he only needs to spend 7 xikes, but with the blind box, if he is unlucky enough, he may not be able to buy it for 700 xikes. The fake magic wand of the dragon!

"The most wicked thing doesn't stop there, I'm a conscientious shopkeeper!" Tom tapped his fingers on the window sill, watching the sunset by the window, "You know, customers can't see the inside of the blind box when they buy it. The contents, but when the store puts it in, they can see it!"

The blindness of the blind box is only one-way blindness. Blind customers are not blind to the store. The store can completely determine the most popular style through market research, and then artificially reduce the explosion rate of this style, and stimulate sales through hunger marketing.

So the blind box is actually no different from gambling, but it is out of control because it is not so straightforward, and it precisely hits people's character weaknesses. The birth of the blind box is a victory of marketing, but also a kind of regression, everyone should have a clear understanding: blind box = gambling.

Tom can be regarded as releasing the source of all evil, but he can't blame him. This kind of thing will be born sooner or later, and it can be controlled sooner if it appears earlier. If the blind boxes in the non-magical world could be strictly controlled at the beginning of their birth, there would be much less chaos - and not all blind box merchants were bad, and some merchants even expressed the total value of the goods in the blind box. , which exceeds the value of the sum of the purchases of these commodities.

For example, a blind box sells for 100 yuan, and they guarantee that the sum of the listed prices for a single purchase is greater than 100 yuan.

After listening to Tom's story, Hermione couldn't help laughing and crying: this guy can always play something new.

But that's also the charm of this big boy, isn't it? This is a mysterious person. The longer she got along with Tom, the more she felt that there was a fog on Tom, a fog that people couldn't help but want to dispel.

"It's just a marketing ploy. The point is that Fred and George's work is really popular. You know what? The Ministry of Magic used to want to place an order!" Tom's words are a little exaggerated, the Ministry of Magic wants to buy in bulk Yes, the magic props he made, those prank goods, did not enter the Ministry of Magic's eyes.

"Perhaps," Hermione's attitude was loosened by the intervention of the Ministry of Magic, "but anyway, they still have to study hard. If they don't study, how can they make novel toys?"

"That's true, but I believe in the talents of the two of them more." Tom smiled and shook his head. Weasley twins, but "dropout" bigwigs! They have been able to launch so many prank toys in such a harsh R&D environment before, which is enough to prove their talent.

"By the way, you just said that the most important thing for a person is what he is doing, so what do you want to do in the future?" Hermione looked at Tom, trying to see something in his quiet black eyes.

She was curious, what was Tom's ideal? You can't be a warden, can you?

"I have two ideals, one is to explore the future of the magic world - you and I both know that if technology continues to develop like this, it will only be a matter of time before the magic world will be exposed to human society. Our generation should be the last chance for the magic world. Of course, if after a few decades, Muggles don't want to make progress, their own internal struggles are endless, and technology is stagnant, then the wizarding world will be able to survive for a while, but we can't pin the future on such uncertain things. "

The topic suddenly became heavy.

Tom, who was talking about making money just now, suddenly became serious, making Hermione a little uncomfortable.

"You, I..." Her hands were tossing and entangled, as entangled as her mood, and Tom's words made her worry.

"As for my second ideal..." Tom leaned into Hermione's ear and whispered something. Hermione's face suddenly turned red, like a well-cooked ingot shrimp.

While Tom and Hermione were chatting and looking at the scenery, Harry was chatting with Ron about Percy.

From Ron's mouth, Harry learned that Percy had been almost insane recently, working like crazy every day, and Crouch seemed to appreciate him and arranged a lot of work for him.

"When can I eat?" Ginny whispered, "I'm a little hungry."

Bill leaned over to the window to take a look and concluded that dinner was a while away.

"Go down first and see what's going on at your parents' place." Tom gently pulled on the corner of Hermione's shirt, motioning her to go out with him.

Bill looked at Tom's figure gradually disappearing on the stairs, and he was speechless. He finally decided to talk to Tom later at dinner.

The Grangers' room was downstairs. When Tom and Hermione came to their room, they were studying the various furnishings in the room.

"It's a miracle," said Mr. Granger, pointing to the illustration on the wall. "All the pictures here are movable!"

"There are also these sculptures, they can actually move." He Ma was interested in the statue of the dog head on the bedside table. The sculpture also responded to He Ma's pointing, raising the spear in its hand, the tip of which lit up - it turned out to be a bedside lamp.

This statue, with a strong Egyptian style, looks like Bill's belongings.

"I hope you're used to living here." Tom looked around the decorations in the bedroom, lest anything scare the Grangers.

After looking around, I didn't find anything unusual. Mrs. Weasley was quite reliable, and she removed all the dangerous items in the room.

A few people chatted like this. After a while, Harry appeared at the door with good news: Mrs Weasley was starting to prepare dinner.

By the time everyone came to the kitchen on the first floor, it was already busy: Charlie and Bill were setting the table, and Ginny was carrying the dishes that she needed for a while. Mr. Weasley politely invited the Grangers out. Ron and Harry were tasked with setting the knives and forks and cleaning the cups. Naturally, Tom and Hermione also had to help.

————

Everyone remember to draw a lottery Although there is only one chance, you can try it!

I had a very sad dream last night.

－－－－－－off topic－－－－－

In the dream, I dreamed that I went back to my hometown and went hiking with my father. After going down the mountain, I was a little tired, so I decided to take the bus home.

But when I got to the station, I realized that I had neither a mask nor a shirt (I was sweating profusely when I was climbing a mountain, so it's normal to not wear a shirt), so I couldn't take the bus.

So my dad gave me his shirt and bought me a big glass of sugarcane juice before getting in the car, 3 yuan for a large glass, 2 yuan for a small glass... I woke up as soon as the sugarcane juice arrived in my hand. coming.

This is the most reasonable and realistic dream I have had in the past few years, but this dream is really too painful.

Even my dreams are polluted by this **** epidemic! hateful! Can't you relax even in a dream? When will everything be back to normal? Do we have to wear masks to go out in the next life?