Chapter 16 Project Site Selection

They wandered around the county for the whole day. After 1985, with the call of the times, there were more stalls and shops in the county than before.

There are people riding 28-inch bicycles on the road, pressing the bells, making a ding-ding-ding sound, looking very proud.

People in the county also dress more fashionably.

Compared with the village, it's like two completely different worlds.

The more Shen Qingyue looked, the brighter her eyes became. People in the county were living well, so more people would be willing to spend money.

After a long walk, I selected three places. One was outside the steel plant, where there were already stalls.

There were stalls selling fried cakes, fried rice noodles, and noodles. Some women also brought in small crocheted cushions to sell.

The most popular one was the one selling pirated tapes. He had a tricycle full of tapes and a dual-cassette recorder on top. He sang all the way and attracted quite a few people.

The second area is the bustling section of the street. Since the regulations are relaxed now, many people set up stalls. It's like a clothing street. There's only one bun vendor in there, and no other food stalls around.

The third place is the school gate. There are several schools in the county, but I heard they all have cafeterias. At noon, people come to the school gate to buy bags, sandbags, soda, popsicles, and other things.

Of these three places, Shen Qingyue's favorite is the steel plant.

As a large state-owned enterprise, the steel mill has the highest income in the county. You can tell from the prosperity of the stalls outside.

Make a lot of money and spend it recklessly.

Shen Qingyue said: "Let's do it outside the steel factory."

After leaving the village, Chen Mei felt a little inferior. In the county, she thought everything was good. Now, when she heard her sister say she wanted to set up a stall at a state-owned factory, she wanted to go but was also nervous: "Are ordinary people allowed to set up stalls here?"

Shen Qingyue said: "I'll go ask."

Afterwards, Shen Qingyue actually went to ask the lady selling fried cakes.

Chen Mei was dumbfounded. She didn't even dare to talk to people outside, so how could her sister just rush over and talk to someone she didn't know?

After a while, Shen Qingyue came back and said, "I've inquired about this. This is an unowned area. Anyone can set up a stall, but it's best to show some respect to Mr. Chen, the gatekeeper of the state-owned factory."

Even small businesses have to pay homage to the mountain boss.

Shen Qingyue bought some groceries at the local grocery store. As expected, it was right next to the steel mill; it was almost as big as the old supply and marketing cooperative, with everything you could need. She bought two cans of fruit and went straight to the security guard to find Mr. Chen.

Uncle Chen asked, "What do you want from me?"

Shen Qingyue said: "I want to set up a stall outside, can you make it happen?"

Uncle Chen raised his eyes and glanced at Shen Qingyue, rolling tobacco and leaves in his hands, and said, "What do you want to sell?"

"Boxed lunch and skewers." Shen Qingyue then explained, "It means rice and vegetables. Skewers are various boiled meatballs and vegetables, dipped in sesame sauce!"

Uncle Chen said, "Little girl, there is a cafeteria in the steel plant." It is a welfare benefit, and meal tickets are usually given along with the salary.

Who would spend money to eat when there are places where you can eat for free?

Shen Qingyue said: "I want to do this."

Seeing Shen Qingyue's resolute attitude, the security guard, Uncle Chen, said, "I'll ask Dalong to measure two and a half meters of space for you later. The stall fee is five yuan a month."

"So expensive?" Shen Qingyue was a little surprised. The older woman who fried the fried cakes didn't mention paying for it.

Uncle Chen said, "It just started this month, so we'll have to collect the money when the time comes."

Shen Qingyue asked: "Will you give me a receipt?"

Uncle Chen paused while rolling his cigarette, then looked at Shen Qingyue: "The little girl knows a lot. Don't worry, it's all for you!"

Shen Qingyue said: "Then let's measure the space."

Uncle Chen called a man and went out with Shen Qingyue. He directly painted an area of ​​2.5 meters with white lime powder and sprinkled two words on it: There is someone.

Shen Qingyue handed over the money and received the note from Uncle Chen. Seeing the three words "Chen Taisheng" on it, Shen Qingyue was stunned, and then her reluctance to spend the money faded a little.

I thought she gave the money to the local tyrants, but who would have thought it was the regular army.

Chen Taisheng was the legendary director of the steel plant. I heard he had retired a long time ago. I never expected that he would become a security guard at the steel plant under a pseudonym.

Shen Qingyue didn't care about anything else. She gave the three sisters a total of three hundred yuan, leaving ten yuan each for pocket money. She had two hundred and seventy yuan left, which she used for a meal at a state-owned restaurant. After paying for the rent for the house, the stall, and the round-trip bus tickets, she was left with two hundred and fifty-six yuan.

Since we have to cook, there are many places to spend money!

Fortunately, Shen Qingyue had done this job before, so she saved herself the trouble of taking a detour.

I went straight to the oil mill and bought 20 kilograms of soybean oil. Soy sauce, vinegar, and various condiments, which looked insignificant, cost me over 40 yuan.

If it is used at home, you won’t use this much in a year.

When the people from the oil press saw that they had bought so much, they wanted to drive them back to the village.

Shen Qingyue and Chen Mei returned to the village on the back seat of an oil-pressing dump truck.

Cars were rare in the village, so when one suddenly appeared, everyone took a second look. The surprise was that the people sitting in the car were the Shen sisters.

Everyone asked, "Hey, what did they do? Why did they get pulled back by the car?"

"I don't know. Let's go and take a look."

When Shen Qingyue asked the driver to stop the car at the village chief's house, Aunt Dahua came out. She was stunned.

Shen Qingyue said, "I bought some things." Then she picked up the seasonings and soybean oil.

The villagers gasped when they saw this. They bought soybean oil in small bottles.

Shen Qingyue bought twenty kilograms of soybean oil alone. Twenty kilograms of soy sauce, and over twenty kilograms of vinegar. Even if you have money, you shouldn't spend it like this. How much can the two sisters eat? Isn't this a waste?

"No wonder they had a car to take them back. They bought so much."

After unloading the goods, Shen Qingyue immediately went to the carpenter's house to make a wooden shelf. It was not complicated, and the cost of labor and materials was only three yuan.

Next, Shen Qingyue went to the village's major grain producer to buy some new grain, including a lot of rice, flour, and miscellaneous grains.

Her unusual behavior spread like wildfire. Someone who was good at math roughly calculated that it would cost at least a hundred dollars.

The noise they made while shopping was so loud that even people in the Shen family's old house heard about it.

This made Grandma Xu Xiuzhi furious: "What a devil! She spent so much money. Someone who doesn't know how to manage life like this will never get married."

Liu Yu chimed in, "What a waste!" Then, a wave of sadness washed over him: "Dad shouldn't have given them three hundred yuan. I think they're just trying to piss us off. Otherwise, why are they making such a fuss?"

Xu Xiuzhi already disliked them, and upon hearing this, she became even angrier: "Let them do whatever they want. If they lose the money, I'll see what they'll do. If they come to me for help, I won't have a penny!"

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