Xi Shi stepped off the time stream and straight into a high-end cosmetics counter. She expected a palace reception, but the manager just tossed her a stiff polyester apron. She figured this must be some strange local ritual for welcoming guests.
She leaned over the glass display and fanned herself with practiced grace, assuming her legendary beauty would naturally draw a crowd. The manager immediately dropped a heavy clipboard on the desk and pointed at a chart full of plummeting red lines. Sales needed to hit a strict number by noon, or her monthly allowance would vanish completely. Xi Shi blinked at the crossed-out coin symbol and tried to explain how classical aesthetics usually captivated entire courts. The manager just tapped a calculator and told her to focus on the credit card readers.
So she stood perfectly still and let the room do its thing. Shoppers poured in anyway, phones raised to capture the impossible elegance radiating from the checkout area. The receipt machine choked out a paper trail that practically touched the linoleum. Xi Shi finally grabbed her first paycheck and scanned the numbers, expecting a proper reward for the sudden windfall. Instead, she found a microscopic percentage circled in black ink. The base rate stayed exactly where it started, completely untouched by her sudden popularity.
She quickly realized the local math worked on a different set of rules. Beauty could move mountains, but it never touched the commission bracket. Xi Shi sank into the breakroom chair and pulled a heavy acrylic display sign up to her eyes. She stared past the glossy plastic letters at the blinking sales dashboard and settled into the quiet reality of retail. Ancient emperors demanded golden tributes, but modern bosses just wanted her to look expensive and stay cheap.