Translator: AtlasStudios Editor: AtlasStudios
Lu Shu waited in front of the buffet restaurant with sheer boredom displayed on his face while inside, Chen Zuan stuffed himself with three days’ amount of food. After much discussion, they both agreed that was the best option, to keep him full without losing too much face.
In Lu Shu’s opinion, there was nothing to be ashamed of if one could, with his own abilities, eat a fifteen-day portion of food in one shot. It was an “All You Can Eat” buffet after all.
But it was a different case for Chen Zuan, who found it really hard to forgo his high reputation.
Nonetheless, buffets were not cheap either, and the cheapest near them cost 49 yuan. When Chen Zuan was eating inside, Lu Shu had to wait outside with two buns as his breakfast, while he squeezed his brain juice for other money making methods.
As he was not a business genius, Lu Shu had no plans in particular as well. Otherwise, why would he painstakingly go and sell hard boiled eggs back then?
Was making money truly that easy? Not quite. Only the cream of society could gain a fortune from nothing, and most likely they themselves were blessed with sufficient knowledge in this area.
Was Lu Shu equipped with such expertise? No.
Honestly speaking, the main difference between him and the other Class A aptitude students was not their intelligence, but how much they cared about their image.
In recent years, Lu Shu had long since come to learn how to let down his face, and to be in awe towards life.
But those geniuses were different. They grew up in the protected environment called “home”, and schools never conducted lessons on survival. Even their parents would say, “Studies are your sole priority. Besides that, you don’t have to worry about anything.”
They have never faced the pressure of surviving.
After two hours, Chen Zuan walked out. He saw Lu Shu squatting besides the door and his heart was suddenly seized with guilt, thinking that Lu Shu was not even willing to have a buffet, unlike him.
Chen Zuan said, “Lu Shu… Do you want a …”
Before he could finish his sentence, Lu Shu was already up, “Since you are full and energetic, I suggest you better work hard. Go and find ways to make money!”
“From Chen Zuan’s distress, +199!”
Strange, Chen Zuan thought, in Lu Shu’s presence, he could never be happy for long.
…
After another two hours, Lu Shu and Chen Zuan were walking on the streets, with dozens of Pleasant Goat balloons in each one’s hand. They were aiming for crowded parks, especially those frequented by parents and their kids. Surely, children were fond of those things and usually, their parents would be willing to pay for their low price.
When Lu Shu and Chen Zuan bought the balloons, they were sold in sets of fifties and each set cost 13 yuan. Moreover, the seller provided free inflation services and adopted the strategy of small profits with quick turnover.
Lu Shu was planning to sell them for 5 yuan each. In his impression, such balloons usually cost 10 yuan, but he intended to follow the balloon seller’s strategy. Moreover, his target was to survive for fifteen days, not to cover for his school fees.
Lugging twenty-five balloons each, the pair proceeded forward. Luckily, Chen Zuan was familiar with the places in the Capital, and he knew a prime location.
“I need you to treat these balloons as our lives. Understood? If nobody buys them, you’ll feel as if you are going to hell!” Lu Shu educated Chen Zuan, worried that he might not lower himself to sell balloons.
On their way, they saw an iPhone lying quietly on the floor in front of the Golden Arch. When Lu Shu was about to pick it up and find its owner, it rang.
Lu Shu answered the call, “Hello?”
The caller started his onslaught, “You’d better return my phone to me. My phone has GPS and I already know where you are!”
At that instant, Lu Shu’s hot temper was provoked. He immediately tied all the balloons to the phone and let go. Fine, let the wind take it to whatever place it wished and ask your damn GPS to track it down! The only way to deal with an unreasonable person was to be just as unreasonable yourself!
Chen Zuan was dumbfounded. Staring at the flying Pleasant Goats, the little fatty said after a long silence, “Half of our lives, have flown off…”
“Shut up,” Lu Shu regretted his impulsiveness too.
As for the remaining twenty-five balloons, Lu Shu took thirteen and the little fatty took the rest. As the saying went, it was always easier said than done. They spent a total of six hours to sell out the bloody balloons.
It was not due to too few customers, but the intense competition in the park. At the entrance alone, there were at least seven people selling a wide variety of balloons, even including some Spider Man ones. But Pleasant Goats were the only type they had…
Yet, their main attraction was their price. When other people were selling at 10 yuan each, theirs was at 8 yuan. In total, they made a profit of 200 yuan, not excluding 13 yuan of the original cost.
“Not sure whether they are stealing our money tonight,” distress was written all over Lu Shu’s face, “If they aren’t, we’ll have one less source of income…”
Chen Zuan was agitated at once, “What if they come in dozens?”
“Isn’t that more money?” Lu Shu was confused.
“From Chen Zuan’s distress, +199!”
Was that the correct logic??!
That night, Lu Shu and Chen Zuan moved back to the furniture mall. Despite Lu Shu’s eager anticipation, no one came again.
Could it be that they were afraid of him? Nonsense! It would be a joke to claim that the Heavenly Network would be scared of a Class C individual.
Or maybe, Nie Ting deemed his earnings on the first day as unscrupulous. Thus, he was determined to take his money away?
Lu Shu suddenly wondered how the other geniuses were doing. Did they get robbed too?
Speaking of which, they had no money to be robbed anyway…
Now, Lu Shu even had the idea of going back to the metro station to smash stones again, so that Hao Zhichao’s people would be drawn to him. But on a second thought, the money, which he had got after so much hard work, had to be handed over to Nie Ting in the end, it didn’t sound like a good plan after all.
On the third day of the survival challenge, Lu Shu dragged Chen Zuan out of his bed as early as 6am. Indeed, it was a truism that the early bird catches the worm.
Soon, they saw an old man selling grapes at his stall, with a sign in front which read “Clearing all grapes at low price. Need to take care of my sick wife at home”.
Lu Shu stopped before the sign, but the man’s distressed expression did not look fake. Approaching the man, he asked, “Excuse me. How much are these grapes?”
“These are all home-grown grapes and I’ve been selling here for two days. Yesterday I was selling at 9.6 yuan per kilogram. But today, I suddenly received a call from my wife saying that she’s sick! So I need to get rid of these fast to go back and take care of her. If you want to buy, I can give you at 4 yuan per kilo!”
Lu Shu hesitated, “How many kilos in total?”
The old man thought for a second and said, “Should be more than fifty kilos.”
Lu Shu asked, “Can I taste?”
“Of course!”
Lu Shu plucked one for a taste. It was very sweet!
