Zhang Ye was certain.
It was still way too early for him to massage Yang Yan, her daughter, and her best friend.
In all likelihood, Yang Yan would bring her best friend over first.
As for her daughter—his ex-ex-girlfriend.
She was still abroad.
What he needed to focus on now was the 【Career Development System】.
He had already figured it out.
The technician (physiotherapist) professional Ranks were divided into nine tiers in total.
Each stage came with different abilities, split into positive and negative forms.
He was currently at Tier 1, with the abilities: 【Vitality/Exhaustion】.
With these two abilities, Zhang Ye wasn't worried about getting clients at all.
The only thing he had to worry about was how to advance to Tier 2.
According to the System prompt, advancing to Tier 2 required accumulating 100 strands of Internal Energy.
Currently, the only way to obtain Internal Energy was through massage therapy.
As for whether other channels to obtain Internal Energy would unlock later, Zhang Ye didn't know.
What he needed to do now was frantically accumulate Internal Energy, increase his Rank, unlock more Advanced abilities, and make a ton of money...
Making money, however, involved the Dao of business.
Right now, he was the only one in the shop; he couldn't just use his abilities to massage any random person who walked in.
If he did that, not only would he fail to make serious money, but he would also work himself to the bone.
To make full use of his abilities, he had to apply them flexibly.
Charge the rich more, charge students and the poor less, waive fees for those in trouble, and use the negative ability directly on anyone who rubbed him the wrong way.
With his mind made up, Zhang Ye twisted the throttle all the way.
Twenty minutes later, he dashed back to his shop on Zhengyi Street in the urban village of Xinbei District, Jiangcheng City.
After opening the door, Zhang Ye checked his phone again and found that the packages containing his moxa sticks, empty cupping jars, and custom massage tables had arrived.
He spent another half hour moving all the packages to the front of the shop.
Zhang Ye watched the courier leave, seeing that the two massage tables, essential oils, and massage uniforms had all arrived.
His shop wasn't large; squeezing three massage tables in would be quite tight.
However, he didn't have the money to change shops right now, so he could only reconfigure the layout.
"Time to get to work!"
After muttering to himself,
Zhang Ye immediately began tidying up the shop, pulling everything to one side.
After bustling about for a while, Zhang Ye looked at the three massage tables neatly arranged against the wall.
The foot-soaking tubs were placed on the bottom shelf.
massage outfits, towels, and the like were neatly arranged on the shelf beside them. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Clean towels were also set to one side, with essential oils placed on the counter.
Without any messy clutter, it was clean and orderly.
After pulling down the partition curtains, he turned on the warm-toned lights, giving the space an even cozier feel.
Outside the partition curtains, there was just enough room for a small sofa that could seat three people.
In the middle was a small coffee table, and along the wall to the right of the entrance stood the checkout counter.
Having just finished reorganizing his little shop, Zhang Ye crashed out and went straight to sleep.
...
The next morning, before nine o'clock had even arrived.
Buzz buzz... The phone's vibration sounded again, waking Zhang Ye straight up.
He tapped it open to check.
【Dr. Pei: Return my car keys, and while we're at it, why don't we have a chat?】
Zhang Ye gave a light chuckle, unable to stop himself from remembering the way Pei Zi had walked.
It wasn't hard to tell.
She was a woman who dared to boldly explore and pursue what she wanted.
Zhang Ye played dumb and replied: 【I didn't take your keys.】
Now it was time to talk cooperation, and in any discussion of cooperation, one side had to hold the upper hand.
This happened to be a useful bargaining chip.
Ding-dong!
【Dr. Pei: Oh, come on! Stop pretending!】
【Dr. Pei: Teacher Zhang, I'm being serious. I'll treat you to a meal and apologize to you sincerely.
You give me the keys, and we can discuss your medical skills. How does that sound?】
Seeing this, Zhang Ye shook his head with a grin. Pei Zi certainly had her abacus clicking loudly.
She actually thought she could learn his craft for the price of a single meal?
【Zhang Ye: Dr. Pei, I'm just a masseur. I don't know any medical skills.】
Medical skills?
This was his ability; he couldn't teach it to anyone else at all, and even if he could, he wouldn't teach Pei Zi.
If Pei Zi were willing to cooperate with him and refer some patients so he could make money, he'd be glad to.
As for her things, Zhang Ye genuinely didn't care.
Buzz buzz. The message notification sounded.
Zhang Ye looked at it and saw she just wanted to freeload off his abilities without bringing up cooperation at all.
He decisively exited the chat interface, ignored it, and planned to catch some more sleep.
Ring, ring, ring... Immediately after, the phone rang once again.
He picked up the phone to look. Wait, it wasn't Dr. Pei?
Still not answering!
Zhang Ye slept for another round before getting up.
Right when he opened the door, an auntie from the street came in for a massage.
Zhang Ye gave her a warm reception, though he didn't intend to use the 【Vitality】 skill on her.
He only needed wealthy young women as returning customers.
Older folks? Pass!
Zhang Ye was in the middle of cupping the auntie.
Just then, his phone buzzed incessantly from beneath the massage table.
Catching sight of the name "Wang Defa," he nearly shoved the alcohol cotton ball straight up the auntie's nose.
His good college buddy?
After vanishing for so long, he was finally calling.
The auntie glared at Zhang Ye, her expression dissatisfied.
Zhang Ye merely offered an awkward smile and continued massaging the auntie.
"Fuck, Wang Defa, did you rise from the grave?" Zhang Ye clamped the phone between his ear and shoulder.
Slapping a medicated plaster onto the auntie's back with a smack, he said, "President Wang, the last time I saw you, we were eating gutter-oil fried rice on the university town's backstreet, wasn't it?"
The GPS voice came over the phone: "You are speeding..."
Wang Defa's raspy voice exploded over the line: "President Zhang, you struck it rich without saying a word? Heard you're a business owner now?"
Zhang Ye looked across the street at the neon sign for "Blind massage," which was missing the word "Blind."
Kicking open a creaking cabinet, he said, "Your father here is now the CEO of a big-health enterprise!"
The auntie suddenly let out a sound: "Ah~ Harder."
He hastily added, "I'm doing myofascial release for a female CEO right now."
"Badass!" Wang Defa honked his horn loudly.
"Your boy here is now a partner in the smart-mobility Domain..."
The ride-hailing app suddenly chimed in: "New order: From Gangtai Hospital to the Crematorium."
Zhang Ye inserted a Moxibustion stick into the copper jar and sneered, "Once you finish hauling the corpse, how about bringing me a bundle of joss paper?"
"Stop fucking jinxing me!" Wang Defa's car window creaked and jammed.
"Got the guts to come to the class reunion? The class belle got divorced and became a rich woman..."
Class reunion?
In Zhang Ye's mind, the scene at a class reunion was always:
The scheming ones slip under the covers, while the simple-minded just chat.
The single-minded sing, and the clueless drink till they drop.
The useless ones don't even budge from their seats.
When it came to a class reunion, the only thing he was interested in was slipping under the covers.