Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 18: First income

Mei Jianzhong was quite surprised to see the amount of money. It wasn't that he had never seen so much money before, it was just that he really couldn't imagine that a few pieces of paper from his grandson could be worth so much.

The postman asked while drinking tea, 'This Feng Yiping, is he the son of the eldest girl from your family who married into the original Fushan Township?'

Mei Jianzhang said as he refilled his tea, 'He is my eldest grandson.'

'I remember your grandson seems to be quite young?'

'Yes, he turned 13 last month.'

'Oh, that's right. Then your grandson is something, uncle. Over the years in this town, only a few people have received royalties, and they were all for a newsletter published in the county daily newspaper, and the most they got was only seven yuan. Your grandson, at such a young age, has published an article in a nationally renowned publication, and the royalties are almost as much as our director's two-year salary. He is definitely going to have a great future.'

'Oh, I'm glad to hear that. But there is something I need to ask you. My grandson means that he is still young, so it would be better if this didn't become public knowledge. So I'm going to need your help, okay?'

'Oh, that's what this is about. No problem. It's true, he's just started junior high school, so it's best to keep it quiet. I promise not to tell anyone.'

'Let's go, I'll take you to buy some cigarettes.'

'No, no,' the postman declined, but in the end, he bought him a pack of Swimming cigarettes from the store for 3.5 yuan.

At this time, the 'Youyong' brand cigarettes were not as expensive as the legendary 18,000 yuan a stick, 90 yuan a stick, equivalent to the price of two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes. However, they were still good cigarettes. The rural people smoked 'Dagongji' themselves. Since the family called the roosters 'jigong' (cock), many people called this cigarette 'Dajigong' (big cock). It cost 14 cents a pack, and the 35-cent 'Youyong' was only used for guests.

The postman was happy to receive a free cigarette, and since he couldn't refuse, he took it, saying that it would bring him good luck.

Two days later, it was Saturday, and Mei Jianzhong thought that when his grandson came for a visit during the holidays, they would go to the post office together. Fortunately, the family of his eldest son, Guosheng, was not there today, or else he would have to waste a lot of time explaining.

In a couple of days, when the five-yuan story-telling fee arrives, Mei Jianzhong and the postman will no longer be surprised.

Feng Yiping doesn't worry about these things at this time. Today is Wednesday, and starting tomorrow, they will face their first exam in junior high school, which is also the relatively relaxed part of the first year. It's a bit of an exaggeration to say that the current third grade takes tests every day, but it's not uncommon to take two or three tests a week. For the second grade, there is a monthly test, and one was already taken at the end of last month.

Feng Yiping was not nervous at first, but when he went to see Teacher Zhu yesterday, Wang Yumin said, 'Feng Yiping, you entered the school with the third-best score in the class. This time, I'm not asking you to improve, but at least you can't fall any lower, even if you're in fourth place, you don't need to come back.'

Teacher Zhu also helped Wang Yumin at the time, 'I agree with what your teacher said. It's fine if you want to learn from me, but it definitely can't affect your normal studies, otherwise we won't be able to explain to your family.'

Feng Yiping felt terrible when he heard this. You see, nowadays, in the first year exam, not only are the six subjects of Chinese, mathematics, English, physics, chemistry and ideological and moral education tested, but also history, geography and biology. Feng Yiping had not put much thought into these three subjects, and when he lay in bed at night, he did not go over them in his head. His original plan was to pass these three subjects, and at most, cram for a few days during the final exam and get an 80 or above to show the teacher.

It has been less than two months since the start of the semester, and even the underachievers are trying hard to perform, not to mention the students with good grades. Many are now looking up to the third-year students, studying early in the morning and late at night, so it is unrealistic to expect the two students ahead of Feng Yiping to see their grades drop.

And learning the basics of drawing and music is related to Feng Yiping's big money-making event, so it is absolutely impossible to give up halfway. In this way, he must study hard these two days. So he told Teacher Zhu at the time that he would not come for the next two days.

So these two days Feng Yiping worked harder than ever before, getting up early and staying up late. He even read while eating. Xiao Zhijie and Wang Changning were very puzzled, and Huang Jingping was also very surprised. Even during class, Feng Yiping didn't care what subject the teacher was teaching, he just followed his own plan. He memorised the political science first, then history, then geography, and the most obscure subject, biology, was last. It was only a month and a half since the semester started, so there weren't many classes, and Feng Yiping's memory was always good. He believed that with these two days of cramming, he would get at least 80 points in these subjects.

The last two classes on Wednesday were Chinese. Watching Feng Yiping almost blatantly looking at biology, Wang Yumin thought about it for a while, but pretended not to see. She wanted to see what result Feng Yiping would get after just two days of cramming.

Meanwhile, these two days were also the two most relaxing days for Wang Yumin. At least, during self-study time, she no longer had to sneak in a few surprise attacks, which was completely unnecessary. Even those students who usually don't burn incense were also studying voluntarily these two days.

When it comes to exams, what remains in our memories after we finally and completely leave school is mostly the pressure, hard work and tension. But now, once again, being in the thick of it, Feng Yiping has a somewhat different experience.

It is certain that exams make people nervous, and naturally they also put people under pressure and make them feel hard work. But at the same time, many students actually have a vague sense of anticipation and longing for the exams? This can be seen from the way they hold their pens and look at the exam papers Wang Yumin is about to hand out with sparkling eyes.

After studying hard for so long, they want to test their results. Getting good grades is a kind of affirmation for themselves, and it also strengthens their yearning for a bright future, and they will study even harder in the time to come. More directly, they can get praise from the teachers, and the envy and even jealousy of their classmates, and they may even get secret glances from female classmates.

Of course, if you get good grades, the parents who have worked hard day after day will also smile, and your father will have a reason to drink a few cups of wine at night. The school bag will be more substantial, and it may contain a small jar of peanuts and a few dried fish.

So Feng Yiping concluded for himself that it was actually quite annoying. Exams are annoying and tiring. But if there are no exams, I really can't get used to it and I don't feel at ease. It's just like when he first started working, he felt tired when he had to work overtime and wanted to take a break, but when he actually did take a break, even if there was nothing to do, he unconsciously always had to go to the company to take a look around. It's also annoying.

If we extend this analogy, many students actually look forward to the monthly exams, just as they look forward to the monthly salary when they start working. Although the number on the bankbook increases every month, whether it is more or less is actually more or less a matter of psychological perception, and it is rare to be satisfied with it, but one can't help but look forward to it.

So, does leaving school mean leaving exams forever? Wrong, exams are actually everywhere, it's just that the process and the way results are announced are different. So, people, people...

Feng Yiping rambled on while answering the questions with ease. The Chinese exam lasted one and a half hours, and he finished answering all the questions in half an hour. Finally, he looked at the composition question, which he had been deliberately avoiding.

What on earth was my ideal? Feng Yiping could no longer remember, and rarely had the leisure to ponder such lofty and abstract questions, which had nothing to do with his daily life.

Now Feng Yiping tried hard to recall his former ideals in his mind, and he realised that there were quite a few of them.

He still had a vivid memory of his first ideal. It was born when he was in primary school and saw the colourful illustrations in his Chinese textbook. The illustration showed a green meadow below and a blue sky above, with a few brightly coloured parachutes landing between the sky and the earth. He was instantly fascinated and thought to himself, 'When I grow up, I will definitely become a paratrooper and jump out of a plane.'

Later, when he saw the staff of a sales company, he thought, 'In the future, I want to be a salesman.'

Then he wanted to be a scientist.

Then, when he first studied an article by Mr. Lu Xun and heard the teacher's introduction, he wanted to be a writer and a doctor...

The last time he considered this question was in technical secondary school, and he definitely wanted to become an engineer. This is the fearlessness of the ignorant. At that time, he actually had no idea what a real engineer was, and he had no idea how wide the gap was between a technical secondary school student and an engineer. To be precise, his last ideal should be revised to technician.

Of course, it doesn't really matter, because regarding the question of former ideals, even in later years, when he is dreaming in the middle of the night, he never thinks about it again.

One thing is clear: since childhood, when he still had ideals, he never once had the ideal of running a business and becoming a small boss.

Not to mention his generation, in the long history of mankind, only a very small number of people have always had clear ideals and have worked tirelessly towards them. In the end, some of them succeeded, while many others failed. Those who succeeded gained control of their own destiny.

For the vast majority of the general public, drifting with the flow is the majority. Who you are, where you come from, what you want to do, what your ideals are, whatever, it doesn't matter, it doesn't determine what you will end up doing. As a member of the general public, we don't really have many opportunities to choose from, and it's good to be chosen. If you happen to seize those few opportunities, have a regular income, or be able to be a small boss, that's great.

As for ideals and stuff, does it matter? If you can eat or spend money, that's fine.

Of course, this is his life experience or rant as a quasi-uncle-level little ordinary person in his thirties who feels he has seen the true meaning of life, and of course he can't write this as an essay now.

But that's not a problem, he writes about his ideals from a different perspective, and the whole thing is positive and optimistic, overflowing with positive energy. What he wrote is definitely what Wang Yumin wants to see when she sets a topic, and it may even exceed her expectations.

In two days, all nine subjects were completed, and Feng Yiping was satisfied with his results. In the past, his grades were mainly poor in chemistry and geometry in the third grade. Feng Yiping's chemistry grades were not bad. He relied on rote memorisation and often got 80 points or more, but not many times did he get a high score of 90 points or more. Now, he is like a second-year student, equivalent to a thirty-something uncle repeating junior high school, and then competing with those twelve- or thirteen-year-old children. If he still finds learning difficult, that's just not reasonable.

On Saturday, the teachers taught as usual for half a day. On the one hand, they had just experienced intense exams, and on the other hand, they were about to go on holiday soon. Most of the students let their hair down, including Huang Jingping next to them, who spoke to her deskmate Wang Jinju several times during class.

The last class was Chinese. The tallest student in the class fell asleep on his desk, propping up his Chinese textbook in front of him. This of course did not escape Wang Yumin's eagle eye. He was immediately called up to stand in punishment, but he was still given face. When you were punished by standing in primary school, you were usually told to go outside the classroom, and then you had to be inspected by other teachers and classmates—for example, those who were actually in physical education class. Fortunately, he was allowed to stand next to his seat, Feng Yiping thought, which might also have something to do with the fact that the student was in the last row. If he had been sitting in the front, he might still have been made to stand outside the classroom, or at the back of the classroom.

At the end of the class, Feng Yiping was among the ten or so students who were called to stay behind. At first, Feng Yiping didn't understand why, but then he realised that the students who were left behind were those who owed money for school fees and miscellaneous expenses.

Because chestnuts had recently been harvested and would gradually be turned into cash, Wang Yumin told everyone to mention it to their parents when they went home, and that school fees must be given priority.

Feng Yiping was really a little embarrassed to be asked by the teacher for debts. He thought about whether he should discuss it with his parents when they called back and ask them to send the school fees first.

It was just a few words, and Wang Yumin didn't say much else. In Feng Yiping's later professional experience, he had to call his customers almost every day to collect debts, and Wang Yumin's work of asking everyone to pay the tuition fees really failed. It can be seen that her enthusiasm for this task was not high, and it should be less than one-tenth of the enthusiasm for caring about her classmates' grades. This is precisely the respectable thing about teachers at this time: they are single-minded and only care about their students' studies.

Of course, she also knew that no one would refuse to pay if they had the money, and as a teacher, she was also considered an intellectual, and a female one at that, so she probably wasn't very good at asking for money.

She told them to be sure to return to school on time tomorrow afternoon. It only took a few minutes, and the dozen or so students who remained had also gone home for the holiday. Wang Changning and the others waited outside, and Feng Yiping joined him, walking slowly along the road towards the public house.