My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 12: A Fake Becomes Real

On their first night in their new home, it was nearly dawn by the time Xu Dong and his wife finally lay down in bed. Just as Yang Lina was about to turn off the light and go to sleep, Xu Dong pulled a small gift box out of nowhere and nervously pressed it into the palm of her hand. “What is it? Why are you being so mysterious?” Xu Dong said nothing, but motioned for her to open the gift box herself. Yang Lina carefully unwrapped the wrapping paper, revealing a small square box about the size of a fist, and her mind began to run wild with speculation. “Open it already,” Xu Dong urged. “Click… snap…” Inside the box lay a diamond ring sparkling with brilliant light—it was the very same pink diamond ring Xu Dong had bought for 300 earlier. Yang Lina covered her mouth in surprise and asked softly, “Honey, is this a real diamond ring?” “Of course it’s real.” Xu Dong held up three fingers. “It’s worth this much!” “30,000?” Xu Dong shook his head and pointed out, “This is a two-carat pink diamond—there’s no way it’s worth a mere 30,000.” Upon hearing this, Yang Lina hurriedly grabbed her phone from the nightstand and began searching frantically. In less than a minute, she jerked her head up and asked tentatively, her voice trembling, “It’s not three million, is it?” “Bingo…” Xu Dong snapped his fingers. “Honey, you’re crazy—why would you buy something so expensive?” Yang Lina couldn’t wrap her head around Xu Dong’s thinking. Xu Dong teased, “Honey, didn’t I tell you a long time ago that our family will never be short on money? You need to get used to the life of a rich person as soon as possible.” “Rich people, my ass. You just got lucky this time, but no one stays lucky forever. At the rate you’re spending money, we’ll be broke sooner or later,” Yang Lina said, feigning a pout. Xu Dong was left speechless by her rebuke. She had a point, but after all, he was someone who had been reborn! He had already built up the most solid financial foundation for this family—enough to weather the major upheavals of the coming decades. Besides, he only squandered the family fortune once in a while; it was no big deal at all. Seeing that her husband seemed taken aback, Yang Lina pressed her advantage: “Go return that diamond ring. Use the refund to open a supermarket. Only by running the supermarket well will our family truly gain a foothold in Yanjing.” Xu Dong couldn’t argue with his wife, so he settled for the next best option and tried again: “We’ve already bought it, and even if we want to return it, it won’t happen overnight. Why don’t you just wear it for now? Once I find a buyer, then…” Yang Lina quickly interrupted, “No way. A diamond ring this expensive—I’m not used to wearing it. What if I accidentally knock it and break it? I’d regret it for the rest of my life. You’d better just take it back!” With that, she closed the ring box and gently set it on the nightstand. As a woman, how could she not love jewelry? But as a mother of five, Yang Lina had her own concerns. Her family’s current comfortable life was the result of a stroke of good luck, and she didn’t want to leave any potential problems for the family. Xu Dong had no choice but to wrap his arms around his wife and give her a thorough spanking. As for the diamond ring, it seemed he wouldn’t be able to keep it. He just hoped it wouldn’t lose value too quickly—after all, this was a murky business. If he could recoup 2. 5 million, he’d be extremely satisfied. Early the next morning, the first thing Xu Dong had to do was get the household registration sorted out. School was set to start in a few days, and he couldn’t let the children miss their first day of school. The household registration process was rather complicated, but fortunately, Xu Dong had prepared all the necessary documents thoroughly, so he managed to get everything sorted out in just one morning. The new household registration booklet would take about a week to arrive, which would be right around the time school started, so there shouldn’t be any major issues. With the household registration settled, Xu Dong was next faced with a major headache: opening the supermarket. Originally, opening the supermarket was just a cover, but he hadn’t expected his family to take it so seriously, leaving him with no room to maneuver. Since there was no turning back, he had no choice but to turn the charade into reality. The next morning, Xu Dong pulled up in his car with his father at the entrance of the small supermarket. The store was about a kilometer from the Siheyuan, so they arrived in just a few minutes. Looking at the storefront—barely 80 square meters—Xu’s father’s disappointment was plain to see. “Is this it?” “That’s right. Online shopping is so common these days; a big supermarket is too risky and not worth it,” Xu Dong argued convincingly. Xu’s father wasn’t one to be fooled, “Then why did you stockpile so much inventory? It’ll take decades to sell it all—are you just going to sit around and let it expire?” The daily revenue of a typical small supermarket ranges from a few thousand to ten thousand yuan. With 60 million worth of goods stockpiled in the basement, it might actually take three or four decades to sell them all. Xu Dong quickly put his mind to work and soon came up with a new explanation. “Um, this is just the first one. We’re going to open dozens more in a row. Otherwise, with just one supermarket, we wouldn’t even be able to cover Ke Ke and Le Le’s tuition.” “Opening so many supermarkets all at once—will you be able to handle it?” Xu’s dad raised his doubts again. “We’re only opening this one before the New Year—mainly to train the staff. After all, these are small supermarkets with low barriers to entry. Once we gain some experience, expanding later will be much easier.” Xu Dong insisted, drawing on his years of experience working at a logistics Company. Xu’s father finally nodded in satisfaction. At least his son wasn’t rushing into this on a whim; he was clearly aware of the challenges involved. Next, the two set to work cleaning the store. Having been closed for over two months, the supermarket was covered in a thick layer of dust. Once the cleaning was done, the two discussed restocking. When they first took over the store, aside from the lack of merchandise, everything else was already in place. Now, all they had to do was stock the shelves, and they could reopen immediately. According to Xu Dong’s plan, the supermarket would focus on fresh produce and food, with prices falling between those of large supermarkets and farmers’ markets, targeting primarily young office workers. This approach might result in a small loss before the New Year, but once the Spring Festival was over, they were sure to make a huge profit. “If you’re going to do something, do it right”—that was Xu Dong’s life philosophy. Xu’s father, however, disagreed. He believed that the wastage rate for fresh produce was hard to control and could easily lead to losses, so it would be better to play it safe and stock more daily necessities. In the end, Xu Dong successfully persuaded his father with a simple argument: most of the goods stockpiled in the family’s basement were food items, and the pressure to clear inventory was immense. On the way home, Xu’s father kept complaining that Xu Dong didn’t know how to run a business and had accumulated too much inventory. Xu Dong argued that risks and opportunities go hand in hand; after all, he had taken over someone else’s inventory at a very low price, and as long as he managed it well, the profit potential was very promising. Xu Dong got more and more excited as he spoke, and combined with the many insider tips he’d heard while working at the logistics Company, he was practically talking a mile a minute. “I’ve vacuum-sealed all the products, so shelf life isn’t an issue. Worst-case scenario, we’ll just open them up and sell them individually later—offer a discount, and everyone will be scrambling to buy them.” This time, Xu’s dad truly saw what the ugly face of a capitalist looked like; for a moment, he didn’t know what to say. In the end, he could only manage a dry reply: “In business, you have to be honest.”