The Carrefour Poster

Promotion posters were put up in supermarkets every month. Some of them were single-page, while other were whole leaflets. The quality was mediocre, though.

Several staff members picked at random from the advertising department acted as photographers. They asked Qin Guan to perform freely on the spot.

That’s easy! Qin Guan dragged the suitcase behind him while he went around the room. When they were done shooting, they brought the camera over to have a look.

The photos were either blurred or vague. The photographer was an amateur without any professionally training and as result, he had failed to capture good pictures.

People sighed at the photos. These are not good enough.

The person in charge of the Marketing Promoting Department shouted loudly at the photographer, “If you’re lacking any professional ability, you should at least take honest photos!”

The photographer was not to blame. “I’m not well-prepared.”

“You’re so naïve, my boy. With your level of expertise, you would take the same photos no matter how many times you tried.”

Qin Guan got an idea by the photographer’s lack of expertise. They depend on me.

He pulled the drawbar of the suitcase up. With one hand in the pocket of his pants and the other holding the suitcase, he made a posture of stepping forward.

Seeing his posture, the man in charge of the Advertising Department was filled with artful inspiration. Actually, you’re only a small-scale advertiser. His camera sounded again. In less than a minute, the series of photos had been finished.

The distribution businessmen were surprised at the sight of them. Dear me! Is that the same cheap products with the loose thread residue and the crooked seams on the pant legs?

The casual hoodie and loose sporty sweatpants with the 4-line logo copied from Adidas looked particularly gorgeous.

The sneakers on his feet also seemed comfortable beyond measure, and no one could tell that the suitcase cost only 50 yuan.

The distribution businessmen eyed each other and took their cellphones out one by one. They called for more merchandise while they talked with the person in charge of market promoting, demanding extra advertisements.

Sister Xue was not pleased with the distribution businessmen, who were pulling on Qin Guan. “Hey, what are you doing? Hands off! Hey, you! Stop pulling on his sleeve! Take your hands off!”

She shouted to the person in charge, “The agreement was only for one series of photos! We’re finished, so we can go. What’s going on here?”

The person in charge agreed with her. “Yes, you businessmen are demanding more pages, but there are only so many pages in a Carrefour leaflet. We can’t present only your products! You’re too greedy!”

The businessmen seemed to think it was quite easy. “It’s only a matter of adding more pages. Shall the three of us buy one more page each? One for shoes, one for clothes and one for suitcases.”

They had a heated discussion, and then the person in charge muttered with the advertising department staff for quite a while.

The head of the Advertising Department rubbed his hands together with a smile and walked up to Sister Xue and Qin Guan.

Looking embarrassed, he said to Sister Xue, “Three more series, including clothes, suitcases and shoes. Just his legs, not his face. You’ll get double pay, OK?”

Sister Xue glanced at Qin Guan, who was already doing the mental calculations. Originally, it had been 500 yuan in cash and 3000 yuan worth of shopping cards. Double pay will mean 1000 yuan in cash and 6000 yuan worth of shopping cards. Sister Xue will take one third, leaving me 700 yuan and 4000 yuan worth of shopping cards. It’s a good deal!

It was easy to take pictures, and Qin Guan was itchy to earn more money at the time, so he nodded in agreement right away.

The distribution businessmen were pretty straightforward. They brought clothes for Qin Guan directly from the Carrefour stock, and Qin Guan began to change into them to take pictures.

He felt inspired. First, he tied the hoodie around his neck, pretending to be cool,and then he lifted the lower hem with lure, which made the female staff in the room hold their breath for a while.

The distribution businessmen were quite pleased with him. My jeans looked so stylish on his long legs. The shoes were quite beautiful with that elegant decorative pattern.

The businessman selling the suitcases was the most glad. Students preparing to go to college would regret not buying a traveling bag.

Qin Guan and Sister Xue went out of Carrefour and into the chilling wind outside.

Qin Guan stretched back his neck, complaining, “It’s too soon after the Spring Festival. It will be quite a few days before the new term begins. I’ll be all alone in my dormitory. Shall I do nothing but stay in my dorm and think about the future?”

Sister Xue smiled to herself. That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear. Pretending to be quite stumped, she said to Qin Guan, “You’re right. How about you wait for my call to arrange some more part-time jobs for you?”

Qin Guan nodded, “Okay. If there are plenty of gigs, you could make me a tight schedule. I’ll be fine.”

Sister Xue answered immediately, “You’ve got it. Wait for my call and I promise to keep you busy.”

Qin Guan nodded again. Paying with the money he’d just made, he took a taxi back, feeling very pleased with himself.

In such a cold day, shall I have something delicious?

At the Doornail Meat Pie Restaurant beside the Capital University of Finance and Economics, Qin Guan asked for a bowl of cooked chopped sheep entrails happily. It went well with the doornail meat pie. He had a good meal, the scent of the food lingering between his teeth and cheeks.

The mutton sauce whizzed out from the yellow pie. His mouth was full of tender meat stuffing and crisp crust. Qin Guan was beyond satisfied.

He had a good meal and then he went to sleep. He didn’t dream the whole night, Qin Guan received informative short messages from Sister Xue the following day.

He checked his phone. She’s working really hard for me. He received the three following messages:

1. Serving at the opening ceremony of a new real estate agency. The ceremony will last about one hour. The pay is 100 yuan.

2. One-page printed advertisement. It’s a foreign language learning advertisement that will appear at the bottom page of “Youth Monthly”. The pay is 1000 yuan. It’s unknown yet when the ad will be printed.

3. A product-releasing conference in the form of a cocktail party. A nouveau riche from the x region is trying to find a place in the business circle of the capital and wants to attract public attention to his new business. Several male and female models are needed. The requirements are to be charming, attractive, and have a good figure. The date is unknown and the reward is 2000 yuan.

Qin Guan was interested in the third message. What the hell is that? He called Sister Xue back.

She answered the phone. In a joking tone, Qin Guan asked her, “Hey, Sister Xue, what do you mean by the third one, huh?”

Judging by his way of speaking, Sister Xue was clear on what he was thinking. She shouted back angrily, “I am no pimp, I’m a model agent! Do you know what an agent is? We have morals!”

Qin Guan thought to himself, That’s to be determined. The modeling circle is almost the same as the entertainment circle. They will both rot at some point. He said, “What did the message mean then?”

Sister Xue couldn’t help but explain, “Don’t think about it too much, Qin Guan. The man is trying to jump from the mining industry to the hi-tech industry. He has to bring some attractive people to enter the hi-tech circle. The cocktail party is just a by-product. The female models will make a show while the male models will be in charge of holding the products. You are nothing but a pretty prop, understand?”

Qin Guan nodded unconsciously, “I know, I know. Okay, Sister Xue. I’ll be there.”

Getting straight to the point, Sister Xue said, “You should go early tomorrow morning. The messages are arranged according to your schedule. Work hard. We’ll take them one at a time.”

Qin Guan wasn’t wordy, either. What would he do in his spare time? Sleep, of course. He had to have enough energy to work.

Gin Guan shut off his phone and missed a crank call from Huang Jiajia, leaving the girl grinding her teeth at home. She had hoped to monopolize Teacher Qin by taking advantage of his girlfriend’s absence. All she achieved though was Qin Guan shutting his phone off.