The Scum Gong Begs Me to Get Back Together, but I Just Want to Get Rich

Didn’t know if it was because Lin Chengyu’s outstanding appearance was really useful here, or because Jiang Xiao’s small stall had a good start yesterday; people were more attracted to visit them the next day, which made the business better than the previous day. During the busiest time, there were quite a few people already waiting in line to play.

Sometimes, when the balloon stalls were a little bit empty, the other stall was so overcrowded that Jiang Xiao couldn’t manage it alone. Lin Chengyu then swooped in, relying on his previous attempts to help. Jiang Xiao really couldn’t drive him away. Such thick skin and face, it was obviously not like this before.

When Jiang Xiao was counting his earnings at night, he watched Lin Chengyu had finished counting the earnings of the balloon stall and handed it over, wearing a flattering smile on his face. He really didn’t know what to say.

What a headache.

When would this person’s energy diminish?

So, Jiang Xiao asked directly.

“Never,” Lin Chengyu looked at him, “Xiao Xiao will believe me one day.”

Facts have proved that his energy for the past two days shouldn’t be over. Jiang Xiao had nothing to say to him and those ‘light bulbs’ around Jiang Xiao weren’t around. It was a rare opportunity. Even if Xiao Xiao would say a few more words to chase him out, he still hadn’t come in vain.

The balloon stand was actually very easy to imitate. Other people were jealous of them, so similar ones came out the next day. However, the rewards displayed at other stalls were really not as attractive as Jiang Xiao’s, therefore his chance of winning more customers wasn’t low.

The balloons were placed tightly, so as long as the customers were a little bit accurate, it wasn’t difficult to get the basic small toy reward. Although it was only worth 1 yuan, it was a reward anyway in the eyes of others. Some of these toys weren’t bad and they couldn’t find them elsewhere. It was not a loss to buy them for 5 yuan with the game.

As soon as these imitators came out, it showed that Jiang Xiao had better offers on price and rewards, so his business grew even better.

Today someone spent 10 yuan to play two rounds and got the highest reward. His child who was waiting on the side got a set of race cars and got so happy that he jumped up and down in front of the stall, bragging loudly that his father was too good. Everyone felt happy when they saw that.

Jiang Xiao as well.

The business of the two stalls had been booming these days. Ye Yingying and Lin Heyuan came back to Houlin on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. Ye Yingying came to help for a while and played a few darts on curiosity. He wasn’t really good at aiming and thus didn’t manage to hit anything. However, he couldn’t stay for too long, as the winter vacation was almost over, and his homework hadn’t finished. Moreover, the art studio would be closed after the winter holiday, as the normal classes would start again.

Lin Heyuan’s winter homework had already been completed, and on top of that, he had finished 20 extra assignments he made for himself, so he had plenty of time to help. He hadn’t seen Jiang Xiao for a long time, so he brought back some specialties from his hometown.

“My grandma’s sesame candy with soft rice cake1 is delicious. You will like them,” he said. “I told her that I made a new friend at school. She was so happy that she made a few more and asked me to bring them for you.”

The homemade sesame candy brought from his hometown was indeed different. The elders used to wrap the candy in red paper and tied them with red strings. It looked festive to serve them out during the new year.

Jiang Xiao was pleasantly surprised. Lin Heyuan unwrapped the package and wanted to let him have a taste, but at this time, Jiang Xiao was still tallying his goods, thus his hands weren’t very clean. However, he looked at the candies eagerly, so Lin Heyuan took one and fed it to him.

He took a bite. The sesame candy was crunchy and there was a mouthful of sesame aroma when he bit into it. It tasted like an old-fashioned pastry. The soft rice cake was sweet, but not greasy. It was soft, yet not sticky, and there was a light rice fragrance.

“Delicious!” Jiang Xiao chewed the candy and said vaguely, “Thank you, Grandma!”

As soon as the two of them got together, they began to act like no one else was there. Lin Chengyu, who had finally tasted a little sweetness by Jiang Xiao’s side could only react, “…”

He’s so pissed off that his head started to hurt.

When he was here before, every meal that was brought to Jiang Xiao, was all his favorite dishes. Jiang Xiao couldn’t control him coming close, but he still could control his appetite, so he resolutely refused to eat. In order not to waste them, all the food in the past few days went into Wang Liang’s stomach.

After Lin Heyuan came back though, Wang Liang stopped coming at all. Setting up a stall was indeed more difficult than he imagined. The labor cost from Jiang Xiao plus the tip from Lin Chengyu for him have added up to 700-800 yuan, so he felt that he had earned a lot. It was time for him to rest, moreover, there was Lin Chengyu around.

Initially, the relationship between him and Jiang Xiao was a bit stiff and awkward, but when Lin Heyuan came, the atmosphere between these three people was a bit indescribable. There was this unexplainable Shura field, like no matter how happy or dull he felt, something always felt wrong, so it was better to stay away.

With Lin Heyuan, it would be difficult for Lin Chengyu and Jiang Xiao to have a few more words alone.

In the past, he still could force the other person to say a few words when asking about business matters. As long as it was serious, Jiang Xiaou would answer even if he was impatient. Now Lin Heyuan was stuck in the middle, thus when Lin Chengyu asked something, the other answered directly. There was no need for Jiang Xiao to answer him.

“Lin Heyuan is not a good person.”

Since his return, Lin Chengyu’s good days had come to an end, and his heart has been boiling over this. When he helped Jiang Xiao clean up the stall at night, he couldn’t help but say this.

This person looked like a good student with a genuine face, but he was actually very scheming. So, you must stay away from him and get closer to me.

Of course, he didn’t dare to say that.

Last time he was impatient and reckless, thus he impulsively tried to push Lin Heyuan. However, after being stopped by Jiang Xiao, Lin Chengyu didn’t dare to do anything anymore, for fear of Jiang Xiao’s wrath again.

“I think he’s fine,” Jiang Xiao glanced at him, “If you don’t want to see him, you’d better go home early.”

Lin Chengyu didn’t dare to speak anymore. He held back for a while but was unwilling to reconcile. He said in a low voice, “He—”

“Okay,” Jiang Xiao was a little impatient, thus interrupted him. “Are you a primary school student? Trying to talk bad about others behind their backs?”

Didn’t know which tendon Lin Chengyu pulled wrong2, what was he being jealous about?

Frankly speaking, it wasn’t that there was something wrong with Lin Heyuan. Lin Chengyu could think of hundreds of different ways to deal with him, but the most important thing was Jiang Xiao’s attitude. When Jiang Xiao could smile at him like that, Lin Chengyu would never have the intention to target Lin Heyuan again.

But no matter what he said, Jiang Xiao would never turn to him again.

It’s not that Jiang Xiao didn’t know this, but he hoped that Lin Chengyu would be more decisive and give up earlier.

ooOOoo

Registration for the new school began on the tenth day of the new year and classes officially started on the twelfth.

Jiang Xiao’s stall started to clear the goods on the eighth day. Some items that were not suitable for selling at the small stall were packed and sold at a discount. On the afternoon of the ninth day, he had almost sold out everything, and an acquaintance came to the balloon stall.

It was the owner of the video store who just came back from his hometown for the Lunar New Year. He was still young; his name was Zhang Yang. He was a really nice person, thus after getting to know him well, Jiang Xiao called him Zhang-ge. During the market festival, Jiang Xiao helped him sell CDs and cassettes at his stall, and the sales weren’t bad. He just gave him all the money earned, as he made a profit of more than 1,000 yuan.

Zhang Yang really didn’t expect that it would sell so well. His video store was small, and he was the only one who managed it all year round, so he could close the store for a few days during the Lunar New Year. A few months ago, Jiang Xiao said that he wanted to set up a stall at the market to help him sell some goods, so he casually agreed. He didn’t expect that Jiang Xiao would help him to earn so much money during his break.

Jiang Xiao gave the money in red paper wrapping, like a red envelope money, and didn’t forget to add, “The rest of the goods are still on the stall, I will pack them for you later. I have kept track of the account carefully, so you can check. If there is a problem, I can help you.”

He paused before smiling, “I forgot to tell you, Happy New Year!”

His smile was so bright that everyone who saw it couldn’t help but feel better.

Zhang Yang wasn’t very old, he was still in his early twenties and thus had long passed the age of receiving red envelopes. He put the money in his arms, feeling warm in his heart.

Jiang Xiao was a very good kid. Although the small shelves in Zhang Yang’s store took up some of his energy to take care of it, the business in his store had also improved a lot. Every time Jiang Xiao went to Liyjiang, he gave him some limited-edition CDs that weren’t cheap. These things were items that even if he went to Liujiang, he wouldn’t be able to buy with money. Zhang Yang had long been convinced and seeing Jiang Xiao again after the new year made him a little more certain.

The ninth day of the Lunar New Year was the last day for Jiang Xiao to set up his stall. On the seventh day, many adults had ended their holidays and started to work. The business in the market was a bit worse than before, but his goods were almost sold out in the past few days and the balloon stall earned a lot of money. Today he would officially close his stall earlier, so it wouldn’t be so late.

Zhang Yang helped him to clean up. He thought for a while and asked again, “Xiao Xiao, you earned a lot from the market, didn’t you?”

Jiang Xiao thought about it but didn’t hide away. “I earned more than 10,000 yuan.”

Almost 20 days before and after the new year, Jiang Xiao’s entire winter vacation had been put on this market. After all, he couldn’t go to the market after school started. Some items that weren’t doing well were all sold on sale. Even though the earnings were less, there was no loss.

He made more than 20,000 yuan in profit from these items during the new year, and now he had about 35,000 yuan in revenue. The profit of the balloon stand was really considerable, and even then, he didn’t have time to calculate today’s earnings carefully. There were still two large boxes in the storage room, worth about 3,000-4,000 yuan of items, mainly stationery and various accessories for students. After school started, he would be able to sell them for another two months or so.

Zhang Yang didn’t expect it to be that much. His eyes lit up as he turned around again, looking like he was thinking about something.

There was also a reason why Jiang Xiao didn’t want to hide this matter from him.

“I told you about the MP3 thing a few months ago, what do you think?” He looked at Zhang Yang, “Are you brave enough to do it with me?”

When Jiang Xiao saw the row of MP3s in Liujiang last time, he immediately became interested, but at that time he had no capital in hand, so it was not suitable to do it alone.

He had waited patiently for the new model MP3 of that domestic brand at the price of 499 yuan at the end of the year. He inquired about it when he went to Liujiang to buy goods last time. If the quantity of purchase was large, the price could be lowered.

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Now he also had enough money in hand. Jiang Xiao originally wanted to sell them to students, but after careful consideration, although there were rich students in Houlin, their spending was still limited, and this MP3 player wasn’t cheap after all. There was a huge difference between digital gadgets and stationery and accessories that only cost a few yuan a piece.

Jiang Xiao wanted to try his best to sell them, but with his market, he would only be able to sell ten units at the beginning. Zhang Yang, however, had the market he needed, so he had to be pulled onto this boat.

Footnotes:

1 sesame candy with soft rice cakes (芝麻酥糖和软米) It just says it like this when there are so many varieties of this candy out there ahahah. It looks like this:

There are black and white sesame candy. Because of the rice cake mix, like mochi, it is this chewy chewy goodness. Because it’s covered with sesame seeds, it’s not sticky. (￣﹃￣)

2 this refers to indicating someone’s abnormal behavior, which is stranger than usual. Literally, ‘wtf is wrong with him?!’ and the ‘tendon’ part has a loose meaning of the muscle brain/cranial nerve. So, it’s like ‘he pulled the wrong muscle in his brain’.  Could also be translated as ‘don’t know what he was thinking’ but it was too plain ah. I want more drama (?) (￣︶￣*))

And Jiang Xiao being oblivious I can’t— 

We gotta wait a while for him to finally see Lin Heyuan as a potential partner;;w;; although dog-chengyu can smell it from miles away.