First pot of gold
"Xiaoyu, finished class?"
"Yeah, go to bed early. Why are you still coming to the shop?"
"I'm just here to help since the shop is busy. I'll give you a hand."
"What help can you offer? Go back and rest early. I've already hired two ladies."
"Ladies?"
"Yeah..."
Pointing to the two busy ladies in front, Zhang Wenxiu said, "700 per month."
Chen Yu gave a thumbs-up to his mom and said, "Mom, impressive! It's only been a few days since the opening, and you've already hired someone so quickly."
"We have to hire more people; it's just too busy. Look, all the seats are full. And this is just the beginning of the night; it gets busier after midnight."
"Mom, be careful not to overwork yourself."
"I'm fine. I'm full of energy now. Besides, we sleep late during the day."
"That's true."
Seeing that there was no need for help in the shop, Chen Yu didn't refuse and went back home.
He wanted to take a bath and rest, but he didn't feel sleepy at the moment. Instead, he started learning various computer skills online.
Unconsciously, two more hours passed.
Chen Yu logged into QQ to check for messages. Finding none, he was about to go to sleep.
Ding ding...
As soon as he logged into QQ, Zhang Jianming sent him several messages.
"Chen Yu, you're online."
"What's up?"
"King's Guild team has reached level 35."
"So fast."
"Yes, not just them; many others have also reached level 35. They're looking to buy skill books from you."
"Don't you know the account and password? You can just sell to them."
"I do, but before you've been the one talking to them. I'm afraid that if we suddenly switch, they might get suspicious, and the deal might fall through."
"Alright, I'm going online."
Finally, it was time. Chen Yu logged into Legend.
As soon as he logged in, a friend in the game, Soul of the King, sent him a private message: "Merchant Brother, you're online."
"Soul of the King, how can you speak like that? I've always done honest business. How can you call me a merchant?"
"Don't talk nonsense. We've been waiting for you for hours. Magic Shield, Dog Summon, and Ice Blast, do you have them?"
"I do."
"Price?"
"5000 yuan each."
"Why don't you go rob someone?"
Of course, Chen Yu was asking for a sky-high price.
He never intended to sell them for just 5000 each.
But that's how business was done. You had to start with a high price.
"Here we go again, Soul of the King. Okay, old friend, 4000 yuan."
"Magic Shield is already 1000 yuan now, and you still want 4000 for one."
"Soul of the King, that's not right. Magic Shield is a level 31 skill book, while Lihuo, Dog Book, and Ice Blast are all ultimate skill books. You can't compare them."
"Even so, it can't be this expensive. There are many places now to farm skill books, not just the Corpse King but also some other bosses."
"Alright, alright, 3000 yuan, deal?"
"Still too high."
"How much are you thinking?"
"1500."
Soul of the King proposed a price.
Chen Yu was shocked, "Damn, Soul of the King, why don't you go farm them yourself?"
Even though the market prices for skill books were continuously dropping, ultimate skill books were still in high demand. Moreover, Chen Yu had hoarded around 80% of the available ultimate skill books in the market. There was no way he would sell them for such a low price.
"Relax, let me finish. What do you say, Soul of the King?"
"1500 yuan is indeed a bit low, but I can't let you take a loss either. Let me ask, how many ultimate skill books do you have?"
"About 200."
"I'll take them all."
"What?"
"I said I'll take them all."
"You can't be serious."
Seeing the message from Soul of the King, Chen Yu was dumbfounded.
"You want all 200?"
"Yes."
"You want to buy all 200?"
"Merchant Brother, I think I made myself pretty clear."
"Damn, you're rich!"
Although Chen Yu had known that Soul of the King was quite wealthy, he never imagined that Soul of the King would be this rich.
"Rich? Not at all. In a few days, we're going to have a guild war. Prague, Eternal Kingdom, and the Celestial Harmony Guild are preparing to fight against us. We are the top guild in Legend, and if we lose, what's left for me?"
"So, you're planning to buy all the ultimate skill books?"
"That's right."
"In one word, sell or not?"
"I'll sell, of course."
Selling them individually would eventually yield higher profits, but it would also be troublesome. If someone was willing to buy them all at once, Chen Yu saw no reason not to sell. Besides, he was concerned that he had hoarded so many skill books. If the big game company took a dislike to him and increased the drop rate of skill books from monsters, he would still end up losing.
"I have 200 skill books here. I'll sell them to you for 250,000 yuan, Soul of the King."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
After Soul of the King finished the transaction, he added, "By the way, how are those five characters I had you level up doing?"
"They're all at level 30 or higher now. In a few days, they'll reach level 35."
"Alright, I'll transfer the funds to you."
"Uh, well, Soul of the King, it's pretty late now. Can we do the transaction tomorrow?"
Although Chen Yu also wanted to proceed with the transaction, it was quite late, and he had nowhere to check his bank account.
"It's okay, I recently activated online banking; it's very convenient."
"Uh, alright."
Since they had already come this far, Chen Yu had no choice.
"I've transferred the payment to you; check it."
"Alright, give me a moment, I'll go to the self-service ATM."
"Bro, can you be more professional and activate online banking too?"
"I got it, I'll activate online banking tomorrow."
Chen Yu understood that online banking functionality had been introduced as early as 1997. Although it wasn't widely adopted by different banks until after 2003, the four major banks had already implemented online banking in 2001, even if not many people were using it at the time. Although Chen Yu had conducted several online transactions before, they were all during the day when checking his bank account was convenient. Now he had no choice but to go to the bank, even in the middle of the night.
"250,000 yuan."
The self-service ATM displayed the 250,000 yuan that had been transferred, and Chen Yu was extremely excited.
"Jian Ge, set up a computer for me; I want to log in."
The self-service ATM was located near Dreamscape Junction, and it would take too long to go back home. Since Soul of the King was being so generous, Chen Yu didn't want to keep him waiting.
Thus, he went directly to the Internet café.
Even though it was midnight, the Internet café was bustling with activity as many people were still immersed in playing The Legend of Mir 2.
"Ah, Chen Yu, why did you come to the Internet café so late?"
"Just someone buying skill books; I checked my account at the bank and came over."
"How much for one book?"
"1500 yuan."
"Uh... Chen Yu, isn't that too cheap?"
They had never sold them for such a low price before.
"It is a bit cheap, but I'm selling them in bulk to him."
"In bulk? How many books are they buying?"
"Guess."
"10 books?"
"Too few."
"20 books?"
"Still too few."
"Is it 50 books?"
"Alright, stop guessing. Log in with a few of your alternate accounts, then take out all the skill books from the warehouse."
"Seriously..."
What else was there to say? As Zhang Jianming watched Chen Yu complete multiple transactions with Soul of the King for the 200 skill books, he was left in awe.
"You've sold them all."
"Yes, all sold."
"300,000!!!"
"Lower your voice."
Chen Yu told Zhang Jianming to lower his voice, "Wang Pangzi would be jealous if he heard."
"No 300,000? I gave him a discount, 250,000."
"That's fine, that's fine. Is the money there?"
"Yes."
Chen Yu nodded, "It's not easy to withdraw money at night, so I'll get your share out tomorrow."
"Don't, I can't use that much at once. Transfer it to me tomorrow."
"Sure."
The two chatted for a few more minutes, and since they had school tomorrow, Chen Yu bid farewell and headed home.
As for Zhang Jianming, he decided to spend the night at the Internet café.
"Thank goodness, my parents haven't come back yet."
With a sigh of relief, Chen Yu suppressed his excitement and went to sleep.