Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 201 [Returning to the Realm] (6100)

Chapter 195 [Returning to the Realm] (6100)

Looking at the two bags handed to him, Zhao Shanhe fell into deep thought.

One was a cheap plastic bag containing two meat buns, from a bun shop near the back gate of the school. Well, given the prices in a big city like Nanjing, what kind of quality could you expect from a meat bun costing 1.5 yuan?
The beautifully packaged paper bag contained cheese toast from a chain brand called Papa Candy. A serving of toast costs several tens of yuan, which is not cheap for a student. As for the taste, Zhao Shanhe himself actually quite likes their bread and pastries.

Twenty-two-year-old Zhao Shanhe faced this predicament for the first time in his life.

In an instant, a thought flashed through his mind: Could this be the kind of chaotic scene described in online novels?

Zhao Shanhe naturally recognized the round-faced girl who handed him the cheese toast. She was a newcomer in this part-time job circle, a freshman in college, and her family was said to be well-off, not so poor that she needed to work to earn living expenses.

However, it seems she came with her classmates; the young woman was curious and wanted to experience life.

I've been involved in this circle for over half a semester.

In fact, Zhao Shanhe had also noticed that this girl had been glancing at him more often lately.

but……

Suppressing these thoughts, Zhao Shanhe forced a smile, accepted both items, and said, "Thank you."

Then, he turned and walked away.

Yeah, as I said before, it boils down to two words: indifference!
The junior schoolgirl clearly showed disappointment on her face, while the round-faced girl just pursed her lips, seemingly unconcerned.

One morning, Zhao Shanhe helped his classmates maintain order and assign tasks. In his spare time, he also used his mobile phone to take on a few errand-running jobs in the WeChat group.

Things like reserving seats in the library, picking up meals in the cafeteria, and buying things on behalf of others.

Zhao Shanhe's students had an advantage in doing this kind of work: people from other schools couldn't get into the library to grab seats.

As for picking up meals or doing shopping on behalf of others, non-students are not allowed to enter the dormitory building.

The junior schoolmate received a delivery slip from Zhao Shanhe for a girl's dormitory. She looked at Zhao Shanhe for a long time before leaving.

"The lipstick she's using is Dior, shade 750, and it costs over three hundred yuan apiece." The round-faced girl appeared behind Zhao Shanhe at some point, holding two cups of milk tea, and handed one to him.

"What do you mean?" Zhao Shanhe frowned and subconsciously took the milk tea.

"She definitely couldn't afford it on her own, so you probably gave it to her, right?" The round-faced girl was clearly quite skilled at flirting, with an innocent and naive expression on her face.

Zhao Shanhe pursed his lips—of course it wasn't him who gave it to her; he was a straight man and never thought of giving a girl lipstick as a gift.

So... who sent it? The answer is obvious.

In the afternoon, the junior schoolmate ran up to Zhao Shanhe, her face flushed, and looked at him with shining eyes: "Are you free tonight?"

"Huh?" Zhao Shanhe was taken aback.

The junior schoolgirl pursed her lips, then reached out and seemingly casually tucked her long hair behind her ear—Zhao Shanhe always thought this gesture of hers was very alluring.

However, at this moment, his expression was as calm as his emotions.

"There's a movie I've really wanted to see. I was too busy before and didn't have time, but it's about to leave theaters, and I don't want to have any regrets," the junior student said softly.

Clearly, it's a double entendre.

Zhao Shanhe remained silent.

"If you don't have anything else to do, could you come with me to see the movie? It'll be quite late after the movie ends, and I'm a little afraid to walk alone at night."

Zhao Shanhe took a deep breath: "Hmm... let's do it another day."

After saying that, he hardened his heart and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!" The junior schoolmate caught up, her face looking pitiful. "Are you still angry with me?"

She seemed a little anxious, reaching out to gently hook the sleeve of Zhao Shanhe's shirt, and said in a low voice, "I was so foolish before, I let you down. I really want to apologize to you sincerely, I..."

Zhao Shanhe sensed the anxiety in the junior's eyes, but he simply said slowly, "You're overthinking it. I accept your apology, but I really have something to do tonight. I've made plans to have some barbecue and drinks with my friends."

"Then tomorrow?" The junior seemed unwilling to give up.

"...Hmm, let's talk about it tomorrow."

Zhao Shanhe ran away.

The junior schoolgirl felt a gaze directed at her. She turned around and her eyes met those of the round-faced girl, and sparks seemed to fly between them.

The two girls turned their heads at the same time, cursing "bitch" in their hearts.

·
In the evening, Zhao Shanhe was organizing the students to return to school. At the same time, everyone gathered together, and Zhao Shanhe called out the head wages given to each person by the merchants who had worked that day, and then distributed the red envelopes to each person in person.

"May Mr. Zhao's business prosper!" Chen Yan's cheerful voice came from behind.

Zhao Shanhe looked up and saw Chen Yan walking towards him from the roadside. A sincere smile immediately appeared on his face: "Brother, you came to visit me?"

"No, I need to use the car for something, so I came to pick it up." Chen Yan answered casually, "Is it convenient for you to return the car now?"

Zhao Shanhe was taken aback for a moment, not quite understanding why Chen Yan would come to his door asking for a car—if he really wanted a car, he could have sent him a message on WeChat and he would have delivered it to him.

However, he immediately replied with a smile, "The car is yours, bro. Why don't you wait a bit? I'll go fill up the gas tank first, and then you can drive it away. I've been using your car for so many days, I can't let you down!"

Chen Yan smiled and said, "It's nothing. We're like brothers. Don't be shy about the gas money. I'm in a hurry to leave."

Zhao Shanhe immediately took out his car keys, walked up to Chen Yan, and handed them to him, saying with a smile, "Then in a couple of days, when you have some free time, I'll treat you to hot pot."

Chen Yan waved his hand, smiled, and left.

Zhao Shanhe turned around and saw his classmates looking at him curiously.

"What are you looking at?"

"Brother Zhao, that G-Wagon, isn't it yours?" a classmate couldn't help but ask curiously.

“How novel! I already told you I borrowed it from a friend—how could I afford such an expensive car!” Zhao Shanhe replied nonchalantly, “Don’t even mention me, even my parents couldn’t afford it.”

It was obvious to Zhao Shanhe that the round-faced girl had taken two steps back among her classmates, and the warmth in her gaze towards him had diminished considerably.

A thought struck him, and his eyes instinctively searched the surroundings for the junior schoolgirl.

The junior schoolgirl's face turned pale.

·
The next morning, there were no meat buns left—not even the lymphatic meat buns that cost 1.5 yuan each.

The junior schoolmate didn't even come.

The round-faced girl did arrive, but she simply nodded and greeted him politely before walking away with a relaxed expression.

As for the junior's "movie date," she didn't even contact Zhao Shanhe.

Zhao Shanhe then remembered that when he returned to the dormitory last night, the junior student had not sent him any WeChat messages or chatted with him.

Zhao Shanhe held his phone and opened WeChat, looking at all the chat history between himself and this junior schoolmate since they met.

From the very beginning until yesterday.

From initial polite greetings and small talk, to gradually falling in love and becoming more and more proactive.

Then when I took the initiative, she seemed indifferent.

Later, after He Kang appeared, the junior schoolmate became increasingly indifferent. Often, she would send long messages, only to receive a few words in return. Or, she would send a message one day and only reply the next day with a simple, "I fell asleep last night."

They don't even reply.

Then, he suddenly started driving a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, and He Kang's family ran into trouble, cutting off his source of income. Suddenly, the junior schoolgirl became very enthusiastic towards him.

In the WeChat chat history, she became the enthusiastic and proactive one, while I became the indifferent one.

Then yesterday, Chen Yan deliberately came to pick up the car in front of everyone, returned it himself, and said those things...

That night, the younger girl never contacted him again via WeChat.

A moment later, Zhao Shanhe put down his phone, his eyes now much clearer.

"Ha ha!"

He laughed.

·
"It's clear now?"

"It's crystal clear! It's incredibly clear!"

That evening, at a barbecue stall, Zhao Shanhe helped Chen Yan sit down, held the bottle in both hands, filled a glass in front of him, and solemnly said, "Brother, I completely understand! I have no more worries!"

"Want to lick it again?"

"If you lick me again, I'm a dog!" Zhao Shanhe shook his head.

Chen Yan smiled, then picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.

Although it was just a cheap bottle of Brave the World, Chen Yan drank it happily.

My good friend is a decent person.

Was it to deliberately create a rich guy persona for him, or to let him see clearly how arrogant people can become obsequious?

Then, subtly and publicly dismantle the "rich guy" persona, making it even clearer to him that the same person, after being arrogant at first and then obsequious, has become obsequious at first and then arrogant again.

If Chen Yan still doesn't understand, he's ready to give up on this friend.

“Actually, you’re quite patient.” Chen Yan smiled at Zhao Shanhe. “If you really wanted that green tea junior, a few days ago when everyone thought you were a rich guy, she asked you to go to the movies. You just went, and you could have taken her to a hotel that night, believe it or not.” “I believe it.” Zhao Shanhe also smiled, but this time the smile was genuinely relaxed. “But I already understood back then—actually, even if you hadn’t come to return the car to me, and hadn’t staged this whole thing, I would have already figured it out myself.”

"No regrets? At least you were attracted to her, you had a chance to have her..."

"I'm not that stupid." Zhao Shanhe quickly shook his head: "Am I crazy! Knowing she's a whore, I'd keep a whore next to me, and I'd be the one who loses out!"

Chen Yan was finally relieved—this brother was clear-headed.

He picked up the wine bottle and poured Zhao Shanhe a glass: "This glass is my early congratulations to my brother on his graduation."

Zhao Shanhe picked up his cup, clinked it with Chen Yan's, and drank it all in one gulp.

He's graduating soon; the graduation ceremony is in a week.

"I'll be away for a few days. I won't be in Jinling when you graduate. Let's have a drink tonight, as a way of congratulating you in advance," Chen Yan said with a smile. "Planning to go back to Hengdian after graduation?"

"Yeah," Zhao Shanhe said with a smile, "My parents call me every day, urging me to go back home."

He paused for a moment and then smiled and said, "In the summer, there are many film crews in Hengdian, and business is good. My parents want me to go back as soon as I graduate and go with them to film crews so that I can get familiar with the family business as soon as possible."

Chen Yan nodded: "You're planning to take over the family business?"

“I have other ideas.” Zhao Shanhe chuckled. “I plan to start a new business. I grew up in the film and television city area. When I was little, I watched my parents work as extras on film sets and watch the filming process. The film and television industry there is so mature and developed. I have a new idea in my mind.”

As he spoke, he drank another glass of wine and laughed, "My business is definitely going to be a success."

"What kind of business?" Chen Yan became interested—he had always known that Zhao Shanhe was a smart man, otherwise he wouldn't have become the king of part-time jobs after four years of university.

His organizational, coordination, and planning abilities are all very strong.

Yeah, it's just that when it comes to relationships, my judgment when it comes to women is pretty bad.

"Take a popular drama, for example, like 'The Legend of Zhen Huan,' right? So many people have watched it! There are still tons of parody videos of this drama on Douyin! This shows that this kind of phenomenal drama has national recognition and is deeply rooted in people's hearts!"
You know, if I were to start a business like this, organizing a tour group for a few days in Hengdian.

It's not the kind of sightseeing tourism, but rather letting tourists wear costumes from the TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan"—basically, it's a Qing Dynasty drama. The costumes are readily available from the costume and prop companies there, piled up in warehouses, and available for rent.

There are also filming companies, photographers, and so on—it's all done in threads!

It's a film studio, so even the palace sets are readily available! Renting them is very cheap.

I would have the tourists wear costumes from the TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan," and each tour group would be like a film crew, with different price tiers.

For tourists who pay more, the women can play roles like Zhen Huan, Consort Hua, or the Empress, while the men can play roles like the Fourth Prince. For tourists who pay less, they can play roles like An Lingrong or Shen Meizhuang, and the men can play roles like Imperial Physician Wen.

According to the script, in the palace scene of the film studio, a group of tourists gathered together and acted out a scene, while a photographer filmed them.

We can't afford a film-level photography team, so we'll just use a cheap one. It's just something for our own amusement, so it doesn't matter if the quality is a bit rough. As long as the tourists are happy.

In the end, it was filmed and kept by the tourists as a souvenir!
If you like "The Legend of Zhen Huan," then book a tour for "The Legend of Zhen Huan." If you like "Bright Sword," then book a tour for "Bright Sword."

If you like racing, you can sign up for the Racing Tour. For the right price, you can play Gao Qiqiang or Dongyudi!

As he spoke, Zhao Shanhe became excited. He grabbed Chen Yan's arm and laughed, "Brother, just think back to when we watched Crazy Storm, when Gao Qiqiang said that line, 'Tell Lao Mo, I want to eat fish'... It was so cool, wasn't it!"
"Let me show you how to stand in front of the camera and act it out! Tell me, isn't that awesome?!"

Chen Yan's eyes lit up.

This is basically just setting up a cheap film crew and organizing tourists to play a "large-scale immersive, all-element live-action role-playing murder mystery game"!
"I've estimated the costs. For a regular tour group, a four-day tour of Hengdian—I can charge four or five thousand yuan per person, and the profit can be split in half!"

"And this is a business that others can't do, but my family can! The necessary resources, like renting costumes and props, renting filming locations, renting filming equipment, hiring photographers, etc... all these connections are things my family can get! This is what our family does!"

Chen Yan looked at this brother with some admiration.

Zhao Shanhe chuckled and said, "I've thought about it carefully many times, and I've even written several versions of the business plan. I plan to start it as soon as I graduate and go back home! My parents also plan to support me."

Brother, I know you have money now. If you're interested in investing, I'll reserve some for you. I guarantee you'll make money! If you lose, it's on me; I'll give you back your principal. If you make money, it's all yours! I don't want anything else; I just want our brotherly relationship to stay strong so we don't lose touch after graduation. If you're willing to participate, it's like we're starting a business together.

·
Zhao Shanhe has passed away peacefully.

Four days later, after receiving his diploma at the graduation ceremony, he boarded the high-speed train back to his hometown with his already packed luggage.

Chen Yan did not see them off. After the two finished drinking that night, Chen Yan transferred one million to Zhao Shanhe the next day. As for the company registration and investment share contracts, Chen Yan did not care and left them to Zhao Shanhe to handle. He just needed to mail them to Zhao Shanhe for signature.

When Zhao Shanhe boarded the high-speed train back to his hometown...

Chen Yan was already standing at the foot of Xueya Pass.

After handing the Brotherhood's money token to the garrison, this thing can serve as an entry pass at Snow Cliff Pass.

Chen Yan walked back into the mountain path.

The warm, humid air inside the mountain felt slightly stuffy.

Relying on his memory, Chen Yan walked through the tunnel in the mountainside. After passing a pill-refining workshop, Chen Yan hesitated for a moment, then strode away.

Soon, he arrived at the Brotherhood's headquarters.

Upon entering the cave dwelling, one immediately sees that many people are seated at the tables in the shop; about half of the tables are occupied.

The noisy sounds and the aroma of food, mixed with the smell of alcohol, lingered in the air of the restaurant.

As Chen Yanfang walked in, several men at the table closest to the door looked up. One of them, a burly man with a shiny bald head, stared at him for a moment before laughing loudly, "Brother 135 is back!"

Upon hearing this address, Chen Yan's face twitched.

However, this shout attracted the attention of others, and soon enthusiastic greetings came from every table in the store.

"One hundred and thirty-fifth brother!"

"My little brother in the first year of junior high!"

"Come, come, Brother 135 is back! Come and have a drink!"

Looking at so many "brothers" in the store, Chen Yan felt a little uneasy, but he still took a deep breath, smiled, and bowed to everyone he met, calling them "brother" regardless of whether he knew them or not.

As soon as he reached the counter, the proprietress, Ruyi, swayed out from behind it and gently patted Chen Yan on the shoulder.

"Good brother, you've been gone for so long and all your brothers have missed you!"

Chen Yan smiled but didn't say anything.

Such polite words are just for show. To be honest, we were all just strangers who met by chance at that "joining" party. After one drink, I couldn't even match the names and faces of dozens of my brothers. Where did this friendship come from?

Chen Yan asked the landlady Ruyi to book him a room, explaining that he would only stay one night.

Ruyi was somewhat surprised to hear this: "Just staying one night? Jin Jia sent a message a few days ago saying that he had finished his business and would be coming back soon. Judging from the time, he should be arriving in the next few days. Don't you want to wait here for him to come back and see him?"

What are you going to see?

Chen Yan sighed inwardly.

Should I call him "brother" or "uncle" when we meet?

"It's alright. I'm going hunting this time to earn some money. I'll see Brother Golden Armor when I get back."

Chen Yan's answer made Ruyi laugh, her eyes holding a half-smile: "Little brother Chu Yi, are you short of money?"

"There's no other way. I'm just a poor man. If I don't go out and fight, where will I get the money to buy cultivation supplies?" Chen Yan waved his hand.

Ruyi didn't ask any more questions, opened a guest room for Chen Yan, and provided him with the latest intelligence.

"The bounty issued by the town general a few days ago has been increased again! Now the heads of those ferocious beasts are worth more than before! Brother, if you want to make money, you really need to seize the recent opportunity."

The two sides are currently engaged in fierce fighting, but there will always be a time when the fighting ends and things calm down. The bounty may be canceled at any time.

Later, go to the garrison commander's mansion to collect the reward document, sign the contract, and then go hunting after you leave the pass.

That way, even if the bounty has been cancelled when you return, you can still use the contract to claim the head at the bounty price.

"Thank you for reminding me, sister-in-law!"

Chen Yan's address of "little sister-in-law" immediately brought a smile to Ruyi's face. She glanced at Chen Yan and laughed, "No wonder the Brotherhood has so many brothers. I like you the most; you know how to talk!"

As she spoke, she walked behind the counter, touched around, and pulled out a porcelain bottle, which she then placed on the table.

"This bottle of fasting pills is for you. Hunting outside the Great Wall is tough. If you go deep into the forests near the Badlands Mountains, you won't be able to bring any storage equipment, and even getting food will be difficult! I was in a hurry to attend the meeting and didn't give you, my younger brother, a gift. This bottle of fasting pills will make up for it."

Chen Yan smiled, accepted the gift with both hands, and thanked him politely.

He then went back to his room, rested for a while, and went out for dinner in the evening. He also drank several jars of wine with a group of brothers he didn't know.

However, these older brothers didn't call each other that way for nothing, nor did they drink the wine for nothing.

A man who was actually the 78th brother, not the 76th, gave Chen Yan a map, which he said he had drawn by hand after hunting and traveling around the area outside the Great Wall for many years.

It's more detailed than the maps of the Gobi Desert area sold in shops!
The second time, after Chen Yan got up, he bid farewell to Boss Ruyi and the dozens of brothers in the shop, and left the seclusion!
Head west!
·
The wind and snow from beyond the Great Wall blew against his face, but Chen Yan's heart felt as hot as if he had drunk strong liquor!
After such a long time, he returned to the realm, having actually made ample preparations!

His purpose in returning this time was very simple: to make money!
Compared to the real world, the greatest advantage of the realm is that it possesses a wide variety of cultivation resources, elixirs, equipment, etc.

These things are impossible to obtain in the real world, but they are sold in the shops inside Xueya Pass.

At this stage, what I lack is nothing more than money.

He had already made plans and preparations before he came.

As an outsider, trying to make money in this realm without any clue what's going on is no good. You can't just wander around aimlessly like a headless fly.

The most practical and readily available way to make money that lay before him was only one:
Hunt down the ferocious beast tribe, and you'll get the bounty in exchange for human heads!

Only by using this can he accumulate a sum of money as quickly as possible.

·
(End of this chapter)