CHAPTER 25
At night, she handed Shen Haiyang a pen and paper. “Help me write a job advertisement.”
”Requirements ?.”
”Female, between 20 to 40 years old. Good-looking, healthy, eloquent. Interested parties, please meet in person.”
Shen Haiyang sat on a chair and ground ink, then took a brush and dipped it in ink and started writing on the paper. He quickly finished writing according to her request, and she smiled and went out to post the paper at the door of the bun shop.
The next day, they did not get the job applicants, but they received a wholesaler. The couple looked quite young and lived in a city not far from the provincial capital. Facing Li Xia’s curious eyes, they briefly explained their situation.
”We both had jobs, but we started family planning a few years ago. Our first child was a girl, and our parents kept urging us to have another one. In the end,” the man smiled bitterly and spread his hands helplessly, “we gave birth to a son, but we both lost our jobs after being reported.”
”So you want to set up a street stall?”
”We want to try it. Otherwise, we will starve to death.”
”We have basically all the lines and styles here, with a minimum order of 20 pieces. The more you want, the lower the price. You can choose yourselves.”
”Okay, got it.”
The couple carefully selected clothes, and Shen Hui watched silently. Huihua was careful and patient. She would look at the customers and answer their questions. She would also fold the messed-up clothes neatly. This made the stall look uncluttered and gave people a high-end feeling.
Yiyi sat on a small stool beside his mother. When he heard the ding-ding-ding sound, he anxiously pulled his mother’s sleeve. Li Xia smiled and gave him fifty cents. The little guy hurriedly shouted at the old man with the basket.
”Wait, I want to buy some candy.”
The old man turned around and walked towards Li Xia’s stall. Li Xia put pieces of candy on a piece of paper and asked the three of them to share it equally. Huihua wanted to give one piece to her mother, but her mother was too busy selling clothes to take care of it. She had no choice but to wrap the candy up and prepare to give it to her mother in the evening.
”And mine.” Shen Hui also kept some, and then they turned to look at Yi Yi, and the little guy also kept some of his own. “The three of us will leave some for mom, mom has more work than us.”
Huihua reached out and pulled his ear: “So you want to eat alone?”
”Of course not.” The little guy rubbed his ears, which didn’t hurt at all, and smiled brightly at his sister. “I mean, maybe mommy won’t eat it at all, and she’ll still give it to us in the end.”
”Then give it to Dad.”
This time Shen Hui nodded quickly, “Anyway, this is for mom and dad, you are not allowed to think about it.”
”I don’t want it. I’ll buy it tomorrow.”
”You little brat, you say you’re here to help your mom watch the stall every day, but you’re actually just thinking about the delicious food, right?”
The little guy smiled triumphantly, then whispered to his brother and sister, “Mom said she would buy me pig ears and pig skin jelly for lunch. They are smooth and slippery like jelly.”
He just said that pig skin jelly is like jelly, and then a man came over with a pole to sell jelly. The pea jelly is slightly green, crystal clear, tender and smooth. People can be heard shouting from a distance, and the children who are shouting can’t help but drool.
”Selling jelly.”
The little guy looked at his brother and sister, then turned around quickly, his eyes suddenly bright as stars. He chewed the Ding Ding candy in his mouth, then ran to Li Xia and pulled her clothes. When she turned around, he pointed to the carrying pole not far away, and Li Xia smiled and took out another fifty cents from her pocket and gave it to him. This guy is simply the frontier of his brother and sister.
The jelly cost 10 cents per bowl, and after each of the three children had a bowl, there was still 20 cents left. The three kids ran to ask for five bowls, and Huihua ran back to save the first bowl for her father to eat when he got off work.
They had just eaten some candy and jelly, so they were not hungry at all. At noon, Shen Haiyang came back with cooked food and a machine-made noodle.
”How about having noodle soup for lunch? Dad bought some pig ears.”
”Okay.”
The man carried the things back home, and the three children continued to help their mother run the stall. The sun was blazing at noon, but Li Xia’s stall was set up under a few big trees, and it was quite comfortable to sit on a bamboo chair in the shade and fan herself with a cattail leaf fan.
”How much is this short-sleeved top?”
Li Xia got up quickly because she saw that the couple had bought 30 pieces of clothing wholesale, which was lower than the retail price, but the speed is fast, and she can make a net profit of more than one hundred yuan in one go.
”Nine yuan and eighty cents.” She saw the other person frowning and then she explained fluently, “This is imported fabric. We don’t have it in China. You can ask around the provincial capital. You can’t buy it anywhere else except here.”
”Imported?” The woman reached out and touched the smooth material, and felt that it was more silky than Dacron. “It’s almost the same as Dacron, but the price is higher than Dacron. Can you make it cheaper? If I don’t think it looks good, I’ll go to the tailor shop to make Dacron.”
”Girl, I really can’t make it any cheaper. Imported fabrics are more expensive than domestic ones, and the workmanship and patterns of large factories are incomparable to those of small tailor shops. If you don’t believe me, try it on and see if it looks good.”
The woman was wearing a short-sleeved top, and she put it on. Just like that, the shape of the top was immediately different. The pattern fit the body curve very well, and it was much better looking than the one she was wearing.
”It’s still too expensive. Can you give me a discount?”
”Girl, do you think it’s easy for me to trade in the south and the north? If I sell it any cheaper, I won’t make any profit. In this hot weather, you say I’m not making any money. Why am I here? I just want to earn enough money to eat. Okay wait, Let me give you a discount of 20 cents. Wear my imported clothes to work, and it will definitely attract people’s attention.”
For Young people, this rate of turning heads is still very attractive. People of this period are not as hard-working as those in the 1990s to bargain, so she thought about asking her to give it a lower price.
”Eight yuan and eight cents, and it’s auspicious. If you think it’s okay, I’ll take it. After all, it’s not easy for you to take care of the child in such a hot weather.”
”Okay, take it for 9.50 yuan . This is imported. I only bought a few of them. If you want it, someone else will buy it.”
The Dacron shirts in the department store cost about 8 yuan. Hers is more expensive but the style is good and it looks good. As for whether the fabric is imported or not, since it looks good, I’ll just say it’s good.
The woman was accompanied by a girl who was about in junior high school, probably her sister. Reaching out the money, she looked at Shen Hui and the other two with pity in her eyes. After turning around and walking a few steps, the girl next to her pointed at the foam box beside her and spoke.
”Sister, it’s so hot, want to buy a popsicle?”
”Buy whatever clothes you want. Clothes can make you look good, but popsicles are wasted and nothing is left in your stomach. I told you to study hard but you didn’t listen. I’m telling you, if you don’t study hard, you can only work in a factory or set up a street stall like them.”
The woman paid the money and took the clothes away. They just happened to hear the words. The three children’s worldview was immediately washed away. They looked down and wondered if they were really so pitiful.
The two older ones were thinking to themselves, and Yi Yi asked his mother without hesitation, “Is it shameful and pitiful to set up a street stall?”
As soon as he said this, the other two older ones also looked at their mother. For a few days, Li Xia did not allow Shen Haiyang to come forward, and when she talked to customers, she always said that it was not easy for her. Now that the woman said it so bluntly, the three children immediately thought it was embarrassing.
During this period, people did look down on small vendors and self-employed individuals, but Li Xia felt that it was not shameful to make money with her own hands, whether in her past life or in this life. In her past life, she had no capital, no knowledge, and was isolated from the news in a small place, so she did not seize the opportunity. In this life, as one of the first batch of small businesses, she never felt that there was anything wrong.
She thought for a moment and took out two dimes from her pocket and gave it to Yi Yi: “Go buy some popsicles. It’s too hot.”
The mother didn’t answer his question directly, but gave him money to buy popsicles. The child immediately forgot the previous question and happily ran to buy four popsicles. On a hot day, the mother and the four children each had one to cool off.
Seeing the little ones enjoying their popsicle s, she took the opportunity to say, “That woman has to bargain for a long time to buy clothes, and she can’t even afford to buy a popsicle. She has to sacrifice her mouth for the sake of her clothes. But we can eat whatever we want and we are not restricted in what we wear. Do you think she is pitiful or we are pitiful?”
”she is.”
The three of them said in unison. The children knew how the food was at home, and they felt very superior when they talked about it with their friends.
The clothes they wear are all new, and their mother even makes parent-child outfits for them. They don’t have to save money to buy new clothes like other families do. Because they may only buy one every few months, the fabrics will definitely have color differences, and it is impossible for several people in the family to buy the same one.
In this era of scarcity, when buying new clothes is considered a show-off, The three of them could eat whatever they wanted, and that was the only reason the woman was wrong.
“I want to set up a street stall when I grow up.”
Shen Hui’s words shocked Li Xia, who quickly explained, “When you grow up, street vendors will have become a thing of the past. People will start to open companies by then.”
” Start a company?”
”Yes. The threshold for street stall economy is very low and it will soon become a thing of the past. You can’t just look at the present, you have to look at the long term.”
”Oh. But mom, how can we see the long term?”
”Read. Read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles. Only when you have insight and knowledge can you see far.”
”oh.”
Li Xia secretly patted her chest, finally getting her way. Yi Yi was also looking at her just now, and the little guy was also full of curiosity about making money. If she led two children who were so good at studying to the “evil path” of setting up stalls, she would be committing a great sin.
”Mom, will I earn more money if I study?” Yi Yi asked.
”I’ll leave the money-making to mom. Can you just study hard first?”
“I want to help my mother make money.”
”Mom’s business will grow bigger in the future. If you don’t study and don’t know how to run it, how can you help me?”
”Okay, I’ll study first, and then help mom when I grow up.”
”Okay, if you want to help mom, you have to study hard first. Mom can do ordinary things, but if I encounter something I don’t know how to do, I’ll rely on you to study hard and help me later.”
”Um.”
The two boys nodded heavily. Shen Hui had done the first-grade test and got 99 points. This child is confident in learning. Yiyi is still young, and usually he follows his brother in doing whatever he does.
They had lunch outside, and when she asked the children to go home and sleep, they all shook their heads. The children were energetic, but she didn’t force them. She brought mats and cushions from home and let them play under the shade of the trees while watching the stall. She lay on the bamboo chair and closed her eyes to take a nap.
T/N :- HELLO GUYS , PLEASE DO COMMENT IF YOU LIKE THE NOVEL OR NOT OR ANY OF YOUR THOUGHTS, AS IT ENCOURAGES ME TO WORK HARD.
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Am I reading correctly that she’s basically franchising her clothes selling?
I love your translation. English is not my First language. It is easy for me. Tks a lot. I rally enjoying this history
Thanks for the translation! I am loving this novel, many thanks!🙂🫶