Chapter Summaries

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 put aside his resentment and uploaded a video of himself writing calligraphy.
• Luo Bisheng told Wang Xiaoliang that his boss knew him and planned to get revenge on Li Laifu now that Wang had quit.
• Liang Yanni asked Wang if she could repay three hundred yuan first, and Wang agreed.
• Luo Bisheng said his boss would arrange paperwork for a storefront at the east end and have Bugbug Internet Cafe buy its drinks, snacks, and instant noodles from Wang.
• Wang Xiaoliang wondered if the Book of Fate had accumulated the luck Li Laifu lost by harming others and paid it back to 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 decided to visit Bugbug Internet Cafe the next morning to confirm Luo Bisheng’s offer.
• Luo Bisheng sent Wang Xiaoliang a large order and transferred him 10,000 yuan in advance, with instructions to use reputable brands, keep receipts, pay suppliers promptly, and exclude betel nuts.
• Wang Xiaoliang agreed to deliver the goods the next morning and asked Luo Bisheng to arrange a meeting with the owner, but Luo said the owner was elusive.
• Wang Xiaoliang called Brother Zhang to order the stock, explained that it was for Bugbug Internet Cafe, and promised to pay upfront when the goods arrived.

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.

• Li Laifu watched a delivery of drinks and snacks arrive for Bugbug Internet Cafe and grew angry when he saw Wang Xiaoliang receiving it.
• Wang Xiaoliang ignored Li Laifu’s hostile stare and worked with Luo Bisheng and the supplier’s mover to unload and arrange the goods.
• Wang Xiaoliang checked the delivery slip, paid the wholesaler, and added a ten percent markup to the purchase prices.
• Luo Bisheng questioned why Wang Xiaoliang’s prices were lower than Li Laifu’s, and Wang Xiaoliang insisted that the internet cafe should retain some profit.
• Luo Bisheng accepted Wang Xiaoliang’s terms and paid him 11,019.8 yuan, leaving Wang Xiaoliang with a net profit of 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.

• Wang Xiaoliang watched accountant Sister Juan prepare the internet cafe’s accounts and learned she was a professional hired by the company.
• Wang Xiaoliang treated Luo Bisheng to beef noodles, then asked why their boss had let him supply goods at a markup.
• Luo Bisheng explained that the boss wanted to bring Wang Xiaoliang on board and revealed that he was a shift manager who shared in the profits.
• Luo Bisheng told Wang Xiaoliang that their boss opened an internet cafe as a sophomore, later took over his murdered father-in-law’s real estate company, and made it more successful.
• Wang Xiaoliang asked whether the boss had developed the shopping street and nearby construction projects, and Luo Bisheng confirmed it and said the boss was forty-two.

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.

• Luo Bisheng showed Wang Xiaoliang how Bugbug Internet Cafe combined internet cafes, Milk Coffee shops, and convenience stores, and explained why the brands had not yet expanded to Jiangcheng.
• Luo Bisheng revealed that Bugbug Internet Cafe’s boss had bought an empty four-hundred-square-meter storefront and planned to open Jiangcheng’s first supermarket there.
• Luo Bisheng recounted how Wang Xiaoliang had lent him two cases of Red Bull for a tournament, helping him pass the duty-manager test, before Li Laifu made Wang pay for them and insulted Bugbug Internet Cafe.
• Luo Bisheng explained that after Wang Xiaoliang quit, he proposed letting Wang supply the cafe and keep all the profits, while the boss kept the earlier events secret to test Wang’s character.
• Wang Xiaoliang concluded that Li Laifu’s treatment of him had driven his good fortune toward him and that Bugbug Internet Cafe’s new supermarket would threaten Li Laifu’s business.

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 placed a large order with Brother Zhang, who told him Li Laifu had called him an ungrateful bastard for supplying Bugbug Internet Cafe.
• Wang Xiaoliang settled into a comfortable routine delivering goods, earning ten percent of daily sales as the cafe's orders reached two to five thousand yuan.
• Wang Xiaoliang asked Luo Bisheng why milk tea and juice sold so well, and Luo Bisheng explained that Bugbug Internet Cafe's clean, smoke-separated environment attracted women and other customers.
• Wang Xiaoliang visited Wei Zijin, who angrily proposed using her reporter friends to expose Li Laifu's supermarket.
• Wang Xiaoliang told Wei Zijin that Li Laifu would get what was coming to him, called her his wife, and kissed her after she blushed and protested.

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.

• Li Xiaozhi approached Wang Xiaoliang during a delivery, claimed she was making at least a hundred thousand in daily sales, and reminded him he had once been promised a twenty-percent cut.
• Wang Xiaoliang checked Li Xiaozhi's livestream storefront and found that her products had amassed enormous sales.
• After ending his own stream, Wang Xiaoliang entered Li Xiaozhi's livestream and saw her use filters, a sound card, and flirtatious sales pitches to attract viewers.
• Wang Xiaoliang realized Li Xiaozhi had built a commercially successful persona by selling the feeling of intimacy rather than just snacks and drinks.
• Li Xiaozhi drank water on camera, and droplets ran down her chin into her cleavage as the public chat erupted.

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 watched Li Xiaozhi’s livestream success and recognized her talent, then recalled that Li Laifu had sent her out early to provoke him.
• Wang Xiaoliang decided Li Laifu was anxious because Bugbug Internet Cafe’s sales were cutting into his revenue and took the apparent taunt as proof he had made the right move.
• Li Laifu listened to Li Xiaozhi’s livestream and reviewed the supermarket accounts, pleased by her sales but troubled by the store’s growing profits.
• Li Laifu recalled hiring Wang Xiaoliang for his reliability and livestreaming knowledge, then admitted he had begun trying to keep the capable young man under control.
• Li Laifu raised the rent he recorded as a business expense from fifty thousand yuan to one hundred thousand yuan a month so he would owe Wang Xiaoliang less of the profits.

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 left Li Laifu's store and began supplying drinks and snacks to Bugbug Internet Cafe, drawing customers away from Li Laifu's supermarket.
• Li Laifu learned that a large supermarket would open at the eastern end of the street and took comfort in his other stores and his daughter's livestreaming income.
• Wang Xiaoliang grew closer to Zhou Qiang and Huang Xueli, whom he found friendly, capable, and kind-hearted.
• As universities reopened, Wang Xiaoliang delivered drinks and snacks to students and earned over a thousand yuan in net profit during the first week.
• Wang Xiaoliang spent weekends with Wei Zijin and expected the semester to continue routinely until a major event changed everything.

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.

• Wang Xiaoliang received a flood of campus orders, but guards and dorm supervisors stopped him from entering buildings and warned him not to sell goods there.
• Wang Xiaoliang learned from Luo Bisheng that Jiangcheng University and nearby colleges had imposed closed-campus rules, causing Bugbug Internet Cafe’s orders to fall.
• Wang Xiaoliang suspected there was more behind the new restrictions and tried to reach Huang Xueli, who eventually invited him to Jingrui Beautiful Garden.
• Wang Xiaoliang arrived at Huang Xueli’s apartment and saw Zhou Qiang sitting on the sofa.

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 told Wang Xiaoliang and Zhou Qiang that a fight involving physical education students led police to discover that a delinquent girl was under fourteen and had had sex with a student, turning the dispute into a criminal case.
• Huang Xueli described a police investigation into a prostitution and drug gang that uncovered two Jiangcheng University students and implicated Zhao Shengkai as the person who first took them to a club.
• The university president announced fully closed-campus management and promised students that he would improve cafeteria and supermarket quality and prices within a week or resign.
• The president ordered all campus businesses, including supermarkets and cafeterias, to be reshuffled through public tender, with a notice due the next morning and bidding scheduled for the day after.
• Huang Xueli asked Wang Xiaoliang and Zhou Qiang whether they could secure several campus 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.

• Huang Xueli showed Zhou Qiang and Wang Xiaoliang a map of Jiangcheng University and identified two medium-sized supermarkets and one smaller shop as potential targets.
• Huang Xueli explained that the tender’s crackdown on improper practices could deter established competitors, while its short preparation period and company-only bidding requirement would further limit the field.
• Zhou Qiang agreed that they could try to secure the locations and asked Huang Xueli how they should work together.
• Huang Xueli suggested that Zhou Qiang provide the funding and Wang Xiaoliang serve as the trusted public-facing operator.
• Zhou Qiang looked at Wang Xiaoliang and asked whether he wanted to do it.

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.

• Zhou Qiang explained that the partnership would use Wang Xiaoliang's experience and trustworthy reputation, and Wang agreed to pursue the project despite his concerns.
• Zhou Qiang offered to provide all the funding, and the group negotiated their shares of profits and potential losses.
• Wang Xiaoliang insisted on accepting a larger share of liability, resulting in Zhou Qiang bearing sixty percent, Huang Xueli ten percent, and Wang thirty percent; profits were divided among Zhou Qiang, Kong Xiuyun, Huang Xueli, Wang, and an employee bonus pool.
• The group discussed the school supermarket bids, and Zhou Qiang proposed bidding six hundred thousand a year for each of three shops.
• Wang Xiaoliang estimated that the three shops would require about three million in total startup capital and realized his share of the liability could reach 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.

• Zhou Qiang, Huang Xueli, and Wang Xiaoliang finished outlining a cooperation agreement but decided to wait for the school’s official bidding requirements before signing.
• Zhou Qiang urged Wang Xiaoliang to discuss the major investment with his family and Wei Zijin, and Wang Xiaoliang agreed he needed to explain the risks to Wei Zijin.
• Wang Xiaoliang read a new passage in the Book of Fate about three kinds of relationships and judged Zhou Qiang and Huang Xueli to be people with whom he could share both affection and business interests.
• Wang Xiaoliang called Wei Zijin at dawn and arranged to meet her at People’s Park at noon so he could discuss the investment in person.
• Wang Xiaoliang asked to arrive early to watch Wei Zijin’s interview, telling her that he missed her, and she giggled in response.

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 arrived at the café and watched Wei Zijin interview a woman without interrupting.
• Zeng Haiyan explained that she had resigned from a state-owned enterprise to care for her ill mother and help her parents sell stinky tofu.
• Zeng Haiyan said she enjoyed the work, was satisfied with her income, and rated her life eighty percent overall.
• Wei Zijin finished the interview, sent her crew back to the station, and walked over to Wang Xiaoliang with Zeng Haiyan.
• Wei Zijin took Wang Xiaoliang’s hand, and Zeng Haiyan exclaimed that he was 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.

• Zeng Haiyan teased Wang Xiaoliang, declined a meal because she needed to help her mother at the stall, and agreed to let Wei Zijin film her work the next morning.
• Wei Zijin explained that Zeng Haiyan had watched Wang Xiaoliang in college and had praised his upright character despite criticizing his difficulty adjusting to university life.
• Wang Xiaoliang showed Wei Zijin the partnership agreement, and she judged Zhou Qiang and Huang Xueli responsible and capable business partners.
• Wang Xiaoliang asked for Wei Zijin's approval because the venture could put him in debt and delay their plans to buy a home; she told him to go ahead and promised they would repay any debt together.
• After Zhou Qiang called, Wang Xiaoliang agreed to join the venture and went to register as the legal representative of one of Zhou Qiang's companies.
• That evening, Wang Xiaoliang, Zhou Qiang, and Huang Xueli met at Huang Xueli's home, where Huang placed three freshly printed copies of the agreement on the desk.

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.

• Zhou Qiang persuaded Wang Xiaoliang and Huang Xueli to lower their bid to five hundred thousand per store to account for the university’s vacation periods, and all three signed the agreements.
• Huang Xueli proposed a concise pledge promising safe products, tenfold compensation for counterfeit goods, no betel nuts, cigarettes, or alcohol, and operation according to university requirements.
• Huang Xueli added commitments to prioritize financially disadvantaged students for part-time jobs and offer the supermarkets as practical work experience centers, while Zhou Qiang offered staff from Hongbin Tower to help open the stores.
• More than a hundred people gathered to bid for Jiangzhou University’s eighteen supermarkets, and Wang Xiaoliang spotted Li Laifu among the crowd.
• Song Yi announced that results would be decided and displayed that day, ordered unqualified bidders to leave, and warned that connections and unauthorized contact with evaluators would not be tolerated.

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.

• Song Yi ordered individual bidders and unauthorized company representatives to leave, and Li Laifu departed while Wang Xiaoliang took a seat at the front.
• Wang Xiaoliang realized Huang Xueli had anticipated the identity checks and that Zhou Qiang had swiftly completed the paperwork changing the company’s legal representative.
• Song Yi’s staff verified bidders’ documents, removing two people who could not prove their share ownership while allowing three chain representatives to stay after they promised their stores would be directly operated.
• The judges shortlisted five bids for the first lot, then eliminated a company after its proposal mistakenly referred to a storefront in Tianyang District; the other finalist won the prime shop.
• The same company made another Tianyang District reference in its second proposal and lost the next lot, after which its representative accepted the result and called the meeting 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 submitted Jiangchuang Enterprise Management Company’s bid for the Cafeteria Three shop, placing second by price behind Boyuan Commercial Chain.
• The host read Jiangchuang’s one-page commitment letter, and Song Yi awarded the shop to the company for its specific, enforceable promises.
• Jiangchuang became a finalist for two more targeted shops, and Song Yi recognized Wang Xiaoliang as the company’s legal representative.
• Song Yi asked Wang how he would enforce the commitments on prices, prohibited products, penalties, and hiring financially disadvantaged students, and Wang gave detailed answers.
• Song Yi told Wang to add his answers to the letter, sign it, and affix the company seal before the host announced that Jiangchuang had secured all three shops.

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.

• At Huang Xueli's home, Wang Xiaoliang, Zhou Qiang, and Huang Xueli divided responsibilities and planned the work for opening the supermarkets.
• Wang Xiaoliang invited Sister Li to manage a store, promising her the same wages and social insurance, and she accepted after consulting her husband and requesting a formal employment contract.
• Wang Xiaoliang recruited Liang Yanni to help with the opening, and she agreed to start the next day for higher hourly pay.
• Wang Xiaoliang arranged for Brother Zhang's moving crew to supply goods to Bugbug Internet Cafe and collected the bank receipt for the 1.8-million-yuan payment to the school.
• Wang Xiaoliang signed the three-year contracts, received the keys to all three supermarkets, and sent the contract photos to Zhou Qiang, Huang Xueli, and Wei Zijin.
• Wang Xiaoliang exchanged flirtatious messages with Wei Zijin, who said she would visit him on Saturday.