Chapter 23 "This is still the morning we were busy recruiting...

"Auntie, what did you say? Why did they suddenly open a store in Liuping? March 1st is almost here, and they've moved to Liuping. Does that mean Chen Pan has transferred there too?"

After putting the bicycle at the door of his house, Wang Qingshan quickly walked over to Grandma Wang, who was sitting on a small wooden stool holding her grandson in the sun.

"Yes, I think he transferred there. Anyway, a few days ago, when Grandma Panpan was washing clothes, I chatted with her for a while, and then she took out four sesame cakes for me, saying that they were going to open a shop in Liuping to sell those kinds of cakes. Qingshan, let me tell you, those cakes are delicious, crispy on the outside, and layered on the inside. The four cakes are actually four different flavors, one with beef, one with pork, and there are lots of white sesame seeds on them-"

"Second Aunt——"

Wang Qingshan was a little helpless. Grandma Wang, who was holding her grandson, realized what was happening and immediately changed the subject: "They've gotten rid of all the chickens, ducks, and rabbits these past few days. The sheep and cattle were also driven away early to the shepherds and cattleherds who will be going back into the mountains in a few days. Now there's probably only the little black dog left in their yard. They cleaned up everything so thoroughly. Panpan must have transferred to a school over there. In the future, his family may be like yours, often away from home, and just treat this place as a second home. But it's good this way. It's better to run away and try your luck than to stay here all your life, like my son and his wife—"

There are always very few people here, unlike inside the village.

So whenever someone chats with her, the elderly Grandma Wang habitually talks more to the other person.

After all, she was a widow from the same clan. Thinking of how she had labored for decades raising her only son, then finding a wife for her son, and now, at her age, still babysitting their children, Wang Qingshan, despite feeling a bit impatient, chatted with her for over ten minutes. As he was about to enter the house, he noticed the contents of his bicycle basket. He hesitated, then took out two egg cakes and a large orange and handed them over.

"This - Qingshan, you are such a good person. During the time when my son and daughter-in-law were away, I relied on you neighbors to take care of me. One brought me cakes, and the other made delicious food and brought it to me. You also gave me such delicious little cakes and oranges. I, an old woman, can enjoy my old age. In this way, I can be considered -"

"That's not right. Your good days are still ahead. When Brother Daniu brings his wife home and Xingxing grows up, you will enjoy happiness every day."

He glanced at the oranges and small cakes in the man's hand, which his son and daughter refused to eat. He looked at the one-year-old child lying in his arms, looking dazed and stupid, who only whimpered and moved a few times when he saw the delicious food. Wang Qingshan sighed softly and then said goodbye.

In fact, the so-called helping other people's children transfer schools is the process in which Wang Qingshan and others use some of the school's existing policy indicators to successfully guide others to transfer schools, and then charge transfer fees and information fees.

At their No. 4 Middle School, children from other provinces and cities come to study at their school, and their school charges a certain transfer fee.

However, if the other party is a child of their township or town, then no transfer fee will be charged for the other party to come to their school to receive nine years of compulsory education. They can study normally by paying normal tuition and miscellaneous fees.

But many people actually don’t know about this kind of thing.

The middle school next door is recruiting students. Their No. 4 Middle School also has affiliated primary and junior high schools. The No. 6 Middle School, which is a little further away, also has affiliated primary and junior high schools.

In fact, as long as you are from the same village, everyone can study there however is convenient for them.

However, No. 4 and No. 6 Middle Schools cannot publicize this kind of thing, otherwise they will be suspected of directly stealing students from the neighboring middle schools.

Anyway, they just rely on other people's ignorance, and sometimes they make some extra money secretly through this method.

And honestly, their school's educational resources are superior to those of the neighboring middle school. If you really want to go to high school and then prepare for college, it's better to study at their school from the beginning than to study for three years in the neighboring middle school and then go to their No. 4 Middle School for high school.

Of course, if they agree to help, they will be responsible for all subsequent transfer matters of the other party.

Even if they make everything sound easy, there are still many places you need to go to to complete the formalities.

Sometimes, in order to complete the procedures faster, they would secretly give gifts to the teachers in charge of the relevant admissions work, or even treat them to a meal.

Anyway, Wang Qingshan only charged the other party three or four hundred yuan in fees for helping a child transfer schools, so he didn't feel uneasy.

You have to know that their society is originally a society of human relationships.

He only charges three or four hundred for helping people, but some people are very demanding and charge five or six hundred for just one student.

Anyway, when he went to several houses in the village later, he went there openly.

He was secretly making extra money through this, but in the eyes of others, it was just him working hard to help his fellow villagers and clansmen. Knowing that he received less money than others, several families were very grateful to him.

This afternoon, Wang Qingshan was treated well by every family he visited.

When he came out of the last store in the evening, he had 1,200 yuan in his pocket.

Wang Qingshan estimated that even if he spent another 200 yuan, he would still have 1,000 yuan left. And 1,000 yuan was almost ten months' salary. If Wang Daniu, his neighbor, lived there, he would have to work for a year without food or drink to earn that 1,000 yuan.

"Money—if I hadn't—"

After passing the clear spring, there is almost no one outside.

Moreover, almost every household in the village, both adults and children, turns off the lights and goes to bed at 9 or 10 o'clock.

It was almost half past ten. Walking on the country road covered with a layer of silver gauze by the moonlight, Wang Qingshan, who was a little drunk, couldn't help muttering to himself.

"If I hadn't—"

Even if there was no one else around, the drunk Wang Qingshan would still say the following words.

After pushing the cart around the corner and seeing the Chen family at the entrance of the village, Wang Qingshan walked slowly forward, feeling a rare sense of uneasiness and guilt.

Thinking about how he had his wife give birth secretly at his wife's parents' home in the mountains, and later when he heard that the Chen family wanted to adopt the child, he immediately brought the child back from his father-in-law's home overnight, and then placed the second child at the gate of the Chen family.

Now that Wang Qingshan has two daughters, he sits at the door of his house in the dark night, staring at the dilapidated gate of the Chen family, unable to move for a long time.

Time passed by little by little. Because of his behavior, the big wolf dog tied up in his yard and the small local dog across the street both barked anxiously.

"A dog bites Lu Dongbin, who doesn't know the kindness of others!"

This time, he originally just wanted to collect a little money from the Chen family as a token of his appreciation, and then he also wanted to transfer Chen Pan to Wang Qingshan in No. 4 Middle School. In the end, he laughed at himself.

As the clock neared eleven, Wang Qingshan, having sat for a long time and now feeling much less drunk, finally staggered to his feet. Mumbling softly, he slowly turned and headed home. After all, as a father, he had fulfilled his responsibilities. Chen Pan hadn't wanted to go to No. 4 Middle School and missed this great opportunity, so it wasn't his fault.

*

At 11 o'clock in the evening, there were very few people outside, and the Chen family's pancake shop, which had been open all day, finally closed.

Seeing their old man pull down the rolling shutter, Chen Pan and Grandma Chen, who had been busy all day, sat down at the table inside without any prior arrangement.

"Old man, please quickly count our income for today!" Although she was tired, Grandma Chen immediately looked up at her husband as she thought about the entire day's income.

"Okay! You and Panpan should eat something first!"

He pushed a bowl of fried rice that had been bought long ago to each of them. Then Chen Aiguo took the paper box on the back locker and poured the money inside directly onto the long table where Chen Pan and Grandma Chen were eating.

The clinking of coins and banknotes suddenly filled the center of the table.

Looking at those one-cent, two-cent, one-dollar and two-yuan bills, Chen Pan and Grandma Chen, who were taking a break and eating dinner quickly, laughed at the same time.

"Maybe it's because it's our first day of business today and everyone feels it's a bit unusual. There are indeed quite a lot of people buying pancakes."

Looking at her husband, who looked happy about the money, Grandma Chen spoke first.

"Maybe it's because there are more people in Liuping and our location is really good."

Thinking of the school in Liuping that was much larger than No. 4 Middle School, and the several relatively large pharmaceutical factories, milk factories and paper box factories nearby, Chen Pan also expressed his opinion.

Liuping Town is arguably the most unique place in Longcheng. It's considered Longcheng's back garden, incredibly close to the city center and the highway, yet housing and land prices are much cheaper than in the city. Consequently, many years ago, numerous factories opened here. These factories, along with the nearby No. 6 Middle School, brought a surge of activity and vitality to the area. This is how the area quickly evolved from a village into a town, quickly gaining its own tax bureau, industrial and commercial bureau, small park, and bus station.

It was precisely because this place developed rapidly and prospered that the government quickly reclassified it as part of the urban area of ​​Longcheng within a few years. After becoming part of the urban area, the demolition plan here, which had been delayed for more than ten years, was finally implemented.

Anyway, today, they were busy opening the shop and entertaining friends and family this morning, so they didn't sell much. But starting at noon, their business officially began. After a break at noon, they thought they might only sell about twenty pancakes all day, but from 5:30 p.m., their business picked up again. Later, after dinner, when they were wondering if the day was over, they ran into the workers who were leaving the night shift one after another.

Maybe it was their first day of business, and people nearby found it really interesting and wanted to try it.

It may also be the pancakes they make, the flavor is really rich and attractive enough.

Anyway, their bakery kept having customers coming, and since it was their first day, they naturally didn't close early. While waiting for customers to come, grandma was making pancakes while preparing the dough for tomorrow's opening.

"After deducting the ten dollars I put in today, we sold a total of 65 dollars today. 65 dollars!"

It felt like sixty-five a day was a particularly exaggerated number, and Grandpa Chen, holding the pile of money, exclaimed subconsciously.

"This is because we were so busy entertaining everyone in the morning that we weren't in the state of selling anything. If we had been open for business as usual in the morning, would we have made seventy or eighty today?" Xu Chunhua, who was eating fried rice, didn't expect to make so much money in a day by selling pancakes that cost only one or two cents. Her eyes widened in surprise.

They are talking about the total amount of sales today, not the total amount of profit today.

This morning, all the relatives and friends who came to congratulate them gave their family a lot of cakes for everyone to take home.

In addition, pancakes are not like other things, so they have no way to calculate the specific profit or loss for the time being.

But no matter what, seeing that they sold so much in one day, both Chen Aiguo and Xu Chunhua were very surprised and satisfied.

You have to know that they grow crops and raise livestock, and they basically invest all year round. It is only in autumn and winter that they see some income.

At that time, the few hundred yuan they earned from selling grain and the few hundred yuan they earned from buying pigs and sheep were actually their entire year's income.

At that time, they could only earn about a thousand yuan a year.

If you add up all this money, it’s actually about 100 yuan a month.

But after getting the money, apart from saving a little bit, they quickly bought fertilizers, seeds, piglets, chicks and other things.

Anyway, in the past, their net income should be around 70 or 80 yuan per month.

But now, they see a turnover of sixty to seventy yuan a day.

So at this moment, even though they couldn't immediately calculate how much money they had earned today, they instinctively felt surprised and satisfied looking at the money in front of them.

"Yes, that's really good. As long as our business is like this every day, we will soon become a millionaire."

Actually, 65 yuan means they sold about 300 pancakes today. Pancakes are different from other items. A few people buy just one, but most buy two. Some families with large families even buy eight or ten at a time. If we assume that the average customer buys four, they would have sold over 70 pancakes throughout the day.

More than seventy customers a day is naturally a lot of people in the sparsely populated Qingshui Village.

But there are three large factories here, and there should be many small factories as well, plus the normal residents nearby. So the number of customers is actually relatively small.

But Chen Pan would definitely not say such words.

Knowing that his grandparents needed encouragement and that today was their first day of business, Chen Pan, who was familiar with the business model of his previous life, pretended to know nothing at this time, and just squinted his eyes and followed his grandparents happily.

After all, she was only fourteen years old this year, and her grandparents were only in their early fifties. Their family still had a long way to go, and Chen Pan wasn't particularly anxious about making money right away. She had plenty of patience to accompany her grandparents and take things slowly.