Chapter 3 — Born again who will fall in love?

Chapter 3: Making Money Isn’t Easy

After leaving the bustling community, Jiang Qin headed straight home.

A three-bedroom apartment spanning 120 square meters, with the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right, almost held all of Jiang Qin’s cherished memories.

His mother, Mrs. Yuan Youqin, was busy in the kitchen, chopping vegetables on the cutting board with a resounding noise, indicating that they were meaty and possibly bone-in dishes.

His father, Jiang Zhenghong, sat on the sofa, reading the newspaper, and hummed “Homeland’s Clouds” softly, with his slippers swaying on his toes.

Feeling this familiar warmth, Jiang Qin couldn’t help but feel a bit sentimental.

After drifting deep for many years, he was still a rootless wanderer, and the roots that nurtured him were here. So, this place was a home that couldn’t be replaced by anywhere else.

Especially seeing his parents suddenly appear younger, this feeling was truly extraordinary.

“I’m back!”

Jiang Zhenghong squinted at him and asked, “Done with the exam?”

Mrs. Yuan Youqin also popped her head out of the kitchen and inquired, “How did it go? Are you confident?”

“I’ve already stepped into the doors of the key university with one foot.”

“You cheeky kid, are you for real?” Mrs. Yuan Youqin looked at him somewhat skeptically.

Jiang Zhenghong was more supportive, “If he’s bold enough to say that, he probably has some confidence. Tonight, the two of us will have a good drink!”

Jiang Qin directly refused, shaking his head, “Dad, I’ve made up my mind. I want to start a business during the summer vacation, and I can’t afford to waste any time.”

“Start a business?”

“It means making money,” Jiang Qin clarified.

Mrs. Yuan Youqin thought for a moment and said, “Then, after dinner, you can wash the dishes and plates. I’ll give you five yuan for each plate and ten yuan for each pot.”

Jiang Qin sighed but didn’t argue, “Fine, I’ll wash the dishes and pots. How about a total of three hundred yuan?”

After hearing this, Jiang Zhenghong raised his head in surprise, “Is this a good deal? Then count me in!”

“Go away, three hundred is enough for me to buy a new set. I’ve never seen anyone pay me three hundred for washing dishes and pots every day. Now go wash your hands and eat!”

“Hey, I, the king, haven’t even started my entrepreneurial journey, and it’s already off to a rough start,” Jiang Qin sighed and, after washing his hands, returned to the dining table to have dinner with his parents.

Before going to sleep, Mrs. Yuan Youqin came out of the bedroom and handed him five hundred yuan.

In reality, Mrs. Yuan also knew that graduating from high school was like a wild horse breaking free, and hanging out with friends, even just singing, required money. Letting him wash dishes for five yuan was just a matter of being tough on the outside but soft on the inside.

Looking at the five hundred yuan in his hand, Jiang Qin’s heart felt slightly heavy.

Which big entrepreneur started with only five hundred? But five hundred was better than nothing.

“Mrs. Yuan, from now on, you’ll be the mother of the chairman!”

“I’d be content if you became a general manager. Oh, by the way, I asked your uncle at noon. Are you planning to start learning to drive at Zhengfang Driving School in a few days?”

“As for learning to drive, let’s talk about it later. I have something important to do recently.”

With the money in hand, Jiang Qin went back to his room, opened his computer, and found Guo Zihang’s QQ number. He told him to meet at Central Street tomorrow morning.

Guo Zihang asked him what they were going to do, but Jiang Qin didn’t reveal much, only mentioning that he had five hundred yuan now, which made Guo Zihang eager.

After setting up the plan for tomorrow, Jiang Qin absentmindedly opened Baidu, intending to catch up on news online and refresh his memory on key points about demolition and redevelopment, policy changes, stock market conditions, market premiums, and other topics to prepare for getting rich.

But before the webpage loaded, his attention was drawn to his computer’s QQ friend list.

Chu Siqi’s chat box was pinned at the top?

Jiang Qin moved the mouse over, unpinned it, locked his own space, changed his non-mainstream profile picture, and, by the way, deleted his cringy signature.

After making these changes, Jiang Qin noticed that Chu Siqi, who had just had a gray profile picture, suddenly came online, and her profile picture was still animated, indicating she had sent a message.

So he casually clicked to take a look and then closed it with indifference.

The other person asked him why he suddenly closed his space and ordered him to open it again, saying she wanted to visit his space.

Visit his space? How many years had it been since he heard such an old-fashioned phrase? Did she want to have a reunion ceremony as well?

Early the next morning, under a clear sky with gentle warmth from the sun, Jiang Qin rode his bike to the pedestrian street on Pingyang East Road.

This street was one of the busiest commercial pedestrian streets in Jizhou City. Before the old market was renovated, it used to be a prime location where various vendors competed fiercely. However, due to intense competition and price wars, things here had become relatively cheaper.

Guo Zihang was eager to spend the five hundred yuan in Jiang Qin’s pocket, so he pedaled his bike rapidly and arrived at the meeting point already sweating profusely.

“Jiang Ge, how are you planning to spend that five hundred yuan in your pocket? I’ve never been to a bar; should we go and experience it?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Do you see that uncle selling boxed lunches over there? Go ask him how much they cost.”

Guo Zihang followed Jiang Qin’s finger in the indicated direction, and his face turned pale in an instant. “Are we going to have boxed lunches for lunch?”

Jiang Qin squinted his eyes but didn’t say anything directly. “Just go and ask. Don’t worry; I won’t treat you unfairly.”

“Alright.”

Guo Zihang walked over gloomily, asked about the prices, and found that the prices in 2008 were still relatively low. A boxed lunch with shredded potatoes was two yuan, one with minced meat was three yuan, one with a chicken leg and shredded potatoes was five yuan, and one with a chicken leg and a pocket-sized omelet was six yuan.

Jiang Qin checked the time, thought for a moment, and handed the boss two hundred yuan, telling him not to ask, just make the lunches.

Then he found two cardboard boxes, packed some of the prepared boxed lunches, and brought Guo Zihang to the internet café street.

Pushing open the door of one of the internet cafes, Jiang Qin first took out a pack of Yuxi cigarettes he had bought on the way and gave it to the network administrator. Then he began selling his boxed lunches. The internet cafe patrons who were staying up all night were starving but didn’t want to leave to eat, so they were immediately tempted by the food delivered to their door.

Although boxed lunches weren’t anything fancy, they were definitely better than instant noodles.

So, they sold the four-yuan ones for seven yuan, the five-yuan ones for nine yuan, and the six-yuan ones for eleven yuan. In the end, only two boxes of chicken leg and omelet lunches were left, and everything else was sold out.

From 7 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon, they shuttled back and forth three times, changing five internet cafes and raising the prices twice in between.

Guo Zihang was exhausted, panting with his tongue sticking out, and sweat was continuously dripping from his forehead.

Jiang Qin’s back was soaked in sweat too as he squatted on the side of the road, wiping his sweat and counting the money.

They sold the two hundred yuan worth of boxed lunches for three hundred and seventy-eight yuan, leaving two boxes of chicken leg and omelet lunches, just enough for the two of them.

In reality, Jiang Qin wasn’t doing this to make money; the main purpose was to clarify his thoughts. Now it seemed that his strategy was sound, and he could make money, but the profit margin was too thin.

However, Jiang Qin wasn’t disappointed. With a starting capital of two hundred yuan, how much profit could he realistically expect to make? It couldn’t be in the thousands.

Before his rebirth, he had never been in business. Today, he was playing this game purely to experience the feeling of making money.

But to be honest, it was a bit of a loss. Just giving away five boxes for Yuxi cigarettes had cost him over a hundred yuan. They had also invested a lot of time, and both of them were exhausted, only to end up with a bit over seventy yuan in hand.

But what if the initial capital were larger? What if they dealt with more valuable items? Doubling seventy-eight would be quite good.

Jiang Qin took out five ten-yuan bills and handed them to Guo Zihang. The tired Guo Zihang suddenly perked up and thanked him profusely.

“Bro, what are we doing tomorrow?”

“Do what? I’m almost dead tired, we earned seventy-eight yuan today, and I gave you fifty of it. The remaining money is just enough to buy cigarettes.”

Jiang Qin grumbled, but in reality, he had been constantly thinking about his first pot of gold.

Where could he earn his first pot of gold? In web novels, those reborn protagonists could easily make big business moves, so why couldn’t he?

If things didn’t work out, he might as well persuade the couple to sell their house, buy Bitcoin and Moutai stocks directly.

Just then, the boxed lunch master, holding a shovel, approached them. He first glanced at Jiang Qin, then came closer with a mysterious look on his face, handing over a pack of White General cigarettes.

“How much money did you make from those two hundred yuan boxed lunches?”

Jiang Qin took the cigarette and calmly replied, “Four hundred and sixty.”

Guo Zihang, who was standing nearby, was momentarily stunned. Wasn’t it three hundred and eighty?

However, seeing Jiang Qin’s calm demeanor, he didn’t dare to speak. He swallowed hard and lowered his head.

(End of this chapter)