Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Buy, buy, buy! (Part 1)

“Hiss”

There were more than a couple of people who suddenly forgot how to eat soup buns in Yuan Zhou’s small restaurant. Continuously inhaling yet unwilling to spit the broth out, the patterns each of them adopted were different. However, there was one point in which they were all similar, and that was the expression of joy painted on their faces…

“This is the first time I’ve eaten such a delicious soup dumpling, this lil’ chef sure is quite incredible.”

The grandpa, who was the first to finish eating, placed his chopsticks down and said in a moved manner.

“Lil’ chef, those skills of yours are higher by several fold compared to the century-old restaurant over by the west lake.”

The grandpa smacked his lips and continued while immersed in his memories, “There was a time when I had an official matter and passed through the west lake. Once that matter was settled, I intentionally remained for a day all for the sake of eating the soup-filled dumplings from that restaurant. The people there were even more numerous compared to this place, and the person doing the soup dumplings was naturally a master too.

“The old fogey that I was back then always had a mouth overflowing with juices when eating and thought privately: No other taste can top this. Looking back on it now though, only Lil’ Chef’s culinary skills are suitable to be deemed unparalleled within the mortal world.”

The grandpa looked at Yuan Zhou and praised him, while an unconcealable reverence began to display on his aged face.

“Thank you for your praise.” Yuan Zhou’s world-view, philosophy and values were very upright. His standard of virtue for respecting the old and cherishing the young were very high too.

“ Give me another portion then, Lil’ Chef. I, the old codger, still haven’t had my fill yet.” The grandpa had long seen the “One serving for every dish” rule written on the wall, but when faced with good food, he was very willing to pretend that he was illiterate and didn’t know its meaning.

“I am sorry, the rule is written on the wall.” Yuan Zhou gestured for the grandpa to look at the wall behind him.

“Lil Chef, rules are inanimate objects, while humans are animate beings. I’m sure that even you are unwilling to withhold food from an old fogey like me who’s getting on in years and force me to starve, right?” Said the grandpa while gazing at Yuan Zhou. He didn’t bother looking behind him, and his face even had an expression of a useless old man.

Along with that speech, the few people that had finished eating also began to participate in attempting to persuade him.

To start with, they would face Yuan Zhou and offer him a heap of genuine and sincere praises with clear affection. There was only one thought inside their heart, and that was another portion. This desire was so strong that someone eventually spoke up.

“Boss, since you don’t even have soy milk and the like in this place, give me another serving of soup dumplings, sound good??”

“I can see that there are a lot of places outside that sells drinks, you can head outside and get one, no?” Yuan Zhou had already realized that there was an exceptionally large amount of mobile vendors on the side street this morning.

That sentence had left everyone slinking back in defeat. Furthermore, there were already people behind them that were beginning to wait their turn in line for breakfast. Since they wouldn’t dare interfere with someone conducting business, the few people could only leave in anger.

Yuan Zhou had already eaten four out of the hundred soup dumplings. The remaining ninety six had already been sold out within the hour, and it was only 9 am at that point.

However, Yuan Zhou was rather depressed since the system’s display was gleaming, showing a countdown of five hours left for operating hours. Under his gloomy mood, Yuan Zhou decided upon something.

Finding a piece of white A4 paper upstairs, he wrote ‘Due to an unexpected matter, the owner must leave.Business will resume later tonight.’

After closing his shop in an elegant manner, he went out to have some fun.

However, his first stop was the bank. It was better to store the total amount of more than 200 thousand RMB within his card. That way, he could accomplish what he needed to do today.

With the whole amount of 245 thousand RMB in his small China Construction Bank card, it currently held Yuan Zhou’s entire net worth.

When he came out of the bank, Yuan Zhou couldn’t help but pat the wallet and card in his jeans. As an average joe for the past twenty few years, this was the first time he had earned over 200 thousand RMB in half a month. This was something he had never dared imagine, but with the system he currently possessed, it was very simple.

Thinking about it this way, Yuan Zhou’s heart had also relaxed. It was just the first 200 thousand RMB, that was all. There would be even more chance for him to encounter even more 200 thousand RMB in the future. To the future him, perhaps 200 thousand RMB would only be the same as 2000 RMB or 200 RMB.

“I’m a person in the street that’s really happy today! Really happy, really happy!”

TL Note: This lyrics is based on the song. 今兒個真高興, translated literally as ‘I’m really happy today’. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVAGcZXidA4

The wallet that was currently full and bulging really made Yuan Zhou feel a sense of contentment that rose from the bottom of the heart. The amount of cash solely in his wallet was already 4800 RMB; this feeling of being a rich young master was indeed great.

Thus, Yuan Zhou directly hitched a lift to pompously go to his destination.

The weather was already beginning to turn somewhat hot during the middle of April. The professional chauffeur inside the car should be afraid of heat too as he had switched on the air conditioning. Inside the cool and refreshing car, Yuan Zhou was quietly sitting down. The professional chauffeur didn’t bother with unnecessary words either and drove him to his destination in barely ten minutes.

“Zzzzt.”

The rental car safely and securely stopped beside the curb.

After paying the money, Yuan Zhou got off the car. Even though this day wasn’t a weekend, this street was still very crowded. This was Chengdu’s largest electronic market, ‘Rongcheng Electronic Market’.

Seeing that his computer was still displaying a black screen after it fell last night, Yuan Zhou decided not to repair it and to buy a new one like a nouveau riche do. Naturally, his handphone would retire too; it had long become an antique set since he’d had it since his first year in university. It fully deserved to enjoy its later years.

The professional driver’s parking technique was really pretty good. The place that Yuan Zhou alighted at happened to be at a large building that glimmered with light. The light came from the advertisements plastered across its surface, showing off the Fruit phone, which was currently enjoying a great influence among electronic products. Looking at it, he could felt a nouveau riche aura assaulting his senses.

If these were normal times, Yuan Zhou wouldn’t splurge on such a new, trendy sweetheart. In Yuan Zhou’s eyes, it was just too expensive. There were obviously others that offered more in terms of prices, why should he spend such an amount in order to be fashionable?

To sum it up in a word, it was exorbitant. Hadn’t someone said that it was poverty that caused someone to be indecisive? While the current Yuan Zhou wasn’t exactly loaded, he who only had himself to feed, still wanted to try his hand at being a nouveau riche.

A few sales representatives were standing near the entrance as he slowly walked up the flight of stairs. He wasn’t sure which store they were from, but they immediately began to surround him and inquire.

“Mister, what’re you looking for here?”

“Handsome guy, there’s a campaign for a new product for this year and prices will directly drop by 200 RMB, come here and take a look.”

“Handsome, the mobiles I have here are all of the newest models and their prices are cheap. Come here and have a look.”

The few young promoters continued one after the other. The commotion they made was almost like five hundred ducks clucking together.

“I already have something in mind.” Yuan Zhou could only hurriedly say a sentence and head further in, parting with the crowd of promoters. The inside was much cleaner in comparison.

“Hi, mister. May I know what you wish to buy today?” A young girl walked over, politely gave a small smile and asked. She had a pair of large eyes and wore a white Fruit phone uniform along with a knee length skirt.

“I wish to look at the phones and the computers.” Yuan Zhou looked at the young girl in front of her and expressed his motives directly.

“I see, the phones are on the first, second and third floor, while the computer are on the fourth floor. I will bring you to see the phones first, is that okay with you?” The young, large eyes girl politely asked. Both of her hands were crossed near the underbelly area and her eyes were looking at Yuan Zhou’s lips.

“Sure, but I wish to buy a Fruit phone, so let’s have a look at it. Yuan Zhou nodded his head and requested.

“Okay, in that case, what model of the Fruit phone do you want?” The young girl moved her body sideways and began to lead the way towards the Fruit counter. On the way there, she began to ascertain Yuan Zhou’s preference. The smile on her face never dimmed as she maintained a cordial, pleasant appearance.

“Take a look at this. This is the latest version you wanted. It had a robust functionality and its speed when browsing the net is very quick. It’s highly unlikely that incidents that cause freezing would happen. Its internal storage is very large too, you can download at least 10 movies, and of course, there will not be a problem even when playing games.”

“Here, you can try out its functionality first.”

Saying which, she handed the phone over to Yuan Zhou.

Once they reached the Fruit counter, the young girl with large eyes brought out the latest model that Yuan Zhou had requested and began to introduce it. Her introduction was very professional as well as straight to the point and Yuan Zhou, who only gave a slight test after holding it in his hand, passed it back to her and said.

“Alright, this model will do then.”

“Understood. Will you be paying by card or by cash, mister?” The large eyes young girl inquired. Hearing such a straightforward decision from Yuan Zhou, her smile had became even more sincere.

“By card. However, I still wish to buy a computer. I will go look at that first and pay together once I’m done looking.”

Yuan Zhou had long taken a quick glance at the price of the phone which was ‘8877 RMB’, he didn’t have that much money on him for that sort of price.