The Holy Grail venture had been open for barely two weeks, yet every product Wang Tianzhuo had commissioned from the contract manufacturer was already sold.Even Wang Tianzhuo himself had initially dismissed it as a preposterous gimmick, having ordered only five hundred units from the contract manufacturer, with over twenty of those already given away.
His order of five hundred was not born from a belief that such a quantity would sell, but rather from the contract manufacturer’s minimum order requirement.Wang Tianzhuo had calculated that selling merely a quarter of the remaining four hundred-odd Holy Grails would suffice to recoup his investment, yet the business proved unexpectedly lucrative.Qin Zixin’s confident boasts had, in truth, been nothing more than a blind cat chancing upon a dead mouse.
The four hundred-plus Holy Grails, after accounting for all costs, yielded a total profit exceeding forty thousand yuan.As the proprietor, Wang Tianzhuo claimed a third, while the remaining four individuals divided the rest equally.
Even Qin Zixin, who had been a complete drag throughout, and Han Heng, who had been as utterly useless as a dead weight, each received a share, bringing their individual earnings close to nine thousand yuan.Upon receiving her share, Qin Zixin was naturally as giddy as a delighted puppy, while Fang Shicheng, residing three hundred *li* away from Nanling City, found his own heart far from tranquil.
His monthly doctoral stipend, combined with various odd jobs, typically amounted to just over six thousand yuan.Yet, from this venture, which felt more like a playful diversion and hadn’t even begun to expand, he had already netted close to ten thousand.Fang Shicheng couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment, only now truly comprehending the fervent demand some ‘otaku’ harbored for particular niches.
He considered offering a critique, but a second thought reminded him that these were, in essence, his patrons.To speak ill of them would be unwise, so he refrained.As for the nine thousand yuan windfall, he found himself utterly at a loss as to what to purchase.He had resided in Luzhou for nearly a decade, and the city he knew ten years prior bore no resemblance to its present incarnation.
Undergoing daily, transformative changes, the city was relentlessly hurtling towards modernization, leaving no room for hesitation in its relentless advance.As if guided by some whimsical impulse, his thoughts suddenly drifted to the Baida CBD, located not far from his university.
It stood as one of Luzhou’s premier shopping centers, completed in 2006.At the time, it was considered exceptionally upscale, a reputation it had largely maintained even after several years.During Fang Shicheng’s sophomore year, the site of the current Baida CBD was nothing more than a construction zone.He recalled his local Luzhou classmates speaking of its impending transformation into a high-end shopping complex.
In his naive imagination, a ‘high-end shopping mall’ simply meant a supermarket boasting underground parking, much like the finest one in his small hometown of Qindao.Having never witnessed such an establishment, his imagination could only conjure a supermarket distinguished by a slightly higher proportion of imported snacks.This distinction held no significance for him; he had no taste for imported snacks.
The cost of a single bag of imported, corn-based puffed junk food, he knew, could easily purchase half a *jin* of dried squid back in his hometown.And that half *jin* was after it had been roasted and dehydrated; the squid itself required meticulous gutting, cleaning, a delicate rub of salt and spices, followed by careful baking.
Fang Shicheng refused to comprehend why mere corn puffs, adorned with foreign script, could command the same price as dried squid.Yet, in truth, he had understood it all along; he simply chose not to voice it.He felt himself aging, increasingly finding many aspects of society intolerable.It was akin to his refusal to grasp why anyone would willingly spend money on items offering such abysmal value.
Fang Shicheng was, at his core, a cynical man, finding countless aspects of the world utterly distasteful.He despised the sight of fools with garishly dyed hair loitering in gangs, likening them to urban cockroaches: nocturnal, light-averse, and undoubtedly carriers of various infectious diseases.He couldn’t stand the junior sister who kept cats in the laboratory, maintaining several felines despite living in a cramped single room.
It was as if toxoplasmosis had invaded her brain, sleeping next to sand soiled with cat feces and urine, always emanating that peculiar, foolish stench unique to cats.Previously, Fang Shicheng had refused to comprehend why individuals would willingly spend money on items offering such abysmal value.
He had always maintained that lavish spending on goods far beyond their practical worth was tantamount to tossing money into a roaring furnace.He failed to grasp the concept of ‘ritual’ and harbored no desire to delve into the ‘noble’ narratives woven behind brand names.
He recognized no luxury brands—be it for clothes, watches, or shoes.To him, they were clearly mass-produced industrial goods, elevated to an unwarranted status by the mere addition of a superfluous trademark.He would never have previously paid an exorbitant price for a mere donkey droppings, all for the sake of a story.Yet, people are prone to change.
By Fang Shicheng’s junior year, the Baida CBD was complete.Local Luzhou newspapers, radio, and television were saturated with news of the new shopping complex.He, too, skipped class to join the throngs of curious onlookers.
He could only recall its immense scale, its dazzling brightness, its pristine cleanliness—a space both luminous and…Fang Shicheng found himself at a loss for further description, perhaps feeling that ‘modern’ encompassed all its facets.Beneath that luminous, modern edifice, swarms of people gathered, all gazing as if at a foreign spectacle.Fang Shicheng vaguely recalled the television’s portrayal of the Baida CBD.[‘…It serves as Hefei’s urban emblem; a city possesses but one CBD.
The Baida CBD, moreover, shoulders the pivotal responsibility of elevating Anhui Province’s commercial standing to a new echelon and spearheading the robust growth of local enterprises…’]While much else had faded from memory, the term ‘urban emblem’ remained etched in his mind.In his perception, such ’emblems’ were merely cultural adornments concocted by the idle to embellish themselves.
What was an ‘urban emblem,’ he thought, if not simply a landmark building?It merely sounded more sophisticated.He himself had only ever received business cards in the lab, and those were from sales representatives peddling consumables.He had merely cast a distant glance before turning away, finding it difficult to articulate his true thoughts at that moment.Perhaps he had thought nothing at all, or perhaps thinking nothing was the most appropriate response.Such an upscale establishment was beyond the means of a poor student like him, and he ought not to harbor any extraneous desires.
The place was excessively refined, so much so that he couldn’t even detect the familiar scent of earth.To venture there, one’s pockets needed to be amply lined.Those entering to indulge should not be clad in faded, threadbare T-shirts, nor in counterfeit track pants with frayed edges, and certainly not in yellowed, cheap Warrior sneakers.
This establishment was conceived for the polished, sophisticated urban white-collar workers of the new era, not for a rustic bumpkin like him, content with chewing dried squid.His aging parents were still toiling in their county town, and he recalled that at the time, they were planning to purchase an apartment there to facilitate his sister’s education, making family finances exceedingly strained.
He had long been forced to mature, requiring no additional pocket money from home even in high school, and instead working odd jobs during both winter and summer breaks.Fang Shicheng favored odd jobs at restaurants, primarily because they offered free meals.As long as he worked, he could eat his fill, leaving his mouth slick with oil.
During his graduate studies, he began sending money home, eventually earning a few hundred yuan at a time through ‘side gigs’ introduced by Grand Master Hunyuan.Though not a substantial sum, it was sufficient to purchase new clothes for his sister and enable her to afford an extra meat dish at school.
Yet, even this money proved insufficient.When hunger gnaws, a person’s sole desire is for food and warmth.However, once those basic needs are met, other desires inevitably surface: a house, a car, beautiful jewelry, a respectable career…The era was surging forward, and with it, so too were the desires of every individual.Traditional values of division of labor and cooperation had been utterly obliterated by potent productivity.
What arose from the ruins of their collapse was something Fang Shicheng found himself fundamentally unwilling to accept.Materialism flourished untamed within the fertile soil of this burgeoning era.Fang Shicheng stepped through the grand entrance of the Baida CBD, his purpose today not merely to browse, but to spend.Yet, his demeanor remained an indefinable blend of dullness and furtiveness, his head swaying from side to side with every few steps, giving him the appearance of someone casing the premises.
The place remained unchanged from eight years prior: just as magnificent, just as immaculately spotless.Yet, from its inception to this very moment, the world around it had undeniably transformed, leaving things irrevocably altered.Luzhou had transformed to such an extent that he barely recognized it.Despite having been a constant resident, he still felt the pace of change was bewilderingly swift.Eight years had elapsed, yet Fang Shicheng’s attire remained as shabby as ever, his entire ensemble still amounting to less than a hundred yuan.
He had once merely stood outside, cast a distant glance, and then departed, understanding even then that without ample funds, this was not a place for him.The beige marble floor was polished to a mirror-like sheen.It was, in essence, a ‘demon-revealing mirror,’ so pristinely clean it seemed to reflect every impoverished soul who dared not tread upon its surface.Even those radiating an earthy rusticity would feel a prick of self-consciousness upon entering.
Fang Shicheng still felt a distinct unease.His gaze swept across the meticulously appointed storefronts, each displaying clothes whose individual price tags could fund a month’s worth of braised pork ribs at the modest eatery beneath his lab.Indeed, with such a sum, he could even occasionally frequent a larger restaurant, ordering a ‘Li Hongzhang Hotchpotch,’ a generous bowl of Feixi Old Hen Soup, a Luzhou Roasted Old Duck, and smoked green fish.What he couldn’t finish, he could pack away, providing enough sustenance for another two days.
He pondered whether it was truly worthwhile to exchange a month’s worth of braised pork ribs for a purely consumable garment.The floors of this blasted place were polished to such a dazzling sheen that, no sooner had he stepped through the entrance, a sense of retreat began to gnaw at him.Fang Shicheng knew with piercing clarity what changing into ‘respectable’ attire would truly accomplish: absolutely nothing.
He remained a poor student, unless he could adorn his neck with a hefty half-jin gold chain.He ascended the escalator, its motor silently and smoothly propelling him upwards—a stark contrast to the old freight elevators in the USTC teaching building, which were rarely serviced and vibrated perceptibly during operation.A constant cool breeze drifted towards him.Ahead, a young woman in a short skirt appeared to be going commando.Fang Shicheng widened his eyes, scrutinizing her closely.’She’s not commando,’ he mused. ‘There are lines.’Fang Shicheng ‘tsk’-ed, discreetly snapping a photo and sending it to ‘Chusheng Family’.
[Old Fang: Found the Master’s mission at the mall][Old Fang: Image]
He felt a tickle in his nose, perhaps from the mall’s air conditioning.This wind was unlike the fishy, briny air of his hometown’s coast, and dissimilar to the greasy, cooking-fumed breezes of Luzhou’s old alleyways.It was an artificial, unsettling odor, emanating from the vents after the colossal integrated compressor of the central air conditioning had circulated the air.Yet, Fang Shicheng was intimately familiar with this sensation.
His central laboratory housed several long rows of ultra-low temperature freezers, whose powerful compressors hummed continuously when powered.The lab also utilized integrated central air conditioning.Both produced artificial, unsettling atmospheres.However, unlike the lab’s odor, which carried a distinct ozone smell—a scent Fang Shicheng knew resulted from UV lamp ionization—this mall air was different.
He always felt that ozone represented something rigid and impoverished, much like himself.He took a deep breath, detecting a few faint, acrid whiffs of perfume mixed with an extremely subtle hint of disinfectant.He wasn’t sure if the perfume scent belonged to the young woman in front of him, but he disliked it.Fang Shicheng found it difficult to describe this scent; his limited experience prevented him from associating it with concrete imagery.It was a contradictory aroma, simultaneously evoking a sense of solemnity and a hint of dissolute worldliness.
A phrase inexplicably came to mind: ‘Beneath a veneer of righteousness and morality lies a core of thievery and debauchery.’Fang Shicheng quickly shook his head, resuming his gaze at the young woman’s backside.It wasn’t that her buttocks were particularly beautiful, but rather that they bore several prominent pimples, red as salted duck egg yolks.The fourth floor of Baida CBD was dedicated entirely to men’s casual wear.
He randomly entered a store.The interior glowed with warm hues, orange light cast by three rows of black track spotlights fixed to the ceiling.This, combined with the solid wood flooring, display cases, and wall panels, seemed to strive earnestly to cultivate a sense of homey warmth.Fang Shicheng’s dormitory was perpetually dim, lacking direct sunlight, while the lab was illuminated only by bright, yet stark and cold, white light.Perhaps, once affluent, one would find the leisure to research how lighting colors influence mood.
He casually glanced at the tags of a few ordinary garments; their prices consistently hovered around one thousand seven or eight hundred yuan.Fang Shicheng couldn’t help but click his tongue in disbelief, finding these price tags more offensive than the pimples on the young woman’s backside.Once again, Fang Shicheng felt utterly bewildered. ‘Is this in RMB or Japanese Yen?’ he muttered internally.
‘Even if it’s Yen, at the current exchange rate of one RMB to twelve Yen, this shoddy garment isn’t worth this much!’He hastily put the clothes back, pretending nothing had happened, and walked away, a strange, bitter sensation burgeoning in his chest.Fang Shicheng’s ambition, paradoxically, had steadily diminished with his rising academic qualifications.The brutal truth of reality was that it did not yield to human will.
Mistaking aged vinegar for ink, one might write a lifetime of sourness onto paper.Even worse, when ink and vinegar intermingle, half a life becomes bitter, half becomes sour.Fang Shicheng then spun around and jogged back, grabbing a random polo shirt.He viciously cursed in front of the sales assistant:
“Damn it, this piece of junk is truly ugly as hell!”
After his outburst, he returned the shirt, unable to suppress a smile.His heart felt considerably lighter now.