Chapter 136: Leaving Home
At that time, Gouzi didn’t have much money on him. Gouzi said he would borrow a little through some app. However, something went wrong, and he couldn’t borrow it. And the money the boy had wasn’t enough for the three of them. Or, if they bought train tickets, they wouldn’t last long after arriving before being done for.
Seeing Gouzi so anxious and worried, the boy also became anxious. The three of them stood by the roadside for a while.
The boy said to Gouzi, “Don’t rush, it’s no use being anxious. Let’s find a place to put our things down first, eat, and then we’ll figure out the money situation.”
The three of them put their suitcases in the inn, found a restaurant nearby, ordered four dishes, and asked for some beer. The boy and Gouzi drank and chatted nonsense, deliberately not mentioning the money.
He thought, it’s been a while since I’ve seen my brother. Let’s have a good drink first, and deal with other things later. There’s always a way out, and things will sort themselves out naturally. There will definitely be a solution.
They had a delightful meal, returned to the inn to rest. Gouzi and the boy were both thinking of ways, but by midnight, they had no solution.
The boy advised Gouzi to sleep first and talk about it tomorrow. After returning to his room, the boy fiddled with his mobile phone for a long time without finding a solution.
The next day, the boy woke up early and was browsing his phone when he suddenly saw an advertisement on his moments. He clicked on it and saw he had a credit limit of five thousand available.
Actually, he had tried to apply for some cards or other things before and couldn’t get them. Now he could, the boy didn’t consider himself, even if Gouzi had no money, he would help him. Before, when he was live streaming, Gouzi would occasionally send him gifts. When Gouzi had no money, he would spend money on him, invite him out to play and eat, and even transferred him a few hundred without asking for it back. The boy definitely had to take care of him.
The price of plane tickets and train tickets was about the same, but the boy bought three sleeper berths. He thought since he wasn’t in a hurry, he could travel and play on the way, eating and drinking, and sleeping when he got tired.
After the boy took the two of them to buy train tickets, he also bought a pile of food and beer and put them in the supermarket near the station where they could be stored.
Since it was still early, they went to a park near the station with the two of them. There were many things to play with in the park, like ring toss and balloon shooting. There were also stalls by the roadside. The boy shot balloons for a while. The damn gun was the same as the one he used to play with, the bullets flew everywhere randomly. He ended up getting a keychain. He found it troublesome to carry, so he gave it to an old woman walking by. The old woman said she would take it home for her grandson to play with and thanked the boy several times.
The three of them wandered around the park for a long time, bought some food, and sat for a while. As they walked towards the station, there were several fortune tellers. The boy’s playful spirit was ignited.
He used to like sitting by the stalls and chatting with these old men whenever he had nothing to do. It was very interesting. Regardless of whether it was accurate or not, they always praised him, which made him feel very happy.
He found an old man who looked the oldest and walked over, generously sitting on a small stool.
The old man showed a kind smile and asked the boy for his birth date and time, drawing on a notebook. After thinking carefully, he looked at the boy again.
“Oh dear, child, your destiny is great, and you also have a connection with Buddha.”
The boy smiled when he heard this. Most of the fortune tellers he encountered said the same thing: that he had a great destiny, and some also said he had a connection with Buddha.
The boy didn’t take it seriously. In fact, he was just chatting for fun when he had nothing to do.
The old man praised the boy immensely. He would say the first half of a sentence about something, and the boy would immediately say the second half.
This greatly surprised the old man. He didn’t have to say much; the boy followed the script himself, cough cough cough.
The old man looked at the boy carefully again. “Child, you are unusual. Just now, as you walked past and back, the way you walk is different from others. And your eyes are particularly bright, and your brain is very sharp. You see, as soon as I say something, you know the rest without me finishing. You will achieve great things in the future.”
In fact, the old man didn’t say much more; he just kept praising the boy.
But the boy’s goal was also to get the old man to praise him. He always did this; it was fun, and it made him feel very happy.
At the end, the boy asked the old man, “How much do I owe you, Grandpa?”
“Whatever you think is appropriate, go with the flow.”
The boy said, “I’ll give you ten yuan.”
The old man said, “Haha, give me thirty, thirty is a lucky number.”
The boy chuckled, thinking, this isn’t exactly going with the flow, is it? Does going with the flow involve bargaining?
“How about this, Grandpa, I’ll give you ten yuan. When I’m successful in the future, I’ll come back to see you and treat you to a meal, hahaha.”
The old man wanted to say something more, but seeing the boy’s shrewd and straightforward demeanor, he said helplessly, “Alright then, ten yuan is fine, haha.”
Many stalls are like this. They say “give what you think is appropriate” but they actually want more because they rely on this to make a living. This is their job. These people can also be called roadside psychological counselors.
The boy remembered that a friend of his, who also had a fortune-telling stall, had made him laugh so hard he cried. His friend’s name was Xiao Hei. Xiao Hei was dating a girlfriend and wanted to have their fate read at the stall. At that time, there was a thin old man with a goatee. He told them that they would definitely not work out, that being together would lead to financial ruin, and so on. He didn’t say a single good thing.
This made the boy almost dizzy with laughter. He paid for this, and afterwards, Xiao Hei even said to the person, “Thank you.” It was like a joke.
At that time, the boy thought that when he had his fortune told, they must praise him. How dare they say anything negative and still expect money? He’d flip the stall over. Fortunately, over the years, no one has said anything bad about the boy; they’ve all praised him. Hahahaha.
In the boy’s own words: “I’m paying money, and you’re not going to say a few nice words to make me happy? That’s not going to work! Damn it! I’m here to spend money, not to be a nobody.”
The three of them sat at the station waiting for over an hour. In fact, there was no need to come so early. The boy always arrived early for everything, he was an impatient person.
After getting on the train, the boy and Gouzi started drinking. They enjoyed the scenery along the way. When they had drunk enough, they went to the sleeper berths to sleep. In between, if an aunt, sister, or uncle needed help with their luggage, the boy would lend a hand. He had always been like this.
When people saw that the boy was nice, they would also give him fruit and such. Everyone was very enthusiastic. The first thing to guard against on a train is theft; otherwise, it’s quite fun.
The boy and Gouzi bought two cases of beer, the kind in plastic packaging with twelve bottles each. It wasn’t enough, so they bought more on the train.
The scenery along the way was truly beautiful. Although the future path was unknown, their mood was also incredibly good.
For the boy, it wasn’t entirely unknown. When he was at his peak during his live streams, he inexplicably knew that he would go for a few years to a place far from home. He didn’t understand why he had this thought.
After arriving in Changzhou, the three of them first went to the rental room of a friend of the boy named Haozi. This friend had been in Changzhou for two years, live streaming and selling Tibetan dzi beads. He spoke of it as very good and profitable, but the boy could sense something else from his words, though it wasn’t explicitly stated.
Initially, the boy thought of coming to Changzhou to see for himself, and also to live stream and sell goods with Haozi. Haozi rented two rooms and claimed that when things were good, he could sell twenty to thirty thousand a month, but when things were bad, it was uncertain.
When the boy watched Haozi’s live stream, there were only three or five people in the room. Damn it, he initially wanted to liven up Haozi’s live stream and chatted for a while with giggling.
Haozi said that selling goods was different from entertainment live streaming, and this wouldn’t work. The boy didn’t say much, but in his heart, he thought that Haozi would have a hard time making money in this business, it was too difficult. This was because he hadn’t studied the strategies of those streamers who sold goods. From the big ones to the small ones, which one didn’t start selling goods after making their live stream lively?
It was like him just sitting there; if someone asked, he’d say a couple of words. If no one asked, he’d just stay idle. That would be crippled, damn it.
Moreover, Haozi was deceived and took out a loan to stock up on a large pile of goods. The boy gave him advice, but he said the boy didn’t understand. The boy was very speechless. Didn’t the boy have more than a few years of live streaming experience than him? When the boy was live streaming, his guild owner would enter the live stream and not brush any gifts, and he wouldn’t be able to leave. He said the boy didn’t understand.
Moreover, the boy knew that selling goods was no different from entertainment live streaming. Entertainment live streaming sells character and talent, while sales live streaming sells credibility and products. Haozi hadn’t even figured out this basic point. And he said the boy didn’t understand. It was truly speechless.
The boy originally wanted to tell Haozi: “Actually, every good streamer is a good salesperson. Either they sell tangible items or intangible character. It’s all the same, this big idiot.”
But seeing Haozi’s self-important demeanor, the boy thought, forget it. This guy was blinded by his own limited understanding. Whatever he said would be useless.
After staying for two days, the boy left.
