Chapter 74: Freeloading

It sounds infuriating just hearing it.

Unlike Liu Yue, who very frankly said she also wanted to get rich.

Someone in the livestream immediately went wild: "Boss Liu, Boss Liu, since you also like getting rich, why don't you go into smartphones and new energy?"

"Those two industries are making money hand over fist right now."

Hearing the question relayed through the camera, Liu Yue decisively rolled her eyes.

"But I don't know those two industries."

"Still, I do have investments."

"My private investment firm has stakes in phone makers and new energy vehicles."

"The returns aren't bad."

Liu Yue's words left Shen Mo dumbfounded.

【Wife's investment scope is really broad.】

The people in the livestream were equally incredulous.

Biting into her hand-grabbed pancake, Liu Yue smiled at the camera and said: "You don't necessarily have to get in the game yourself."

"Investing alongside others is also a pretty good path."

"Take those hottest domestic phone brands right now — I hold some shares, more or less, in all of them."

"Same goes for new energy vehicles."

"After all, for rich people, investing in professionals is a required course."

Liu Yue began prattling on about the difference between getting in the game yourself and investing.

In Liu Yue's eyes, for an industry she doesn't understand but that makes money, she absolutely must not jump in herself.

Because failure is inevitable.

Even if she succeeded, it would take an enormous sunk cost.

Not worth it.

Because rushing headlong into an unfamiliar market, you definitely carry this mindset: I've succeeded at everything else I've done, how could I possibly fail at this stuff? Impossible, completely impossible.

But reality is, of those carrying that mindset, nine and a half out of ten are dead, and the remaining one is half-dead, gambling on a one-in-a-thousand chance of resurrection.

Liu Yue prattled through it once, and Shen Mo and the livestream audience all thought: wow, so impressive, so high-end.

Too bad it's useless.

【Isn't this basically: stuff you actually use, you don't need others to explain.

Stuff you don't use, hearing about it is pointless?】

Shen Mo's snark made Liu Yue laugh.

After breakfast, Shen Mo raised the fatal question.

What are we doing today?

It's the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month, the company's on holiday — what are the two of them going to do?

They can't exactly follow the elegant lady next door who's sleeping her beauty sleep and go back to bed for a beauty sleep too, can they?

Liu Yue didn't know what to do either.

After all, being on holiday at home is pretty boring.

Handle some work?

Liu Yue didn't mind it, but she didn't want to do it either.

In the end, Shen Mo suggested going shopping.

At the door, they got into Grandpa's big G, and the two of them drove all the way into Erbin Shi.

The scenery in Erbin Shi, hailed as the Little Paris of the East, was quite nice indeed.

The only pity was that there weren't many people on the streets.

But there were plenty of vegetable sellers.

This prompted many viewers in the livestream to sigh that ordinary folks still have it rough.

Before long, Shen Mo and Liu Yue ran into Lan Lan, Xiao Bai, and Li Zi.

The three of them were wearing military coats and big earmuffs, looking nothing like top-tier beautiful livestreamers.

The livestream audience cried out it was worth it, loudly marveling that there really was no script.

Shen Mo asked the three why they hadn't gone home, and the answer was: they'd brought their parents over, and were spending New Year in Erbin this year.

Li Zi beamed and said: "Erbin's winter is just amazing."

"Not only can you have snowball fights and build snowmen, you can also go ice-skating — it's perfect."

"Most importantly, Erbin's heating facilities are fantastic — nice and toasty indoors."

"Unlike back home, where it's not exactly freezing, but it's not warm either."

"So, we decided to spend New Year in Erbin."

"Today the three of us came out to buy the fruits and vegetables we'll eat over the New Year holiday."

Liu Yue sighed that the three young ladies really had it tough, and told Shen Mo to go help them. The livestream audience was then treated to a look at the Northeast method of storing vegetables.

A bundle of green onions as tall as a person — grab one.

A whole snakeskin sack of napa cabbage.

A whole carry-sack of potatoes.

A whole bag of carrots.

…….

Basically everything was bought by the sackful.

Very sincere.

The vegetable vendor pulled up a cart of produce, and it sold out in no time.

Next, they bought fruit.

Oranges and apples, one case of each.

The main theme was sheer quantity.

The viewers in the livestream were stunned — wait, is this how you people in Erbin shop?

The question had barely been asked when locals from the Northeast immediately stepped up to explain.

No choice — winters are too cold, and if you don't stockpile enough at home, you can easily run short on food.

At the same time, others began to explain that in the old days, before there were tall buildings, it really did happen in the Northeast that you could wake up from a night's sleep to find the front door sealed shut by heavy snow.

If a household didn't have enough grain, even if you didn't starve to death, you'd definitely be miserable.

Because of Shen Mo and the others, the three of them — Lan Lan included — bought quite a lot more in the end, completely filling the trunks of two cars.

At noon, Shen Mo and Liu Yue went together to Lan Lan's house to mooch a meal.

There they also met the parents and elders of Lan Lan, Xiao Bai, and Li Zi.

Luckily the three girls had earned some money and bought a big flat, otherwise there wouldn't have been room for everyone.

It was only upon seeing so many people that the livestream viewers finally understood why Lan Lan had bought so many groceries.

For lunch, Lan Lan made roasted potatoes.

This rustic dish left the livestream viewers stunned.

Potatoes… can be eaten like this?

At the same time, others said it really wasn't bad, really quite tasty.

After lunch, Xiao Bai suggested they play mahjong together.

It's an activity suited for young and old alike.

Once the mahjong started, it lasted half a day, stretching all the way until dinner.

During the mahjong, Liu Yue asked about the studies of Lan Lan and the other two.

She was then met with three people's utterly miserable complaints.

Li Zi said she had nearly had her graduation delayed.

If she hadn't rescued it in time, her graduation project would have been eaten by the sheep next door.

But Li Zi also laughed and said that if her graduation project ever did get eaten, the other party would either have to revive the graduation project, or get ready to have their graduation delayed alongside her — because she would personally slaughter that person's sheep.

This scene prompted quite a few agriculture students watching the livestream to chime in with complaints — yeah, it's just that hard.

Right after, a flood of delayed-graduation rants poured onto the internet.

Things like pigs getting slaughtered by the cafeteria uncle, vegetables getting eaten by chickens, the chickens getting caught by a nearby aunty, tomatoes getting plucked clean by passing students, and so on.

The reasons were wildly varied, but the results were all equally tragic.

It made Shen Mo burst out laughing.

All afternoon of mahjong, Shen Mo was the only one losing; the biggest winner was Liu Yue.

This made Shen Mo unable to resist quipping: "Wife, how can you possibly be this amazing?"

Liu Yue laughed and said, as a Northerner, could you possibly not know how to play mahjong?

Winters are so cold, you stay indoors for ten-plus days at a stretch — your mahjong skills get honed whether you like it or not.

Shen Mo laughed. Fair point.

Because they were having so much fun, they ended up having dinner at Lan Lan's place too.

Dinner was cooked by Lan Lan's parents.

A table of refined southern dishes.

The portions weren't large, but the variety was especially wide.

Lan Lan said it was because her mother herself enjoyed cooking, so it didn't represent all southerners.

Seeing this, Shen Mo couldn't help but laugh.

(End of chapter)