Steve hung up the phone from home, his expression a mix of conflicting emotions.
After returning home, with an uneasy heart, he called his parents who were away on business and relayed Richard's plans and ideas to his father almost exactly as they had been told to him.
After hearing Steve's thoughts, Mr. Harrington on the other end of the line was silent for a long time; that wait for his father's response made Steve feel like a prisoner on death row in the Old West, enduring an agonizing ordeal.
Finally, Mr. Harrington simply asked him, "This wasn't your idea, was it?"
Exposed in a second, Steve's heart skipped a beat, but he still honestly answered, "Yes."
A soft "Heh" came from the other end. Steve felt it was incredibly ironic and soul-crushing; he felt his dad was mocking him, as if saying, "Haha, I knew my dim-witted son couldn't come up with such a great idea." Though there were no more words, that simple "Heh" was rich with meaning.
Just when Steve thought Richard's proposal might fall through, to his surprise, his father, Mr. Harrington, said, "I agree. I'll transfer money to your card. Work hard with that friend of yours and learn from him. Oh, and report your daily progress and various matters to me from now on."
After Steve said, "I understand," his big-shot businessman father hurriedly hung up the phone.
Listening to the dial tone, with his father's words still echoing in his ears, Steve's current mood could hardly be described with a simple word like "complicated."
However, Steve had always been a man with strong psychological resilience, possessing the qualities of a perfect scapegoat; he quickly gathered his emotions and called Richard's house to share the good news.
Richard was also quite pleased. Over the phone, he mentioned that they would discuss the detailed plan further once he came to school tomorrow. He told Steve to get ready, as the days of partnering in business would require him to grow as well; Richard had no intention of letting Steve be a hands-off boss.
Steve was such a useful scapegoat; how could Richard possibly let him off the hook?
He himself would be a bit tired in the early stages, but by the middle and late stages... no, as soon as Steve became proficient in the business, it would be his turn to step back. Steve would have to take on all the work alone, and he would be the one sitting back and making money!
With a cheerful mood, Richard was all smiles when he went to work at Bennys Burgers.
"So happy, looks like you had a great Halloween Night." Benny glanced at Richard's bright smile with a teasing look and an ambiguous grin. As Richard's neighbor, he knew very well that a female friend, who usually wore men's clothes but happened to wear a dress yesterday, frequently visited Richard's house, sometimes even staying overnight and riding the same bike to school in the morning.
Richard thought for a moment and gave a serious evaluation: "It was so-so. The player at home had some issues, the tape jammed a few times, and near the end of the movie, the power in the whole house became unstable, so the activities were paused for quite a while."
"Oh, unstable voltage. Speaking of which, the same thing happened to me yesterday." Benny recalled what happened last night after hearing Richard say that, and he felt it was a bit strange.
"Don't even think twice about it; it must be The Lab's doing." A local farmer nearby, a Black man named Gilbert, shook his head and complained while eating a burger. "That lab was built right next to my farm. It makes me nervous every day. I don't know if they're doing some research that pollutes the environment. I just hope they don't ruin my farm and my crops."
"How can you be so sure it's them?" a diner near him asked curiously.
Gilbert bared his teeth and said, "How can I be sure? Chief Hopper has been driving to The Lab quite often this past month. I'd say the Chief probably found something. If The Lab really wasn't up to no good, why would the police keep going over there to investigate?"
Once he said this, everyone felt it made sense, but they all tacitly stopped discussing the matter, including Gilbert himself who had started the topic.
After all, that Hawkins National Laboratory was backed by the federal government; its background and influence were too immense. Ordinary people like them couldn't compete with them. If bad words about them got out and were overheard, no one knew what the consequences of offending them would be.
Complaining was fine, but they shouldn't discuss so much nonsense anymore.
Benny also snorted and dropped the subject. After hearing Gilbert's words, his impression of the Hawkins Lab went straight from neutral to negative.
It had to be said that the people from The Lab were indeed mysterious, and they seemed suspicious to the town's residents.
In a way, the townspeople were very united; their emotions were easily influenced by individuals. Generally, they were quite warm and friendly, but once someone targeted a certain person or thing, it could easily escalate to a level of shared hostility.
Richard worked silently with his head down, but he was laughing inwardly. He was pleased to see the townspeople beginning to consciously resist The Lab.
Over the next few days, Richard and Steve discussed the business opening during their free time. The plan, simply put, was to start a shop in the town and then expand to the surrounding towns. After accumulating some wealth, they would form a large company and franchise, creating a technical training industry. They would collect franchise fees while making money from them, then attract venture capital to transfer risk and expand the number of stores across the US. Ideally, they would even get the most popular celebrities of the time involved in the franchise and have them do endorsements... finally, with capital rolling in, they would grow bigger and stronger.
Although Steve didn't quite understand the concepts Richard mentioned, based on the influence of his parents' business experience, he could tell that the system Richard devised was very novel for the current time and had a very promising future.
Except for the early stage of development which focused on the front end—where the money earned would be harder to get and less—the subsequent stages would basically focus entirely on the back end. The money would come in fast and in large amounts, and it would all be big money, without him having to put in effort at the grassroots level.
At this moment, the two of them, wearing sunglasses, stood in front of a shop for rent outside a commercial building in the town center. This would be the first shop they opened.
"This is the one," Steve said excitedly to Richard, and the two fist-bumped.
After Steve notified people to start designing and renovating according to Richard's ideas, most of the preparations for the opening were temporarily concluded. Steve was now quite curious about the excellence of the "Milk Tea and Fruit Drinks" products Richard had mentioned.
"Your parents are away from home for long periods now, right?" Richard asked, thinking for a moment after learning Steve was curious about the taste of the shop's products.
Steve: "Yeah, they probably won't be back until the end of the month this time."
Richard smiled: "In that case, let's have a drink tasting session at your house tonight. We'll invite more people and have everyone do an evaluation."
"Uh... that's fine, but who should we invite?" Steve agreed readily; he just happened to be looking for a chance to spend more time with Nancy.
A couple in the honeymoon phase always finds ways to be all over each other.
"I've already thought it through." Richard folded his arms. "I'll be responsible for notifying people. Then, I'll write a list of ingredients for you in a moment. Buy as many as you can; if you can't find some, then forget it."
Hearing this, Steve quickly raised his hand and said, "Then don't forget to help me invite Nancy!"
...That evening, guests arrived at Steve's house one after another, and soon the house was filled with people.
The evaluators were mainly divided into two camps: the youth group and the junior group. The youth group consisted mainly of Richard's high school friends: Robin, Jonathan, Steve, Eddie, Nancy, and Nancy's best friend Barbara. The junior group was the four kids he met on Halloween Night: Michael and the others. Oh, and Lucas's elementary school-aged sister, Erica, also followed along because she sensed an opportunity to get something for free.
Steve looked at the crowd in his house, especially the group of kids running around restlessly, and his smile became a bit forced.
"Ahem, I won't waste words. I've invited everyone here today to give Steve and me some feedback on the products for our future drink shop." Richard coughed lightly and gestured for everyone to gather around the kitchen bar, where the equipment and prepared ingredients for making the drinks were already set out.
"Leave it to me, handsome. I'll use my gourmet-level palate to give you the best suggestions." Erica, acting like a little adult, crossed her arms with a look of full confidence.
Lucas felt his ears burning with embarrassment when he heard his sister's arrogant speech, but he couldn't stop her.
Although Lucas was very reluctant to admit it, he had never been able to suppress his sister since they were young, because she truly was the smartest one in the family.
Richard smiled, "Then let's get started quickly and not waste everyone's time."
Next, Richard demonstrated his miraculous techniques in front of everyone. The various Chinese and Western methods left them dazzled; even the confident and composed Erica was stunned, her mouth hanging open in surprise.
Compared to the others, Robin was much calmer. After all, she often came to Richard's house to freeload food and drinks; having seen it so much, she naturally took it in stride.
Richard's Culinary Arts had long since conquered her stomach. In her eyes, there seemed to be no dish Richard couldn't make. Now he was just mixing drinks, which was a breeze for him. Of course, in his preparation techniques, Richard seemed to be showing off a little on purpose.
This guy, who usually liked to act low-key but inevitably went high-profile when he acted, was just that annoying.
Richard made three cups of each drink, letting the boys from the youth group, all the girls, and the boys from the junior group share them. He made six types of drinks tonight, and the portions weren't large, just right. However, Erica, this little girl with a small body but a big appetite, actually claimed the tasting portion wasn't enough and asked for a separate large portion of one of the drinks to be remade for her to take away.
If Lucas hadn't stopped her, Erica might have been even greedier.
[Established a relationship with the core story character (Erica Sinclair), Story Points +10]
"This is absolutely fantastic. I'm sure your milk tea and fruit drinks Will be a huge hit." The boys in the youth group were generally full of praise after tasting them.
Steve and Richard high-fived; this was exactly the feedback they wanted.
"I feel like my whole family Will get addicted to this." Nancy's best friend Barbara gave an evaluation that sounded either happy or bitter. Her whole family loved fried, high-sugar foods; they ate whatever smelled good without any restraint on calorie intake.
"Haha, don't worry. In the future, we'll launch low-sugar and sugar-free series, which can reduce the burden of obesity to some extent while being just as delicious." Richard said with a smile after hearing Barbara's concern.
Hearing Richard's words, a dazzling pink flush appeared on Barbara's plump face, and she nodded somewhat shyly.
Barbara represented the evaluation of most of the girls. Now that they heard there would be low-calorie drinks, everyone's worries were gone, and they were very satisfied.
The junior group, on the other hand, gave slightly different feedback.
"We think they're definitely delicious, but they feel a bit too refined, like they're for girls. We want something stronger, a cooler taste," the boys commented. Eddie also stepped forward, nodding and saying with slightly exaggerated gestures, "Is there anything with an alcoholic or carbonated flavor?"
"Those exist too." Richard nodded and then raised an eyebrow at them. "If the time is right, maybe I'll even do a collaboration with DND."
"Whoa, that would be so cool!" The boys' eyes lit up, and they couldn't help but shout in excitement, hugging their new friend Eddie.
The other non-DND enthusiasts, especially the girls, shook their heads at the sight.
Erica stood with her hands on her hips like a nagging mother and bluntly complained, "Capitalists are just harvesting the likes of you boys."
"Erica, you don't understand anything! This is a man's romance!" Lucas yelled at his sister, then looked at Richard with an eager and admiring expression. "Listen, Lee, if you really succeed, then from now on, you Will definitely be my, Lucas's, only idol in this life."
"Idol!" Eddie embraced the four rascals, his eyes shining with a pure innocence that was almost hard to look at.
Bzzzt— Bzzzt—
Just as everyone was happy, the lights in Steve's mansion suddenly began to flicker eerily.
Gurgle gurgle, rumble rumble... Richard's ears twitched slightly. He vaguely heard the familiar roar of a monster in the distance. He couldn't help but look at the calendar, his expression changing slightly.
These past few days had been so peaceful that he had unknowingly forgotten that today was an extremely important day.
November 6, 1983. The monster was unleashed, the young boy Will from the junior group went missing, it was the day the superpowered girl Eleven escaped from The Lab, and it was the day the story of the series officially began.