Chapter 198: They All Bought These for Me

The small supermarket in the dormitory compound had an ideal location, right on the path all students took when returning to their dorms after school.

The supermarket's owner, Old Liu, had secured this spot only through his familial connection with the vice principal.

It was because the connection was too distant to outcompete the boss next to the school cafeteria that he settled for this smaller supermarket.

Compared to the cafeteria side, the dormitory compound's supermarket had decent foot traffic, but customers only came during morning and evening hours.

Still, it enjoyed a monopoly, so his monthly earnings were quite substantial.

After deducting rent paid to the school and labor costs, his net profit reached twenty to thirty thousand yuan per month—undoubtedly a solid side business.

Old Liu's family already ran a supply business, so he could acquire inventory at lower prices, greatly expanding his profit margin.

Now in his fifties, Old Liu was semi-retired; after handing the family business to his son, he enjoyed strolling here daily.

Watching these vibrant students come and go in his supermarket, he would smile warmly.

Sometimes, in good spirits, he'd even give a few students a free ice pop, which earned his supermarket an excellent reputation among students.

But Old Liu's favorite sight now was after the evening self-study bell rang, squatting beside his supermarket, watching students sprinting from the dormitory compound's main gate.

Many boys, to avoid waiting in line, had already prepared thoroughly in their classrooms before the dismissal bell even rang.

For those on higher floors, they'd even pretend to go to the restroom, secretly slipping down to the first-floor restroom to wait.

The moment the bell rang, they'd burst out like wild dogs.

They never ran this hard during sports day, yet on this trivial matter, each one unleashed his full potential.

I have to say, running like this regularly is actually quite good for physical fitness.

And it was these boys who, within mere seconds, would appear at the supermarket door, leaping one after another before Old Liu's eyes, filling him with particular delight.

Generally, the boys who ran first bought instant noodles plus one sausage; some added a braised egg and a small snack.

This set cost seven or eight yuan; pricier instant noodles could reach over ten yuan.

But.

In recent days, Old Liu had noticed something unusual.

Previously, every single boy who ran ahead always rushed into his supermarket.

But since Monday of this week, one or two boys would run first yet bypass the supermarket entirely, heading straight for the dormitory building.

At first, the number was small, and Old Liu didn't pay much attention, assuming they were in a hurry to shower or sneakily play with their phones.

But as time passed, by Wednesday and Thursday, nearly half of the dozen or so boys sprinting ahead from school now headed directly toward the back of the boys' dormitory.

This left Old Liu thoroughly puzzled.

What was going on with these boys?

Behind the boys' dormitory building—that was the girls' dormitory building, wasn't it?

With this thought, Old Liu frowned suspiciously. On Friday night, watching over twenty figures sprinting toward the back of the boys' dormitory without even glancing at his supermarket, he could no longer sit still.

Although this didn't greatly affect his supermarket—most students still came to buy things—

Not understanding what was happening left him uneasy.

So he stood up, followed the direction those boys had sprinted, and, with a puzzled expression, circled around the boys' dormitory.

Then he saw a line formed before the fire escape gate.

Each person held cash, exchanged money for goods with two boys outside the gate.

Old Liu stepped closer and raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Egg fried rice?"

The twenty boxes of egg fried rice sold quickly, nearly all traded within one or two minutes.

Boys who received the egg fried rice beamed with joy, returning to their dorms like victorious warriors.

But some students ranked beyond the twentieth, seeing they'd missed out, grabbed the gate bars and pleaded desperately: "Brother! You still have a few left inside, right? Can you sell me one? Please!"

"Uh…" Li Luo glanced at the boy's uniform, marked with "2013"—clearly a Gao Er senior—and winced, "Senior, you know we only sell twenty portions daily. No more. The rest are reserved for our friends."

Hearing this, the senior grew even more frantic, grabbing nearby students who'd already bought fried rice, begging them to sell him some at a higher price.

But his luck was bad—no one agreed.

Soon after,

Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang arrived, grinning, and received their free portions from Li Luo.

The senior didn't let them go either, but Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang refused too, waved goodbye to Li Luo, and headed back to their dorm.

Only when Yan Zhusheng and Xu Yinghuan walked up to the gate did the senior finally reach them.

"I promised my crush I'd get her egg fried rice today. Please, sell me one? I'll pay extra—twenty yuan okay?"

Yan Zhusheng blinked, looked at the senior, then turned to Li Luo, tilting her head.

Li Luo shrugged indifferently, leaving it to her.

So Yan Zhusheng nodded, handed over her egg fried rice, and said seriously, "Twenty yuan. You said so."

"Yes yes yes! Here's twenty!" The senior nearly wept with joy, fished two ten-yuan bills from his pocket, shoved them into Yan Zhusheng's hand, snatched the rice, and sprinted off, shouting back, "Thank you!"

Yan Zhusheng looked down at the twenty yuan in her hand, turned, and walked back to the gate, handing it to Li Luo: "Here."

"Why give it to me? It's your money—keep it." Li Luo laughed, his peripheral vision already catching Old Liu nearby, and added, "Go buy some snacks. Eating egg fried rice every day gets boring."

"Then I'll split it with you." Yan Zhusheng took back one ten-yuan bill and slipped the other into Li Luo's hand. "You buy some snacks too."

"Alright, then I won't be polite." Li Luo accepted Yan Zhusheng's ten yuan, treating it as an extra boxed meal sold tonight. "Go back early and eat it while it's hot."

"Okay, bye, monitor." Xu Yinghuan replied, pulling Yan Zhusheng along. "I'll share half with you."

Watching Yan Zhusheng and Xu Yinghuan leave, Li Luo and Zhao Rongjun distributed the remaining egg fried rice to a few acquaintances. Then Old Liu, unable to hold back, approached the gate and asked, "Two students, your uniforms are from Fu Yi High School, right?"

"Yes." Li Luo nodded.

"Then do your parents know you're selling egg fried rice here?" Old Liu said. "It's dangerous being out this late. Don't do this again."

"Uncle, don't worry—we have elders with us." Li Luo pointed to Lin Xiu's figure by the roadside, then added, "We just wanted to experience working to support ourselves, so we tried selling egg fried rice—only twenty portions daily."

Hearing this, Old Liu couldn't press the students further.

So he merely nodded, acknowledging the situation, exchanged a few more words, and took his leave.

In Liu Boss's view, Li Luo's egg fried rice stall had little impact on his supermarket.

After all, the egg fried rice brought in only two hundred yuan in daily revenue, and since it was mostly students coming to experience life, he guessed they wouldn't last long.

So Liu Boss didn't bother interfering further.

Besides, the Lunar New Year was drawing near, and family business was growing busy; though retired, Liu Boss still worried about his son.

So after confirming that the small business at Fuyi Middle School posed no issue, he turned his attention to returning home to oversee the larger business there.

After watching Liu Boss leave, Li Luo also let out a slight sigh of relief.

After all, if the man had truly called security, it would've been slightly troublesome.

But…

"Let's see, how much have we made?"

Li Luo asked Zhao Rongjun beside him.

"Today I made sixty-four yuan too," Zhao Rongjun said excitedly, pulling out the money he'd saved over these days from his pant pocket and carefully counting it again. "That's three hundred and twenty yuan total! Add my previous pocket money, I've got three hundred and fifty already!"

"That's settled," Li Luo said, pulling out fifty yuan from today's earnings and slapping it into Zhao Rongjun's hand. "Round it up—exactly four hundred yuan. Buy your grandparents a down jacket. I've been worn out for a week; I'm done next week."

"Huh?" Zhao Rongjun froze at the thought of quitting, quickly saying, "I think we should keep going—we only work less than an hour a day and make fifty or sixty yuan. That's over a thousand a month! I don't even get that much for my allowance."

Li Luo stared at Zhao Rongjun in surprise; seeing the boy's serious expression, he couldn't help but laugh and sigh.

To be fair, making money really is addictive.

Especially for young people who've never earned a penny before—once they taste this kind of income, and with their boundless energy, they might not even feel tired, perhaps even enjoy it.

This left Li Luo slightly overwhelmed.

"Take a break first," Li Luo sighed. "There's nowhere to sell over the weekend anyway. If you really want to sell, wait until next week. This week, let's go buy clothes."

"Alright," Zhao Rongjun said reluctantly, patting the fire escape gate one last time—he clearly had gotten hooked.

But once seated on the electric tricycle, Zhao Rongjun solemnly warned Li Luo: "When we go buy clothes, don't bring Ying Chanxi and the others."

"Huh?"

"What do you mean 'huh'?"

"I didn't invite them, but Xi Xi and the others already made plans," Li Luo scratched his head. "They all know you're buying your grandparents a down jacket—they've arranged to go shopping together."

Zhao Rongjun's face darkened: "... Then maybe you go with them. I'll buy the down jacket myself."

"No way," Li Luo chuckled, wrapping an arm around Zhao Rongjun's neck. "Brothers for life—I'm sticking with you."