Chapter 160

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Protagonist:

Lin Xiyu

When Lin Xiyu arrived at the place, she was truly shocked.

It was called a wholesale market, but it was actually just a large warehouse, its size far exceeding her imagination.

Before half past six, the doorway of the warehouse was already packed with people, each person with a folding handcart and several oversized woven bags.

Lin Xiyu had inquired in detail beforehand and knew that the wholesale market did not provide gunny sacks for loading goods, so one had to prepare them oneself; therefore, she had bought a full set in advance.

At seven o'clock sharp, the warehouse doors opened, and the crowd instantly boiled, rushing forward, competing with each other.

Lin Xiyu followed the crowd into the warehouse and saw that the people ahead were like robbers, scrambling to stuff the sweaters they had taken a fancy to into bags, not even letting go of those hanging on the racks.

In a short while, the sweaters hanging in the front row had all been snatched up.

This scene left her quite dazed, and it took her a long while to react before she dragged her small handcart and ran toward the back rows.

After wandering around the back rows for several circles, she gradually figured out the trick.

The merchants at the wholesale market hung the currently most popular styles in the front row, while in the discount area at the back, most were last year's old styles.

The further back, the older the styles; some were directly marked down to ten percent off, with very affordable prices. A sweater that cost one or two hundred yuan each outside could be wholesaled in over a dozen pieces here at the same price.

Shanghai is an international metropolis, always at the forefront of fashion trends.

Some fashionable styles, even after two or three years, would not be out of date in other cities.

Her female cousin bought sweaters to give as gifts; whether the style was new or not didn't matter, as long as they weren't second-hand or defective goods, and could be given away.

Moreover, at such a cheap price of ten percent off, taking them to the Night Market to sell would double the profit and surely be easy to sell; earning over ten yuan per piece was very easy.

Lin Xiyu was quick-witted, understood the key point, and soon felt relieved; the depression from not being able to grab the latest styles upon entering vanished.

——

The key to making money in small business is cost-performance ratio; discounted sweaters are the easiest to resell, and naturally the most popular among out-of-town dealers.

Out-of-towners who shared Lin Xiyu's thinking mostly wandered around the discount area; she also calmed herself down and selected the goods she liked.

"Little girl, you have a good eye; you're quite good at picking clothes......."

"Did you come alone? Where are you from?"

"How will you ship your goods after picking them? Want to share a ride to the Train Station together?"

There were many people picking goods in the ten-percent-off area; soon someone noticed her, seeing she was a delicate-looking young girl, and used various pretexts to come and hit on her.

"No need, I'm not going to the Train Station; there's a Post Office nearby, and I don't have many goods, so I can just mail them back from the Post Office."

Lin Xiyu naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to give her name and address to a stranger; she casually perfunctorily said a few words and shook off quite a few people's entanglements.

"Isn't it expensive to mail from the Post Office......."

Someone was not giving up and still wanted to pester her, but she glared them back with a fierce gaze: "I'm just willing to go to the Post Office; is it any of your business?"

"Hey hey, this little girl is quite spicy; fine if you don't take the ride, I'll find someone else."

That person walked away cursing, and others were also intimidated by her fierce aura, not daring to come disturb her again.

"Hah."

Lin Xiyu exhaled a breath of turbid air, calmed herself down, and once again focused her energy on selecting goods.

——

The discount area was not small; walking past each shelf and just taking a quick look would take over three hours.

Lin Xiyu roughly screened through them once and selected quite a few sweaters she liked.

She roughly counted them; there were already nearly one hundred pieces, two large woven bags, stuffed full.

The small handcart could stack at most three woven bags; any more and it couldn't be pulled.

Moreover, checking out required queuing, and she still had to walk to the Post Office; after mailing the goods, it would probably be eleven o'clock.

The wholesale market was in the suburbs; taking the bus back would take over an hour.

Just to wholesale some clothes would take up an entire morning.

"Sigh."

She sighed to the heavens; an entire morning had just passed like this. For someone who wanted to surpass the study god but was powerless, attributing the reason to not having enough time.......

This kind of pain, who could understand?!

——

As expected, queuing to check out took nearly an hour; going to the Post Office to mail the goods was even farther than the estimated distance.

She had gotten up early in the morning and, to catch the bus, hadn't eaten, relying only on a bottle of water to hold on until now.

She gritted her teeth and held on until checkout was done, tired and hungry; dragging three large woven bags out of the warehouse Door, her steps were unsteady, her walking light and airy, without a bit of strength.

"So tired."

Just as she was vexed and irritable, her mother's words suddenly came to mind.

Back when she was sent to the countryside for re-education, returning home for New Year, her mother had also once carried a basket full of sweet potatoes, walking all the way from the village to the Long-distance Bus Station, so tired she almost wanted to cry and throw away the basket; thinking of the family's poverty, she still gritted her teeth and persisted.

Both were eighteen years old; her mother could persist back then, and she could do it too.

Thinking of this, she instantly regained strength, gritted her teeth and persisted, pulling the small cart forward.

——

Half an hour later, she finally arrived at the Post and Telecommunications Bureau; the moment she entered the Door, she was so moved she almost burst into Tears.

"Little girl, are you alright?"

The staff member at the Post and Telecommunications Bureau saw her red-rimmed eyes, mistook it for something serious, and came out from behind the counter with great concern, asking after her with warmth.

「It's fine, I'm just hungry, a bit dizzy. 」

Lin Xiyu's stomach happened to growl twice at that very moment, and she rubbed it embarrassedly, her ears red as she spoke the embarrassing fact.

「There are biscuits here, eat some first to fill your stomach. 」

The postal worker was a warm-hearted older sister, speaking Shanghai-accented Mandarin with a thick accent, bringing tears to the eyes of those who were starving at this moment.

「Thank you. 」

She swallowed a biscuit and drank a cup of warm water, her poor stomach finally feeling a bit better, no longer panicked with hunger as before.

There weren't many biscuits; after eating two, she felt too embarrassed to eat more and returned them to that older sister.

「A little girl looks better with some meat on her bones, don't diet...... 」

Seeing her slender figure, the older sister mistakenly thought she was deliberately dieting to maintain her figure, causing dizziness.

「I'm not dieting. 」

Lin Xiyu didn't want to leave a bad impression on the older sister, and explained with an embarrassed smile: 「I just left home a bit early this morning and didn't have time to eat breakfast. 」

「Oh...... 」

The older sister was warm-hearted; hearing this, she immediately launched into a caring-and-educating mode: 「You definitely can't skip meals; even when young you must pay attention to your health. Not eating breakfast does great harm to the body, easily causing metabolic disorders, low blood sugar, even gallstones...... 」

「I want to send a parcel. 」

Lin Xiyu laughed helplessly; to save her ears from torment, she could only interrupt with an embarrassed smile: 「Sending sweaters, how much per kilogram? 」

「Let me check for you...... 」

Mentioning work, the older sister lost interest in chatting, opened a thick and large ledger, and looked up the corresponding province and city.

「Ordinary mail 10 yuan, express 15. 」

She looked it up very skillfully and soon found the specific price.

So expensive!

Lin Xiyu's eye corner twitched involuntarily, and she forced out a smile.

「What do you want to mail? 」

Seeing her pulling three large woven bags, the older sister probably had a guess.

「Sweaters. 」

As Lin Xiyu expected, she gave the answer just as she had anticipated.

「You're so young, and you've come out to source goods? 」

The older sister looked her up and down again, very surprised.

「Uh, yes...... 」

Lin Xiyu understood; the older sister mistook her for an out-of-town dealer.

Thinking that what she did wasn't much different from being a dealer, she didn't explain further, tacitly accepting it.

「It's not easy for a little girl to do this line of work. 」

The older sister muttered softly, gesturing for her to put the woven bags on the scale to weigh them.

Lin Xiyu did as told, dragging the woven bags off the small cart and placing them on the scale.

The three woven bags totaled 50 jin, converted to kilograms, that's 25 kilograms.

10 yuan per kilogram, 25 kilograms is 250.

Fortunately, it was within an acceptable range!

Lin Xiyu pictured that rather amusing number in her mind and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

「Ordinary mail takes three days to Jinan. 」

The older sister had her fill out a mailing form, writing the address and mailing method.

After Lin Xiyu finished the form, paid, and helped the older sister dump the sweaters out of the woven bags into postal bags, once everything was done, she took her leave.

——

「Gurgle gurgle. 」

Just as she walked out of the post office door, her poor stomach protested to its owner again.

The post office was in a rather remote location, with no restaurants around.

Lin Xiyu could only tough it out on the bus back to near the school, then made do with a bowl of noodles to fill her stomach.

After running around for most of the day, she was truly exhausted; she returned to the dormitory and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, not recovering for several days straight.

——

Another weekend, Guben came to Huashi University campus again in the name of practicing basketball.

「You went to source goods yourself? Why didn't you tell me, do you think your boyfriend is just for show? 」

When he heard that his girlfriend had gone to the wholesale market alone, starving until dizzy and nearly fainting, he felt both heartbroken and speechless.

「I didn't expect the wholesale market to be so big; walking around once takes several hours. 」

Lin Xiyu explained with an embarrassed smile: 「I was careless this time; it won't happen again. Next time I go, I will definitely eat breakfast, and such a thing will never happen again. 」

「When is next time? I'll go with you. 」

Guben's sword eyebrows furrowed slightly; he was clearly not at ease about her.

「You're going too? 」

Lin Xiyu's eyes flickered: 「Better not. 」

「Why? 」

Guben didn't understand, his eyebrows knitted tightly.

「Actually I feel...... 」

Lin Xiyu hesitated for a long time before giving her reason: 「You're not suited for that kind of place; in my heart, you should be wearing a suit and tie, being a workplace elite in an office building, instead of, like me, in a crowded market, haggling over a dozen yuan per jin, rushing around and working hard...... 」

"Why do you think that?"

Guben's eyes were complex, holding a hint of helplessness.

"You and I are different..."

Lin Xiyu said matter-of-factly: "Born with a silver spoon in her mouth, naturally destined for wealth and honor."

"What on earth is in that little head of yours?"

Guben laughed in exasperation: "Nowadays, someone still believes in fate—I'm truly impressed."

"Whatever..."

Lin Xiyu's ears turned red: "Anyway, I don't want you to go."

"Reason."

Guben frowned: "If you won't let me go, there must be a reason; baseless talk of fate doesn't count..."

"I'm doing this for your own good."

Lin Xiyu said coquettishly: "You're already studying two subjects at once, it's very hard; I don't want you to waste more energy on these trivial matters."

"It won't."

Guben decisively rejected: "I know my own grades; if my energy isn't enough, I won't force myself to do something thankless and laborious."

"That's what you say, but..."

Lin Xiyu was still troubled.

"But what?"

Guben leaned down, close to her face: "Stop beating around the bush, say it clearly..."

"Studying two subjects is really hard."

Lin Xiyu's eyes flickered: "You don't need to hide it from me; I know you study at the library until late every day, no one achieves success without effort, your grades were earned through hard work..."

"That sentence contains a lot of information, needs careful savoring..."

Guben looked at her deeply, suddenly raised an eyebrow, and teased with a smile: "How do you know I study at the library until late every day? Could it be you miss me, secretly ran to Fudan University, wanting to give me a surprise?"

"No, nothing like that..."

Lin Xiyu glanced away guiltily: "I heard it from Li Qing; she said she went to Fudan University with Wang Fan several times, and every time saw you studying at the library; when she came back she kept praising you, saying you're the most promising person she's ever seen, a genius youth with extremely high talent and great diligence, and barring accidents, your future achievements are limitless."

"Hah..."

Guben raised an eyebrow, quite speechless: "So it's her; I got excited for nothing, thinking someone finally came to their senses and went to Fudan University to declare sovereignty."

"Are there many people chasing you at Fudan University?"

Lin Xiyu glared with her beautiful eyes, sensitively sensing something different.

"Your boyfriend is a genius youth with extremely high talent and great diligence, his future prospects are limitless."

Guben teased with a smile, returning Li Qing's words verbatim: "So outstanding, standing out from the crowd, how could there be no pursuers?"

Damn it!

If the tiger doesn't show its might, you treat me like a sick cat.

Let this cat see who's so blind, daring to steal this old lady's boyfriend...

"Come on, let's go to Fudan University, right now!"

Lin Xiyu bristled, like a fierce little wild kitten, facing a love rival, she bared her claws.

"Heh heh."

Guben loved seeing her tsundere little look, letting out a pleased laugh from his throat.

—

Having a sense of crisis, that cat, cough cough, no, that person, couldn't wait a moment, like a whirlwind, blew to Fudan University.

Guben satisfied her little thoughts, letting her hold his arm, circling the campus several times.

During this time, not a few girls tried to strike up a conversation, all glared back impolitely by that tsundere little cat.

"Guben, who is she? Being so close with you, is she your younger sister?"

Fudan University was full of talent, with high education and high looks, naturally there were many proud girls; someone didn't believe it, insisted on rushing to the muzzle, challenging that cat's patience.

"That's right."

Lin Xiyu bristled again, seriously retorting: "Haven't you heard of 'qing gege qing Younger sister'?"

"Cough cough."

That girl was blocked by her until her breath was unsteady, almost fainted.

"Heh heh."

Guben couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"What are you laughing at?"

Lin Xiyu narrowed her eyes, the threat obvious: "Am I wrong?"

"Right."

Guben stopped laughing, nodded seriously: "Whatever you say is right."

"I'm your younger sister?"

Lin Xiyu wouldn't let up, deliberately asked back.

"Younger Sister."

Guben remained calm, in front of that girl, gave her another critical hit.

"Hmph."

The girl was so angry her face turned iron-green, wearing eight-centimeter stilettos, she stomped away angrily.