38. Ways to Make Money

It was Saturday, and although the alarm did not go off at seven in the morning, Zhang Tan woke up naturally. Outside the window, the cicadas in the mulberry tree were already buzzing, signaling a sunny day ahead.

After freshening up, Zhang Tan put on a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved sportswear set. He ran ten laps around the courtyard before heading out to buy breakfast. The streets were bustling with traffic, showing no sign of the weekend slowdown.

West Chang'an Street was filled with mobile breakfast stalls. Renting a storefront here was prohibitively expensive, but since there was a high demand from commuters, these mobile stalls emerged. Most of the vendors ran breakfast shops in the urban villages; they would prepare the food in their shops, load it onto carts, and push them out to the main street.

Zhang Tan bought breakfast in the village and returned to find the security booth closed—Old Li hadn't arrived for his shift yet. As he reached the second floor, Teacher Liu happened to open her door. Seeing him, she froze, subconsciously checking her reflection. She was bare-faced and hadn't expected to run into Zhang Tan; usually, at this hour, he would have already left for work. Then she remembered it was the weekend.

*Sigh*, Teacher Liu had given up on appearances. Every time she ran into Zhang Tan, she was completely makeup-free and looking as plain as could be.

"I bought breakfast for you and Xiaomi." Zhang Tan divided the food he had bought and handed a portion to Teacher Liu.

She was taken aback, feeling flattered by the thoughtful gesture. "Oh? Thank you, thank you! How much is it? Let me pay you."

Because Xiaomi stayed at the daycare in the evenings, she would eat breakfast here before the police officers came to pick her up and drop her back off in the evening.

"It's my treat. You've had a hard week."

"It wasn't hard at all, it's my job."

In reality, it had been a very difficult week. Caring for Xiaomi wasn't due to any misbehavior, but because the child missed her mother and would wake up crying every night.

"Is Xiaomi still asleep?"

"She's sleeping very soundly."

"Did she wake up crying again last night?"

Teacher Liu nodded. Every night, Xiaomi would suddenly wake up from her sleep, crying for her mother. Zhang Tan sighed. "I'm really sorry to trouble you."

This week, it was Teacher Liu's turn to stay at the daycare to look after Xiaomi. Someone else would take over next week. Since it was extra work, it came with a bonus.

"It's no trouble at all." Teacher Liu felt deeply for Xiaomi; she was only four years old and had already lost both her parents. It was truly heartbreaking.

Still, it was exhausting to not get a good night's sleep, but Zhang Tan's concern instantly melted away the small amount of resentment she had felt.

"Go eat your breakfast. You might not have time once Xiaomi wakes up."

"Oh, right. Thank you, boss."

"Just call me Zhang Tan from now on."

As she watched Zhang Tan head upstairs, Teacher Liu whispered to herself, "Okay, Zhang... Tan..."

Back home, Zhang Tan placed the breakfast on the table, washed his hands, and turned on the living room television to listen to the morning news. After finishing his meal, he tidied up, took a shower, changed his clothes, and turned off the television. He sat at his desk, opened his computer, and browsed the news for a while before opening a document titled "Ad Copy."

It was an introduction to a "Startup Loan" financial product launched by a bank, along with the requirements for the advertisement copy. Luo Ming had found him the previous day before work and sent it over.

The bank had launched this financial product, and they needed a piece of copy for an advertisement. It was common for staff screenwriters to take on freelance work in their spare time to supplement their household income; otherwise, it was hard to make ends meet. Not every screenwriter could get into a major company like Pujiang Film Studio, and at many entertainment firms, projects were scarce, often leaving writers with only their base salary.

Luo Ming had been in the industry for years and had his own connections, picking up profitable projects outside of work. This time, he was tied up with "Under Mount Tianyu" and planned to take his wife and children on a weekend getaway, so he passed the task to Zhang Tan.

The fee was 10,000 yuan for about 1,000 words. The requirement was a "soft" advertisement: story-driven, emotional, and aimed at a young audience.

Zhang Tan had never written an ad before. He looked up some examples online and realized it was essentially just writing a short story with a twist at the end that leads into the advertisement. Compared to traditional ads, this type of soft copy was not only cheaper but also highly effective among specific demographics.

Online soft ads were a later development; they originally appeared in newspapers. Now that newspapers were flooded with advertisements, readers only looked at them for the news, and young people had largely abandoned them. The battlefield had shifted to the internet.

After flipping through a few examples, Zhang Tan found himself mindlessly scrolling through entertainment news. Nearly half an hour later, he realized he had gotten sidetracked. He quickly closed the browser and focused on the copy, which was due on Monday.

Writing a story was easy for Zhang Tan. He just followed the basic elements and filled in the content. In less than ten minutes, he began to write with confidence:

"The first time we were about to kiss, she suddenly said, 'Wait a second.' I was confused about what she wanted to do, but I saw her pull three candies out of her pocket—the round Little Bear brand ones, strawberry, apple, and lychee flavored. She told me to pick one. I pointed at the lychee one and asked her what it was for.

She didn't say a word, immediately tore open the wrapper, ate the candy, and then stood on her tiptoes to kiss me.

We kissed, and the whole time, there was a taste of lychee.

Later, she told me that life is so long, and she wasn't confident that I would remember her. But since I liked lychee-flavored candy, she had to make sure I remembered that kissing her tasted like lychee, so that every time I ate something lychee-flavored, I would think of her.

Now we've broken up, and sure enough, every time I eat something lychee-flavored, I think of her.

...

Finally, one day, I could no longer suppress my feelings and decided to go find her.

After some digging, I learned that after she graduated, she found a stable job, but years later, she quit to open her own candy store and had become quite successful.

When I finally found her, the first thing I said was, 'Do you still remember the taste of that lychee candy?'

With tears in her eyes, she told me she had never forgotten; otherwise, she wouldn't have opened a candy store.

I was moved beyond words. I continued, 'Then where did you get the money to start your business after you quit?'

She said, 'I had a friend who introduced me to Big Bear Bank's "Startup Loan" product. That's Manager Liu, phone number 138xxxxxxxx. If you're starting a business, go find him!'"

He read it over, made two edits, and sent it to Luo Ming. He didn't expect a quick response, but less than ten minutes later, Luo Ming replied: "Great. I've sent it to the client. Waiting for news."

That same evening, Luo Ming replied again: the client approved it and had already transferred the 10,000 yuan.

Having earned 10,000 yuan just like that, Zhang Tan opened a bottle of Little Bear drink for Xiaobai that night. Even though the little girl waved her hands repeatedly, firmly resisting and saying she had no money and was a pauper, Zhang Tan was feeling generous—he opened it anyway and handed it to her.

Xiaobai muttered that it wasn't right, all while happily slurping it down.

Upon learning that Zhang Tan had made money today, Xiaobai was very envious. She tactfully asked if he could teach her how to make money. She didn't want to make a lot, just a little bit, enough to afford a bottle of Little Bear drink every day. She had already fallen in love with the brand, and upon learning that Little Bear even made cigarettes, she actually suggested she could try those too.

Zhang Tan refused without hesitation. "If you do that, you'll really turn into a big-time gangster."