I'm A Baller - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Turning Possibility into Reality
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

They were eating watermelon to dispel the summer heat, and Wang Yan’s parents came back not long after they started.
Looking at his son, who was currently in good spirits, Laowang asked curiously, “What have you been up to today, Xiaoyan? You must have had a good time with your friends today, huh?”
Wang Yan chuckled. “Nah, I didn’t go out. I’ve just had a pretty interesting conversation with Brother Xizi.”
Wang Yan’s mom came over and said to Wang Yunxi, “Xizi, bring over a tub of ice water. We’re having cold noodles today!”
The family started preparing dinner together.
Chilled noodles, accompanied by shredded cucumber, sliced tomato, pickled beans, spicy cabbage, an egg, and a few pieces of spiced beef, made for an extremely refreshing and appetizing meal. To say they enjoyed the food was an understatement.
It was a pity that no rewards were triggered this time around.
After dinner, everyone had plans—Xizi excused himself and went to play billiards with the village head, Laowang went to play mahjong, and Wang Yan’s mom, Wang Xiufang, left for one of her square-dancing sessions.
Wang Yan had nothing much to do, so he went to play League of Legends at the cybercafe with his friends.
He went home at ten to get some sleep.
As soon as he woke up the following morning, he took a look at the panel.
Upon seeing the panel, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Yeah, the system was still there. That meant it wasn’t a dream!
Just as he was about to turn it off, he suddenly jolted awake.
The item displayed in The Mall right then, sitting there in all its glory, was the Habit Incubator!
Dang!
Why hadn’t it refreshed?
He asked the system and was ecstatic to receive the following reply: [The refresh function will only be activated after one full week has passed so as to avoid the first item being prematurely replaced.]
How considerate!
In other words, it meant that the Habit Incubator would remain in The Mall for one full week, only replaced the following Monday at 00:00 hours.
Wang Yan started dancing around in joy, but his expression suddenly shifted again.
Hang on!
Money!
The System was now at Level 2, so his daily wages were slightly over 2,800, but that meant it would take 11 days for him to reach thirty thousand!
F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!
After being given another chance to purchase the item, there was no way he was going to let it pass him by!
Wang Yan was so anxious that he started doing the math right away.
There were seven days in a week, and the wages he earned from breathing added up to about twenty thousand, so there was a shortage of only ten thousand. He still had a shot!
The first thing he thought of was to take advantage of Jack Ma’s services.
‘You’re super wealthy. Surely, you wouldn’t mind if I took advantage of you just a little?
‘You were already willing to extend a credit limit over 9,000 when my Huabei account was set up, and I’m going to make use of that right now!’
He got to it right away. Wang Yan grabbed his cell phone and started tinkering with it.
When Huabei was first introduced, Wang Yan jumped on the bandwagon and bought lots of toilet paper, stationery, and groceries with it.
Children who grew up in poor families usually became independent at a much younger age, so Wang Yan always kept an eye out for good deals on groceries. As a result of his efforts, he had maintained a high Zhima Credit score.
He followed the steps, promptly completed the application for his micro-loan, and waited nervously for the outcome.
‘I don’t need much. Just ten thousand would do. I’ll treat you to watermelon!’
Ten minutes later, a ding came from his cell phone.
[Your request for a Jiebei loan has been approved. The credit limit is 3,000 yuan.]
The f*ck?
Was this a joke?
The credit limit wasn’t even half of Huabei’s?
‘No watermelon for you, Mr. Ma!’
Wang Yan was perturbed. He had no choice but to try his luck on a different app.
Ten minutes later, the results from Jintiao finally appeared.
Wang Yan stared at the screen, rubbed his eyes, then looked at it again… The amount remained exactly the same, staring proudly back at him.
Ah!
Five hundred!
‘Oh my gosh, who are you kidding?!
‘Don’t bully the poor!
‘One day, I’ll be richer than you!’
But it didn’t matter how pissed he was. Wang Yan had just turned eighteen and had no work experience, so his credit limit was bound to be capped. He had merely been able to take advantage of the promos of newly launched products.
A higher limit?
That would have to wait.
…
He was still short by 6,500, which was neither too much nor too little, but it was enough to make him feel depressed.
What now?
While fiddling with his phone, his eyes landed on the Taobao icon. Wang Yan suddenly had an idea.
The iPhone 6!
‘I’ll come back to you later! Let me get a refund first!’
Wang Yan logged in happily, about to request for a refund, but just looking at the word ‘Huabei’ suddenly reminded him of something.
Damn, he had forgotten!
Until the bill was paid off, the refunded Huabei money would only go towards restoring the credit limit. It wouldn’t be converted to cash available for use outside the app.
Taobao had checks in place to prevent people from exploiting possible loopholes, and it was difficult and unsafe to try to circumvent these checks, so that wasn’t a viable option.
Sigh! He was only short 6,500. What could he do?
Borrow a little from each of his buddies?
Nah, all of them were broke. They wouldn’t have much left after deducting the cash gifts they had to fork out for graduation parties.
Hmm, wait a minute!
‘Won’t I have to fork over money for quite a few this week, too?!’
Wang Yan was at a loss—a new problem had arisen before the old one was solved.
Wang Yan’s graduation party was scheduled for the next month. He’d have the money by then, but that would be too late…
Just as he was growing more worried, he suddenly recalled his conversation with Brother Xizi the day before, and an idea came to mind.
How about…
Selling watermelons?!
If he made 1,000 a day, he’d be able to reach his target within seven days!
People didn’t usually make that much from selling watermelons, but Wang Yan had an edge over them—the newly acquired Glutton skill!
All he had to do was to go to a watermelon field, pick out the best watermelons, rave about them at a five-star hotel or in a high-class neighborhood, then emphasize how high-quality they were. Would that work?
Wang Yan wasn’t sure, but he felt like it was worth a try.
Gujiao was a city saturated with the newly rich. It was a city with a propensity to consume.
On the one hand, most of the middle-class and low-income occupants were still living from hand to mouth, in stark contrast to the wealthy.
On the other hand, the filthy rich continued to live extravagantly and splurge on high-end luxury items.
No one would have to worry about selling stuff in Gujiao as long as they were good with words.
The quality of the goods was secondary.
Of course, Wang Yan wasn’t very skilled with words, so quality was still key.
If the quality was indeed good, then it wouldn’t take too much bullsh*tting to make a few thousand in profits.
Wang Yan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity of his idea.
‘God damn it, a baller like me ought to be keeping hordes of beautiful women company. I haven’t even had the chance to have some fun, and now I have to set up a stall in the scorching summer sun?
‘F*cking hell…
‘Oh, alright… What’s the big deal? What’s a little hardship?
‘I’ll do it!’
Wang Yan got dressed and went out without even having breakfast.
Whether this plan could be successfully implemented depended on how well the new skill worked.
He would have to give it a try.
There would usually be at least two melon stalls at the entrance of Xiawa Village in the summer.
He headed there right away and was greeted by the stall owner. “Young man, would you like to buy a melon?”
“Boss, are you able to guarantee that your melons are ripe?”
The stall owner nodded hastily, saying, “I guarantee that they’re ripe! I won’t charge you if they aren’t!”
“How much are they?”
“Cheap! A dollar eighty for a box!”
What the hell were the prices in Gujiao?!
A melon cost almost twenty odd dollars in the capital. Well, that worked. It was a good thing that the prices were this high. It suited what Wang Yan was planning.
He was too lazy to haggle, so he picked a moderately-sized melon from the pile after crouching down and giving them a quick scan.
My instinct tells me that you’re the one!
He held it up next to his ear, then tapped it with his middle finger. The sound that came from within the watermelon was indistinguishable; he had no idea whether it was crisp or dull.
‘Hmm, not sure what that meant…’
It didn’t really matter whether he understood the sounds or not, since the point was to pick a watermelon with soul. He just had to give it a few knocks!
He couldn’t skip this step just because he was relying on the system’s capabilities.
Looking at Wang Yan’s awkward movements, and the somewhat childish manner in which he had selected the watermelon, he said kindly, “Kiddo, Grampy will pick a big one for you, ‘kay? The one you picked couldn’t possibly be sweet!”
“If I sold this at a supermarket, I’d be able to fetch four times the price you’re asking!”
The store owner guffawed, thinking that Wang Yan was just cracking a joke.
‘Who’s joking with you?’ Wang Yan thought.
The best watermelon among dozens of watermelons was the king!
When he made it home, Wang Yan didn’t even bother to chill it in the fridge. He cut open the watermelon right away.
The flesh was warm, but sweet and crunchy. It was merely a common Sandaogang melon, yet it tasted just as good as the previous day’s Blackhoney.
‘You’re alright, little king of watermelons!’
The system was awesome!
Wang Yan slapped his thigh in excitement. He was practically on the verge of bursting.
His plan had a good chance of succeeding. Well, theoretically, anyway.
All he had to do next was advance with caution and fine-tune all the details to turn possibility into reality!