At noon, Xia Minmin's maternal grandmother packed up her stall and went home. Passing by Xia Minmin's stall, she saw Xia Minmin calling out to her grandmother with a smile and asked, "Xiaomin, your uncle went home today. Do you want to come to your uncle's house for lunch now? Your parents will also come over for dinner tonight."
"Mom, no need! You and my sister-in-law are busy at noon, and it's not convenient for you to do anything while taking care of this child. I'll just cook something simple later."
"Brother, will you be home this afternoon?"
"Okay, you and Jianguo should pack up and come over for dinner soon. I'll head back now."
After Xia Minmin's grandmother finished speaking, she picked up her bamboo basket and left, as she needed to hurry back to prepare lunch, since the cement factory workers would be getting off work and having their meals soon.
Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei chatted about everyday things while no one was around.
"Jianguo, are you hungry? Should I go back and cook now or wait a while?"
"I'm alright, but I can go cook now."
"Want some spare ribs? There are still some left from the last time I bought them. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow, and we don't have much meat or vegetables at home."
"Chunmei, the extra pork we bought tomorrow can be used to make cured pork."
"Understood, I'll handle it tomorrow."
Li Chunmei got up and pulled Xia Minmin home. Xia Minmin greeted acquaintances along the way. She was completely different from the socially awkward Xia Minmin in her twenties. After being reborn, she even became thick-skinned.
After the mother and daughter finished their meal, it was Xia Jianguo's turn to eat.
"Sister, this costs 13 yuan," Xia Minmin said, looking at the bucket the young woman was carrying.
The woman smiled the moment she heard Xia Minmin call her "sister," as she was about the same age as Li Chunmei.
"You're quite the talker, kid. Much better than my child. You can even sell things?"
Xia Minmin said proudly, "Of course I can! I've been watching the stall for two days now, and I've memorized all the prices."
"Okay, then I'll test you. Your mom can be the judge, okay? If you answer all of these correctly, I'll buy three things from your house."
"Sure, but you can't go back on your word, okay?"
The young woman picked out a few inconspicuous little things from the corner and asked Xia Minmin about them, and Xia Minmin answered them one by one.
"Madam, is your daughter right?"
"All correct!"
Li Chunmei picked up Xia Minmin and said, "Xia Xiaomin, when did you memorize these prices?"
“I heard you and Dad selling things, and I remembered it.”
After the woman finished selecting three items, she said, "Boss lady, please pay."
Before Li Chunmei could even finish calculating the price, Xia Minmin had already announced, "Sister, it's 19.6 yuan in total."
Li Chunmei and the woman were both shocked.
"Madam, how old is your daughter this year? She can only do two-digit addition with a decimal point!"
"She's only a little over two years old. Her dad only started teaching her single-digit addition and subtraction these past few days. He doesn't know how she learned it."
After paying, the woman kept saying, "So smart! I've never seen such a smart child before."
Xia Jianguo saw from a distance that his stall was surrounded by people, and thinking something had happened, he quickly ran over.
Uncle Wang from the next stall saw Xia Jianguo squeezing in and pulled him over, saying, "How did you raise your Xiaomin? She's so smart! She can even do accounts now, and she's so sweet-talking. Hurry up and ride your bike over and get some more goods; you've almost sold out."
Xia Jianguo tiptoed to take a look and saw that there wasn't much left. He asked his friend to keep an eye on things while he pushed his bicycle to load up the goods.
When Xia Jianguo returned on his bicycle with the goods, there were far fewer people at the stall, and there wasn't much left on the stall.
Xia Minmin was seen warmly greeting the customers, and she was calculating the bills so quickly that Li Chunmei couldn't keep up with her packing speed.
Seeing this, Xia Jianguo immediately stepped forward to help, replenishing the out-of-stock items and attending to the customers. He wanted to help the customers pay, but they were unwilling.
"I've been waiting all this time just to have your daughter pay the bill for me. I've never seen a two-year-old do the bill before."
Customers waiting to pay their bills nearby also came over to chat.
"I've never seen it before either. I'll brag about it when I get home."
“Just now, an old man took more than ten items to pay for them. Someone was timing him, and this young girl calculated it in five seconds.”
That's how small towns were in the 1990s. There weren't many entertainment options, and not many families owned a television. Even the smallest thing could become a hot topic, let alone the twelfth lunar month. It was the off-season for farming, and everyone was busy preparing for the New Year.
In the afternoon, even more people came to watch the spectacle. Xia Jianguo brought out all the goods in his house, and everyone rushed to buy what they needed, while those who didn't want to buy also crowded around the perimeter to watch the excitement.
Xia Minmin was really exhausted after a whole afternoon, and there wasn't a single item left on her stall.
Xia Jianguo shouted, "Everyone, don't push! We're out of stock, we're packing up and going home. Friends, please go home early too."
Onlookers asked Xia Jianguo, "Are you going to set up your stall the day after tomorrow?"
Xia Jianguo answered at the top of his lungs, "I'll be setting up my stall the day after tomorrow."
"The key is to bring your youngest sister."
"Okay!" Xia Jianguo replied casually as he packed his things.
Xia Minmin was exhausted and sat on her special little chair, which her maternal grandfather had made especially for her.
After Xia Jianguo finished packing his things, picked up Xia Minmin, and instructed Li Chunmei to push the cart back home, the onlookers dispersed in twos and threes.
Back at their rented apartment, the family of three gulped down water; they were exhausted from the day, but thankfully, the day had been fruitful.
Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei discussed whether they should go to the city's wholesale market to buy more fresh goods and take advantage of this opportunity to make more money.
The city's wholesale market is the largest in the entire central region, offering a wide variety of goods at prices lower than those in county towns.
Xia Jianguo used to attend a junior college in the city, so he is very familiar with the area.
However, renting a truck to buy goods by oneself is somewhat unsafe. In the 1990s, the security situation was not good and there were people who would rob vehicles. Moreover, it was too risky for Xia Jianguo to take all the money in his family to buy goods.
Xia Jianguo told Li Chunmei about these concerns.
Li Chunmei thought for a moment, "Jianguo, do you think we should cooperate with my brother?"
After thinking for a moment, Xia Jianguo felt that it was very feasible. His brother-in-law, Li Zhonghua, had extensive experience as a truck driver at the cement factory, and he had many fellow students and connections when he was learning kung fu at the martial arts school.
Xia Jianguo planned to talk to his brother-in-law after dinner.
Xia Minmin's only impression of her uncle when he was young was that he would travel around and bring back delicious food from every place he went.
Looking at the empty house, Li Chunmei said, "It's been so long since the house has been this empty, I'm not used to it."
Xia Jianguo comforted him, "Things will be alright in the future, and we will have our own home too."
“Yes, yes, we will have a home of our own,” Xia Minmin echoed loudly.
"Xia Xiaomin, then your father and mother will take your good wishes with us!"
Tonight, many people went home and talked about Xia Minmin, either praising how smart she is or asking when she would set up her stall so they could see how a two-year-old could do arithmetic.
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