I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 510 - 169: Are you sure this is a game for kids? How come I, an adult, am having so much fun playing it?

Chapter 510: Chapter 169: Are you sure this is a game for kids? How come I, an adult, am having so much fun playing it?

Ma Yang was feeling pretty down recently.

He was almost hitting 30 and had been dating his girlfriend for seven or eight years, reaching the stage where marriage was on the table.

His future mother-in-law’s opening demand was a dowry of 300,000 yuan, and his girlfriend insisted they had to buy an apartment in downtown Jianglin City, the closer to the city center the better, supposedly for the future children to attend good schools. She also demanded that the car, at the very least, be an Audi.

A 300,000 yuan dowry + a sedan worth more than 300,000 yuan + a house around 2 million yuan.

Looking at his bank account, which held less than 100,000 yuan, Ma Yang was at a loss for words.

I mean, come on, I’m just an average Joe, even if I had started working in the Warring States period, I couldn’t have saved up this much money.

Despite these demands being utterly unreasonable,

it’s not as simple as cold-hearted bystanders would say, to just cut ties with a clean break.

Seven or eight years, dating since college, from her doe-eyed innocence to now where money is all she talks about, Ma Yang had been through too much.

Moreover, Ma Yang thought that this was probably as good as things were going to get for him in this lifetime.

Considering the extreme wealth disparity in society right now,

with a monthly wage of five to six thousand yuan, he should be grateful he even had a partner.

If this relationship were to end, he might remain a bachelor for the rest of his life.

So, Ma Yang decided to go all in.

He quit his job, where his boss had made countless empty promises but never delivered, ready to try his hand at entrepreneurship!

Before he left, his boss even called him into the office for a heart-to-heart, saying if he opted to continue working there, his salary could be raised by another two hundred, with another hundred increase after a year.

Ma Yang felt like he had made the bravest decision of his life.

He glared angrily at his boss and burst out,

"Raise your mom’s salary! Is 200 yuan enough to feed your dog?"

Then, under his boss’s incredulous gaze, he strode out of the company.

Having suffocated in that place for so long, always walking on eggshells, it was the first time he truly felt relief and exhilaration from the depths of his heart!

Soon, Ma Yang threw himself into the ardor and enthusiasm of starting a business.

But before long, his entrepreneurial dream was shattered.

He had conducted a lot of market research and selected a few businesses that could be started with a capital of about 100,000 yuan.

But he found that these popular industries were already saturated with participants.

Take the highly popular milk tea industry among young people, for example.

Walk down any moderately busy street, and just count them.

No fewer than five to start with.

The market is so competitive that after splitting the profits, there’s hardly anything left to earn.

He looked into other industries.

Either the cost to start was too high, or they were too niche and attracted no customers.

"Sigh." After another fruitless outing to explore potential shop locations, Ma Yang couldn’t help but exhale a long sigh.

These days, if you don’t rely on your parents, it’s incredibly difficult to earn enough money on your own to get married.

Suddenly,

he saw a somewhat familiar figure brush past him.

Upon recalling who it was, Ma Yang hurriedly caught up.

"Mr. Ke! Is that you?"

Ke Jun, who was returning from a relative’s house, stopped in his tracks when he heard someone calling him from behind.

"You are...?"

"It’s me, Ma Yang! Your former student."

Ke Jun still couldn’t place him.

Being in his late fifties and nearing retirement, he had taught many students, and without any distinct traits, it was difficult to remember.

"You used to teach class without much enthusiasm, and I always slept through it, remember?" Ma Yang prompted Mr. Ke’s memory.

Ke Jun: "..."

With that comment, kid, I just know you won’t ever make it to a supervisor-level position.

Who talks like that!

Afterward, the teacher and student chatted briefly.

Though Ke Jun still couldn’t recall exactly who he was, this young man could indeed mention some distinctive features of Jianglin No.3 Middle School and the general situation of the class he had been in.

Talking about the past, Ma Yang couldn’t help feeling nostalgic.

In a blink of an eye, over a decade had passed. Back in class, he had been very ordinary.

Who would have thought that after entering society,

he would remain just as ordinary.

Plus, with the recent multitude of troubling matters, he ended up sharing some of his issues with Mr. Ke.

The teacher, having been through life’s wringer, might understand him somewhat and could possibly give him some advice.

"...That’s the situation, Mr. Ke. Given your wide range of experience, do you have any good advice?"

And in the next moment, he heard his former teacher suddenly say,

"Have you heard of ’Top Player’?"

"Ah?" Ma Yang was taken aback, then responded, "I’ve heard... heard of it, I guess? But I’m not really into games, never took the time to learn about this gaming company. Sigh, life’s pressures are so great now, there’s just no time for games."

"Then you should try their games even more; my son played and said it was great." Mr. Ke rummaged through his pocket with a rustling sound.

He then extracted a palm-sized, shrink-wrapped box and placed it in Ma Yang’s hand: "This one’s for you."

"Oh, remember, it needs to be used with the newly released game console, what’s its name, ’sizzle...’ something or other, make sure you get that," he added, giving Ma Yang a pat on the shoulder. "Ma, never give up hope."

With that, Ke Jun said he had other matters to attend to and left in a hurry.

Ma Yang was left standing in the wind, utterly befuddled.

Ah?

No, not that...

Mr. Ke.

I was asking you for a real solution... why are you gifting me a game, what’s the meaning of this...?

Is this really the time to be playing games...?

Furthermore, he glanced down at the shrink-wrapped box.

There was a short plumber, jumping high with a throwing motion.

A red hat was featured prominently in the center of the image.