Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Precious Darling-Chapter 134: The Power of Money
Jim Thorne froze. He glanced at his sister’s disappointed face, then down at the gleaming banknotes on the floor. His expression instantly grew serious.
Scoring a zero on his tests had never made him reconsider the importance of studying. But what Tang Xiaonan had just said struck a nerve deep inside him.
’What’s the point of earning money if I can’t even count it right?’
’Someone could cheat me out of it, and I wouldn’t even know what happened.’
"How much do you think is here?" Jim Thorne asked Adrian Hawthorne. He wanted to know if others were as clueless as he was.
"I can’t tell you the exact amount, but like I said, it’s somewhere over fifty yuan. The math is actually simple. I brought three hundred photos. They were twenty cents each, or three for fifty cents. Some people bought one, and others bought three. If everyone had bought a single photo, the total would be sixty yuan. If everyone had bought them in sets of three, the total would be fifty yuan. So the cash we have has to be between fifty and sixty yuan."
Adrian Hawthorne had spoken so fast that Jim Thorne’s mind couldn’t keep up, and his eyes started to spin. What was all this about fifty and sixty? Why couldn’t he understand a word of it?
Tang Xiaonan sighed softly. ’Okay, I’m scrapping the plan to have Jim change his destiny through education,’ she thought. ’It’s asking too much of the boy. I’d better start thinking about other professions.’
’There are countless jobs in the world; one of them has to be a good fit for Jim. I can’t lose hope.’
Adrian Hawthorne slowed down and repeated himself a few times until Jim Thorne finally got it. He chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, so that’s how it is! When you explain it, the math doesn’t seem so hard. So how come I get sleepy the minute my math teacher starts class?"
’Because there’s no money to be made listening to your teacher.’
Tang Xiaonan snarked to herself.
’It wasn’t that Jim was stupid; it was just that nothing in the classroom held his interest. Tailoring one’s teaching to a student’s aptitude is easier said than done, and it’s not like you could blame the teachers for failing to do so.’
’With dozens of students in a class, expecting a teacher to create a custom lesson plan for every single one was impossible—even forty-eight hours in a day wouldn’t be enough. A teacher could only adopt a method that worked for the majority. Jim, unfortunately, didn’t fall into that majority, which made him an academic failure by default.’
"I sold a hundred photos. At three cents each, that means I earned three yuan, right?"
Jim Thorne had already done the math for his own earnings. He rubbed his hands together in excitement. Three yuan! He could buy Xiaonan a new hair clip and even some of that fancy nougat.
"That’s right. This is yours."
Adrian Hawthorne smiled faintly and counted out three yuan for Jim Thorne. ’This lummox might be a bit slow,’ he thought, ’but he has a real talent for business. I could develop him into a partner.’
Jim Thorne gleefully accepted the money, but when his eyes fell on the huge pile on the floor, the cash in his hand suddenly lost its appeal.
"How much are you going to make?"
Jim Thorne was incredibly envious. That pile had to be at least fifty yuan. Even after subtracting the costs, the profit was bound to be way more than his three yuan. Why was there such a sour feeling in his chest?
"Maybe seven or eight yuan," Adrian said. "But think about it. I had to invest several hundred yuan in upfront costs: the camera, developing chemicals, film, and photo paper. I also had to research the market and take on the huge risk of losing it all. You didn’t have to worry about a thing. You get a clean three cents per photo and made three yuan in just half a day. Your dad doesn’t even earn that much butchering pigs."
Adrian Hawthorne’s confident explanation quickly extinguished the spark of jealousy in Jim Thorne. The moment Jim heard about all the upfront work and the hundreds of yuan in costs, his head started to spin. For one, he didn’t have that kind of money. For another, he didn’t want the hassle. He decided he was better off just earning his small share.
