Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 50 Do it!
"boom."

"Uncle, drive slower."

Chen Xuebing arrived at the entrance of the residential area at 12 o'clock.

The windows of the shop at home are also closed.

I put my hands on my hips, twisted my neck, and looked up to see the full moon.

Two hundred kilometers back, the moon in the sky was still so close, but once we entered the city, it was a bit foggy.

"Phew..." Chen Xuebing let out a long sigh, feeling a little tired.

Humans just can't look up at the stars.

The moon is so small, yet it appears so large, while the planets in the distance, which are actually billions of times larger than the moon, appear so, so small.

Humanity's greatness or insignificance depends on the distance of observation. Even if this reborn individual were to spend his entire life, he could not cause much change to this tiny blue planet.

What's the point of working so hard all your life?

"Hey."

Chen Xuebing chuckled, shook his head, and walked home.

My mind has been taken over by Sun Liancheng again.

Forget about the point; if you have a brain, you're not just here daydreaming.

However, I've made too many plans since my rebirth, and most of them will take a long time to realize. Thinking about them all the time is too tiring, so I need to clear some of them out and focus on the things at hand.

Learning, start-up capital, the first engineering project.

If we can get these three things done well in the next six months, that would be good enough.

As soon as I opened the door, the fourth thing came rushing at me.

"Mom, why aren't you asleep yet?"

The living room lights were on, and Yu Chunyan, who was leaning back on the sofa watching TV, immediately sat up straight when she saw him.

Where did you go?

"Oh, my uncle and I went to the project site. It's a bit far, and we just got back."

As Chen Xuebing spoke, he changed into slippers and went into the living room. Just as he was about to go into the room to get a charger, Yu Chunyan quickly stopped him:
"Don't go to sleep yet! Your classmate just came to see you. What happened?"

Chen Xuebing walked over and glanced at it. On the coffee table in front of his mother was an envelope, next to a bank card, with a note on top. He tilted his head, looked at the bank card, and frowned, saying:
"who?"

It's definitely not Mom's. The bank card is white; it must be some kind of special edition from a certain year. Mom wouldn't bother getting a card like that.

"Tsk, I already told you, it's your classmate! He came to the store to give it to you!"

Chen Xuebing scratched his head: ?
"Oh my, so tall, so fair, so adorable!"

Yu Chunyan used only three words to describe him and immediately pinpointed Yang Qingyue's location.

If it were Xin Mengzhen, her mother would probably only say one thing: "She's exceptionally beautiful!"

"Oh! My deskmate! Why did she give me her card?"

Chen Xuebing's move completely baffled Yu Chunyan.

"How should I know? I'm asking you!"

When Chen Xuebing learned it was Yang Qingyue, he shook his head and said, "Wait a minute, my phone is dead, I need to charge it first."

He also has an important phone call to return, and it's quite urgent.

On his way back from the construction site, Huo Xiaowen called him and said that General Manager Zhao had contacted him and agreed to let him buy the machine on credit; it was only a matter of 20,000 or 30,000 yuan.

After only a few words, the phone shut down; my uncle's phone had also run out of battery.

He needs to call and confirm right now.

……

Twenty minutes later, Chen Xuebing came out with a smile and a phone in hand. Yu Chunyan was clearly not sleepy and was watching him intently.

"Have you asked clearly?"

"Yes, it's my classmate. She thought I needed money urgently and was going to lend it to me. I didn't go to evening self-study that night, so she brought it to me."

It took Chen Xuebing more than ten minutes to turn on his phone. He found many text messages from Yang Qingyue, then called Huo Xiaowen to confirm the information he wanted.

Now that Yang Qingyue's situation was out in the open, he felt there was no need to hide it from his mother.

Perfect timing, let's give Mom a heads-up.

"You want to borrow money?" Yu Chunyan had already suspected something about this card, and borrowing money was undoubtedly the most acceptable thing for her. Hearing this, she breathed a sigh of relief, but her expression was not relaxed. "Why are you borrowing money from a girl? How much did you borrow? Why didn't you ask me for it back?"

Chen Xuebing was also somewhat amused and exasperated: "It's about purchasing goods. I was temporarily short of money, but I didn't lend it to them. They thought I was short of money, so they brought it to me. Maybe they thought I was too embarrassed to ask. I've already taken care of everything here, so I don't need it for the time being. If I really needed it, I would definitely borrow it from you!"

This time, she brought up all the things that Yu Chunyan had been concerned about recently, and she turned to the side on the sofa, ready to start a conversation.

“Your brother said you’re planning to hire a tutor for him and help him skip a grade. You’re also short of money for your inventory. You even made a bet with your aunt about starting a construction project… Kid, you’re still in school! Tell me the truth, what have you been up to lately? You’re all grown up and have your own ideas, but with so many important things going on, you need to tell me your plans! I’ve been worried sick about you!”

Chen Xuebing paused for a moment, thinking about how to explain all this.

After a while, he sat on the sofa, patted his mother on the back of the neck, and said leisurely, "If you want to be someone important, this is how it is. When the opportunity comes, even if you can't rush up, you have to push yourself. If I don't push myself, how will resources come to me? But don't worry, I only do things that I'm confident about. Like that project in June, I could have competed for it, but since my uncle didn't do it, I didn't either, so as not to crush me and drag you down. I can control things now, so don't worry."

"It's good that you know what you're doing!" This was the matter that had been weighing on Yu Chunyan's mind: "Let me be frank with you, our family has 73,000 yuan in savings! ...Mom can borrow at most 20,000 to 30,000 yuan! If you lose money in your business, that's the limit! ...The rest is this house and this shop, and we also have to consider your younger brother's future. We can't afford to lose any more, do you understand?"

Chen Xuebing laughed.

It's quite interesting to suddenly realize the bottom line of what you could afford to lose in your past life.

His life in his previous life was too smooth; his mother had never told him any of these things, so even after his rebirth, he had no idea how much money his family actually had.

Suddenly, I felt a little sad.

The old man and his mother had only managed to accumulate this much wealth throughout their lives.

"Mom, don't worry... I've done the math. I'll only lose half of this 70,000. The other half belongs to my brother. I'll keep it for him no matter what."

Chen Xuebing didn't say he wouldn't compensate, but Yu Chunyan was finally relieved by his words.

"That's good! ...Oh no, I need to go to the bathroom."

Yu Chunyan, acting on her impulse, hurriedly stood up, but then suddenly remembered something and turned to ask, "That girl... is she your deskmate? Judging from her accent, she's a local from Chongqing, right?"

Chen Xuebing immediately understood the Empress Dowager's meaning and said with a speechless smile, "Aren't you in a hurry to use the restroom?"

"Gu..."

Yu Chunyan's stomach growled as if summoned.

Yu Chunyan's face turned pale. She clutched her stomach with one hand, but still managed to pat the envelope on the coffee table with her other hand.

"Let me tell you! That girl is great! Mom... likes her! Do you understand?"

Seeing that she was stubbornly holding on, Chen Xuebing couldn't pretend to be stupid anymore, so he quickly raised his chin towards the toilet and said helplessly:
"Yes, yes, go quickly!"

"Oops..."

Yu Chunyan, who had been clutching her stomach with one hand, suddenly used both hands and raced towards the toilet.

Chen Xuebing then slowly touched the bank card and looked at the cute little dog on it.

Yang Qingyue's text message said there was 10,000 yuan in there.

Gee tut.

His group of friends at school couldn't scrape together a thousand yuan even if they racked their brains.

How come all of these girls are rich?

Am I being too picky?

If the girls he's interested in are all so wealthy, how much will he have to give as bride price if he wants to marry several of them in the future?

Dry!
make money!

……

Youth is sometimes like a few thin sheets of paper, and the images imprinted in each moment, when put together, become a movie. Sometimes it is like the rising sun, with the morning glow just beginning to appear, and a woman leading a horse along the way.

The soldier shaved his head.

The traditional 3/7 parted hairstyle for stylish men has been replaced with a sharper, shorter buzz cut.

Shave your head to show your resolve.

On the day he got his head shaved, Chen Xuebing smiled and said to his brothers: "From today onwards, you will follow me in business. When my hair grows back, the money in my account must grow as much as my hair."

Lu Yiwen, Liang Hui, Gou Hongyi, Zhang Hang, Huang Jin, Yu Yi, Jiao Gui.

Seven people, each with a new shop, plus Huo Xiaowen's offline channels, make up the "Eight Great Warriors".

As autumn officially turned into winter, Chen Xuebing's hair, which had been shaved to 0.5 centimeters, grew to almost two centimeters.

Eight stores were launched one after another, forming a matrix. Taking advantage of the traffic of new stores on Taobao, new stores were opened and established stores were maintained. Customers were recommended to "Xin Mengzhen's Little Store" through Wangwang and placed orders.

On December 21, the winter solstice, a total of 81 mobile phones were sold. In addition, Huo Xiaowen sold more than 12 mobile phones offline, bringing the total sales to nearly 15 yuan.

Among them, "Xin Mengzhen's Little Shop" achieved a total sales volume of over 80,000 yuan, becoming a five-diamond shop, which is very close to becoming a crown shop.

Five of the other stores have achieved diamond status.

There was no unconditional refund; we negotiated exchanges for 8 units and a return for one unit. Most people were quite satisfied and gave positive reviews for the sake of future warranty. For the more picky customers, we sent a free gift, and only exchanged the product if they were still dissatisfied. The one order that was returned was really problematic because the buyer was too difficult, constantly complaining to the back office, leaving negative reviews, and writing long posts in the comments section. Chen Xuebing was very patient and patient before finally getting the order returned.

The returned phone wasn't actually that bad; Gou Hongyi bought it at 20% of the purchase price.

Selling a product online is quite troublesome. After observing for a while, Chen Xuebing found that it would take at least one or two hours to close an order, and sometimes several days of intermittent communication. So he increased the sales commission to 20% of their profits, with Huo Xiaowen receiving 10% of the profit and himself receiving 70%.

Xin Mengzhen didn't want it, but she did have a request: after she goes to university, she wants to have her electronic products listed in that store.

Chen Xuebing naturally agreed. Xin Mengzhen would likely go to study in another city, and opening this shop and choosing this name was to maintain a constant connection with her.

In one month, Chen Xuebing's initial investment of 11,600 yuan grew to more than 39,000 yuan.

Everyone earned more than 600 yuan in commission, Gou Hongyi earned over 1,000 yuan, and Huo Xiaowen earned even more, seven or eight thousand yuan.

In total, everyone earned nearly 40,000 yuan.

Eight Taobao mobile phone sellers and one backpacker from Huaqiangbei, all engaged in the business of selling pirated goods, only earned 40,000 yuan, which doesn't seem like much.

A one-meter counter in Huaqiangbei can sell an average of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan worth of goods per month.

But in reality, the store's sales are growing exponentially. With higher credit ratings and more reviews, selling goods is becoming easier. If we take a week as a payment cycle and plot the sales figures for these four weeks on a bar chart, the sales will show an upward curve.

With the money from Chen Xuebing and Huo Xiaowen, they could scrape together nearly 50,000 yuan. They could also get some goods on credit from Zhao Wanping. His gang of brothers was no longer a group of beggars who couldn't even scrape together 1,000 yuan.

With increasingly clear benefits, the team became more and more cohesive. They all felt that fighting and committing evil deeds was meaningless and would go to internet cafes whenever they had free time.

On Tuesday, the day of the Winter Solstice, Chen Xuebing asked Lu Yiwen to inform everyone that he would treat everyone to mutton hot pot after school that afternoon.

...

At the mutton restaurant, the moment the curtain is lifted, a burst of heat and aroma fills the air.

These days, there are still few dog lovers online, and eating dog meat is not yet a moral issue. In many places, dog meat is eaten on the winter solstice.

Chen Xuebing likes large dogs, but he also tried dog meat once. He didn't know if the restaurant he went to was not good at cooking, but it tasted like it was full of spices. Since then, he still prefers to have a meal of mutton on the winter solstice.

"Brother, here!"

Chen Xuebing led a group of people in, and Yu Yi immediately stood up and waved.

Today, all the mutton restaurants were packed, and large tables that could seat eight people were even more sought after. In order to let everyone have a meal, Yu Yi skipped class and came over with a novel after 2 p.m. to reserve a seat.

"You've worked hard." Chen Xuebing walked over, patted Yu Yi's bowl cut with a smile, and sat down.

Yu Yi was a pretty boy who looked like a woman and had a cute little pot lid hairstyle. His family was the best among his peers. His father was a proper section-level cadre who was about to be transferred to be the director of the street office. His mother was also a section chief in the Religious Affairs Bureau, and his uncle was said to be a section chief in the re-drying factory.

The Section Chief's Family.

He just doesn't like going to school. His family has almost given up on him. If it weren't for his position in the family, he would have been playing the trumpet long ago.

"No, bro, I sold another phone today! A Motorola V66! I had him place the order at the main store, I'll send you a screenshot of the chat later!"

Yu Yi chuckled, and those who sat down behind him all exclaimed "Holy crap!"

A V66 costs 1399, and you earn 280, which is almost 40 yuan in commission!
"I knew you skipped class today, you must have taken an order!"

"Damn, my store is ranked high, they must have already asked at my store! I saw two messages about it around noon!"

"Brother, can I use my mom's ID to open a new store? I feel like the new store will have more traffic."

A group of people were making a lot of noise, but Chen Xuebing waved his hand.

"Let me tell you something."

All seven people sat down.

“Some people can’t go to the construction site,” Chen Xuebing said, his words like a thunderclap.

"Brother, what happened?" Lu Yiwen frowned. "Is it really not going to work out?"

He knew a little about what happened on the construction site.

Chen Xuebing nodded: "Luo An's father is going to take that third project. I took over a factory project in Pengshui. There's not much pipeline there, the construction area is concentrated, and the project is small. We can't afford to support so many people. At most, we'll have three managers, one construction worker, and a document controller."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone felt a sense of crisis.

"Brother! I can do the data!" Gou Hongyi, with a sly grin, was the first to launch an offensive on the position that no one else could do, in order to increase his chances of being accepted: "It's better to work on your own projects! You're only working for Brother Bing! Brother, I'll be your data clerk first, and then I'll make you your vice president!"

Chen Xuebing was speechless. He really wanted to give Gou Hongyi a piece of his mind, but Gou Hongyi was sitting far away, so he gave Jiao Gui, who was sitting next to him, a wink.

Jiao Gui was someone Chen Xuebing decided to bring into the team some time ago. In his previous life, he had worked in the underworld and gone to jail. Like Lu Yiwen, he was a daring and enterprising person, but he didn't have Lu Yiwen's organizational skills.

However, he is good at reading people and can understand Chen Xuebing's meaning very well.

Upon seeing the soldier give him a meaningful look, he raised his hand and slapped Gou Hongyi on the back of the head.

"The soldier hasn't been assigned anything yet, what's the rush!"

Gou Hongyi was the smartest, but the weakest in combat. After being hit, he could only cover his head and glare at Jiao Gui.

"I fucking..."

After Chen Xuebing was reborn, he didn't bully anyone else, but he liked to bully Gou Hongyi, though he didn't intend to mistreat him.

"Alright, you think learning to be a data clerk is that easy? Even apprentices have to work for a year or two before anyone dares to hire them. If you become a data clerk, I'll be lucky if I don't lose my pants."

Chen Xuebing lightly tapped the table and continued:
"Here's what I'm thinking. Now that the mobile phone business is booming, we can arrange people not only for construction sites, but also for the seven of you after you graduate. I think you can split into two groups: one group can go to Shenzhen to help me start a company and work on mobile phones, and there may be other things to do in the future; the other group can stay in Chongqing and work on construction sites with me. I won't force you to go to university, but if you want to become senior executives in the company, you must have a degree and will need to pursue further studies. Whether you are willing to study or not is your own choice."

Everyone looked at each other.

In the past, people were somewhat indifferent. What kind of education do you need to work on a construction site? Even the soldiers haven't made it big yet; aren't they all just laborers?

But now it seems that there are different levels of workers, both high-level and low-level!

Lu Yiwen slammed his hand on the table and declared, "I'll go! I'll spend the money to get into a junior college!"

Gou Hongyi chuckled. He had already started studying, and he was sure he could score three or four hundred points.

Liang Hui clicked his tongue: "Brother, I'll stay in Chongqing. Actually, I was thinking of paying high fees to go to the same school as you, but now it seems... that's hopeless."

Gou Hongyi had recently discussed Bing Ge's study progress with them. Although Bing Ge's score on the most recent comprehensive exam was still not good, only a little over 300 points, it was a mock college entrance exam, which covered a wide range of topics. Bing Ge clearly understood the material and could even discuss it with Yang Qingyue. He just had a weak foundation and was working on improving it.

Give him another six months, and he'll definitely be aiming for a bachelor's degree.

At least three books.

These days, you can still pay to attend a vocational college, but the entrance requirements for a bachelor's degree are still very strict. For ordinary families like his, there's simply no way to afford it.

Seeing that Liang Hui seemed a bit sad, everyone was about to offer him some words of comfort, but he chuckled and suddenly became very talkative: "Then I guess I'll just have to go to a vocational college with lots of pretty girls. Hey, I heard there's a cultural arts vocational college that's good! Lots of girls!"

"Fuck!" Everyone gave the middle finger.

Seeing everyone's response, Zhang Hang said somewhat hesitantly, "Brother, if I can't go to the construction site to earn money and I don't have enough... can I borrow some tuition money from you?"

Chen Xuebing nodded: "No problem."

Zhang Hang immediately replied, "Then I'll follow your arrangements!"

Huang Jin also said, "I'll listen to Brother Bing. Brother, I can go to Shenzhen. I know a little about mobile phones. I have an uncle who repairs mobile phones. I can learn from him."

Yu Yi shrugged indifferently: "I'm not going to pass the exam anyway. You can all go to school. I just told my family, and they've already arranged a school for me."

Everyone has expressed their opinion.

Jiao Gui, however, chuckled and said, "I'm not going to study anymore, and I don't want to be a leader. I can't do it. Brother, I just want to follow you. I'm willing to do odd jobs and run errands."

Damn it?

Suddenly, everyone realized that they seemed to have missed an opportunity to show their loyalty.

“Me too…” Lu Yiwen was about to speak immediately.

Chen Xuebing smiled, patted Lu Yiwen on the shoulder, and stopped him from speaking.

The reactions of those present were similar to what he had expected. In fact, he knew what their special skills were and what they were suited for.

Jiao Gui was the only one he hadn't expected.

He suddenly felt that he needed someone like that by his side in this life.

"That's settled then. Lu Yiwen, you, Gou Hongyi, and Huang Jin go to Shenzhen. Liang Hui, Fatty, and Yu Yi stay here and go to the construction site."

Lu Yiwen was taken aback and was about to speak when Chen Xuebing stopped him.

Lu Yiwen always thought that the soldier would definitely take him with him.

Chen Xuebing did indeed groom Lu Yiwen to be his deputy.

However, the situation in Shenzhen is complex.

Gou Hongyi is clever, but he is not someone I can trust. I need someone to keep him in check. Besides, there is Huo Xiaowen over there. Lu Yiwen has a straightforward temper and can get along with Huo Xiaowen. With Lu Yiwen in Shenzhen, he will report to me immediately if anything happens.

Chongqing, I have my own place here.

Liang Hui has a more stable personality, which makes him suitable for working as an assistant in Chongqing.

Zhang Hang and Yu Yi are obedient and will talk less nonsense and question themselves.

"Brother... what about me?" Jiao Gui, feeling abandoned, changed his expression slightly: "...You have to have a junior college degree? I'll carry your bag and drive you around!"

Chen Xuebing smiled.

That son of a bitch's intuition was spot on.

"You... since you're not going to school anyway, I'll give you some money in a while so you can learn to drive."

(End of this chapter)