Chapter 49 God of Wealth

Cheng Xin returned amid the eager anticipation of his fellow villagers.

Many people in the brigade were crowded in the makeshift tent waiting, and the faces of the folks were full of anxiety and anticipation.

"They're back! They're back!" Someone in the crowd shouted, and the already restless crowd pushed and shoved each other, all wanting to rush to Cheng Xin as soon as possible.

As soon as the ox cart came to a stop, Erdan's mother rushed over like a gust of wind, grabbed Cheng Xin's hand, and asked excitedly: "We've been waiting so long! Tell your aunt, how was your trip today?"

Cheng Xin lived up to everyone's expectations. She smiled and comforted them, "Auntie, don't worry. I'll settle the accounts for everyone right away." Then she turned to the person next to her and said, "Please bring a blackboard and charcoal."

Aunt He got out of the car right after him, her face full of approval: "Cheng Xin is an open and honest child. She specially asked Aunt Li and I to go to the city with her because she was afraid that everyone would have doubts and that the accounts would be unclear." Aunt He's words were full of pride, and those who didn't know her would think Cheng Xin was her daughter.

Previously, Wang Jiangang and his team went to the city to sell wild boar meat. The price was not disclosed, and they only brought people with whom they had good relationships to sell meat. Everyone in the brigade knew that he had embezzled money from it, but they just saw it and didn't say anything.

Just by looking at the expressions of Aunt Li and Aunt He, you can tell that today will be a smooth day.

Cheng Xin's voice was clear and loud: "I know that my uncles and aunts are anxious. My aunt and I will take out today's income and we will count it on the spot. By the way, please help me find a child who is good at math, so that we can calculate the cost and profit together."

As soon as the words fell, the noisy crowd below suddenly quieted down.

Cheng Xin and her aunt specially collected the money together so that they could separate it out when calculating the cost later. After she counted the bills in her hand in front of everyone, she raised her voice and announced loudly: "Today's income is a total of 290 yuan. Everyone knows the price, so let's calculate the cost directly."

She used charcoal to list the proportions of the two families on the blackboard, "Who will come up and help me with the account now?"

Gou Wa’s father immediately shouted loudly: "Gou Wa, come up! My Gou Wa is good at arithmetic!" Gou Wa’s father proudly announced to everyone how good his child was.

But before he could finish his words, someone laughed and joked, "Come on, your Gou Wa got a big zero on his last math test, so let Er Dan, who has a family, go!"

Erdan's father couldn't help laughing and poked Gouwa's father with his elbow proudly.

Erdan's mother's face flushed red, and she waved her hands anxiously, blurting out the truth: "My Erdan can't do addition and subtraction above 100, let's find someone else."

Everyone burst into laughter, and the tense atmosphere in the tent suddenly became much more relaxed.

Amid everyone's laughter, Cheng Lei held his head high and walked confidently to his sister's side.

"Let me do it. I'm good at math."

At the moment, there are indeed no children who are good at mathematics. Everyone suddenly realized that it is really not good for the brigade to not have a primary school, and the children still have to be sent to school.

Cheng Xin looked at her brother, her eyes full of tenderness, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, and she gently reminded him: "Xiao Lei, don't be nervous, I will try to speak slowly. If you don't hear clearly, remember to ask me again."

Cheng Xin began to report the expenses in a clear and orderly manner: "I made a total of 600 servings of popcorn, 500 servings of caramel flavor and 100 servings of salty flavor, with a total income of 280 yuan. I sold a total of 50 cups of tender corn, with an income of 10 yuan."

Cheng Lei held the charcoal tightly, his face full of concentration, and his hands quickly recorded and calculated on the blackboard.

"Now calculate the cost, the cost of sugar is 2.4 yuan, the cost of oil is 0.04 yuan, the total cost is 2.44 yuan, and the net profit is 287.56 yuan."

As soon as Cheng Xin finished speaking, Cheng Lei also finished speaking, and the result was exactly the same as what his sister said.

Everyone was stunned when they heard the answer, their faces full of disbelief.

Before Cheng Xin finished her words, she continued to calculate another account: "The price of old corn in the supply and marketing cooperative is 1.2 yuan, the price of tender corn with core is 1.5 yuan, and the price of cornmeal is 1.8 yuan. I found out that cornmeal can be sold for 2.5 yuan in the free market. But 100 kilograms of corn can only make 70 kilograms of cornmeal, and the net profit is 11.2 yuan. The free market may be about 5 yuan more expensive. If the corn is processed into popcorn, the profit is at least 17 times that of cornmeal."

When Cheng Xin's calculation results came out, everyone was shocked.

"17 times, how much is that?"

Cheng Xin thought about it and explained it in detail: "You can understand it this way. Grinding 100 kilograms of corn into cornmeal can only make 16 yuan, but making it all into popcorn can make 287 yuan, which is 17 times the profit of grinding flour! Even if you only use half of the corn for processing, you can still make more than 140 yuan. If you can't bear to give up white sugar, you can use wild honey instead of white sugar. The cost is almost zero, and the fuel cost is negligible."

When everyone heard Cheng Xin's detailed explanation, there was silence at first, and then the whole tent was in an uproar.

"Wow, popcorn is really profitable if you calculate it this way!" Uncle Zhang slapped his thigh, shock written all over his wrinkled face, and his voice was particularly loud amid the noisy discussions.

"Young people have flexible minds. In the past, even if we knew that popcorn could make money, we couldn't make it." Old Zhou echoed, rubbing his hands together as he spoke, as if he couldn't wait to get started.

"Cheng Xin, you are really the lucky star of our team!" Old Lady Liu walked up to Cheng Xin and held her hand tightly, thanking Cheng Xin for leading everyone to save themselves. Their whole family did not have enough food to eat, and the damn Wang Fugui almost made her family starve.

Amid the heated discussion, everyone made up their minds and decided to dry the corn they had harvested and make it into popcorn to sell, since it would only take a few days.

Several families who had old corn at home were even more anxious and wanted to go home and start working immediately.

Zhao Tiezhu is one of them. His family has saved up a lot of old corn, but they are frugal and dare not touch it, for fear that they will not be able to make ends meet one day.

The next morning, he and his wife went straight into the kitchen, set up a big pot and started making popcorn. The yard was filled with a sweet smell. In the evening, Zhao Tiezhu came back with two big bamboo baskets, his face filled with uncontrollable joy.

He excitedly announced the good news to everyone: "I went to my father-in-law's town to sell popcorn today. I sold out both baskets and made a full fifty dollars!"

Zhao Tiezhu stood in the drying yard, his voice full of pride.

The crowd was in an uproar again, and everyone gathered around and started asking questions.

"Tiezhu, tell us quickly, how do you sell it?"

"Do you have any tricks? Teach us!"

"My God, making fifty dollars a day is something I can't even dream of!"

Zhao Tiezhu cleared his throat and spoke excitedly: "I followed Cheng Xin's instructions and sold caramel and salty flavors together. I set up a stall in front of the cotton mill. There were many female comrades there, and there was also a primary school in the cotton mill. The stall was crowded and sold very quickly. City people like the taste of popcorn. My wife is very skillful. People say that holding a newspaper bag full of popcorn in her arms looks very fashionable. Thanks to Cheng Xin's method, I made money so easily today!"

After listening to Zhao Tiezhu's experience sharing, everyone's worries disappeared without a trace.

“It turns out to be so simple!”

Although we know that popcorn can make money, we were not sure how to sell it specifically. Now everyone is reassured.

“Just set up a stall where there are a lot of people!”

"Yes, let's hurry back and get it. We can't fall behind others!"

Everyone was talking at the same time, full of energy.

Cheng Xin looked at the lively scene, the corners of her mouth lifted unconsciously, and she was happy for everyone from the bottom of her heart.

Zhao Tiezhu's wife held Cheng Xin's hand, her face filled with gratitude: "Cheng Xin, you are the God of Wealth of the team! From now on, we will do whatever you say, and everyone will listen to you!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, looking at Cheng Xin with eyes full of trust and support.