"Here you go!"

Walking into a dark corner, Huai Xu conjured up a can of beer and two cans of cola, handing the beer to Brother Nan.

PSSHT.

Zhou Li pulled open the tab on the cola; it was still chilled.

He looked around hesitantly. "Aren't we going a bit too far doing this?"

"Not at all."

"It's not too much."

Two voices rose almost simultaneously, and a can of cola and a can of beer were passed to him.

So Zhou Li also raised his cola, clinked it with theirs, and took a small sip. Since two people had said so, he figured he was probably just overthinking it.

The passersby's stares grew more intense.

Brother Nan grinned. "It's only been a few days since school started. If it were a month in, doing this might get us mugged!"

"I'll protect you."

"Ha ha..."

The two humans and the demon walked several laps around the track, from when the evening sky was a deep crimson twilight until stars appeared overhead. Brother Nan noticed the crowd around the guitar club singing was growing and seemed to be having more fun. She hesitated for a moment, then suggested, "Let's go check out the flea market!"

"Sure."

"Agreed."

"Where's your cat, Zhou Li?"

"I'll ask her."

「About five minutes later, by the goalpost.」

A sweet-looking girl was sitting cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by several of her best friends. In their midst, a half-grown cat was playing with them spiritedly. The kitten seemed to understand human speech, occasionally eliciting shrieks of delight from them or performing an action that struck their "cute" buttons, causing their "health bars" to plummet.

Suddenly, a very handsome guy appeared before them, looking down at the kitten in their midst.

The girls were briefly stunned.

Just as they began to let their imaginations run wild, one thought after another bursting into their minds—Today, apart from the cute kitten, we've also snagged a very handsome guy!—the cute kitten wriggled out from their hands, took a few steps forward, and meowed.

"Zhou Li, have you come to fetch Lord Dumpling home?" one of the girls asked.

"Shall we head back?" Zhou Li asked Tuanzi.

"MEOW..." Tuanzi glanced back, then decisively hopped to Zhou Li's feet. "We're going back! Lord Dumpling wants to go back! If we don't, Zhou Li will say Lord Dumpling is a little fibber again..."

Zhou Li picked her up and nodded apologetically to the girls. "Sorry to have troubled you."

With that, he turned and walked away.

The young women's expressions were frozen.

They still hadn't recovered when Zhou Li had already returned to Brother Nan and Huai Xu's side. Seeing how attractive Brother Nan and Huai Xu were, they truly didn't have the confidence to call out to Zhou Li and could only continue to stand there in a stupor, swallowing their melancholy.

The cute kitten was gone, and the handsome guy was gone too.

「...」

Today was the second-to-last day of the flea market. There seemed to be fewer stalls and pedestrians, but there were still plenty of great finds.

Brother Nan bought a toy remote-control car, a Transformers model, and even stumbled upon a slingshot. The upperclassman selling the slingshot hinted he could give her some steel ball bearings, but she didn't take them, saying ice pellets would be better.

Besides, she also found a brand-new pair of cooling sleeves for Zhou Li, which could protect his arms from the sun.

Zhou Li didn't buy much. He had liked a little hair clip from some girls at the foreign language college—it was very cute and tiny—but the upperclasswoman said it was only worth ten cents and just gave it to him.

He immediately put it on Tuanzi's head.

The hair clip was a small red flower. It looked extremely cute on Tuanzi's head. Unlike other cats, she didn't feel uneasy or act as if she had been "sealed" by having something on her head; instead, she happily accepted it.

「June 5th, Friday.」

There was only one class in the morning.

The moment the online class ended, Zhou Li received a message from Little Cousin.

Baozi: Cousin

He immediately became alert.

Zhou Li: ?

Baozi: I'm treating you to milk tea.

Zhou Li: ??

Baozi: Because you bought me ice cream and milk tea the day before yesterday, and ice cream again before school started.

Zhou Li relaxed.

Zhou Li: It's no big deal.

Baozi: It *is* a big deal.

Zhou Li: I'm not short of that bit of money. Just let me know if you want anything next time.

Baozi: It *is* a big deal.

Zhou Li: Keep the money and buy yourself a drink then.

Baozi: I'll wait for you at the door, okay?

Zhou Li: ...

He had no choice but to put on his shoes and go out.

「Twenty minutes later.」

Zhou Li was carrying a cup of milk tea, his face grim. On his back was a heavy bag filled with hundreds of Baozi's postcards.

So heavy!

Baozi walked beside him, quietly sipping her drink through a straw and stealing glances at him. She said meekly, "I told you there was a catch, Cousin."

Zhou Li: "..."

Zhou Li: "How many did you buy?"

"The first batch was five hundred."

"Five hundred!"

"Yeah."

Sucking on her straw, Baozi kept quiet. She didn't really want to share her grand business plans with others, especially before they had come to fruition.

「That evening.」

Taking advantage of the last day of the flea market, Baozi set up her stall. She took out a small folding stool and quietly sat by the roadside, a cloth spread out in front of her on which she had placed the beautiful postcards.

Passersby walked by...

Walked by...

Walked by...

Little Cousin watched in silence, observing.

Walked by...

Someone asked the price... then walked away...

Walked by...

The cycle continued.

Time slipped away, bit by bit.

Little Cousin had already put her phone back in her pocket. She sat curled up, silently watching the passersby. Her face was still calm, but the hand with which she hugged her shins had clenched into a fist.

The scene she had imagined, of people scrambling to buy, had not materialized.

The photography teacher hadn't shown up either.

In fact, up to this point, she had only sold two postcards, and one of those was to a classmate.

Where exactly was the problem?

After hesitating for a long time, Little Cousin finally opened her mouth, her voice as tiny as a mosquito's: "Buy... buy postcards."

"Post... postcards..."

"Ten yuan each..."

"Five yuan..."

"Two yuan..."

Two pairs of legs appeared in front of her.

Baozi looked up, pondered for a moment, and said expectantly, "Cousin, Sister Nan, want to buy a postcard? Just... ten yuan each."

"I just heard you shouting two yuan," Zhou Li said, exasperated.

"Will you buy?"

"No."

"Come on, buy some..."

"Two yuan would be more like it."

"...Fine."

"Then I'll pick a few to send to my family." Zhou Li squatted down and started picking them out.

"I'll pick some too," Brother Nan added.

"..."

Little Cousin silently nudged the QR payment code forward, indicating they should scan it themselves after choosing, and then she continued to sit there, as if waiting for money to fall from the sky.

Zhou Li felt somewhat resigned.

In truth, these postcards were exceptionally well shot. The scenery was mostly of Chunming: Jacaranda Street, the Mangrove Forest, Horseshoe Bay, and the areas around Dian Lake. Brother Nan had even suggested Baozi print many photos of the school's scenery, ranging from its landmark buildings and the teaching blocks under the play of light and shadow, to streets blanketed with yellow leaves, and even the stray cats that were the darlings of the campus. They were all quite commemorative.

However, Brother Nan, being kindhearted, said while picking, "You can't just sit here doing nothing. You have to identify your target customers and lay out all the selling points of your products. For example, it's graduation season right now, so you could aim for them. Tell them all these pictures are your own shots of the school and its surroundings. They could buy them as mementos, or as gifts for classmates, friends, and relatives. That way, one person would buy at least several, right? Considering how little each one costs to make, it's nearly all profit. If you make about ten sales a day, you could earn over a hundred yuan. And since you took these photos yourself, not just found them online, you could even raise the price a bit if you have good sales talk..."

"...Can't be bothered." Baozi thought it over but still believed that good wine needs no bush. She felt that people just hadn't discovered her stall yet. Once they did and saw the artistic value, it would quickly become popular, and making money effortlessly would be just around the corner.

"You win... I'll take these five," Brother Nan said.

"I want these six, so that's eleven in total." Zhou Li took out his phone and paid twenty-two yuan. "Congratulations, you've made enough for two days' meals in such a short time."

"..."

Baozi secretly glanced at the postcards in his hand, noticing he had actually picked the one priced at ten thousand yuan.

She clenched her fist again, but her face remained expressionless. "Take care..."

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