The voice was like that of a lark, clever and spirited, melodious and clear, unlike any other in the entire compound.
That's Zhou Qiqi!
She's laughing so happily, what kind of suffering could she possibly endure?
Lin Yao's temper flared up instantly. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small pile of dark clods of dirt on the ground. She reached out and pulled out the largest one, about to throw it over there.
Unexpectedly, when he used too much force, the clod of earth shattered into dust in his palm before he even let go of it, and the dark fragments fell sparsely to the ground.
Moreover, this clod of earth looked dry on the outside, but it was sticky and slimy on the inside, like mud stuck to your fingers, and it also gave off a pungent stench.
Lin Yao subconsciously took a breath, her stomach immediately churning, she felt so nauseous that she dry heaved, and turned to glare fiercely at Qiu Chunfang.
"What is this thing?"
Qiu Chunfang then realized what was happening, frantically scratching the back of her head and giving an embarrassed laugh.
"I collected some cow dung, thinking I'd dry it and use it as compost for the vegetable garden, but it's not completely dry yet..."
"Cow...cow dung???"
Lin Yao screamed. She had only been dry heaving a moment ago, but now she actually vomited with a "whoosh".
What's that noise coming from next door?
In Zhou Qiqi's backyard, separated by only a wall, Wang Dasao and the others were drinking tea and chatting in Zhou Qiqi's newly built gazebo when they heard the commotion next door and frowned to ask what was going on.
Zhou Qiqi shrugged helplessly.
"That's fine, she has a lot of kids, they're always making a racket, just ignore her. Sister Cuixiang, Sister Zhao, please continue!"
As she spoke, she pushed the sliced apples on the porcelain plate in front of her forward, saying, "Let's eat and talk."
Deng Cuixiang picked up a piece of apple and casually pushed the roasted sweet potato she had brought back toward Zhou Qiqi.
"Where were we? I've completely forgotten what we were saying!"
"Speaking of which, you went to the noodle stall," Zhou Qiqi reminded her.
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Deng Cuixiang's eyes sparkled as she spoke with great enthusiasm, gesturing wildly.
"I did as you said, found a lot of small glass jars, put the chili sauce and other things in the jars, and gave a few bottles to the noodle stall owner for samples. Hey, I didn't expect that some customers would actually ask for them, and I sold seven or eight jars!"
Besides the noodle stall, she also followed Zhou Qiqi's advice and set up stalls in front of large factories in G City, such as steel rolling mills, railway bureaus, and machinery factories.
She carried a large cloth bag of steamed buns she had made the night before and greeted everyone she met with the words, "Try them with the pickles."
There were many single men living in the factory dormitory, and after she shouted in her loud voice, many people came over to try it.
Deng Cuixiang's skills were passed down from her ancestors in her hometown of Chongqing, and five or six out of ten people who have tasted her food have bought her some.
"I did as you said, taking twenty bottles to each factory to sell. I went to several factories, but it wasn't enough. So many people kept asking me if I was coming back tomorrow! I'm finally getting the hang of this business!"
After saying that, Deng Cuixiang took a big bite of the apple with a "crunch," and her face, full of wrinkles, blossomed into a smile.
Wang, who was standing next to her, nudged her arm and smiled so hard her eyes narrowed into slits.
"Cuixiang, you look so beautiful, you must have made a lot of money, right?"
Deng Cuixiang waved her hand, a little embarrassed.
"Hey, after a day's work, I didn't make much. After deducting the cost of giving away the food, the samples, and the cost of buying the steamed buns, I only made three or four yuan."
Zhou Qiqi comforted him while peeling the sweet potato.
"These are just initial investments. Once the sales channels open up, the profits might even exceed Battalion Commander Jiang's allowance!"
She had high hopes for Deng Cuixiang's cooking skills. Her chili sauce was no worse than the "Lao Gan Ma" of later generations. She was also down-to-earth and hardworking. In this era full of opportunities, the results would definitely be good.
Deng Cuixiang smiled sincerely.
"I don't have such grand ambitions. I just hope to earn some money in my spare time to support Xianghai's education. You have no idea how expensive Xianghai's math classes are..."
As she spoke, she patted Zhao Damei, who was sitting next to her and seemed a little reserved.
"Alright, enough about me, Sister Mei, it's your turn to speak."
They had just returned from outside and hadn't even touched the ground before gathering at Zhou Qiqi's house.
Deng Cuixiang's mouth never stopped moving with excitement, while Zhao Damei hadn't uttered a single word yet.
Wang Da Sao was anxious but didn't want to rush her. When Deng Cuixiang mentioned Zhao Da Mei, she quickly followed up with questions.
"Yes, yes, tell me quickly, how are the sales? How many pots are left?"
Zhao Damei was a little reserved and said softly, "Sold...sold out."
Sister-in-law Wang didn't hear clearly and asked again, "Fifteen pots, were they all sold?"
They had originally planned to sell ten pots first, worried that Zhao Damei wouldn't be able to fit them all on her donkey cart. But when Zhao Damei came over this morning, there was an extra homemade wooden flower stand on the cart, so the two of them decided to take five more pots.
I didn't have high hopes, but to my surprise, they were all sold out.
"Um."
Zhao Damei nodded, carefully took out a blue handkerchief from her coat pocket, and laid it out on the stone table.
The handkerchief was stuffed full of colorful bills—one mao, two mao, five mao, and one yuan—it was bulging out.
"This is the money from the sale, and here's the receipt I wrote down. It's a total of sixteen yuan."
Sister-in-law Wang's eyes lit up instantly, and she reached out to take it, but stopped halfway and instead pushed the money in front of Zhou Qiqi.
"Qiqi, can you help us divide it up?"
Zhou Qiqi smiled with her eyes crinkled, tilting her head to do mental arithmetic for a moment.
“No problem at all. Let’s just split it as you agreed before. Sister-in-law Wang, you take 60%, which comes to 9.6 yuan.”
She picked out the larger denomination bills from the small bills, counted them out, and handed them to Sister-in-law Wang. Then she counted the remaining money in front of everyone.
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