Chapter 137 Having a baby is like opening a blind box

Before setting off, Tang Mingli had to visit her uncle's house.

It wasn't because of the so-called Chinese New Year greeting tradition, but because I wanted to see how Tang Mingmei, who was divorced, was doing now.

The train ticket I bought is for departure at around 4 PM on Lunar New Year's Eve. With only one day left, I have to pack my luggage and go to my uncle's house, so it's a bit rushed.

She plans to go there tomorrow morning, sit for a while, and then come back.

After she told her in-laws about her plans, they all felt that she should go.

Even Mrs. Fu belatedly realized that they had called Tang Mingli once when she first went to Shenzhen.

Madam Fu said remorsefully, "It's all my fault. I was so excited when I received your call that I forgot to tell you."

Tang Mingli comforted her, "It's alright, Grandma. If it were something urgent, she wouldn't just hang up so easily. She would definitely ask you to pass on the message, or even call back to confirm."

That's definitely true.

After being comforted by Tang Mingli, Madam Fu did feel somewhat at ease.

Lunar New Year's Eve.

Unlike previous years when they were busy preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner, the Fu family was quite relaxed today.

Thinking they could return as soon as possible, Tang Mingli and Fu Ci didn't even have time for breakfast and left early in the morning with their gifts.

Not many people went out on New Year's Eve, and when the bus arrived, there was only the driver on board.

Seeing them get on the bus, the driver joked, "I thought I was going to make a wasted trip today."

Tang Mingli smiled and replied, "Master, it's hard work to stay at your post during the Spring Festival."

The driver was moved by these words.

There weren't many pedestrians or vehicles on the road, and the journey was smooth, making it seem like the distance from the East District to the West District wasn't so far after all.

After getting off the train at their stop, the two of them clearly felt that the festive atmosphere here was much stronger than in the courtyard.

As soon as you enter the alley, you can hear a cacophony of noise.

The scene was vibrant with life, which made Tang Mingli smile and say, "Everyone is truly happy during the New Year."

Fu Ci nodded and asked her with a smile, "Aren't you happy?"

"I'm happy, I'm very happy too."

When I arrived at the tenement building, before I even went upstairs, I ran into a neighbor auntie who happened to be coming downstairs.

The aunt was surprised to see Tang Mingli.

"Why did you come today?"

Tang Mingli replied with a smile, "Something came up."

The woman said "oh" and didn't press the matter for details.

But after watching Tang Mingli and Fu Ci disappear around the corner of the stairs, he couldn't help but mutter, "It's so good to be rich. You don't have to do anything for the New Year and you still have time to visit relatives."

Thinking about how I've spent my whole life working hard for this family, without even taking a single day off during the Lunar New Year, I feel even more deeply moved.

On the other side, Li Hong, who was busy in the kitchen, was the first to see Tang Mingli and her husband coming over.

She thought she was seeing things until Mingli called her name. She quickly dried her hands and went to greet her, asking the same questions as the neighbor aunt.

"Why did you come today?"

"We're going on a long trip this afternoon, so we rushed over to see you."

"Hey, why are you going on a long trip during the Chinese New Year? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just the whole family going out for fun."

"So that's how it is."

Although Li Hong was puzzled, she couldn't very well let them stand and chat in the cold weather since they had come, so she quickly invited them inside.

While making tea for them, she said, "Your uncle and Mingmei took Xin'er to buy fireworks, they'll be back soon."

Tang Mingli took the cup and followed up on the question, "Xin'er is so young, yet she can play with fireworks?"

Li Hong couldn't help but smile when she talked about her granddaughter.

"Of course she can't play with them yet, but she loves to watch them, so your uncle wanted to buy some fireworks for her to see."

"So that's how it is." Tang Mingli smiled.

Li Hong smiled, her gaze unconsciously drifting towards Tang Mingli's stomach.

Wearing a thick coat, nothing could be seen. She didn't dare ask and could only continue to observe secretly.

During their casual conversation, Li Hong asked about Fu Ci's business in Shenzhen.

Fu Ci explained it briefly, but she still couldn't understand.

However, she wasn't really interested in knowing how Fu Ci's business was doing in Shenzhen; she wanted to know something else entirely.

"Fu Ci, does your factory wholesale or retail any of the clothes you produce?"

Fu Ci smiled, knowing that he had just wasted his breath, but he still patiently explained, "We only produce when we receive orders, we don't do wholesale or retail."

"I see." Li Hong was still not giving up. "Even if it's an order, isn't there always a time when you can produce more?"

“This situation does occur, but not often. Usually, it might just mean producing ten or so extra pieces.”

Li Hong immediately perked up upon hearing this.

If we produce a dozen or twenty more pieces for one order, wouldn't ten orders mean producing a hundred or two more pieces?

She quickly followed up with, "What will happen to all these extra clothes?"

"Either give it to the customer, or keep it for a sample exhibition."

"Can't we sell it to others?"

Fu Ci shook his head: "No, many of the designs are created by the clients' designers. If we sell them to others, wouldn't that be plagiarism?"

Li Hong didn't understand plagiarism, but she understood those two words—"No."

She could only smile dejectedly.

Tang Mingli sensed something was wrong and asked Li Hong how she knew so much detail.

Li Hong didn't hide anything anymore, and said playfully and shyly, "You might be surprised to hear this, but Mingmei and I are currently setting up a street stall."

It really gave me a little fright.

Tang Mingli's first thought was, could it be that the brown sugar factory is no longer able to pay wages?

Li Hong laughed and said, "No, but it's close. We only have a few months of normal operation throughout the year. It just so happens that a neighbor's relative works in a sock factory, and the factory also has a lot of unsold stock. She asked me to help her get some stock to sell. Unexpectedly, business is actually quite good. Mingmei and I saw that this was a good business opportunity, so we decided to give it a try."

I gave it a try, and before I knew it, I had been doing it for several months.

I must say, they've made quite a bit of money these past few months, and their family had a much better financial situation for the Chinese New Year this year.

After making money selling socks for a few months, they wanted to sell other things that were even more profitable.

Clothing was the first thing they thought of, after all, Mingci started out in this industry, and Mingli also had experience.

They didn't expect to be as capable as Fu Ci; they just wanted to earn some money to improve their family's life.

Tang Mingli was truly surprised that her aunt and cousin had changed so much in just a few months.

My cousin, in particular, who used to feel secure only with a stable job, and who was always proud and had a strong sense of self-respect, is now actually willing to lower herself and set up a street stall. It's like she's a completely different person.

Tang Mingli naturally supports their transformation.

Just then, Tang Mingmei and her uncle returned. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Tang Mingli shared her experiences in sourcing clothing wholesale with her aunt and cousin.

If you don't want to travel around, you can get your goods from local clothing wholesalers, like Li Zhengdao.

Of course, if you want to earn more, you can go to Guangzhou to pick up the goods yourself. There are more styles of clothes there, and the prices are cheaper.

However, it takes time to travel back and forth, and it's not easy to carry so many goods on the road.

Considering that they also had a child to take care of, Tang Mingli suggested that they get their goods directly from local wholesalers.

"...If needed, I can contact Li Zhengdao to see if I can help you get a better price."

"That's wonderful!" Tang Mingmei looked at Tang Mingli with gratitude. "The child is still young, and I really can't leave. Besides, my mother and I are still in the exploratory stage and don't want to go too big. Let's start with small profits to save some money, and wait until we have more later..."

When asked about her future plans, Tang Mingmei lowered her head shyly.

However, Tang Mingli guessed as much and said on her behalf, "When you have money in the future, how about you open your own clothing store?"

Tang Mingmei nodded shyly, feeling uneasy about whether her cousin and her husband would laugh at her.

However, she was simply overthinking things; how could Tang Mingli possibly laugh at her?

What Tang Mingli admires most is this spirit of independence, self-reliance, and ambition.

She explained to her cousin, "But we'll have to wait until after the New Year. Firstly, we're about to go on a long trip, and secondly, Li Zhengdao's business won't open until after the fifteenth of the lunar month."

Tang Mingmei quickly replied, "There's no rush. We're just making plans; we didn't expect it to be so fast."

Li Hong also said, "Yes, there are still a lot of socks we bought before the Lunar New Year that haven't been sold yet."

He then opened his bedroom door.

Tang Mingli was immediately stunned by what she saw.

My aunt and cousin are really bold; they actually stored up half a room full of socks.

There must be several thousand pairs.

Aren't you worried about accumulating so much inventory?

They didn't seem worried at all.

It's clear that their sock business has been doing quite well over the past few months.

Since they had to leave in the afternoon, Tang Mingli and the others couldn't stay too long.

Before leaving, she gave Li Xin a New Year's red envelope.

Looking at the bulging container, Tang Mingmei knew that there must be a lot of money inside.

She wanted to refuse, but couldn't come up with a good reason. In the end, she could only accept it on behalf of her daughter with a grateful expression, and secretly vowed in her heart that she would definitely return it when Tang Mingli had children in the future.

The Tang family accompanied Jiang Rensong downstairs.

Because she wanted to ask her cousin a question, Tang Mingmei deliberately pulled her forward a bit, intentionally distancing herself from Fu Ci and her parents who were behind her.

After confirming that the people behind her couldn't hear her, Tang Mingmei asked in a low voice, "You went to Shenzhen for a while, have you heard anything from them?"

Tang Mingli immediately understood what she meant, but deliberately asked jokingly, "What news?"

Tang Mingmei glanced at her stomach and clicked her tongue in exasperation, "Of course it's your stomach."

Tang Mingli honestly replied, "No."

Tang Mingmei sighed softly and comforted her, "Having a child also depends on fate. Don't rush it, take it slow."

Tang Mingli laughed and said, "Sister, it seems like you're the one who's in a hurry."

Tang Mingmei gave herself away as soon as she opened her mouth: "How can I not be anxious? You've been married for several years already."

Tang Mingli reassured her, "Having children also depends on fate; we're not in a hurry."

Tang Mingmei opened her mouth, but couldn't help but say, "Why don't we hurry up? How can we manage without children? What will we do when we get old?"

Tang Mingli thought to herself, "They're rich, they really don't have to worry about what to do when they get old."

Having a child is like opening a blind box. If you're hoping your child will take care of you in your old age, then it really depends on whether the blind box you open is good or bad.

The term "good" or "bad" refers not only to character but also to ability.

If a child is unable to support themselves, even if the father has the filial piety, he is powerless to help.

Many parents don't understand this principle.