Xia Jingxing deftly picked up a piece of meat with a bamboo skewer and handed it to her: "Auntie, please try this. It's delicious. You can heat it up at home and eat it right away. It's great with rice or as a side dish with alcohol. I guarantee you'll want to come back for more after you've had it once."

The aunt believed him, after all, the braised meat smelled so good. She took the bamboo skewer and bit off the meat, and was immediately conquered by its fragrant, tender and soft texture. Only one word came to her mind: "delicious".

Even though the auntie thought the braised meat was too expensive after tasting it, she was a discerning person and believed it was worth the price, so she gritted her teeth and bought a pound.

With such a successful start, onlookers also bought some to take home after tasting the braised meat.

The incredibly delicious braised meat was very popular, and after the first few people paid for the meat, their hands never stopped moving.

Xia Jingxing and Duolu were both too busy cutting, packing, and weighing meat, so Duoxi, who was in charge of collecting money, took on the additional task of taking orders.

The more than 200 kilograms of meat sold out in just half an hour.

Despite the freezing weather, the group worked up a sweat.

Back home, Xia Jingxing, nearing thirty, skipped and hopped into the kitchen like a child, asking Xia Jingshu, who was busy inside, "Fourth Brother, is it done yet?"

Xia Jingshu: "It will take another half hour."

Although they started braising the meat last night, they can only braise a few dozen kilograms at a time.

The more than 200 jin of meat included the last pot that Xia Jingxing brought out before leaving home.

Not long after the braised meat came out of the pot, Xia Jingxing took the meat out.

He came back in less than two hours, and the freshly cooked meat wasn't even properly braised.

Xia Jingxing glanced at the meat in the pot and sighed, "It's too slow. We need to find a way to buy a few more pots."

Judging from the current situation of selling braised meat, they could sell out even if they prepared several hundred kilograms of meat a day.

One pot simply can't keep up with the speed at which they sell braised meat.

The person tending the fire now turned to Dorje: "Fifth Uncle, did you sell out so quickly?"

Xia Jingxing shared happily, "Yes, our braised meat is very popular. The meat, which costs 4.5 yuan per pound, is being snapped up like crazy. Some people who couldn't buy any didn't want us to leave."

Raw meat costs less than a dollar a pound these days, yet their braised meat, priced at four and a half dollars a pound, is being snapped up like this. Xia Jingxing is starting to regret pricing it so low.

Thinking of this, Xia Jingxing asked, "Fourth Brother, should we raise the price of our braised meat?"

Xia Jingshu: "This is already very good, let's not talk about it for now."

Their meat is indeed delicious, but free trade has just begun. If the price is set too high, some envious people might complain. The business is just starting out; it's best to keep a low profile.

The three pigs were sold out in two days. The group went hunting a few more times and raised enough start-up capital. By the end of February 1979, the group had reached that point.

Xia Jingsheng found a school for the children, and their schooling journey began again.

Xia Jingshu and Xia Jingxing took a large sum of money to Pengcheng, which had become a special economic zone and was full of foreign businessmen. Watches that cost one or two hundred yuan in China could be bought from foreign businessmen for only a few yuan or a dozen yuan.

The two bought a thousand watches at once and resold them. In less than a month, their capital had multiplied several times.

While the Xia brothers, Jingshu and Jingxing, were diligently building their business, Yu Rujia's pharmacy also opened.

Han Meifeng said, "Rujia, are you sure you don't need me to bring some people to spend money?"

Yu Rujia: "No, Mom, please don't bring me any customers. I opened this pharmacy just to pass the time. I never thought about making it big. I do business when customers come in, and I don't care if there are no customers."

“I have no reputation now. If you really bring customers over, these people will become the ones who help my business. From now on, I will have to treat them like royalty.”

"If something happens one day and someone says, 'You didn't have any customers when you first opened your shop. It was our customers who helped you open successfully,' wouldn't I feel frustrated? I have a skill, and customers will come sooner or later. I'm not in a hurry."

While others worry about not having customers when they open their businesses, she doesn't worry at all.

The love of beauty is human nature; putting everything else aside, a single bar of soap is enough to make people fight tooth and nail for it.

Once even one person buys her product, a steady stream of customers will come, and she'll only worry about having too many customers.

As someone who's not exactly a go-getter, her pharmacy will likely only be open sporadically; she doesn't want people calling to urge her to deliver goods even when she doesn't want to open anymore.

The pharmacy was named "Jinghe Pharmacy", and the mugwort soap was named "Jingyan Soap".

Her pharmacy sells only high-end medicines.

Yu Rujia donated over a hundred prescriptions more than a decade ago, all of which were commonly used medicines. Now, resources are scarce, and some of them cannot be supplied. However, Yu Rujia believes that the market gap will gradually narrow in a few years.

She didn't intend to compete with ordinary pharmacies for business; doing so would not only exhaust her but also leave her with little money.

Since they're all in the pharmaceutical industry, why not produce high-profit, high-return products and easily earn more money in the same amount of time?

Besides soap, she also makes shampoo. While hair loss isn't common now, many people still suffer from dry, frizzy, and yellow hair. Turning gray hair black is a significant selling point, and that's where the market lies.

Jinghe Pharmacy opened quietly, just like its name suggests.

To accommodate fewer guests, Yu Rujia also hung a sign at the entrance that read "Medications start at a minimum price of ten yuan".

In an era when workers earned only a few dozen yuan a month, many people would have given up at the sight of this sign.

However, some people still came in out of curiosity because of her high drug prices.

The price of Jingyan soap is fifty yuan a bar. Many people think she's ripping people off. Yu Rujia doesn't explain, but politely asks people to leave.

Some people bought one out of curiosity and tried it out, but they all fell for it and became repeat customers.

The most expensive face cream outside costs 38 yuan a box, but it's not as effective as her soap. She sells her soap for 50 yuan a bar, which is already a great deal.

The pharmacy's business gradually got back on track, and its daily income went from zero to several hundred yuan.

Xia Jingxing was envious of how quickly they made money. They worked hard, traveling from south to north, and their net income was only around 100,000 yuan a month, which they had to split between themselves.

Yu Rujia can sit comfortably in the shop for a while, and her net income for a month is at least ten or twenty thousand.

This is because she's too lazy and doesn't want to move. If she were more diligent, she would definitely earn more money than them.

Moreover, as Jinghe Pharmacy gains a foothold in the social circles of wealthy women, its future income will only increase.

Xia Jingxing was considering switching to the pharmaceutical business, but he didn't have the ability to take market share from Yu Rujia, and he also felt that dealing with ordinary drugs was too troublesome. So he just thought about it and didn't really consider entering the pharmaceutical industry.