Kid, I Appreciate You

The many Chinese international students who came here all came from different family backgrounds and had all kinds of personalities.

Some were obedient students who buried themselves in hard study every day, hoping to get their diplomas without a hitch.

Others loafed around all day, skipped class, and hid in their dorms playing games.

Then there were those who had never planned to study in the first place. Once they finished their foundation program, they headed straight to the big market to work as translators and make money.

In Nalan Yaqi's eyes, none of those types had much of a future.

Of course, there were also people like Wang Ye—quick-witted, able to spot opportunities, and capable of starting businesses to be their own boss!

Perhaps most of them would never become big bosses in the end, only making small-scale ventures.

But there would always be a tiny handful who stood out and became people others envied, or even looked up to!

As for Wang Ye...

It was still too early to say!

Nalan Yaqi thought this way largely because of her mother's influence.

She came from a single-parent family and had been raised by her mother. As for her father...

Her mother had never mentioned him. Whenever Nalan Yaqi asked, her mother would irritably tell her he was dead!

Her mother was a strong, capable woman who ran a company. It was not particularly large, but in the capital, it was respectable enough—nothing outstanding, but certainly not shabby.

Given her family's circumstances, they should have been able to send Nalan Yaqi to countries like Britain or America. Yet for some reason, her mother had chosen this godforsaken place, Russia, for her...

Nalan Yaqi had not dared question her mother's decision. Besides, she had only been a teenager then and had no idea what difference there was between going to Russia and going to countries like Britain or America.

So she obediently came.

Still, although Nalan Yaqi's mother was a decisive, take-charge woman who acted swiftly and efficiently...

Nalan Yaqi's personality was not much like her mother's...

She had enjoyed fairly comfortable conditions since childhood and had never suffered hardship. After coming to Russia, she had never considered working to earn money either.

She could just study a little, get a diploma when the time came, go home, and give her mother an explanation. Wasn't that enough?

Make money?

That should be her mother's business—or her future boyfriend's. She only needed to be beautiful as a flower...

Nalan Yaqi rather admired boys like Wang Ye, who worked hard and strove to improve themselves.

So when she learned that Wang Ye was selling phone cards, she called him, wanting to support him.

After all, she used plenty of phone cards herself. They were practically necessities.

Hearing Nalan Yaqi encourage him, Wang Ye did not know whether to laugh or cry.

This little girl was actually encouraging him?

Given his "actual" age, he was old enough to be her father!

If he had gotten married early enough, anyway...

"Alright, how much do you want? I've been running around all day and I'm exhausted. I'm going back to shower and sleep," Wang Ye said bluntly, too lazy to keep chatting with Nalan Yaqi about this nonsense.

Since when did this little brat get to tell him how to do things...

Nalan Yaqi rolled her eyes at Wang Ye. The favorable impression she had just begun to form of him was already close to vanishing.

Was this little punk blind or something?!

Faced with a great beauty like her, he was already getting impatient after only a few words, especially when she had only said those things out of kindness.

"Give me a hundred-dollar card... No, two. Little Flower wants one too." As she spoke, Nalan Yaqi pointed at her female roommate.

This roommate named Little Flower seemed rather shy. She had not said a word since Wang Ye entered, only secretly stealing glances at him several times.

Wang Ye directly took two hundred-dollar phone cards from his wallet and handed them to Nalan Yaqi. "Ninety apiece. One hundred eighty total," he said casually.

As Nalan Yaqi took out her money, she asked, "Why are your cards so cheap? You can't be making more than a few dollars per card, can you? Hey, don't slash your prices so low just because you want to sell them quickly. You have to ensure a reasonable profit, otherwise you'll be working for nothing..."

This girl seemed addicted to being a "life mentor." Whenever she got the chance, she never forgot to lecture Wang Ye a little.

Wang Ye was helpless too. She meant well, after all, so he could not exactly snap back at her...

He could only patiently explain, "Well... I get a pretty good discount from my supplier. And since I'm just starting to sell cards, I need something to attract buyers, right? So I'm keeping the profit margin low and selling more volume."

Wang Ye was not mindlessly selling at low prices. He had decided on this price after considering many factors.

First, as he had said, when starting a business, if he wanted a strong opening, he had to offer something that attracted customers!

The lowest price on the market was obviously the most direct and appealing draw.

Second, he was not without competitors in selling phone cards. Aside from the card dealers, several upperclassmen at school also sold cards. When Wang Ye had put up his promotional posters, he had seen the posters they had put up as well.

Of course, these people did not specialize in selling cards. They all worked at the big market, buying a few extra cards from the card dealers—some for their own use, and some to mark up and sell at school.

Their prices were even higher than the card dealers'. A hundred-dollar card generally sold for one hundred ten dollars, while a fifty-dollar card sold for fifty-five. They earned the difference!

Yet people still bought cards from them because it was convenient.

Most students would not make a special trip to the big market just to save five dollars...

Wang Ye had simply set his price at the absolute lowest, dealing a crushing blow to these "middlemen"!

For a card with a face value of one hundred dollars, Wang Ye sold it for ninety, while those middlemen sold it for one hundred ten—a twenty-dollar difference!

With the same convenience and the same home delivery service, there was no need to ask who students would choose to buy from...

After a few words, Wang Ye finally shook off Nalan Yaqi's pestering. He put away the money, quickly said goodbye, and returned to his dorm.

He first paid Song Xiaogang back the five hundred dollars, then finally had time to count the remaining phone cards and the money he had received from selling them.

It was already nearly ten at night, so Wang Ye simply turned off his phone. Even if someone wanted to buy cards at this hour, he could not be bothered to deliver them.

He had originally bought eighty fifty-dollar phone cards and thirty hundred-dollar phone cards wholesale.

After selling all afternoon, he had sixty-five fifty-dollar cards and twenty hundred-dollar cards left.

He had sold twenty-five cards in total and recouped 1,575 dollars!

He had bought the cards at just over a thirty-percent discount and sold them at ninety percent of face value, earning a little over three hundred dollars...

Wang Ye smacked his lips, feeling nothing much.

This kind of business really was small-time. It was fine for earning living expenses, but dreaming of making big money from it was just that—a dream...

Today was only the first day of business, so things had been brisk. There was no way he could expect to sell this many every day going forward.

If he relied only on People's Friendship University as a market, he might not even make three hundred dollars in a week...

He needed to find a way to open up the market at Moscow University!

After all, Moscow University was Russia's most famous and largest school, as well as the university with the most Chinese international students!