In early spring, the apricot blossoms sprouted, revealing green tendrils and pinkish-white buds.

After the holiday, people returned to their usual busy routines.

Xia Enruo had Zhao Minghui, Zhao Mingyan, and several other employees clean up the shop early in the morning and start business.

Since students haven't started school yet, the store hasn't been very crowded these past two days.

In order to expand her business, Xia Enruo had already planned to choose a location for her new store in the spring.

She had Zhao Minghui follow her to find suitable shops around three schools in Yongning City: Normal University, Finance and Trade School, and Agricultural and Animal Husbandry College.

Zhao Minghui is not only skilled in martial arts and can serve as a bodyguard, but more importantly, he is also eloquent and can help with negotiating prices.

The two spent two days looking around and found several places they liked, with two-story street-front buildings priced between 4,000 and 6,000.

Xia Enruo had already decided that if she wanted to open a shop, she would first buy the land, only buying and not renting.

On the one hand, I have enough funds, and on the other hand, it is safer to do business in my own shop. Renting a place to do business is never a solution.

Landlords always think about raising rents when they see money to be made. If you have to spend a lot of money on renovations and then move to a new place, it will be very difficult. So they might as well just buy the property themselves and have the final say.

Moreover, housing prices haven't gone up yet, so investing in real estate will only result in profits in the future.

Xia Enruo had found several houses and was preparing to show them to Gu Shaoxuan before making a final decision.

These past few days, the military has changed its training program, and Gu Shaoxuan has been extremely busy. He hasn't been home for a week straight, as he's been working on the front lines assessing the effectiveness of the training.

Ge Qiuqin was completely disappointed in Zhang Xin after their fight.

I thought he had changed his ways and learned to care for his family and love his wife, but it turns out it was all an act; he's still the same old guy at heart.

After making money with Xia Enruo in the past six months, Ge Qiuqin finally saw things clearly. She realized that it didn't matter if she was a man or not; only by having money in her own pocket and being educated could she gain a foothold in this society.

Only then can children be fed, clothed, and live a good life.

She's busy with the shop's work in the laundry room every day now, and she doesn't care whether Zhang Xin comes back or not.

After Zhang Xin ran away during the Chinese New Year, he found Chen Yan, knelt down before her, and begged for her forgiveness, promising that he would definitely have the opportunity to kill all the children in the future and give her a perfect marriage.

The two have long been living together in a rented apartment, and Zhang Xin sticks to her as soon as he returns to the city.

He had long since lost all face in the compound and had no intention of going home anymore; even his monthly allowance had been cut off.

He wanted to make Ge Qiuqin so poor that she would have to kneel down and kowtow to him, begging for forgiveness.

While Gu Shaoxuan was back in the city, Xia Enruo dragged him to see the new shop.

Gu Shaoxuan knew nothing about doing business; his mind was completely focused on improving the military's tactics.

"Honey, you can make these decisions yourself. If you need money or funds, just let me know. I'll ask my parents for it."

Before Mom passed away before the New Year, she said that if we needed money, we should just ask; we still have savings at home.

He felt sorry for Xia Enruo working so hard for her business. When she was resting at home during the Spring Festival, he advised her to relax a bit, saying that the money was enough for the family to live on.

There's no need to work so hard and exhaust yourself.

However, Xia Enruo is not the type of person who can stay at home. Now she feels more and more that seizing the opportunity of reform and opening up and making money by expanding her business empire is the most important thing.

“I have the money. You are the man of the house. Buying a house is a big deal for our family. I need to let you know and get your opinion.”

"Honey, I'm just a common soldier and I don't know anything about business. My opinion is that I agree with yours. I trust your vision and decision-making."

You don't need to tell me about business matters in the future. Just tell me if you need my help anywhere. By the way, Dad is the Minister of the Organization Department of the Provincial Government.

If the government needs Dad's help anywhere, just tell me and I'll call him. His word still carries some weight.

Xia Enruo was somewhat surprised to learn that her father-in-law held such a high position for the first time. Previously, she only knew that her father-in-law worked in the provincial capital, but she did not know the specifics of his position and was not interested in it.

Since you're married, you still have to rely on your own hard work. You can't rely on your parents forever.

"I understand. There's no need to bother Dad with trivial matters. Even though you hold a high position, you still have to do favors when you talk to those below you. If they do things for you, they'll definitely need your help in the future."

My thought is to avoid trouble if possible; we still have to rely on ourselves.

“Enruo, you’re just like me in this respect. That’s what I thought after I joined the army. After all, our family’s success was built by our parents’ generation. You have to be strong yourself to succeed.”

After showing Gu Shaoxuan the houses, Xia Enruo finally decided on the locations of the shops near the three universities.

Having made her decision, she acted swiftly and decisively. She immediately signed the contract, paid the money, and took the keys.

She earned more than 20,000 yuan in six months, spent about 15,000 yuan on the house, and planned to use the remaining 7,000 yuan for renovations.

Xia Enruo has made up her mind that, apart from the medical university shop which will still retain private rooms for customized banquets, the other three shops will all operate as fast food establishments.

Moreover, there is no separate kitchen for cooking; all hot dishes are prepared at the medical university's restaurant and then delivered to various shops for sale.

The kitchens of the three newly opened shops only prepare staple foods such as rice, steamed buns, rice porridge, and fried dough sticks.

Because her shop mainly relies on its dishes to succeed, she is not yet confident in the quality of food prepared by other chefs.

At the same time, she also thought of converting the second floor of all four shops into a supermarket, leaving a counter specifically for washing and tailoring clothes.

The laundry room was moved out, and a warehouse was rented specifically for washing and sewing.

In this day and age, supermarket-style shopping is not popular; traditional state-owned stores still dominate, and department stores are considered the newest and most novel way to shop.

However, supermarkets were already ubiquitous in Europe and America by the 1980s, so Xia Enruo wanted to be the first to introduce the mainstream mass-market shopping method from her previous life to Yongning.

Start with the area near universities, because university students have high spending power and need to buy a lot of items every year at the start of the semester.

The school shops could not meet all the students' shopping needs. They mainly sold food and groceries. Local products and hardware such as towels, shampoo, and washbasins could only be purchased by going to state-run stores or even department stores.

Xia Enruo was thinking of opening a supermarket on the second floor of the shop, stocking a full range of goods to meet the students' one-stop shopping needs. This would not only complement the restaurant's customer flow but also boost revenue.

By setting up a separate laundry room, the washing needs of four universities can be met, which not only greatly increases the washing capacity but also doubles the efficiency and saves a lot of costs.