Rebirth: My college entrance exam score was stolen? I turned the tables and made a billion.

Nighttime, in an alley.

Several old handcarts were parked across the alley entrance, blocking the view.

In the alley, seven people were squatting in a circle on the ground, with two open old newspapers spread out in the middle.

Above, a pile of colorful banknotes stood.

"Haha, you guys weren't looking at it from the front!"

Liangzi was clutching a handful of small bills, not bothering to count them at all. He was spitting as he gestured wildly, pointing to the bills.

"That guy surnamed Wu, how arrogant is he? He even has a real leather bag on his waist! He brought four or five guys in blue leather shoes, and they came up here trying to overturn our stall!"

Yellow Hair and Fatty had been setting up stalls in other areas for several afternoons, and now their eyes were wide open as they listened.

The fat man urged anxiously, "Brother Liang, tell me quickly! What happened next? Was it really overturned?"

"What a load of crap!"

Liangzi slapped his thigh, his face flushed with excitement, "Let's, the Guangming brothers, stride up and slam that big red business license onto the chopping board with a 'bang'!"

"Good heavens, Brother Guangming's words were quite something—national policy, the wave of reform and opening up, he really knew it all!"

"That guy surnamed Wu peed himself on the spot! His face turned as red as a pig's liver, and he didn't dare to fart at all. He slunk away with his tail between his legs!"

"In all my life, I've never seen anyone in uniform act like such a groveling servant in front of us street vendors! It's so damn satisfying!"

A burst of suppressed laughter suddenly erupted from the alley.

The blond guy gave a thumbs up: "Awesome! Brother Guangming really shut down even the King of Heaven!"

Liu Guangming squatted down beside him, without saying a word.

He laid the notebook out on his lap, twirling a half-used pencil in his hand.

"Alright, calm down."

Liu Guangming tapped the pencil stub on the notebook. "Check the accounts."

Everyone immediately shut up, and a dozen hands began to sort and categorize the money on the newspaper.

A full half hour.

Once the last penny was accounted for, Liu Guangming drew a heavy horizontal line on the notebook.

"A total of 5,000 catties of melons were shipped today."

"Two thousand catties at the train station, one thousand five hundred catties at the cinema, and one thousand five hundred catties at the cultural center and the roller skating rink combined."

"After deducting the cost of watermelon, crushed ice, and disposable paper cups, there's also the money Liang Ge and the others spent on buying the cart..."

Liu Guangming raised his head and scanned everyone's faces.

"Today's net profit is 1,420 yuan!"

Dead silence.

The entire alley fell silent instantly.

One thousand four hundred and twenty yuan!

What does this mean?

This group of people, just by cutting watermelons and smashing ice, earned in a day what an ordinary factory worker would earn in a year or almost two years' worth of fixed wages!

"Gulp."

The fat man swallowed a large mouthful of saliva.

Liangzi pinched his thigh hard, wincing in pain, before he was sure he wasn't dreaming.

Liu Guangming moved swiftly, taking out a stack of coins from the pile of ten-yuan notes and adding some change.

"The rules remain the same, and the profits will be split 50/50."

"I'll take half, and the remaining half will be divided equally among the six of you."

He divided the money into six portions and handed them over one by one.

"Brother Guangming, I..."

Liangzi opened his mouth, but his voice was choked.

After working for Liu Guangming for only two days, he had nearly two hundred yuan in his pocket.

The key point is that this money is completely clean!

"Alright, stop being so fussy, you're a grown man."

Liu Guangming waved his hand, "This is all hard-earned money from everyone working under the scorching sun. Take it back and give it to your parents if you want, or buy shoes if you need them."

Zhao Xiaojun squatted down beside him, clutching the money that had been given to him, but his face didn't look very happy.

"Brother Guangming, what you did was not fair."

Zhao Xiaojun stuffed the money into his pocket and slapped his thigh.

"Why didn't you call me to this grand spectacle of utterly dominating the head of the industry and commerce bureau?!"

"I sit at the train station every day, and business isn't great to begin with. Compared to this, it's incredibly boring!"

"Brother Liang, how about you go to the train station tomorrow, and I'll go to the movie theater? I want to see if that guy surnamed Chen dares to cause trouble again!"

Zhao Xiaojun became more and more excited as he spoke.

"By the way, bro, we sold almost all of our 5,000 jin of melons today!"

"How about we jump on this bandwagon and do something big tomorrow?"

"I'm thinking, let's go to the farmers' market and hire a big three-wheeled vehicle, and buy 8,000 jin (4,000 kg) directly! No, 10,000 jin (5,000 kg)!"

Liangzi and Huangmao, who were standing nearby, nodded in agreement.

This money is so easy to make, who wouldn't want to strike while the iron is hot and make a few more?

Liu Guangming closed the ledger and casually stuffed it into his pocket.

"No."

"Not only will we not add more, we'll reduce it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow we'll bring in a total of three thousand catties of melons."

These words caused an uproar in the alley.

"Three thousand catties, that's almost half gone?!"

Zhao Xiaojun almost jumped up. "Brother Guangming, why don't we bend down and pick up the money that's on the ground?"

Liangzi got anxious and took two steps forward.

"Yeah, Brother Guangming! When the movie ended tonight, there were still dozens of people who hadn't bought tickets! That's what you call supply falling short of demand!"

"Could it be...?"

Liangzi lowered his voice, his face revealing a fierce glint.

"Are you afraid that guy surnamed Wu will retaliate?"

"It has nothing to do with the person surnamed Wu."

Liu Guangming, with a cigarette between his fingers, pointed to the gauze and rolling pin that hadn't been taken away yet on the ground.

"Let me ask you, is it difficult to make this chilled watermelon juice?"

Everyone was taken aback.

The fat man scratched his head: "It's not difficult. Just cut the watermelon into pieces, put it in a gauze bag, crush it with a rolling pin, and add some crushed ice."

"That's right."

Liu Guangming stood up and stretched his legs, which had gone numb from squatting.

"There are no barriers to entry; anyone can learn it after just one glance."

"You guys made such a big commotion at the movie theater today that even the business administration officials were driven away by your insults."

"There were at least a hundred people watching at the time."

"Guess how many of these hundreds of people are struggling to make ends meet? How many are laid off and unemployed?"

Liu Guangming's gaze swept over the crowd.

"The whole county saw us stuffing handfuls of banknotes into the metal box today."

"Those who are envious are probably unable to sleep right now."

Zhao Xiaojun was stunned, his mouth slightly open.

Liu Guangming continued to explain in detail.

"Tonight, I wonder how many families are rummaging through their closets and cupboards looking for gauze and aluminum basins."

"Believe it or not, tomorrow morning, from the farmers' market to the train station, to the cinema and the cultural center, wherever there are crowds, watermelon juice stalls will pop up everywhere."

"They don't have our ice-breaking channels, but they can use chilled water from wells."

"They don't have our scale, but they can wage a price war."

"If we sell it for 15 cents, they dare to sell it for 10 cents. If we sell it for 10 cents, they dare to sell it for 5 cents."

Liu Guangming paused.

"We've already taken the first, most lucrative slice of this business."

"If you go any further, you'll be competing with elderly people on the street for a few cents of profit, and you might even have to fight with others over territory."

"It's not worth it, and there's no need for it."

These words, laid bare and detailed, brought complete silence to the alley.

Liangzi was probably the first to understand what he meant.

Having spent so many years on the streets, he considered himself to have a good eye for people and things. But after listening to Liu Guangming's analysis, he felt a chill run down his spine.

If it were him, he might actually buy 10,000 jin tomorrow, wouldn't he lose a fortune then?!

Zhao Xiaojun also came to his senses, swallowed hard, and felt even more admiration for Liu Guangming.

"Brother Guangming, if that's the case, even if we buy those three thousand catties of melons tomorrow, they won't sell so well."

Zhao Xiaojun rubbed his hands together.

"So, how about we just take the day off tomorrow?"

"rest?"

Liu Guangming smiled.

"How can we rest when we're making money?"

"If watermelons aren't selling well, can't we do something else?"