Chapter 16: Day One: 20,484 Yuan

"Forty-two thousand!"

"Forty-three thousand!"

"Forty-four thousand! Ziyan, how much loose change do you have in your pile?"

In the old courtyard house in Xicheng, Wang Zihao sat on a piece of bluestone, a thick wad of bills clutched in his hand. When he counted to the very last note, he turned to Wang Ziyan with an excited look once more.

"Brother, altogether it's only two hundred thirty-four."

Wang Ziyan hung her head, somewhat questioning her life. She had carefully checked every sum, yet in the end she had come up two hundred ten yuan short.

"A loss of just a few hundred yuan — next time just pay a bit more attention and it'll be fine."

Before Wang Zihao could react, Chen Yansen had already grasped what Wang Ziyan meant, so he spoke up to offer comfort.

At a rural market, it was always crowded and full of sticky fingers; a loss of this size was still within controllable bounds.

Rather than keep fixating on these two hundred yuan, it was better to calm down and think carefully about which town to hit for the next big market.

"Chen Yansen, we made 20,484 yuan today!"

Wang Zihao cradled the money and shared the news with great enthusiasm.

"Oh, really?"

Chen Yansen's reaction was flat — not a trace of delight on his face, his expression calm as still water.

This little bit of money truly could not stir his interest.

"What do you think — should we stock up again? I feel like 2,000 MP3s and 600 MP4s are nowhere near enough to sell!"

Wang Zihao asked loudly, his tone slightly urgent.

In one Chongqiao Town, in a single morning they had sold 336 MP3s and 141 MP4s, and towns similar to Chongqiao — there were still 22 of them around Chunshen.

If they hit one every day, before school started, wouldn't they be able to earn four hundred thousand!

Wang Zihao's idea sounded reasonable at first hearing, but in fact it was absurdly wrong.

"First, foot traffic differs at every market — it's impossible for every town to go as smoothly as Chongqiao Town; second, people move around. When we sell the second batch, some will already be riding over to us, which means today's actual sales coverage may well span two towns, or even three;"

"Third, never treat everyone as a fool. Within half a month, someone is bound to figure out our supply channel and then copy our way of selling."

"Blindly hoarding stock without reading the situation — there's only one road that leads to, and that's death."

Chen Yansen gave a faint smile and patiently explained it to him.

Not to mention Wang Zihao, who was still green; even in his previous life, old hands who had long mixed in the business world would still make the mistake of being greedy and rushing ahead.

No way around it — some temptations were simply too great, and they could always cloud a person's mind.

"No way, right?"

Wang Zihao froze at the words, as if a basin of cold water had been dumped on him, and instinctively pressed further.

"I suggest you first think about how to spend this money! After all, making money was never the point — spending it is."

Chen Yansen stood up and clapped his friend on the shoulder as he spoke.

"Holy crap! That actually makes a ton of sense!"

Wang Zihao let out a silly grin and couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"Cut the lip! Hurry up and pack all the money away — if we get to the bank before it closes, I can still deposit it."

Chen Yansen gave him a kick, then urged him on.

Too much cash — one, it was heavy; two, it was risky. He was afraid of hardship and afraid of trouble, so depositing it straight into the bank was naturally far more secure.

"Mm, okay, right away."

Wang Zihao understood the stakes and hurriedly answered in assent.

But the moment he thought of tomorrow's Subject One exam, he couldn't help but laugh and say: "What do you think Instructor Huang's face will look like when he sees the two of us tomorrow?"

"Should he call you Boss Chen or Student Chen?"

The more Wang Zihao thought about it, the funnier it got — his mouth hung wide open, his whole heart and eyes full of anticipation.

……

……

The next morning, Huang Daxiang Driving School.

"Sen-ge, what score did you get?"

Wang Zihao, just out of the exam room, the moment he spotted Chen Yansen, immediately trotted over, fawning all the way.

"90."

Chen Yansen answered offhandedly.

The August heat was sweltering — first thing in the morning, without having done a thing, his white shirt was already soaked halfway through, and even his underwear felt damp and clammy.

"Then I'm higher than you — 98!"

Wang Zihao licked his own thick face and said with a grin.

"Damn it, a few extra points won't put food on the table."

Chen Yansen scoffed. He couldn't be bothered to compete with Wang Zihao over this kind of thing, thinking to himself: wait till we start practicing Subject Two, then you'll get what's coming to you.

A person's name, a tree's shadow — Huang Boxiang's foul temper was known throughout the whole school.

The number of students willing to choose him as their instructor was pitifully small.

Most high school graduates signed up in June and got their licenses by mid-to-late July, so this was precisely the driving school's off-season, and the students on Huang Boxiang's roster could be counted on one hand.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been thinking about going out to run an unlicensed taxi.

Even though his older brother was the driving school's boss and he didn't have to worry about being fired, he still had to think about making a living — a base salary alone couldn't support a family.

Sure enough, when he came over to collect his students, there were only two names on the list.

The moment the three of them locked eyes — one was stunned, one was grinning foolishly, and one was calm as a breeze.

"Ch—Chen-laoban, you two are here to learn to drive too?"

Huang Boxiang's mind was a jumbled mess; he stood dumbfounded for several dozen seconds before finally remembering to open his mouth and ask.

"Instructor Huang, didn't expect it'd be quite the coincidence."

Chen Yansen reached out his hand and gave the other a brief shake — before the goods were sold out, he didn't want Huang Boxiang to know his true identity.

"Since we all know each other, I'll definitely give it everything I've got to teach you. I guarantee I'll get the two of you your driver's licenses as fast as possible."

Huang Boxiang thumped his chest and promised.

"Instructor Huang, to be honest with you, I actually can drive, I just don't have a license. This time it's mainly my colleague who's here to learn, so just put your mind at ease and drill him hard — don't be polite with him."

Chen Yansen said with a solemn face, speaking slowly.

"Oh? Then shall we find a spot to practice?"

Huang Boxiang didn't show much surprise — he'd seen too many self-taught types like Chen Yansen.

Some people drove without a license for decades, and when the road patrol officers tried to dock their points, they'd even dare throw their hands up and brazenly admit: "I don't even have a license — what points are you going to dock?"

"No problem."

Chen Yansen agreed very readily; he didn't want to come here every day to bake in the sun, otherwise by then he'd probably be even darker than Wang Zihao.

"Wait, when did you learn to drive?"

Wang Zihao instantly got anxious, and the words in his heart slipped out.

The two had played together since childhood — to put it bluntly, he knew every inch of Chen Yansen's body like the back of his hand.

"My family has a second-hand Jinbei, I snuck out and drove it a few times last year."

Chen Yansen lied without batting an eye; as for whether Wang Zihao believed him or not, it didn't matter in the slightest.

"Boss Chen, it's still better to drive with a license in hand."

Huang Boxiang hesitated for a long while, then gently advised.

"Instructor Huang is right — that's why I'm here, isn't it?"

Chen Yansen let out a forced laugh and smoothly picked up the thread.

Wang Zihao, following behind him, was full of doubts, but didn't ask any more.

The three of them arrived at the training ground. Huang Boxiang found him a student car, then voluntarily got into the passenger seat.

Chen Yansen gave a slight smile, skillfully started the engine and shifted into gear, cruising at a steady speed through the S-curves without ever running over a line.

The parallel parking and reverse-into-garage maneuvers were also extremely smooth.

"Boss Chen, this doesn't look like someone who's only touched the wheel a few times! Your skills are more solid than some old drivers with over a decade of experience."

Huang Boxiang praised sincerely.

"Instructor Huang, I won't be coming back after this. My colleague here — please put in some extra effort for him."

Chen Yansen got out of the car and said straight out.

"Fine, I'll arrange the slot. I guarantee you can take the Subject 2 test next week."

Huang Boxiang nodded and took everything upon himself.

After this, Chen Yansen still needed to rent his car for at least nine more days, so within the bounds of his ability, doing a few small favors in return was perfectly reasonable.

"Holy crap! Chen Yansen, you're really not coming with me anymore?"

Wang Zihao couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a loud howl.

"With Coach Huang here, just put your mind at ease and practice boldly."

Chen Yansen wore a mischievous grin and offered a breezy word of comfort.

After saying that, he turned back to brief Huang Boxiang: "Day after tomorrow, seven in the morning, same old place — we're heading to Anfeng!"

(End of chapter)