Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan's company is called Huaguang. They thought of many names and spent a long time choosing one. In the end, they felt that "Huaguang" was easy to pronounce and remember. Moreover, even first and second grade elementary school students would recognize these two characters. How great is that?

Huaguang doesn't have an office yet, but it has a warehouse that Liang's father vacated for them.

However, the warehouse is empty now. Liang Qinxuan and Guan Baiyu are currently staying in the small workshop that does contract manufacturing for them every day.

This was their company's first product, and the quality had to be impeccable. However, without employees, they had to oversee it themselves.

The small workshop was located in a self-built house in the countryside, and the sewing machines used by the people working inside were the old-fashioned kind.

In the 1980s, one of the major items to buy for a wedding in the area was a sewing machine. For a few years, families with decent financial means would buy a sewing machine and a bicycle when they got married.

Bicycles are still useful to most people, but sewing machines... many people don't use them at all, leaving them in a corner of the house where they just gather dust.

Therefore, the men and women working in the workshops now mostly bring their own sewing machines.

Yes, men.

In Changxi City, light industry is more developed than heavy industry, and factories often hire female workers, making it difficult for men to find jobs.

These small workshops pay by the piece, and there are no gender restrictions, so naturally there are men willing to do the work.

The workshop is run by a husband and wife. The wife is in charge of taking orders and collecting money, while the husband does things like moving and delivering goods. Their parents cook for the workers and do some tidying work at home. The whole family is very busy.

Many private enterprises have grown up little by little by relying on their own family members.

The family's two main rooms had a large door between them. One side was occupied by more than a dozen workers, while the other side had some goods and two tables.

One of these two tables is used for meals, and the other has a kettle and tea leaves on it, serving as a tea table for the workers.

Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan sat at the dining table, doing their homework together.

"Guan Baiyu, you didn't even do your winter break homework?" Liang Qinxuan was surprised.

Guan Baiyu said, "What's so strange about that?"

"Don't you really enjoy doing homework? Winter break has been so long, why haven't you done any?"

"I went to my brother's hometown." "Isn't that in the mountains? You can't even watch TV in the mountains, so you have to do your homework?"

Guan Baiyu glanced at Liang Qinxuan: "Without TV, you're willing to do your homework? Isn't there anything else fun to do?"

"Of course there are, but I didn't think you'd go play..."

Guan Baiyu ignored him.

Of course he wouldn't go out to play; he was going to stay with his brother.

But unusually, both he and his brother were fine, and on days when they could spend time together, he would only do his homework when he was feeling crazy.

He didn't even bring his homework to Shizhen's hometown!

Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan were engrossed in doing their homework.

Liang Qinxuan's winter vacation was not easy at all—he had to go to tutoring classes every day.

That's why he didn't do his winter break homework either.

"You don't need to learn all this to start a company, right? Why do I have to learn so much?" Liang Qinxuan was a little unhappy. "My dad doesn't understand any of this, but he still runs a big company!" Although his dad had been a teacher, he couldn't understand the science subjects they learned in high school anymore!

"If you want to start a company bigger than your dad's, of course you need to study!" Guan Baiyu said without hesitation. "Besides... the times are changing so fast, are you sure you don't want to go out and see the world?"

In recent years, many nouveau riche have emerged in Changxi City, and many people have made their fortunes through doing business.

As a result, some opinions, such as that reading is useless, have become rampant.

Especially those bosses who made money without ever having studied, like to say that.

However, Shi Zhen always scoffed at these ideas and often told Guan Baiyu that studying was very important. Guan Baiyu always listened to Shi Zhen, so he naturally kept urging Liang Qinxuan to study.

Liang Qinxuan is lazy by nature. It's not that he doesn't want to study, it's just that... well, with his personality, he only studies properly when someone is watching and forcing him.

For example, before he lived at school, he couldn't control himself from playing when he got home. Now that he lives at school and attends evening self-study sessions with other students, he studies along with them.

As the two were learning, it was noon, and the boss's parents called the workers to get their meals.

Meals are provided here, but the food isn't very good. For example, today, each person got a bowl of braised radish with a piece of salted meat on top. After the workers took the food, they used their own stainless steel rice trays to get a bowl of rice and then went back to their sewing machines to eat.

Most people aren't picky eaters, though some don't eat radishes or fatty salted meat. They give the vegetables to others and take out fermented bean curd or pickled vegetables to eat with rice.

Liang Qinxuan and Guan Baiyu's meals were better than theirs. They ate with the boss's family. On the table, there was a bowl of braised radish, a bowl of stir-fried greens, a bowl of salted meat, and a dish of stir-fried eggs with garlic leaves.

Most importantly, the salted meat the workers eat is fatty pork belly, while the meat here is leaner, and the ribs attached to the pork belly are also here!

The ribs weren't cut in half; there were two long pieces. Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan each took one and gnawed on them with great relish. Not only that, but the owner and his wife also praised them highly.

The boss and his wife also have children. Those children are naughty and don't like to study. They refuse to do their homework on their own at home. When they see Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan doing their homework on their own, they can't help but praise them.

After lunch, they began to check the quality of the pencil cases they had made that morning, while also counting them.

When I checked, I saw loose threads or something similar, so I cut them off with scissors.

Most of the pencil cases were up to standard, but a few were not, so they had to be taken apart and re-sewn. One woman, who had made a lot of defective products, was scolded by the boss: "Although we are paid by piece, we still care about quality. If you make them like this, no one will want them! If you are so perfunctory next time, don't come to me for work!"

Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan stayed there until 4:30 pm before going home separately.

It was already dark when Guan Baiyu got home.

Today is the fourteenth day of the first lunar month.

Shi Zhen is building a house for Fang Changming, and they've agreed to start construction tomorrow, hoping for a joyous reunion on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

However, he has not been idle these past few days. In addition to settling the people he brought from the village, Shi Zhen has also been teaching them how to build houses.

Today, Shi Xingchao also brought his family.

Shi Zhen and the others left on the seventh day of the lunar new year, but Shi Xingchao delayed them for a few more days and only arrived today.

Shi Xingchao rented a house for his family, not far from Guan Jian's home. Shi Zhen went over today to help tidy it up.

Upon seeing Guan Baiyu return, Shi Zhen immediately said, "Xiaoyu, you're finally back. Come on, let's go to your uncle's house for dinner."

Shi Zhen helped out, and they ate dinner at Shi Dashan's house. Tomorrow night, they would all go to Shi Dalin's house for dinner.

During the meal, everyone chatted about what Shi Dashan's family would do next. Shi Zhen suggested that Shi Dashan go with Shi Dalin to set up a stall for a few days to see how things went. As for Shi Xingchao's sister and Shi Dashan's wife, they could wander around the neighborhood, familiarize themselves with the environment, and embroider sweaters at the same time.

In two days, the wool sweater factory will deliver the new clothes.

In addition, Shi Zhen also increased Shi Xingchao's salary to three hundred.

Shi Xingchao was a little embarrassed: "I was just helping you keep an eye on things, and I can even embroider sweaters myself. Two hundred is already a lot, why did you give me three hundred?"

"Because I won't be providing you with room and board anymore," Shi Zhen said with a smile. He used to pay Shi Xingchao 200 yuan a month because he provided room and board, but now that he wasn't, he would definitely have to pay him more.

Also... at the beginning of this year, many factories raised wages for their workers.

Prices are rising rapidly in this era, and so are wages. It's quite normal for monthly wages to increase by 100 yuan a year.

As they were talking, Shi Xingchao suddenly said, "By the way, Shi Zhen, when we came back this time, we saw Shi Zhiqiang and the others in the provincial capital."

"Are they in the provincial capital?" Shi Zhen asked.

“Yes, they’re in the provincial capital, living at the bus station with their luggage. They probably haven’t found work yet,” Shi Xingchao said.

Shi Zhen was not surprised.

Without cell phones and readily available information, finding a job isn't easy these days, and it's quite normal to not find one when you first start out.

However, things have changed rapidly in recent years. If you really put your mind to it, you're sure to find work.

They can develop their businesses in the provincial capital and perhaps even thrive there.

Of course, that's none of his business; he just needs to take care of himself.

The next day, Shi Zhen led his men to Fang Changming's land to help him dig the foundation and prepare to build a house.

Fang Changming finally decided to build a two-story villa, focusing on its unique design. The key to this house was its design; otherwise, it would have been easier to build.

Shi Zhen led his team to start work with great enthusiasm. He also made an agreement with a nearby farmer's family that they would cook vegetables for him when he bought them, and he would give them a small processing fee in return.

He doesn't have many workers under him yet, and hiring someone to cook for them would be too costly. It's more cost-effective to pay a processing fee to have someone else do the cooking.

Shi Zhen hired an elderly woman in her sixties. He paid her one hundred yuan a month, and she was willing to help cook lunch. She even brought her own oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other seasonings.

Of course, Shi Zhen would also be careful. For example, when buying meat, he would ask the butcher to cut it into pieces for him and calculate one piece for each person. This way, he could avoid the old lady stealing too much meat.

This wasn't Shi Zhen making malicious assumptions about others, but rather... it was something that was almost certain to happen.

Even when he cooks for others, he can't guarantee he won't sneak a bite.

However, if the old lady occasionally eats cheap chicken bones or something, then it's not a big deal if she saves a little bit.

Shi Zhen often buys vegetables and rice from the old lady, which is cheaper.

After a few days, the people who came from the village with Shi Zhen all learned how to build walls, how to sift sand, how to mix cement, and so on.

Shi Zhen made an agreement with them that for the first month, since they didn't know how to do many things and he would have to teach them everything, he would give them 200 yuan. Starting from the second month, their monthly salary would be 300 yuan. After completing a task, he would give them a bonus, the amount of which would be linked to how well they performed.

If the salary is too high, Shi Zhen can't afford it.

None of the six people had any objections. Although their income was a bit less compared to Shi Dalin and Zhao Qiujuan, this was the normal situation!

Moreover, Shi Zhen provides lunch, and the six of them cook and eat breakfast and dinner together, so it doesn't cost much... They can still save a lot of money!

That day, Shi Zhen and his team were building a wall when Fang Changming arrived.

"Brother Fang, you're here?" Shi Zhen, who was working, put down his work and greeted Fang Changming.

Fang Changming looked around and found that the outline of his house had already emerged.

Shi Zhen's house was built really fast!

Fang Changming said, "You built this house so quickly, won't there be any problems?"

"How could that be?" Shi Zhen said, "Brother Fang, the problem is because the cement used is not good. Our cement is top-notch... Did someone tell you something?"

Fang Changming doesn't really manage things; he usually just comes over to check on things every evening. There must be a reason why he suddenly asked this question.

Fang Changming said, "Isn't my younger brother building a house with me? He hired the same bricklayer you worked with before, the one surnamed Zhang. They're going to build a three-story house like the one you built before... He told me that."

Shi Zhen: "..." Shi Zhen knew that Fang Changming's younger brother was also building a house, but because it was a distance away and the foundation was still being dug, he hadn't gone to see it.

As a result... not only did they build the house based on the one he had built, but they also hired a bricklayer with whom he had a bad relationship?

That's a bit off-putting.

"Can you build a house that's better than his?" Fang Changming asked.

"Don't worry, Brother Fang, your house will definitely look better than other people's houses. I'm just worried that if we build it faster than them, they'll end up copying us in everything," Shi Zhen said.

He didn't hire Mr. Wang for the renovation of his house, but he will do the renovation for Mr. Fang's house.

He'll have some good designs to use then; what if everyone copies them...?

"I see... I'll say a few words to him, complaining that he's building too slowly... then he'll definitely speed things up!" Fang Changming sneered. "In the end, what he builds will just be houses that others have already built, and it certainly won't be as good as my house!"

It's clear that Fang Changming and his younger brother have a really bad relationship.

Shi Zhen continued to build the house at his own pace.

On the other hand, Fang Changming's younger brother, probably spurred on by Fang Changming, hired more bricklayers and sped up the construction of the house.

During this time, Shi Zhen took a look... The house they built was indeed exactly the same as the house he built for Boss Wang. The bricklayer, Master Zhang, even made a few sarcastic remarks when he saw him.

The people on Shi Zhen's side were all novices, and their work speed was indeed slower than that of the experienced workers. The other side hired more people, and before long, the speed at which they built houses caught up with his.

Meanwhile, the first batch of pencil cases and school bags produced by Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan's company was finally completed.

Before these products were fully produced, the distributors had already taken some away, saying they were going to sell them in the provincial capital. Now that all the products are produced, the distributors will take the rest, and we will settle accounts with them.

Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan were both quite excited to meet with distributors over the weekend.

The distributor came in from outside, saw them, and burst into laughter: "Your pencil cases are selling exceptionally well. I'm going to order another 20,000, but I'd prefer a wider variety of styles, not just these two!"

Liang Qinxuan asked, "Did you sell the goods?"

The distributor said, "They sold out, and the sales were quite good. I took the products to the provincial capital and found several key schools. I asked the teachers there to give suggestions to the students, telling them to use pencil cases instead of metal pencil boxes, which would make a loud noise if they were to fall off the desk during class and disrupt the lesson... These pencil cases were snapped up immediately."

This method was mentioned by Guan Baiyu back then.

It's actually not a good idea. After the teacher says this, students often end up spending more money to buy pencil cases.

But it... does allow pencil cases to be sold in the shortest amount of time.

At this time, such things happen frequently. For example, some people print teaching aids and then go to schools to ask them to buy them, or ask teachers to recommend that students buy them.

Guan Baiyu and Liang Qinxuan accepted the second order without hesitation.

Liang Qinxuan wasn't stupid; he knew that his company's success was related to his father.

But now that their products can be sold... he finally felt more confident and had some self-assurance.

As for Guan Baiyu, after calculating the profits, he began to think about producing ballpoint pens.

The plastic barrel of a ballpoint pen can also be manufactured by someone else, but the pen refill has to be imported from abroad.

Once they're produced, they can be labeled with their company's name and then sold.

However, if they were to do that, he and Liang Qinxuan, both of whom were busy with their studies, would definitely be too busy and would need to hire someone.

At times like these... we need Liang's father's help again.

It's really nice to have a big tree behind you for shade.