Chapter 3

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Protagonist:

Jiang Wenyu

"Yo, isn't this Young Master Jiang!"

A young man walked toward him with a smile, saying, "How come you have the leisure to stroll around a little place like this today?"

Jiang Wenyu recognized the other party; he was called Zhou He, and had been his subordinate when he started his business before.

When he had money the other party stuck to him like a shadow, but after he fell on hard times the other party vanished without a trace!

Jiang Wenyu said indifferently, "Nothing much, just have a radio cassette player on hand that I want to sell, came out to look around and see who needs one, and by the way collect some broken ones to take back."

Seeing the device in his arms, Zhou He said with a touch of mockery, "What, Young Master Jiang is short of money again? Even started collecting scrap?"

That word "again," the other party enunciated especially clearly, as if afraid others wouldn't hear the sarcasm in his words.

Jiang Wenyu didn't mind either, and said, "What about you, strolling around a little place like this — were you kicked out by your family again, planning to rent a room?"

Before following Jiang Wenyu to start a business, Zhou He had always been idle and jobless, and had been kicked out by his family more than once; at that time Jiang Wenyu often helped him out, letting him rent a room around here and such.

"What are you talking about, that's all ancient history; now I'm someone with a proper job!"

Zhou He said proudly, "Now I'm a foreman at a construction site, my monthly wage is already eighty yuan, earning far more than when I followed you."

Jiang Wenyu raised his eyebrows slightly; a construction foreman's wage couldn't be this high, the other party must be taking kickbacks from somewhere.

"Back when you had money you were so arrogant, didn't expect you'd have a day like this too?" Zhou He sneered with a twisted expression.

Jiang Wenyu gave a cold laugh, turned his head, and was about to leave, not wanting to deal with him anymore.

But Zhou He wouldn't let it go and chased after him, looking him over with disdain: "You're collecting scrap now, right? How about this, I've got a broken Walkman; seeing how pitiful you are today, you shine my shoes and I'll give you the Walkman, how about it?"

Jiang Wenyu's heart stirred at those words.

Although Walkmen could be seen everywhere in the future, even nearly phased out by smartphones at one point, right now they were still rare goods, only available in big cities like Jianghai City — you could say they had a price but no market, and many people had only ever seen them on TV.

Jiang Wenyu turned back and said, "Let me see the goods first."

Zhou He fished a Walkman out of his pocket, tossed it to him, and said, "Can you shine my shoes now?"

Jiang Wenyu took a look and found it was still very new, and a major foreign brand; he looked at Zhou He suspiciously — the other party could actually afford something like this?

Zhou He said with a smile, "How about it, eye-opener, right?"

Jiang Wenyu put the Walkman away, then took out ten yuan and stuffed it into the other party's hand, saying, "Such a good thing — shining shoes would be too cheap for me; here's the money, I'm buying it."

Zhou He raised his eyebrows slightly; this thing wasn't his at all, it belonged to his uncle — when he visited his uncle's house he found it broken and thrown in the trash, but Zhou He secretly kept it to show off to friends; he never expected this fool would actually be willing to spend ten yuan to buy it!

Zhou He gave a cold laugh and said, "Worthy of Young Master Jiang, spending money so generously."

Jiang Wenyu didn't hear those words, because he was afraid the other party would go back on his word; after throwing down the money he left.

This Walkman's brand was very big; when bought it definitely cost no less than two hundred yuan; this brand was still a world top-100 enterprise even in the future, only its focus had shifted from Walkmen to computers and game consoles.

In his previous life Jiang Wenyu had served as a senior technician and project director at a certain OEM factory; the technology inside this little thing, though very advanced at present, had long been obsolete in the future, and to him it was child's play — as long as the mainboard wasn't broken, he was confident he could fix it.

Relying on this little thing alone, paying off his debts would be more than enough.

On the way home, when he passed Old Li's gate, he heard Old Li's grandson clamoring to buy a radio cassette player to listen to tapes, and he immediately stopped.

Old Li's son had gone to university, was very promising, and worked in Beijing, so the family was quite well-off; but Old Li didn't have the habit of watching TV or listening to the radio, so the household didn't have many appliances.

Jiang Wenyu had originally thought this radio cassette player wouldn't be sold today; who knew he'd run into this kind of thing on the way home!

How could he possibly let it slip by?

Holding the radio cassette player, he knocked on Old Li's door; ten minutes later, carrying twenty yuan, he went to the market, bought two catties of meat, and returned home, planning to make a pot of braised pork for dinner, to give Chen Lan and Nuan Nuan a treat.

Today was the weekend; not long after Jiang Wenyu returned home, Chen Lan and Jiang Nuannuan came back.

As soon as they entered, Chen Lan saw the vegetables Jiang Wenyu had bought back, and was startled; the old Jiang Wenyu would never take the initiative to buy vegetables, let alone buy so much meat at once.