The two searched high and low in the room and finally found the small whiteboard they used to use as children, along with the matching pen, under their bed.
Cheng Zhi flicked the pens and scribbled a few times on the whiteboard, and surprisingly, they still produced color.
Xiao Feiran, who was standing next to her, thought it was fine. "Actually, if we don't have a whiteboard, we can just bring some cardboard over, as long as it has words on it."
Cheng Zhi squatted down and wiped the long-unused whiteboard with a towel. "It creates a better atmosphere. This is more like setting up a stall."
Xiao Feiran laughed and tapped the clean white board with his knuckles. "The content is more important. What should we write? This board has all sorts of miscellaneous things. If we write everything down, it will be too cluttered. Nobody will have the patience to read it."
Cheng Zhi wasn't particularly bothered by this; she seemed to already have the answer in her mind. "We have everything, so let's call it a general store."
Since Xiao Feiran didn't have a better answer, they wrote the three big characters "General Store" on the board, with a line of smaller characters below: "Don't miss it if you're passing by, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for here!"
In this situation, they don't need to decorate the board too nicely. Writing some words on it and adding a string of decorative lights is enough to complete the preparations.
Next, all they need to do is wait.
Around 4 PM, Cheng Zhi's family started eating dinner. Eating dinner at this time was rather unusual, but it was the most comfortable time for the family.
Before, there was either heavy fog or acid rain, making it impossible to go out. People stayed at home every day and didn't burn much energy. So they felt that eating three meals a day was too much and changed it to lunch at 10 am and dinner at 4 pm, eating two meals a day. If anyone was hungry, they would eat some bread or instant noodles to tide them over.
At the dinner table, Cheng Zhi and Xiao Feiran quickly finished their rice and then picked up a couple more bites of vegetables, thus completing their meal.
Seeing their hurried manner, Cheng's mother asked, "Don't you understand the importance of eating slowly and deliberately? What are you two doing eating so fast?"
Cheng Zhi didn't hide anything, swallowing the food in her mouth, "Xiao and I plan to set up a stall and sell some things later."
Mr. Cheng looked at them with a puzzled expression. "What are you going to sell? What else do we have that we can sell?"
They had a lot of stuff. Cheng Zhi wiped her mouth with a tissue and said mysteriously, "Don't worry about that. Anyway, we have things to sell."
Mr. Cheng's eyes darted back and forth between the two women, and seeing no sign of guilt in them, he felt a little relieved.
Cheng Ye, who was sitting next to him, quickly finished her meal and raised her hand, saying, "I want to go too! I want to go too! Take me with you!"
Actually, Cheng Zhi was willing to take him, but she just wanted to tease him, so she just looked at him without saying anything.
Cheng Ye felt uneasy under her older sister's gaze and silently lowered her hand. "Why are you just staring at me? Can't you at least give me a straight answer...?"
Cheng Zhi refused, walked over and tapped him on the head, leaving behind the words "figure it out yourself" before returning to her room.
Cheng Ye: "..." Heaven knows what you really think!
He knew he couldn't figure it out on his own, so Cheng Ye looked to Xiao Feiran for help, "Please save the child!"
Fei Ran nodded. "The weather has gotten cooler since this afternoon. You should put on more clothes. We'll be leaving soon."
This meant they agreed to let him go. Cheng Ye jumped up from her chair with joy and gave Xiao Feiran a thumbs up. "Feiran, you must read my sister's mind! You know exactly what she means. You're amazing!"
Xiao Feiran: "..." Why does this compliment sound so strange?
They didn't stay long before the three of them set off with their belongings.
There were vendors setting up stalls all day at Yida Plaza, and the best spots were already taken. So they simply drove their car to the other side of the plaza where there were relatively fewer people.
Take out the board, turn on the lights, and put on the loudspeaker; the stall setup officially begins.
The three women, bundled up like Russian nesting dolls, stood in front of the whiteboard. Whenever someone passed by and glanced at their board, they would quickly call out to them, trying to make their first sale of the night. But business wasn't so easy; over an hour had passed and no one had paid them any attention.
Xiao Feiran, hands in his pockets, couldn't understand why. "People buy jewelry that's just for decoration, but things that are actually useful can't sell? That doesn't make any sense."
Just as they were complaining, a short figure slowly moved from the side to their stall and asked in a very low voice, "Do you sell socks here? Preferably long socks..."
The voice was so soft that the three of them almost couldn't hear it. Xiao Feiran glanced at the list and said, "Yes, yes! We have knee-high socks the longest. How long would you like to be? How many pairs?"
The girl across from me lit up when she heard about such long socks. After thinking for a moment, she held up three fingers and asked, "I want three pairs of knee-high socks. How many do you want?"
To be honest, they haven't discussed the price issue in depth yet. Everyone is asking for exorbitant prices, and there's no reasonable standard. They're afraid of losing money if they ask for too little, and also afraid of not being able to sell if they ask for too much.
They exchanged a glance, and Cheng Zhi threw the question back at the customer, "How much do you think would be appropriate?"
The girl was taken aback by the question. She had bought things so many times, but this was the first time someone had asked her about the price. Being an honest person, she thought about it carefully and said, "I can give you five pounds of millet plus two packs of noodles. Is that okay?"
Without much thought, Cheng Zhi and Xiao Feiran exchanged a glance and said yes.
After exchanging money for goods, the girl went home to get her things. A while later, she returned to the stall and took out a five-pound bag of millet and two packs of noodles from her pocket.
Cheng Zhi took the things, and Xiao Feiran quickly handed the socks to the younger girl.
The transaction was over, and the girl walked away. Cheng Zhi and her two friends huddled together, secretly grinning. "The deal's done! The deal's done!"
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