After Shi Zhen's distribution of wool sweaters got on track, the factory also set a specific time for delivering the sweaters every day, which was around nine o'clock in the morning.

They would sort out the sweaters produced by the factory the day before and send them to Shi Zhen in the morning, and then pack back the sweaters that Shi Zhen had already embroidered.

At first, they only gave Shi Zhen one type of wool sweater, but later they added another style.

The new style eliminates the need for embroidery on the garment; instead, beads are sewn onto it, using various plastic beads to create flowers.

Sewing beads is simpler and faster than embroidery. The wool sweater factory paid one yuan per piece, but Shi Zhen paid fifty cents per piece and distributed them to the villagers to sew.

Of course, you have to give beads when sewing beads. For these kinds of things, except for the large beads which need to be roughly counted, the small beads are given according to the amount given. Generally, you will only give more, not less.

So early that morning, as soon as Shi Zhen arrived at Guan Jianguo's house, he saw that Guan Jianguo's daughter was wearing a small plastic bead bracelet, made of beads sewn onto her clothes.

Shi Zhen glanced at it, smiled without saying anything, and turned to open the door.

Not long after he opened the door, villagers came and gathered in the alley next to Guan Jianguo's house, some sewing beads and others embroidering.

Around 9 a.m., the wool sweater factory's truck arrived at the gate of Guanjian State.

Now, Boss Zhou no longer comes along; only the driver from the wool sweater factory delivers things. He stops the car, gets out, takes a cigarette, smokes it, and then holds up the cigarette pack to ask Shi Zhen, "Want a cigarette?"

Shi Zhen refused: "I don't smoke."

"Hehe, at your age, it's time to start learning," the driver said.

“Learning it will cost more money,” Shi Zhen replied with a smile, and began unloading sweaters from the car.

Actually, the driver should have been the one to move the sweaters, but that driver was clearly trying to shirk his duties.

The sweaters on both sides weren't heavy, so Shi Zhen carried them himself and even asked Guan Baiyu to make the driver a cup of tea.

The driver sat and watched Shi Zhen work. Once Shi Zhen finished, he got back into the car and prepared to leave.

Shi Zhen then said, "Master, I need to go to Changxi City. Could you give me a ride?"

The driver readily agreed.

Distributing and inspecting the sweaters was a tedious task, but not difficult to do, and Guan Baiyu could do it too. Shi Zhen got into the car and followed the driver to the wool sweater factory in Changxi City, where they found General Manager Zhou.

When Shi Zhen arrived, he smiled apologetically at the other party and said that he wanted to buy a refrigerator but didn't have enough money and wanted his deposit back.

This week, the manager didn't hold onto the deposit and gave the money to Shi Zhen directly.

After thanking him, Shi Zhen left the company.

When he was reborn, many products on the market were already in oversupply, and many factories were facing difficult circumstances.

But that's not the case at this time.

At that time, ordinary people lacked everything, and it was easy to make money by doing physical business.

In J City, countless small and micro enterprises are thriving, and small workshops are everywhere.

However, the company Shi Zhen found was not a small workshop; it was a company with a factory and many workers, and it was doing very well. They wouldn't cheat him out of such a small amount of money.

There are several cars parked in the factory.

When Shi Zhen came, he had already brought all the money from home with him, plus this thousand yuan... He went to an appliance store he had visited before and bought a freezer.

Refrigerators are all bought for home use, but freezers are all bought for business. The guy who sells freezers to Shi Zhen keeps saying how good their freezers are, and that Shi Zhen's business will definitely be good if he buys their freezers.

Shi Zhen also hoped that this would happen.

After buying the freezer, he still needed to transport it back... On his way, Shi Zhenlai had already arranged with the truck driver who transported wool sweaters to ask him to drive him home, and of course, he would pay him.

The driver didn't refuse; who wouldn't be happy to earn extra money?

As for the possibility of the factory manager finding out... he's related to the factory manager, so no one will care about such a small matter.

At this point, one person often becomes successful and then pulls up a large group of people around them.

That afternoon, Shi Zhen brought the freezer home.

But instead of setting up a stall that very night, he first plugged in his electricity at home and started freezing ice.

He bought many ice cube trays, and after the ice cubes were frozen, he took them out and put them in a basin in the refrigerator.

He didn't stop freezing ice until two large basins were full, and then he went to buy various kinds of popsicles wholesale and put them in the freezer.

These popsicles are produced in small local workshops. Red bean and mung bean popsicles sell for two cents each, while the most common sugar water popsicles sell for one cent each.

After purchasing the goods, Shi Zhen would add a 10 cent markup and sell them, and others did the same.

In addition to these locally produced, inexpensive popsicles wrapped in paper, Shi Zhen also stocked up on some more expensive popsicles, such as Jin Yi Bang and strawberry yogurt popsicles.

These kinds of popsicles are expensive to buy and sell, like Jin Yi Bang, which he plans to sell for 50 cents.

In addition, Shi Zhen also found a welder in town to weld an iron frame with wheels on the bottom for his freezer using iron bars.

With this, he could push the freezer to town to sell cold drinks.

The preparations were quite tedious, and while Shi Zhen was making these preparations, the news that he was selling popsicles had already spread.

There's a small shop on the west side of their village that sells popsicles, but to be honest, it's a bit far for people from their area.

Shi Zhen's freezer was right in front of them!

Soon, children came with money to buy popsicles.

The money these children received was mostly paid penny by penny.

When parents go out shopping, if someone gives them change, they will give it to their children as pocket money.

At that time, some of the cheapest snacks, such as candy, could indeed be bought for just a few cents.

Now, the children use the few cents they've saved up to buy popsicles from Shi Zhen.

"Brother, I want one too!" Shi Ting said, her eyes gleaming with longing.

Shi Zhen said, “You can buy from me. Didn’t you embroider some clothes recently? I’ve recorded the cost of your embroidery here. If you choose an ice cream, I’ll deduct the cost from it.”

"Brother!" Shi Ting said, a little reluctantly, "Brother, you should treat me to a meal."

"No, this popsicle business isn't just mine; it's something I do with your brother Bai Yu."

Shi Ting could only ask Shi Zhen to deduct money from her unpaid "salary" to buy her popsicles.

Shi Ting embroiders slowly, and in the past few days she has only embroidered a dozen or so yuan's worth. Looking at the money, she asked Shi Zhen, "Brother, can you give me my money in advance?"

“No,” Shi Zhen said. “I bought the freezer, and now I’m out of money and in debt. How can I give you the money?”

Since Shi Zhen had no money, Shi Ting couldn't say anything and could only silently eat her popsicle.

This is the second day since he bought the freezer. Tonight, he's going to set up a stall in town.

In the afternoon, Shi Zhen did not embroider or sew beads, but instead made some preparations.

At the same time, in Shijiazhuang.

Shi Dalin went next door to chat with Teacher Fei, while Zhao Meiyun and Zhao Qiujuan stayed at home stringing beads onto sweaters.

There's a ceiling fan overhead, and a cool bowl of boiled water nearby... Although they're busy, the two of them are very satisfied with their current life.

Zhao Qiujuan moved her hands very quickly.

Now she goes out every morning to set up her stall, and after she finishes, she delivers vegetables to Shi Zhen and picks up a sweater from him to embroider...

At the end of the day, she can earn a little over twenty yuan selling rice balls and seven or eight yuan embroidering sweaters.

Zhao Meiyun also helped with embroidery, though she did less, but together the two of them could earn over thirty yuan a day, which amounted to a thousand yuan a month.

At first, Zhao Qiujuan didn't realize it, but when she realized she could earn so much... she was full of energy these past few days, feeling that she didn't need to eat or sleep and could work non-stop.

Zhao Meiyun also felt that the future was full of hope.

The two women continued embroidering in silence when suddenly, a series of thumping sounds rang out, followed by Zhao Dongjuan's furious voice booming through the room: "Mom! How can you be so biased!"

Zhao Meiyun and Zhao Qiujuan looked over together and saw that Zhao Dongjuan was holding a red passbook and a roll of banknotes.

Zhao Qiujuan's expression changed.

The passbook and the money naturally belong to her.

She kept her capital for starting a business in her rice ball cart, which she then locked.

But she wrapped the money and savings she had saved in a cloth, put them in a pair of new shoes she had made before, and then put them in her bundle.

When they left the village, they brought all their odds and ends with them. Since they didn't need the bed sheets and blankets for the time being, Zhao Qiujuan and Zhao Meiyun spent time making them into partitions and hanging them in the house where the three sisters lived.

Zhao Qiujuan has her own private space, so Zhao Dongjuan naturally can't see what she hides. The fact that Zhao Dongjuan can take things out now can only mean that she went through Zhao Qiujuan's things.

Zhao Dongjuan had always had this problem, but Zhao Qiujuan never expected that even though she had hidden it so well, it would still be discovered by her.

"Mom, did you give my sister the money? Didn't you say you didn't have any money? Why did you give my sister so much money?" Zhao Dongjuan glared at her mother. "You're so biased! They're both your daughters, but you only care about my sister and never care about me!"

Upon hearing Zhao Dongjuan's words, Zhao Meiyun felt a little breathless and, after catching her breath, said, "This is what your sister earned!"

"You've only been setting up your stall for a few days, and you've already earned over two hundred yuan? Who are you trying to fool!" Zhao Dongjuan said. "You're such a good mother. You told me you had no money, but then you turned around and gave it to me."

As Zhao Dongjuan spoke, she became increasingly aggrieved, and her voice rose: "I really can't stay in this house anymore, there's no place for me here!"

Seeing that she was speaking louder and louder, Zhao Meiyun couldn't help but say, "Keep your voice down."

Zhao Dongjuan stopped talking and stared straight at Zhao Meiyun.

Zhao Meiyun asked, "What do you want to do?"

Zhao Dongjuan said, "You have to be fair, half of this money belongs to me!"

Zhao Qiujuan has always given in to her younger sister since childhood. In the past, she would give her whatever she had, whether it was Zhao Dongjuan or Shi Ting who wanted it.

But not this time.

She wants to buy a house.

Zhao Qiujuan said in a low voice, "This is the money I earned."

Zhao Dongjuan continued, "You earned it all! You know how to please Shi Zhen, and he gives you a business, while I get nothing, right? Zhao Qiujuan, I'm your own sister, and you only care about Shi Zhen and Shi Ting all day long, ignoring me!"

Zhao Qiujuan stared blankly at Zhao Dongjuan, then suddenly rushed forward, snatched the money and bankbook from Zhao Dongjuan's hand, her voice choked with sobs: "Fine, you said I wouldn't take care of you, and I won't take care of you anymore."

After Zhao Qiujuan finished speaking, she burst into tears.

She was truly wronged.

In the past, when life was tough, she could bear the grievances and just let it go. But now that life has gotten better, she can no longer stand the grievances.

Zhao Dongjuan was a little confused.

Zhao Qiujuan cried and asked, "You always say that Mom is biased towards me, but how is Mom biased towards me? If she is biased, it is towards you."

When Zhao Meiyun divorced and took the two girls back to her parents' home, she was only ten years old.

But she knew her family was gone, and that her uncles and the others despised her and her mother.

She helped her mother and worked hard.

When it came to Zhao Qiujuan, considering that she was still young, she and her mother doted on her.

More than half a year later, Shi Dalin agreed to marry her mother. She was overjoyed. Before going to the Shi family, her mother gave them a serious warning, telling them not to quarrel with Shi Zhen and Shi Ting.

At the time, Shi Dalin said that if Shi Zhen and Shi Ting did not like them, then the marriage would not be possible.

Shi Dalin sought out Zhao Meiyun simply because he wanted a woman to take care of his youngest daughter. They didn't hold a wedding banquet or register their marriage at first. Zhao Meiyun led them directly to live at the Shi family home, and that was the end of it.

She was terrified then, afraid that Shi Zhen and Shi Ting wouldn't like them.

Fortunately, both of them were easy to get along with and had no hostility towards them, especially Shi Zhen, who was a very nice person.

Shi Zhen's mother had been in poor health since childhood and was ill for a long time before she died. Shi Zhen was busy with household chores from a very young age. Before they came, he took care of the children and cooked. After they came, Shi Zhen no longer had to do these things, but he was used to it and was always ready to help. Whenever he saw something to do at home, he would do it without hesitation.

On the contrary, her own sister wouldn't even pick up the broom when it fell over.

But she thought her sister was still young, so she didn't pay much attention at the time.

At that time, Shi Dalin wanted to send them to school. She thought to herself that she hadn't been to school for a year. Her own father hadn't paid her tuition before, and she still owed the school for the previous tuition. She was too embarrassed to go, but she let Dongjuan go.

She thought that since she and her mother were already at home, Dongjuan didn't need to do anything. Dongjuan was still young, so she wanted her to live an easy life like the other children in the village.

At that time, things were alright. Although Dongjuan often complained in private that Shizhen wouldn't play with her and that her mother favored Shiting, it wasn't too much of a problem.

They felt sorry for her and would secretly give her any food they had, which would make her beam with joy.

When her younger sister was twelve, she refused to go to school anymore. They tried to persuade her, and the teacher even came to talk to her, but her sister said it was too far and refused to go.

But her sister stays at home and doesn't do any work. Every time she asks her sister to do something, she has to ask and ask again and again.

Shi Zhen is the same age as her sister. She goes to work in the fields on her own without being told. Her sister, on the other hand, is unwilling to even wash dishes at home.

In the end, it was all done by her and her mother anyway.

That's not all; her sister also causes trouble from time to time.

They were genuinely afraid of her, fearing that she would cause too much trouble and anger Shi Dalin, making him dislike them.

They could only try to appease her.

Over the years, whenever her mother managed to get some good food, she always gave it to her sister. Her mother used to give her a few dozen yuan as a secret stash, but before that, her sister had spent far more of her mother's money.

But those few dozen yuan... included money she got from selling some things in the mountains through Shi Zhen.

Not to mention, her mother doesn't rely on her sister for support in her old age, she only relies on her.

She used to help Shi Zhen raise rabbits. When Shi Zhen couldn't sell the rabbit skins, he gave them to her. She happily made gloves and cotton shoes, thinking that they could be used as dowry when she got married. But her sister took them away right away.

Even if Shi Ting, who loves to dress up, makes her a hair accessory or something, her sister can take it away.

But they really couldn't do anything about her sister; they were afraid she would make a scene.

She kept thinking that things would be better when her sister grew up.

Moreover, back in the mountains, there wasn't much good stuff, so she gave it to her sister. But now, Zhao Qiujuan is unhappy about it.

Zhao Qiujuan kept crying, and Zhao Meiyun also felt sorry for her eldest daughter. She kept looking at the door, afraid that Shi Dalin would come back and see them arguing.

She could only say to Zhao Dongjuan, "What has your sister had that you don't since you were little? Does your sister owe you anything? If you want money, can't you embroider your own clothes? Your younger sister has already embroidered them!"

They brought back so many sweaters and asked Zhao Dongjuan to embroider them too, but Zhao Dongjuan refused no matter what, feeling that she was doing free work for Shi Zhen.

They told her to find a job, and she went out, but when she came back she said that people here look down on outsiders.

They had no choice but to ask her if she could set up a stall with them—they knew how to make zongzi and dumplings, and they could sell them in the morning.

She wasn't happy about it.

They certainly have a lot of grand principles to offer, and they can spout them off in great detail.

Zhao Meiyun just wants her to get married as soon as possible; once Zhao Dongjuan gets married, her mission will be complete.

As for having Zhao Dongjuan support her in her old age, she really didn't expect it... She had mentioned it to her two daughters more than once before, and Zhao Qiujuan was willing to support her, but Zhao Dongjuan always kept telling her to find Shi Zhen.

"If I embroider it, can you guarantee I'll get paid?" Zhao Dongjuan didn't dare to make a fuss when she saw Zhao Qiujuan crying.

Her sister has always had a good temper and rarely cries, but when she does get angry and has a good cry, it's quite frightening.

Well... she really didn't expect that selling rice balls could earn her so much money; she thought she could only earn a few dollars a day at most.

If I had known, she would have taken this stall in the first place!

Zhao Meiyun had no choice but to say to Zhao Dongjuan, "If you really want to embroider, I'll give you the money right away, okay?"

Zhao Dongjuan agreed, and then added, "I don't know how much Shi Zhen gets paid for each garment he embroiders from the wool sweater factory. The money he gives you is definitely less than what they give him."

"He didn't force us to embroider," Zhao Qiujuan retorted to her sister. "So many people are vying to embroider Shi Zhen's clothes; if you go too late, they're all gone!"

Zhao Dongjuan kept a straight face and didn't say anything.

When Zhao Qiujuan saw this, she didn't know why, but she suddenly felt a sense of satisfaction.

The house next door belongs to Teacher Fei.

The houses here aren't very soundproof, and Shi Dalin could hear the neighbors arguing.

He pretended not to hear.

He shouldn't interfere in his stepdaughter's affairs.

Shi Zhen was unaware that Zhao Qiujuan and Zhao Dongjuan had quarreled.

He was speechless at this moment.

Throughout the afternoon, Shi Ting would stammer and ask him to buy her an ice pop every now and then, managing to try every single kind of ice pop he had bought wholesale.

Then Shi Ting got an upset stomach.

After Shi Ting finished pooping, she still had the nerve to ask, "Brother, why aren't you eating?"

"This is meant to be sold for money."

"Then brother, I'll buy it for you to eat!" Shi Ting is generous with her own money and also generous to those around her.

Shi Zhen's lips twitched: "No need... By the way, go empty the toilet and clean it."

Shi Ting was stunned: "Brother..."

"how?"

"Okay." Shi Ting knew she was wrong, and sheepishly went to empty the toilet.

After she finished, she was probably a little weak from pulling for too long, so she didn't sew any more beads. Instead, she strung the beads into a necklace and two bracelets and put them on herself.

I'm even thinking about stringing a few more together.

Shi Zhen said, "Stop stringing them, what if I don't have enough beads later?"

"My sisters haven't arrived yet," Shi Ting said longingly.

Shi Zhen: "..." Zhao Qiujuan and the others probably have no interest in wearing plastic beads.

These beads aren't very pretty!

Shi Zhen's place has now become the liveliest spot in the village. As they were chatting, an aunt came over to gossip: "Bai Yu's brother, did you know? Li Ahui is pregnant!"

Li Ahui is Guan Kai's mother. She got divorced not long ago and is pregnant.

The man continued, "I don't know if she's still not divorced... I heard her belly isn't showing yet, probably less than three months along. Tsk tsk, it's not good to say it's less than three months. If she says this, I don't know if she can keep the baby."

After finishing talking about Li Ahui, the man said mysteriously, "By the way, someone told Guan Wenguo about a divorced woman."

Before Shi Zhen could say anything, this man just blurted out a lot of things.

The family of Guan Baiyu's great-aunt was not considered very well-off in the village, but it was much better than the family of Guan Baiyu's adoptive father.

Grandpa and Grandma are still alive and can help with chores. Guan Wenguo himself also has a job sweeping floors at a cement factory.

Putting everything else aside, their house is quite well-built.

After Guan Wenguo and Li Ahui divorced, he had been looking for a wife again. After searching for a while, he finally found someone who was willing.

This woman isn't from around here; she lives quite far away. She got divorced because she couldn't have children. Since her parents had passed away, and it wasn't convenient for her to live with her brother and sister-in-law, she was eager to get married.

They said they came to take a look, and if it's suitable, they'll just stay in Guanwen Country.

Shi Zhen listened to these gossips and then let them go.

That day, he and Guan Baiyu ate dinner early, and then together, they pushed a freezer and a stall he had just nailed together with wood, filled with various drinks and disposable cups and other supplies he had bought, towards the town.

Upon arriving in town, Shi Zhen went directly to the place where he used to sell fried skewers, and there he found Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun already there.

Shi Dalin also knew about Shi Zhen buying the freezer. When he saw the freezer, he was very interested and said, "Zhen, I've thought about it. I'll set up my fried food stall during the day too... Even if I don't sell much during the day, I can still make some. When school starts, I'll set up my stall at the school gate during school hours and after school."

After doing his calculations these past few days, Shi Dalin realized that the fried food stall was making a lot of money, and he started to get restless.

He wanted to earn more and save more so that he could build a small house in the village after the New Year!

"That's good." Shi Zhen agreed with Shi Dalin's idea and set up his stall again.

When we arrived in town, the freezer was no longer powered on. However, since it was set to a very low temperature and was filled with ice cubes and popsicles, and covered with a quilt, we didn't have to worry about the contents melting for the time being.

His profitable cold drink business is about to begin!