Chapter 168
Chapter 168: Advancing (Part 3) Even before Lu Shu threw his clothes into the washing machine, he could bid farewell to his top. Just holes alone took up much of the shirt but as for his pants, it could still be worn.
By the time he finished inspecting the seal of lands, he saw Lu Xiaoyu holding on to yarn and needle with a confused face. She was trying to mend his pants, having already mended one. But however you looked at it, the patched up parts looked rather ugly and crooked.
Little fury was on her head as if they were already very familiar and this scene gave Lu Shu a warm, fuzzy feeling.
This house was feeling more and more lively.
Previously, he was thinking about going to the pawn shop to sell his gold chains and watches for a sense of accomplishment. He wanted to improve his house and surroundings, to change his old furniture for new ones and to live a better life. This itself was a sort of happiness. To get a new refrigerator, to replace the air conditioner, to change the television. These acts were hinting at a new beginning.
All these happiness depended on his huge takeaways from the remains.
To Lu Shu, the point of the huge takeaways from the remains was to improve his life.
Some people earned money for necessities such as food at the start. After that, they’ll enjoy the process of earning money so much that they forget their original reason for earning money.
When some people started training, they wanted to gain more freedom or to experience a more vibrant world. But slowly and gradually, they sunk into a state of constant battle, to fight for everything they desired.
And Lu Shu was clear of what he wanted. His purpose of training was to improve his life and to obtain true freedom. He wasn’t training just for the sake of training.
Lu Xiaoyu, ultimately, threw Lu Shu’s tattered pants aside, “So what if you go into the remains? Why did the pants turn out like this? Don’t we have to live life anymore!”
Oh, Lu Shu was still feeling warm and fuzzy but Lu Xiaoyu’s words came crashing in like a bucket of cold water, “I didn’t ask you to sew my clothes!”
“No! I just want to do it!” Lu Xiaoyu picked up the pants angrily and continued sewing…
The next morning, Lu Shu got up at 3am to go over for swordplay training over at Li Xianyi’s. At that time, Li Xianyi was already waiting there.
He smiled as he saw Lu Shu’s figure, “I thought you wouldn’t be coming.”
After all, he had just returned from the dangerous remains and it was normal to want to rest for a few days. Yet, he was here and from this, it could be seen just what sort of person Lu Shu was. His character could be told from choosing to train over resting.
Li Xianyi said, “Training is like a ship advancing against the currents and stopping would result in being pushed backward. It is rare to have such determination at your age. Actually, you could rest one or two days before resuming your training. Why are you training so hard?”
Lu Shu replied, “To be able to train in peace is already much more relaxing than being in the dangerous environment of the remain. If I had not trained hard, I might be disadvantaged in the remain.”
This was the truth. Had he not trained hard daily, he would never have been able to through the spears with such accuracy and precision.
Sometimes, it was hard to see results from constant training but when it comes to a critical juncture, every single piece of accumulated effort would give off a stunning result!
Li Xianyi analyzed Lu Shu seriously. If he had such determination back in his day, he would be even more accomplished today.
He was too playful when he was younger, just like many other successful people who didn’t make the best use of their youth, choosing to be unruly and playful instead. But life’s obstacles eventually molded them into matured and successful individuals later in their lives.
Lu Shu was never playful and unruly, as he was never in the position to behave as such. From the start of his life, he only had the sole choice of working hard.
Li Xianyi lamented subconsciously. Perhaps only people such as Lu Shu who could work hard through sufferings could really understand and appreciate improvements.
He wanted to know what such a young man would accomplish in the future.
The old man did not ask what Lu Shu gained from the remains, nor did he ask about any secret of Lu Shu’s body. He only had one opinion now – to impart everything he knew to him and await the day he could actually succeed.
When the day comes, that agreement between Lu Shu and him previously would probably come true.
“We’ll stop training swings from today on. Start practicing picks,” Li Xianyi started demonstrating in detail the moment he finished saying.
After finishing his practice, Lu Shu brought Lu Xiaoyu out. Little fury jumped onto Lu Xiaoyu’s shoulder and couldn’t care less about Lu Shu. All he had in mind were the potato chips and Lu Shu couldn’t care less about him as well.
As they passed by Li Xianyi’s yard, the old man was reading a book there. He hat a teacup near his hand and the old man looked calm and peaceful with an elementary math book in his hands…
As he saw them, he asked curiously, “Where are you two going?”
“Going to the pawn shop to sell some stuff…” Lu Shu was suddenly guilty and didn’t bother mentioning what he wanted to sell. After he had enough fun being flamboyant, he kept everything in a bag. He wasn’t worried about being robbed. After all, not many people could rob him of anything now…
Based on Lu Shu’s obsession with money, if someone robbed him of his bag of chains and watches, the aggressor would probably die there and then in the hands of Lu Shu…
Li Xianyi shook his head, “Don’t go to the pawn shop if you’re selling stuff, just go to those places that buy stuff back at high resale prices.”
“Why?” Lu Shu asked dumbfoundedly. He had searched on the web and found out that the prices at pawn shops were reasonable.
“You probably don’t know the difference between pawn shops and high resale. Pawn shops have the aim of earning money and the pawned items could be redeemed again. So for every gram of gold, their prices would be about tens of dollars less than those resale shops. If you are buying gold, you could go to pawn shops to try your luck,” Li Xianyi explained, “You’re probably not going to redeem these items right, so there’s no point going to the pawn shop. Just sell them at high prices.”
Lu Shu was enlightened. He should listen to the advice of the old man when it comes to this sort of stuff. So it was actually like this, “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”
After hearing Li Xianyi’s words, Lu Shu researched and then realized that there was such a place in Luo Cheng’s city center. It looked quite legitimate but on a closer look – No transactions with underaged customers, no transactions for items of unknown origin…
Finally, he found a resale shop at Zhou Wangcheng shopping center. The boss was taking a smoke and sitting behind the counter playing a game on his phone…
Lu Shu knocked at the counter, “Boss, I’m selling stuff.”
“What are you selling?” The boss didn’t even lift his head.
“Selling a few gold chains, Tissots, Longines, Omegas, Rados…”
The middle-aged boss was stunned and looked over at Lu Shu, “What? Are you from the manufacturing and distribution industry?”