Arc 4Chapters 76–100
No recap yet.
No recap yet.
Wang Xiaoliang met Zhou Qiang to complain about his work at the supermarket, but Zhou’s questions helped him recognize how much he had learned about opening and running a store. As he explained the business to Zhou and Huang Xueli, he realized he had gained practical knowledge and a more thoughtful approach to pursuing profit.
Wang Xiaoliang learned from Zhou Qiang that Li Laifu had used their supposed partnership to exploit his lack of bargaining power, though the small payment showed Li had gone easy on him. Huang Xueli then revealed that Zhou Tao had been made a sacrificial target in the university’s crackdown, leaving Wang Xiaoliang wondering whether his own name had also been on the expulsion list.
Huang Xueli recounted how the school pressured Wang Xiaoliang to conceal Zhou Tao’s expulsion, while Wang refused to testify as the school wanted. After Zhou Qiang revealed that Wang was Wei Zijin’s boyfriend, Huang asked him how he had won her over, and Wang said he had simply been lucky.
Wang Xiaoliang investigated the rents on the shopping street to understand how Li Laifu had profited from their supermarket partnership. He learned that comparable shops cost around 45,000 to 50,000 yuan a month, leaving him furious over the rent income he believed he had missed and dreaming of opening a rival supermarket despite having no money to do so.
Wang Xiaoliang reflected on his partnership with Li Laifu through two lessons in the Book of Fate, recognizing how his trust had left him vulnerable and reframing his losses as valuable experience. He concluded that Li Laifu had damaged his fortune by taking advantage of him, then wondered whether the partnership had accumulated fortune for himself.
After Wang Xiaoliang quit his job, he learned that the owner of Bugbug Internet Cafe planned to retaliate against Li Laifu and give Wang a chance to supply the cafe. Wang began to suspect that the Book of Fate had turned Li Laifu’s lost luck into tangible gains for him.
Wang Xiaoliang received a large advance-funded order to supply Bugbug Internet Cafe and prepared to restart his wholesale business. He arranged to buy the goods from Brother Zhang, while remaining curious about the internet cafe’s mysterious owner.
Wang Xiaoliang helped Bugbug Internet Cafe begin selling drinks and snacks after leaving Li Laifu’s supermarket, while Li Laifu watched from across the street and blamed him for the competition. Wang Xiaoliang set a modest markup that left the internet cafe room to profit, and the first order earned him 1,100 yuan.
Wang Xiaoliang learned that Bugbug Internet Cafe was run as a company and that Luo Bisheng was its shift manager and profit-sharing partner. Luo Bisheng described their boss’s rise from a college internet cafe owner to a major real estate developer, leaving Wang Xiaoliang surprised to learn the boss had developed the shopping street and nearby projects.
Luo Bisheng explained how Wang Xiaoliang’s decision to lend Bugbug Internet Cafe two cases of Red Bull led to his new supplier deal. Wang Xiaoliang realized the deal was tied to the boss’s plan for the shopping street and anticipated the supermarket that would challenge Li Laifu.
Wang Xiaoliang enjoyed steady profits delivering goods to Bugbug Internet Cafe and learned that its smoke-free environment attracted a broad clientele. He spent the weekend with Wei Zijin, who wanted to expose Li Laifu, but Wang Xiaoliang told her to trust that Li would face consequences and drew her into a playful kiss.
Wang Xiaoliang discovered that Li Xiaozhi had turned her livestreaming into a major sales success by building a flirtatious online persona. He watched her stream and was unsettled by how completely she had transformed herself.
Wang Xiaoliang convinced himself that Li Laifu had used Li Xiaozhi’s livestream success to hide his fear of losing revenue, while Li Laifu fretted over the supermarket’s profits and the twenty-percent share he owed Wang Xiaoliang. The chapter left Li Laifu secretly inflating the store’s rent expense to reduce Wang Xiaoliang’s payout, believing he was doing it for the young man’s own good.
Wang Xiaoliang built a comfortable living by supplying Bugbug Internet Cafe and selling drinks and snacks to university students, while Li Laifu worried over his declining store business and an incoming supermarket. Just as Wang Xiaoliang settled into the new semester and his sweet weekend visits with Wei Zijin, a major event changed his plans.
Wang Xiaoliang’s campus delivery work was disrupted when Jiangcheng University imposed strict access controls and closed-campus management, sharply reducing his income. He went to meet Huang Xueli for an explanation and found Zhou Qiang waiting at Huang’s apartment.
Huang Xueli explained that two scandals at Jiangcheng University had prompted its president to impose closed-campus management and overhaul campus businesses. He told Wang Xiaoliang and Zhou Qiang that all campus business contracts would go to public tender, and asked whether they could secure some supermarkets.
Huang Xueli proposed that Zhou Qiang fund bids for up to three Jiangcheng University supermarkets, using Wang Xiaoliang as the public-facing operator. After outlining why the tender’s timing and requirements could limit competition, Zhou Qiang asked Wang Xiaoliang if he wanted to take the job.
Zhou Qiang, Huang Xueli, and Wang Xiaoliang agreed on profit and liability shares for a bid to operate three campus supermarkets, with Zhou Qiang funding the project. After estimating the bid and startup costs, Wang Xiaoliang realized his thirty-percent liability could amount to nine hundred thousand.
After drafting a three-party business agreement with Zhou Qiang and Huang Xueli, Wang Xiaoliang reflected on the risks and relationships involved in the Book of Fate. Convinced Zhou Qiang and Huang Xueli were friends he could trust, he called Wei Zijin to discuss the investment in person and arranged to see her at her interview.
Wang Xiaoliang watched Wei Zijin interview Zeng Haiyan, who described leaving a state-owned enterprise to help run her parents’ stinky tofu stall and said she was satisfied with her life. After the interview, Wei Zijin took Wang Xiaoliang’s hand, and Zeng Haiyan recognized him as Zijin’s boyfriend.
Wang Xiaoliang asked Wei Zijin to approve his business venture with Zhou Qiang and Huang Xueli, and she encouraged him to take the risk. He became the legal representative of one of Zhou Qiang's companies, then met Zhou Qiang and Huang Xueli to sign the agreement.
Wang Xiaoliang, Zhou Qiang, and Huang Xueli prepared a competitive pledge and bid for Jiangzhou University’s campus supermarkets. At the crowded bidding session, Vice President Song Yi imposed strict rules against whispering, unqualified bidders, and outside influence before qualification checks began.
At Jiangzhou University’s tender meeting, Song Yi enforced strict eligibility checks that eliminated many bidders, while Wang Xiaoliang realized Huang Xueli and Zhou Qiang had prepared his company for the rules. A rival company’s careless bid errors cost it two prime lots, and the meeting ended with the rival’s representative acknowledging the process was fair.
Wang Xiaoliang’s company won three university shop bids with a concise letter of practical commitments, despite another bidder repeatedly offering 8,000 yuan more. Song Yi questioned Wang about enforcing the promises, then required him to formalize additional guarantees before announcing the wins.
Wang Xiaoliang and his partners planned the opening of their three campus supermarkets, then collected the keys after signing the three-year contract. With new managers recruited and his partners stepping back from daily operations, Wang Xiaoliang took charge of the stores and arranged to see Wei Zijin on Saturday.