Today, the church's relief station offered not only food, but also some blankets.
After all, it was already October, and the autumn chill was getting stronger.
The shepherds certainly had a hard time worrying about lost sheep, fearing the homeless wouldn't survive the cold nights.
Cheng Daqi collected his food and left.
A blanket would've been nice, but having just scored a top-level connection in Rome, he needed to maintain his "Inspecting the Entrepreneurial Environment in the US" persona.
In fact, most of the time, these purposeless high-level connections were hard to translate into personal assistance.
On one hand, interactions were too few, there wasn't enough familiarity, and a lack of trust foundation existed.
You just chat a bit at the street relief station, and what, you want to become blood brothers?
Secondly, it's hard to showcase your own scarcity to top-tier clients.
Since top-tier high-net-worth individuals have an abundance of resources, their value needs are easily met. Whatever they need, they can readily find related services. With the power of money, there's virtually nothing they can't achieve.
And the most direct reason is that they're afraid you'll cling to them!
Poverty goes unnoticed in the bustling city, but in secluded mountains, the wealthy have distant relatives.
The wealthy earn plenty of money, but there are also plenty of people circling them, drawn by the scent.
This type of 'hunting' gives the wealthy an instinctive wariness, cautious of being harassed.
Of course, those who are easily duped out of their money are the exception; they lack the qualities needed to survive in the hunting ground and cannot maintain the fortune brought by luck.
The market self-regulates and wealth is redistributed, as is its nature.
Cheng Daqi has his own set of tactics for dealing with these kinds of people.
Now, all he needed to do was to leave quickly, get away from the relief spot.
The first impression had already been planted, and that was enough.
He was still looking like a homeless man, not even knowing when he last washed his hair.
His clothes had begun to give off a faint odor.
His shoes were a pair of black, cheap, no-brand ones.
This image was definitely not one that would appear in Zhao Hongjin's social circle.
Best to run first.
Whether there was an effect or whether the first impression could be maintained was beyond Cheng Daqi's control.
Doing or not doing, being capable or not, and the outcome were utterly different matters.
But as the saying goes, "do good deeds without delay."
"Cheng, are you eyeing that Asian girl at the relief station?"
Sani, holding a blanket, gossiped while looking at Cheng Daqi.
He spoke with the unmistaken flavor of Saint Rodu's old haunt, Hongqi.
It couldn't be the first time meeting a beautiful woman and already thinking of making moves on her; at least take another look to confirm, right?
"Oof, is there a chance that she likes me?"
Cheng Daqi stuffed a hamburger into his mouth with one hand while rapidly operating Feixin with the other.
Change profile picture, adjust visibility settings, update signature.
The original owner's profile picture was a side shot of someone looking at a landscape, which he changed to a Möbius strip.
A Möbius strip can be interpreted in many ways but transferred to Cheng Daqi, this ambiguity could be translated into a sense of mystery.
The visibility settings of his Moments also needed to change; the original owner's bunch of posts had no distinctive features, with the last one being a piece of chicken-soup-for-the-soul text from over twenty days ago, posted when arriving in Saint Luo.
Below this text were comments from the original owner's classmates, varying in attitudes.
The personal signature is key.
A signature communicates a person's value logic.
Those who don't care think it's unimportant, but it can indeed somewhat influence others' impressions of you.
The original owner's signature was four sentences from Zhang Zai's precepts.
He took from it the phrases: to set one's mind on heaven and earth, to take one's life dedicated to the people.
Too broad, too vague, not down-to-earth and too removed from one's status.
The main issue was that it was too direct and lacked wit.
A standout signature has three key points: wit, transmission of value logic, and uniqueness.
After changing the profile picture and the three-day visibility of his Moments, Cheng Daqi looked at the signature field, his gaze slightly intensifying.
Soon, with one hand flying across the keyboard, he rapidly typed a line of text.
Visit the blooming plum blossoms when the ice still covers the North Sea.
Those who understand will understand (it's really not convenient to explain in the book, everyone please see the comment section).
After completing all this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He hoped it was helpful, and hoped it would stabilize Zhao Hongjin's impression of him.
Surnamed Zhao, from Hongqi, currently studying at PPD.
Taken individually, these might seem mediocre, but put together, they were truly explosive.
....
Sitting beside him, Sani concentrated on eating her meal.
Although they found themselves on a street full of trash, the autumn afternoon sun in Saint Rodu was just right.
No police harassment, no robbery, they had a meal.
For the homeless, this was already a good day.
After eating, they would choose a spot to lie down and comfortably rest until hunger struck again.
Most homeless had lost the most valuable trait a person could have—hope for life.
This loss of hope didn't happen overnight.
They lived in a society that was not quite normal, battered by an irresistible tide from their environment.
This barrage came from all directions: culture, economy, demographics, betrayal...
They were like the hammer raised by some unfathomable beast, pounding these people, shattering their health, their marriages, their jobs, their ability to repay debts.
In the end, when the wind rose, it didn't bring the spring waters to life, but rather trod on their dignity with a few straws and took away their hope.
The romance of stories was mostly found within the stories themselves; a gentle breeze of the real era was enough to scatter the unfortunate.
Of course, the collective portrait of a group is never monolithic.
Just as most people are generally attracted to the opposite sex, a few to the same sex, and a rare few to lizards,
there are also those among the homeless who do not give up on hope.
For instance, Cheng Daqi.
He was now planning to solve some personal hygiene issues.
"Sani, how do you usually take baths?"
Based on his observations, Sani seemed much cleaner than himself.
He guessed that this African American girl knew some way of bathing.
Sani, chugging a bottle of fizzy drink, heard Cheng Daqi's question and replied,
"You can take a shower at the relief station, but you have to wait in line and check in to get a chance, which is troublesome.
Usually, we go to the shower buses that also provide toiletries."
"Shower buses?"
"LAVA MAE, you can find one on Red Street, you should check it out."
(LAVA MAE is from San Francisco, but let's pretend it expanded and reached Saint Rodu.)
Sani introduced Cheng Daqi to this charity organization that operated mobile showers.
However, she looked at Cheng Daqi with a hint of envy and said,
"It's easier for you guys, you can just find a river or a fountain to wash in, don't compete with us female homeless for the bus."
Cheng Daqi felt slightly embarrassed.
Indeed, finding a place with water was enough to bathe; one could even sneak into a self-service car wash to use someone else's water.
This was his first time being homeless and he lacked experience in these matters—he had not considered these options.
After all, the original person he was had not been homeless for long before meeting his end and had left no such methods behind.
"I see people lining up over there, what are they distributing?"
Cheng Daqi asked another question.
"There are always nonprofit organizations distributing things on Red Street, all sorts of stuff. The location isn't permanent, I don't know exactly either, but you can go check it out yourself."
Sani was a bit surprised, considering you said you didn't like receiving charity.
Why are you now interested in lining up?