First Victory

Wang Ye asked in astonishment, "Aren't you afraid selling phone cards will interfere with your studies? Whenever someone calls, you'll have to deliver the card to their door. You'd only be making hard-earned money."

He had originally thought that, given Ruan Xiaozhu's family circumstances and the fact that she was a girl, she would probably look down on this kind of money...

Unexpectedly, Ruan Xiaozhu volunteered to become the distributor for the Main Building dormitories.

Moscow University had two major dormitory areas: the Main Building and the district dormitories. Ruan Xiaozhu lived in the Main Building.

"Hehe, how much time could that possibly take? At most, I'd make a dozen or so trips a day. Besides, all the dorms in the Main Building are connected, so I wouldn't even have to leave the building. I'd just treat it as running around for exercise. If it really gets to the point where it interferes with my studies, that means business is booming, and I'd be making quite a bit of money too. Oh, right, how do you sell these phone cards?" Ruan Xiaozhu asked with a giggle.

Clearly, she found the whole thing rather "fun"...

She was not really doing it for the money.

Wang Ye explained helplessly, "This batch of cards comes in two denominations: fifty and one hundred US dollars. The retail price is always ninety percent of face value. As for the price for distributors like you... eighty percent of face value."

Since he was looking for distributors across schools, he naturally had to leave them more room for profit.

Wang Ye got the cards from Liu Jun at around seventy percent of face value. Even if he wholesaled them to distributors at eighty percent, he still made ten percent.

Likewise, the distributors could also earn ten percent.

The profit from each card was not much, but this was a low-margin, high-volume business. As long as they sold enough, the accumulated earnings would still be considerable.

And Moscow University had quite a lot of Chinese international students, most of whom were fairly well-off. Sales should not be bad.

Sure enough, after thinking for a moment, Ruan Xiaozhu's eyes lit up. "That cheap?! How's the quality of these cards? The calls won't fail to go through, will they? No matter how cheap they are, they won't sell if they don't work."

Wang Ye could only explain it all over again—how the quality was guaranteed, how it was a low-margin, high-volume business, how he was not doing it to make money but to make friends, and so on...

After listening, Ruan Xiaozhu said excitedly, "As long as the quality is reliable, it's fine. Wouldn't selling a one-hundred-dollar card earn ten dollars? If I sold ten a day, that would be one hundred. If I sold fifty, that would be..."

The more she talked, the more outrageous it became. She had already started calculating how much she could make by selling a hundred cards a day...

Wang Ye hurriedly cut her off. "Selling phone cards isn't that easy. Someone can use one card for a month or even two, so you can't calculate it like that."

Ruan Xiaozhu thought about it and realized he was right. Even girls like her, who liked making phone calls, generally kept themselves from spending more than a hundred US dollars a month...

A lot of guys made fewer calls, so they probably could not even use up fifty US dollars in a month.

But when she thought of all the Chinese students at Moscow University, she was still brimming with confidence!

"Did you bring the phone cards? Give me... fifty first. All one-hundred-dollar denominations. Hmph, there's no way I'm making a delivery trip for just fifty dollars!" Ruan Xiaozhu said.

Wang Ye froze, then shook his head. "I did bring cards, but not that many..."

Ruan Xiaozhu was stunned. "Aren't you in the wholesale business? How can you not even have fifty cards?"

Wang Ye smiled bitterly. "Sis, I have to pay for the cards too! How could I have enough money to buy that many at once? Here, I still have sixty-two fifty-dollar cards and twenty one-hundred-dollar cards. See how many you want. Also, it's best to take some fifty-dollar cards too. A lot of guys like buying those, since they don't use that much."

"That's true. I didn't bring that much cash either... How about this? Give me ten one-hundred-dollar cards and twenty fifty-dollar cards first. I'll give it a try. If they sell well, I'll call you later and have you bring more over. Besides, you haven't been to my dorm yet. You can find out where it is."

Ruan Xiaozhu finally returned to her senses. Only then did she remember that Wang Ye had to pay for the cards, and she had to pay for them too...

If she really took fifty one-hundred-dollar cards at once, she would have to pay four thousand US dollars!

She could not come up with that much money at the moment. After all, it was already late January, and she would be returning to China for the summer break, so she only had a little under half a year's living expenses left on her...

Wang Ye took out his bulging wallet, counted out thirty cards, and handed them to Ruan Xiaozhu with a smile. "The total face value is two thousand US dollars. Just give me sixteen hundred."

The discount he gave distributors was twenty percent off, and Ruan Xiaozhu was naturally no exception.

Even though she was his "cousin," brothers had to settle accounts clearly.

Ruan Xiaozhu nodded, counted the cards, then took out her own wallet and counted out sixteen Franklins for Wang Ye.

This trip had not been in vain for Wang Ye. He had successfully found a distributor and directly wholesaled a good number of phone cards. His first battle was a victory!

After finishing the business, Ruan Xiaozhu seemed to remember something and said with a smile, "There are slot machines next door. Want to play a few rounds? But I should warn you, it's fine to play with a little money for fun, but don't count on getting rich from that."

Little Eagle Hotel had quite a few slot machines, and it was also one of the few casinos in Moscow that could operate legally.

Many people came specifically because of its reputation, choosing this hotel just for that.

Wang Ye shook his head and smiled. "I'm not interested in that. You can't win much anyway, but if you lose, it'll hurt."

Wang Ye had absolutely no interest in drinking, gambling, or drugs, and he had never touched any of them.

Ruan Xiaozhu nodded approvingly. "Right, it's best not to touch that stuff. Once you get sucked in, the consequences can be really serious. There are a few students at our school who play those slot machines and end up losing all their tuition and living expenses!"

As the two chatted, the three girls who had gone bowling returned. All of them were panting heavily; it seemed they had gotten quite a workout.

It was already past nine. Wang Ye stood and said goodbye. "It's getting late. I still have class tomorrow, so I'll head back first. Cousin, we'll keep in touch by phone if anything comes up."

Ruan Xiaozhu stood as well. "Then I'll walk you out. Next time you come to our dorm, your big sister will cook for you."

One of the girls beside her gave a mischievous smile. "Cook?"

Ruan Xiaozhu reached out and pinched the girl, scolding her playfully, "What nonsense are you talking about?! He's my cousin!"

The girl dodged while crying out in pain, but she still would not let it go. "Pah, you two are barely even related..."

Even Wang Ye, standing beside them, was starting to feel overwhelmed.

These girls...

Perhaps the environment abroad made people mature more easily. In any case, the college girls Wang Ye had met overseas were all rather... open!

When it came to dirty jokes, they were even more uninhibited than the guys...