CH 8

In the last three days of the November break, Jiang Xiao dutifully completed twenty worksheets. When he came back from the holiday and returned to school, his mind sprang into life. If you buy something, you have to sell it. It’s only over when you get the money.

After class, Jiang Xiao took the initiative to seek people out. The girls in the next class never expected a few words would lead Jiang Xiao to really bring back merchandise.

Fangirls had a lot of purchasing power no matter what year it was. What’s more, Jiang Xiao had things they truly wanted. His plastic photo cards and stickers had new pictures on them, and they were priced lower, which made them special compared to the ones in the shops outside school. The girls liked all the sets they saw. The bracelets, which were finely made, were a little more expensive. One girl didn’t have any money ready, so she grit her teeth and said, “Put it aside for me. I’ll get my pocket money next week. I’ll definitely come and buy it!”

“No need for that,” Jiang Xiao said with a smile, revealing the slightest hint of an unscrupulous profiteer. “I’ll just give it to you.”

Most of the things he brought back were things girls liked. After all, the basic market research he did was in that line. But Jiang Xiao didn’t know many girls, so he had to let the first batch of customers help him spread the word.

Jiang Xiao also sold the video discs and music cassettes he brought back. The first time he went to the roadside video store, the shop owner saw how young he was. The items he had were all the latest releases, but after they talked for a few minutes, the owner said he wasn’t interested in buying bulk goods and sent Jiang Xiao away.

But everything still sold thanks to the girls. Their social circle was really wide. One person talked to another, and after a week or two, even students from other schools came looking for him.

All of Jiang Xiao’s products were new, and the price was lower than in the stores outside, about twenty percent off. In order to jumpstart sales, he half sold and half gave away some small trinkets, so the girls were more than happy. In the process, those discs and tapes sold out.

Later, when Jiang Xiao was passing by the video store, the shop owner hauled him in, asking where he got his products and would he get more in the future. Several customers had come in to ask if he had certain items. Suddenly the merchandise in his store looked kind of old.

This time Jiang Xiao was calm as an old god. “Anyway, I sold everything I had. Now I don’t have any either.”

The boss looked anxious. “A lot of people are asking lately, student kid. If you go and get more, I’ll give you money.”

“No, if you’re in a hurry, find someone else,” Jiang Xiao said, putting his school bag on his back. “I don’t have time. I need to study.”

Although he wanted to frustrate the shop owner a bit to increase his interest, this was the truth. The mid-term exams were coming soon and he was busy doing exercises. He wouldn’t go to Liujiang again to purchase goods until after the exam.

It took a little over a month to sell out most of the two packages. The sales velocity greatly exceeded Jiang Xiao’s expectations.

Maybe there was a big mismatch between supply and demand in small counties this year. Lately families had more income, and some junior and senior high school students had money on hand too. Compared to the size of the market gap, Jiang Xiao’s inventory worth several thousand yuan wasn’t all that much. Last week a girl who attended No. 5 Junior High next door, who came from a rich family, picked up more than three hundred yuan worth of things. Pencil bags, stickers, photo cards, accessories, discs and so on. She didn’t think it was expensive at all.

He made a decent profit from this one trip. He’d set his goods according to the current price levels in the county, but Jiang Xiao came down a bit. If customers bought a little more he gave them a discount and some freebies.

But his labor, warehousing, and logistics costs were non-existent. After selling three thousand yuan worth of goods, and paying back the two hundred he borrowed from Ye YingYing, he now had over six thousand yuan. His stake had more than doubled.

As for the money from Ye Bing, Jiang Xiao would definitely pay it back, but not right away.1

Uncle Ye’s meaning had been clear. The money he loaned to Jiang Xiao wasn’t something he urgently needed. It was mostly intended as encouragement. Given the situation, it made sense to maximize the effectiveness of this good deed.

Jiang Xiao paid back Ye YingYing right away, and he didn’t forget what he’d said about getting him a present. He’d thought a long time about it, and it was the single most expensive thing he brought back from Liujiang City. He went to the best bookstore in Liujiang to buy a hardcover edition of You Qing’s illustrations. Prices were still generally low, and the cost of the art collection was 128 yuan.

Later You Qing became a famous illustrator. Jiang Xiao had a favorite movie poster that he painted, full of vitality and dynamic energy. Although 128 yuan was expensive for an art book, the paper was high quality and the overall effect was impressive. The first part of the book covered You Qing’s life in detail, describing how he struggled in school until he was admitted to the best art academy in China, then followed his life story step by step until the present.

Ye YingYing thought Jiang Xiao was going to get him some snacks or a game. He never expected a book. At first he was going to grumble about it, but the illustration on the cover caught his eye.

After he got the book, Ye YingYing stopped playing cards for several days. Whenever he had a spare moment he stared at the paintings, carefully turning the pages. Then he looked at the black devil painted on his school uniform, frowned for a while and sighed. Later he tried to copy some of the drawings. Although he had a lot of talent, in the face of someone of that level, he was like an untrained three-legged cat, unable to keep up.

“I want to be as good as him.”

Ye YingYing said this to himself. His pure and simple young wish was like a spark, suddenly ignited by Jiang Xiao.

Sometimes a person’s life can change in just a moment.

Jiang Xiao couldn’t look after too many people. He was doing well to manage himself right now, but if he could open up new possibilities for the people around him, he would naturally lend a hand.

Jiang Xiao saw his reaction and didn’t say another word. More than a week went by, and then Ye YingYing asked him, “Xiao Ge, what you said before about studying art… What was it?

Jiang Xiao told him what he knew. This time Ye YingYing responded differently. He listened seriously and said, “I’ll have my dad find out.”

“Okay, you can ask your dad. Also, Houlin No. 1 Senior High started recruiting art students last year,” Jiang Xiao added. “If you decide to apply, you won’t have to get as many points in the high school entrance exam. Then we can go to high school together.”

Houlin No. 1 Senior High was the best high school in the county. The coursework was rigorous, the teaching quality was the highest around, and the best education resources in the county were centered there. With Ye YingYing’s rotten scores since childhood, his father had long since been disappointed. He never dreamed his son could get into No. 1 Senior High School on his own.

“Good,” said Ye YingYing. When he heard he could still be classmates with Jiang Xiao he looked even more determined. He added happily, “I never knew there was something so good! Learning to paint must be really fun. And so much easier than studying to death! ”

Jiang Xiao: “…”

He was suspiciously silent for a while.

Ye YingYing saw his face had changed a little, and he remembered how hard Jiang Xiao had been hitting the books lately. “Sorry, Xiao Ge, I didn’t mean to trash you for studying.”

“I know.” Jiang Xiao, who wouldn’t get angry at such a thing, showed an amiable smile, like he was looking at a child. Closer scrutiny of his face revealed the shadow of a treacherous profiteer. “Right. Learning to paint is easy and not tiring at all, right, absolutely.”

Ye YingYing really believed him and nodded foolishly.

In the second half of this semester in year three, the two troublemakers in the last row of Class 15 became surprisingly well-behaved. They didn’t skip class or play cards. Jiang Xiao progressed so quickly in the mid-term exam it could almost be called a miracle. He rose from the 800s at the bottom of the grade into the top 500, the middle. But it didn’t surprise anyone.

No one thought he was cheating. The teachers saw how hard this student was working. He was the only one in Class 15 who listened carefully to lectures, and he often asked questions after class and during self-study. He had a foundation before, so it wasn’t too surprising that he got a better score.

At any rate, junior high school was part of the nine-year course of compulsory education, and there were a lot of public junior high schools in the area. There were four schools in Houlin County, and seven or eight in nearby towns. Houlin No.1 Senior High recruited about one thousand students every year. According to the previous admission rate for Houlin No. 3 Junior High, Jiang Xiao was right on the edge. He would have a solid chance if he was in the top two hundred, but only the top 100 was considered a guaranteed ticket.

Jiang Xiao wasn’t complacent. He was still far from his goal, and he calmly updated his study plan. Xia WanWan was stunned. After seeing the results, she was delighted for several days and hummed a song as she cooked a pot of stewed steak for him. This was Xia WanWan’s best dish. It was delicious, tender, and fragrant, but it was also time-consuming. Jiang Xiao hadn’t enjoyed this kind of meal in over ten years. When he tasted it again, he thought it was the greatest food in the world.

His life was thriving now. Everything was going well, and he wasn’t expecting any sudden problems.

He didn’t know there was a person in Liujiang City going crazy trying to find him. That one photo gave Lin ChengYu hope as well as clues, but on the other hand, it misled him.

TL Notes:

Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter: