Chapter 31: The Urban Management Officer
Translator: Lan Editor: Efydatia
Soon, half their stock had been sold. When they were free, Li Jian touched the fat on his stomach, turned suddenly toward Qin Guan and asked, “Just now I was thinking about something. The three of us, ” he pointed at Zhou Jian and Qin Guan, “can be considered top students, right?”
Zhou Jing nodded in agreement. Li Jian went on, “Then why are we doing jobs that are for junior high students?”
Qin Guan looked at Li Jian speechlessly, “As a poor man with only 200 yuan to invest and an undergraduate without a diploma, what job can you do except sell something on the market? Do you hope that some big boss suffering from a mental disorder will come begging you to save his business with tears in his eyes? Or are you perhaps waiting for an investment predator to present you with a share of stocks as a gift for your outstanding scores?”
The flesh on Li Jian’s cheek was shaking while the old woman selling underwear pulled Qin Guan with effort and said, “Hey, stop talking. There comes the urban management officer. ”
With a particularly scared expression on their faces, the three of them looked at the other end of the long street. A young man, not much older than them, was checking the stands idly. He was wearing an urban management officer uniform, which looked appalling.
They stopped chatting and swept up the unsold scrolls and pictures, piling them in the tricycle as they prepared to run away.
However, the noise had attracted the officer’s attention.
Zhao Fengzhu was feeling quite gloomy that day. He was a formidable graduate with a criminal investigation specialty in the Detective Training School who hadn’t been assigned to the police force. Instead, he had unfairly been stuck into the urban management squad, because his father had been too worried about his safety.
As an aspiring young man, he was too impatient to socialize with the old women who run the stands there.
Zhao Fengzhu was feeling quite depressed when he discovered the three thieves. “Stop! You dare run an illegal stand in a formal market? You were acting in utter disregard of the law!”
It was Zhao Fengzhu’s first day at work, so he decided to catch the three scoundrels himself.
They saw the officer rolling his sleeves up and rushing over. Qin Guan shouted loudly, “Run! Quick! Run!”
They ran quickly towards the exit of the market. Qin Guan was riding on the tricycle, pedaling non-stop like a deer.
Zhou Jing ran and hid among the stands like a clever monkey up a tree.
Li Jian felt like he’d never run this fast before. Wind blew under his feet while the thrilling northern wind roared in his ears.
The flesh on his face had flattened to both sides and shook slightly while he ran.
He was satisfied with his burst of energy, and felt like time had stood still as he sprinted. Oh, fine. He had been caught.
Qin Guan had already gotten far away when he heard Li Jian cry from somewhere behind him, “Help! Qin Guan! Zhou Jin! Help me! I’ve been caught!”
Qin Guan stopped pedaling, let out a sigh and turned around.
He found the proud young officer twisting Li Jian and Zhou Jing jumping up and down beside them without knowing how to help.
Qin Guan could do nothing but take advantage of the push power momentum of the tricycle to leap high from his seat. He kicked the young officer down to the ground, pulled Li Jian onto the seat of the tricycle and shouted loudly, “Pedal like your life depends on it!”
Without any word, Li Jian burst into infinite power in an instant. His short legs pedaled up and down as they rode far away.
Qin Guan made a gesture to Zhou Jian, “You go first. I’ll meet you at your place.” With an anxious glance at Qin Guan, Zhou Jing followed Li Jian swiftly.
Zhao Fengzhu whisked the dirt off his clothes and said, “Well done. You must be really loyal to your friends.”
Qin Guan was straightforward, “Cut the crap. Let’s have a one-on-one contest. If you catch me, I’ll follow you wherever you want. I’ll be at your disposition.”
Hearing Qin Guan’s words, Zhao Fengzhu felt admiration for him. Besides, he had graduated from a detective training school. His fighting skills were surely better than Qin Guan’s, who looked like a college student.
Thus, Zhao Fengzhu told Qin Gun generously, “Fine, one-on-one, then.”
Pointing at the square off Binjiang Road, Qin Guan said, “There’s an open space over there. Let’s not fight here, or we’ll destroy the stands.”
Zhao Fengzhu fixed his hat. “Okay,” he said and walked directly to the square.
When he turned his head away, Qin Guan grinned. He sneaked around to a small nearby alley and ran away.
Zhao Fengzhu was still thinking about which tricks he could use to beat Qin Guan when he stood on the square and turned around. He found nothing behind him except garbage flying around in the chilly winter wind.
That’s when he realized he had been tricked by Qin Guan. Grinding his teeth, he thought, “You wait and see, boy.”
The three of them escaped successfully and met up at Zhou Jin’s house. They calculated their income that day and went to buy supplies again.
Why they didn’t give up when they’d just been chased by an urban management officer? They had made money! They had sold hundreds of pictures and scrolls in only one morning! The cost-income ratio had been so high, it had exceeded their expectations.
They muttered and reached the conclusion that, according to the checking rules, the officers were not expected to go around the morning market very early in the morning. They decided to rush into danger and ran a stand again the next morning.
The following two days went basically like this.
“Hey, sir! Look at this Spring Festival picture! Look at the bright colors!”
“How many pieces do you want, ma’am?”
Until a cry came from Zhou Jing, “Ah! Here comes the young officer again!”
Then the three of them ran away wildly.
This time, Li Jian pedaled on the tricycle while the other two ran on foot. Zhou Jian tripped over a bamboo pole and let out a dramatic cry, “Help me!”
Li Jian pedaled ahead hard. He wouldn’t be brought down by the others. Qin Guan took hold of the other end of the pole, and eyed Zhou Jing, asking him to run at the chance. Zhou Jing rolled to climb up. He turned his head to run away.
Qin Guan held the end of the pole tightly, swept away in some direction. Zhao Fengzhu was pulled over by inertia.
The middle of the pole hit a lamp pole with a loud sound. Qin Guan let go of the pole in time and turned to run. Zhao Fengzhu was taken by surprise. The bamboo pole shook desperately because of Qin Guan. Zhao Fenzhu couldn’t seem to get loose. He just shook together with the pole like going through an electricity shock.
The pole gradually stopped moving, just when Zhao Fengzhu thought his bones were about to break into pieces.
The young officer was extremely irritated. “You wait for me. I’ll fight to my last breath.”
Qin Guan and others met up and calculated their income once more. It was good. The young officer hadn’t arrived too early. They could still make some money. They looked at each other and asked, “One more day?”
“One more day!” It was settled.
The same scene took place the next morning. They escaped successfully once again. Zhao Fengzhu’s wide-edge cap hung on his crotch, swaying in wind as he sniffled and climbed off the tree he had ended up on.
Looking at the dusty cap, Zhao Fengzhu whisked the dust off and murmured to himself, “This is bullying! I’m not coming here tomorrow, okay? I’ll go to the Sanzhan Morning Market.” He returned to his squad like nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, the three boys were discussing together. “Our business is not bad these days, but the sales in the morning market will reach their limit soon. All potential customers will have made a purchase. We’ll have to change our venue. ”
Zhou Jing and Li Jian replied, “What about the Sanzhan Morning Market? It’s far away from here.” The decision was made.
The next morning, the three of them run into Zhao Fengzhu again in the Sanzhan Morning Market. The two parties looked each other speechlessly. The young officer stared at them bitterly and turned his face away, pretending he hadn’t seen them.
They breathed a big sigh of relief. The alarm was over. They cleared their stock smoothly. After counting all the change and deducting the invested capital, they found that they had earned 530 yuan each.
They patted Qin Guan on the shoulder encouragingly, “See you on the next vacation, comrade.” They left fully satisfied as they counted the bills in their hands.
Looking at the change piled on the table, Qin Guan sighed slightly. The two of them were sure depending on him.
Qin Guan returned home in the evening. He gave his mother 600 yuan, including the amount he had earned during the vacation. At the touched expression in her eyes, Qin Guan said shyly, “Mom, I know it hasn’t been easy raising me. This is for your hard work. You can spend it on anything you like.”
Qin Guan’s mother didn’t look so touched anymore. Grabbing him by the ear, she shouted, “I raised you to such a tall young man! Is that all it’s worth? You little bastard!”