Liu Yutong’s sudden appearance made the girl extremely uneasy. She was terrified that the other woman might spot her and recognize her.
About half an hour later, Liu Yutong finally came out of the store, got into her car, and drove away.
The girl secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but a vague sense of irritation soon welled up inside her.
Why did she keep running into that woman everywhere?
Still, she had no time to dwell on it. The line began moving forward again.
“It’s moving! They’re letting people in!”
The crowd stirred, and the girl quickly perked up, rising onto her tiptoes to look ahead.
Through the glass doors of the Fruit flagship store, employees were letting customers inside in groups of a dozen or so at a time. The long line outside was finally getting visibly shorter.
She did a quick calculation. At this rate, she would have to wait less than an hour at most.
Just one hour. She could handle that.
She had already endured three whole days. What was one more hour?
Time passed minute by minute.
The number of people ahead of her dwindled, and she drew closer and closer to the store entrance. Her excitement rose with every step.
It was almost her turn. Almost!
The girl reached into her bag and felt the cash inside. It was everything she had—roughly twenty-two thousand yuan in total.
Once she got inside, she would buy four phones outright.
She would keep one for herself and resell the other three at a premium, earning a sizeable profit.
At the thought, the corners of her mouth lifted involuntarily.
“Next!”
At last, it was her turn.
A smile spread across the girl’s face as she stepped toward the entrance. But just as she was about to go inside—
Suddenly!
A store employee wearing a blue polo shirt rushed out and stopped her at the door. Then he called loudly to the people outside:
“Everyone, we sincerely apologize! We’ve just received notice from our superiors that, due to special circumstances, this store is suspending sales of the Fruit 4 effective immediately. We’ll announce a reopening date separately. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause!”
The air fell silent.
Then the crowd exploded.
“What the hell? You’re suspending sales? I’ve been in line for two days, and now you’re telling me you’re not selling them anymore?” A burly man flew into a rage on the spot.
“Exactly! How is that fair? We’ve waited this long, and you can just stop selling them whenever you feel like it? Is this how the Fruit company treats its customers?”
“Fuck this! I’ve been waiting since yesterday afternoon. I haven’t even dared to use the bathroom, and now you’re telling me you’re not selling them?”
“Did you save all the stock for the scalpers? I knew it! You’re in league with them!”
“Rip-off! This place is a rip-off!”
The crowd descended into complete chaos.
Some people pounded on the crowd-control barriers. Others threw mineral-water bottles at the store doors. A few even tried to cross the barriers and charge inside, only to be held back by the security guards.
The employee braced himself and tried to explain.
“No, that’s not it. We just received the notice ourselves. It’s not that we don’t want to sell them—the higher-ups said the Fruit 4 has been banned from sale.”
Boom!
Those words sent shock waves through the crowd.
“Banned from sale? What kind of joke is that? Who banned it? And on what grounds?”
“Exactly! Who the hell has the authority to ban a Fruit phone? It’s an international brand! Who’s powerful enough to do that?”
“I don’t believe it! You’re just making excuses! Get the manager out here!”
“Right! Bring out the manager! Get the store director!”
But no matter how much the crowd shouted, cursed, and demanded answers, they received only one response:
The Fruit 4 really had been banned from sale.
The moment she heard the final confirmation, the girl’s heart sank completely.
She had spent three days waiting in line, lied to her parents to get twenty thousand yuan, and barely eaten a proper meal in days. She even smelled awful from not being able to wash properly.
And after all that, this was what she got?
A sales ban?
Then what had all her suffering, lies, and sacrifices been for?
For a moment, the world spun around her. Her vision went black, and she nearly collapsed.
Then, suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind.
Liu Yutong.
Liu Yutong had been here just now.
And after she left, the Fruit phone had been banned from sale.
Was it really a coincidence?
Although the girl had no idea what Liu Yutong had come here to do, there was one thing she knew for certain:
Wherever that woman appeared, nothing good ever came of it.
At least, that was always the case for her.
The ban on the Fruit phone probably had something to do with Liu Yutong.
The crowd continued shouting angrily, but for all their yelling, no one truly intended to do anything to the store.
The commotion lasted nearly an hour. It was only after the police arrived to maintain order that the people in line gradually dispersed.
The girl, however, remained where she was, staring blankly at the store’s doors, now closed for the night.
Then her phone vibrated.
She looked down and saw a text message from her mother.
“Xiaoyan, do you have enough money? If you don’t, I’ll discuss it with your dad and send you more. Don’t try to save too much, and take care of yourself.”
She stared at the message for a long time. Her eyes suddenly stung, and tears nearly spilled over.
She was just hesitating over whether to return the money to her parents when a thought occurred to her.
The Fruit flagship store might have stopped selling the phones, but the scalpers must still have stock.
She abruptly raised her head and looked to the side.
Sure enough, the middle-aged scalper who had been squatting by the roadside with a cigarette between his lips looked even more delighted after hearing that sales had been suspended. He was not panicking in the slightest.
The girl hurried over and asked, “Big brother, do you still have any Fruit 4s?”
The scalper looked her up and down, then held up one finger.
“Twelve thousand. No bargaining.”
“Twelve thousand?”
The girl sucked in a sharp breath. “Weren’t they only seven thousand before? How did the price jump so much?”
“Miss, that’s old news.”
The scalper jerked his chin toward the flagship store. “See that? They’re not selling them anymore. Right now, the only people with stock are channels like us. Twelve thousand is already a bargain. If you don’t believe me, wait until tomorrow and see. The price will only go up.”
“Besides, they’ve said the phone is banned from sale. Who knows how long that’ll last? If the ban continues for ten days or half a month, the price could climb to twenty thousand. By then, you’ll regret not buying one today.”
The girl bit her lip, rapidly weighing her options.
Twelve thousand yuan.
She had twenty-two thousand on her, but she had originally planned to buy three phones, maybe even four.
Now she could afford only one.
One would have to do. She could buy a single phone first, then resell it when the price rose and still make a little money.
She wouldn’t earn as much as she had originally expected, but at least she wouldn’t lose money.
Finally, she gritted her teeth.
“I’ll take one!”
“Coming right up!”
The scalper immediately pulled a brand-new white box from the black backpack behind him and handed it to her.
“Good choice, miss! Here you go. Genuine merchandise. You can inspect it on the spot.”
The girl took the phone and carefully opened the packaging. After confirming that everything was in order, she pulled out twelve thousand yuan and handed it to him.
Cradling the white Fruit 4 in her hands, she squatted by the roadside like all the strength had drained out of her and panted for quite a while.
To be honest, she had no idea what was wrong with her. The moment the phone was finally hers, she didn’t feel the excitement she had imagined.
Instead, she felt a pang of regret. Maybe she had acted too impulsively.
The girl quickly shook her head and forced herself to stop thinking about it.
Impulsive or not, the important thing was that she had finally managed to buy one.
Even if she used the phone for a while, she could still make a profit by reselling it a few days later.
She had just finished putting the phone away and was about to leave when another person came running over, panting heavily.
“Bro, I’ll give you fifteen thousand for that one! Sell it to me!”
The scalper spread his hands. “Sorry, it’s gone. That was the last phone, and I just sold it to her.” He pointed toward the girl nearby.
The man immediately turned to the girl and said anxiously, “Miss, will you sell me yours? Fifteen thousand! I’ll pay fifteen thousand!”
Her heart began to race when she heard the offer.
Fifteen thousand!
She had only just paid twelve thousand for it, and in the blink of an eye, its value had risen by three thousand.
If she waited another couple of days, it might really climb to twenty thousand!
“Not selling!” she refused decisively, clutching the phone tightly to her chest as she turned and walked away.
The man continued shouting after her, “Sixteen thousand! I’ll give you sixteen thousand!”
The girl didn’t stop. She quickened her pace and left the area.
She couldn’t sell it.
Selling it now would be foolish.
The supply restriction definitely wouldn’t end anytime soon. During that period, the scalpers’ prices could only continue rising. It might even break twenty thousand.
By then, she could use the phone for a few days, take some pictures, and share them on her QQ Space to make her classmates jealous. After that, she could sell it and pocket nearly ten thousand yuan in pure profit. Not only would she be able to repay the money she had tricked her parents into giving her, she would still have a sizeable sum left over.
At the thought of this, the girl’s mood finally improved a little. It felt as though all the hardship of the past few days had finally paid off.
Then she caught a whiff of the sour odor coming from her own body and remembered that she hadn’t showered in three days.
First, she would take a shower, then find somewhere to stay and get a good rest. Tomorrow, she would take the train straight back to school.
She found a very cheap youth hostel, the kind with tiny private rooms that cost only eighty yuan a night.
After showering, she lay on the hard mattress, still hugging the white iPhone 4 in her arms.
She turned on the phone and played with its smooth screen, feeling delighted. She was convinced that refusing the offer earlier had been the wisest decision.
Just wait. The price would definitely be even higher tomorrow.
Carrying this wonderful fantasy with her, the girl fell into a deep sleep.
She had no idea that something major would happen outside that very night—an event that would send shock waves through the tech world.
The scalpers’ price for the iPhone 4 plunged from nearly twenty thousand yuan to around six thousand, suffering a spectacular collapse.
