The New Year was approaching, and the mall was quite crowded. There were plenty of people wandering around the home appliance section as well, but strangely enough, not a single salesperson was willing to pay him any attention. No one believed that this dust-covered guy could afford to buy a color TV.

Normally, Andrew Brooks wouldn’t have cared about being ignored—he’d always been a rough-and-ready sort of person. Besides, he wasn’t used to being disturbed while browsing; after all, immortals generally preferred peace and quiet.

But today, he felt it was necessary to make a point, because this would prove that he wasn’t someone who could be easily fooled. Yes, he was going to take this seriously.

“This TV looks good. How much is it?” he shouted, pointing at a foreign brand. “Salesperson, where are you? All dead or something?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted it. What a foul mouth I have. “Uh, salesperson, salesperson!”

He thought he’d corrected himself quickly enough, but little did he know that his earlier outburst had already been heard by four or five salespeople. Still, each of them was busy with their own customers and pretended not to hear.

Of course, in any group, there are always a few who lack self-restraint. A chubby saleswoman in her early twenties wasn’t having it. She had been recommending products to a young couple—likely newlyweds—when she heard him. She looked up at him and loudly retorted, “Are you blind? Isn’t the price clearly marked right there?”

Uh, Andrew Brooks was left speechless, sucking in a sharp breath. He lowered his head a bit—sure enough, there was a big sign right in front of him. It read: This TV costs: ￥8999!

“Nonsense,” he muttered, a bit annoyed. Of course, at least half of his irritation came from that chubby saleswoman; the other half was the sudden realization that paper money—no, RMB—still had some use in certain situations. The money in my pocket is just too little. “Just because it’s foreign, it’s better? So expensive!”

The chubby saleswoman had already shifted her attention to him. Clearly, she was a person of temperament as well. She abandoned the young couple shopping for wedding items and came straight over, not even caring about the commission she was about to earn.

“Can’t afford it, can you? If you can’t afford it, why are you pretending to be such a big shot?” she sneered. “Black-and-white TVs are sold in the basement. Up here, we sell color TVs!”

Andrew Brooks was left speechless again, feeling a bit embarrassed and angry. He finally blurted out, “Can’t afford it? Hmph, I’m boycotting Japanese goods! Even if you begged me, I wouldn’t buy Japanese stuff!”

“Boycotting Japanese goods?” The saleswoman was instantly stunned.

Time travel! The power of time travel was finally showing itself.

In his previous life, Andrew Brooks had lived in a daze, focused only on his cultivation. He couldn’t remember any major national events, nor did he know what stage the economy was in or what decisive policies had been made.

So, when he first traveled back, he was quite frustrated for a while, because he couldn’t use any BUGs to make money. Immortals might not care about worldly riches, but he still wanted his parents to live a happier life.

Still, he did have some scattered memories from his previous life. For example, he couldn’t remember if it was 2008 or 2018, but he knew China had hosted the Olympics.

He also remembered that, in the years before the Olympics, there had been a massive grassroots movement in China to boycott Japanese goods. After all, even though he’d become an immortal in his previous life, Andrew Brooks had still grown up as a young man and couldn’t be completely ignorant of such things.

Unfortunately, it was now 1996, and the wave of boycotting Japanese goods hadn’t started yet. So, although Andrew Brooks’s words were quite forward-thinking, the saleswoman simply couldn’t understand them.

“Can’t afford it means can’t afford it. What’s all this about boycotting Japanese goods?” the chubby woman sneered. “It’s not like we’re in the war of resistance now. If you want to boycott Japanese goods, go buy a Philips!”

Philips color TVs were even more expensive. The saleswoman wanted to see him make a fool of himself, so of course she said that.

“I want to support domestic brands. Yes, domestic brands. I’m a government official—I have to set an example,” Andrew Brooks boasted shamelessly. “Where are the domestic color TVs?”

He wanted to get away from this sharp-tongued saleswoman.

“You? A government official?” The chubby woman looked him up and down, then burst out laughing. This dusty, country-looking youth who seemed barely in his teens—a government official?

“If you’re a government official, then I’m the chairman of the military commission,” the woman laughed so hard she nearly doubled over. She’d never believe it, not in a million years.

“Xiao Chen, your sense of responsibility is impressive,” a voice sounded from behind Andrew Brooks. It was a slightly overweight, balding middle-aged man, accompanied by a beautiful girl of about eighteen or nineteen.

“Well said. Government officials should support domestic products,” the middle-aged man said, clapping his hands as he walked over, smiling at him. “What’s wrong, don’t you recognize me?”

“You… you’re from the exam committee, right?” Andrew Brooks replied, frowning. His memory was actually quite good—anything he wanted to remember, he wouldn’t forget even after hundreds of years.