From the initial "Tactic One" to the subsequent physical training plans, the more Lin Wanxing understood these children, the more she realized they didn’t need a predetermined growth path laid out by adults.
What they needed was someone to tell them, "You are free to do many things, and you can succeed at them." Beyond that, it was about helping students achieve more small goals like "Tactic One," teaching them to create their own plans and accomplish their objectives.
No matter what plan was implemented, the first step was always to gather information.
The same applied to making money.
Lin Wanxing’s second lesson began on a bright, sunny autumn day.
=
Wutong New Village was bustling with daily activities.
Li Sun was once a well-known tailor, but as he aged and his eyesight worsened, he retired as expected.
Yet, he couldn’t let his skills go to waste. Every day after breakfast, Old Li would wheel his sewing machine out from the small garage and take on mending jobs.
He charged five yuan to alter a pair of pants, and a bit more—ten yuan—for curtains. Some neighbors would bring fabric for him to make undershirts or shorts, which came at an additional cost.
Because the open space in front of his house was large and shaded by trees, the elderly folks in the area loved to gather there.
Usually, it was just a crowd of old men and women around Old Li, but today was different. From the moment he set up his stall, a tall, sturdy student stood nearby watching.
As Old Li clattered away on his sewing machine, the student sat boldly among the elderly, listening here, observing there, and even chiming in occasionally.
"Grandpa, is it true that you can buy a case of bottled water for 1.2 yuan?"
"Absolutely! At Beishan Supermarket, using UnionPay QuickPass, but each person can only claim it once."
The old neighbors were warm-hearted. Not only did they teach the boy how to claim the bottled water, but they also shared tips on where to get free eggs within a few miles and which places were giving away washbasins and napkins.
Young and old exchanged ideas enthusiastically.
The student pulled a small notebook from his pocket and diligently recorded each piece of information.
Finally, Old Li couldn’t resist asking, "Which school are you from? Shouldn’t you be in class today?"
The student proudly held up his notebook and declared, "Our teacher told us to figure out how to make money on our own!"
—
Compared to Old Li the tailor, He Hongshou, the owner of Hongshou Fried Skewers, had a much noisier time.
He Hongshou had a storefront in Wutong New Village—he had bought the property precisely for that shop.
He and his wife earned their living through hard work. They woke up at 5 a.m. every day: his wife went to the market for supplies, while he cleaned the shop. By 6 a.m., the store was open for business.
They worked from morning till night, serving mostly local residents and students from nearby schools. A couple of years ago, when food delivery apps first became popular, He Hongshou had tried them out. But when the platforms started taking commissions, he found it too much hassle and gave up.
So, when He Hongshou encountered a few high school students loitering outside his shop that morning, he assumed they were representatives from Ele.me or Meituan trying to pitch their services.
"Grandpa, could you let us take some of your items to sell at school? We’ll split the extra profit with you 50-50."
He Hongshou thought he was hearing things. He couldn’t tell if this was a new form of extortion by young ruffians or some novel excuse for freeloading.
Before he could refuse, his wife brandished her oil tongs, ready to chase them away.Seeing the oil clip about to strike, Lin Lu quickly hid behind Qin Ao: "Boss, I told you not to go fifty-fifty, it's too much—"
"Grandma, Grandpa, I'm talking about the extra money we earn, sixty-forty, how about that?"
"I'm forty-nine this year, and you call me grandma?"
"Sister, sister!"
Qin Ao couldn't dodge in time, and a few drops of hot oil splashed from the pan onto his hand, making him yelp in pain.
——
After discussing in a meeting, each student had different ideas about making money.
Zheng Feiyang thought reselling freebies was a good idea.
Qin Ao felt that chasing small gains wasn't the right path and that food delivery would be better.
Fu Xinshu, with his extensive experience in odd jobs, believed finding small gigs nearby was the most reliable.
For a while, everyone argued fiercely, with no one able to convince the others.
Lin Wanxing suggested they first do some research, try earning some money, and use the results to win their arguments.
This was why many shops in Wutong New Village had no peace all morning.
After discussion, the students' first principle was "proximity."
The coach would leave in a few days, and everyone cherished this training period, wanting to learn as much as possible. Spending too much time on the road for money would definitely not be worth it.
So their primary target for odd jobs was naturally Wutong New Village.
It was close to both the school and the soccer field, allowing them to neither miss classes nor soccer practice—perfect.
However, it was clear that Wutong New Village was mostly inhabited by people struggling to make a living in the city.
Chen Jianghe and Fu Xinshu's team spent a long time in the old village stairwells plastered with small ads, only to find too many people competing for work here.
Whether it was moving goods, unclogging drains, or cleaning windows, even if they wrote their contact info on the walls now, it was unlikely anyone would reach out to them soon.
Thus, the students decided to broaden their horizons slightly.
Fu Xinshu, as the representative, was pushed by his buddies to walk two more stops to Wanda Plaza, where there was a high demand for labor.
They started job hunting from the basement level.
Fu Xinshu first took them to Dennis Hair Salon, where he had worked before.
A flamboyantly blond-haired stylist stepped out of the shop.
Fu Xinshu: "Brother Dahuang, is the shop short-handed lately? My classmates and I want to earn some money."
The blond "Brother Dahuang" looked them up and down, then said with a fake smile, "Aren't you the one who knows best how to make money easily?"
Fu Xinshu's expression darkened, and he fell silent.
Qin Ao had already been irritated by Fu Xinshu's humble attitude.
Hearing this, Qin Ao shoved Dahuang aside: "Watch your mouth, clean it up."
Fu Xinshu stopped him: "It's fine, Qin Ao. We're here to find work."
"There's no work here for you." Dahuang turned and went back into the shop.
Qin Ao hopped around angrily in front of the salon.
But Fu Xinshu held him back: "Forget it."
Qin Ao wasn't having it: "Forget it, forget it—you always just forget it, that's why Wen dogs walk all over you."
"Too bad, even though Wen dogs are scum, they're useful when it comes to money," Qi Liang's light voice chimed in.
"What, Qi Liang, suddenly want to lick Wen dogs' boots?"
"Just saying, does that upset you?" Qi Liang asked with feigned innocence.
"Stop fucking talking to me with that sarcastic tone!"After running around for half a day without finding any decent work, the boys were growing anxious with each other. Mediated by Fu Xinshu, they continued arguing as they made their way upstairs.
Restaurants weren’t hiring high school students for part-time work—they only wanted college students with stable schedules.
Clothing store owners, on the other hand, were quite interested in tall male sales assistants. But as soon as they asked the boys to try pitching clothes to customers, their faces flushed red, they couldn’t get a single word out, and they ended up running off on their own.
From the first floor to the fifth, the students were rejected for the same reasons so many times that they grew numb.
In the end, the whole group sat lined up on the waiting benches outside Jin Zhuzhu’s Charcoal Grill on the top floor of Wanda Mall, staring blankly ahead, their hearts hollow, with nothing but silence between them.
“Old Fu, you’ve really got it tough,” Qin Ao said, patting Fu Xinshu’s shoulder with one hand.
“Maybe I should just go home and ask my family for money…” Lin Lu said cautiously.
“And then what? When that awful woman asks where we got the money, we say we asked our parents for it?” Qin Ao retorted.
“Couldn’t we just lie and tell her we earned it ourselves?” Yu Ming suggested.
“Do you really think you could fool her?” Chen Jianghe sneered.
At the thought of Lin Wanxing’s smiling face as she spoke, Qin Ao unconsciously tightened his grip on his plastic water bottle.
With a soft crunch, Qin Ao felt someone pat his shoulder.
He turned his head and saw an elderly woman standing before his seat, carrying a plastic bag. Her hair was gray, her clothes worn but clean. Hunched over and trembling slightly, she extended her hand with a look of earnestness.
“Young man, are you finished with that water? If not, could you give the bottle to Granny?”
Qin Ao, still holding the empty plastic bottle, instinctively handed it over.
In the blink of an eye, the old woman unscrewed the cap, poured out the remaining water, tossed the bottle to the ground, and with surprising agility, stomped on it with a crunch, flattening it. She then swiftly tossed it into the plastic bag slung across her shoulder and strode confidently toward the next person.
The whole sequence was so fluid that Qin Ao stared in disbelief.
The old woman then reached out to Lin Lu, who quickly caught on and clutched his plastic bottle tightly, refusing to let go. “I’m not finished yet!”
“Take your time, dear. Granny will wait for you,” the old woman said kindly.
“I’ll throw it away myself later!”
“Let Granny do it for you. Just hand it over.”
The old woman was persistent. Just then, she felt someone tap her shoulder. Turning around, she saw the young man from earlier bowing and scraping, grinning obsequiously at her. “Granny, could you please give me back that plastic water bottle you just took?”
That was what she heard him say.
=
All in all, picking up trash wasn’t the students’ first choice. After all, as able-bodied young people, they could do plenty of things—scavenging for garbage was just too embarrassing.
But after scouring the area for money-making opportunities, the students were gradually coming to understand their own limitations.
Starting a business required capital, no one wanted them for odd jobs, and they had no specialized skills—they couldn’t even unclog a drain. “Picking up trash”—or rather, “recycling waste”—seemed like a decent alternative.
Besides, as Teacher Lin had said, no matter what you do, it’s important to try it out and see if you can manage.
So, following the old woman’s example, the boys found themselves a large plastic bag to carry and began experimenting with collecting plastic bottles.The first thing they did was collect all the mineral water bottles everyone had just finished drinking. That case of water had been picked up by Zheng Feiyang for 1.2 yuan at Beishan Supermarket. The boys calculated that if each of them went to get a case tomorrow, they’d have over a hundred bottles.
Beyond that, however, the boys had no experience collecting plastic bottles and could only imitate what they’d seen.
After wandering around Wanda Plaza for half an hour, they had gathered only seven bottles—two of which were their own.
Qin Ao cornered two young boys, staring them down as they finished the cola in their cans. When he turned around, he saw an old man fishing two mineral water bottles out of a trash can at the corner.
Qin Ao and the old man locked eyes, and he finally felt the strength of the competition.
Digging through trash cans was something the students weren’t quite ready to do yet.
As dusk fell, it was time for their daily training. Regretfully, the boys walked out of Wanda Plaza, plastic bags in hand.
Chen Jianghe, hands in his pockets, gazed at the bustling crowd in the distance and finally suggested, "Let’s just go check out Elementary School Three."
"Do elementary school kids drink a lot of soda?" Lin Lu asked curiously.
Qin Ao promptly smacked Lin Lu on the back of the head. "This is no different from shaking down kids for money back in the day."
—
Of course, Chen Jianghe was only joking. After all, he had long since turned over a new leaf and wouldn’t actually go extorting money from elementary schoolers. But stopping by the gates of elementary and middle schools to pick up bottles along the way wasn’t out of the question.
The training time was something the students had decided on themselves after asking their coach about the optimal daily practice duration.
Since it was still hot at the end of September, they chose to train in the early morning and evening when the sun wasn’t as harsh.
Lin Wanxing clocked out from work and waited with Wang Fa by the field.
The boys arrived for soccer practice, carefully carrying their small bag of plastic bottles like treasures.
Seeing this, Lin Wanxing couldn’t help but laugh.
The students’ total earnings on the first day were 2.1 yuan—less than 0.2 yuan per person on average.
"Though this may seem like a small amount, overall, it’s a big step in your lives," Lin Wanxing said to them at the recycling station after they sold the bottles.
Back at Yuan Yuan’s tutoring center, Fu Xinshu recorded the 2.1 yuan on the blackboard.
They had previously discussed and decided to aim for 7,980 yuan over the next nine days.
It was also agreed during the meeting that instead of calculating individual goals of 720 yuan per person, they would pool all earnings into a collective fund.
Two yuan and ten cents was still a long way from their target of 7,980 yuan.
And if they only had nine days, they’d need to earn nearly 900 yuan each day.
The three columns on the far right of the blackboard were: Date, Target Amount, and Actual Amount.
The moment Fu Xinshu wrote "2.1 yuan" next to "890 yuan," the stark contrast between the numbers left the students feeling disheartened.
"How is making money so hard? There’s no way we can earn 900 yuan a day—that’s insane!" Yu Ming was the first to complain.
Lin Wanxing asked, "Is there a problem?"
"What do you mean, ‘is there a problem’? Everything’s a problem!" Qin Ao scratched his head irritably, the blisters from hot oil splatters still visible on his arm.Lin Wanxing: "That's why 'giving it a try' is so important. You've tried it yourselves, gained some understanding, and then readjusted your goals—that in itself is a huge achievement."
"But it just feels so hard, we can't do it!"
"Is it harder than you wanting to win the National Youth League championship?" Lin Wanxing retorted.
The students immediately fell silent.
"How can you discourage us like that, teacher!" Lin Lu exclaimed after a moment.
Lin Wanxing: "No matter how grand the goal, it's achieved through accumulating two yuan and ten cents every day. Although it might be difficult to adjust, I hope you can focus more on the '2.1' written on the blackboard and appreciate the value of progress, rather than constantly doing subtraction in your heads—wondering how much 890 minus 2.1 actually is."
The students stared at the blackboard, their gazes so intense it seemed they might bore holes through it.
"The coach told us to focus on our own training hours, to compete with ourselves and not with others," Fu Xinshu said. "Teacher, you mean we should concentrate on the progress we make each day, rather than only seeing the distance to our goal."
"Mindset habits and focus are crucial," Lin Wanxing said seriously. "My point remains the same: no matter what you do, your initial small goals might not be fully formed. They should be adjusted based on the actual situation. If they make you uncomfortable, you should adjust them instead of forcing yourselves."
The boys fell silent again, simply staring at the blackboard, lost in thought.
"Even though everything you said makes sense," Qi Liang murmured from the corner, "I feel like you and the coach are tag-teaming us..."
Lin Wanxing: "..."
The students bounced back quickly, and soon they were discussing the gains and losses of the day again.
"I think Wanda Plaza has bad feng shui—there are too many competitors," Zheng Feiyang said.
"Actually, there are plenty of drink containers at school too. We could just collect them there," Zheng Ren suggested.
"Right! If we monopolize the school, wouldn't that solve everything?" Wisdom chimed in.
At this point, the students slapped their thighs in regret over having taken the long way around that day.
"Exactly! Let's start with the school tomorrow. I heard that waste newspapers and cardboard boxes sell for the highest price at the recycling center. Aren't there lots of old exam papers at school? Let's look for those too."
"Yeah, and we can collect in the residential neighborhoods as well."
Lin Wanxing raised her hand and interjected, "Our area is all old residential neighborhoods with lots of elderly residents. Don't you think we hardly see any cardboard boxes or similar items around?"
"Oh, now that you mention it, that's true?" Yu Ming continued slapping the table. "The competition is too fierce!"
The students then began discussing where they could find the most recyclable waste.
"New residential areas have the most waste. If we're lucky, we might even find discarded doors and windows from renovations," Zheng Feiyang suggested, having spent half the morning mingling with the elderly crowd.
The students chattered back and forth, and Fu Xinshu recorded everyone's ideas on paper.
First, they confirmed the industry they would engage in. Given their limited time and energy, collecting recyclables was undoubtedly the most suitable job for them. Mainly because this venture required no capital—only manpower.
As for the specific work arrangements for "collecting recyclables," they roughly divided it into three parts:
Find a location with relatively few competitors and abundant waste.2. Investigate scrap recycling station prices, compare rates from multiple vendors, and select the one with the highest purchase price for long-term cooperation.
Research which items fetch the highest prices at scrap recycling stations and focus efforts on acquiring those goods.
Feng Suo and Chen Weidong were responsible for information gathering.
Fu Xinshu, being meticulous and skilled at bargaining, primarily scouted recycling stations.
Qin Ao and Chen Jianghe, as professional school bullies, naturally took charge of scrap collection within the school.
After completing their analysis, the students set their work objectives for the next day.
Each of them felt immensely motivated. Though they had only earned 2.1 yuan, it seemed as if becoming millionaires was no longer just a dream.
——
Lin Wanxing remained a current school employee. While temporarily overseeing the football team kids, she still needed to fulfill her primary job responsibilities.
This meant she would be unavailable to supervise the football team students for about seven to eight hours daily. During this time, the boys enjoyed considerable freedom with numerous tasks to accomplish and no teacher monitoring them.
Lin Wanxing didn’t interfere with their activities—once students were let loose, they were like spilled water. Though she suspected they would inevitably stir up trouble, she decided that "staying relaxed" was the best approach.
The previous night, the students had clamored about collecting trash at school.
Yet, by noon the next day, Lin Wanxing had waited in vain for them to appear at the sports equipment storage room.
To her surprise, she hadn’t even received any complaint calls from other teachers.
By midday, Lin Wanxing let her guard down, assuming the students had chosen a different target outside school.
She bought chicken rice from the cafeteria and returned to the storage room. The moment she pushed the door open, an enormous net bag stuffed with plastic water bottles completely stunned her.
The bag was green, made of nylon, filthy—resembling those commonly seen at scrap recycling stations. It was clearly professional equipment.
Inside were countless plastic bottles, each cap removed and each body meticulously flattened. The quantity far exceeded her expectations.
Qin Ao, Chen Jianghe, and Yu Ming were resting on soft mats.
"How did you get so many?" Lin Wanxing asked, astonished.
"A small portion came from school trash cans and classrooms. The rest mainly from Class 2, Grade 10’s environmental recycling station—I cleared them out entirely," Qin Ao replied.
"Did you consider why that class specifically set up a recycling station?" Lin Wanxing inquired.
"Don’t worry about it," Qin Ao snapped irritably. "Of course I asked. They’re doing an environmental campaign and were thrilled we could help dispose of the materials. Who in this school besides us cares about a few yuan?"
Seeing the logic, Lin Wanxing nodded in agreement.
Qin Ao looked displeased, which contrasted sharply with the satisfaction one might expect after such a haul.
Lin Wanxing asked Yu Ming, "What’s wrong with your boss?"
"We ran into Wen dog while collecting trash in the classrooms."
Hearing this, Lin Wanxing crouched down and scrutinized Qin Ao’s face and limbs.
"What are you staring at?" Qin Ao grumbled impatiently.
"You’re not injured? You didn’t fight with Wen Chengye?"
"Couldn’t be bothered with a dog." Qin Ao patted his pockets, visibly agitated, as if craving a cigarette.Chen Jianghe: "He already has a disciplinary warning on his record. One more fight and he'll be expelled. He has no choice but to endure it."
Qin Ao: "Since when did you become such a chatterbox?"
Chen Jianghe couldn't be bothered to respond to Qin Ao, merely letting out a cold snort before leaning against the warehouse shelves to rest.
The students had naturally turned the small warehouse into their gathering spot.
Later, the duo of Chen Weidong and Feng Suo returned from their reconnaissance mission. Surprisingly, they had managed to compile a small note listing the recently opened residential complexes in the vicinity.
Following the elderly residents' advice, they learned that many households in the community were moving and would inevitably purchase new furniture and appliances when relocating to new homes—meaning cardboard boxes were plentiful. They didn’t even need to pay for recycling; as long as they helped clear them away, they could take the boxes for free.
The grandparents also mentioned that many people in such new residential areas were renovating, so there was a demand for specialized construction waste removal. Though it was dirty and strenuous work, the pay was decent, and they suggested the students try their luck.
At the end of the note was a phone number, reportedly provided by Tailor Li, who operated a sewing machine. Grandpa Li mentioned that his son managed the property services at a newly built upscale residential complex and encouraged them to get in touch.
The students enthusiastically discussed their afternoon money-making plans.
Lin Wanxing listened while happily eating her chicken drumstick rice from the school cafeteria.
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