“Do you have apples?”
“Of course — Fuji, Red Delicious, Granny Smith, several kinds.”
Jiang Wei stepped into the fruit shop, and heads turned across the whole room. Nobody had expected her to just walk in.
Xu Ye followed her inside, falling into step beside her. “Did you share my Moments post?”
“No,” she said coolly.
“Huh?” It came out before he could stop it. “How could you do that — you said you would at lunch.”
Jiang Wei picked up an apple and studied it, eyebrows drawing together. “When exactly did I say that? And why would I share your Moments anyway — what’s in it for me?”
“There’s definitely something in it for you!”
Xu Ye said with absolute conviction, “I’m a man who repays his debts.” [TL: the original line uses a deliberate pun — 知恩图鲍 instead of 知恩图报 (to repay a kindness), swapping one character for 鲍 (abalone), implying “repay with abalone/seafood” — a bit of wordplay that signals he’s being playful, not serious]
Jiang Wei ignored him. He pressed on. “You share it once, I’ll give you two jin of apples for free. Pretty generous, right?”
She looked at him carefully. “Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
She nodded. “Then weigh me two jin first.”
Xu Ye had Yang Fei weigh out two jin of apples and bag them up in a Qingqing Fruit Shop bag. Jiang Wei took it, pulled out her phone right in front of him, and shared the promotional Moments post on the spot.
Xu Ye waved cheerfully. “Safe travels, Senior.”
She smiled faintly, and walked out at an unhurried pace.
A campus belle was basically a public figure. Getting her to run one advertisement in exchange for two jin of apples — for Xu Ye, that was an unambiguously good deal.
Except, a few minutes later, when he opened Moments to check, there was no sign of any reshare from Jiang Wei.
He typed immediately. Senior, why can’t I see your reshare?
Jiang Wei: Because I have my Moments set so nobody can see it.
Xu Ye: ???
Xu Ye: You played me?
Jiang Wei: You said share it. You didn’t say anything else.
Xu Ye: Transfer me money for two jin of apples. Right now.
Jiang Wei: This recipient has declined to receive your message. [TL: the same mock-WeChat-block line Qingqing used on Xu Ye back in chapter 54 — Jiang Wei is, knowingly or not, using the same move]
“Are you kidding me.”
Xu Ye stared at his phone, genuinely at a loss.
He’d been in college for weeks now and this was the first time a girl had actually gotten one over on him.
Yang Fei wandered over. “Something wrong?”
“Nothing,” Xu Ye said, and dropped it there. He was too embarrassed to say.
Evening — the fruit shop’s busiest hour.
Xu Ye worked the door out front, Yang Fei and Zhang Xinzhou handled cutting and arranging fruit, while Li Tongwen and Xu Wanying managed the register. One day of experience had made all the difference; today everything ran smoothly.
“Do you carry eggs?”
Xu Wanying shook her head. “Eggs? We’re a fruit shop.”
“Oh, never mind, just asking.”
Xu Ye caught the exchange from his post by the door and leaned in. “Hey, what do you need eggs for?”
“Morning breakfast.”
“Just one egg?”
The girl nodded. “A lot of girls eat just one egg in the morning to stay on track — easy, filling enough, decent protein. Only problem is you have to go all the way to the wet market to find them.”
“Are you in the group chat yet?” Xu Ye asked quickly. “If I can get eggs in bulk, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Sure.”
She scanned the QR code, joined the group, and left.
Li Tongwen added from behind the counter, “Xu Ye, that’s not the first person who’s come in asking for eggs today.”
“That’s a market signal. I’m calling around right now.”
He got Chen Jianjun on the phone. Chen Jianjun hauled all kinds of cargo beyond fruit — this was exactly the right person to ask. When Chen Jianjun confirmed he had a source, Xu Ye immediately asked him to bring a few cases over.
Chen Jianjun agreed without hesitation.
Xu Ye sent a message to the group: @Everyone — A batch of eggs arriving tomorrow around noon. Limited quantity — pre-order now.
The replies came in almost before he’d put the phone down.
He hadn’t expected eggs to move like this. He got Li Tongwen to start recording orders in the group one by one.
Eggs didn’t carry much margin. He wasn’t thinking about profit.
He was thinking about foot traffic.
The concept didn’t have much currency yet in 2014 — most people hadn’t heard of it — but Xu Ye understood it clearly. The next few years were going to be all about whoever controlled the flow of people. Control the traffic, and the money follows.
…
Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Women’s Dorm, Room 205.
“Qingqing, why are you spacing out again?” Shen Xinyi noticed Qingqing sitting completely still and couldn’t resist asking.
“I’m not,” Qingqing said quickly.
“Are you worried about something?”
Before she could figure out how to answer, Zhang Ruowei laughed. “Oh, come on — it’s obvious. Our Qingqing’s thinking about a certain someone. Xinyi, leave her be. Haven’t you heard the saying — of all the ailments a person can have, longing is the only one with no cure?”
“I’m not,” Qingqing said, face going red.
Shen Xinyi smiled too. “Your boyfriend, though — really, the break was two days and he didn’t come see you once.”
Jiang Yu chimed in. “Seriously. He’s not very considerate.”
As the three of them took turns piling on, Qingqing quietly explained, “He’s the class president. It’s the start of semester, there’s a lot going on. And getting here takes over an hour each way, so—”
“Oh, listen to her defending him now~”
“I’m not defending him!”
“All right, all right, relax. I see you sitting there staring at your WeChat screen for ages — if you want to talk to him, just message him. Why do you keep hesitating? Scared of bothering him?”
Qingqing, being completely honest, gave a small nod.
Zhang Ruowei immediately dragged her chair over to sit beside her, settling in with the air of someone about to impart hard-won wisdom. “Qingqing, listen to me — don’t think like that. If you send him a message and he actually likes you, he’ll reply no matter how busy he is. A relationship has to be a two-way thing. Do you know what that means?”
Qingqing shook her head.
“It means you can’t let one person do all the reaching out. You both have to put in the effort. Men are actually very easy to please — if he’s had a long, exhausting day and you send him ‘you must be tired, here’s a hug~,’ he might be so happy he can’t sleep all night. Men are really kind of childish that way.”
Qingqing was drifting again. Zhang Ruowei reached over and plucked the phone right out of her hand. “Watch and learn.”
Qingqing opened her mouth, thought about saying something, then held back. By the time she decided she wanted to grab the phone, Zhang Ruowei had already sent the first message.
Jiang Yu and Shen Xinyi pressed in to watch.
Chen Qingqing: What are you up to~
Xu Ye: At the shop. Have you eaten?
Chen Qingqing: Yeah. You?
Xu Ye: Not yet.
Xu Ye: It’s been pretty busy here.
Chen Qingqing: Are you tired?
Xu Ye: Not really.
Chen Qingqing: But you’ve been running around in my head all day.
The second she saw that last line go out, Qingqing’s ears turned red.
Jiang Yu and Shen Xinyi waited eagerly for Xu Ye’s reply, already expecting something suitably over-the-top.
What came back instead—
Xu Ye: Zhang Ruowei, why do you have Qingqing’s phone?
Xu Ye: And stop corrupting my girlfriend.
“Hahahaha!”
The moment Zhang Ruowei was called out, Jiang Yu and Shen Xinyi completely dissolved.
Zhang Ruowei refused to accept this. “How did you know it was me?”
Xu Ye: Because she could never say something that cheesy on her own.
Zhang Ruowei: Then why didn’t you suspect Shen Xinyi or Jiang Yu?
Xu Ye: You’re the only one with that energy.
(End of Chapter)