Though the profit from a single internet café wasn't great, Jiang Xu still didn't intend to give it up easily.
Leaving Fu Yanjie to hold the fort, he went home and returned with two bags of mangoes.
Fu Yanjie clenched his teeth and snapped, "Those bastards have sold another six boxes."
Across the field.
Zhang Zhiqiang and Cheng Fei cast a provocative glance their way.
"Stay cool," Jiang Xu advised calmly, "They're just small fry, not worth getting worked up over."
Jiang Xu placed a bag of mangoes on the ground and opened it.
Seeing some people leaving the internet café intending to buy meals from Zhang Zhiqiang, he cried out, "Meal boxes for sale, eight yuan each, and they each come with two big, sweet mangoes!"
You want to play a pricing game, huh?
Well then, I'll strike back with giveaways.
A mango weighed at least a half-kilo, and in a shop it would cost at least one or two yuan.
An eight-yuan meal box was slightly expensive.
But with two huge mangoes added to the deal, it was unbeatable.
The faces of Zhang Zhiqiang and Cheng Fei changed.
"Have you gone mad?"
"You'll lose money doing this!"
Jiang Xu paid them no mind.
These mangoes didn't cost anything.
He'd just spent a little time picking them.
The dozens of mango trees behind the school would last him a good long while.
And very few people knew how to get there.
Fu Yanjie's eyes lit up.
He knew about the fruit trees behind the school, having visited there last semester with Jiang Xu.
Upon seeing these mangoes, he guessed they were from there.
He couldn't help admiring Jiang Xu, "You think everything through, unlike me. I've got nothing but a bit of filthy lucre."
Jiang Xu: "Shut up!"
A few people who had originally planned to buy meal boxes from Zhang Zhiqiang, hearing Jiang Xu's shout, came over instead.
"Really? Each meal box comes with two big mangoes?"
One of them had bought a meal box from Jiang Xu the day before and received a mango.
It was very sweet and juicy.
If he got two mangoes today, he figured it was an even better deal.
Jiang Xu laughed, "Of course."
"Great, then I'll take a box of stir-fried meat and eggplant."
After taking the money, Jiang Xu gave this man an extra mango. "Bro, spread the word inside for me."
"Heh heh, no problem."
Everyone like a bargain.
Before long, most of the people planning to buy from Zhang Zhiqiang switched sides and bought from Jiang Xu instead.
He still had thirty or forty boxes left.
The faces of Zhang Zhiqiang and Cheng Fei turned green.
They just couldn't compete.
"Bastard, have you no shame?" Zhang Zhiqiang was livid.
He said to Cheng Fei, "Quick, let's pack up and move on to the next internet café."
Seeing them prepare to leave, Jiang Xu immediately told Fu Yanjie, "Leave some of the meal boxes here and follow them."
"Heh heh." Fu Yanjie cracked his knuckles, "So this is how business wars are fought. How fascinating."
He followed after them.
Zhang Zhiqiang and Cheng Fei rode a rickshaw, Fu Yanjie followed them easily.
The two people took turns pedalling so hard the chains nearly smoked, but they couldn't shake off Fu Yanjie.
This only deepened their sense of despair.
Meanwhile, once Jiang Xu sold all the meal boxes, he bit into the last mango in his hand, then went ahead to open a bank account.
After opening a bank account, Jiang Xu rented a small office and registered a cultural company.
A company couldn't be registered without a place of business.
The name was 'Nuomi Cultural Company'.
Once he bought an office later, he would change the address.
On his way home, Jiang Xu received a text message notifying him that the money had been deposited into his bank account.
After tax deductions, it was nineteen thousand nine hundred yuan.
Lin Nan also sent a message stating that the pricing for the third book would be decided a week after the second book had gone online.
It would be priced based on performance.
The second book had been online for five days already.
Once he was home, he would start on the third book.
Jiang Xu had already decided what the third book would be about.
It would still be a romance novel.
However, it was based on plot devices from a certain national TV show from the past.
Car accidents, serious illnesses, amnesia.
Just these three elements alone could be developed into millions of words.
Back home, An Nuonuo was already preparing dishes for the afternoon sales.
Jiang Xu immediately went to help.
"I'm here."
From outside the house, came the resounding voice of Fu Yanjie.
He held a small grill in his hands and had a large sack slung over his back.
"What are you doing with this?" Jiang Xu asked.
"It's for grilling starch sausages." Fu Yanjie explained, setting the grill on the ground.
He then set down his sack.
Inside were starch sausages he had just bought in bulk, along with some other snacks.
That kid really had a mind for business.
"How did it go with those two guys at noon?" Jiang Xu inquired.
"Ha." Fu Yanjie scoffed with a disdainful expression on his face. "Just a pair of weaklings. They gave up quickly.
They also promised not to sell on our turf anymore."
This was nothing but a minor incident.
After the meals were prepared, Fu Yanjie went to do the selling himself.
According to him, if they were to hire another person to help, they might get betrayed.
Rather than that, he would rather work a bit harder himself.
Jiang Xu decided to let him do as he wished.
The next two days went smoothly and were quite routine.
The title of Jiang Xu's third novel was "Pure Lover".
In two days, he had already written 30,000 words, and had sent Lin Nan the first 10,000 words as a sample.
The next step was to find someone to help An Nuonuo.
After that, he would focus all his energy on writing his novel.
He would be able to make money on both fronts.
Capital city.
Lin Nan's office.
"What the hell is this?"
She tossed a submission letter into the garbage, exasperated.
After she signed Jiang Xu, it felt as if she had used up all her good fortune.
Besides Zhou Qingyue's passable work, all others were extremely disappointing.
"Ding dong!"
Her QQ message alert rang.
Lin Nan clicked to read it.
She noticed it was an email sent by Jiang Xu.
Her heart filled with anticipation instantly.
It must be his new book.
She wondered about the genre of the new book.
"Pure Lover"...
She opened it and began to read attentively.
Very quickly, she got completely absorbed.
"That's it? That's all?!"
Just as the story was reaching a climax, she found that there was no more text.
Lin Nan felt the frustrating sensation of being aroused, only to be left hanging.
This unresolved feeling left her feeling quite uncomfortable.
At the same time, she could see the potential in this book—it definitely surpassed his previous two works.
Then came the issue of the pricing, which made her somewhat nervous.
It definitely couldn't be lower than the price of the second book.
But if it was too high, the company would not agree to it.
If it was too low, she wouldn't be able to bear it, conscience-wise.
After some serious thought, she made up her mind.
She decided to go directly to the boss to discuss it.
...
At seven o'clock in the evening, Fu Yanjie returned.
"The sales were even better today. We need to prepare more for tomorrow."
After deducting their shares, Jiang Xu's net income from the day was over one thousand and one hundred yuan.
It was a good omen.
Then, Jiang Xu escorted An Nuonuo home.
In the years when adolescents transformed to adults, it could be quite dangerous for a girl to walk outside, alone, late at night.
Unlike in ten years' time, every corner of the city, save for the public restrooms, would be covered by surveillance cameras.
After dropping An Nuonuo home, Jiang Xu returned by himself.
Upon reaching home, he saw a woman standing at the door to his house.