Guarding Against Others’ Schemes

"Don't be in a hurry yet, let me ask," Chen Ling said, hanging up the phone and rushing back into the business hall to find the staff member.

"Lian Xiaohua," he called, a bit embarrassed. "Could I trouble you to work some overtime today? There are still some numbers that need to be recharged. Don't worry, I'll pay you double the normal overtime rate."

Lian Xiaohua smiled faintly. "No need for overtime pay, but recharging so many numbers is repetitive and tiring. How about you give me a commission instead?"

Chen Ling was taken aback, thinking to himself, this guy's got nerve! He knows I can't do without him and is already asking for more money? But...

I like it!

After all, greedy people are much easier to deal with than those who are content with little.

"So, how much do you want?" Chen Ling asked seriously.

Lian Xiaohua named a figure, which made Chen Ling pause in thought.

"Just one yuan per number? Are you sure?"

"Yes, one yuan. Calculated by working time, that's already better than the overtime rate. Besides, we'll have plenty of chances to work together in the future, right?"

Lian Xiaohua's words made Chen Ling view him in a new light—the implication was clear. Lian Xiaohua was telling him that he wasn't a fool; he saw through the situation and knew exactly how much money he was helping Chen Ling make. The reason he didn't ask for more was not out of greed but because he wanted to make a connection, to invest in this relationship.

Although Chen Ling wasn't sure how Lian Xiaohua had sized him up so quickly, he had to admit, the man was smart.

Having made his judgment, Chen Ling seized the opportunity to press further, "In that case, what's your relationship with Manager Li?"

Lian Xiaohua, upon hearing the question, realized Chen Ling had caught his underlying meaning and accepted it, which pleased him. He replied with a smile, "We're both from Lianjia Village. I'm a native, and he's a son-in-law who married in. By our village's generational hierarchy, I'm actually his elder cousin!"

"Lianjia Village?" Chen Ling didn't recall the place, but the fact that it welcomed sons-in-law suggested its economy was quite prosperous—likely one of those resettled villages.

So-called "resettlement belt" villages sprang up as Linjiang City, being a provincial capital, developed rapidly and city boundaries expanded. Many suburban villages and towns were gradually incorporated into the city through rounds of land requisition and demolition. This resulted in the rise of many newly rich households. With money flooding in, some families with daughters began to prefer marrying husbands into the family to keep wealth in-house.

As a son-in-law, Li Mingjiang would naturally assign any lucrative opportunities to his fellow villager, Lian Xiaohua.

Once he understood the context, Chen Ling paused, then probed, "Given that, do you know anything about Manager Li's dealings with Director Liu?"

"Not exactly," Lian Xiaohua replied straightforwardly, "but it probably concerns the two parcels of collective land left after our village's resettlement. Since they can't be auctioned directly, a management office is being set up for the village to develop them itself. Liu Xuefeng heads urban construction in the Binhu District, so it's under his jurisdiction."

"I see!" Chen Ling thought to himself, so this is the key.

He quietly committed all this information to memory, readily agreed to the one-yuan commission, and then called Zhang Peng back.

"How's it going, Chen?" Zhang Peng answered quickly. "We're already at about two hundred orders..."

Chen Ling considered for a moment and instructed, "We can only take up to 260 more today, and payment here has to be in cash. I only have sixty thousand on hand, so that's a maximum of three hundred orders in total!"

"Got it!" Zhang Peng hung up without another word, clearly busy on his end as well.

A few seconds later, Chen Ling began receiving a steady stream of phone numbers from Zhang Peng, which he handed off to Lian Xiaohua.

Recharging phone credit was a simple process—input a number and an amount—but as Lian Xiaohua pointed out, repetitive, mechanical work is exhausting. Mistakes and omissions were inevitable. Add to that system feedback delays, occasional glitches, and the time it took Chen Ling to receive and relay numbers, and the production line was busy until after seven in the evening before all three hundred numbers were processed.

When the last number was recharged, Lian Xiaohua shook out his sore hands with a wry smile. "Why do I feel like one yuan was too little? I should have asked for more!"

"You can still ask now," Chen Ling replied cheerfully.

He had every reason to be happy—he now had three hundred supermarket cards in hand, which meant that once he sold them, his personal profit would exceed twenty thousand!

And this was only the first day.

Not to mention, these three hundred customers would become natural advertisers for them, spreading the word across various campuses. With such explosive viral growth, tomorrow's scene was easy to imagine.

Chen Ling even began to worry whether Lian Xiaohua alone could handle the workload ahead...

"Um, I don't have enough cash today, so I'll settle up with you tomorrow," Chen Ling said apologetically as they exited through the business hall's back door. "I'm really sorry."

Lian Xiaohua waved it off with a smile. "It's nothing. But you really are a genius. Tell me—how did I not realize that such a simple promotion could be so profitable?"

He'd been helping Chen Ling recharge all day and was well aware of the details. He knew roughly how much Chen Ling had made in just half a day.

That's how business goes—if you don't think of it, you'll never think of it, but once you make that little leap, the logic is simple. Yet it's that small leap that holds back the vast majority of people in the world.

Anyone claiming not to envy such success would be lying, but Lian Xiaohua wasn't short-sighted. Chen Ling, who conceived of and executed the idea, was worth far more than the money he made today.

With that in mind, Lian Xiaohua didn't rush off but instead invited Chen Ling to grab a bite together. The two, famished, picked a few small dishes at a roadside stall and began to eat.

Over the meal, Chen Ling asked more about Li Mingjiang and Lianjia Village. After they finished, they parted ways.

...

Around eight in the evening, Chen Ling didn't hurry back to school but made his way to Jin Youde's supermarket. After a moment's thought, he went inside.

"Hey, Chen, you're here?" Jin Youde greeted him with a cigarette dangling from his lips, playing cards on his computer. He was in a good mood, as his hand was looking promising.

Chen Ling got straight to the point. "Old Jin, do you have enough cash?"

"That fast? The goods are in already?" Jin Youde was pleasantly surprised, paused his game, and came to the counter. "How many?"

"Three hundred cards. At the agreed discount, that's fifty-seven thousand six hundred," Chen Ling replied.

Jin Youde nodded. "I need to verify the cards. No offense, just business."

Verification meant calling the supermarket's hotline to confirm each card's balance hadn't been used. Since the cards were unsigned and unprotected by password, this step was essential.

"I understand, but three hundred cards—are you going to check them one by one? That's going to take a while," Chen Ling remarked.

Jin Youde laughed. "It's fine, I'll do random checks. In business, trust comes first—for both of us."

Hearing this, Chen Ling didn't hesitate further. He dumped all the cards from his bag onto the counter and discreetly turned on his phone's video recorder.

He'd noticed earlier that when Jin Youde stood up, he had casually removed the USB drive from the security monitor. In other words, nothing that happened in the supermarket from that moment on would be recorded as evidence.

It could simply be an old hand's habit, or it could be a sign of ill intent.

Therefore, while recording with his phone, Chen Ling's other hand slipped into his pocket, tightly gripping the spring knife inside...