Chapter 29 – Spending Money Is a Very Pleasant Thing

“Haha, you’re quite the comedian, young man. I take it you can’t stand the smell in here? It makes sense. Even when I first started, I couldn’t handle the scent of cured meat, let alone pampered students like yourselves,” a semi-bald middle-aged man wearing a leather apron said with a laugh as Su Lifeng let out a sneeze.

His words drew laughter from the surrounding crowd. At the same time, several people looked over at Su Lifeng and the somewhat awkward-looking Cheng Xiaomei standing beside him with interest. No matter how one looked at them, this pair didn’t seem like the type to visit an agricultural wholesale market. The stench permeating the entire market-a cocktail of manure, livestock, and cured meats-wasn’t something an ordinary person could stomach.

Furthermore, were they really here to buy anything? One small-time meat vendor, who had just given Su Lifeng directions, was highly skeptical. When Su Lifeng had politely approached him to ask if he had a large quantity of smoked meat available for wholesale, the vendor had mocked him internally. He decided to pawn this prankster off on a nearby competitor. “My meat is expensive. Go buy from him instead.”

Looking for a laugh? Go mess with Baldy Zhang!

“Wearing a T-shirt, barely a hair on his chin, and clearly knows nothing about the trade, yet he thinks he can trick me?” The vendor was confident in his sharp eyes, especially regarding Su Lifeng’s use of the words “large quantity.” Your average convenience store or restaurant wouldn’t even need a massive amount of smoked meat. What was he going to do, keep it until it turned into zombie meat?

Baldy Zhang, as the vendor called him, clearly thought the same. However, he had watched the young man being led over by his competitor. To show he was different and for the sake of a tiny sliver of hope, he moved his backside away from his television and came forward to greet them.

To Baldy Zhang’s slight disappointment, Su Lifeng didn’t take the bait of his banter. He maintained the same attitude he’d shown the previous vendor-polite and refined, yet fundamentally indifferent. “I want to buy a large quantity of smoked meat,” Su Lifeng stated.

“Young man, you’ve asked the right person. I won’t claim to have the lowest prices in the market, but I definitely have the largest stock. I-“

“That’s fine then. How much do you have? I’ll take it all,” Su Lifeng interrupted.

Baldy Zhang scratched his ear and glanced back at the other vendor. The latter stood with his arms crossed, a look of pure amusement on his face, as if saying, “See? This kid definitely doesn’t know what ‘large quantity’ actually means. He probably thinks it’s just a few dozen pounds. If he really wanted to buy, how could he not ask for the price first?”

“Young man, you aren’t messing with me, are you?” Baldy Zhang couldn’t help but ask. “We don’t play jokes like that here. I have at least several hundred pounds in stock.”

Upon hearing this, a look of disappointment immediately flashed across Su Lifeng’s face.

He had specifically traveled to the largest wholesale market in Ningnan, yet he hadn’t expected the available stock to be only a few hundred pounds.

Seeing Su Lifeng’s hesitant expression, Baldy Zhang felt a heavy blow to his heart. “Sigh, I really did run into a total rookie who’s all talk. When I heard his grand declaration just now, I actually got a bit excited!”

“Forget it, forget it. I won’t hold it against you. Just hurry along and don’t disrupt my business…”

Baldy Zhang had just irritably waved his hand and started grumbling when he heard Su Lifeng speak.

“A few hundred pounds is fine, then. I’ll take it all. Do you accept transfers or cards?”

He was actually buying it!

Baldy Zhang swallowed the rest of his words instantly. He gulped, taking a good moment to catch his breath. “Ei-either is fine!”

Even then, the sentence was still echoing in his mind: “He’s actually buying it!”

The onlookers were stunned, but the most shocked of all-to the point of being rendered catatonic-was the first vendor.

Once he snapped out of it, he immediately slapped himself in regret. “What have I done?! A huge deal walks right up to my door and I don’t take it? I just handed a fortune to that baldy!”

Baldy Zhang hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. He felt as though he had encountered one of those young, wealthy scions.

It made sense. Looking at the girl by his side, could her looks be anything ordinary? He had truly been blind just now…

“Sir, I have plenty of other dried goods at home. Would you like to take a look?” Unconsciously, Baldy Zhang’s form of address had changed, and his demeanor was no longer as casual as when he was teasing Su Lifeng earlier. This was a God of Wealth!

“Do you have rice?” Su Lifeng asked casually.

Baldy Zhang looked a bit troubled; he didn’t sell rice! However, for a big buyer like Su Lifeng, he could temporarily switch trades…

“Sir, I have rice here. It’s all top-quality northern rice. Do you want some?” A rice shop owner rushed forward impatiently, asking with exuberant enthusiasm.

Baldy Zhang glared hatefully at his old “neighbor.” Usually, she always looked so stingy that he thought she didn’t know how to smile. Now, the wrinkles on her face were deep enough to crush a fly…

“How much do you have?” Su Lifeng threw out his standard question again.

But now, when the people around him heard it, they no longer mocked him. Instead, their faces were filled with envy and wonder.

“Look at this young man’s spirit, then look at you!” A woman turned her head and snapped at her husband.

“When the time comes, deliver all your meat and that rice to this address.” Su Lifeng pulled out a pre-written address-the Staff Dormitory he had rented through the agency earlier.

Baldy Zhang hurried to take the slip of paper, and together with the rice shop owner, they agreed on a delivery time with Su Lifeng.

Cheng Xiaomei took charge of silently keeping accounts and settling the payments by his side. She had volunteered for this task, and judging by her focused expression, she was surprisingly talented in this area.

Just as Su Lifeng was about to leave with Cheng Xiaomei, someone suddenly darted out in front of him.

The small shop owner from before had thought it over and decided to swallow his pride; he couldn’t let money slip away. “Sir, I also have some smoked meat, about two hundred pounds. Do you think…”

“Isn’t your meat expensive?”

The shop owner wished he could slap himself. “Look at what you’re saying. It’s not expensive, not at all. This meat is perfectly suited for someone like you.”

“But I’m not interested anymore. Keep it for yourself,” Su Lifeng replied flatly, without any intention of being polite, and walked right past him.

The shop owner stood frozen, his cheeks burning. He had looked down on the other man before, but that didn’t feel nearly as bad as the feeling of being looked down on now! This was money, and it had slipped right through his fingers!

“Lifeng, we should have haggled just now. We definitely could have gotten it for much cheaper,” Cheng Xiaomei said, clutching her small notebook with a pained expression.

Su Lifeng smiled nonchalantly. “It’s fine. In a while, you’ll realize that we actually got a very good deal.” He knew his behavior made him look like a nouveau riche snob, but he didn’t care what those people thought. Besides, being able to spend money as he pleased was, truthfully, quite a thrill… especially knowing that this money would soon be worth less than scrap paper.

Cheng Xiaomei had a vague idea of what Su Lifeng meant, but she didn’t have as clear a sense of it as he did. A greater disaster, the end of the world-these things were still too far away for her.

Seeing Cheng Xiaomei still pursing her lips, Su Lifeng could only shake his head inwardly. If even Cheng Xiaomei felt this way, then it went without saying what the attitude of most ordinary people would be when they heard rumors of a so-called doomsday prophecy…

“Alright, let’s find two more vendors to buy from, and then we’ll head back to school. You’re supposed to report for registration today,” Su Lifeng said, patting her back. Speaking of which, he thought of another girl and couldn’t help but pull out his phone to check it…

Since they agreed to meet today, there was no need to rush a phone call, right?

As he was thinking, Cheng Xiaomei called out to him again, “Hurry up! If we don’t move faster, we’ll run out of time today.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Su Lifeng looked up and tucked his phone back into his pocket.