“Beep, beep, beep…”
“Hello?”
“Hello?”
Xu Ye called into the phone twice before he realized she’d hung up on him.
He immediately typed: “What’d you hang up for?”
Chen Qingqing, quickly: “Who told you to go around calling me things.”
Xu Ye: “Everyone calls their girlfriend baby when they’re dating.”
Chen Qingqing: “Zhang Ruowei was right. You guys really are all pig-trotter jerks.” [TL: 大猪蹄子, “big pig trotter” — internet slang for a man who’s fickle, insincere, or full of it, especially in relationships.]
Xu Ye: “Wait, what did Zhang Ruowei say now?”
Chen Qingqing: “I’m ignoring you.”
Chen Qingqing: “Hmph!”
Xu Ye was at a loss. He had no idea what Zhang Ruowei had told her, but nothing good, clearly.
All he could do was send a voice message. “I’ll find you later then. Don’t listen to Zhang Ruowei’s nonsense. She’s a single dog — she doesn’t have the first clue what love is.”
Chen Qingqing accidentally tapped the message, and all three of her roommates heard it play.
Zhang Ruowei’s face went blank.
Jiang Yu and Shen Xinyi caught up a second later, then both burst out laughing.
“Hahahahaha—”
Zhang Ruowei bristled. “That little bastard — talking behind my back like that. I’m calling him right now to give him a piece of my mind.”
Chen Qingqing’s mouth opened, then closed.
Zhang Ruowei caught it instantly. “Qingqing, what were you going to say?”
Meekly: “He’s busy right now. Could you yell at him next time you see him?”
Zhang Ruowei deflated. Shook her head with a sigh. “Defending Xu Ye no matter what. You really are beyond saving.”
“He really is busy.”
Zhang Ruowei folded her arms across her chest, chin up. “Hmph. I’m mad.”
Chen Qingqing pressed on. “I already scolded him myself.”
“How’d you scold him?”
“I called him a pig-trotter jerk.”
“You call that scolding?”
“Then what should I have said?”
“You should have — you know what, forget it. You two are on the same side, why am I bothering.”
Chen Qingqing’s eyes narrowed into a smile. “Why don’t we go out for dinner tonight? My treat.”
“Boss. I want hotpot.”
“+1.”
“Let’s go.”
Back at the office.
Jiang Wei hit refresh again. The sales count and total revenue jumped again.
“Just — just crossed ten thousand!”
“Are you serious?” The whole room crowded in, everyone’s eyes on the screen in front of her.
“Holy hell. Ten thousand for real?”
“Zhang Xinzhou, are we rich?”
Zhang Xinzhou’s voice cracked with excitement. “Can you not do the math? Fifteen yuan a box, ten thousand boxes — that’s a hundred and fifty thousand. And that’s not even the point. The point is it’s only six-thirty!“
“We really did strike gold.”
Xu Ye laughed. “All right. Xia Minghui, run the numbers again — see which campuses are still low on stock, and get the last batch of inventory sent out.”
“Got it.”
“Ruan Xiaolu, do me a favor and put in a takeout order. Put it on my tab. Get one for every classmate who came to help, and add a bubble tea for each of them too.”
“On it.”
The company was making money. Morale was through the roof.
Actually, Xu Ye had seen this coming by early afternoon.
That was how business went. Making a hundred thousand yuan might take a year. Making a million might take five. But going from a million to ten million could happen in a single month.
Vending machine sales kept climbing. The fruit shop was equally slammed.
From about three or four onwards, the shop had been packed wall to wall.
Luo Wenbing of Kangyuan Fruit Shop watched Qingqing Fruit Shop up the road doing overflow business while his own doorway sat empty. His heart bled.
Time flew.
By the moment the moon had climbed above the branches of the osmanthus trees, it was already eleven at night.
Back at the Entrepreneurship Center office.
Jiang Wei worked the calculator with practiced ease, running the day’s vending-machine numbers.
The moment she pressed the “=” key, the calculator gave off its bright little chirp. “Equals two hundred forty-six thousand, nine hundred forty-five.”
“Any chance you got it wrong?”
“No. Ran it twice. Numbers match.”
Xu Ye nodded, satisfied. “Excellent. Two forty-six on the top line means net should be somewhere around a hundred thousand. Everyone did great today. Friday night we throw a celebration dinner — I’ll hand out bonuses at the same time.”
“Boss doesn’t cut corners!”
“Time to pack up. Any later and the dorms will be locked.”
“Today was killer.”
“I need a nice hot shower the moment I get back.”
“God, it’s dark out.”
“You three take the scooters back. Just get them back to the shop first thing tomorrow — we need them.”
“Sure thing.”
Watching Jiang Wei, Ruan Xiaolu, and Xia Minghui ride off on the scooters, Yang Fei looked utterly lost. “Xu Ye. It’s eleven-seventeen. The dorm closes in thirteen minutes. You just gave the scooters to them. How are we supposed to get back?”
“Running.”
“Huh?”
Xu Ye was already off, sprinting toward the dorms.
Zhang Xinzhou cursed under his breath and took off after him.
“Xu Ye, you murderous piece of work! You’re this rich now — when the hell are you buying a car?”
“You keep working hard and by year’s end big brother’ll pick one up. Year after that big brother’ll find you a wife too.”
“Go screw yourself!”
Three of them ran the whole way back to the dorm. Xu Ye headed straight into the shower. While he was drying his hair, he saw WeChat had piled up.
He opened them one at a time.
Wang Yuxin: “Xu Ye-gege, Merry Christmas Eve! Did you and Qingqing-jiejie go on a date tonight?”
Chen Qingqing: “Dumb pig, are you done yet?”
Qin Zhiwei: “Xu Ye. Those Peace Apple boxes sold so hard, you must have made a fortune today, right?”
Jiang Meilin: “Xiao Xu, are you with Qingqing?”
He dried his hair and started answering in order.
First, Wang Yuxin: “Nope, gege was busy making big money today.”
She didn’t reply. At this hour she’d already be asleep.
Second, Jiang Meilin: “Auntie, the company ran a Christmas Eve campaign — I didn’t go over to Qingqing’s today, but I’ll go on New Year’s Day.”
Also no reply. She was probably asleep too — it was almost a quarter to midnight.
Third, Qin Zhiwei: “Decent. Cleared somewhere over a hundred grand.”
Qin Zhiwei was very much awake. He fired right back: “Damn, you make more in a day than my dad does in a year!”
Xu Ye: “What are you saying? You planning to start calling me Dad?”
Qin Zhiwei: “Piss off.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Let me ask you something.”
Xu Ye: “Shoot.”
Qin Zhiwei: “If you had thirty million right now, and your best friend was sick and needed twenty-nine million nine hundred and ninety-five thousand for treatment, what would you do?”
Xu Ye: “What would I do?”
Xu Ye: “Do it in grand style, obviously!” [TL: The joke pivots on 办, which in “怎么办” means “what to do” but as a verb also means “to hold / to arrange” — as in arranging a funeral. Xu Ye’s answer flips the meaning: rather than “what would I do,” he takes it as “how would I hold [your funeral]” — and the answer is: extravagantly.]
Qin Zhiwei: “Xu Ye, are you even human?”
Qin Zhiwei: “Our friendship can’t survive one little test?”
Xu Ye: “All right, I’m calling my girlfriend now. Stop yapping.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Ask Shen Xinyi if she’s asleep for me. If she is I’ll send her a good-night message. If she’s not, I’ll ask if she’s around.”
Xu Ye: “Never ask someone ‘you around?’ or ‘are you there?’ over messages. If you’ve got something to say, just say it. If they don’t reply, that’s your answer — they don’t want to talk to you.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Got it, bro.”
(End of Chapter 167)