It Was Actually Him

A Good-For-Nothing.

That WeChat nickname made Wang Xiaoliang freeze for several seconds.

He had seen all kinds of bizarre usernames, but using those four characters as a nickname was a first. Self-deprecation? Or did this person genuinely see himself that way?

The referrer was a customer who bought water, not Wei Zijin. That meant this person was probably an ordinary student too.

Someone who also needed his cheap drinks.

Wang Xiaoliang didn't overthink it and tapped accept.

The other party immediately sent a message, simple and direct.

"Hello, are you free right now?"

Wang Xiaoliang replied with a question mark.

"I'd like to talk to you in person."

In person? Wang Xiaoliang was a bit surprised. Was buying water worth that much trouble?

"Talk about what?"

"A collaboration."

Collaboration? Wang Xiaoliang was even more baffled. He was just a poor student selling water and doing writing gigs-what kind of collaboration could there possibly be?

Still, he agreed. He had nothing better to do anyway.

"Where should we meet?"

"Wherever's convenient for you. I'm on campus."

"Then how about five minutes from now, downstairs at Dorm Building 4?" Wang Xiaoliang replied.

"Sure."

He put down his phone, threw on a jacket, and shuffled downstairs in his slippers.

People came and went downstairs at Building 4, mostly students who had just finished class and were heading to dinner. Wang Xiaoliang stood by the flower bed, playing on his phone while keeping an eye on his surroundings.

He wondered what "A Good-For-Nothing" would look like. A guy who seemed really depressed? Or some prankster?

"You're playing on your phone by the flower bed?" A message arrived.

"Yeah. You here?"

"Wang Xiaoliang, we meet again."

Zhou Qiang was already standing in front of him.

It was actually Zhou Qiang!

The campus celebrity who drove a Maybach, had won over the volleyball star Li Lanxiang, and was known as a "startup star."

Wang Xiaoliang couldn't reconcile the dazzling figure before him with the WeChat profile called "A Good-For-Nothing."

Zhou Qiang wore a friendly smile. "That 'A Good-For-Nothing' on WeChat is me."

It really was him!

A campus star who drove a Maybach, with the WeChat name "A Good-For-Nothing"? What was that supposed to be? A new level of humblebragging?

He reached out stiffly and shook hands with Zhou Qiang.

"Hello, senior." Wang Xiaoliang managed to squeeze out.

"No need to be so formal." Zhou Qiang sized him up, then got straight to the point. "I'm looking for you because I want to talk about collecting drink bottles."

Drink bottles...

Wang Xiaoliang was completely dumbfounded.

He suspected his ears were playing tricks on him. Zhou Qiang? The Zhou Qiang who drove a Maybach? Looking for him to talk about collecting drink bottles?

What kind of absurd plot was this?

He opened his mouth but couldn't produce a single word.

Zhou Qiang seemed to read his bewilderment and smiled. "You think it's strange, don't you?"

Wang Xiaoliang nodded vigorously.

"I heard you're selling drinks, and your sales are pretty good?" Zhou Qiang asked.

"More or less."

"Then you should be able to collect quite a few empty drink bottles and cardboard boxes every day," Zhou Qiang continued. "I'd like to recycle those bottles from you."

Wang Xiaoliang's brain finally started working again. He finally understood why the other party had added him. The person who referred him was that water-buying customer, and Zhou Qiang must have learned from that customer that he was the campus's "mobile convenience store."

But the problem was-you're a big shot who drives a Maybach, and you're haggling with me over a few drink bottles? A bottle is worth ten cents, a hundred bottles is only ten yuan. That won't even cover your car's gas money, right?

Wang Xiaoliang's worldview was being violently shaken.

"It's about dinner time anyway," Zhou Qiang glanced at his watch. "Let's go, find a place to eat and talk. My treat."

Wang Xiaoliang was even more confused.

A business worth a few cents per drink bottle, and they needed to go to a restaurant to discuss it?

This was way too grand.

It was precisely this intense curiosity that made him nod involuntarily.

"Alright."

He was going to see what kind of medicine Zhou Qiang was selling in that gourd of his.

Wang Xiaoliang had assumed Zhou Qiang would take him to some high-end restaurant near campus. Instead, Zhou Qiang led him through the bustling commercial street and turned into a narrow, greasy back alley.

Deep in the alley was a Sichuan restaurant with no sign. The red plastic curtain at the entrance was old and dirty, and the smell of choking oil smoke and raucous laughter drifted out from inside.

Wang Xiaoliang knew this place.

The four brothers of Room 404 had come here to eat together a few times before.

The environment was crude, the hygiene was questionable, and the tables were still sticky even after being wiped. But it had two huge advantages: cheap prices and bold flavors.

For students with little money, a heavy-flavored Mao Xuewang or Twice-Cooked Pork with two bowls of rice was supreme deliciousness.

But Wang Xiaoliang simply could not connect this place with Zhou Qiang and his Maybach.

Zhou Qiang lifted the curtain and walked in with practiced ease.

"Boss, the usual!" he called out to the sweaty, rotund chef behind the stove.

"Coming right up!"

The shop had only four or five tables, three of which were already full. Zhou Qiang led Wang Xiaoliang to the only empty table in the corner.

"The Braised Pork Belly and Twice-Cooked Pork here are unbeatable. You'll see." Zhou Qiang picked up the greasy teapot on the table and poured Wang Xiaoliang a cup of tea of questionable color.

Wang Xiaoliang looked at the tea leaves floating in the cup and didn't know what to say.

He felt like everything that had happened today was steeped in magical realism.

Soon, the rotund boss brought over two dishes-one plate of Braised Pork Belly, glistening and trembling, and one plate of Twice-Cooked Pork, the green peppers and meat slices wrapped in sauce and giving off an enticing aroma.

"Here, eat." Zhou Qiang handed Wang Xiaoliang a pair of chopsticks.

Wang Xiaoliang picked up a piece of Twice-Cooked Pork and put it in his mouth.

Mm, the same familiar taste-salty, savory, perfect with rice.

"Let's talk business." Zhou Qiang also took a bite, eating with relish. "From now on, the cardboard boxes from your drink sales, plus all the drink bottles you can collect-sell them all to me. How about it?"

Wang Xiaoliang swallowed his rice and finally asked the question he'd been holding in for ages.

"Why?"

Zhou Qiang thought he was asking about the price and immediately switched into businessman mode. "Because I pay more and provide better service. The dorm auntie gives you at most ten cents per bottle, fifty cents per catty of cardboard. I'll give you fifteen cents per bottle, eighty cents per catty of cardboard. And you don't have to deliver it yourself-when you've saved enough, just message me on WeChat and I'll come pick it up anytime. Won't cost you any effort at all."

Wang Xiaoliang shook his head.

"Senior, that's not what I'm asking." He put down his chopsticks and looked at Zhou Qiang seriously. "I want to know-you're a big boss who drives a Maybach. Why... would you personally come collect recyclables?"

Zhou Qiang was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing.

He put down his chopsticks and leaned back in his chair with a mysterious smile.

"That's one of my businesses too."

Wang Xiaoliang looked thoroughly unconvinced.

"Just from this, you can afford a Maybach and win over Li Lanxiang?"

"Yep." Zhou Qiang nodded matter-of-factly.

Wang Xiaoliang stared at him in shock, feeling like his intelligence was being insulted.

Zhou Qiang finally couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.

"Alright, no more joking with you." He waved his hand. "Collecting recyclables is indeed my business, and I'd say it was the starting point of my career. It not only helped me through my hardest times, but also helped me find my true direction."

His expression became serious and sincere, no longer the flippant look from before.

Wang Xiaoliang could tell the other man wasn't bragging.

Zhou Qiang was a very real person.

That realness formed a huge contrast with his luxury car and his fame, and instead gave Wang Xiaoliang a strong sense of trust.

"Senior... could you tell me about it?" Wang Xiaoliang ventured.

He was too curious. How could collecting recyclables connect to being a startup star?

Zhou Qiang looked at his eager eyes, smiled, and seemed to fall into memory.

"I'm different from you. I got into university on my own."

"I have no parents. I grew up on the charity of others. So when I got my admission letter, there was no one to pay for my schooling."

"During the two months before school started, I worked as a laborer on a construction site-hauling bricks, mixing cement, doing every dirty and exhausting job there was. In two months, I earned enough for my first year's tuition. But after paying tuition, I had only a few hundred yuan left in my pocket."

Zhou Qiang's account was matter-of-fact, but Wang Xiaoliang felt his heart tighten.

"Back then, I set a rule for myself: daily living expenses couldn't exceed two yuan. I'd go to the cafeteria and tell the serving auntie to give me two yuan's worth of plain rice. That was my one meal a day."

Wang Xiaoliang could hardly believe his ears. Two yuan a day, just one meal of plain white rice? How did he survive?

"One day, I was so hungry I couldn't stand it, wandering around the dorm hallway. I saw the cleaning auntie picking drink bottles out of the trash and putting them into a big bag. Something clicked in my head right then."

"I realized there were way too many people drinking beverages on campus-it was practically a gold mine. And this work had no barriers, no costs. All you needed was the willingness to set aside your pride."

"So I started."

"I knocked on doors dorm by dorm. I held up my student ID. When I saw someone, I bowed and told them: my name is Zhou Qiang, I'm very poor, I need money for food, I hope my upperclassmen and underclassmen can leave their empty drink bottles and unwanted cardboard boxes for me. Please, I'm begging you."

Wang Xiaoliang could picture that scene. A freshman, begging door to door for others to leave him their trash, just to survive. How much courage did that take, and how many scornful looks and mockery did he have to endure?

He thought of how he felt the first time he pitched cards at the library.

It must have been even harder for Zhou Qiang when he spoke to that first student.

"When I went to the cafeteria to eat, I also carried a big woven bag. I wasn't there to eat-I was there to collect bottles. I helped the cafeteria staff collect trays and wipe tables. They saw I was diligent, so they tacitly allowed me to take all the drink bottles the students left behind."

"At night, after everyone went to their evening study sessions, I'd carry my bag and do a carpet search across the entire campus. Every trash can had to be checked. Sometimes I'd run into campus security and they'd question me. I'd pull out my student ID and show them, saying: sir, this is an environmental-themed assignment from our college-we're required to collect recyclables and practice waste sorting and recycling."

"They'd see my school badge and hear my sincere tone, and they'd leave me alone."

"After a month, I tallied it up. Guess how much I made?" Zhou Qiang looked at Wang Xiaoliang.

Wang Xiaoliang shook his head.

"After deducting food expenses, I netted over eight hundred yuan!"

When Zhou Qiang said that number, his face glowed with undisguisable pride.

"I discovered that the campus produced an astonishing amount of recyclable waste, but very few people were doing this. Students couldn't bring themselves to do it, and outside scrap dealers would get chased out by security. Me, with my student status, doing it-it was practically a monopoly!"

"Once I'd earned enough for living expenses and had spare money in hand, the first thing I did was come here." Zhou Qiang gestured at the surroundings.

"I ordered one Braised Pork Belly, one Twice-Cooked Pork, and three bowls of rice. That was the most extravagant meal I'd had since starting university."

He smiled and continued, "Guess what happened?"

Wang Xiaoliang was deeply drawn into the story and asked naturally, "What happened?"

"I had diarrhea for two days." Zhou Qiang laughed at himself. "The food was too oily. My stomach, which had been starving for months with no oil at all, couldn't handle it. It just went right through me."

Listening to this, Wang Xiaoliang felt the story was full of heartache.

But as Zhou Qiang told it all, there was not a trace of sorrow or shame on his face-only pride. That bone-deep recognition and pride in his own past gave Wang Xiaoliang an indescribable shock.

This person was incredible.

Wang Xiaoliang picked up the water glass on the table and downed the cup of questionable tea in one gulp.

"Boss! Two beers!" he called toward the entrance.

He felt that only alcohol could match the story and the mood of this moment.

The beer arrived quickly. Wang Xiaoliang poured a full glass for Zhou Qiang and one for himself.

He raised his glass and said solemnly to Zhou Qiang, "Brother Zhou, I drink to you."

Zhou Qiang raised his glass too, clinked it, and downed it in one go.

The cold beer slid down his throat, and Wang Xiaoliang felt his chest warm up along with it.

He put down the glass and looked at this legendary figure before him, then asked the ultimate question-the one he most wanted to know.

"Brother Zhou, I believe collecting recyclables could keep you alive. But... how did that get you a Maybach?"