Chapter 46 Opening
The cabbage noodles will be ready in a moment. Han Deyi and Tian Huiying had almost finished packing, so they took the meal downstairs to eat.
The goods downstairs are the result of years of hard work by the two families, and they cannot be left alone for a moment.
After dinner and washing up, the group sat down to discuss how to open the business tomorrow. Opening a business is a big deal, and at least someone should have a date calculated. But seeing the two bags of goods piled up made them anxious, and they wanted to start selling immediately, so they decided to start selling tomorrow.
But they had never done business before and had no idea how to sell goods. Several people gathered together in silence for a long time.
Tian Huiying spoke first, "Why don't you let Yimin and Erhui try these clothes first to see if they look good." She thought the clothes were too expensive and looked weird, and she was afraid that no one would want them if they didn't look good.
Yimin and Erhui are good-looking. If they don't look good in the clothes, you can imagine how others will look in them.
Gu Jianguo and Han Deyi also wanted to see how the clothes would look on them, so they took out the sizes that the two of them were wearing and asked them to go upstairs and try them on.
The two sisters took their clothes upstairs. It was cold in the room, so they put on their clothes quickly and then looked at each other in the mirror.
"Does it look good?" Gu Yimin asked. She felt that it was too tight on her thighs and a little uncomfortable.
Gu Erhui looked her up and down, and after a while said, "I can't tell, it should look good." The main reason was that the clothes did not conform to her current aesthetic.
"You look good in it, too." Gu Yimin said.
The two went downstairs feeling uncertain. Gu Jianguo and the others couldn't tell whether it looked good or not, but it was quite unsightly.
"You two can wear these clothes tomorrow." Han Deyi said. The clothes had to be shown to others.
The two sisters and Tian Huiying went upstairs. It was indeed crowded with three people on the 1.5-meter bed, but it was indeed warm.
The three of them lay in bed, unable to fall asleep, worrying about whether they could sell the clothes tomorrow.
Downstairs, Gu Jianguo and Han Deyi lay down on the floor. They couldn't sleep either. It was their first time doing business and they had bet all their fortunes on it. They couldn't imagine what would happen if they lost money.
The next day, they woke up at around six and finished cooking and eating at around seven. Gu Yimin and Tian Huiying began cleaning, hanging up clothes, and waiting for customers to arrive.
A little after eight o'clock, several elderly ladies in their fifties and sixties, all of whom lived nearby, came into the store. They looked at the clothes, praised Gu Yimin and Gu Erhui for their good looks, and then left.
Then, people came in sporadically, but they just looked at it, asked the price of the jacket, and left. In the morning, more than a dozen people came into the store, but not a single piece of clothing was sold.
The afternoon was the same.
Everyone was silent during dinner. Not a single piece of clothing had been sold that day, and everyone was very anxious. But no matter how anxious they were, there was nothing they could do.
"Is the price too high?" Tian Huiying asked.
"Not much," Gu Jianguo said. "We are the only ones in Lizhou that sell puffer jackets. And there are only two other companies that sell jeans, and they also sell them for fifteen yuan a pair."
"Let's wait a little longer and see what happens tomorrow." Han Deyi put down the bowl and took out a cigarette.
The next morning was the same: some people came to look, but no one bought anything. A few young men in their twenties, upon entering the store, glanced at Gu Yimin and Gu Erhui, clearly intent on other matters.
Around 2 p.m., two girls in their twenties came in. They looked at the jackets curiously at first, asked the price, and then stopped looking. Then the two girls stared at Gu Yimin and Gu Erhui's legs.
Seeing this, Gu Erhui smiled and said to them, "If you like, you can try it. I think it will look good on you."
She was a little nervous when she said this. This was her first time recommending clothes to a stranger and she was afraid that the other party would refuse, which would be very embarrassing.
Fortunately, the two girls' eyes lit up when they heard they could try on clothes. They usually couldn't try on clothes when buying them at the supply and marketing cooperative, and the pants the girl in front of them was indeed very nice.
"Then take two and let's try."
Gu Yimin immediately took out the pants, and Gu Erhui said to them with a smile: "I live upstairs, come with me upstairs to try them on."
The two girls nodded and followed the sisters upstairs. They tried two pairs each and finally chose a smaller one.
When it came time to pay, the two felt 15 yuan was a bit too much and tried to negotiate a lower price. Gu Erhui looked embarrassed and said, "As you can see, this is our first time doing business. We're worried we won't be able to sell it, so we've set the lowest price possible. Any lower and we won't make any money. We're renting a house, and if we lose money we can't even pay the rent."
Her embarrassment didn't look fake, and they never bargained at the supply and marketing cooperative. In the end, they each bought a pair of jeans for 15 yuan.
The moment she received the money, Gu Erhui's hands were shaking a little.
Seeing that they were about to leave, she said, "Why don't you try the bread suit? It's free anyway."
The two men looked the sisters up and down again and thought that the clothes they were wearing were indeed beautiful.
"Why don't we give it a try?" one girl said to another.
Without waiting for the two to agree, Gu Yimin took out a size suitable for both of them and handed it over. The two girls took the jackets, took off their coats and put them on, then walked to the mirror to look at themselves.
Gu Erhui stood beside them and said with a smile, "This dress, although a bit expensive, is warm and...especially impressive. It's also durable and can be worn for many years."
The two girls looked at themselves in the mirror, then at Gu Yimin and her sister, and felt that they were dressed no worse than them, and their hearts wavered.
They are workers in a shoe factory, earning 35 yuan a month. A piece of clothing costs 55 yuan, which is more than a month's salary for them. It still makes them feel a little sad when they think about it.
Seeing her hesitation, Gu Erhui added, "You two are fair-skinned, and wearing red makes you look even fairer. You look much better than me and my sister. We are not as fair-skinned as you. Besides, wearing red during the Chinese New Year is so festive."
The two girls stared at themselves in the mirror for a long time before finally taking them off and leaving reluctantly. They were still reluctant to part with the clothes, which cost 55 yuan each.
After the two girls left, Tian Huiying gave Gu Erhui a thumbs up and said, "Erhui, you're amazing! How come I didn't realize you were so good at talking before?"
Gu Erhui smiled a little embarrassedly, "I was embarrassed at first, but it became easier as we talked."
Gu Jianguo and Han Deyi were both grinning; the business was finally open. They'd made fourteen yuan from two pairs of pants, which was enough to cover their rent.
No more clothes were sold that afternoon. Around six o'clock, five or six women in their forties came in, led by Qiu Weiguang's lover Zhu Qingfen.
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