Chapter 4: The First Business Opportunity: While Others Are Busy, I'm Making Money

Chen Jingjing wanted to discuss this topic with her cousin, but Wang Xiao wasn't interested. She pointed to her cousin's homework and asked, "Have you finished your homework?"

"I've finished writing, and now the teacher wants us to memorize the vocabulary words."

Wang Xiao picked up his cousin's English textbook and said, "I'll read out the words to you, and you can write them down from memory and then write their Chinese meanings."

As a result, she scrambled the order and recited several words in a row, and Chen Jingjing could only remember less than half of them.

Wang Xiao instantly switched to an older sister's mindset, frowning as she asked her cousin, "What's wrong? If you don't even master the vocabulary, you'll definitely not learn English well."

She thought for a moment, then emphasized again, "English is very important in both the middle school and college entrance exams, just as important as Chinese and math. Don't take it lightly."

Chen Jingjing looked aggrieved: "I didn't take it lightly. I haven't learned any of the words you mentioned."

Wang Xiao exclaimed incredulously, "How is that possible? I was just reading from the vocabulary list. Look, even this 'bus' word is so simple, how come you still can't memorize it?"

Chen Jingjing's eyes were filled with confusion: "This isn't an occasion! It's not that Dad died."

"Holy crap!" Wang Xiao's alarm bells went off, and he immediately pointed to the words and made Chen Jingjing read them from beginning to end: "Read them to me once."

After hearing this, my cousin felt utterly hopeless. Zhouzhen Elementary School is currently a five-year system, and 12-year-old Chen Jingjing is already in the second year of junior high, yet she pronounced English words terribly. Even if she didn't learn English in elementary school, surely she learned it in junior high?

Chen Jingjing became increasingly aggrieved: "I didn't misread it, that's how the teacher taught it."

Wang Xiao was speechless: "The phonetic symbols are right here. Even if you followed the phonetic symbols, you wouldn't pronounce it like this."

Chen Jingjing was even more confused: "What phonetic symbols?"

Wang Xiao asked incredulously, "You haven't learned phonetics yet? Really? Don't your teachers teach that?"

Chen Jingjing pouted: "Our English teacher has a very heavy accent, and we can't understand him when he speaks Chinese. He never taught us."

Wang Xiao frowned and shook his head vigorously: "That won't do, you have to learn. Otherwise, when you encounter unfamiliar words in the future, you won't know what to do even if it's in the dictionary."

Back in 1990, mobile phones and pagers were rare commodities. Where could you find a smartphone to download an app to teach you English?

Wang Xiao finally found something he could do, and solemnly warned his cousin, "I have to teach you from scratch. If you don't build a solid foundation, you'll suffer a lot when you learn English later."

Although she wasn't a top student, she had watched a lot of original English cartoons since she was young, so her English was passable and not so bad that she couldn't teach a struggling junior high student.

The older cousin started teaching her from the initial consonants and also had to train her younger cousin's tongue so that the latter could pronounce the sounds accurately.

As the sun dipped westward and dusk settled, the gate to the Chen family's courtyard rang. Chen Yidong's wife, Qian Xuemei, returned home carrying two sickles. During the busy farming season, farm tools like sickles were typically kept by each family for their own use. Otherwise, no one would buy a dozen or so sickles for others to use.

Qian Xuemei had already heard about her niece from her husband and was happy for the girl. Although she herself hadn't even finished junior high school, she really liked children with good grades. Her in-laws' niece was a university student, so naturally she was a good match for her.

Seeing the two sisters huddled together reciting English, Qian Xuemei greeted them with a beaming smile, "Jingjing, you're teaching your sister English too?"

Chen Jingjing immediately corrected her mother's mistake: "My sister taught me to read it; our teacher taught it incorrectly."

Qian Xuemei looked puzzled: "Xiaoxiao, aren't you studying Russian?"

Rural schools have limited teaching resources. Last year, when her niece came to stay for summer vacation, she wanted to hire a college student to help her daughter improve her English. However, she was disappointed to learn that Wang Xiao had attended a Russian class in middle school and didn't know English.

Wang Xiao readily agreed and blatantly lied: "I taught myself. I see that Russian is no longer in demand, and English is more popular, so I taught myself English in my spare time."

Qian Xuemei was overjoyed and immediately said to her daughter, "Jingjing, did you hear that? Your sister is already a college student, and she has never slacked off in her studies. You should learn from your sister."

She had initially been worried that her daughter would follow in her niece's footsteps and become obsessed with romance, but now that her eldest daughter had finally matured, she, as the aunt, was overjoyed. Look how diligently the child was studying; she had even forgotten to pile up the rice. She quickly piled up the spread-out rice and called to the two girls, "Come on, come on, let's go to your Aunt Guizhen's house for dinner."

This is a local rural custom. During the busy farming season, whoever's family you work for is responsible for providing dinner for the adults and children of that family. Nowadays, with the implementation of family planning in rural areas, there's no worry about a couple working while seven or eight children come to compete for food.

Wang Xiao didn't stand on ceremony; she stayed at her uncle's house and wouldn't go out, which would require more people to cook for her.

She followed behind her aunt and reminded the adults, "Auntie, Jingjing's listening, speaking, and reading skills are all poor. She's going to become a mute in English. We need to buy her a... uh, a Walkman so she can listen to English tapes."

Qian Xuemei looked completely bewildered: "Walkman? What's that?"

Wang Xiao didn't know how to describe Walkman for a moment, but Chen Jingjing spoke first: "It's a tape recorder, the kind that can play tapes."

Qian Xuemei then came to her senses: "A tape recorder? Yes, the radio on the coffee table can play tapes. You can use it from now on."

After assigning the tasks, she asked another question, "So you need a tape recorder to learn English?"

Wang Xiao replied without hesitation: "Of course, if you can't read it accurately, you can't pass the English listening and speaking tests."

Chen Jingjing was increasingly confused: "But this isn't on the high school entrance exam."

Wang Xiao choked, completely clueless about the English teaching syllabus requirements of this era. But she still emphasized firmly, "Being a mute in English is definitely not going to work; you need to quickly build a solid foundation. Seriously, the sooner you learn English well, the more advantageous it will be in the future."

In her school days, students were already incredibly busy, with limited time, numerous subjects, and heavy workloads. However, because she had cultivated strong English skills in kindergarten and primary school, making it her strongest subject, she was able to squeeze out a significant amount of time during middle school to improve her other weaker subjects. This allowed her, despite being a truly mediocre student, to successfully gain admission to a top-tier university. The same applied to her postgraduate entrance exam; she devoted the time she had saved on English to her major courses, which enabled her to barely pass the exam and successfully gain admission.

Qian Xuemei couldn't even recognize all twenty-six letters of the alphabet, but she firmly believed in the college student's assertion: "Yes, listen to your sister, go back and listen to the tapes carefully."

The three of them walked less than a hundred meters before entering the courtyard of Aunt Guizhen's house. The sturdy woman, wearing a blue cloth jacket, had gray hair and her smile resembled that of a Buddha statue in a temple, making people involuntarily smile as well.

She saw Qian Xuemei bring the two girls in and greeted them with a smile, "Oh my, the Wenquxing is here. Xiaoxiao and Jingjing, what do you two want to eat today? Auntie will make it for you."

Wang Xiao was flattered. As a mediocre student who barely got into university and then went on to graduate school without really understanding what was going on, it was a bit embarrassing to be mistaken for a top student. She quickly waved her hand and said, "Auntie, don't bother. I'll eat whatever you have. I'm not picky."

Qian Xuemei felt that her in-laws' niece was truly different; she had suddenly become much more sensible than before. Wang Xiao hadn't been this easygoing before; well, how to put it, she was a bit aloof, the kind of reserved, urban intellectual who didn't like to socialize.

However, her daughter was rather sensible, taking people's politeness for granted and making a request: "Auntie, can I have some braised tofu? My sister loves braised tofu."

From afar, the cries of "Selling tofu and spiced dried tofu!" echoed along the main road of the village.

These are bean products made by people from the neighboring Jiaozuo township and brought to nearby villages to sell. Since it's not a fixed stall, being able to buy some is considered lucky.

Wang Xiao immediately felt her mouth water, a natural reaction from the original owner of the body. It seemed she really liked the braised tofu from this shop.

Aunt Guizhen laughed heartily and announced generously, "No problem, I'll take care of everything for you today. I guarantee you'll be satisfied with the meal."

The other children from the families of the workers cheered for her, showering her with sweet words as if they were free, making Aunt Guizhen smile from ear to ear.

However, ideals are often grand, while reality is often harsh.

The old man selling dried tofu was doing so well that there were only about ten pieces of braised and spiced dried tofu left in his two buckets, and even only two pieces of tofu. Even though Aunt Guizhen bought them all, it still couldn't satisfy the children's expectations of eating to their heart's content.

What's even more alarming is that today is the last day of sales. Grandpa Dougan's house will be very busy tomorrow, and he won't be coming over to sell braised tofu until he's done.

Each of the little gluttons received a piece of braised tofu. Wang Xiao, who had already graduated from university and started working, was also categorized as a child and received a piece of braised tofu as well.

She watched as her cousin Jingjing carefully picked up a piece of dried tofu, cautiously taking a small bite as if afraid of eating too much, and couldn't help but laugh: "Is it really that delicious?"

"Delicious!" All the children nodded vigorously.

Wang Xiao took a bite with some skepticism, and yes, it was indeed not bad. However, it wasn't quite amazing, certainly not enough to make Wang Xiao, who had tasted delicacies from all over the world, jump for joy.

She casually said, "If you like it, I'll make it for you at home tomorrow. But you'll have to light the fire."

She noticed that the Chen family used an earthen stove, which she didn't know how to use.

Chen Jingjing stared wide-eyed in surprise: "Sister, you know how to make braised tofu?"

Wang Xiao was taken aback, not understanding what this girl was so excited about. Braised dried tofu wasn't anything rare. If it were available on the street, she'd even considered buying some for her cousin herself. After all, it wouldn't be right for someone who was already working to just freeload at her uncle's house without contributing a single penny.

By the way, do you sell braised tofu on the street?

No.

The children were all in unison, shaking their little heads like rattles.

Zhouzhen has many factories, and every household has spare money, so the market is naturally bustling. The market sells chicken, duck, fish and meat, but there are only two braised food shops in the whole town. They sell salted goose and salted duck, tiger skin chicken feet and spiced beans, but no braised tofu.

If they had such a thing, they wouldn't have such high expectations for Grandpa Dougan's load.

Wang Xiao was immediately delighted when she heard this. Oh my, she was just wondering what business to do in Zhou Town, and this was a ready-made opportunity!

Haha, so many transmigrated protagonists in novels start by selling snacks and then become cool, domineering, and powerful CEOs. Looks like she'll have to follow the same path.

Otherwise, what would she sell? Before she transmigrated into the book, she sold all sorts of things through live-streaming e-commerce, but her independently run online store sold erotic lingerie. If she dared to set up a stall selling erotic lingerie in 1990, the police would be the first to arrest her as a female hooligan.

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