After settling Old Ma's debt via his phone, Jiang Tao washed up briefly and slipped into bed to listen to an audiobook.
Life as a middle-class drifter in the capital was monotonous but not dull. Having outgrown his playful days, Jiang Tao's current obsession was making money.
Time flew by, and soon it was midnight. Jiang Tao turned off his phone and eagerly opened his intelligence system to check the latest information that had just refreshed.
[Today's Intelligence]: Due to your use of Alipay's payment and repayment functions yesterday, you've received the following information—
From 2:30 p.m. to 2:35 p.m. today, any transaction made using Alipay will receive a 20% subsidy discount. This includes, but is not limited to, online and offline payments, transfers, and repayments! The transaction cap is 200,000 yuan!
[Note]: This intelligence must not be shared with anyone in any form, or it will become invalid.
…
"A 20% subsidy on any transaction? My goodness, this is huge…"
"Is Old Ma giving out New Year's benefits or what?"
"But why only five minutes?"
"And how come there's no news about something this big?"
Reading the intelligence that popped up, Jiang Tao couldn't help but grumble to himself. If this information hadn't come from the intelligence system, he wouldn't have believed it.
A 20% subsidy, even on transfers? Was Alipay out of its mind with this kind of subsidy? Were they handing out blessings to everyone?
To put it simply, if he transferred 200,000 yuan to his wife, Alipay would directly give him a 40,000 yuan subsidy?
"That's like earning 40,000 for free! Doesn't Old Ma's conscience hurt…?"
Though he had full confidence in the intelligence system's tips, this particular piece of information left Jiang Tao utterly baffled.
He couldn't wrap his head around it! What was Alipay's reasoning behind this?
Online or offline shopping subsidies made sense, but the intelligence system stated that even transfers and repayments would get a 20% subsidy—this was beyond comprehension.
"Is this some genius business strategy I can't understand? Or maybe a gray-box test?"
"Forget it, no point overthinking. Whatever the reason, I'll just make sure to pluck some of Old Ma's horsehair tomorrow when the time comes."
"The cap is 200,000… My account is nowhere near that amount. I might need to borrow some more from Old Ma."
"But wait, using Old Ma's money to pluck Old Ma's horsehair… isn't that a bit unethical?"
"Pfft, as if I'm actually buddies with Old Ma. Forty thousand is probably pocket change to him."
"If they're bold enough to offer this subsidy, they must have the confidence to back it up. No need to overthink it."
"The annoying part is that I can't share this tip, and it's only valid for five minutes."
"I wonder if my silly wife will notice this subsidy."
After a quick analysis of the intelligence, Jiang Tao was about to crawl into bed when the system suddenly popped up a blue virtual interface.
[Alert]: Ma Dongmei has just secured a train ticket for January 20 at 4 a.m. After leaving the capital, she will not return!
"What the—? This lady's got some energy! It's this late, and she's still snagging train tickets?"
"January 20… that's…"
Jiang Tao glanced at the virtual screen, then quickly checked his phone. Today was the 19th day of the lunar month, January 18 on the Gregorian calendar.
That meant Ma Dongmei was leaving the capital by train the morning after tomorrow—and she wasn't coming back! Not only was she taking the landlord's love with her, but also his 88,888 yuan!
"For the 88,888… no, for the landlord's love," Jiang Tao muttered to himself.
"I've got to find time tomorrow to check out this Ma lady and see what's going on. I need to make contact ASAP!"
"Time to sleep!"
With the landlord's love and his 88,888 yuan on his mind, it took Jiang Tao a while to fall asleep.
The next morning, Jiang Tao treated his buddies to a hearty lamb soup breakfast. The four of them spent over 200 yuan, eating and drinking their fill before heading to the courtyard to load up the trucks.
During breakfast, Zhang Chao gleefully shared some "good news" with the group. The provinces south of the capital, including Hebei and Shandong, had been hit by heavy snowfall last night. This affected the capital's supply of fruits and vegetables, causing prices to spike.
For Jiang Tao, this was indeed great news!
At 7:30 a.m., four trucks loaded with tangerines set off from Xiaoshahe, heading straight for the Baigezhuang Market. Sales went just as Liu Zhiyuan had predicted yesterday—by noon, each of them had sold a truckload, with demand through the roof! After selling out, they hurried back to reload and continued selling.
Lunch was a quick affair—some flatbreads stuffed with braised pork head meat, eaten while loading the trucks.
"Tangerines! Big, sweet, authentic Guangxi tangerines! 9.10 yuan per pound, 9.10 yuan per pound!"
The loudspeaker blared its catchy tune on repeat, and soon it was 2:25 p.m. In the course of the day, Jiang Tao had collected over 40,000 yuan in payments via Alipay. The intelligence system had indicated a 200,000 yuan cap for the 20% subsidy, so he was still 160,000 short. During a break from selling, he used Alipay to borrow 160,000 yuan, bringing his total to 200,000.
"Would borrowing money from Xu Li count as sharing the tip?"
"Forget it, better not risk it. If that counts as a tip, the subsidy might get canceled, and I'd miss out on plucking Old Ma's horsehair."
All morning, Jiang Tao had been mulling over the intelligence. The system was clear: sharing the tip in any way with anyone would invalidate it. The two "any"s covered a lot of ground.
After much thought, Jiang Tao decided to keep his mouth shut. That was the safest bet.
After selling a couple more crates of tangerines, the clock finally hit 2:30 p.m.!
"Sir…"
"Pick whichever you like! The payment code's over there. Cash is 100 yuan per crate—lowest price!"
Jiang Tao barely had time to deal with a customer before hurriedly pulling up Xu Li's contact on his phone. He clicked "transfer," entered 200,000 yuan, and sure enough, below the transfer amount was a bright red "-40,000"!
"It's real!"
Jiang Tao swallowed hard, his excitement surging as he quickly completed the transaction. Success!
His account, which had just over 200,000 yuan, was left with over 40,000 after transferring 200,000 to Xu Li. That 40,000 was the horsehair he'd just plucked from Old Ma! In less than a minute, with a few taps on his phone, he'd earned 40,000 yuan!
"What's going on? Is this some kind of Alipay bug?"
"Will they come after me to reclaim this money?"
After successfully transferring 200,000 and getting a 40,000 subsidy, Jiang Tao wasn't as thrilled as he'd expected. Instead, he felt a twinge of worry. The subsidy seemed too outrageous to be true.
"Huh? How come it deducted over 20 yuan?"
A customer paying Jiang Tao was shocked to find they'd only been charged 80 yuan.