Chapter 322 - MLM Nest

Early the next morning, Xiao Luo went to the open window and drew the curtains aside. As he breathed in the fresh air, birds could be heard chirping away in the trees beyond the window. What a delightful day to wake up to, he thought.

"Daddy, daddy…"

Before Xiao Luo could even freshen up, Su Xiaobei was already outside his door, knocking on it and calling for him.

Xiao Luo promptly went to the door and let her in.

"Daddy, have you eaten breakfast? Have you brushed your teeth? Mommy said that you must brush your teeth every morning and night so that worms won't grow," Su Xiaobei told him, looking very solemn as she gave Xiao Luo a short lesson in oral hygiene.

"Is that so? Okay, daddy will go and brush my teeth now!"

Xiao Luo touched her head affectionately then headed for the bathroom.

The little girl followed him in and held the edge of the sink with her tiny hands. She stared at Xiao Luo with unblinking, large eyes.

"Daddy."

"Hmm?"

"Why aren't you staying with mommy?"

"Daddy has to work at night. I will disturb you and mommy if I'm staying with her," Xiao Luo said, randomly coming up with another white lie.

The little girl frowned. "But you can work during the day," she responded.

"I have other things to do during the day."

Xiao Luo put down his toothbrush and gently pinched her cheek.

After washing his face, he picked Su Xiaobei up and walked out.

At Su Li's apartment, a sumptuous breakfast had been laid on the dining table—at a quick glance, he saw that there was a selection of bread, poached eggs, corn, pastries, milk and cereals. Aunt Lee was still busy in the kitchen, and when she saw Xiao Luo walking in carrying Su Xiaobei, she greeted him warmly, "Good morning, Mr. Xiao, breakfast's ready!"

Xiao Luo nodded and smiled. Su Li was already at the table, and as Xiao Luo took his seat opposite her, he wished her a good morning.

Su Li only lifted her head and glanced at him.

Her hair was worn loosely, cascading over her shoulders, and as rays of the morning sun streamed in from the balcony windows, her exquisite features glowed with a fairy-like luster that accentuated her beauty.

"Su Xiaobei, now that he has woke up, can you be a good girl now and eat up?"

"Yup."

The little girl nodded cheekily and beamed at Xiao Luo.

Xiao Luo smiled back at her and placed her on the high chair next to him.

As Su Xiaobei ate her breakfast heartily, she kept smiling sweetly at Xiao Luo all the while, and Xiao Luo, likewise, smiled back.

Watching the two of them share such a strong bond as father and daughter, Su Li felt an inexplicable sense of envy and jealousy, perhaps to the extent of even hatred. She was the one who had brought up Su Xiaobei, yet she couldn't even compete with an outsider. Seeing how her daughter was reacting to Xiao Luo, she felt like the outsider instead. But what could she say? Wasn't she the one who hired Xiao Luo to be Su Xiaobei's surrogate father in the first place? In any case, Xiao Luo seemed like he was doing a great job, and wasn't that precisely what she wanted?

"I'll have to go out after breakfast," Xiao Luo said.

"I already said it before. While you have to play your role, you are free to do your own things." Su Li replied curtly without even looking at Xiao Luo.

Xiao Luo did speak further, and he realized that this woman seemed very reluctant to have any conversation with him. Which, in a sense, suited him well, as he wasn't someone who enjoyed making small talk.

…

…

After leaving the Crescent Bay Hotel, Xiao Luo contacted his cousin, Ding Zhenyun. He had promised his uncle and aunt that he'd look into it, and his mission was now to get Ding Zhenyun out of those MLM dens.

As soon as he heard that Xiao Luo was coming alone, Ding Zhenyun immediately agreed to meet him.

The rendezvous was to be a subway station. When Xiao Luo arrived, he didn't see Ding Zhenyun anywhere, but he was instead picked up by two young men that he wasn't acquainted with.

Sallow faced and haggard, they looked terribly undernourished.

"You are Zhenyun's cousin, right? We are his friends, he asked us to come and pick you up." The two youths who approached Xiao Luo, shook his hand enthusiastically when he said he was.

"Why didn't he come?" Xiao Luo asked.

"He isn't free. He has a class to attend. Please come with us."

Xiao Luo could only guess what "attending class" meant—it could only be another brainwashing session.

He followed behind them as they made their way through several busy streets bustling with people before they finally turned into a grubby, filthy-looking alley. It looked forbidding—there were bills posted haphazardly on the decaying walls, and every house and shopfront were in a dilapidated state. The people he encountered there were mostly elderly, but he also heard the sound of children crying emanating from some of the houses.

The place was evidently teeming with low-income workers, and a number of them seemed to have come from other parts of the world. In such tenements, they would be living in densely packed, squalid conditions.

The two men led Xiao Luo through a dark corridor, and from there, they made their way up to eight floors, before finally arriving at their destination.

It was a modest-sized unit comprising of a living room and three smaller rooms. As soon as Xiao Luo walked in, the musty smell of mildew overwhelmed his senses. In one of the smaller rooms, seven to eight men were sitting on the floor holding notebooks, and they were attentively listening to a man giving a talk. The speaker was attired in a sharp suit worn over a spotless white shirt. He was about 27 or 28 years of age and was very animated and high spirited, talking vigorous without pause since the time Xiao Luo arrived.

His cousin Ding Zhenyun was sitting on the floor along with the others, listening to every word the man uttered.

"Brother Lu, Zhenyun's cousin's here," one of the men called out.

The speaker broke off immediately and approached Xiao Luo. He was amiable and as he held Xiao Luo's hand firmly, he said, "Coming early is not as good as coming on time. We are just in the middle of an entrepreneurship course, and you should take a seat and listen too. Zhenyun, hurry up and bring your cousin in."

Ding Zhenyun was short in stature and had a tanned complexion, and although already in his twenties, he still looked like a teenager going through puberty. As they shared a common bloodline, he did resemble Xiao Luo in appearance.

"Xiao Luo, come, let's sit down and finish this class before catching up." He came out and brought Xiao Luo inside.

"You've become skinny."

Xiao Luo empathized with Ding Zhenyun. He had some understanding of MLM organizations and knew what he must be going through. Having seen the cabbage and radish in the kitchen sink outside, the youths here must've been poorly fed and so it wasn't unexpected that they looked undernourished.

"No pain, no gain. Suffering now is nothing. When I get rich in the future, everything will be worth it," Ding Zhenyun said.

Xiao Luo didn't respond but just shook his head, feeling sorry for his younger cousin.

"Okay, everyone, let us continue. You only have to invest 3,800 dollars, and you will immediately get a place in the chain. Then, all you need to do is to find three downlines—so simple. Then each downline just acquires another three downlines, and so on. Now just multiply this, and you will see that a profit of 112 thousand dollars will be generated! Isn't that wonderful? Our company has a very fair five-level and three-tier system—the five levels and three tiers are represented by the letters ABCDE. You will work your way up from intern salesman to senior salesman, business leader, business manager, and finally to the director of operations."

When the speaker, Brother Lu, was delivering the most exciting part of his pitch, he drew a chart with a multiplying factor on the tiny blackboard and explained it in detail.

Xiao Luo almost cracked up. That was a typical MLM organization with an unmitigated pyramid structure, and no attempt was even made to gloss over the scheme.

"When you personally sell one or two products for the company, you will become an intern salesman. When you and your downlines sell an accumulated 64 products for the company, you are already a business manager. So, is it really so tough? As I explained earlier on the board, the difference between D and E is just over 700 dollars, and the difference between C and D is about 4,000 dollars. This means that when your team expands to 16 people, you'll begin to see big money. In short, you just have to sit tight while others to earn money for you—and all you need to do is find three downlines for yourself. Now, you tell me, doesn't that sound interesting?"

The group of listeners broke into spirited applause. The loudest and most enthusiastic endorsement came from the most engaged person in the session—who else, but Ding Zhenyun.

…