With a clear training plan in place, football practice gradually fell into a proper routine.
Lin Wanxing didn’t actively involve herself too much, as she still had her job to attend to. This was something she had always emphasized to the students—she wouldn’t constantly watch over or supervise them, but she would offer help whenever they needed it.
The students thought this arrangement was great.
For instance, whenever they needed it, they could naturally treat the sports equipment room as a recycling warehouse.
Lin Wanxing watched helplessly as bags of discarded plastic bottles and aluminum cans were dragged into the small storage room. Not only could she not object, but she also had to help the students hide them carefully to avoid being seen by other students who came to borrow or return sports equipment.
It felt like they were committing a crime.
By the fourth evening of the money-making plan, the students’ daily total income had exceeded 900 yuan.
Moreover, Chen Weidong had to return early for track and field team training to practice hurdles. This meant that, with just 10 people, the students had managed to earn 90 yuan each while still balancing their training.
When Lin Wanxing did the math, she was utterly shocked.
After studying the accounts, she discovered that recycling scrap was the students’ main source of income, followed by hauling construction waste for a renovation team. Chen Jianghe and the others had also earned some money by moving large furniture upstairs—all of it hard-earned cash.
With their initial capital, the students’ minds became more active.
Since the recycling price for plastic water bottles was too low, Qin Ao, Chen Jianghe, and others in the campus group began to consider starting small businesses after saving up enough money from selling scrap.
Simply put, it was still Qin Ao’s original plan.
But they shifted their approach, deciding not to negotiate with shop owners but to act as purchasing agents instead.
The key to being a purchasing agent was having upfront capital. Previously, the students had no money, but now with their initial funds, they could proceed with this plan.
At the beginning of the venture, no one was sure what would sell well, but food delivery was generally the safest bet.
Of course, the delivery service the students offered was a bit different from regular food delivery.
First, regular delivery couldn’t enter the school.
Even teachers like Lin Wanxing had to cut through the small grove on campus and run to the back gate’s railing to pick up bubble tea. For regular students, whose breaks were even shorter, rushing off-campus to get delivery was highly impractical.
Second, regular delivery often involved waiting times. Even if someone wanted to order food at noon, they might run into issues like the delivery person being late or not having time to pick it up between classes.
To address these shortcomings, Qin Ao’s service was simple: a menu from nearby popular snack and bubble tea shops. Customers could pre-order what they wanted, and the students guaranteed delivery to their classrooms by the next break. Moreover, the service fee was only 2 yuan per order, significantly cheaper than the usual 4 yuan for regular delivery.
Initially, the students’ delivery business had a somewhat coercive "take it or leave it" vibe.
Lin Wanxing became the first victim—no, the first forced customer.
She ordered a watermelon juice, two servings of fried pork tenderloin, one fried chicken thigh, a mixed platter of vegetable skewers, and a large cup of bubble tea with coffee jelly, no ice and 30% sweetness.
When the students saw the order, they were stunned: "Are you a pig?"
Without a word, Lin Wanxing opened WeChat, selected "transfer," turned her phone around, and showed them the payment interface with a 50-yuan transfer.
The students’ attitudes instantly changed.
"Teacher, would you like to order anything else?" Qin Ao asked, bowing and scraping.
He was utterly obsequious.At first, Lin Wanxing wasn't optimistic about the students' delivery service.
For one thing, food delivery itself required strong organizational and planning skills, rooted in mathematical logic. Secondly, the freshness of goods would change over time, inevitably leading to disputes between buyers and sellers, which seemed rather troublesome.
However, when she sat in the small warehouse, enjoying the breeze from the electric fan and sipping the iced watermelon juice delivered by Qin Ao, she realized: issues like the watermelon juice not being cold enough could be overlooked.
Not having to brave the scorching sun and trek through the woods to pick up takeout was pure bliss. A 2-yuan delivery fee was even 2 yuan cheaper than Ele.me—truly a bargain!
Just like that, Lin Wanxing became the most loyal user of the purchasing service.
Yet, the students' business development capabilities clearly exceeded Lin Wanxing's expectations.
By the second day of Qin Ao's delivery service at Hongjing No. 8 Middle School, she could no longer order watermelon juice.
According to Qin Ao, Bao Xiaotian, the class belle from Feng Suo's class, had ordered 10 cups at 2 yuan each to treat her girlfriends.
And with the beauty's word-of-mouth promotion spreading like wildfire, students flocked to Qin Ao to order iced watermelon juice. Just for the watermelon juice alone, Qin Ao was swamped with orders.
Qin Ao and Chen Jianghe were drenched in sweat from running around. They claimed that the delivery process was perfect for interval running. Running up and down stairs boosted their starting power and explosiveness—something they'd usually train for while wearing weighted vests. Carrying loads of takeout saved them the need for extra weights. Worried the watermelon juice might warm up, they had to speed up, which also helped exercise their upper body strength. It was more fun than running on the synthetic track.
Lin Wanxing thought the students might just be encouraging themselves, but being able to self-regulate psychologically and maintain an optimistic attitude toward many things was crucial.
Qin Ao and Chen Jianghe sold over a hundred cups of watermelon juice in a day at school. Due to the large volume, they negotiated a bulk discount with the juice seller. Combining the delivery fees with earnings from selling assorted fried skewers, they made nearly 800 yuan in a single day.
Similarly, the team led by Feng Suo, Zheng Feiyang, and Lin Lu, who were in charge of collecting cardboard, also shifted their core business.
It wasn't because collecting cardboard was too tough, but because the students realized that many people engaged in this work were low-income or income-less elderly. After accumulating a certain amount of capital, they no longer wanted to compete with the elderly for cardboard and plastic bottles.
Part of the recycling team planned to transition from the scrap market to selling cotton candy at the school gate; another group got a small cart to clean up construction waste for households in new residential areas undergoing renovations.
Lin Wanxing learned about these developments one day after listening to them talk during training.
The foot-pedal cotton candy machine was a secondhand find by Lin Lu at a recycling station.
The owner said the machine had some issues but promised to fix it. He offered to sell it to them for 200 yuan after repairs, and the students were quite tempted.
They went online to research the costs of selling cotton candy. A pound of white sugar cost just over 5 yuan and could make 50 cotton candies. Selling each for 5 yuan meant they could recoup the machine's cost after selling just one pound of sugar—clearly a profitable venture.
True to their nature, Lin Lu and the others wasted no time. While deciding to collect cardboard for one last day, they also went to survey the cotton candy market.On the first evening, Lin Lu and the others set up their stall at the elementary school gate, but sales weren’t ideal. After all, elementary school students didn’t have much pocket money, and parents picking up their children tended to think cotton candy was too sweet right before dinner. So, the city park on weekends became their main target.
The children’s palace was even more suitable than the school gate because parents taking their kids to extracurricular classes were more likely to indulge them with small treats as rewards.
Not only that, Lin Lu and the others replaced the usual bamboo sticks for cotton candy with long Kangleguo sticks—a type of elongated puffed snack. Though it raised costs slightly, it eliminated safety risks for the children and made their cotton candy stand out among competitors.
The cotton candy business peaked the very next day, as it happened to be a weekend.
According to Lin Lu, they sold at the park in the morning, rushed to the children’s palace gate just before classes let out at noon, moved their stall to the small amusement park entrance in the afternoon, and switched to another children’s palace by evening. After a whole day of hustling, their daily revenue reached an impressive 2,000 yuan.
With four days left until Wang Fa’s departure, the students’ cumulative earnings hit 4,134.5 yuan.
Making more money was a good thing.
But what Lin Wanxing hadn’t expected was that the boys had become increasingly frugal since starting to earn their own cash.
Their greatest daily joy was collapsing on the rooftop after evening training to count the money together.
The late autumn weather was clear, with a gentle evening breeze drifting across the rooftop.
After a hard day’s work, the boys leaned against each other, noisy and playful, nestled in a corner of the rooftop.
Most payments came through WeChat, so there wasn’t much physical cash. Yet, the few bills they had were carefully stored in a small plastic bag.
Everyone took turns counting the money with relish. As soon as one finished, another would snatch it away to count again.
Soon, the stack of small bills ended up in Yu Ming’s hands.
Bored, Qi Liang started whining: “Teacher, do you have any of that kind of drink?”
“What kind of drink?” Lin Wanxing asked.
“You know, the kind that’s cold, sweet, and makes you burp after one sip.”
Rarely acting cute, Qi Liang pestered her for free drinks from her fridge.
“No, no. Why don’t you buy your own?” Lin Wanxing said, exasperated.
“It’s too expensive! Three yuan for a can of Coca-Cola—only a rich lady like you can afford that,” Qin Ao chimed in, putting on a sweet, syrupy voice.
Lin Wanxing shuddered at the cheesiness and walked indoors, returning with an electric kettle.
She poured some boiling water into each of the boys’ sports bottles, the steaming liquid gurgling as it flowed…
“Woman, you’re so cruel!”
“At least let it cool down for us!”
The boys started yelling and complaining loudly…
“Keep it down! I’ll get another complaint from the granny downstairs,” Lin Wanxing hurriedly said.
“No, no, no! We’re thirsty and want cold drinks!” Lin Lu continued to protest.
“I really don’t have any in the fridge,” Lin Wanxing said helplessly.
As she spoke, she glanced at Wang Fa. If she remembered correctly, she had seen him buy a bunch of drinks from the convenience store yesterday and stash them in the fridge.
Following her gaze, all the students turned to look at Wang Fa with pleading eyes. Lin Lu even made a begging gesture.
Wang Fa: “Go get them.”
Whoosh—the students scrambled up instantly, cheering as if they’d won the lottery.Seeing the crowd squeezing into Wang Fa's room, Lin Wanxing worried she might be too late: "Save me a bottle of Coca-Cola!"
She shouted.
Qin Ao licked the last drop of Sprite, skillfully placed the plastic bottle on the ground, stomped it flat with one foot, and said, "Teacher, do you and the coach have plans tomorrow?"
Tomorrow was Sunday, and Lin Wanxing didn't have to work, but Qin Ao's question clearly didn't bode well.
"What do you want?" Lin Wanxing asked cautiously.
"Tomorrow we're planning to set up a stall at Hongjing Park. You and the coach should come, be our actors," Qin Ao said.
"Actors?" Wang Fa asked with interest.
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