I asked Shu Zhe: “Have you thought about how the dog owners feel?”
Shu Zhe smiled as if it did not concern him. Even though I held onto his hands tightly, he still relaxed his body and leaned against the window sill.
“It’s not like I stole the dog, I only earned some money as the middleman… Ow ow ow ow ow don’t crush my hands! My hand is gonna break!”
“Don’t do this anymore in the future! Otherwise, you’ll eventually get arrested! Do you understand?” I stared at him fiercely and he had no choice but to nod his head.
“I understand… Hurry up and let go!”
“Shu Zhe, I’m not joking around!” My face darkened and I threatened him with honest truth, “I’ll definitely break your legs if you keep breaking the law!”
“Okay, okay!” Shu Zhe agreed in a haste, but I could see the lack of sincerity in his eyes.
If I think about it, the reason why Shu Zhe wants additional income is because he has a girlfriend who spends money like water. Even if he listened to me and broke off his relations with the dog kidnapping group, there is no guarantee he will not look for other illegal money making opportunities.
Unless, he can find a legal and profitable source of income, but it seems unlikely since he is only in middle school. By the way, why am I worrying about him? I can barely save myself!
When the afternoon bell rang, I warned Shu Zhe to not partic.i.p.ate in illegal activities or I would give him a painful death. He agreed, but his eyes shone with a hint of craftiness.
I picked up his phone in a fit of anger. I found his ‘cla.s.sroom teacher’ from his address book and began to write a message while I asked:
“Isn’t your cla.s.sroom teacher a young woman? I heard she recently graduated from university and she’s still not married?”
Shu Zhe was stunned for a moment, “Yeah, she even got scolded for wearing fishnet stockings to cla.s.s last semester! They said she disturbed students during cla.s.s and it was a bad influence for young boys in p.u.b.erty….”
I smiled slightly after I finished composing a text addressed to the fishnet stockings teacher. Then, I stuck the phone in front of Shu Zhe to let him read it.
The shocking words on the screen read: “I love you, will you marry me?”
I pressed the send b.u.t.ton right in front of Shu Zhe’s wide open mouth.
“You… How can you make that kind of joke! How will I explain it to the teacher!”
I tossed the phone back to him. This was enough to keep him busy for the rest of the day, but it was far from a punishment. Every time I recall the pet dogs sold by him, or how he will break his sister’s heart, I feel like he deserves to pay a bigger price for his actions.
My dad was not there when I got home. A notepad application popped up after I turned on the computer. It wrote:
“Xiao Lin, I wanted to run the business for a while during lunch, but I never thought you would do a better job than me. I didn’t have anything to do so I wanted to drink again, but I took the chance to write you this before I got drunk…”
The below text basically talked about where the keys are, and how I could use the cash freely. My dad completely omitted anything about Ai ShuQiao as if that painful phone conversation was only a nightmare.
That’s just how my dad and I behave. Once one of us is depressed, the other one will definitely raise in spirits, kind of like a teeter-totter. Although I want to see how my dad reacts when I go into a drunken craze, it was not time to relax as I had too much work.
I ordered a bowl of Malan ramen and ate while doing my homework. I was also managing the business at the same time, it would be good if I had three heads and six arms.
Director Cao’s portrait lit up on my dad’s QQ panel. He always likes to voice chat with my dad when he’s bored about the AV industry or personal hobbies of H manga authors.
He knows my dad has been unhappy recently, but he does not know what exactly caused it. If we don’t bring it up, then he won’t ask. He seems to have a good tacit understanding of the bond between men.
Director Cao knew that I was the one managing the store for the past couple of days. When he said some words of admiration, he also promised me he would drag him back here if my dad goes to his place looking for a drinking buddy.
“Xiao Ye Zi, do you want to take this opportunity to learn some interesting stuff from me?”
I said while finishing up my ramen:
“Director Cao, don’t you film AV? Do you also sell adult goods?”
“Hmph, don’t look down on me! I’ve chatted a lot with your father and he shared a lot of stuff about the store with me!”
If that’s the case, I’m all ears. My dad rarely discussed his business with me before since I had conflicting feelings towards it (I still have it now).
“Stuff like condoms don’t really fetch a good price since you can get them pretty much anywhere!”
I experienced it personally myself. Today, that dude wasted half a cla.s.s’ amount of time and he did not even buy a single condom.
“Since the name of your store is Happy Valley Love Shop (TN: I’ll keep the name as is, but the Chinese name is called adult goods or interests/fetish) then you should bring out the ‘interests’ portion of your name, kind of like how I focus on interests and appeal when I film an AV! What exactly increases interest, you ask? Various kinds of S&M equipment! Cosplay costumes such as female police, stewardess, nurse outfits, and much more… You have to capitalize on that area!”
“But my dad said that although we’ve ordered these products before, they don’t sell well!”
Director Cao feigned a couple of mysterious coughs, “Xiao Ye Zi, I’ve discussed this problem with your dad before, the answer is simple —— The product pictures you guys use doesn’t arouse the customer’s interests!”
“Aren’t they all actual photos though? What should I do?”
“Idiot! What’s the point of showing a picture of a nurse uniform! You have to take a picture of a model wearing it! What’s the point of seeing new clothes wrapped up! It’s more effective if it’s a picture of a wrapped up model! Didn’t you know that models who model specifically for S&M goods are known as ‘rope models’?”
“Rope model?” (TN: Google shibari model. NSFW!!!!!)
“That’s right! Don’t copy photos from other stores or people will report you, you have to have a distinguishing characteristic —— if you want to attract customers, you have to find a model who stands out from the ma.s.ses. In my opinion, the best candidate would be a girl from your school! The younger the better! Jie Jie Jie Jie —— From what I’ve heard from my son, don’t you have a girlfriend who always clings to you? You can get her help!”
What? Are you referring to Xiao Qin? You d.a.m.n lolicon! Do you want me to put Xiao Qin in handcuffs, stuff a ball gag in her mouth, string her up with rope, and take pictures of her to put online for you to see?
Stop dreaming! I wouldn’t do something so s.e.xually ambiguous with Xiao Qin! Also, Xiao Qin is still considered my girlfriend even if it’s in name only. Why would I let everyone see embarra.s.sing pictures of her?
Director Cao’s tone was filled with disappointment after he heard I won’t make Xiao Qin be a rope model.
“Sigh, if I hire a professional. One set of photos would probably cost seven or eight hundred bucks! It’s not that cost-effective.”
A bulb suddenly lit up in my head, I had a cool idea.
If it’s only a picture, does it matter if the model is male or female?
Isn’t there a person who feels no burden even when I abuse him, and feels self righteous even if you deduct his wages?
This punishment would be considered light compared to the evil deeds he committed in the past! He would also make money! Doesn’t he love money!
I obviously won’t be that kind-hearted and pay him the market price of ¥800 for a set of photos. I will pay him at most ¥200 or less.
The disguise should not be seen through. Last time, Eunuch Cao only gave him a wig and it fooled that trap lover and Xiao Qin. If I think about it, we have a huge inventory of wigs at home! We were hoping they would get sold along with the nurse outfits, but no one bought them and it’s going to be infested by bugs soon!
The next step is to think of a way to trick Shu Zhe to come to my house and become a specialized ‘rope model’ for my store.
Cla.s.s leader, don’t blame me. It’s better than letting your brother hang around people who commit crimes.
Although I was weighed down by responsibilities and my schedule became more packed, I slept better that night believing I planned a good thing.
This might be what they mean by ‘good people get good rewards’.