Live Stream: Overly Pampered Education Creates Three Superstars in One Family

Xu Ziang walked out of his house, and the motion-activated light in the hallway turned on for a moment and then went out.

He stood at the entrance of the building, carrying a heavy stack of flyers on his back, and squinted slightly from the midday sun.

He walked along the street for about fifteen minutes and turned into a commercial street with a decent flow of people. At the street entrance, there were several middle-aged men handing out flyers. One of them stuffed a flyer for a gym into his hand. He took it, glanced at it, and then stuffed it back into the other man's hand.

He found an inconspicuous corner to stand in, clutching the stack of flyers in his hand. Watching the crowds coming and going, he took a deep breath, his fingers tightening and loosening their grip on the flyers.

But he didn't send out a single one.

He stood there, watching the hurried pedestrians walk past him, knowing full well that if he handed them the flyers, people would either not take them, or take them and throw them away after a few steps, and he might even get a dirty look from them.

He couldn't send it.

He stood in that corner for twenty minutes, but didn't send out a single message.

It could be simply a matter of not wanting to, or it could be a rebellious streak.

Anyway, he didn't want to post it.

Then he saw the trash cans by the roadside.

He looked down at the heavy stack of flyers in his hand, remained silent for a few seconds, then walked over and stuffed the entire stack into the trash can.

He clapped his hands, turned and left.

He didn't know where he was going.

I don't want to go home, I don't want to go back to school, and I don't want to go to the construction site.

He wandered aimlessly on the street for a while, passing by an internet cafe. The storefront was small, and the sign was dark blue with the words "Speedy Internet Cafe" written on it.

He had passed by this place countless times before, but had never gone inside.

Internet cafes are described by teachers as "filthy places" and by parents as "places for idlers." He stood at the door for a while, then pushed it open and went inside.

The air conditioning was strong, making it feel like a completely different world from the sweltering heat outside. A woman in her early twenties, with light brown hair tied in a low ponytail, sat at the front desk, wearing a loose white T-shirt.

Seeing someone enter, she looked up and gave a professional smile: "Want to use the internet?"

Xu Ziang paused for a moment, nodded, and looked at the price list behind her before returning to her. Her white T-shirt was tucked into her high-waisted skirt, revealing a section of her fair legs.

He glanced at it only once before quickly looking away, his ears visibly turning red. He reached into his pocket and rummaged around for a while before pulling out ten yuan, his voice almost drowned out by the air conditioner: "For...for an hour."

The female internet cafe manager took the money and skillfully operated the computer: "Section 3, do whatever you want. The number is your ID card, and the password is 123456."

She pushed a computer access card in front of him, then looked down and continued scrolling through her phone.

Xu Ziang took the card, lowered his head, and walked quickly toward Unit 3. His heart was still pounding when he sat down.

This was his first time visiting an internet cafe.

He sat in that large gaming chair, staring blankly at the huge curved screen in front of him for a moment.

He swiped the mouse, opened the browser, only to find that he had no idea what to play.

He finally opened a video website, randomly clicked on a video to start playing, then leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the animated images on the screen for a long while.

Someone was playing games in the internet cafe, the keyboard clattering loudly.

He leaned back in his chair, listening to the sounds, and thought that this place was actually no different from any other place. It was clean, tidy, had air conditioning, and a smoking area, making it even more comfortable than his living room at home.

For some reason, a thought suddenly popped into his head: if his dad found out, he'd probably break his legs.

Then he thought, oh well, he won't know anyway.

……

The second period in the afternoon is physical education class.

The sun was shining brightly, and students from several classes were engaging in various free activities on the playground.

The boys playing basketball ran back and forth on the court, their sweat glistening in the sunlight, while a few girls chatted under the shade of a tree on the sidelines.

Chen Ziran strode into the playground, carrying a bulging woven bag on his back.

Qian Jiaxin was chatting with a few girls on the stone steps by the playground when she saw him carrying that big bag over. Curious, she went up to him and asked, "What's in that?"

"Southern leaves." Chen Ziran placed the woven bag on the ground, unzipped it, revealing a collection of mineral water bottles, each filled with an amber liquid, neatly stacked and gleaming translucent in the sunlight. He took one out and shook it. "Want one?"

Qian Jiaxin took it and looked at it through the bottle: "Southern leaves? This color doesn't look like it, it's more like... um... can I try it first?"

"Who buys something and doesn't pay?" Chen Ziran snatched the bottle of water back. "Support my business first."

Qian Jiaxin pouted, "Stingy!" But she still took out two yuan coins from her pocket and handed them over, "Okay, okay, here you go."

Chen Ziran took the money and handed over a bottle.

Qian Jiaxin unscrewed the bottle cap and carefully took a sip.

The tea was still warm. It was slightly astringent at first, then sweet, without the cloying sweetness of a beverage. It was a very refreshing tea flavor.

She glanced at Chen Ziran with some surprise: "Hmm, it tastes pretty good."

Chen Ziran tossed the coin up and caught it, full of confidence: "Do you think it will sell like hotcakes?"

"It should be fine."

"It's definitely possible." He put the coins in his pocket, picked up the woven bag, and walked towards the center of the playground.

The sun was shining brightly, making the entire playground hot and humid.

Several boys who had just finished playing half a basketball game were squatting on the sidelines, panting, drenched in sweat and with dry mouths. One of the tall boys threw his empty water bottle on the ground and cursed.

"Damn it, what kind of school is this? They put the supermarket so far away from the teaching building. It's not even enough time to run there during a break to buy a bottle of water. The round trip takes twenty minutes. What's the point of buying water then!"

A bespectacled boy squatting under the shade of a tree chimed in, "I heard it was suggested by the head of student affairs, to prevent students from eating too much junk food."

"Old Feng, the head of the teaching department, is gone! He's sitting in his office enjoying the air conditioning, while we have to walk twenty minutes to buy a bottle of water!"

"That's right, we spent the whole break on the way."

Just then, a loud shout came from the center of the playground.

"Come on over, take a look! You won't regret it! A bottle of Southern Leaf Tea is only two yuan! Limited quantity, first come, first served!"

The boys looked in the direction of the sound and saw Chen Ziran standing in the middle of the playground, with a bulging woven bag at his feet and a bottle of amber-colored tea in his hand, which he was waving in their direction.

The tall boy wiped his sweat, walked over, squatted down, picked up a bottle of water, looked at it, and then weighed it in his hand: "Brother, what kind of southern leaf is this? It looks more like homemade tea to me."

"Yes, it's homemade tea. I just brewed it at noon. It's two yuan a bottle. A bottle of mineral water at the convenience store costs two yuan, and it's so far away. How about it, want a bottle?"

The tall boy hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at Qian Jiaxin on the stone steps. She was sitting there, holding a bottle of the same "Southern Leaf" and sipping it slowly.

He gestured with his lip in that direction: "Hey, Qian Jiaxin, how does that stuff taste?"

Qian Jiaxin was drinking water when she was suddenly called out, and she almost choked.

She put down the bottle, glared at Chen Ziran with annoyance, and then nodded to the boys: "It's...it's alright."

"Okay, give me five bottles!" The tall boy pulled a ten-yuan note from his pocket and slapped it into Chen Ziran's hand. "Five brothers, one bottle each!"

"Holy crap, that's generous!" Chen Ziran took the money, immediately bent down and scooped out five bottles of water from the bag and handed them over.

Several boys nearby gathered around, each taking a bottle, unscrewing the cap, and chugging it down their throats.

Then their expressions changed. The "let's give it a try" look disappeared, replaced by an expression of redemption.

"Holy crap! This tastes really good!"

"So refreshing! This feels great!"

"Another bottle, please!"

Chen Ziran's business suddenly took off. Several students who had been observing the group gathered around after seeing how much they were enjoying their drinks.

Some people took out two yuan to buy a bottle, and some people bought a second bottle and then came back to buy a second bottle, saying they wanted to bring it to their classmates.

In less than half an hour, all fifty bottles of "Southern Leaf" in the woven bag were sold out.

After the last bottle was bought by a short-haired girl, Chen Ziran squatted down, folded the empty woven bag, tucked it under his arm, and took out the pile of coins and loose change from his pocket to count: fifty-two yuan.

The cost consisted of a large barrel of purified water from the company, a small packet of my dad's wild tea leaves, and the empty mineral water bottles at home.

Net profit was about forty yuan.

He put the money back in his pocket and walked happily towards the classroom. More than forty yuan a day, more than two hundred yuan a week, which is not much, but at least he is no longer at the bottom.