Time flies quickly. Without noticing, the store has been open for over ten days.
Realizing he hadn't contacted Han Xue for a while and she had helped him out a lot, he felt rather guilty and decided to give her a call.
As soon as Han Xue picked up the phone, she joked, "Oh so Mr. Li remembered me?"
"Commander Han, I've been wronged!"
Li Zhongnan chuckled, and then gave a goofy smile, "We just opened the store, and it's been really busy. As soon as I had a break I called you, wondering if you had any fun plans, to take me along."
"Made a good amount of money, I guess? Are you treating?"
Han Xue asked, seemingly amused.
Li Zhongnan proudly replied, "Hehe, a little bit. No problem, it's on me." Making money without anyone to share it with, really lacked a sense of achievement.
"Fine! I forgive you this once!"
Han Xue giggled and then added, "But note it down, I'm busy today."
She then ended the call.
Strolling by West Lake, feeling the cool evening breeze in the summer, he felt completely refreshed, with every part of his body feeling relaxed.
For a fleeting moment, he was suddenly overcome with the feeling of being reborn.
Just a year ago, he had returned to his hometown completely hopeless, even contemplating suicide at one point. He then idled for several months before finally pulling himself together and taking over his father's junk collection business.
The former top scorer in the college entrance exam, regarded as a role model by hundreds of thousands of students across Northrealm, was now collecting junk to make ends meet in a small village, subjected to all sorts of rumors and mockery.
Who would have thought that in less than a year, he had made over a hundred thousand. His assets even exceeded a million.
And this, was just the beginning!
After strolling around West Lake, he found himself standing at the entrance to Nangang Middle School without realizing it.
"Has it been another year of national college entrance exams?"
Li Zhongnan looked at the banner at the entrance of the school, suddenly realizing that today was June 8th. The national college entrance exams, familiar yet distant, felt as if it happened yesterday, and yet also in another lifetime.
Stepping into the school. He walked past younger boys and girls, some excited, some disappointed, mostly discussing this year's exam topics. Immersed in this environment, he felt momentarily disoriented. For a moment, it felt as if he had returned to his student days, that period teeming with beautiful dreams and youthful anticipation.
In reality, all this was too far away for him now.
Seeing the familiar environment, he couldn't help but think of his old classmates. He wondered if the girl who confessed to him but got rejected was in a relationship? And if the female class teacher whom he had a crush on for three years was still here?
Arriving under the dormitory building.
With a thud, a book suddenly dropped, almost hitting his head. Li Zhongnan gave a bitter smile, looking at the scattered test paper and textbooks on the ground only to see groups of graduates carrying their stuff walking out of the school.
Suddenly, an idea struck him.
The system's gold coins had run out, and now seemed like a good opportunity to acquire more.
Most students of Nangang Middle School were from various towns and villages, living far away. After the exams, their textbooks would either be left in the dorms or sold outside the school. If he set up a temporary recycling station on campus, as long as the price wasn't too low, he believed everyone would be happy to sell to him.
The newly used textbooks had a high recycling ratio.
"Little Nan! You came back?"
The dormitory auntie saw Li Zhongnan and greeted warmly. Then she asked in a gossipy tone, "I heard from some teachers that you've been expelled from Tsinghua and are now collecting scrap?"
Li Zhongnan nodded embarrassedly. Bad news seemed to travel faster.
The dormitory auntie comforted him: "I don't mean to look down on you, you are still young, and you shouldn't belittle yourself. A man of talent will make his mark in any walk of life. Didn't the butcher from Northrealm, who graduated from Peking University, also amass a fortune of tens of billions?"
"Auntie, I'm fine, thank you." Li Zhongnan was touched. Who would have thought that even with her limited education, she could say such wise words, displaying a much broader perspective than him. Indeed, a man of talent will make his mark in any walk of life. Who can predict if he'll surpass the accomplishments of the rich butcher from Northrealm in a few years?
"Auntie, I have a favor to ask?"
Before Li Zhongnan could finish, the dormitory auntie interjected, "Little Nan, you came to the school to buy textbooks, right? Someone else just asked me! But since you mentioned it, I rejected him!"
Li Zhongnan asked, "How much is he offering?"
The dormitory auntie said, "Four tenths of a yuan per catty."
"I'll give five tenths!"
Li Zhongnan smiled, understanding that familiarity is familiarity, and business is business.
Hearing this, the dormitory auntie grinned widely and nodded vigorously: "Rest assured, leave this to me, I guarantee to get it done. I will go from dormitory to dormitory urging those brats, let's see if they dare not to sell to me!"
"By the way, dormitory auntie, is teacher Yao Danhong still at the school?" The image of the beautiful headteacher flashed through his mind, and Li Zhongnan's heart pounded. Although he had a memorable romantic experience in university, there was always a spot reserved for her deep in his heart. That was his first love, even if it was only unrequited...
"You mean teacher Yao? She transferred to Nangang Middle School."
"Oh!"
Li Zhongnan felt a little disappointed, but also relieved. He was looking forward to seeing her, but also afraid. If she knew, the once proud student had now become a junk collector, what would she think?
With the help of the dormitory auntie, the collection of books was much smoother.
That night, Li Zhongnan collected 5000 catties of books at Nangang Middle School, and sold them directly to the system late at night when nobody was around, earning fifty gold coins.
He was somewhat surprised, the system only bought used books for one gold coin per 100KG, but these new books were bought at double the price.
Exchanging 2500 RMB for 50 gold coins, each gold coin only costed 50 RMB, it was a great deal. Usually, he had to spend at least 200 RMB to get a gold coin by collecting scrap.
He must take full advantage of this opportunity after the national college entrance exam!
He decided to go to various schools to collect books in large quantities to earn more gold coins. As long as he had enough gold coins, making money wouldn't be an issue.