Chapter 5
The next morning, Lin Ran woke up promptly at 5 am, feeling remarkably refreshed after a deep, dreamless sleep. Could that Moon Goddess Halo have some mystical effect after all?
Without time to dwell on it, he efficiently loaded baskets of peaches onto the electric cargo tricycle with Jiang Jie and the others.
“Lin-ge, Jie-ge, be safe on the road!” The group of young men who had volunteered to help called out, each holding a peach Lin Ran had given them.
“Of course, we will. Come back for dinner later!” Lin Ran replied with a smile, setting off towards the city in the dawn light.
Honestly, with Lin Ran driving it, the ubiquitous blue electric tricycle seemed to transform into a retro-chic countryside fashion statement, as if he were filming a rural life variety show. His slightly longer, unkempt black hair fluttered in the morning breeze, his handsome features as captivating as ever.
By the time they arrived in the city, many vendors had already set up. Lin Ran’s timing wasn’t the earliest, but it wasn’t late either. He managed to secure the last decent spot in the market. This area was the city’s largest residential district, bustling with people buying groceries in the morning.
Lin Ran’s arrival immediately drew attention. Such a handsome young man stood out among the vendors. Even Jiang Jie, despite his “trendy youth” attire, was undeniably good-looking. Together, they formed a rather intriguing duo.
Before Lin Ran could even finish arranging his peaches and start advertising, a customer approached.
“Young man, are these peaches fresh?” A middle-aged woman with a shopping basket looked curiously at Lin Ran, then at the peaches, inquiring tentatively.
“Good morning, Auntie. These are homegrown peaches, freshly picked,” Lin Ran replied with a smile. As he looked up, the woman’s eyes widened, staring at him in surprise.
My, what a handsome young man. And his voice was pleasant too.
“I’ll take three pounds then. Give me a bag.” Despite her words, she didn’t expect the peaches to be anything special, considering the price. “Are they tasty? I bought some from a roadside stall before, but they were hard and tasteless. We barely ate any before throwing them away.” The woman, slightly swayed by Lin Ran’s looks, started picking out peaches.
“Would you like to try one? They’re very sweet,” Lin Ran offered, unexpectedly selecting a ripe peach, rinsing it with bottled water, and handing it to her.
“Oh, that’s not necessary. The price is already low. Young man, are you helping your family sell these?” The woman accepted the peach, feeling even more favorably towards Lin Ran, and started making small talk.
“Yes, it’s summer vacation, so I’m helping out,” Lin Ran replied, continuing to arrange his stall.
“My son is about your age. He’s still sleeping in… Wow, this peach is really sweet!” The woman, initially intending to just offer a little help, brightened up after taking a bite. The taste was comparable to the individually packaged, premium peaches sold in supermarkets.
“Indeed, they look delicious. The skin is so thin, and it’s all flesh inside,” someone nearby commented, noticing the scene and the peach in the woman’s hand.
“Really that good? Are you sure you’re not a shill?”
“They do look different…”
Suddenly, Lin Ran’s stall was crowded, even plastic bags becoming scarce.
“Boss, give me a bag!”
“Me too, me too—”
“Lin-zai, are we… doing this well?” Jiang Jie was stunned. Was selling fruit this easy? Just stand there and customers would flock to you? Was it because Lin-zai was so handsome that all the aunties were drawn to him?
But that didn’t make sense; there were plenty of uncles vying for peaches too. Could he be universally attractive?
Lin Ran was too busy to answer Jiang Jie’s questions, occupied with bagging peaches, weighing them, and collecting money. Some peaches seemed to vanish from beside him in the blink of an eye, making him wonder if he was hallucinating.
“Hey, boss, how many peaches do you have left? I’ll take them all. The school cafeteria still needs some fruit,” a stout man on an electric scooter stopped at the stall, generously offering to buy the entire stock.
“Would you like to try one first? It wouldn’t be good if you bought so many and weren’t satisfied,” Lin Ran offered to wash another peach, but the man waved him off.
“No need, no need. I’m in a hurry. I’ve been buying fruit for years and have a good eye. These peaches smell sweet. Your family grows good ones. Just pack them all up and put them in my scooter’s back.”
The man, Mr. Lei Hong, was the purchasing manager for a nearby foreign language middle school. His purchase cleared out Lin Ran’s remaining stock. Other customers who missed out expressed their disappointment, asking when Lin Ran would be back.
Lin Ran and Jiang Jie’s plan to sell until the afternoon was unexpectedly completed before 9 am.
Counting the money in the tricycle, Jiang Jie felt like he was dreaming: “Lin-zai, what’s going on? I’m scared. What kind of luck is this?!” It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Here, have some water to calm down.” Lin Ran, equally surprised and delighted, was sweating, his hair plastered to his temples. He bought two iced drinks, one for himself and one for Jiang Jie.
As soon as Jiang Jie opened his, he exclaimed, “Whoa! Another one!”
Lin Ran: ?
Lin Ran paused, a feeling of anticipation washing over him. Jiang Jie leaned in for a closer look.
“Let me see, let me see! Did you win anything… Whoa, you actually won! Third prize, a brand new induction cooker?!”
“Lin-zai, what’s going on?! You’re saved—!”
“I remember you said last night you wanted to buy an induction cooker for Grandma to make hotpot. Did someone hear your wish?” Jiang Jie knew about Lin Ran’s bad luck; it was a topic of conversation in the village. But today, it seemed like his luck had completely turned around.
“Is this drink fake?” Lin Ran was skeptical. Could this really be happening to him?
“No way it’s fake. Come on, let’s go exchange it at the supermarket before anything changes.” Jiang Jie, pointing at the redemption instructions, eagerly urged Lin Ran to claim his prize.
“Mr. Lin Ran, congratulations! Your induction cooker has been redeemed!” A few minutes later, under the envious gazes of onlookers, Lin Ran held the brand new induction cooker, finally convinced of the “Moon Goddess Halo’s” power.
Could all the halos in this game affect reality? Otherwise, he couldn’t believe his luck.
After securing the prize in the tricycle, they finally had time to count their earnings, only to discover a slight discrepancy. They had sold the peaches for over 3000 yuan.
“But the income doesn’t match the quantity. Even after accounting for the samples, there’s still a gap,” Jiang Jie, despite his weak math skills, noticed the mismatch. Someone must have taken extra peaches without paying during the crowd. “Damn it, we were too caught up in the excitement. We should have kept a closer eye.”
Lin Ran wasn’t surprised, even subtly relieved. His luck was still within reasonable limits; not everything was perfect. With just the two of them and so many customers, it was inevitable that some would sneak a few extra peaches.
“It’s great that we sold out on our first try. Let’s go home and have hotpot in the courtyard,” Lin Ran said cheerfully, instantly lifting Jiang Jie’s spirits.
Right, hotpot!
Meanwhile, invisible to Lin Ran and Jiang Jie, a flickering black flame happily cradled a few peaches in its fiery tail, flying through the air. Its speed was so great that anyone who caught a glimpse would dismiss it as a trick of the light. The flame flew towards a quiet villa in the city center, slipped through a window, and curiously began playing with the peaches.
“Abyss, where did you sneak off to again? Where’s Uncle?” A young man with golden highlights in his hair paced anxiously.
Beside him was the familiar Doberman. If Lin Ran saw it, he would recognize it as belonging to the sports car owner from that night. However, the usually imposing Doberman now stared uneasily at the black flame, and if not leashed, would have likely fled.
“How would I know? And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. Are these human peaches?” Abyss, a newly awakened abyssal flame sprite, still childish, fiddled with the familiar-looking peaches with his fiery tail. They were the same ones that had vanished from Lin Ran’s stall.
“Where did you get those peaches? Does a flame even eat?” Shao Zi Jue stared at the mysterious peaches in surprise.
Every 100,000 years, a spirit flame was born from the abyssal fissures of “Demon World.” If nurtured carefully, as it aged, it would provide its owner with limitless magic. Thus, the birth of each abyssal flame had always caused turmoil in the demon world.
However, upon Abyss’s birth, that sly old geezer of the abyss had placed him in Shao Mian’s territory. Even though Shao Mian hadn’t claimed him, no other demon dared to covet him.
“I saw a bunch of humans fighting over them, so I took a couple. The human selling them was so pretty…” Experiencing his first forced logout from “Demon World” and arrival in the human world, Abyss found everything fascinating, especially the pretty human he had observed selling peaches. He wanted to get closer.
“You took them without paying?” Shao Zi Jue raised an eyebrow. Tsk tsk, so young and already learning to be unruly. Like uncle, like nephew.
“What’s ‘paying’?” Abyss asked, bewildered, clutching the peaches he had taken from Lin Ran.
Shao Zi Jue, about to tease him, was speechless. Right, a newly born flame sprite who spent all his time with the Demon King, eating magic crystals freely, wouldn’t understand the concept of money.
“Forget it. A few peaches from a roadside stall aren’t worth much. Paying or not doesn’t matter,” Shao Zi Jue dismissed it.
“Hmph, I know, you mean I should barter, right? Otherwise, it’s stealing.” The flame sprite, however, quickly grasped the meaning from Shao Zi Jue’s expression. But what could he offer in exchange? He liked the human. The little flame sprite fell into deep thought.
[Flame sprite thinking intensely.gif]
