Guide To Lying Flat And Getting Rich As A Kept Alpha - Chapter 5
5
When Chun Yuyan saw her arrive, she called out her name, eager to approach and chat. But the others in line weren’t having it. They’d been queuing for ages—how dare an omega think she could cozy up to the boss and cut in line just by shouting her name?
The only one allowed to skip the line was Boss Ye. Everyone else was just small fry.
Luo Hetu set up her small stool, placing her books and signboard neatly. “Today, I’m selling The Poisonous Concubine’s Daughter Part 3 and Reborn as the Prime Minister Part 2, ten copies each.”
“Ugh, why isn’t Poisonous Concubine’s Daughter Part 2 for sale today? That’s the one I’m missing!”
“Got Prime Minister Part 1?”
“Bro, I’ve got it. Thirty bucks, and it’s yours.”
Luo Hetu: “…Are you seriously scalping right in front of me?”
“Heh heh, don’t mind us, Boss. I’ll buy you a soda!”
Luo Hetu just shrugged it off and didn’t stop the scalpers. Sure, their reselling at a markup cut into her profits, but it was a common downside of scarcity marketing. The higher their prices, the more people lined up to grab her books, and the bigger her reputation grew.
No matter how much Chun Yuyan tried to talk to her, Luo Hetu pretended not to hear. Zhang Sheng, growing impatient, coughed and said, “Luo Hetu, sell us a copy.”
Zhang Sheng’s boss had a pair of twin alpha sons—delinquents who spent their days causing trouble and learning nothing. Recently, they’d heard about a book seller at the South City Market and were clamoring for a set. Zhang Sheng had boasted it was no big deal to get a book, only to show up and find a massive crowd.
Luo Hetu didn’t even look up. “Want a book? Get in line.”
The crowd chimed in noisily: “Yeah, yeah, get in line! You think you can cut in front of everyone?”
Chun Yuyan: “We’re old acquaintances… we’re friends.”
A punk in the line, Xiao Shi, scoffed: “I’m pretty tight with Boss Luo too, and I’m still queuing like everyone else.”
Another punk, Xiao Shi’er, added: “Exactly. Boss Luo’s ignoring you guys. You’re clearly not real friends. Real friends are like Sister Ye—she doesn’t even need to show up, and Boss Luo saves books for her.”
Chun Yuyan’s face flushed with anger. “Hetu, you didn’t used to be like this. You always gave me the best things first…”
Luo Hetu swept the money on the table toward herself. “Oh? Gave you the best things first? Based on what? That you’ve got a boyfriend but still cling to me every day? Or that you borrowed 5,000 yuan from me and shamelessly refused to pay it back?”
The crowd: Ooooh!
What kind of shameless omega was this?
Chun Yuyan’s face turned beet red. Zhang Sheng frowned. “We’ll pay you back. We really need this book today. How about I pay extra?”
Luo Hetu pointed her fan at the beta guy who’d offered to sell earlier. “Pay extra? Talk to him. He said he’s got a copy to sell.”
The beta guy immediately backtracked. “No way I’m selling to people who disrespect our Boss Luo!”
Seeing their ploy fail, Chun Yuyan’s eyes welled up with tears, her voice trembling. “I know you’re mad because I didn’t agree to be with you, and you hate me now. But in my heart, you’re still someone important to me. I really need this book. For the sake of our years of friendship, can you sell me one?”
Oh, there was more drama to eat up!
The crowd started munching on metaphorical popcorn.
Luo Hetu: “Miss Chun, let me make this clear: stop imagining some romantic, tangled history between us. I don’t like you. We’re not connected. You owe me money, not the other way around. I don’t even care about the money anymore—just stop bothering me. Are you still not getting it? Line up to buy a book. If you can’t, I’m not selling.”
The crowd let out another collective “Oh!” So this omega was just delusional, thinking she had something with Boss Luo, who clearly wasn’t interested. And now she was trying to guilt-trip her?
Zhang Sheng coughed again. “Fine, forget the book. I hear you’re close with Ye Qingzhu. Can you arrange a meeting with her?”
“Go find whoever you want to meet. I’m not your mom—don’t come to me for everything.”
The two were left red-faced with embarrassment. Zhang Sheng finally lost his temper, sneering, “Luo Hetu, don’t get cocky just because we’re asking for your help. Let me tell you, don’t underestimate the underdog! You’d better not end up in my hands one day!”
Luo Hetu spread her hands. “Helping you is a favor, not an obligation. I don’t owe you anything, so isn’t it normal that I don’t help? You get mad and curse me out just because I won’t help? Do you two think the world revolves around you, or that I, Luo Hetu, was born to be your stepping stone? Go cool off somewhere else. If you bother me again, I’ll spread the word that you owe me 5,000 yuan and won’t pay it back.”
The two finally stormed off, faces dark with anger. Zhang Sheng’s parting glare was venomous, clearly holding a grudge against Luo Hetu.
Luo Hetu didn’t care. People like them hated you if you didn’t give in to their demands, so she might as well let them hate her.
The crowd, having enjoyed the drama, started gossiping. “Man, those two are shameless. Old Zhang, you know them?”
“Yeah, the guy works under Boss Pu at the Dynasty Dance Hall. Pretty favored, too. Don’t know the girl, but she’s good-looking.”
“I think I’ve seen her. Isn’t she the great-granddaughter Old Sun from the docks recently took back?”
“Oh yeah, sounds familiar.”
Before the founding of the country, the Sun family had made a fortune running ships at the docks, building a substantial family wealth and some influence in Jiang City. Old Sun had three daughters. The eldest had eloped with a punk years ago, causing Old Sun to disown her. The second daughter, a beta, was now a promising politician. The third, an omega, married the daughter of the Cheng Group.
Old Sun, now elderly and wanting family unity, had recently reconciled with his eldest daughter. Though she was welcomed back, she’d lived in poverty for years and still acted like a love-obsessed fool. Neither her family nor Old Sun thought highly of her, but out of pity for her hard life and the loss of her child, they let her and her great-granddaughter stay, treating it as just a few extra mouths to feed.
Recently, it came out that the great-granddaughter they’d taken in was a fake, and Chun Yuyan was the real one.
The Sun family was wealthy and didn’t care much, so they kept both great-granddaughters at home. Rumor had it that the fake one was favored by Old Sun’s eldest daughter, while Chun Yuyan was doted on by Old Sun himself.
But these were just rich people’s messy affairs, irrelevant to passersby who were more interested in gossip.
“If you ask me, Boss Luo knows what’s up. That omega isn’t even that pretty. If she was, Boss Luo would’ve saved her a book. Remember that omega who came by last time? She was stunning.”
“No way, what happened?”
“This one time, a drop-dead gorgeous omega showed up, and Boss Luo couldn’t take her eyes off her.”
“Did she give her a book on the spot?”
“Nope. That’s how you know Boss Luo’s got restraint. Said the books were saved for Boss Ye, not for the pretty omega. But she promised to save one for her the next day. Too bad that omega never came back.”
“Tch, Boss Ye still wins.”
“Boss Ye’s a looker too. So it’s no surprise Boss Luo only saves books for pretty ladies.”
Luo Hetu, overhearing her own gossip: …
She waved her fan in mock anger. “That’s it, I’m done selling! You’re gossiping about the boss, and the boss is mad!”
The crowd immediately started coaxing her to stay.
As for The Poisonous Concubine’s Daughter Part 1, she’d kept a copy, expecting that pretty lady to show up the next day. But she never did.
After hearing the crowd’s chatter, Luo Hetu had a realization. In the original novel, Old Sun’s second daughter had a beta daughter through artificial means, still young and in school. The third daughter had an omega named Cheng Youqing. After her alpha mother passed away, Cheng Youqing, barely 30, was already making waves in the cutthroat world of the Cheng Group.
The Cheng Group was a massive conglomerate, far beyond the Sun family’s reach. Naturally, Chun Yuyan went out of her way to curry favor with Cheng Youqing. In the novel, Cheng Youqing, for some inexplicable reason due to the protagonist’s halo, thought highly of Chun Yuyan, helping her secure a foothold in the Sun family and boosting Zhang Sheng’s rise to power.
Luo Hetu pieced it together: that pretty lady was likely Cheng Youqing. Inwardly, she scoffed at the novel’s logic. The Sun family didn’t even like Chun Yuyan, yet the plot had the powerful Cheng Youqing inexplicably support her, willingly serving as a stepping stone for the protagonists. What a ridiculous fictional world, where everyone existed to prop up the main characters.
Luo Hetu felt an irrational pang of sympathy for the pretty lady. If she got the chance to meet her again, she’d warn her to focus on making her own money and being her own boss, not wasting time on that leeching couple.
After closing up shop, Ye Qingzhu came by to invite her for dinner. Luo Hetu had already given Ye Qingzhu full sets of both books, and Ye Qingzhu was now trying to recruit her, saying she’d rank nineteenth in her crew.
Luo Hetu: “Huh? I’m lazy. I just want to make a little money, not work hard.”
“You don’t need to work hard. Just keep writing books for me to read.” Ye Qingzhu said, making arrangements.
Luo Hetu: …
She wasn’t sure how the original Luo Hetu had won Ye Qingzhu over, but if this boss lady could be swayed by novels alone, what would happen if she pulled out a stack of pirated DVDs? How would Ye Qingzhu handle that?