At 9:30 p.m., Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei finally returned. Their cart was less than half empty, so business must have been pretty good.

Xia Xiaomei quickly got up to heat up their food.

Li Chunmei asked, "Xiaomin, why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Today is Mom and Dad's first day setting up their stall. I wanted to wait for you so I could comfort you if business wasn't good today! But it seems like that's not necessary."

"Xiaomin, how did you know your parents wouldn't need any comforting words today?" Xia Jianguo asked with a smile.

Xia Minmin pointed to the pushcart lane and said, "Your pushcarts are much emptier now."

"How did your tutoring session at Teacher Zhu's house go today?"

"Everything is fine."

Xia Xiaomei brought out the food and said, "Second brother and sister-in-law, dinner is ready."

Li Chunmei watched Xia Minmin's little head bobbing up and down, finding it very cute.

"Little sister, have you and Xiaomin washed up yet?"

"After returning from Teacher Zhu's house, I washed up. Around 8 o'clock, Xiaomin fell asleep on the sofa. I was just about to pick her up when she woke up and insisted on waiting for you."

Li Chunmei said, "Okay, we understand. You take Xiaomin to get some sleep! We'll clean up the kitchen tomorrow. We'll take you out for morning tea tomorrow."

As spring turned to autumn, Xia Minmin and her family gradually adapted to life in Shenzhen.

Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei go to the wholesale market every day after lunch to buy goods for their stall. They started with daily necessities such as basins, towels, toothbrushes, and clothes hangers, and now they've added toiletries such as toothpaste, face cream, facial cleanser, and shampoo...

Because the products are of good quality and inexpensive, business is booming. They have already rented three storefronts there and plan to open a small supermarket so that they won't have to work in the sun and rain every day.

Xia Minmin participated in an abacus mental arithmetic competition open to all ages and won first place, becoming the youngest winner. With Xia Jianguo's help, she obtained her first library card and spends every morning reading at the library.

Xia Xiaomei's cooking is getting better and better. As Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei's business is doing well, her salary has also increased by 200 yuan, and now it is 300 yuan per month.

A series of crackling firecrackers went off...

Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei's first supermarket officially opened.

The layout of this small supermarket was completed at Xia Minmin's suggestion. It was similar to the supermarkets in my previous life. The three storefronts that Xia Jianguo rented were very large, and there was also a warehouse and a bedroom in the back. If it rained, they would stay in the store overnight.

A regular customer said, "Boss, congratulations on your fortune!"

Xia Jianguo: "Thank you, thank you. We were able to open this store thanks to your patronage. Everything is 10% off today. Please see if there's anything you need."

The store has many regular customers as well as new customers attracted by the sound of firecrackers and discounted prices. From the opening day to lunchtime, the number of customers shopping has not decreased at all. No matter when, the discounts are always the most attractive.

Xia Minmin and Xia Xiaomei came to help today. I expected there would be a lot of people, but I didn't expect there to be this many. Xia Jianguo and Xia Minmin settled the bill, while Li Chunmei and Xia Xiaomei were in charge of restocking.

The family was busy until 2 p.m. before they ate. After 5 p.m., there was another peak. It seems that the employees working in the surrounding factories bought a lot of things today, including food, drinks and other necessities.

When they closed at 8 p.m., all four of them had hoarse voices. There was another day of promotions tomorrow, after which things might get a little easier.

...

"cheers!"

"cheers!"

"cheers!"

"cheers!"

It rained heavily today, so there weren't many people in the store this afternoon, and we closed early. Xia Xiaomei prepared a sumptuous dinner at home to celebrate the grand opening of the new store.

Li Chunmei said, "It's finally raining today, so I can finally get some rest. I've been so tired lately."

Xia Jianguo said, "Finally, we're on the right track."

"Mom and Dad, I think we should have a 10% off sale twice a month from now on? That way we can buy more goods and make things easier for us."

Xia Jianguo suggested, "How about we designate every Sunday as discount day, and take a day off every Monday?"

Xia Xiaomei said, "Okay, we can go help out on Sunday too."

Li Chunmei said, "That's good, at least we can finally have a day to rest."

“Then I’ll write it down on paper and post it tomorrow. When customers come in tomorrow, Chunmei, we’ll also spread the word.”

After a month of promotion, there are many more customers coming to the store every Sunday. They mainly buy a week's worth of daily necessities and snacks, which saves them a lot of money each month.

Every Sunday, the four of them work non-stop, without even time to eat. There are a lot of people shopping on Sundays, and some even take a bus to come and buy things.

Tuesday to Saturday is a bit better; even on rainy days, it's sometimes okay for one person to go and watch the shop.

On Mondays, they would take Xia Minmin and Xia Xiaomei on a drive around to have fun. This kind of life was something Xia Minmin could never have imagined in her previous life.

"Chunmei, where are you and your family going?" a familiar resident in the neighborhood asked.

“Our family went to eat at the mall. We heard that a Western restaurant had opened, so we decided to try it out and also buy some building blocks for my daughter.”

"Alright, I won't keep you any longer. Talk to you later."

In fact, Li Chunmei was not very familiar with her neighbors in the community, as they all had to do business and left early and returned late every day.

Xia Xiaomei and Xia Minmin either stayed in the library, stayed at home, or rode their bikes around every day.

...

“They’ve really struck it rich now. I heard from my relatives that a supermarket with good quality and low prices opened near the factory and they have discounts every Sunday. Last Sunday, I took the bus there to shop, and it was indeed very cheap and had a wide variety of products. I only found out when I was paying that it was owned by them.”

"I've heard about it too, and I'm planning to go check it out some Sunday."

Are you going too? Let's go together.

"The stuff I bought last time was about 30 yuan cheaper. The same items were priced lower here and were also discounted. However, there are a lot of people shopping on Sundays, so if you don't need to buy much, there's no need to go there."

"They even made their own family packs, with soaps and shampoo sold in bundles of ten, so one purchase can last a long time."

"Now that you say that, I'm even more eager to go and see it. Money is worthless these days, and everything is expensive. Wages aren't increasing, and we still have a mortgage to pay. We can barely afford meat anymore."

"Didn't you say you were going to take a leave of absence with pay to start a business? Why did you disappear after that?"

“My father-in-law disagrees and even threatened that he would stop subsidizing us if I went into business.”

"You're such a coward! Those are his son and his grandson, how could he possibly stop giving them subsidies! If he stops, so be it, it's not like you're the only one suffering."

"What you said makes sense. Do you think Li Chunmei would tell me about her street vending if I asked her about it someday?"

"Probably, she's a really nice person. So, are you going to start a business?"

"Then come with me to see her tonight! I feel a little embarrassed to go alone."

"Alright!"

...

That evening, they went to Li Chunmei's house to find out the general situation of the stall, and the Xia family didn't know much after that.