Beginning

# Chapter 1: Beginning

"Did you find a job?"

Lin Qi, who had just returned home after wandering outside, looked at his girlfriend who was cooking and shook his head apologetically.

His girlfriend wasn't disappointed, nor did she show much emotion, as if... not finding a job was a normal thing.

Lin Qi tried to avoid verbal communication as much as possible, afraid that the woman who slept next to him every night would see his abnormality.

His girlfriend carried a slightly deformed frying pan to the rickety, peeling wooden table, placed a fried egg on a plate of minced meat, and then sat down.

"Don't think too much. I still have some money here. Maybe you'll find a job tomorrow. Let's eat first!"

Lin Qi nodded and began to enjoy the not-so-delicious dinner.

The fork pierced the slightly congealed outer layer of the egg, and the thick yolk flowed onto the minced meat, like a natural seasoning or some kind of sauce, making the meat more attractive.

He ate mechanically, but his mind was thinking about other things.

He had transmigrated. He didn't know what scientific principle or other reason caused it, but he had transmigrated.

Before transmigrating, he had done many jobs: courier, insurance salesman, waiter, half-baked cook...

In the thirty years before his transmigration, he had done many inconspicuous small jobs, and after thirty, a huge change occurred.

In his later words, he used the first thirty years to accumulate experience, and then accumulated a lot and made a thin profit. His passionate speech successfully moved the judge...

Then, after he first slept in that small room, planning to write an autobiography to recall his legendary life, he gradually fell asleep and transmigrated.

As soon as he transmigrated, he appeared in this home. The owner of this body happened to be also called Lin Qi, but this was another world that had nothing to do with his "previous life."

He had nothing but a girlfriend.

Now he was like the most failed kind of social scum, eating his girlfriend's food, living in her place, and other than being able to help his girlfriend solve some problems at night, he was like a parasite.

These past few days, he had been wandering outside under the pretext of looking for a job. This world gave him an indescribable sense of novelty.

It felt like the 1940s or 50s, or the 60s. Technology wasn't very advanced, but at the same time, it was in a period of technological explosion.

Many products were constantly appearing in front of the public, dazzling them. He saw the slogan on the advertising poster on the street - Airey Dai, A Silk A Niu Dai.

In his opinion, this world, this society, was full of money, just waiting for him to bend down and pick it up.

His blood was boiling slightly, his heart was becoming strong and powerful, and there was a desire deep in his heart. He firmly believed that his transmigration had a reason.

Perhaps, something made me come here, just to let me leave my legend here! "Go put on some hot water, we'll take a bath today..." His girlfriend instructed while cleaning up the dishes.

Lin Qi nodded and stood up. He walked towards the bathroom not far away, and casually asked, "We just took a bath yesterday..."

During this period of time after transmigrating, he found that he and his girlfriend had a very clear life plan, and it wasn't completely chaotic.

The weather wasn't hot or cold now, and it wasn't easy to sweat unless you exercised vigorously, so you basically didn't need to take a bath every day.

This wasn't because people were unwilling to clean their bodies every day, but because changing clothes and hot water cost money.

Rich people didn't care about these small expenses. They would even install a boiler in their house to provide a heating system, and buy a washing machine to wash clothes anytime, anywhere.

But for the poor, these were unnecessary and unaffordable expenses, so their lives had to become regular.

Meticulously calculating every expense and adhering to a life as regular as a monk to save every penny, that was their life.

It wasn't that they wanted regularity, but more because of poverty.

His girlfriend turned and walked to the sink, turning on the faucet to rinse the dishes, "After twelve o'clock at night, our hot water will be cut off. We'll pay the bill again next week, so we can save some money."

Lin Qi shrugged. He walked into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and after letting out the initial cold water, hot water with steam flowed from the pipes.

After taking a shower, the two lay on the narrow bed and quickly fell asleep.

Lin Qi's girlfriend worked at a supermarket as a cashier, working ten hours a day, including a one-hour break.

She often brought back some near-expired or expired food, or cheap daily necessities from the supermarket, which was why they could manage to live on just one person's income.

The two were classmates in high school and neither of them managed to get into college. Lin Qi worked as a worker for a while, but gave up because the work was too tiring.

Catherine, his girlfriend, found the job at the supermarket and has maintained it ever since.

This was a typical loser family. Neither Lin Qi nor Catherine knew how long this kind of life could last.

Maybe they could hold on until the day they entered the halls of marriage, and then continue to barely maintain it for the rest of their lives.

But it was also possible that this fragile relationship and connection could end at any time due to a sudden outburst of emotions.

Early the next morning, Lin Qi washed up briefly. Catherine had already left, leaving a box of cereal and a bottle of milk on the table.

He walked to the cupboard and poured the milk into a pot to heat it up, taking a look at the expiration date. Unsurprisingly, it was already two days past its date.

This kind of milk would normally be disposed of directly in supermarkets, thrown into the trash, but many supermarket employees were willing to endure long working hours and low wages to work at the supermarket.

What they valued were these things that could be obtained for free.

The rich milky aroma was a bit intoxicating. Lin Qi was used to using hot milk to soak things, while Catherine and others were used to soaking it directly, which didn't feel very good.

After finishing breakfast, he tidied up his appearance and stopped at a street not far from where they rented.

He hadn't been doing nothing these past few days. Of course, this didn't mean he was looking for a job. He was just considering where to get his first pot of money.

Although this world was completely different from the other world, the development trajectory of some things was still traceable.

For example, you know that the land under your feet will be worth a fortune in a hundred years, for example, you know that the price of art will skyrocket year after year, for example, you know...

Everyone standing in Lin Qi's current position would have a sense of ambition, because most of them could grasp the pulse of the future.

But the problem was that most people's ambitions could only be ambitions. They wouldn't be realized, because now was not the future, and everything required capital.

Where did the capital come from?

This thing wouldn't fall from the sky, nor would it float in on the water. In fact, even if many people were given the opportunity to go back to the past, they still wouldn't have the ability to change their lives.

Maybe they would, but it would be limited. Maybe they would buy one or two more houses, and then stare blankly at twice as many assets as in their previous life when they got old, which was not what they had imagined at the beginning.

Some people were destined to stir up storms, and some people were powerless even if they were given the opportunity.

Obviously, Lin Qi was the former. He already possessed all the qualities. He had succeeded before, which was the decisive key.

He stood here staring at a laundromat across the street for most of the morning, and wrote and drew in a notebook. He was earning his first pot of gold.

When it was almost noon and the flow of people on the street began to decrease, two guys in trench coats stood in front of him. One of them had his hand in his trench coat, seemingly holding something.

"Mr. Fox wants to see you, friend!"

These two didn't look like good people at first glance, but it was also possible that Lin Qi was overthinking it. He didn't have the slightest fear at this moment, but instead, a smile appeared on his face. "I've been waiting for you for days. What are we waiting for? Lead the way!"