The razor-like nib is gently drawn in a
A blue-gray card slid across. A thin blue line flows smoothly from the nib. The light blue lines on the palm-sized card kept increasing, and gradually, a complicated and mysterious pattern became more and more perfect with the sliding of the pen tip.
Chen Mu stared at the card intently, breathing slowly, as if he was afraid of alarming something. If you look carefully, you can find that his right arm has not moved at all from the beginning to the end, only his wrist is moving. His right wrist was as flexible as a snake, as soft as boneless. With a slight twist of the pen tip, an elegant arc appears on the card. Suddenly the tip of the pen paused heavily, changing from the lightness just now, and then suddenly hooked sideways, the pen hook was like a blade! The pattern on the card suddenly lit up, then quickly dimmed and returned to normal.
Chen Mu casually put it among the pile of cards on the table. His movements are skillful and natural, without the slightest hindrance. After completing this card, his face was still as focused as before. He has only completed fifteen cards now, and there is still a difference of ten cards from today's task. What he is currently producing is a one-star energy card. As the lowest energy card, it is currently the most widely used and one of the most consumed cards. At this moment, the room was suddenly dark.
"Damn, the energy is used up again!" Chen Mu muttered a few words, took out an energy card from the card pile with his left hand, and then lightly pressed it on his right wrist, and the meter worn on his right wrist shot out a beam of bright light. With the help of the light beam, Chen Mu walked carefully to the corner. The room was too messy, and he didn't want to knock over anything. There is a square meter on the wall in the corner of the room, and there is a slot under the meter. Chen Mu inserts the energy card on his hand into the slot of the meter.
As soon as the energy card was inserted into the card slot, the room became bright again. The number one hundred was displayed on the instrument. I didn't expect the energy to be used up. It seems that I have to add another one to today's task. Chen Mu, who returned to the desk, quickly threw himself into work. All his sources of income depended on this most paper-grade card. Since he learned to make this energy card three years ago, he has never stopped working on twenty-five cards a day.
Chen Mu's room was very small, less than forty square meters, and there was a semi-old work table inside. Except for the relatively clean work table, there are mountains of sundries piled up everywhere in the room. These sundries are also varied, piles of old books, and various raw materials scattered around.
In this simple place, Chen Mu lived for three years. This is a relief room specially provided by the federal government. For a small room like this, you only need to pay one hundred and fifty Odi per month to live in it. For poor people like Chen Mu, there is really no place cheaper than here. What's more, in his opinion, it's pretty good for him. He even saw the whole family of four squeezed into a room of the same size.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Mu finally finished today's work - twenty-five energy cards. He counted the number of cards carefully, and counted twice in a row. After confirming that the number was correct, he carefully put the energy cards into the card bag in his clothes.
On the street, the night has gradually thickened. The colorful lights make people linger in the night, and the fireworks ejected from the rear of the shuttle car flying across the sky from time to time drag out one after another beautiful trails that disappear in a blink of an eye. Chen Mu tightened his coat slightly, looked up at the sky. The cold is getting heavier, it seems that winter is coming. There is no extra thought to lament the passage of time, but heating in winter will cost more, Chen Mu was thinking in his heart.
Passing by the back door of Dongwei Academy, Chen Mu had walked this road for three years, but every time he saw those students going in and out together, he still couldn't help feeling an inexplicable emotion in his heart. After gathering his thoughts, Chen Mu walked quickly to a small shop next to the school. The name of the shop is "Dongwei Grocery Store" - there are at least twenty similar shops with the same name around Dongwei Academy. For three years, Chen Mu visited this small shop every day, rain or shine, without interruption. It's just that he didn't come here to buy things, on the contrary, he came to sell things.
As soon as he entered, the shopkeeper noticed and greeted him, "Ah Mu is here!"
"Well, Uncle Hua." He replied to the shopkeeper. The owner, Uncle Hua, is an old man in his fifties, and the years have left undisguised marks on him. Fine wrinkles, half-white hair, and a pair of reading glasses.
"This is today's product." Chen Mu carefully took out the card pack from his arms, pulled out the stack of energy cards, and handed them to the shopkeeper: "Twenty-five cards."
Uncle Hua took the card from Chen Mu's hand, put it on the shelf without looking at it, and said with a smile, "It's a good thing you have A Mu, you send the card every day, otherwise my supply would be short."
Chen Mu smiled slightly, but didn't answer. He knew that Uncle Hua's words were probably meant as a joke. The one-star energy card is the cheapest energy card, but it is also one of the most consumed cards. What's more, it is located near the East Wei Academy. How can it only sell 25 energy cards a day
Uncle Hua also knew Chen Mu's temper, so he didn't talk nonsense, and asked directly: "Does Ah Mu need cash or a transfer?" Pass it to Uncle Hua. After finishing the settlement, Chen Mu said goodbye to Uncle Hua and turned to leave.
Uncle Hua suddenly stopped Chen Mu: "Ah Mu, wait a minute."
Chen Mu stopped, turned around and looked at Uncle Hua in surprise: "Is there anything else? Uncle Hua."
Uncle Hua took out a light-yellow piece of paper from the drawer, and looked at Chen Mu with a smile: "I almost forgot something. This is a card maker training class certificate. It was purchased by the dealer yesterday. It’s attached. It’s just a piece of waste paper here, Ah Mu, take it.”
Looking at Uncle Hua with a kind face, Chen Mu couldn't help being moved. He knew how much the old man in front of him had helped him all these years. If it wasn't for him, Chen Mu believed that the current life would also be out of reach for him.
Three years ago, he had just learned how to make energy cards and sold them everywhere, but few people cared about them, and no merchants were willing to buy them. The quantity needed for a one-star energy card is very large, and merchants are more willing to purchase in large quantities at one time. And Chen Mu can only make thirty sheets a day at most. For the merchants, this is just a small amount that doesn't even count as a fraction.
Fortunately, he met Uncle Hua. Uncle Hua agreed to buy his energy cards, but the purchase price for each card was 103 oudies, which was 2 oudies lower than the wholesale price of energy cards on the market. Even so, Chen Mu was still extremely grateful to Uncle Hua.
Four years ago, Chen Mu was a vagrant with no fixed home. Once, he met a card maker, a card maker who was dying. He exchanged the five months of food he had accumulated for the lifespan of the card maker, extending his lifespan by seven days. During these seven days, he learned a skill, that is, making one-star energy cards. After the card maker died, he did not leave any relics to him, so Chen Mu buried him in the wilderness. He still doesn't know the name of this card maker, but his fate has changed since then.
He spent a year doing day jobs to the best of his ability, during which time he worked six different kinds of day jobs, when he was twelve years old. Also in this year, he finally had a small savings, one thousand Odie. For this thousand Odie, he bought all the raw materials needed to make energy cards. The card maker once told him that the wholesale price of a one-star energy card in the market is 105 Ode, and the uniform retail price is 110 Ode, but its cost is only 98 Ode .
Every card maker will make a one-star energy card, but not many people know the price difference, and even if they know, almost no one will think about it. The one-star energy card is one of the simplest cards, and it is fully capable of industrial production. And even a master card maker can only make 20 or 30 energy cards a day at most, the output is really pitifully small. Besides, for the card makers, they didn't even bother to pick up the little money they earned through the difference. But for Chen Mu, the money is enough to feed him.
He managed to make eight for the first time, almost at a loss of 200 Odie, but this gave him hope. But what he didn't expect was that he was hindered when selling energy cards. The merchants had no interest at all in the few energy cards he had. He ran for a whole day without eating, and at eight o'clock in the evening, he stepped into Uncle Hua's shop. His legs were trembling when he entered the store, and he was almost on the verge of coma after not eating a drop of rice all day.
Although the price of 103 Audi is lower than the wholesale price of 105, Chen Mu feels that he is surrounded by great joy. I sold all the energy cards in my hand, bought the cheapest food, and bought the raw materials for the energy cards with the rest of the money.
Since then, Chen Mu's life has finally stabilized.
Twenty-five energy cards a day, he didn't stop for a day.
This is three years. In the past three years, he only made one kind of card—one-star energy card. In the second year, he has been able to control the cost at ninety-seven eurodie. Although the difference is only an Odie, it is a great encouragement to him. When he was not making energy cards, he spent all his time researching how to reduce costs.
Finally, in the third year, the cost of the energy card was controlled by him at 95 Odie, and he could make a profit of 8 Odie from each energy card, and his daily income was stable at 200 Odie, which was three years ago. Totally unimaginable numbers. The monthly income of 6,000 oudi has allowed him to live an ordinary life, but he still lives in a relief house that only needs 150 oudi a month as before.
Chen Mu, who came back to his senses, smiled at Uncle Hua: "Thank you, Uncle Hua!" He took the class certificate and carefully put it into the card case in his arms.
Training classes, especially card maker training classes, are one of the most popular training classes at present. They often have extremely gorgeous advertisements. For example, this class certificate says something like "Dongwei Academy recognizes academic qualifications" and "Dongwei Academy's senior card maker authoritative lecture", etc. In fact, what is in it is Chen Mu. Chu. The only relationship between the institution hosting this training course and Dongwei Academy is that this institution has to pay Dongwei Academy a fee every time as the price for them to maintain this nominal "joint organization".
Chen Mu still planned to listen to what was said in the training class. Card making is one of the most difficult subjects. Over the years, he has not given up on self-study, but with little success. It wasn't until last year that he realized what was going on. His foundation is really poor, and he has not received any cultural education after more than ten years of wandering life.
For a young man without the slightest foundation, it is naturally even more difficult to teach himself the difficult and obscure art of card making. However, he didn't have the slightest doubt about his IQ. He could learn to make a one-star energy card within a week just by relying on his memory. The card maker back then praised his talent.
Since then, he has dropped this temporarily too high goal for him, and began to turn to the most basic theoretical study. No matter how tired he is at work every day, he will spare time to learn these boring knowledge.
After bidding farewell to Uncle Hua, Chen Mu walked south along an alley. Today is Saturday, and he still has a job.
After crossing two streets and walking for about twenty minutes, he came to a second-hand waste card collection station.
"Hey, buddy, here we come!" The person who greeted him was a bald, dark and thin man named Xiao Hei. He is also the owner of this buying station. Every Saturday and Sunday night, Chen Mu would come here to do a three-hour part-time job.
Chen Mu nodded slightly towards Xiao Hei, but there was still a bit of numbness on his face.
Xiao Hei has long been accustomed to Chen Mu's face. When Chen Mu came here and asked for a part-time job, Xiao Hei originally refused. This purchasing station has been managed by one person since his father, and it has been managed by himself all the time when it is in his hands.
Hire someone? Xiao Hei can't afford that wage.
But when Chen Mu said that he didn't want wages, Xiao Hei finally agreed. Of course, Chen Mu is still paid. Normally, Chen Mu would choose a few used cards and take them away as his wages. Sometimes Chen Mu would pick out a few unused energy cards from these waste piles, and Xiao Hei made a calculation. Every month, he saved a lot of money on these. But for the taciturn Chen Mu, he couldn't help being a little curious, how does this guy know that these cards still have energy left
But since then, every time he sees Chen Mu, he always smiles.
Chen Mu squatted down and began to sort the stacked waste cards. There are many types of cards, including energy cards, item cards, quasi-physical cards, and even some rare plant cards and animal cards. But the cards here are all useless without exception, what Chen Mu has to do is to classify these cards.
The work went on quickly, and it was obvious that he knew the job very well.
Chen Mu flipped his wrist, and threw a card towards Xiao Hei: "Here, this card can still be used for a while." This two-star energy card still has at least half of the energy in it. Why would the original owner of the card be so wasteful. The capacity of the two-star energy card is one thousand, that is to say, there are almost five hundred energy in it.
"Hey, thank you Brother Chen!" Xiao Hei smiled as he looked at the two-star energy card in his hand. Pidianpidian ran to the energy meter and inserted the card in. When he saw the number "523" lit up on it, Xiao Hei laughed until his facial features were almost huddled together.
Chen Mu didn't pay attention to it, and he focused on searching. Although there will also be some waste mid-level cards, such as three-star and four-star cards, the probability of appearing is still quite high. But to him, it was of no value. The only thing he is interested in now is the one-star energy card.
The three-year production career has given him his own understanding of the most common and low-level cards. There is not only one way to make one-star energy cards, Chen Mu has already collected twelve kinds of one-star energy cards with different structures from this method. These one-star energy cards with different structures inspired Chen Mu a lot. It was because he borrowed some skills from these cards that he managed to reduce the cost of making one-star energy cards to ninety-five Odie. But such good luck doesn't happen every day, so far, he has only collected twelve.
But today's luck seems to be good.
Looking at the one-star energy card in his hand, judging from the texture on the surface, it is a one-star energy card with a new structure that Chen Mu has never encountered.
He put the energy card aside and continued to dig through it. There are too many one-star energy cards, but Chen Mu took the trouble to check them one by one. His speed is extremely fast, almost as long as his hand gently strokes these one-star energy cards, he can know whether it is what he wants.
All of this stems from his familiarity with the one-star energy card. This kind of familiarity was left over from three years of uninterrupted production. He didn't need to look at it, but he could judge whether this card was a one-star energy card or not, and whether it was a structure he had seen before. He is so familiar with them, down to their every detail.
The fingers that brushed the edge of the card stopped suddenly.
This card...