In 2001, I started an appliance repair shop.

In the beginning,

I just wanted to be a decent person and run an honest business.

I didn't want to rip anyone off.

I felt that it would bother my conscience.

But after being busy for a time,

the money I earned was enough to cover family expenses, but not any savings.

Sometimes my monthly income was no better than an average worker,

and so my wife often gave me a hard time about that.

We depend on trade for money,

but when it's time to get money from customers you only think of them.

If you won't ask for more money from them,

who's going to put money in your pocket?

Hey, Cheng,

you've got a lot of really great skills, you can fix things,

but it's your fault if you're not making much.

Now, I'm telling you—

people always have money inside of their pockets.

And if you rob them, then that's illegal.

But if you find a way for them to voluntarily hand over their money,

that's called being skillful and smart.

You fix things with your skill,

you should understand your "skill" and how to apply it.

"A man without a second income will never get rich."

We live in the age of money;

you can do anything with enough cash.

Money doesn't solve everything, but without any, you'll solve nothing.

That's right.

People without a skill have a hard time scraping by.

You have a skill.

Why not apply yourself and make more money?

You're too set in your ways.

Jiaming, nudge him in the right direction.

I contemplated my wife's advice and my brother-in-law's "brilliant" idea.

They really had a point!

I was skilled but not making more money.

Was I just good for nothing?

But I was still dead set against ripping off customers,

because my conscience would never get past that.

There was an electronics repair shop run by Mr. Qian near my store.

He didn't have much of a grasp on repairs

and could only fix very simple problems,

but he always placed huge ads in front of his shop.

The ads said, "We fix all kinds of appliances; our skills are top notch."

It all seemed very impressive.

In this manner, many people had been fooled by him.

As he worked, he handled the easy stuff on his own.

But the tough jobs he sent to other repair shops,

making a tidy profit as a middleman.

He made a lot of extra income doing this.

One time, Mr. Qian and I were eating in a small restaurant.

We chatted about how to be successful in business.

Cheng, you and I both have repair shops,

but I'm making more than you.

And do you know why that is?

If the TV's high voltage connector cap was burned out,

how much would you charge to replace it?

That's an easy one. Twenty or thirty yuan would be enough.

Twenty or thirty yuan?

You can't do business that way!

No wonder you're not making more money.

I see you're a good guy, so I'll be honest with you.

For this sort of problem,

I'll swap out the entire high voltage assembly.

But the high voltage assembly is fine. (I'll swap it out anyway.)

It's not necessary! (I'll swap it out!)

If you don't swap out some parts,

how are you going to charge more money?

If you swap them out,

you can charge an extra tens or hundreds of yuan.

This trick goes a lot further than just technical skill, you know?

It is just a diversion.

Customers don't know our skill. They'll never know.

It's up to you to decide if you want them to pay you more.

This is a quick way to earn money,

but isn't it ripping off our customers?

I can't have that on my conscience!

Conscience?

How much will you get for a pound of conscience?

No one talks about conscience now.

Will conscience fill your belly?

Can you spend it like money?

You know, Zhen Cheng, you're not seeing the ways of the world.

Ours is a cash society.

"Money is everything."

Everyone focuses on making money.

The communists even believe this now,

"No matter if it's a cat white or black,

as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat."

So whoever's earning money is therefore worth their salt.

If you can't make any money,

being a good person won't get you anywhere.

No one will respect you.

Without money, everything is more difficult.

But with it, you just say the word,

everyone is more than happy to help.

So what do you think, am I right?

You're right!

After hearing Mr. Qian's "enlightening" views,

I thought deeply about it.

This is the type of world we live in now.

People run all kinds of scams to make a quick buck,

and no one talks about integrity.

What good would it do if I were the only honest one?

What's more,

my being honest in pursuing my business has not been advantageous.

People who are in the same business as me are living a good life.

Their families all live comfortably, eat well, and wear nice clothes.

It seems I have been too set in my ways.

I have to start thinking of ways to make more money,

to make life better for my family.

Okay, Mr. Qian,

one day I'll drop by your place and see how you do it.

From that point on,

I began to study the "success" others had experienced in my line of work.

I had my misgivings,

but in order to make more money, I couldn't dwell on so many things.

I just had to bite the bullet and put "theory" into practice.

One day, a customer came in to have an appliance repaired,

and when I took apart the piece that wasn't working,

I also opened up some parts that were working fine.

I did this in order to misdirect the customer

and to make her think that "So many things were wrong with it."

This way, I could use that as an excuse to charge her more.

The old saying "Guilty consciences make men cowards" is completely true.

At first I was nervous, my heart was beating very fast,

and I was worried that the customer would see through me.

I thought:

If she figures out that I've pulled such a stunt, and exposes it on the spot,

where would I hide my face?

I'd have to crawl to a little hole.

Customers don't know our skill. They'll never know.

It's up to you to decide if you want them to pay you more.

I forced myself to stay cool.

After I swapped out the "bad" parts, I plugged the device in and tested it.

It worked fine.

When the customer asked me how much for the repair,

I thought to myself: I can't be as soft-hearted as I was before.

And then, with hardened heart, I charged 50% more than before.

After saying that, I thought to myself:

Will she complain that I asked for so much money?

If she haggled over the price,

I'd give her all the reasons why the price went up.

If that didn't work, I'd give her a discount.

I never thought the customer would say nothing

and just hand the money over to me.

Only after the customer had carried away the appliance

could I finally let out a sigh of relief.

I realized that my face and back were covered in sweat.

The first time cheating a customer, I felt an indescribable sense of unease.

But when I saw that I had made more money,

that feeling of unease was replaced with the joy of "success."

From then on,

I thought of every possible tactic to pull the wool over my customers' eyes,

to get more money from them.

At first, even though I felt some blame in my conscience,

I nonetheless quietly urged myself onward:

"A small mind makes not a gentleman

and a great man must be ruthless at times."

If I want to earn more money, I would have to use strategy.

Besides, everyone does this.

One more wouldn't make a difference.

Over time, with the "enthusiastic" help from others in my line of work,

along with my own "hard work,"

my "skill" and "technique" in earning money became more and more refined.

I learned how to read people and make adjustments to my "technique" on the fly.

Depending on the type of customer I saw,

I would employ various "techniques."

If they looked like they were rich,