These days, there were far too many people online showing off their wealth and flaunting their superior lifestyles. Chen Jue couldn't understand why there were so many rich guys on the internet.
Maybe it was because he'd been working for so long that he'd only ever encountered people from lower social strata.
Aside from a few bosses he knew and his landlord, he hadn't met anyone especially rich.
Most office workers earning eight or ten thousand a month were just scraping by.
Once they had a family, they'd want to split every yuan into two before spending it.
Nobody in that group treated money like it was worthless and tossed stones into the water.
Each of these skipping stones cost a yuan—almost as much as the two cigarettes Chen Jue smoked on an average day.
"How about smoking two packs less and buying some to try?"
Chen Jue glanced at the [Subhealth] rating on the Attribute Panel, then thought back to the satisfaction and pleasure he'd felt while skipping stones that evening. In the end, he spent 200 yuan on a bundle.
He wasn't married, and he didn't have to support a family like other people. His salary just sat in his bank account.
He didn't have any other expensive hobbies. He just smoked a pack of Blue Liqun a day, which cost 18 yuan.
Chen Jue was fairly generous with himself when it came to food, clothes, and daily expenses.
He was earning over ten thousand a month. Being stingy over every little thing was a good way to ruin his reputation.
Besides, going out to game with friends or even just surfing the internet cost more than this.
And skipping stones could improve his attributes, exercise his body, and lift his spirits. It was a three-for-one deal.
Still, Chen Jue didn't buy his stones from the shop run by the world-record holder.
That shop sold custom-made, petal-shaped skipping stones. According to the description, they were made from processed soil and felt very different in the hand, allowing people to skip stones in special arcs.
On top of that, the seller currently held the world record for stone skipping. He'd started practicing as a child, broken the record in his teens, and become famous at home and abroad. His reputation allowed him to charge a hefty premium for his products.
Instead, Chen Jue switched to an ordinary shop and ordered 400 round-cut skipping stones for 200 yuan.
When he chatted with the seller, the other man was so pleased that he threw in an extra 20 stones.
That worked out to less than 50 cents per stone—cheaper than buying tokens at an arcade, and affordable enough.
"Four hundred should last me a while, right?"
Thinking back to how many he'd used that evening, Chen Jue figured he'd gone through only a little over a hundred of the stones he'd picked up to raise his [Stone Skipping] skill to Lv1.
Besides, the stones he'd found were all different shapes and sizes, and not every one of them gave him proficiency.
Once these purpose-made skipping stones arrived, he could level up [Stone Skipping] even faster.
After watching stone-skipping videos for a long time, Chen Jue realized he seemed to have gotten genuinely hooked on the sport.
He'd originally planned to spend a while on Douyin checking out pretty girls, indulging in a little entertainment, and admiring their dance moves.
But when he saw that it was already midnight, an irresistible wave of exhaustion washed over him.
He shut everything down and went to bed.
That night, Chen Jue slept especially soundly, like a dead pig.
The sound of his snores, like a saw cutting through wood, echoed around his rented apartment.
As soon as it was 8:30 the next morning, he woke up automatically and realized something was wrong.
His entire right arm had gone numb, and even the slightest movement hurt badly.
"Damn! The aftereffects are this bad?"
"Ah—ow, ow, ow!"
Enduring the soreness, Chen Jue rolled over and got up, washed up, then went out for breakfast.
He had to clock in at nine, and over the past few years he'd developed a body clock that woke him at 8:30.
No matter how late he went to bed the night before, he could still wake up on time the next morning.
But waking up early on the weekend was pointless. There was nothing to do at work, and nobody was asking him out that early, so Chen Jue usually stayed in his rented apartment and caught up on sleep.
Unfortunately, there'd be no going back to bed today, because his right arm was aching terribly.
He strolled around the garden in the middle of the residential complex for a while. When he saw someone jogging for their morning exercise, Chen Jue joined in and walked a couple of laps.
He realized his body really was pretty weak. A single night of stone skipping had left him in bad shape the next day.
No wonder the Attribute Panel had judged him to be in a state of severe subhealth.
"Looks like I need to exercise more."
"I'm not going to make big money at this job anyway. There's basically no hope of getting rich by working for someone else. Maybe getting some exercise and building a healthy body wouldn't be so bad." Chen Jue reflected as he walked.
He'd been working for the past few years in a daze, neglecting his health for that meager salary.
On top of that, he'd picked up the habits of smoking and drinking, and he often went out to eat and drink too much on the weekends. Chen Jue's body had long since gone out of shape.
He still remembered being skinny when he graduated.
He'd be turning thirty next year. Not only had he developed a beer belly and become chubby, but years of staying up late had nearly made him bald.
"Exercise... I think the company gave us a gym trial card."
Chen Jue patted his belly, as if he'd just remembered something. Then he stopped walking and headed back to his room.
After rummaging through his belongings, he finally found the plastic card in his wallet.
The card had come with a Mid-Autumn Festival gift from Taisheng Company last year.
Besides a box of terrible mooncakes, the company had given every employee a gym trial card worth 100 yuan.
Many companies offered little perks like this to keep their employees healthy and help them stay alert at work.
These gym trial cards were bought in bulk by companies, too. Although they had a face value of 100 yuan, the actual cost was probably less than half that—cheaper than giving everyone a box of mooncakes.
"Yilian Fitness, Wangdao Park branch."
"That's pretty close, too!"
Chen Jue put the card away, then dug a tracksuit out of the closet—the one he'd worn to a company team-building event.
Since he worked at a financial company, he had to wear a suit during the week. On weekends, he wore casual clothes, so he almost never wore sportswear like this.
After changing into the tracksuit and a pair of sneakers, he walked at an easy pace to Wangdao Park.
It was a mixed-use business park, with little restaurants that did food delivery, car clubs, high-end bridal photography studios, and other specialty shops. There were usually plenty of people around.
Yilian Fitness was on the second floor. The place was spacious and decorated in a sleek, minimalist style.
Through the glass by the entrance, he could see a row of treadmills and exercise machines.
Since it was a weekend morning, there weren't many people working out.
After entering, Chen Jue was stopped at the turnstile.
The young woman at the front desk asked, "Sir, are you a member? We're a members-only gym, so you need to scan your face to get in."
"I have a trial card. I wanted to come and give it a try." Chen Jue pulled the card out of his pocket.
"Are you here for a trial session?"
"This card is worth 100 yuan, so you can try the gym for a week."
"If you like the place after giving it a try, you can come to me and sign up for an annual membership." The young woman at the front desk was very enthusiastic.
People like Chen Jue, who weren't members, were all potential customers. If she handled the signup, she could earn a commission even if he only bought a basic membership.
"I'll try it out first. It's been a long time since I exercised."
Chen Jue forced a smile and cooperated while the young woman set up temporary access for his one-week trial.
He scanned his face and went inside.
Looking at the unfamiliar exercise equipment lined up in front of him, Chen Jue had no idea where to start.
"Hey, man, are you here for a trial session?"
"I'm one of the trainers here. Since it's your first time, I'll walk you through a session." A strong, bald trainer walked over.
He was wearing a tight white tank top. His build was enormous, with muscles that bulged all over as if they were pumped full of air. He looked seriously imposing.
"Hi, Coach. I live nearby, so I just came over to do a little exercise." Chen Jue tried to politely turn him down.
He'd seen the sales tactics used by gyms like this online.
A trainer would start by guiding you through a trial, then recommend that you sign up for a membership and buy personal training sessions.
Most young people with thin skin couldn't resist that kind of pressure. They'd end up paying, half-convinced and half-reluctant.
Perhaps he'd seen Chen Jue's misgivings, because the big trainer chuckled. "Don't worry, brother. We're legit. We've been open for five years."
"Besides, the trial session is free. If you don't think the workout's for you, it doesn't matter if you don't come back!"
Since the trainer had been so straightforward, Chen Jue dropped his wary attitude and nodded in agreement.
As they chatted, Chen Jue learned that the other man's name was Li Chaoqun, so he addressed him as Coach Li.
Perhaps because he'd noticed the pain patches covering Chen Jue's right arm, Coach Li specifically asked whether he'd injured it.
Chen Jue briefly told him about stone skipping the day before.
"Stone skipping can strain your arm, too?"
Li Chaoqun was taken aback. Then he took Chen Jue's right arm and examined it.
Seeing Chen Jue wince in pain, Li Chaoqun said, "It's nothing serious! Your arm has small muscle groups, which recover pretty quickly. A few days' rest and you'll be fine."
"Small muscle groups?" Chen Jue's eyes lit up at the unfamiliar technical term.
The night before, when the Attribute Panel had displayed its prompt, he'd seen the term [muscle groups] flash by.
But once he got home, he'd been so absorbed in stone-skipping tutorial videos that he'd forgotten about it for the time being.
Now that he'd heard it from a fitness trainer, he was immediately interested.
"The muscles in the human body can be divided into two types: large muscle groups and small muscle groups."
"Your chest, back, and thighs are large muscle groups. Your arms, abdomen, and calves are small muscle groups."
"You've just started getting into fitness, so it's normal not to know this. You can look it up online later." As he explained, Li Chaoqun led Chen Jue toward a small room farther inside the gym.
Inside was a machine that looked like an electronic scale for measuring height and weight, only more complicated. It had several electrodes and an LCD screen.
A computer and printer sat beside it.
"This is a body composition analyzer. We use it to assess your physical condition."
"Since it's your first time here, I'll check your condition first, then put together a workout tailored to you." Li Chaoqun sounded very professional.
This was Chen Jue's first time seeing such advanced equipment, so he followed the trainer's instructions and stepped onto it.
He took off his glasses, gripped the electrodes in both hands, and placed his feet on the electrodes as well.
When Li Chaoqun pressed Start on the screen, Chen Jue watched a progress bar move across it.
Then a fitness assessment report came out of the printer beside them.
"Height: 178 cm. Weight: 86.5 kg. Basal metabolic rate: 1,640 kcal."
"Body fat: 33.2%. Muscle mass: 52.6 kg. Fat mass: 28.7 kg. You're currently overweight."
"Your BMI is a little high at 27. Take a look at the report! Your body age is already 32, which is about three years older than your actual age."
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