novelraw Chapter 288 : An Inauspicious Start
Chapter 288 : An Inauspicious Start
Chapter 288: An Inauspicious Start
For college students, collective dormitory activities are most likely to occur during military training when they first enter university.
As time goes by and everyone becomes familiar with the school, gets into relationships, or develops different personalities and interests, they will find their own small circles, and collective activities naturally become less frequent.
Dormitory 519 followed the same pattern, but even though they gathered less often, the six of them shared a deep friendship.
In this dormitory, the eldest brother Wu Di was handsome, talkative, and wholeheartedly participated in various student union activities.
Such a person would be most suitable for becoming a civil servant after graduation, and Wu Di had already started preparing for this.
The second brother Luo Wenjie, a northeastern person living in the south, had a high-spirited personality. In the dormitory, he didn't listen to anyone except Chen Fan, especially after making money, making it clear that he was on a different path from the others.
The third brother Sun Hao and the fifth brother Han Xu were the most low-key, with ordinary family backgrounds, and were the hardest-working good students in the class.
Sun Hao's girlfriend was in a long-distance relationship, and they had been together for almost two years, which was completely beyond the expectations of the others in the dormitory.
He was kind-hearted and enthusiastic.
As for Han Xu, he was a honest kid from the countryside who even had to borrow money from his family to attend university. After arriving at the university, he found everything new and fresh.
While studying hard, he also took on two tutoring jobs.
He studied well and had a strong sense of self-respect.
The youngest brother Ma Xiaoshuai, a rich second-generation, was the good-natured person in the dormitory, always seeming carefree and happy, able to get along with anyone.
He always appeared to have no worries or ambitions, and Chen Fan had never seen any sign of ambition on Ma Xiaoshuai's face.
The six of them came from different family backgrounds and cities, and had different personalities, but they had formed a deep friendship in the same dormitory, and everyone was willing to maintain this friendship.
Wu Di would use his student union position to get the dormitory various invisible benefits, the kind-hearted Sun Hao would often keep the dormitory clean, and Ma Xiaoshuai would take care of the dormitory's cigarettes, always discreetly throwing a pack on the table when they were running low.
Luo Wenjie was proud and only teamed up with people stronger than himself, so he was most friendly with Chen Fan in the dormitory, but he could still get along happily with the others.
As for Chen Fan, he had been detached from the dormitory since last year, with the least amount of time spent with the others.
However, no one in the dormitory would ignore Chen Fan because in their freshman year, Chen Fan had already successfully started two internet cafes, conquering everyone's respect.
So now, even though Chen Fan was rarely in the dormitory, whenever there was a collective activity, everyone would notify him first.
Since they had to get up early the next day, no one drank too much that night. After lying down, they started chatting until late at night, recapturing some of the feeling from when they first entered university.
The next morning, everyone got up and washed up.
Ma Xiaoshuai and Sun Hao loaded the small merchandise they had bought in advance onto the van downstairs, while Chen Fan drove the van to the girls' dormitory.
He first picked up Su Ruochu, then went to pick up the six girls from Dormitory 326, and also had to pick up Han Xu's girlfriend.
Fortunately, Chen Fan's van was spacious enough, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to fit so many people.
They met up with Ma Xiaoshuai and headed straight for the Drum Tower.
On the first day of the holiday, there were many visitors at the Drum Tower.
Since this was a scenic area, they had to pay to set up a stall inside.
With their limited starting capital, they couldn't afford to pay.
So in the end, they chose an area at the large fountain square in front of the Drum Tower, near the lake, as their spot for setting up the stall.
There were many people this time, and after a simple division of labor, everyone started working busily.
To save money, they directly took four blue and white striped bedsheets from the dormitory and laid them on the ground.
Then they took out the small merchandise from the van and set them up.
The few girls were excited to have this rare opportunity to go out and play, actively participating in the process.
Chen Fan took out a cardboard box from the van, containing a red hat.
"Everyone wear one, so we don't get lost if there are too many people later."
Regarding the merchandise for this stall, the dormitory had actually held several meetings.
They finally decided on a few products, including small fans for tourists, plush toys that children would like, and hair accessories and small ornaments that girls would like.
Everyone thought these items should cover all groups of people, so they shouldn't have trouble selling.
After the stall was set up, the group, wearing matching red hats, started loudly hawking and selling their wares.
Especially the group of girls, who were dressed very lightly on the hot day, either in dresses and T-shirts or super short shorts, looking attractive and eye-catching.
Unfortunately, many people just came over to see what was going on, with more people asking prices than actually buying.
In the morning, everyone's throats were dry from shouting so much, but they still didn't sell as much as the old lady selling ice cream next door.
Around noon, everyone was tired and thirsty, especially the few girls whose faces were flushed red from standing in the sun, having lost their earlier enthusiasm and just sitting there fanning themselves and applying sunscreen.
During lunch, Ma Xiaoshuai couldn't help but complain, "Brothers, this won't work."
"I calculated, and we sold less than a hundred yuan in the entire morning."
"We don't even have enough to cover the cost of drinking water and eating ice cream."
Wu Di analyzed, "Could it be that there's a problem with our merchandise?"
Luo Wenjie then complained, "I think the pricing is the issue, maybe it's too expensive?"
Sun Hao also nodded in agreement, "If it really doesn't work, we can sell it cheaper in the afternoon?"
Ma Xiaoshuai smiled bitterly, "These are already very cheap prices. If we lower them further, we'll basically just be losing money."
Wu Di looked at Chen Fan, "Old Chen, do you have any ideas?"
Chen Fan smiled wryly, "Let me think about it."
"Everyone can think about it too."
So the next few people discussed ideas while eating, and eventually the girls suggested handing out flyers to attract customers.
Someone else said that they weren't the only stall there, and with so many stalls, they would need to find a way to draw everyone's attention. They could make a big advertisement board.
The group discussed for half an hour, and it wasn't until almost four in the afternoon, when the tourists started to increase again, that they resumed setting up the stall.
This time, the girls stood in front of the stall, actively soliciting tourists.
Han Xu's girlfriend took out a camera, shouting that they could take free photos if they purchased merchandise...
They tried all sorts of methods, but there really weren't that many tourists willing to come over and make purchases.
Seeing this, everyone's mood was not very good.
It seemed that this extracurricular practice was going to be disastrous.