Xia Jianguo, carrying the wine he had bought for Li Zhonghua, hugged Xia Minmin and walked towards Li Zhonghua's house with Li Chunmei.

Sun Erni was sweeping the floor outside when she saw the family of three. She quickly put down her broom and greeted them, "What's going on today? Many of the workers who come to eat are saying that our Xiaomin is a little genius. We're all confused."

Li Chunmei held Sun Erni's hand and said, "It's nothing. Xiaomin did a perfect job calculating accounts for everyone at the stall today. A lot of people who had nothing else to do came to buy things to test Xiaomin!"

Sun Erni took Xia Minmin from her arms and hugged her tightly. "Xiaomin, how are you so amazing!"

Li Zhonghua came out when he heard them talking.

"Uncle!" Xia Minmin opened her arms and asked Li Zhonghua for a hug.

"elder brother"

"Please sit for a while. There's one more dish that hasn't been cooked yet. We'll be able to eat soon."

Grandma Xia was setting the table inside. After exchanging greetings, Li Chunmei started helping with the chores.

A moment later, the family sat down to eat dinner.

Xia Jianguo mentioned the cooperative purchase of goods, agreeing to split the cost and profits 50/50. Xia Jianguo would be responsible for selling the goods, while Li Zhonghua would maintain order. They would go to purchase the goods together early the next morning.

After discussing it with Sun Erni, Li Zhonghua agreed.

This is a quick way to make money, and Xia Jianguo can earn it all, but he may not be able to hold onto it. After all, there are plenty of people who want to make a fortune during the Spring Festival.

Li Zhonghua didn't drink any alcohol. He put on his clothes and went to contact a friend's truck driver, planning to set off at four o'clock the next morning to pick up the goods early and return sooner, as the night roads were difficult to travel.

This was the first time Xia Minmin had seen Li Zhonghua put down his wine glass on his own initiative. Although Li Zhonghua loved to drink, he was a very good person, had a high alcohol tolerance, and was also very polite when drunk.

After leaving some food for Li Zhonghua, everyone continued eating.

During this time, both Grandma Xia and Sun Erni were extremely curious about Xia Minmin's arithmetic skills, and kept giving her all sorts of questions to test her, and even made her recite Tang poems.

Xia Minmin was exhausted after eating that meal.

After dinner, Li Chunmei helped Sun Erni pack her things. Li Zhonghua also returned, sitting in a chair with the food he had saved for her, talking about tomorrow's plans.

We'll meet at his doorstep at 4 AM tomorrow and set off. Both parties will give each other 3,000 yuan as capital. Xia Jianguo will organize the types of goods he needs to purchase and go to compare prices with three different vendors as soon as possible to minimize losses.

Sun Erni asked Li Chunmei to come over for dinner tomorrow. The goods that will be delivered will also be stored at Li Zhonghua's house. After the goods arrive in the evening, they will need to sort them out. It's best to have professionals handle these things during the New Year. They don't need to get involved; they just need to focus on logistics.

Xia Jianguo and his family went home with flashlights.

Behind Grandma Xia's back, Sun Erni asked Li Zhonghua, "Is it reliable to partner with your brother-in-law to buy goods? Can we make money?"

"You don't know my brother-in-law well. He won't speak unless he's absolutely sure. Just relax. Make us some food to take with us tomorrow morning. Go to sleep, I have to get up early tomorrow."

When Li Chunmei returned home, she sewed pockets inside Xia Jian's underwear. This was an essential step when traveling long distances. In the 1980s and 90s, there were no bank cards, and most people would sew pockets into their underwear for safety when carrying money to other places.

Li Chunmei gave a few instructions, set her alarm for 3:30, and then turned off the lights and went to sleep.

Xia Minmin had already fallen into a deep sleep. These were things that a two-year-old like her couldn't interfere with. She could only do what she could and not cause any trouble.

I didn't memorize any Tang poems today, but I have to memorize twenty tomorrow. Just thinking about it is very stressful. I guess I also have to memorize the multiplication table. For every student in China, the multiplication table is probably a piece of cake. That's how confident I am.

The alarm clock rang promptly at 3:30. Xia Jianguo turned on the light, and Xia Minmin turned over so that her back was to the light source and continued to sleep.

Seeing that Xia Jianguo had finished getting ready, Li Chunmei handed him a baked glutinous rice cake to tide him over. This was a gift from Xia Minmin's maternal grandfather last time. During the Spring Festival, every household in Ankang Town would make glutinous rice cakes, which could be baked, stir-fried, or boiled.

After Xia Jianguo had Li Chunmei lock the door from the inside, he walked toward Li Zhonghua's house with a flashlight in hand.

There was still a tough battle to fight today, so Xia Jianguo quickened his pace.

When Xia Jianguo arrived, the truck and driver had already reached Li Zhonghua's house.

Xia Jianguo quickly greeted them and offered cigarettes to Li Zhonghua and the driver.

"Jianguo, you're here. Come in and have a bowl of noodles. Your sister-in-law is cooking them."

The three of them set off after finishing their noodles.

After getting in the car, Li Zhonghua told Xia Jianguo to rest more, since today's procurement plan depended entirely on Xia Jianguo.

After waking up, Li Chunmei tidied up and washed all the dirty clothes in the house. She had been too busy to do laundry lately.

When Xia Minmin woke up, it was already broad daylight. Since Li Chunmei wasn't setting up her stall today, she didn't wake Xia Minmin and let her sleep until she naturally woke up. This little girl had been with them from dawn till dusk every day.

Li Chunmei fried a small piece of brown sugar glutinous rice cake for Xia Minmin, not daring to let Xia Minmin eat too much, because if a little baby eats too much glutinous rice cake, it will cause indigestion, loss of appetite, or even stomach pain.

After Xia Minmin finished breakfast, Li Chunmei began teaching her the twenty Tang poems she was to learn that day. Xia Jianguo had promised Xia Minmin last night that he would bring her something delicious if she learned them.

I spent an hour and a half memorizing twenty new Tang poems, and another half hour reviewing the Tang poems I had learned before. Task completed.

The mother and daughter locked the door and prepared to go to Sun Erni's house to help. Although it was their sister-in-law who invited them to come over for dinner, there was no reason to eat at the last minute. People should respect each other in order to maintain a long-term relationship.

Grandma Xia was already busy in the kitchen. Although it was a restaurant run by Sun Erni, the chef was Grandma Xia Minmin. Sun Erni was only responsible for purchasing, washing vegetables, and serving rice, while Grandma Xia Minmin was responsible for chopping and stir-frying the vegetables.

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