Xu Ye folded the note carefully, packaged up a particularly nice-looking apple by hand, tucked the note inside, and drew a little smiley face on the outside of the box in pen — because he did not, fundamentally, trust Qin Zhiwei not to hand the wrong box to the wrong girl. That guy handling anything on his own was never something Xu Ye could relax about.

Christmas Eve itself was the make-or-break day of the whole campaign. With luck, they’d clear six figures in one day.

That wasn’t hyperbole. The shop was one thing, but the vending machines were now installed across five universities and seven campuses, reaching upwards of a hundred thousand potential customers. As long as they could kick off a bandwagon effect, moving ten thousand boxes wouldn’t be hard at all.

Which was exactly why Xu Ye had arranged for Qin Zhiwei to handle the Conservatory delivery — one, he genuinely couldn’t get away himself, and two, it was a chance to manufacture more contact between Qin Zhiwei and Shen Xinyi.

Left to his own devices, that guy was never going to make headway with Shen Xinyi. He needed a shove.

Xu Ye stayed at the shop through the evening. Starting around seven, customers began trickling in for Peace Apple gift boxes. A small number tore them open right there in the shop the moment they got home — and immediately regretted it once they saw the message slip inside.

Because the boxes were sealed. Once you tore the seal, there was no putting it back together.

At that age, most people had someone they liked from a distance. For those who didn’t dare confess in person, this was an easy opening — a way to say what they’d wanted to say. If the person turned them down, they could always claim they hadn’t known there was a note inside. If the person read it and didn’t say anything, that was the best outcome of all.

Xu Ye had read the psychology exactly right. So the first wave of buyers had barely walked their gift boxes home before the second wave was already at the door.

Luo Wenbing of Kangyuan Fruit Shop was watching all of this in disbelief.

By any reasonable measure his location was better — he was closer to the dorms, and anyone coming out from them had to pass his shop on the way. What he hadn’t accounted for was how many of them tonight were walking right past him and straight to Qingqing Fruit Shop, further down the road.

Luo Wenbing couldn’t help himself. He stopped one of them. “Hey, student. What are you buying?”

“Peace Apple gift box.”

“I have those in my shop.”

“Uh…” The student glanced at his cheap gift boxes and looked visibly awkward. “His are different from yours. I’ll just go over there.”

“Student — student, listen. His are fifteen yuan a box. Mine are five.”

Luo Wenbing watched batch after batch of students file past toward Qingqing Fruit Shop, and the anger built in his chest.

From where he was standing, it made no sense. Why would a crowd of college kids pay fifteen yuan for Xu Ye’s boxes and not even glance at his own five-yuan ones?

The more he chewed on it, the worse it got. He was sure Xu Ye had some trick going that he hadn’t cottoned onto yet. He stopped another student. “Are you going down to that shop for a Peace Apple box?”

“Yeah.”

Luo Wenbing shoved twenty yuan at him. “Grab one for me too. Keep the extra five as a delivery fee.”

Xu Ye was his competitor. He couldn’t drag himself over to Xu Ye’s shop to buy something.

So this was what it had come to.

The kid had no idea what Luo Wenbing was after, but seeing twenty yuan — and remembering that buying two got you one free — he agreed without much thought.

Not long after, the student handed one Peace Apple box back to Luo Wenbing and walked off happily with two of his own.

Luo Wenbing carried the box into his shop, ripped the seal open, took the apple out, gave it a quick look, and muttered to himself, “So the apples are a different variety too. No wonder they’re selling at that price.”

He noticed the little slip of paper. Curiosity got the better of him. He pulled it out and unfolded it.

A single line, small and neat:

“Whether you call it lust at first sight or love at first sight — the first time I saw you, I fell.”

Luo Wenbing, a middle-aged married man, felt nothing at all reading the line. What he felt was a rising conviction that if he didn’t do something to change tack, this year’s Christmas Eve was a bust. He called around the wholesale market, trying to imitate Xu Ye — put together a batch of comparable Peace Apple gift boxes for himself.

But by now.

Apple prices had already climbed.

Ordering the packaging online was too late.

As for the little message slips — the ones Zhang Xinzhou had been putting together for over a week — there was no time to do anything like them at all.

That was business in this country. The moment one bubble tea shop caught fire, next year the entire block around it was bubble tea shops.

That was exactly why, when Xu Ye had first floated the campaign idea, he’d told Zhang Xinzhou and Jiang Wei to keep it quiet.

The next morning, barely past seven, Xu Ye was already hollering at Zhang Xinzhou and Yang Fei to get up.

Zhang Xinzhou knew today was a big day and was on his feet the first time he was called. Yang Fei, though — he’d been at it late the night before, and had gone on to chat with his online girlfriend Miaomiao until the small hours after he’d made it back to the dorm. He fumbled for his phone, checked the time, and refused to move for love or money.

Xu Ye didn’t bother calling him again. He just said to Zhang Xinzhou: “Then it’ll be the two of us. We’ll swing by and drop apples off with the teachers. You know how it goes — a favor received softens the tongue, a gift received shortens the hand. As long as we make an impression on a few of the lecturers, our participation grades this term will look great.”

Zhang Xinzhou’s eyes bugged. “Damn. You really do think ahead.”

From the bed, Yang Fei — hearing this — snapped bolt upright. “I’m coming. I’m not failing any finals either.”

“Then get up already.”

Xu Ye hadn’t called Li Tongwen. Li Tongwen paid attention in every class; when the shop was quiet he always had a book in his hand. Finals wouldn’t cost him a moment’s sleep.

The three of them washed up and rode off on two little electric scooters to the shop, bagged up a dozen or so gift boxes, and headed straight for the faculty offices.

Some of the professors had morning classes and were already at their desks.

Xu Ye and the other two dropped off apples with the ones on-site, then found Su Tong and handed her the rest.

Su Tong wasn’t slow. Even without Xu Ye spelling it out, she knew exactly what he was doing. She agreed easily — she’d hand the remaining apples off to the professors who weren’t in yet.

“Counselor. Remember to mention our names.”

Su Tong shot him a mock-flat look and laughed. “Don’t worry. I get it.”

Xu Ye grinned. Nothing more needed to be said.

In university, the students with the best grades didn’t necessarily have the warmest relationships with their teachers. But the students with real emotional intelligence — those always did.

By the time they left Su Tong’s office, class was almost about to start. Thankfully with the scooters, they still had time to grab breakfast at the cafeteria.

Yang Fei had barely sat down before he was marveling. “Feels like the campus is packed with beautiful girls today.”

“Big date night — everyone’s dressing up.”

Xu Ye took a bite of a baozi and laughed. “Good thing we don’t have too many guys like Yang Fei at this school.”

Yang Fei snapped his head up. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Zhang Xinzhou laughed. “He means, if everyone were like you, we wouldn’t be selling many gift boxes.”

“One day, when I’ve actually got a girlfriend, you two are going to be jealous.”

(End of Chapter 164)