In Eighth Grade, I "Smuggled" Spicy Strips at School

My name is Miaomiao, and I'm 15 years old.

The reason I wanted to sell spicy strips was simple: I wanted to make money.

Although my parents have always "free-range" raised me, when it comes to money, they insist that "boys should be raised poor." So, after I started middle school and began boarding, they only gave me 600-800 yuan per month for living expenses.

I'm not sure if, in everyone's eyes, a child having material desires is a bad thing. But at that time, I did have some things I wanted to buy but couldn't afford, like a better pair of earphones, like a Kindle, and my living expenses could only cover basic needs.

In eighth grade, I discovered a business opportunity to make money.

Our middle school is a closed boarding school, and there is only one small shop in the entire school. However, this shop only sells "healthy foods," such as milk, fruit, and juice. But you know, for kids our age, who can stay away from snacks, instant noodles, and soda?

I noticed that some students would bring a lot of snacks from home on weekends, and some students, craving snacks but too embarrassed to eat for free, would pay to buy them.

After observing this business opportunity, every time I returned to school, I would clear half of my suitcase to pack instant noodles, spicy strips, and soda, and find opportunities to sell them to snack-craving classmates. I brought the most spicy strips because they take up little space and are loved by everyone.

The business went smoothly, and the profits were as high as I imagined. For example, a pack of spicy strips bought for 3 yuan could usually be sold for 10 yuan. The most exaggerated time, a classmate was willing to pay 70 yuan for a bucket of instant noodles.

To open up sales channels, I would also find classmates in other classes to act as "shills," arranging for them to eat spicy strips boldly in the classroom to lure other students to buy.

Of course, I have to admit that sometimes even I couldn't resist the temptation and ate the spicy strips that were meant to be sold. After all, that stuff is really delicious.

Hong Kong Guy Ah Fei

After a few months of small-scale operations, I decided to expand the business and find partners.

I thought of Ah Fei. He is a senior one grade above me, a tall and big Hong Kong guy with a good business mind.

I met him in seventh grade. At that time, our school had a "simulated entrepreneurship" project, opening a milk tea shop in the school, run by students from a certain eighth-grade class, with profits going to the school for charity. At that time, Ah Fei was a key member of the milk tea shop. Out of interest in the project, I took the initiative to get to know him and became friends.

At that time, Ah Fei had a bold plan. He hoped to find a seventh-grade student to cooperate with, so that after he advanced to eighth grade, he could take over the milk tea shop, while Ah Fei himself would act as a shareholder, providing some startup capital and promotional plans to help the milk tea shop increase revenue, with the extra profits split between the two. I was very interested in this plan, but to my disappointment, when I reached eighth grade, the milk tea shop was not openly tendered to each class as the school promised, but was assigned to another class to operate.

The plan fell through, and both Ah Fei and I were very disappointed. I felt very sorry for Ah Fei, always thinking that if I had been more proactive and submitted a business plan to the school earlier, the school leaders would have given me a chance.

It was precisely because of this regret that in eighth grade, when I wanted to expand the spicy strip business, the first person I thought of was Ah Fei.

Group Chat: ××× Experimental Middle School Spicy Strip General Agent (3)

After confirming the partnership, Ah Fei brought in his other classmate, Ah Ji, and the three of us formed a startup team for spicy strip "smuggling," jointly investing and splitting profits equally.

To increase shipment volume, we directly bought spicy strips by the box online. But to avoid attracting the school's attention and causing trouble, we bought spicy strips in the name of teachers, sent them to the school's reception room, and then secretly moved them to the dormitory under the cover of night.

Our sales model also changed from walk-in customers to door-to-door sales. I was responsible for the eighth-grade market; Ah Fei and Ah Ji were responsible for the ninth-grade market.

Every day after school, whenever I had time, I would go to the classrooms of various eighth-grade classes to sell goods, and my classmates gradually got used to it. To prevent being caught by cameras, I usually wore my backpack in front, with spicy strips and soda inside, and quietly "peddled" in the classroom.

Every week, the three of us would split the accounts. Because mobile phones were not allowed at school, we received cash. I clearly remember the first time we split the accounts and counted the money, I felt a real, material happiness.

I Am the Friendless "Boss Li"

Soon, imitators appeared in the school. But few had our courage to risk being discovered by the school and stock up so much. So, in the school's "spicy strip smuggling market," we always maintained a monopoly.

The reason we were so fearless was mainly because my parents knew about my spicy strip selling and expressed tacit approval. In their view, it was a good training opportunity.

However, during this process, my relationship with my classmates quietly changed. Since selling spicy strips in eighth grade, in the eyes of my classmates, I became a money-talking "businessman," a "Boss Li" as they called me, and no longer a classmate with whom they could "talk about feelings."

Moreover, in the original intention of "making money to buy what I want," I also got a bit lost. Most of the money I earned was wasted on meaningless consumption, and the earphones and Kindle I initially wanted were only bought much later.

I know I shouldn't spend money recklessly, but I can't control myself. This is very sad—I used others' desires to gain benefits, but I was also defeated by desire.

The Truth Comes Out

One day in the second semester of eighth grade, when I went to Ah Fei to pick up goods, I heard him say that our matter had been reported by a classmate, and the school's "Moral Education Department" had already approached them, and I was next.

Sure enough, not long after, I was called to the "Moral Education Department" by my homeroom teacher during a PE class. The scene was very serious, and I was trembling with fear. The teacher asked me to write down the whole process on the spot. According to the "confession" that Ah Fei and I had previously checked, I should have lied that the business had only been running for a few weeks and was not on a large scale. But at the "Moral Education Department," I changed my mind and wrote everything truthfully.

The teacher at the Moral Education Department said he thought we were very creative, but what we did indirectly harmed the health of our classmates. He gave me two choices: 1. Take out all profits for charity; 2. Help the school do another charity project.

In the end, neither of these things was followed through, and the school did not publicly punish us.

But for me, this matter was not over. In the second week after the truth came out, the grade suddenly organized a surprise search for "contraband," catching me off guard. In this search, the earphones and Kindle I bought with money from selling spicy strips were confiscated by my homeroom teacher and would not be returned until graduation.

I had to return to my previous life and study hard. Ah Fei and Ah Ji graduated from school. They both got into top-ranked high schools, and we often kept in touch, maintaining our revolutionary friendship.

A year later, I also got into a top-ranked high school.

I no longer like eating spicy strips, and the entrepreneurial memories related to spicy strips faded away with the intense high school entrance exam. It seemed like nothing happened, yet everything was indeed different.

I think, when I grow up, I will probably still start a business and do what I want to do.

But growing up is still too far away. At that moment, what I could foresee was that in high school, I definitely would not do business again. Maybe I am a weirdo, but at the same time, I am also a weirdo who wants to make friends.

Btw: Recommend Chen Yizhi's video How Does the Male Lead Manage His Secret Stash?.