CH 13.1

“Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~”

Jiang Wang sang a birthday song for the first time in 28 years. Although he still felt a little ashamed in his heart, he finished singing from start to end with a flat expression.

He accompanied Peng Xingwang to cut the cake when he was done.

“What wish did you make?” Peng Xingwang was very curious, but as soon as he asked, he hurriedly waved his hand, “Don’t say it, it won’t work if you say it.”

Before Jiang Wang could answer, the child couldn’t hold back himself and said, “I wished to be first place in the final exam!”

Brother Jiang went silent.

“Did you know that it’s an honor to be the parent of the first child? You will be praised by the teacher at the parent-teacher meeting!” Peng Xingwang handed him a paper plate full of cake, then threw a piece of chocolate into his mouth and chewed, “I can get 80 points in English now, I can definitely do it if I review more!”

Jiang Wang rarely cared about his scores.

He couldn’t do homework, he couldn’t read textbooks, but he tried to learn very diligently. Still, he won’t pressure the child to take and score high on the exams.

Jiang Wang had never fallen in love, and it was the first time he was raising a child.

When he thought about it, he didn’t plan on training him like a Tsinghua student. He just wanted him to be happy from childhood until he grew up.

After twenty years, if the child’s facial features and contours were exactly the same as his own. At that time, then he will find a way to explain that he was really not the old king next door[1].

Thinking of this, the man suddenly became interested.

“Peng Xingwang, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

When he was a child, he didn’t seem to have time to think about his dreams in life, but now it should be fun to listen to.

Peng Xingwang was eating the cake in small bites, and thought seriously for a while as he heard the words.

“I want to be a bus driver.”

“Why a bus?”

“Because… because driving a bus is like driving a boat in the city, it’s very romantic.” The boy gestured and said, “The driver will always have a place to sit, and he can also broadcast his favorite radio channel for everyone to listen to. He’s very happy.”

The child only recently learned how to write the word romantic this week, yet he already uses it vigorously whenever he has an opportunity.

“If I can’t drive a bus, it’s also good to do sheep herding.” Peng Xingwang said again, “I like sheep, sheep are very good.”

Jiang Wang held his chin and listened to him imagine, unexpectedly feeling very good.

“Okay, if you end up going to the countryside to herd sheep later, I will give you a few pastures.” The eldest brother spoke very stiffly, “The padded winter jacket and scarf would all be ready for you.”

“Good! Pull the hook![2]”

Since the end of the World Cup on July 10th, Jiang Wang’s temporary cash machine has been officially closed.

The men who followed him to watch football in town were still unsatisfied. They tried to drag the fortune-teller to bet on something else.

Jiang Wang still had some AFC Champions League records in his memory, but he chose to put them aside for the time being.

His savings and current businesses were quite enough.

Compared to counting how many goals would be scored on TV tonight, what surprised people more was that he could find those who were cheating and get them divorced. He could also see who had illnesses and needs treatment, and even find out who was pregnant with a boy or a girl.

One time someone invited Jiang Wang to dinner. It was originally a matter of business cooperation. After eating, Boss Jiang wiped his mouth, “You’re pregnant with a daughter. Congratulations.”

The guy who was the host felt stupid, “What, my wife is pregnant?!”

His mouth was glib that he quickly gained a foothold in this small town. He even had an accent that mixed the north and the south at the same time.

The mothers-in-law and aunts in the office saw that he could not wait to talk more, they all felt like flying off throughout the whole conversation.

On July 12th, there were only five days left for the final exams of the elementary school students and then the summer vacation would start. Also we can’t forget about the bookstore that would be officially opened.

The location of the bookstore just happened to be on the right side of Aunt Hu’s noodle shop. Two shops were directly combined and renovated. There was also a small stall at the side selling roasted fairy grass milk tea and curry fish balls. Which was also called out as ‘don’t forget the milk tea’[3].

It stands to reason that the new store shouldn’t have been able to open so fast, but when Boss Jiang gave the money, the workers quickly understood. He would also occasionally come over to supervise the workers, and invite them to drink and eat skewers every three to five days. The quality of the shop naturally turned out very good because of this.

Hongshan Junior High School was only a ten-minute walk away. Many teachers also liked to visit this street. The neatly categorized teaching materials were popular and sold beautifully on the first day of opening.

After all, the boss’s sign boards were all smartly laid out——

“All the good teachers and assistants in H province have moved here! Don’t be afraid you can’t finish it!”

“Grandparents and parents, bring your children to buy books! Buy over forty and get a basket of eggs, buy more and get more free!”

There were actually even eggs there. The bookstore business was full on the spot. The little guys were so excited that they couldn’t wait to make the milk tea even with their heads.

Jiang Wang ordered Peng Xingwang to help take care of the business as he adjusted the monitors in six positions at the counter. Suddenly he felt that a child was staring at him.

He raised his head and looked at the snot-sucking child.

“……Yang Kai.” Jiang Wang said straightforwardly, “What are you staring at me for?”

The child was surprised, “You still remember my name?”

Well, after all, it was a friendship where we had gnawed sweet potatoes in the wilderness together and saved each other’s lives when they were soldiers.

Yang Kai was particularly philosophical in his 20s. He spoke as if he had already comprehended life and death, and he also preached a set of doctrines. Usually, Jiang Wang would ask him for advice when he encountered something. And anyone who listened to him talk a few words, mentioning Freud and Archimedes would definitely be able to ease their worries.

At present, this philosopher was still sucking in his snot.

“I invite you to drink milk tea.” Jiang Wang motioned to the clerk to give priority to making a cup for the child, and sat opposite Yang Kai. “You are a good friend of Peng Xingwang, of course I would remember you.”

Yang Kai nodded very honestly, “I want strawberry milk tea with some coconut fruit.”

Jiang Wang sat with his best friend of 20 years. He wanted to catch up and talk about something, but he couldn’t find the words to say.

So he propped his head and watched the little fat man suck on the coconut fruit.

“Brother Jiang,” Yang Kai seemed thirsty, he didn’t speak until he had drunk most of the glass, “What do you want?” 

Jiang Wang didn’t expect this person to start with his philosophy as soon as he came up.

So he still replied the same as before, “What do you think?”

“I don’t think you’ve made up your mind yet.” The child hugged the strawberry coconut milk and said, “I will fly a plane from here to Mexico in the future. I heard that there is Godzilla in Mexico.”

No, you will end up in graduate school to study biology in the future. Then cry while cursing and doing experiments in a foreign country.

Jiang Wang paused for a moment and then asked, “Why do you think I hadn’t thought about it yet?”

“It’s very simple.” Yang Kai pointed to his neckline, “Everyone is wearing a small iron badge but you aren’t.”

Jiang Wang reached out and touched it, and realized that he was talking about the badge he had assigned to the clerk. The inspiration came from the school badge of Hongshan Elementary School.

He was the boss behind everyone here, he didn’t need to wear the store manager’s logo. And he liked his neckline very clean.

He didn’t like to be bound by his identity, he had always felt like this. There was a lot more freedom choosing this way, but at the same time there would be no sense of belonging with the team, so he didn’t know if it was good.

The man decided to refer to the opinions of the little philosopher again.

“Then when do you think I will figure it out?”

“This.” Yang Kai touched his collar, “When you want to put something else on your clothes, by then you’ve figured it out.”

While chatting, Peng Xingwang brought a group of children over.

“Brother!” He deliberately shouted brightly and crisply, “They all want to buy a full set of Pipiru! Can you get a discount for a total of eight people!”

Jiang Wang blinked, thinking to himself that this child really followed after him and knew how to make money.

“Okay, go over there to check out, everyone will get 20% off.”

The child smiled and took advantage of his friends to say loudly, “There is free orange juice over there! Remember to drink it!”

Jiang Wang pulled the child aside and bit at his ears, “I will give you a commission later.”

“Really?!”

“Well,“ Jiang Wang laughed, “Maybe you’ll be able to pay your own tuition when you reach junior high.”

The matter of finding where one belongs in life was temporarily an illusory philosophical issue. Doing business and making money was the real highlight at present.

Jiang Wang was very good at doing things. He took the opportunity to promote the bookstore business with the express delivery service in the city. He took advantage of the cheap advertising to push away the need for further marketing.

Currently the main business of the express delivery service was to undertake the transportation of large cargoes between companies and manufacturers. The number of private businesses using the service was very small.

Taking advantage of bookstore’s best-selling novels and teaching materials flowing throughout the whole city, the safety and convenience of express delivery would slowly be accepted by the people.

Overall, this plan was really f*ckin’ smooth.

It was at this juncture that he met a reliable real estate salesman that had all the properties.

Experts were the most likely to dislike other experts. After all, they could see each other’s crooked intestines in one second. Saying a few more words was tantamount to figuring out each others’ bottomline.

He picked a golden location and bought six shops.

Fang Quan didn’t expect anything when he was seeked out by this legend. He could be a god who knows at a glance whether a person had hemorrhoids or not. He also knew the truth about the real estate trading market. So he simply spread out his words and talked about doing good business with each other.

“However, in such a good section of the road, it’s a pity that all three blocks would be picked to be bookstores, right?”

Jiang Wang had already smoked half the cigarette and still didn’t answer. The abacus in his heart had finished calculating 800 years ago.

What he wanted was not a bookstore, but a warehouse.

The front facade would be the bookstore, but it would also be a warehouse and dispatching station of the online store. All offline income could be counted as extra money.

Only by doing business in this way can you make a steady profit and not lose money.

Three bookstores opened one after another, taking advantage of the nearing summer vacation, they earned a lot of money from students buying reference materials for their final exams. The money for colored printing and even cartoon books was lower compared to others. And the more fancy the milk tea name, the better.

He made up his mind quickly and took a steady step. He even secretly asked a real master to calculate an auspicious time of feng shui before the opening.

If you really counted the profit, then the books could be called a beautiful one.

Fang Quan didn’t expect that opening a bookstore would make business so successful. After all, everyone had recently gone to the catering business, few people could see profit in this kind of small business.

In addition to his surprise, he was even more convinced that Boss Jiang did not have an ordinary brain. He made up his mind to follow the same dark road as this person.

References