Chapter Fifty-Three: All Is Ready

Hearing his sister’s words, Zhou Xuan reached out to pat her head and smiled, “Of course, there will be much more in the future. I’m still working on two or three novels right now—if all goes well, they’ll be published next year. The royalties will be well over a few million, so Mom and Dad, you really don’t have to worry about losses.”

Zhou Xuan’s father clearly didn’t believe him. “You’ve made a little money and now you’re bragging without restraint.”

For Zhou Xuan’s father, a few thousand yuan in manuscript fees was already quite a lot. Millions, tens of millions—he considered such things impossible, and thought Zhou Xuan was just daydreaming.

“Haha, big brother, you shouldn’t doubt him! Zhou Xuan earns more than a hundred thousand a month—could you ever have imagined that before?” Their youngest uncle had absolute faith in Zhou Xuan. If Zhou Xuan said there’d be millions, then there would be millions.

“Uh...” Zhou Xuan’s father recalled his son’s monthly earnings, something he never could have imagined in the past.

Looking at Zhou Xuan, his father felt proud, but also a little regretful that after a year of hard work, he still didn’t earn as much as Zhou Xuan did in one or two months. His pride was a bit bruised.

Zhou Xuan had said everything that needed to be said, and his parents exchanged glances, basically agreeing to the idea of opening a shop.

Everyone then discussed preparations for moving to the county, striving to get the store up and running within a month.

That night, their youngest uncle didn’t leave and stayed overnight at Zhou Xuan’s house, only returning home the next day.

Originally, Zhou Xuan wanted to get his ID card sorted first, but since it was the weekend, he had to wait until the workdays.

He idled away two days at home, feeling thoroughly bored. Now that Zhou Xuan was earning money, his family wouldn’t let him do any chores.

Days without a computer were truly hard to bear, but fortunately, his parents would soon be opening the shop in the county. When that happened, the whole family would be there, and he wouldn’t have to return to the village on holidays.

On Sunday afternoon, Zhou Xuan, as usual, returned to school. He called his youngest uncle, asking him to come to the school that evening and help arrange his day-schooling.

His homeroom teacher, Mr. Liu, was initially hesitant about Zhou Xuan’s request, worried that his grades might drop if he lived off-campus.

But Zhou Xuan promised to remain top of his grade in every exam, and with his uncle repeatedly assuring that Zhou Xuan’s life and studies would be well cared for, Mr. Liu finally agreed, though reluctantly.

So, on Monday afternoon, Zhou Xuan and his uncle’s wife went to look at a place to rent.

This time, Zhou Xuan’s prospective apartment was located between the Fourth Middle School and the central garden, near the West Gate farmers’ market. Whether he attended the First or Second Middle School, or needed to go to the supermarket or clothing store, everything was close by.

The apartment had two bedrooms and a living room, was on the third floor of a newly built complex, and the facilities were decent.

All the appliances were in place, and Zhou Xuan was quite satisfied.

As for rent, the landlord asked for one hundred yuan per month, totaling twelve hundred a year, with the payment terms being one month’s deposit and three months paid at a time.

Zhou Xuan suggested paying the whole year up front, but asked for a discount; if it could be one thousand, he’d sign the contract immediately.

The landlord was straightforward and agreed.

Zhou Xuan paid one thousand one hundred yuan: a year’s rent plus the deposit. He spent the afternoon setting up the telephone, paying for TV signal, and getting internet access. Altogether, these cost another thousand-plus, nearly two thousand yuan.

He couldn’t help but lament how expensive internet was at the time—and that was only for half a year.

In the days that followed, aside from helping his uncle brainstorm ideas, Zhou Xuan waited for the computer that Li Yunxi was helping him buy.

On Friday, Zhou Xuan was discussing supermarket renovations with his uncle. They’d already rented two shopfronts, cleared out the clutter, and cleaned up.

They were planning where to break through the wall and open a passage at least three meters wide to connect the two spaces.

The plan was to make the smaller storefront the main entrance, and the larger one a transparent display window with security glass—though a rolling shutter would still be needed outside.

Zhou Xuan wanted the renovation to follow the layout of a future chain supermarket: neatly arranged shelves, all goods labeled, plus cash registers, refrigerators, and air conditioning.

His uncle, hearing Zhou Xuan’s design, thought it was too costly. “Zhou Xuan, if we do it this way, the initial tens of thousands won’t be enough. I don’t think we need air conditioning—how many stores have that now?”

“How can we skip it? If we’re going to do this, we should do it properly, so customers feel at home! Winter isn’t a problem, but summer is too hot. Air conditioning will definitely attract customers, especially since there’ll be many students here. We can open a cold drinks shop then—it’ll make great money,” Zhou Xuan argued.

His uncle thought it over and finally said, “Alright, since you insist, we’ll do it your way.”

Just then, Zhou Xuan’s phone rang.

He glanced at the caller—Li Yunxi’s home number. He guessed it must be about his computer arriving.

Zhou Xuan was delighted. “Hello, is this Mr. Li?”

“Zhou Xuan, I wondered why you haven’t been at school or at my place writing lately—what have you been so busy with?” Zhou Xuan had been preoccupied with preparing for the shop and hadn’t gone to Li Yunxi’s to write.

If not for Zhou Xuan still ranking first in the November exams, his homeroom teacher would have long complained about his frequent absences.

Zhou Xuan replied, “Sorry, Mr. Li. I’ve moved out of the dorm and am staying at my uncle’s place now. I’ve been busy these days, so submitting manuscripts got delayed.”

“So that’s it—you’re not living in the dorm anymore. I really wonder what a junior high student could be so busy with; you seem more occupied than me, a teacher,” Li Yunxi teased.

“Not at all! I’m just scrambling around. By the way, Mr. Li, did you call because my computer has arrived?” Zhou Xuan asked.

“Yes! The computer is at my house now. When will you come pick it up? It took me a lot of effort to haul it upstairs,” Li Yunxi said.

Zhou Xuan had no choice; he hadn’t rented the apartment yet when he ordered the computer, so it was sent to Mr. Li’s place.

Hearing his computer had arrived, Zhou Xuan was overjoyed. He thanked him, “Really, thank you so much for your help. I won’t wait for next time—let’s do it today. Later, I’ll treat you to dinner. Will you honor me with your presence, Mr. Li?”

“Zhou Xuan, you’re so polite. Alright, I’ll wait for you at home.”

After hanging up, Zhou Xuan told his uncle, “Uncle, the computer I asked my teacher to buy has arrived. I’m going to bring it home now—you carry on.”

“Do you need help?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll treat my teacher to dinner afterwards.”

Zhou Xuan took a tricycle to Li Yunxi’s house. As soon as he walked in, he saw two large computer boxes—one must be the case, the other the monitor. He’d wanted to buy an LCD monitor but couldn’t find one locally, so he had to make do with a CRT.

“Thank you, Mr. Li,” Zhou Xuan smiled.

“No need for thanks! I’m counting on you next year to teach my old classmate a lesson on the competition stage—show him what a real genius is!” Li Yunxi laughed.

“Definitely.”

Then Zhou Xuan and Li Yunxi carried the computer downstairs, called two tricycles, and brought it to Zhou Xuan’s rented apartment. Thankfully, it was on the third floor, saving them a lot of effort.

“Come, Mr. Li, let me toast you!” Zhou Xuan treated Li Yunxi to a good meal, and since Li Yunxi knew Zhou Xuan was earning plenty from his manuscripts, he didn’t hold back.

After this, Zhou Xuan felt much closer to Li Yunxi. As he left, Li Yunxi promised to drop by whenever he had time.

Returning to his apartment, Zhou Xuan looked at the boxes in the living room.

He couldn’t help but sigh—finally, after coming back, he had his own computer.

He felt like shouting, “Internet, here I come!”