11am, East London, Newham, Petticoat Lane.

As London's largest second-hand clothing market, a day at Petticoat Lane starts with stalls.

The street, which is only five or six meters wide, is flanked by five-storey apartments and shops, and vendors will set up a shed directly on the street to sell second-hand, third-hand and even more traded clothes.

Here, if you are lucky, you can buy a new garment that the nobility has obsolete and a brand-new coat made of wool mixed with cotton and silk, which will fetch a dozen gold pounds or more in the shop, but in petticoat lane, it will cost less than a fifth of the price.

However, many of the clothes eliminated by the aristocracy did not fit, so whether the clothes fit perfectly became an effective means for the upper class to observe the social status of others.

On the steam airship, Stewart judged his social status by observing the way Ma Wei was dressed, and the clothes Ma Wei wore were made to order at the Morgan tailor shop in New Ross City, and the old man Morgan's craftsmanship was no worse than that of the top tailors, and he could also compete with the court tailors.

In addition to second-hand clothes, Petticoat Lane also sells new clothes made by ready-to-wear factories, but these new clothes are placed in the window and not thrown into the frame like second-hand clothes for customers to pick and choose.

When Ma Wei and the others arrived at Petticoat Alley, it was already overcrowded, the streets were crowded, and there were no gaps in sight, which was more lively than a department store.

"There's a lot of traffic here...."Daniel couldn't help but sigh: "If you open a store in this kind of place, as long as it is good and cheap, you will definitely make money!" ”

Holding a map of London, Mavey stood on the pedal on the edge of the carriage, using the height of the carriage to observe the buildings around Petticoat Alley, and as he watched, he gradually frowned.

"What's wrong, big brother?" Seeing Ma Wei's serious face, the communication opened his mouth and asked, "Is there anything wrong with Petticoat Lane?" ”

"This is Newham, and the nearest train station is Waterloo Station, but Waterloo Station is on the south side of the Thames, and Petticoat Lane is north of the river, which means that rail transport is extremely inconvenient." "But Petticoat Lane is so close to Canary Wharf that you can rely on water. ”

Flower Street, the Whitechapel area that the Mavi and the others had visited before, has a Charing Cross station nearby, also close to the docks, and has advantages both by land and water, compared to Petticoat Lane, although it is more crowded, but not by land.

At the same time, the Newham district, to the east of the Hamletz district, has deviated from the location of the city center, and in terms of geographical location, it does not meet Mavi's requirements.

Ma Wei is going to open a potions shop, and the target customer group must be the middle class and upper class, and the expensive price of potions is certainly not affordable for ordinary workers, so it is necessary to be as close to the central rich area as possible....

"So we're going back now?" The source took out a small silver flask, twisted the lid and took a sip: "I think Mr. Hamlai's house is very suitable for our requirements, that is, close to the city center, convenient transportation, and cheap, but the place is a little dirty, but how many clean places are there in East London?" ”

"It's all here, let's go and see it first."

Putting away the map and newspaper, Ma Wei jumped out of the carriage, turned around and picked up Yunia, who didn't want to walk, and led her to a ready-to-wear store with a wooden sign of [Rental] on the outside of petticoat alley, and knocked on the door.

The store was deserted, and in contrast to the bustling petticoat alley, a middle-aged woman in a purple flannel petticoat sat behind the counter, flipping through a copy.

Hearing the knock on the door, the middle-aged woman raised her head, put down the book in her hand, got up and said, "Do you want to buy clothes?" We have here the clothes made in the Gleason factory, all of which are the latest styles! ”

Ma Wei hugged Yunia and walked into the store with the three of them, lifted the newspaper in his hand and said, "I saw your request for rent in the Times, do you want to rent out this store?" ”

"That's right!" The middle-aged woman nodded again and again: "The location of this store is very good, just at the mouth of the petticoat alley, many people will pass by here every day, no matter what store you open, you will not lose money!" ”

Ma Wei looked around at the deserted, no customer's shop, looked into the eyes of the middle-aged woman, and looked at her a little embarrassed......

"As long as you don't open a ready-to-wear store, you should be profitable...", the middle-aged woman said embarrassedly: "The competition in petticoat alley is so crazy, I take an ordinary linen shirt from the Grim garment factory for 1 shilling and 5 pence, but the same linen shirt on the street only sells for 11 pence!" ”

It turned out that there was a business problem.... Ma Wei thought to himself.

It is a well-known fact that the price of most second-hand items is cheaper than new, and even more so for consumables such as clothes, the price is greatly discounted as long as you wear it once - except for the stockings of beautiful women.

The products of the garment factory are already much cheaper than the price of handmade tailors, but in the clothes sold in Petrol Lane, there are also second-hand products from the garment factory!

The people who are willing to buy clothes in petticoat alley are basically civilians and workers who don't have much money to spare, and they don't feel that wearing second-hand clothes is a shameful thing, on the contrary, it is a norm.

This leads to the fact that the ready-to-wear store opened by middle-aged women at the entrance of petticoat alley is not very competitive, the cost is there, the price cannot be suppressed, who will buy it?

The use of marketing may change the situation, but it is clear that middle-aged women do not understand marketing.

"In that case, how much does your shop cost?" Mavi asked.

"10 gold pounds a week!" The middle-aged woman said without thinking: "This price is already very cheap!" If you rent this store, you will also get a loft! ”

10 pounds a week, 40 pounds a month, 500 pounds a year....

To tell the truth, this price is really not expensive, there is a lot of traffic in Petticoat Lane, and the businessman who can run can make a lot of money every week, but Ma Wei's potions business is more special, plus Mr. Hamlai's buyout price is only 100 gold pounds....

"Excuse me."

Ma Wei raised his hat and said euphemistically: "Your store is very good, but it doesn't quite meet my requirements, I need a larger store space, preferably a store with a store and residence in one." ”

"Oh."

Hearing Ma Wei's refusal to rent, the middle-aged woman suddenly lost interest, sat back at the counter, picked it up and looked at it herself, and no longer paid attention to Ma Wei and the others.

"Let's go."

Ma Wei turned around with Yunia in his arms, left the petticoat alley with the three of them, took the carriage, and returned to Flower Street.

Winter, winter, winter!

Winter, winter, winter!

"Why are you again?"

With deep bags under his eyes and a face covered with old age spots at the door, seeing Ma Wei and the others, Hammlai's face suddenly collapsed: "What do you want to do?" Don't waste my time if you don't buy it! ”

"Buy." Ma Wei's attitude was very straightforward: "We have thought clearly, a restaurant of 100 gold pounds, I am afraid that the whole of London will never find such a cheap price.... Do you have a contract? ”

"Yes, last time a buyer left a contract, I copied two copies."

As if he was afraid that Ma Wei and the others would regret it, Hamm dragged a lame foot and pedaled away quickly, took out a few handwritten contract books from the living room cabinet, put them on the table together with the inkwell and quills, and said resolutely: "I don't accept the deposit, the money must be paid in one lump sum!" ”

I'm in a hurry....

Ma Wei smiled, flipped through the contract documents, and after confirming that there was no problem, he signed with a pen and pressed a handprint.

After signing the contract, Mavi took out his wallet, pulled out two brand-new gold pound bills with the portrait of King Rhodes IV, and pushed them in front of Hamm:

"The Bank of Thames issues a 50 gold pound denomination gold pound note, which has anti-counterfeiting identification and watermark on it, and can be exchanged for the same amount of cash at any bank, you can check it."

Hamm grabbed the gold pound bill, looked carefully at the dim white light outside the window, kept rubbing his fingers over the paper, and after a while, said, "The shop is yours!" ”

"If it's okay, please sign the contract."

Grabbing a quill, Hamm wrote his name in a big pen, pressed his handprint, stood up and said, "I will move out this afternoon, and I will leave you the property, the real estate certificate and the business permit, and you can move in whenever you want." ”

"Okay."

Hamlai dragged his limp upstairs, and when he reached the staircase, he suddenly stopped, hesitated for a moment, and then turned back and said, "Mr. Nicholas, I suggest that you take this shop as an investment, and sell it quickly, and maybe you can make some money." ”

"May I ask why?"

"Because there's a devil in this house!" As if remembering some terrible memory, Hamm shuddered, "I can hear it every night.... That's a demon! The devil is hiding here.... I can't say more .... Do it yourself! ”

Hamlai's figure disappeared at the end of the stairs, and Mavi sat in the living room for a while, realizing that nothing strange had happened, and that Eunia, Edward, and the Demon Spirit Box did not feel the 'demonic' breath in Mr. Hamlai's mouth.

"Yannick, you stay, keep an eye on this house, and by the way, protect the father and son of Hamlai from leaving."

"Hmm."

Mavi stood up, put on his hat, took Yunia's little hand, and said to the source and Daniel, "Let's divide into two ways, Yannick stays, Felix and Jonas, you follow me to Mr. Holmes." ”

"Big brother, why bother?" The communication was a little incomprehensible: "With our strength, are we still afraid of a little devil?" Wouldn't it be nice to just pull it out? ”

"First, we need to find a way to contact Mr. Holmes..... Under what circumstances did the newcomer Manstein get in touch with a great detective? ”

Ma Wei said with a deep look: "Buying this house, we can use the name of inspection, it is reasonable to hire Mr. Holmes to come, in the eyes of outsiders, this is the first contact between the three Manstein brothers and the great detective Holmes, there is a good reason, there is nothing to doubt." ”

"Secondly, if there is a demon in this house, then Mr. Holmes will definitely not be able to solve the commission, so that we can not only clear the suspicion of collusion between Sherlock Holmes and other churches, but also logically invite the Church of the Three Goddesses of Fate to exorcise demons."

"Baron Frederick has already taken the blood of mercury to find the second prince Shukri, they will be interested in us, at that time, we can use the name of exorcism to lure out the archbishop behind the second prince Shukri......"

"There are some things that we don't do ourselves, and the effect will be better!"