77: The appearance of being unable to understand

"Good heavens, the price went up by two hundred, and you still managed to sell over a hundred units in one night."

Looking at the Salesperson results for the facial masks tonight sent by Ye Xin, Ye Su clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Didn't they say the economy is in a downturn now, and everyone is afraid to spend money recklessly? This doesn't look like it at all."

People say the current macro environment is bad, and it's best to save money to avoid risks.

But whenever there's a holiday, it's packed with people everywhere. Now, even these facial masks with a two-hundred-yuan premium are being scrambled for by so many people.

Ye Su also can't understand whether the economy is good or bad.

"Good or bad, making money is the top priority right now."

After a rough calculation, realizing he could get over ten thousand from tonight's profits, Ye Su comfortably slumped on the bed, waiting for the intelligence to refresh at midnight.

[Ding!]

Once it passed twelve o'clock, the system refreshed the intelligence on time.

[Today's Intelligence (Level 2): Wang Da Ma from Unit 503, Building 6 of Junhai Huating, cleared out the clutter that had accumulated in her home for many years yesterday, and plans to find a scrap collector to recycle the clutter this morning.

Among the clutter cleared out by Wang Da Ma, there are seven unopened boxes of Fujifilm color peel-apart film (expired in 2019), and the current second-hand market price for a single box is around 3200 yuan.]

"Seven boxes of unopened peel-apart film, and they only expired in 2019. This is a hot item in the photography market right now."

Even though Ye Su has no interest in photography, he knows how popular color peel-apart film is right now.

Since Fujifilm discontinued peel-apart film following Polaroid in 2016, the price of the film started rising from a few dozen yuan per box, and within a few years, the price per box had already exceeded one thousand yuan.

Recently, several celebrities have posted the peel-apart photos they took one after another, triggering countless people to follow suit, which has pushed the peel-apart film to its peak.

Even a bystander like Ye Su, who doesn't follow celebrities or take photos, can come across various videos and articles like [Celebrity-style, one sheet of film hyped up to over 300 yuan], [300 yuan for 1 sheet, the 'paper Moutai' for young people].

"Over three hundred yuan just to buy one sheet of film that might fail because it's expired? People these days are way too rich!"

Just a moment ago, Ye Su was complaining about the polarization on the internet—some people are afraid to spend money, while others will buy masks even if they have risen to 499 per unit.

As a result, in the blink of an eye, the system threw him another item—film that costs over three hundred yuan per sheet.

"Sure enough, there's no most exaggerated, only more exaggerated..."

This world has ultimately gone crazy to a state that Ye Su cannot understand.

"Junhai Huating isn't far from here, but Wang Da Ma wants to sell all her clutter to a scrap collector. How can I intercept it and get my hands on the seven boxes of film?"

After a little thought, Ye Su had an idea.

...

Early on Saturday morning, Ye Su pedaled a human-powered tricycle, with an electronic scale and a piece of cardboard in it, and appeared at the entrance of the Junhai Huating residential complex.

The tricycle and electronic scale were rented by Ye Su for fifty yuan from a vegetable stall owner he found in a nearby urban village, and he also left a five-hundred-yuan deposit there.

Fortunately, the owner had an extra spare electronic scale, so Ye Su didn't have to go to a store to buy one specifically.

"Handsome guy, what are you doing here?"

The middle-aged security guard in the security booth saw Ye Su park the tricycle at the entrance of the residential complex and came out to see what was going on.

"Uncle, I'm a scrap collector."

Ye Su opened a pack of hard-pack Zhonghua cigarettes he had just bought and handed one to the security guard.

The security guard took the cigarette, but his eyes were a bit suspicious: "Handsome guy, you're so young, and you're already collecting scrap?"

Indeed, whether from his appearance or the clothes he was wearing, Ye Su didn't look like a scrap collector.

"My dad runs a scrap recycling station. My school is on break today, so I came out to help him collect some scrap."

"So you're helping out at home."

The security guard's son was about the same age as Ye Su. Upon hearing that Ye Su was helping out at home, his guard immediately dropped a few notches:

"Many young people your age look down on the job of collecting scrap. Those who are a bit younger and have strong self-esteem wouldn't even dare to let their classmates know that their family runs a scrap station. It's really rare for someone like you to take the initiative to help your family collect scrap during the holidays."

"Collecting scrap is nothing; isn't my tuition paid for by my dad collecting scrap?"

"Hahaha." The security guard laughed and gave Ye Su a thumbs up.

Seeing that the security guard seemed easy to talk to, Ye Su seized the opportunity to get to the point:

"Uncle, can I go into the residential complex to collect scrap? That way, if the residents want to sell scrap, they don't have to carry the things out themselves."

The residential complex already allowed food delivery workers and couriers to enter, and since Ye Su didn't look like a bad person at all, the security guard agreed:

"Sure, I'll send a message in the residents' group to see who wants to sell scrap, and you can just wait for them to bring it downstairs."

Ye Su was inwardly delighted: There's such a good thing?

The intelligence only said that Wang Da Ma was going to sell scrap in the morning, but it didn't specify what time. Ye Su had planned to go downstairs to Building 6 and shout a few times to see if Wang Da Ma on the fifth floor could hear him.

Now that the security guard uncle is helping, it saves Ye Su a lot of effort.

"Okay, thank you, Uncle."

"Hmm."

After lifting the barrier gate and letting Ye Su in, the security guard picked up his phone and sent a message in the residents' group that someone had come to collect scrap.

Buzz—

Inside Unit 503, Building 6, Wang Da Ma, who was enthusiastically scrolling through Douyin, felt her phone suddenly vibrate, and a message from the residents' group popped up.

"Huh, someone just happened to come to the complex to collect scrap?"

Wang Da Ma felt that she was really lucky.

She had just cleared out the guest room that had been used as a storage room for years of clutter yesterday, and today someone happened to come to collect scrap, saving her from having to find someone to recycle it.

"The property group says someone came to the complex to collect scrap. Come quickly and help move the things cleared out yesterday downstairs."

"Coming."

Her husband, who was feeding the fish in the fish tank, immediately put down the fish food upon hearing this and carried the things downstairs with Wang Da Ma.

...

"Why don't I see anyone? Could it be that Wang Da Ma didn't see the message the security guard sent in the residents' group?"

After entering the complex, Ye Su hung the cardboard sign that said [Scrap Collection] on the handlebars. He pedaled his tricycle slower than a turtle, dragging his feet as he rode to the bottom of Building 6, but he didn't see anyone wanting to sell scrap.

He wanted to stop there, but he was afraid his behavior would seem too strange and he might get kicked out of the complex later. Ye Su had no choice but to ride forward, planning to speed up and circle around once, then come back to the bottom of Building 6 to see if Wang Da Ma was there.

If that didn't work, he would have to risk being reported by residents for disturbing the peace to see if he could call Wang Da Ma down.

"Handsome guy, are you the one collecting scrap?"

Having made up his mind, just as he accelerated and pedaled the tricycle to Building 7, someone behind him called out to Ye Su.

Turning his head, Ye Su saw Wang Da Ma waving at him.

And the reason Ye Su could recognize Wang Da Ma at a glance was naturally because, beside her, a familiar light was shining from a home appliance cardboard box that was over a meter tall.