บท 3437: Chapter 2572: Soughing Down (21)
"Can you tell me how you made 100 dollars in just one afternoon?" Shiller still cared about that matter quite a bit.
It wasn't even the millennium yet, and making 100 dollars in an afternoon, 200 dollars a day, could result in 6000 dollars a month. Even in the 21st century America, that would be considered a very high salary. The average person's salary was around 3000 to 4000 dollars, and a family income of 10,000 dollars a month would be considered middle class.
"We moved several households," Raven said while cleaning out the fridge. "Originally, we only had jobs from two households, but since we moved so quickly, we moved the jobs scheduled for the next day to today."
"And also because we moved so quickly and nothing was damaged, each employer gave us a tip, which totaled almost 10 Dollars."
"Did you use telekinesis to move everything?"
"Of course, my telekinesis is strong enough to lift a building, so moving some furniture is pretty easy."
Raven was reorganizing the vegetables in the kitchen, and Shiller walked over and asked, "Have you had dinner?"
"Not yet, I just got home. Do you know how to cook? I bought some frozen noodles from the supermarket, how do I cook them?"
Shiller took a pot out from the cabinet below, took the noodles from Raven, opened the packaging, and then said, "It seems like your moving company has a promising future."
"Yes, but Waylon thinks we could make even more money. It's a shame our van is so small, we can only move ordinary families. We can't move larger estates or companies."
"Don't you have enough money for a van?"
"Waylon's money is just enough to rent a storefront. Only with a storefront can we officially open for business and take orders, forming a legitimate company. But if we rent a place, we won't have enough to buy a van."
Shiller calculated in his mind that Waylon's storefront was definitely rented in the East District because the rent was cheap there and the flow of people was incredibly high, making it a good place for small businesses.
But no matter how cheap the rent, the storefront would surely only accept annual leases. Even if the monthly rent was only a few hundred dollars, one would still need to pay at least a few thousand dollars upfront, and possibly a deposit too. That was probably the limit of Killer Croc's savings.
If he wanted to move large villas and companies, the required van couldn't be just a small panel van; it would have to be a large box truck. Unlike the trailer trucks that Joker and his crew drove, large box trucks are pricier.
Moreover, this kind of truck wasn't produced in high quantities locally, making it hard to find a good second-hand one. Cobbling together a faulty one could easily lead to problems later on, and maintenance would be a big issue. It'd be better to buy a new one.
You could use a trailer to move, but you'd have to purchase a fully enclosed cargo area, which isn't cheap either.
Shiller thought for a moment, then decided to call Killer Croc; he felt that he could invest his spare cash into the moving company that seemed very promising.
Adding the 1000-plus dollars paid by Cobblepot, Shiller had roughly over 10,000 dollars in savings. Investing a few thousand to buy a van for Killer Croc would enable him to earn dividends from the profits of the moving company, at the very least not leaving him high and dry.
Not long after Shiller made the call, Killer Croc burst in, still carrying a heap of barbecue, forcing Shiller to turn on the house's central exhaust system to ensure the smell wouldn't linger too long in the house.
Killer Croc was very excited; he hadn't expected his wish to come true so soon. He laid the rental contract and company application documents on the table and told Shiller, "Don't worry, Professor, I bet this will be your most successful investment."
"I heard from Raven that the Forgotten Bookstore near the roundabout is actually run by two magicians. Why open a bookstore, it's exhausting and doesn't make much money. It would be better to join me in the moving business, easily earning a few thousand dollars a month."
Shiller hesitated for a moment but then said, "The vast majority of magicians can't use magic like that, their magic comes with a cost, and using it to make money is completely not... wait a second, Antilanguage Magic doesn't seem to have any cost."
Thinking of Zatanna's creditor who was still locked outside the walls, Shiller realized she was one of the few magicians who didn't have to pay a price for their magic, and she was in desperate need of money right now. Killer Croc's plan might actually work.
After all, Miss Magician's previous way of making money was by performing magic on the streets. If one could be a street performer, one wouldn't be too haughty to look down on a moving company.
Shiller shared this with Killer Croc, who, without even finishing his barbecue, rushed out again to find Zatanna.
Indeed, the very next morning, Zatanna and Constantine turned up at Shiller's door. Zatanna strode in with a flick of her wrist, while Constantine chased after her, shouting.
"Little Zha! Little Zha! Listen to me, working for a moving company is very hard. Even if you don't have to exert yourself, you will still be exposed to wind and sun..."
"You damn pretentious Englishman!!" Zatanna turned and cursed, "Wouldn't working in a breakfast shop require being exposed to wind and sun? Or performing magic on the streets? My living standards aren't as low as yours; I need to earn more money, to move out and live on my own!"
Constantine sighed helplessly. Now, it seemed he had become some pretentious young master who didn't touch the realities of the world.
Zatanna had a stubborn streak and hardly ever wallowed in melancholy. Instead, she took immediate action once she set her mind on something, not caring about losing face, the hardship involved, or even the possibility of failure.
On the contrary, Constantine was the embodiment of springtime sorrow, now fully immersed in the atmosphere of poetic fortune during historic misfortune, lamenting the myriad changes of the Great Depression era. He had written numerous essays and novels and was even preparing to write a memoir about the Great Depression in Gotham.
If these two weren't attracted to each other's looks, they definitely wouldn't have ended up together, but now they had to live together whether they wanted to or not. The worse the situation, the more apparent the support a stable emotional relationship could provide. At least living together meant that one could manage household matters while the other could handle external affairs, saving each other considerable energy.
Currently, Zatanna was managing the external affairs of both the bookstore and the breakfast shop, but the bookstore had few customers, and the breakfast shop was busy only in the morning. Their income was barely enough to scrape by, and Zatanna thought she could definitely use the afternoons to work another job.
She had originally considered performing street magic, but anticipated low earnings from it. After all, everyone was struggling, who would spare a thought for magic shows?
Now, Killer Croc had provided a new idea. Zatanna could use the afternoons to help people move. She didn't even need to use telekinesis; just uttering a spell could move all the furniture into the truck. The entire moving process would take only five seconds—raise an arm, chant a spell, load up, and leave.
Even if Waylon took orders, they could just use one vehicle. Operate the coffee shop in the morning, Constantine could drive in the afternoon, and Zatanna would handle the moving. How could they not complete a dozen or so moves in an afternoon? Wasn't that an easy 200 dollars?
Killer Croc was thinking along the same lines. With the funding from Shiller, he could buy a large truck, but the small truck he had purchased recently was still in good condition. It would be too wasteful to sell it or rent it to someone else. It was better to hire two employees to run it and collect a commission for himself.
The idea was immediately appealing to both parties, with the only slight complaint coming from Constantine. However, his surprise that Shiller was also investing in the moving business soon trumped his melancholic musings.
"What's going on? You're actually short of money?" Constantine said incredulously to Shiller, "Are you serious? You want to invest in a moving company?"
"What's the problem? At least I have more money than you."
"But I thought you were the kind of person who didn't need money... Well, okay, I don't have much money, but it's always been like this, and I'm used to it," Constantine said, settling onto the sofa, "There's a way to live even in wandering, isn't there?"
Clearly, Constantine belonged to the type of people who believed art and thought could sustain them, completely indifferent to the quality of life. To be able to live was enough, and death was acceptable if living was impossible.
After giving up all his bad habits, his living costs were outrageously low. A place to stay and food to eat satisfied him, and he was even content with the current state of running the store.
Unfortunately, Zatanna was a normal person. She was filled with a sense of crisis, feeling certain that such a way of life wouldn't work. The bookstore's customers were dwindling, with everyone reading ebooks on their phones. Sooner or later, there would come a day when not a single book would sell, and she needed to prepare early.
Zatanna had her own set of concerns. Her family had been a Magical Family, not only free from worries about food and drink but also esteemed in status. As the most powerful inheritor of the family, her mission was to lead the family towards a new era of glory, if not for her father's disappearance.
Unfortunately, the vampire event had exhausted the Magic realm, and she had been betrayed by her own family, nearly dying in the event. Since then, she had no family to speak of.
But fortunately, over the years, she had traveled the world searching for her father and had worked numerous short-term jobs, not the kind of lady who couldn't endure hardship.
Having settled on a basic plan, everyone got to work. Shiller took the rental contract and company contract that Killer Croc had left, seeking Harvey's help with reviewing them; Killer Croc took Raven to look at vehicles; Zatanna and Constantine went to set up the newly established company's storefront.
Shiller had asked for the morning off, which was fortunate as he had only one class, so there wasn't much of the curriculum left behind.
After sorting out the main issues and all parties signing the contracts, they had a meal in the new storefront. By the time Shiller rushed to school in the afternoon, he heard that the new principal had arrived and was currently in a meeting.
It was definitely too late to join the meeting, so Shiller could only wait in his office for the outcome. It wasn't long before the new direction for school management was announced, mainly including the following points.
It was necessary to ensure the healthy cycle of the sports department, which meant training to win invitationals to earn ticket sales. No matter the cost of inviting, invitationals must be held.
Then there was the issue of pay cuts. The new principal overturned the previous decision to cut salaries by 30%. The new proposal was to cut salaries by 10%. If after three months, the project group still hadn't achieved self-sufficiency, the cut would change to 30%.
When Shiller heard this, he knew the new principal intended to make each professor self-sufficient. However, that was normal, considering the new campus had relocated, surrounded by factories and industrial bases, with fresh labs eagerly awaiting collaboration with Gotham University's top talents. If they didn't seize the opportunity to earn funds now, when would they?
Due to the unique nature of liberal arts and social sciences, the new principal decreed that individual income from professors and students in such project groups, such as articles, novel publishing, and even psychological counseling, would count as profit.
With these regulations in place, most professors breathed a sigh of relief. The school had moved to this location because many professors had ongoing contracts with nearby labs, so profitability within three months was fully achievable, sparing them from salary cuts.
It was evident that the new principal's management skills were substantial, recognizing that the most important task at this stage was to appease the faculty. Otherwise, everyone would be focused on making up lost income outside of school, and the teaching quality would only plummet, leading to a vicious cycle.
Out of curiosity, Shiller decided to meet this new principal. Before he could make a call, however, the new principal took the initiative to come to him.
After a knock, a tall, thin, bald man in a suit opened the door to the office. His skin was somewhat pale, and he wore round, gold-framed glasses—a typical image of a management professional.
He approached warmly and shook hands with Shiller, "Sedis Shivana, PhD in Economics and Business Management, Financial Studies, and Statistics, attended Columbia University for my master's, so I suppose we're alumni," he said.
Shiller paused for a moment, then shook his hand, "Pleased to meet you, Principal Shivana, please take a seat."
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