Many children bring happiness, a shameless start

"However, as your partner, I need to know all the information. You can no longer hide anything from me, your good friend!" Li Pu said seriously, staring Kevin in the eyes.

"Absolutely not! I promise!" Kevin vowed, patting his chest.

"I'll do my best to send you $10,000 before 10 a.m. on Friday, and I'll treat it as my investment!"

Kevin, hearing Lip's words, wanted to hug him again.

"Stop it, let's talk business first."

"Okay, okay."

"You said you're processing large products. What's the finished product? Show me!"

Kevin turned around, ran to a locked cabinet, grabbed a package, and quickly returned to Lip.

Lip opened it, examined it, then asked, "The processing you're talking about is roasting these large fruits and grinding them into powder?"

"Yes, what else?"

"My dear brother! Out of all the methods, you chose the crudest, most primitive, and least profitable one!"

"Shet! I really should've told you earlier!"

"How many finished products like this do you have now?"

"It's not too many, just ten packs."

"Looks like we'll have to deal with these 17 stocks first."

Kevin nodded seriously.

"From now on, no more 24-hour fluorescent lights. Only turn them on for two hours before sunrise and then turn them off. When there's no sunlight in the evening, turn them on for another two hours, then off again."

"And if possible, use natural light."

"Got it. The top floor of this building is empty. I'll quietly move some of the big ones up there one night."

"Good."

Li Pu nodded.

"Lip, there are a lot of coupons everywhere now. These finished products won't be easy to sell!"

"I've looked into it, and it seems to be related to security during the recent state elections. Don't worry."

Li Pu spoke calmly. "I've been tinkering with a few police locators over the past few days."

"What's a police locator?"

"It's a GPS locator that uses police and FBI frequencies to determine their location anywhere by converting them into coordinates."

"Wow, this sounds tailor-made for us to sell Dama cigarettes!"

"Uh-huh, I was originally preparing for the business we were going to open."

"Lip, you're a genius!" Kevin was overjoyed but quickly asked, "Aren't you going back to school?"

"I've already got an acceptance letter and a full scholarship to Chicago. No point in going to school anymore."

"Where are your two girlfriends?"

"The school's protected by my disciples and gang members."

"Gang? What's it called, and how many people?"

"Xiaolong Gang, about a hundred."

"Wow, brother, you're getting more and more impressive!"

"Yeah, I hope you get even better!"

"Thanks. It's great having you. What's next?"

"Go buy the ten cheapest Marlboros and bring them back."

"What?"

"We're not selling handmade Big cigarettes anymore. We're going to buy special Marlboros with gradients."

"Special Marlboros?"

"Yes, use your ten packs of finished product as guinea pigs for the experiment."

"Guinea pigs?"

"Special offer for Grade A Marlboros, containing 1% tobacco powder, priced at $1 each; Grade B Marlboros, 3% tobacco powder, priced at $3; and Grade C Marlboros, 5% tobacco powder, priced at $5."

"Are these amounts too small?"

Kevin was confused.

"Brother, with this amount, even if I slap them in front of a cop, he won't do anything! But if we still use 30%, 50%, or even 90%, like before, we'd better bury them now!"

Li Pu didn't mention that this was the optimal ratio he'd calculated using a quantum computer. It's neither addictive nor very effective.

"Okay, Lip, it's all up to you. I'm going to buy the Marlboros now."

After Kevin left, Lip went to the blind spot between two doors and took out several small machines from his space bracelet.

He didn't want to touch those handmade cigarettes anymore. It was exhausting and inefficient.

Soon, Kevin returned with ten Marlboros.

"How much?"

"$300, on credit."

"Don't I usually buy a pack for $5? Why so cheap?"

"Hey, don't I have a wine supplier? The store across the street is his, so of course, he gave me the inside price!"

"Alright."

"Kevin, have you calculated the cost per gram of your finished product?"

"Vi calculated it. It's about 0.2 USD per gram."

Li Pu started to calculate. A pack of Marlboros costs $3, with each stick priced at 15 cents. The tobacco weight per stick is about 1 gram, and even the special C grade only uses 0.03 grams. This cost is negligible!

In other words, the cost of a special Marlboro stick is at most 30 cents.

That's a profit margin of 70%!

"Lip, what's this?" Kevin asked, pointing to the small machines at the door.

"A second-hand small cigarette-making machine and a second-hand small cigarette-remover," Li Pu explained patiently. "Together, they can roll over 300 cigarettes an hour, about 17 or 18 packs."

"Wow, last year, we couldn't even make a hundred sticks a day!"

"Yeah, it got sold out in the end. Others wanted it, but we couldn't make enough."

"Alright, stop being negative. Time to work!"

"Okay."

Kevin seemed more focused, his movements quicker than usual.

Li Pu watched Kevin's silly smile and couldn't help but smile too.

Suddenly, a strange thought crossed his mind.

More than a month later, on April 20, 2010, in Colorado, USA, 12,000 to 15,000 people would commit suicide at 4:20 p.m. In 2012, the 64th Amendment passed, significantly relaxing marijuana regulations.

This would lead to marijuana becoming a legal recreational drug, like tobacco and alcohol, opening the door for its mainstream sale.

Kevin would never have imagined that his fate was about to change, beginning this morning. By consulting Lip for guidance on major decisions, he was destined for a future far from ordinary.

Three years later, Kevin became known as Chicago's "Mr. Big Brother," a respected figure in the underground world.

"Woohoo!" Kevin tied up his long hair, wiped sweat from his forehead, and grinned. "Lip, 180 A-grade, 100 B-grade, and 100 C-grade are all done!"

"Okay, let's go!"

"Go? Where to?"

"Of course, my silly brother. We're going out to sell them!"

"Oh, Lip, can we take a break first? I'm exhausted!"

"Alright, take a break."

Li Pu smiled at Kevin. After all, rolling cigarettes wasn't easy for such a big brother.