102 Network Expansion Failure

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“I’ll take this one for six million.”

“I’m buying that one for eighteen hundred.”

“I’ll take this ten-million one.”

Before Yun Luyue and her friends could even react, several customers swiped their cards and moved items from Yang Tang’s stall as if dividing up a big cabbage.

At that moment, a burly man shouted loudly, “If you don’t want it, I’ll take that thirty-million Guanyin statue!”

The scene instantly fell silent.

Yang Tang, eyes sharp as a hawk, glanced at the burly man and shook his head regretfully. “Sir, from where I stand, Feng Shui and prayer artifacts won’t do you much good. It’s best you don’t buy it.”

The burly man’s face showed reluctance. “Young man, I’ve been watching you for a while. You really are a master—you must have seen my problem. At this point, material things are all fleeting. Whether I buy this Guanyin or not, what difference does it make?”

Yang Tang replied, “You have a son and a daughter, both almost adults. Since you’ve left them a fund so they won’t have to beg on the streets, why not leave them a bit more money?”

The man scoffed, “I’ve done my duty raising them until eighteen. Why leave them a fortune? So they can become lazy good-for-nothings, loafing through life?” He clearly had his own methods of raising his children.

Yang Tang didn’t comment on that and instead scanned the others with his hawk-like gaze. Soon, he spotted a woman among Yun Luyue’s three friends who seemed to resonate with the Guanyin statue.

“Yun Jie, what’s your friend’s name? She seems quite in tune with this Guanyin.”

Yun Luyue shot Yang Tang a sharp look before introducing, “Cut the nonsense about ‘resonance.’ If you want to get to know a beauty, just say so. This is my senior from university, Gao Yifen—you can just call her Sister Fen.”

To be fair, Gao Yifen’s looks were just average—nothing offensive. If scored out of 100, she’d barely reach 75. Yet, with her poised demeanor and elegant handmade clothes, she might just scrape up to 80. Still, she was far from Yun Luyue’s dazzling 90-plus, and at over thirty, she gave off the air of a supporting figure, like the green-clad attendant beside the White Lady in legend.

“Hello, Sister Fen. If you want this Guanyin, I can give you a 20% discount!” Yang Tang, looking like a brash young man, spoke with practiced politeness. Gao Yifen felt slightly annoyed—just a kid whose facial hair hadn’t even fully grown, daring to publicly pinch money from a lady? Did he really think she was a sucker?

“No need. I already have a Tibetan Buddhism consecrated Buddha at home. There’s no place for another Guanyin.”

“Is that so?” Yang Tang didn’t bother to call out the lie, merely shrugged, “What a pity!”

The burly man seized the moment, “Young man, I stand by my offer—thirty million for the Guanyin!”

Yang Tang glanced at Gao Yifen, catching the mocking look in her eyes, and sighed inwardly at how hard it is to be a good person. “Alright, swipe your card and take it away!”

The burly man beamed with joy, hurriedly swiping the card, and instructed his two bodyguards to carefully carry off the Guanyin statue.

At that moment, Gao Yifen’s expression changed slightly. She had thought this was a setup, since she didn’t know anyone at Yang Tang’s stall and had no idea if the card payments were legitimate or just passing money to these “plants.” But when the burly man’s two bodyguards appeared, she recognized from their bearing and posture that they were former elite soldiers turned bodyguards. Such men might be hired robbers, but never con artists.

After all, the “mezzanine” at Minjiang Hotel had been open for a while, attracting many wealthy out-of-towners from neighboring provinces. The local big shots had appeared a few times but soon lost interest, so even Yun Luyue rarely ran into familiar faces during her visits. It was no wonder Gao Yifen, unfamiliar with these rich visitors, suspected a scam.

Soon, the last white item at the stall was joyfully taken away by another wealthy buyer. Yang Tang didn’t even bother packing his travel bag. He greeted Yun Luyue, got to know her other two middle-aged friends, Du Tao and Zhao Yukun, and then handed the card machine and stall number plate back to the service desk.

“Excuse me, when will the payments from the card machine arrive in my account?” Yang Tang asked.

The front desk clerk, barely paying attention, sneered at him. “Didn’t we tell you when you picked up the machine? This is a zero-limit machine. As long as your account info is correct, the money arrives the same day. But the fees are a bit steep—two percent per transaction, with no upper limit!”

“Two percent? No cap?!” Yang Tang exploded. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“So what? Two bucks on a hundred isn’t much,” the clerk said with an air of entitlement, as if she were the queen.

“Hmph, two bucks on a hundred isn’t much, but what if I process a billion?”

“That can’t be possible!” The clerk’s eyes widened.

Because Yang Tang hadn’t clarified things beforehand and the bank automatically deducted fees, even though the mezzanine’s backend manager tried to mediate, over five million was taken in fees from nearly three hundred million in sales from about forty white items.

Naturally, the front desk clerk with the poor attitude didn’t escape being fired.

Yun Luyue wanted to invite Gao Yifen, Du Tao, and Zhao Yukun to dinner with Yang Tang, but led by Gao Yifen, they felt slighted by Yang Tang and left hastily after exchanging only phone numbers, without even leaving business cards.

“Tang Zi, see what you’ve done? I wanted to help you expand your contacts in Rongcheng, and you just scared them off,” Yun Luyue scolded.

Yang Tang shrugged it off. “Sis, if my eyes aren’t failing me, those three are probably only out for profit. Be careful they don’t sell you out while you’re counting their money.”

“Sis knows what she’s doing.”

At eight in the evening, after much coaxing, Yang Tang finally persuaded Yun Luyue to return home early.

No sooner had Yun Luyue and her bodyguards left than Ahao appeared before Yang Tang.

“Oh? Brother Hao.”

“Stop joking, kid. I’m still mad about you wrecking my Ducati!”

Just then, Yang Tang’s phone buzzed with a message: over two hundred seventy million Hua currency had been transferred into his account, followed by further prompts to upgrade his bank privileges.

Yang Tang didn’t read the messages carefully, merely transferring a million to another card in the same bank, smirking at Ahao. “It’s just a motorcycle. At most it’s worth a hundred thousand Hua, maybe not even that in dollars. Don’t believe me? Give me your account; I’ll send you a hundred thousand right now!”

“Forget it, if my sister finds out she’ll kill me. By the way, nice to officially meet you. I’m Min Hao!” He solemnly extended his right hand.

Yang Tang shook it calmly. “You know my name. No need for formalities.”

Min Hao nodded and sat down beside him, sighing. “My sister and I share the same mother but different fathers, you know that?”

Yang Tang was surprised. “Why are you telling me this?” Then quickly changed the subject. “That day, the three men and one woman who pretended to talk business with your sister—keep an eye on them. Don’t want you to end up empty-handed and have more trouble later.”

“Don’t worry. In this small patch of Rongcheng, I can’t promise everything, but I can guarantee I’ll handle any outsiders trying to scam us.”

“You’re that confident?”

“Heh, Tang Zi, no lie—I’m the son of General Wu!” Min Hao gave a thumbs-up.

“Ah, no wonder I heard you got my hospital discharge papers sorted with just one word.”

“That’s nothing,” Min Hao waved it off. “Actually, I came to see you off because I have to catch a train later.”

“To pick someone up?”

“My sister’s.”

“Your sister?!”

“Yeah, her last name’s Min, same father different mother. She’s on leave today!” Min Hao’s eyes sparkled. “But you two better not meet—if she wants to beat you up, I won’t be able to stop her!”

Yang Tang finally understood. “So you brought reinforcements to get back at me for the motorcycle incident.”

Seeing Yang Tang stand as if ready to act, Min Hao quickly waved his hands. “No, no, I have no such intention.”

“Alright then, it’s almost nine. I’ll head into the station first.” With that, Yang Tang moved towards the ticket gate already opening for boarding.

Min Hao wanted to stop him but didn’t dare, helplessly watching Yang Tang pass through the gate.

At that moment, his phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, he immediately answered, “Sis, why are you calling me so late?”

Since the direct short-haul flights from Rongcheng to Ludao were canceled, high-speed trains ran very frequently—every forty-five minutes during low passenger times, and as often as every fifteen minutes during morning rush hours.

Yang Tang had bought a business class ticket, which is only slightly more spacious and comfortable than first or second class, but still not as good as an economy class airplane seat.

Business class carriages were limited to one or two per train, so tickets sold out quickly. When Yang Tang entered business car number one, about eighty percent of the seats were already taken.

Just before stepping into the carriage, a sudden thought crossed his mind—could there be terrorists on this train? Instinctively, he activated his hawk eyes, but found no trace of golden light.

“Overthinking, overthinking,” he muttered, preparing to walk deeper into the carriage.

A man behind him suddenly tapped his shoulder. “Hey, why just stand there? You coming or not?”

Yang Tang turned and glared at the man, disappointed to find he was no golden light either. He moved on toward the sixth row marked on his ticket.

A sprinting week—please bookmark, please bookmark, please bookmark!!

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