[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-reborn-starting-from-1993":3,"chapter-reborn-starting-from-1993-reborn-starting-from-1993-chapter-69":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Reborn Starting from 1993",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2357053,4611,"Chapter 69: Drawing the Adoration of Thousands of Girls","reborn-starting-from-1993-chapter-69",69,"\u003Cp>Fang Xintong, a student at a middle school in Gangcheng, came to the mall with a female classmate; the two attended the same school and came from similar family backgrounds, naturally becoming close friends.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Xintong’s father worked at a securities firm, and her mother worked at an art training center; their household was quite affluent, able to afford a Filipino maid, and Fang Xintong received a monthly allowance she could spend as she wished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After wandering the mall with her classmate for half a day, both girls carried numerous bags filled with clothes, jewelry, and other items; originally, they had planned to dine at an old restaurant, but upon passing a toy section, they noticed a large crowd gathered there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Xintong and her classmate had visited this mall several times before, yet they had never seen such a scene; a woman’s curiosity was no weaker than a cat’s—perhaps even stronger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After exchanging a glance with her classmate, the two hurried toward the crowd, standing on tiptoe to peer inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Xintong saw many children accompanied by parents, and girls her own age, all lining up in front of a toy store.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The toy store inside the mall was small, barely ten square meters; in front of the checkout counter, a poster displayed an image of an electronic pet device, along with its origin story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the poster, the electronic pet device was a small extraterrestrial species that had left an egg on Earth; now, that egg resided within the device, requiring someone to accompany and care for the creature inside, helping it experience what the world was like.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the simple electronic pet device—just a small black-and-white screen and a few buttons—and comparing it to the poster’s promotional claims, Fang Xintong thought it looked overly crude and even childish; when she was young, her parents had bought her toys from Japan, America, and Europe, all far more finely crafted than this electronic pet device.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet despite her thoughts, Fang Xintong and her classmate walked over to join the queue; Fang Xintong insisted she wasn’t particularly interested in playing with the device—she merely thought the cartoon-style design looked decent enough to serve as a keychain attached to her backpack, nothing more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After waiting a few minutes, it was finally Fang Xintong’s turn; she was about to ask for a red cartoon-style device when the clerk said, “Sorry, only one unit of this model remains!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the yellow-shell electronic pet device, Fang Xintong wanted to refuse, yet still accepted it; after reading the manual, she began fiddling with it while her classmate leaned over her shoulder to watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hello, would you like to purchase this product?” After ten minutes had passed, the clerk reminded Fang Xintong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, I’ll take it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Xintong woke up, clutching the electronic pet device tightly in her hand, refusing to let go even of the packaging box.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s 135 Hong Kong dollars total!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So expensive?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing the electronic pet device cost over a hundred Hong Kong dollars, Fang Xintong couldn’t help exclaiming; the average salary for a regular job in Gangcheng was around two thousand Hong Kong dollars, while her parents’ white-collar incomes hovered around seven to eight thousand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even for Fang Xintong, who had an allowance and a personal savings fund, over a hundred Hong Kong dollars was no small sum—equivalent to a day’s wage for a strong laborer in Gangcheng—but looking at the creature she had already nurtured for over ten minutes, she gritted her teeth and paid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Xintong and her classmate went to a resting area and began playing with the electronic pet device, taking turns caring for the pet and even naming it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only when the mall lights brightened and the crowd thinned did Fang Xintong realize they had spent most of the day there; the two hurriedly rose and ran home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next morning, Fang Xintong woke up late; she shoveled down a few bites of breakfast and rushed off to school with her backpack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After morning classes ended and the teacher left, Fang Xintong quickly pulled out the electronic pet device to feed it, bathe it, play with it, and clean its waste.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Fang Xintong took out the electronic pet device, the girl from yesterday and all the surrounding girls gathered around her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When a close friend of Fang Xintong’s asked to try the device, Fang Xintong couldn’t refuse; by the time class was about to resume in the afternoon, the device was reluctantly returned to her by another girl.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After school, Fang Xintong saw many girls rushing toward the nearest toy store—not just her classmates, but girls from other classes too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Xintong even spotted a girl whose backpack bore an electronic pet device; as she passed by, she drew envious glances from everyone, and the girl walked away like a proud swan, head held high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boss, do you have any electronic pet devices?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Daowei, who ran a digital store, had heard this question for the umpteenth time today; finally, he couldn’t help telling the two half-grown boys who entered, “No, this is a legitimate digital store—we sell pagers and brick phones, not toys!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you don’t even have electronic pet devices, what kind of store is this?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two boys paid no mind to Ma Daowei’s anger and added another jab before leaving; one muttered to the other, “How many stores now? None have them. If we don’t find any soon, we’ll have to go to Mong Kok.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I wanted to give one to Qiu Yuying—I think she really wants one. If I give it to her, maybe she’ll agree to date me!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve got no chance. Qiu Yuying? You? Look in the mirror and splash some water on your face. If I were giving one away, I’d give it to Zhou Shanshan—she smiles just like Yeh Yun-yi!” said the other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Qiu Yuying is prettier!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhou Shanshan!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they argued, they moved on to the next store, searching for an electronic pet device.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the two boys leave, Ma Daowei saw another group of girls and half-grown boys approaching; he quickly hung a handwritten sign on the door: “No Electronic Pet Devices Sold Here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as the sign went up, everyone who had been heading toward his shop changed direction and walked to other stores.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, the store was quiet—but Ma Daowei’s curiosity had been piqued; he wondered what this electronic pet device could possibly be, drawing so many people to seek it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After pondering it, seeing no customers in the store, Ma Daowei rolled down the shutter, hopped on his motorcycle, and headed for a large mall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once inside, he didn’t need to search—he knew immediately where the electronic pet devices were sold by the longest queue; a crowd of young people waited in line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scene stunned Ma Daowei, reminding him of the frenzy in Gangcheng when pagers first appeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the long line, Ma Daowei didn’t bother to queue; he stopped a young man who had just bought an electronic pet device and was about to give it as a gift, pointing at the device in his hand, “Two hundred Hong Kong dollars—sell it to me!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the young man hesitate, Ma Daowei pulled out several bills; the young man immediately handed over the device, then rejoined the queue—just by standing in line, he’d made over a hundred Hong Kong dollars. Who wouldn’t do that?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Daowei found a seat and began fiddling with the electronic pet device; after dozens of minutes, he finally put it down. As someone in the electronics industry, he had tested countless products; whether cheap or expensive, none of the devices in his store came close to this one in terms of playability—especially the interactive, nurturing experience it offered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flipping through the packaging box, he noticed the product was manufactured in Hanxi; Ma Daowei was surprised, then found a phone booth and made several calls before learning that Ning’s Trading Company was the agent for this product.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From that day on, the phone lines at Ning’s Trading Company’s marketing department rang nonstop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Director Ning, the thirty thousand units we released in Gangcheng are nearly sold out; malls and retail stores are all calling, demanding we supply more immediately!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The head of Ning’s Trading Company’s marketing department rushed into Ning Wencan’s office; he was a longtime employee who had worked there since Ning Wencan’s father, Ning Wantian, ran the company—but in all those years, he had never seen such a flood of calls from retailers demanding faster deliveries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tell the warehouse at the dock to ship out goods to retailers as soon as possible!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Wencan looked up and said; in five days, Ning’s Trading Company had released thirty thousand electronic pet devices in Gangcheng, and nearly all were gone—today, the trend was even more obvious, with malls and retail outlets all calling to request more stock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The response in Gangcheng had exceeded Ning Wencan’s expectations; now she waited to see how the devices performed in Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Siam.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had expected news from Japan and Korea to take days, but the calls came far sooner than she anticipated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Ning Wencan was about to call Dongling Gaoke, a call arrived from Japan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sold out already?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The caller was Ikawa Naoko, head of marketing for Bandai, the Japanese distributor; when Ning Wencan heard that the 150,000 units released in Japan had sold out in less than a week, she couldn’t help but be astonished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was 150,000 units—worth over $2.25 million USD—completely swept away; even with her expectations, she had never imagined sales could move this fast!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1610,"2026-06-21T04:42:08.057Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","3a5dc105a6157005acc6bd7b990062b724f62191859aa4dda33e43805bdf7178","reborn-starting-from-1993-chapter-70","reborn-starting-from-1993-chapter-68",989,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Freborn-starting-from-1993-cover.jpg"]