The moonlight wasn't very bright today, and she was focused on riding her bike. When she got back to the tenement building, she realized that her clothes were soaked with sweat.
The saying "It's always muggy before a heavy rain" is absolutely true.
After parking the car in the garage, when I came out again, a breeze blew in and it felt much cooler.
I went up to the third floor in one go. At this time of day, everyone in the apartment building was eating inside, and the corridor was unusually quiet.
Almost every household had their doors open, and she quickly reached her door as she walked her own way.
He unlocked the door with his key and went inside. Then he turned on the light and glanced around to see if there were any changes in the room.
After confirming that nothing was missing, he stepped inside.
When Su Lan came out of the house and saw that the door next door was open, she knew that Lu Zhixia had returned. She opened the pot and reheated the potato pancakes she had made, and then heated up a bowl of egg drop soup.
Cut the steamed buns into slices and put them on a plate. A simple dinner is ready. Then place them on a bamboo lid and carry them over with both hands.
Lu Zhixia washed her hands and face with the water in the basin. She saw someone come in, and when she looked up, she saw Su Lan. She saw that Su Lan was carrying a bamboo lid with steamed buns, soup and potato pancakes on it.
"Sister Lan, I love you so much! You brought me food again."
"Stop talking nonsense and eat quickly. Haven't you eaten anything after working all day?" Su Lan placed the bamboo curtain cover directly on the stool.
Lu Zhixia wiped her face with a towel, then walked over, picked up a potato pancake, and put it in her mouth to eat. It tasted even better than she had imagined.
There must have been a lot of lard in it. Sure enough, anything tastes good as long as you're willing to use oil. I ate a piece in no time.
“Your brother-in-law wants to talk to you. I’ll call him over after you finish eating.”
"Okay, I'll eat first."
Lu Zhixia took a sip of soup and then started eating her steamed bun. When you're hungry, having something to eat is better than anything else, and she finished her meal in the blink of an eye.
She thought that if she moved away from here, no one would leave food for her like they do now.
I'm still a little reluctant to leave, but one has to learn to adapt eventually.
They were very kind people, but all good things must come to an end!
Seeing that Lu Zhixia had finished eating, Su Lan promptly cleared away the dishes and took them back, while also calling Zhou Cheng over.
When Lu Zhixia and the couple arrived, she closed the door and left the window open; there was still some wind, just a little less.
After sitting down, Zhou Cheng composed himself and said, "Sister, I heard from your sister-in-law about the umbrella business, and we'd like to get into it!"
Lu Zhixia was not surprised by this and nodded slightly to signal him to continue.
Zhou Cheng then frankly said, "This is what I'm thinking: your sister-in-law and I don't have enough savings."
Price is one aspect, but another is that I hope I'm the only umbrella seller in our area of factories.
Lu Zhixia understood his thoughts, so she said to Zhou Cheng,
"As for the price, there will definitely be discounts if you buy in bulk." He paused for a moment and then added, "As for whether there will be people selling umbrellas at the factory, that's beyond my control."
"So you need to think carefully about how much stock to take."
Zhou Cheng felt immense pressure. Despite Lu Zhixia's young age, her tone of voice was very calm, giving him the illusion of talking to the old factory director.
"Then I'll compromise. What I mean is to try not to wholesale to workers. As for others, that's none of my business."
Lu Zhixia nodded in agreement, "Okay, actually I don't have that many umbrellas, only a few thousand! I'll just find a few people to sell them to and that's it, not as many as you think."
Hearing that there weren't many umbrellas, Zhou Cheng felt even more confident that the business was worthwhile, so he gestured to his wife that she could pay.
Su Lan then took out the money. "Here's 100 yuan. You said each umbrella was 9 mao, so let's start with 110 umbrellas."
"No rush! You can give me the money when I come to get the umbrellas with you."
Lu Zhixia didn't accept the money because she wanted to give them two more days to consider it; it wasn't easy for the couple to save money.
All businesses involve risk; it's just a matter of how much you lose.
The umbrellas wouldn't break, and even if they couldn't be sold, they could be stored and resold. That's why she dared to get the couple involved.
Su Lan knew that doing business required capital, and the girl's refusal to accept money meant she was giving them time to consider, but she felt it was unnecessary, so she forced the money into her hand.
"Take it if you want. Let's keep things separate. We can't let you suffer any losses just because we gave you a back door."
"Then I won't stand on ceremony and will take the money first. By the way, it won't rain heavily for several more days, and I need to make steamed buns and tea eggs in the next few days."
Lu Zhixia casually put the money into her pocket. Seeing that the couple's expressions had relaxed, she knew she had accepted the money correctly.
Su Lan realized that she had been working the afternoon shift for the past few days.
"I'll get up tomorrow morning and help you make steamed buns."
“Okay, but I need to buy some meat first. I just went to the black market and got some meat coupons and egg coupons.”
Lu Zhixia took the tickets out of her pocket and showed them to them.
This was the first time Su Lan had ever seen so many meat and egg coupons. She picked them up and examined them closely.
"Luckily, the ticket you received was genuine. Aren't you afraid someone might scam you?"
Lu Zhixia laughed, "If you were to swindle and cheat in a place like that, wouldn't you be risking your life?"
Zhou Cheng nodded, "That's right, that makes sense. Every industry has its own rules. You can sell at a high price on the black market, but you can't sell counterfeit goods."
"Of course, antiques are an exception. Most people can't tell the difference between those; they just try to fool people based on their intuition!"
Lu Zhixia's mind flashed with the image of a dazzling red bowl, but she couldn't recall where she had seen it before, so she dismissed the thought.
"That's true. The most expensive items on the black market are antiques, but they're also the biggest rip-offs!"
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