"I don't want to hear it, Crown. Your business has nothing to do with me. All I know is you didn't inform me in advance, so half of your deposit will be deducted—and I've already been more than lenient!"
"Fine then...", Crown was furious, yet he had no choice but to accept the outcome. This was because a Chinese friend of his had once shared a traditional Chinese proverb with him: "Money is a man's courage; a son is a father's prestige. Without money, one's courage shrinks; without a son, a father endures contempt." The English version of this proverb is: "Money gives men courage, while sons bring fathers prestige. Without money, one's courage fades; without sons, fathers face ridicule." After his Chinese friend explained its meaning, Crown gained an insight: money is a person's greatest source of confidence."OK, I'll transfer the other half of the deposit to you tomorrow," the landlady said, then hung up the phone.
A string of setbacks had hit Crown hard. Drowned in despair, he chugged down an entire bottle of beer in one gulp. Just as he was about to doze off on the sofa, a strange voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
[Ding~ The Infinite Cashback System has arrived]
[New User Gift Package: One 10x Cashback Multiplier Card]
[Gift package has been delivered. Please claim it!]
"This is bullshit—what the fuck is going on here?" Crown exclaimed in shock.
[Host, please do not be surprised. You can understand this as compensation from God, who sensed your reluctance and anger.]
"So what can you do for me?"
[This system provides cashback when the host makes purchases. For example, if you spend 100 US dollars, a random critical multiplier will be triggered. When combined with the multiplier card, here's an example: 100 * 10 = 1,000 US dollars.]
"Holy shit! Wow! God bless me! Mua~ I love you, baby! I love you so much! You saved my life!"
Crown rubbed his hands back and forth in excitement, shouting at the top of his lungs, "I need to count how much money I have left. There's 1,500 US dollars I need to send to Mom, 500 US dollars in deposit the landlady will return tomorrow, the AJ1s that can sell for over 3,000 US dollars on the second-hand platform, plus a few dozen US dollars in loose change—altogether more than 5,000 US dollars. Nice, man! With the 10x spending multiplier card, I'll get over 50,000 US dollars soon!"
Crown immediately opened the second-hand platform app, took photos of the AJ1s, set a selling price, and listed them. Since the AJ1s were well-maintained, a buyer placed an order quickly. After contacting the buyer and agreeing on the time and location for the transaction the next morning, Crown jumped up from the sofa in excitement.
"The darkness will always pass, and the light will always come! Here's to the past! Here's to tomorrow! Here's to the future! Cheers!" Crown grabbed another bottle of iced beer from the fridge, drank it all in one go, commemorating this day filled with unceasing troubles yet also a wonderful surprise.
The night passed.
The next morning.
Crown got up early. The previous day's overwhelming news had triggered a surge in dopamine, leaving him tossing and turning all night with little rest.
Crown threw together a simple breakfast, ate it, then took public transportation to the meeting spot agreed upon with the buyer.
An hour later, Crown arrived at Mercer Park. He found a random spot near the park entrance to sit down, took out his phone, and sent a message to the buyer.
After ending the chat with the buyer, Crown thought for a moment: he was short on a means of transportation, and a car would let him make the most of the cashback multiplier card. So he searched Google for nearby second-hand car dealerships. After a short while, he found one called Brothers Auto Shop, about 1 kilometer from his current location. He looked through the car list and set his sights on a sedan priced at nearly 20,000 US dollars.
"OK, that's the one. I'll buy it for now and upgrade later," Crown quickly made up his mind.
"Hey, man, how've you been?" While Crown was staring at his phone, the buyer spotted him first and walked over to greet him.
"Oh, I'm good—how about you?" Crown snapped back to his senses and replied.
"Just so-so," the buyer shrugged and said, "OK, let's get down to business. We'll go with the price we agreed on earlier, right? Once I check the item and it's all good, we'll finalize the deal immediately?"
"No problem!" Crown opened the shoe box and let the buyer inspect the AJ1.
"The goods are great—perfect! This deal is totally worth it!" After carefully checking the shoes, the buyer said to Crown, "So shall we seal the deal?"
"Deal!"
Shortly after, the buyer confirmed receipt of the item on the second-hand platform.
[Ding~
Bank of America
You have received a Zelle transfer of 3,500 US dollars from Jack. Account balance: 3,550 US dollars. Zelle transfers are irreversible. Please verify the recipient's identity.
]
"OK, I've got the money. Have a nice day," Crown held out his right hand to the buyer—who was Jack. Jack reached out his hand too. "You too. See ya!"
"See ya!"
After the transaction, Crown opened the map app on his phone and headed for Brothers Auto Shop.