Chapter 5

At five o'clock in the morning, the long street was empty and a tiny moon was dotted in the dawn sky.

Chen Lanjun, Zhao Hong and two friends he called for help moved things of all sizes to the street corner and arranged them neatly.

Being the first to do business has its benefits. At least for now, since there are very few individual business owners setting up stalls on the street, the relevant departments just turn a blind eye to the business occupying the road and pretend that it does not exist. Chen Lanjun and her stalls can be set up wherever they want, even next to the busiest place in the school, and no one cares. However, in a few years, this will probably not work. Once there are regulations, this regulation and that regulation come into effect, and stalls can no longer be set up as you please.

After all, the early worm catches the bird.

Chen Lanjun specially made an advertising banner, the main material of which was the tablecloth donated by Chen Mudan, and wrote in blue ink "Educated Youth Starts a Business, 10 Cent for Breakfast". She also got two rags, tied them to the clothes drying pole, and placed them next to the stall.

Even though it was not very hot in the early morning, several people were sweating while waiting to pack up the stall.

Chen Lanjun was mainly tired from putting things away, while Zhao Hong was visibly nervous. He looked around and paced back and forth, and there was no moment of peace.

“Will anyone really buy it?”

Zhao Hong asked Chen Lanjun.

Chen Lanjun sat firmly on the small stool and fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan: "This is the third time you've asked. Yes, there must be."

The friend who came to help, named Tian Qiang, clapped his hands and laughed: "You, as an older brother, act more like a younger brother, haha."

"Stop being crazy." Zhao Hong glared at him and continued to look forward to it.

*** ***

Grandma Liu has lived in the neighborhood for most of her life.

Her husband passed away early, and she raised her daughter by herself. Now her daughter is married, has a child, and the whole family lives with her, which is quite lively.

Every morning, her daughter and son-in-law rushed to work, and the task of sending her granddaughter to school fell on her.

My granddaughter stayed in bed today and took a long time to get up.

The porridge that had been cooked had already gone cold. The little thing took a bite, thought the taste was bad, and turned its head away, refusing to eat.

Granny Liu looked at the stove and found it was out. It would be a waste of time to light it again. She remembered that she had heard someone was going to sell porridge on the street, so she said, "Hurry up. Granny will take you outside to buy food."

When she heard that there was food to eat, the granddaughter's eyes lit up and she moved faster immediately.

The grandparents walked on the street for a while. Grandma Liu felt a little regretful. She should have forced her granddaughter to eat more. What if they didn't set up a stall? Or the food was too expensive?

The granddaughter was very happy and even hummed a song.

Seeing the child so happy, Grandma Liu felt relieved. Even though the products were a little expensive, she would buy from him as long as he set up a stall.

From a distance, I saw a few people setting up stalls at the intersection in front of the school.

As soon as Granny Liu walked over, the little girl who was sitting there immediately stood up and greeted her warmly:

"Grandma, do you want to buy something for my sister? There are porridge and rice rolls, both only ten cents!"

Granny Liu confirmed in surprise: "They are all ten cents?"

"Yes, both."

This price is quite low, thought Grandma Liu. She looked around the stall with a critical eye. The girls and boys who were setting up the stall had clean fingernails and were neatly dressed. They also wore two white sleeves, looking a bit like waiters in a state-owned restaurant. There were two buckets under the signboard, both wrapped in cotton to keep warm. There was a small square table next to it, with a small stool. There were bowls and chopsticks, and even a bucket of clean water next to it, with a bowl floating in the water, which was obviously used for washing dishes.

Granny Liu breathed a sigh of relief. It looked relatively hygienic. She had originally thought that it would cost 20 or 30 cents to buy a bowl. Since it only cost 10 cents...

After thinking for a while, Granny Liu said, "Then I'll give you one serving each."

"Okay, grandma, you sit down."

The little girl smiled and made a bowl of porridge and a portion of vegetarian rice rolls by herself.

When her granddaughter was clamoring for food, Grandma Liu said, "Try it first, and if it's delicious, you can have it all."

Grandma Liu tasted the porridge first. It should have been cooked with firewood. The heat was just right. Some rice grains had already bloomed. There was a light sweetness in one bite.

"With sugar?" she asked.

"Yes," the little girl replied with a smile, "Grandma knows how to eat it. You can tell the difference just by tasting it."

The granddaughter tugged at Grandma Liu's sleeve and said, "Grandma, I want to drink."

"Okay, okay."

Grandma Liu moved the bowl in front of her. Her granddaughter took a bite and started eating.

"Slow down, don't choke."

While giving these instructions, Grandma Liu picked up a piece of rice roll to try.

The crepe-like rice rolls are white in color and have a soft and glutinous texture. They taste just right with the salty and fragrant sauce.

But Granny Liu had eaten freshly steamed rice rolls from state-owned restaurants before. Compared to that, this one seemed just so-so, neither good nor bad, and it was considered the taste of rice rolls. But thinking about the three-fold price difference between the two, Granny Liu felt it was balanced.

Grandma Liu did a quick calculation and thought, wow, there seems to be not much difference between buying food outside and cooking with firewood at home, so she could indeed consider buying food outside, and she could also sleep a little longer thanks to the B.C.

While the grandparents and grandchildren were having breakfast, a mother and son passed by.

The little boy, who was a classmate of the granddaughter, asked, "What are you eating?"

"Porridge, and rice noodle rolls." The granddaughter immediately showed off, "Only ten cents."

The little boy couldn't walk anymore, and he opened his mouth and started yelling, "Mom - I want to eat this."

"You've already had breakfast..."

"I'm not full! I want more!"

There is a tendency for them to throw a tantrum if they are not allowed to buy their products.

The mother had no choice but to buy him one, thinking that it was only a dime.

"Wait a moment, it will be ready soon." Chen Lanjun took the money, nudged Zhao Hong with her elbow, and reminded him softly, "What are you doing here? Go to work."

"Oh, okay." Zhao Hong reacted and started to make porridge in a hurry.

Tian Qiang, who came to help, saw that they were all busy, so he took the initiative to clean up the empty dishes and wash them.

People passing by saw a breakfast stall suddenly appearing on the street and thought it was interesting, so they would take a second look.

At this time, the promotional banner specially drawn by Chen Lanjun came in handy. It made people remember it at a glance. This was a stall set up by educated youth, and a breakfast cost only ten cents.

Even though many people had already had breakfast and therefore did not buy it, they already had an impression of it.

After a busy day, by around ten o'clock, all the porridge and rice rolls were sold out.

Chen Lanjun stretched lazily: "Okay, pack up and go back--"

She was about to say she was going home, but suddenly changed her mind: "Well, I'm going to the street office to return the bucket."

There is a big barrel that I borrowed from the street office.

These educated youth were very familiar with the road leading to the street office. Since returning to the city, they were either blocking the door of the educated youth office or the street office, demanding an explanation from the organization so that they could arrange jobs for themselves.

Zhao Hong was the one who went to the street office the least. After all, Shen Mudan worked in the street office in this area. If Zhao Hong went, it would only embarrass his mother.

Tian Qiang was a frequent visitor to the street office. He rushed in with great vigor and confidence. The street office cadre in charge of educated youth work changed his expression when he saw him.

"Why are you here again?" The street office cadre, known as Lao Guo, sighed. "There are no jobs, not even temporary workers. If there is any news about recruitment, I will notify you as soon as possible! Okay?"

As he was explaining, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Zhao Hong behind him, so he immediately shouted, "Chen Mudan! Chen Mudan, your son is here, come out quickly."

Shen Mudan flashed out from an office at the back and asked in surprise: “Ahong, Alan, Aqiang, why are you here?”

After Lao Guo shifted the blame to someone else, he planned to run away, but Chen Lanjun stopped him with a smile.

"Comrade, you are in charge of the work of the educated youth. We are here to return the bucket and to thank you in person for supporting us in starting our own business and becoming self-reliant."

What bucket? Lao Guo adjusted his glasses and thought about it, then he remembered that Shen Mudan did borrow a bucket, saying that his son and niece wanted to try to sell breakfast.

Seeing that he was not here to ask for a job, Lao Guo breathed a sigh of relief and put on a smiling expression that only a good guy can have. "Oh, is that the matter? It's okay. We are serving the people."

Chen Lanjun smiled and said, "We'll wash them and put them away later, but we may need to borrow them before we get off work tonight. They're all sold out today."

"Really? Sold out?" Shen Mudan's tone was full of surprise.

"Yes," Chen Lanjun said deliberately, "I sold it... Eh? How much did it sell for? Let me count it now."

As she spoke, she took out the money from her bag and counted them one by one.

"One cent, two cents... fifty cents... one dollar..."

The clear and crisp sound of her counting money echoed in the office of the subdistrict office. When other staff members inside heard it, they couldn't help but stick their heads out to watch the excitement of counting money.

"Six dollars...six dollars and five, seven dollars, seven dollars and one, seven dollars and two, seven dollars and three."

"That's seven dollars and thirty cents!"

As soon as Chen Lanjun stopped counting money, the street office suddenly became quiet, a very subtle silence.

One day, no, half a day, seven dollars and thirty cents.

These days the average monthly wage is about 30 yuan, and the average daily wage is 1 yuan.

Can selling breakfast earn you 7 times your daily wage?!