Good Man Operation Guide

Lin Shiheng drove the borrowed watermelons all the way to his destination. He looked at the sun in the sky to calculate the time. The speed of his driving slowed down and occasionally looked at the surrounding environment.

Compared with the county town, the city was indeed much cleaner. People walking up and down the road wear more fashionable clothes, even the storefronts had modern tastes.

Unlike what Liu Zi thought he would do, Lin Shiheng found a bakery that was a little deserted compared with its surrounding stores and began to talk about cooperation.

This cake shop had a good location. There was a primary school not far from at left and a hospital on the right. There were many people coming and going, but they only sell cakes. Although this was a town, most people were still relatively thrifty these days. Instead of bringing money to buy cakes and eating things that would be lost in their stomachs, it is better to save money to buy new clothes or buy stationery and books for children.

Therefore, although the store owner specially decorated the store with gorgeous and exquisite cakes in the glass display cabinet to attract the eyes of passers-by, there were still very few people that bought food. At most, only when there was some happy event or a child’s birthday in the family did people buy a small piece of cake to eat at home.

Lin Shiheng noticed that when the store owner was moping and cleaning in the store, although he could see that he was very depressed; His hands didn’t stop, wiping the surroundings clean, and even cleaning the floor several times.

***

He stopped the motor, pushed open the door and walked into the store. The shopkeeper looked up and was stunned at what he saw. Lin Shiheng was wearing the same old clothes he used to wear, although he washed his head. This was deep in town, and it is almost impossible to see anyone wearing such patched clothes.

The shop owner only paused for a moment, then quickly put away his surprise, put down his mop and asked, “Do you want to buy cake?”

He was just making it easy to ask, after all, with how he dressed, it didn’t look like he had the money to buy cakes. Unexpectedly, the guest actually answered it.

“Yes, I’ll buy two, one big one and one small.”

Lin Shiheng smiled kindly at him, stood in front of the glass cabinet, watched the shopkeeper take out two cakes from the direction he pointed at, and asked affectionately, “do you want to pack them?”

“Pack the big one, and eat the small one here.”

“Okay…”

The shopkeeper’s sad face rarely showed a smile. For him, it was good to have any kind of business right now.

When he quickly put the small cake on a plate with a fork and wrapped up the big cake, Lin Shiheng paid the money, took a bite of the small cake, and immediately praised aloud. “Boss, this cake of yours is good! Why does it look like business isn’t very good?”

At the mention of this, the smile on the boss’s face fell down again with a sigh of distress. “I guess it’s too expensive. I thought I was the only bakery in the city when I opened the shop, and business was certainly good. I also rented such a good store with a good storefront, but the result was such a loss.”

Lin Shiheng took another bite of cake and leaned against the glass cabinet, chatting casually. “Rent isn’t cheap around here…”

“Yes.”

The boss’s face looked even more worried. “I gained a lot of money for the first month. I thought the cake shop must be doing good. I rented it for half a year at a stretch and hired two salesmen. But as a result, the salesmen resigned. The rent couldn’t be refunded, so I had to sustain it.”

“It doesn’t make sense, I tasted your cake, it’s delicious. How could people dislike it? ”

“I don’t understand either. I used to work in Shanghai. The bakery business there was very good. I was an apprentice there for two years before I learned the craft and came back to open a shop. Who knew…?”

The boss couldn’t help but sigh again. He was dazzled by the popularity of the Shanghai cake shop. He was working well there, but he thought that no one had opened a cake shop in his hometown. This was a market that no one had excavated. He returned home with money. In order to open the cake shop, it could be said that he invested everything he had and borrowed a lot of relatives. He had promised to open a good shop and return home with riches, but there was nothing left for him to make compensation.

“Boss, why don’t we do this… I’ve sold things before and know how to sell them. I’ll help you sell cakes. You give me a cut. For every cake sold, you give me 1% of the price of the cake. How about that?”

After Lin Shiheng said so, the boss didn’t react for a long while. This was a casual chat; how did it turn to him helping himself sell things?

He hesitated a little and didn’t want to promise. After all, he knows such things as selling things for a commission, but this stranger made such a request out of the blue.

Seeing him not answering for a while, Lin Shiheng picked up his eyebrows. His handsome face smiling, “boss, think about it. I don’t want a salary. Although you have to give me money to sell the cake, but you would still earn more. Even if I can’t sell them, you won’t lose anything.”

The boss was gradually being talked into it.

Yes, he had nothing to lose…

“That’s fine, you can try. But how can you prove that you were the one who sent someone here to buy?”

Lin Shiheng smiled, “if the person who comes and requests some watermelon. That’s the guest I found. Is that all right?”

As soon as he said this, the boss saw the watermelon cart parked outside, “okay, it’s settled.”

“Okay, I’ll go out and find some guests now. Will the boss please look out for the cart for me.”

The boss, who was also warm-hearted, nodded and agreed then watched Lin Shiheng leave his store with the big wrapped cake.

Although he agreed, the boss didn’t believe that the man dressed in patched clothes could help him find guests.

If he could find customers, his store wouldn’t be so desolate.

But now that it’s like this, let’s treat it as a last resort.

***

Lu Ming, from Class 1, Grade 5, was walking on the way to school with his schoolbag on his back, next to his two cousins. He was bragging to them that he went to the zoo during the holiday, not to mention how much fun it was.

“There were giraffes, white cranes, tigers and lions. The tiger’s mouth is so big that it can swallow a whole hippopotamus.”

“That’s a lie!”

A cousin of the same age as Lu Ming immediately questioned, “aunt and uncle were obviously helping us during the holiday. Without them, how could you go to the zoo?”

“I went alone! Can’t I?”

“That’s a lie. I’ve been to a zoo. A tiger can’t swallow a hippopotamus in its mouth. A hippopotamus is even bigger than a tiger. How can it swallow it? And your parents wouldn’t give you money to go to the zoo. Your family has no money at all.”

“Great, your boasting again. I’ll tell others not to believe you next time.”

Lu Ming was anxious. He watched his two cousins, echo each other, and ran away. He immediately rushed up and said, “No, don’t do that! Come back!”

He ran to catch up and almost cried. He was about to grind his teeth and continue to run when he heard a noise coming from the corner alley.

Lu Ming was stunned and didn’t care to catch up with his cousins. He walked over curiously and saw a man sitting on the ground in shabby clothes. When he saw him, he looked up and said, “Child, could you please help me up? I sprained my ankle. I can’t move right now.”

“Oh, okay, I’m coming.”

(TNote: No! Kid! Stranger danger! (O O;) )

Right now, this was the era where people helped each other. Lu Ming hurriedly ran over and laboriously picked up Lin Shiheng who was on the ground and helped him lean on the wall. “Uncle, I’ll go now.”

“Wait a minute.”

Lin Shiheng stopped him and asked smilingly, “Did you quarrel with your classmates just now?”

Speaking of this, Lu Ming’s face that had gotten better darkened again. “Not my classmates, but my cousins. Their laughing at me.”

Lin Shiheng was somewhat surprised, “aren’t you cousins? Why would they laugh at you?”

Lu Ming embarrassedly lowered his head, “My family is poor.”

In fact, he wasn’t so fond of boasting, but his family was poor and his parents had to give him less money. It so happened that his two cousins liked to laugh at his family’s poverty. Every time they have something good, they would show off in front of him. They also liked tell the whole class how poor his family was and make people laugh at him when they see him.

Liu Ming wanted to regain his face, so he insisted on lying. In the end, it was revealed. It seems like when he goes to school later, he would be laughed at as a liar by a group of people.

In adults’ eyes, this was just a small fight between children, but for Lu Ming, he was experiencing verbal violence every day, which could be seen from his growing dislike of talking in school.

“I see.”

Lin Shiheng took two steps forward with his hand on the wall, picked up the cake box that had been placed on the ground and handed it to Lu Ming, who was confused.

“I heard before, they joked that you haven’t been to the zoo, right? This is for you. This is the favorite cake of people in big cities like Shanghai. It’s made of nutritious milk and tastes sweet and soft. It’s much more delicious than candy. Uncle will give you a cup of iced watermelon juice and you can drink watermelon juice after eating the cake. They haven’t eaten it either. It will certainly make everyone envy you.”

Lu Ming looked dumbfounded while holding a cake box that was almost too big for him, looked up at the handsome man in front of him, “but this is must be expensive.”

“It’s quite expensive, I bought this at the cake shop opposite your school on the right. But, you just saved me, this is your reward.”

“By the way, is your cousin in the same class as you?”

At the mention of his cousin, Lu Ming immediately felt a shock. “My younger cousin and I are in the same class.”

“There are plates and knives and forks in the packing box, so why don’t you take the cake to class and share it with everyone, give more to those who have good relations with you. Give less to those who have bad relations, and don’t give some to your younger cousin. He must want some when he sees it. If he is willing to apologize to you, you can give it to him.”

“Remember to mention as much as possible that this cake is from Shanghai. Shanghai is much more powerful than the zoo. If there are children who want to eat it, you can tell them to go to that cake shop to buy it. There’s a promotion right now, buy a cake and get a cup of watermelon juice. When they go, they would know how expensive the cake is.”

Lu Ming’s eyes glistened with a nod. He was a child after all. When he heard that he was going to be admired by the whole class, he couldn’t stop being excited. He nodded, “Thank you, uncle. I’m going to school now.”

***

In school, Lu Ming did as Lin Shiheng told him. He boasted about how precious and delicious the cake was. After everyone admired Shanghai, he took the plastic knife and fork and began to divide the cake in person while the others begged for a bite.

If they had a good relationship with him, he would give them a bigger piece, and if they had a bad relationship with him, then they could only ask for a little. He wouldn’t give any to his younger cousin unless he was willing to apologize.

This cake was very big, but there were many students in the class. Soon only one piece was left.

Lu Ming hurriedly refused to share any more. Other students who felt that the cake was delicious and hadn’t gotten enough, asked him where he bought it. When he lifted his neck, he almost wanted to brag that he had bought it himself. However, he thought that the kind-hearted uncle, and he shouldn’t wear away his good deed.

“It was bought by a kind uncle in a cake shop. I did a good job at helping him stand when he fell down. In order to repay me, he gave me the cake.”

As he said that, he showed off the watermelon juice to others. “He also said that the store was doing promotions, buy a cake, get a cup of watermelon juice. And he gave me this watermelon juice too. But I can’t share this with you, this was given to me by that kind uncle.”

After Lu Ming said that, he took a gulp of watermelon juice. It was really delicious.

He glanced at his classmates and gloated with wonder: “It’s delicious. It’s much better than watermelon. Uncle said that watermelon juice alone can cost a lot of money.”

After distributing delicious cake from Shanghai, Lu Ming suddenly became the most popular person in the class.

“Is it really so delicious? Can you give me a sip? I want a sip.”

“Wow, Lu Ming, you’re amazing. You could even do good deeds.”

“No wonder my grandmother always said that good people gain good results. I will do good things too next time.”

“Liu Ming, give me a bite. I also want to eat.”

“Can’t. I’ve only eaten a few bites.”

Lu Ming guarded the rest of the cake warily and took a seat inside. He swallowed at the thought of the sweet and soft taste. But, at the sight of his cousin who was sitting in his seat sulking, he abruptly refrained from eating the last piece.

His cousin didn’t apologize, he could only look at him enviously.

However, some students who ate only a little cake were not satisfied. They knew there was a cake shop before, but nobody ever ate one and they didn’t want to buy it. They didn’t expect it to be so delicious.

When school was over, they had to make sure to ask their parents to take some home.

By the way, there was also the watermelon juice that looks especially good.

***

When the school bell rang, the boss of the cake shop opened the cake shop as usual, but within ten minutes the door was opened again.

A fashionably dressed parent came in with his children. “Boss, if I buy a cake would I get a cup of watermelon juice?”

The boss was stunned and hurriedly replied, “sure, yes, yes.”

He was pleasantly surprised. Before he could return from his excitement, two pairs of parents came in. “Boss, are you the one giving out a cup of watermelon juice with every cake?”

More and more people came in, the boss dismissed the employees before, and now he was overwhelmed. Doing everything by himself. In addition, the quantity of the cakes he had wasn’t enough, so he could only propose to let the parents order first, and then come back to get it when it’s ready.

Right now, it was rush hour, where children were picked up from school. The crowd in the cake shop naturally attracted the attention of other children.

“Mom, let’s go in and have a look!”

“Dad, what’s going on over there? Let’s go see.”

Some children were led out by their parents, and when they saw people who they knew well, they would show off for a while, “my mother ordered cakes and watermelon juice for me. It’s from Shanghai. Do you know in Shanghai? The people there especially love to eat cakes, they’re extremely delicious.”

As soon as this was said, some of the children were all worried. Children of this age liked to compare with their peers. In addition, when they heard ‘a delicious cake from Shanghai’, they immediately anxiously asked their parents to come in and take a look.

In such a short period of time, the boss took more than 20 orders at once, while many people crowded outside to come in. Originally, the parents were only pestered by their children to come to the cake shop to see what was so interesting. When they saw that so many people wanted to go, their children were in a hurry. They pulled their arms and insisted on going inside, fearing that all the delicious cakes would be bought by others.

At that time, the boss received money for advance orders.

He was both happy and curious.

How did that man do it?

Maybe his watermelon juice was really delicious?