That afternoon, Xia Jianguo took several customers who were interested in wholesaling to see the goods. Everyone took some, but not much, just over a hundred yuan.
This is a good start; they might restock tomorrow.
Xia Jianguo's guess was correct; wholesale customers were all restocking, and many new customers were also coming to wholesale.
Li Chunmei and Xia Minmin were selling goods at the stall in town.
In order to sell out as soon as possible, Xia Jianguo even rode his bicycle to nearby villages to sell his goods at local markets.
Xia Jianguo and his family managed to sell most of their goods before the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. The remaining items could be used by themselves or given away.
After more than ten days of hard work, the family was finally able to get together for a big meal, mainly to settle accounts and divide the money.
After deducting all expenses, each family received about 1,200 yuan. It was really tiring, but the rewards were plentiful.
Xia Jianguo, who has never liked drinking, even had a couple of drinks.
When they got home, Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei looked at each other and smiled, both of them able to see how hard the other had worked.
In particular, Xia Jianguo would say that it was not easy for Kong Yiji to take off his long gown, as people around him would ridicule and laugh at him for having a college degree and still setting up a stall, saying he was a good-for-nothing.
The reason you can't take off your long gown is because you haven't reached the end of your rope. When you really reach the end of your rope, you can take off any gown.
Xia Jianguo looked at his ledger and calculated the accounts, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.
In 1993, they finally saved up some money, and it was a considerable sum. They were now considered "ten-thousand-yuan households" (households with tens of thousands of yuan in savings). Finally, they could relax a little.
They planned to rest for a day before starting to write and sell couplets.
Xia Jianguo often says, "Buying couplets is the last resort for scholars." And he has been selling couplets for many years.
In the early 1990s, every household bought a lot of couplets. Couplets were pasted on all the doors in the house, including those for livestock. At that time, the sales of couplets were very high, and Xia Jianguo often had to write them until the early hours of the morning.
There's no such thing as an easy life for adults; they have elderly parents to care for and young children to raise.
In 1992, the two of them worked hard to pay off their debts of six or seven thousand yuan.
When Li Chunmei married Xia Jianguo, Xia Jianguo's father was already in poor health. When Li Chunmei was pregnant with Xia Minmin, she still had to take care of Xia Jianguo's father every day.
Xia Jianguo had to ride his bicycle through the streets and alleys every day to sell goods and make money. Back then, he had little capital and couldn't buy too many goods, so he could only buy a little to sell in the town.
After Xia Jianguo's father passed away, the family was left with six or seven thousand yuan in debt.
Xia Jianguo's elder brother and sister-in-law cleverly shifted the blame for the six or seven thousand yuan debt onto Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei, claiming that Xia Jianguo had gone to school while they had not.
The two brothers were embroiled in a bitter dispute over debts incurred during the division of the family property. Since the borrower was a close relative, it was impossible for him not to repay the money. No one's money comes easily, so Xia Jianguo had no choice but to bear the burden alone, unwilling but resigned to it.
In reality, one-third of the six or seven thousand yuan was spent on Xia Jianguo's older brother Xia Jianshe's wedding, another third was for building this house, and the last third was for Xia Jianguo's school debts and Xia Jianguo's father's medical expenses.
The house in their hometown was divided equally between the two brothers. When Xia Jianguo left, the house was given to Xia Xiaomei to live in.
Xia Xiaomei was only 16 years old, and Xia Jianguo was worried about leaving her at home, even though Xia Jianshe was there. In 1991, Xia Jianguo left his hometown with her to help take care of Xia Minmin. Li Chunmei said she would give her a monthly salary and a dowry.
Chen Chunhua was unwilling. She was pregnant with her second child and needed someone to take care of her. After the child was born, someone would also be needed to take care of the baby.
Xia Jianguo was studying away from home and didn't have much contact with Xia Xiaomei. Xia Jianshe was at home and spent every day with Xia Xiaomei. Xia Xiaomei was closer to Xia Jianshe, so she stayed in her hometown.
In the summer of 1992, Jianguo and Li Chunmei paid off all their debts. During the Spring Festival, Chen Chunhua looked at them and kept saying flattering things, as if she wasn't the one who had made a big fuss about separating the family a year ago.
Whenever Li Chunmei talked to Xia Minmin about what happened back then, she was incredibly impressed by Chen Chunhua's ability to adapt to different situations and speak appropriately to different people. She wanted Xia Minmin to learn from her, but how could two straightforward people like them possibly have such abilities?
Xia Jianguo is a sentimental person. With Xia Jianshe and Chen Chunhua's flattery, he put aside the unpleasantness from the division of the family property. They are all adults and still have to maintain appearances.
Seeing the balance in the ledger, Xia Jianguo, who was usually reserved, burst out laughing and even had the mood to play bullfighting with Xia Minmin.
"Chunmei, let's go to the county town tomorrow as a family. We'll buy new clothes for you, Xiaomin, and your parents. Your parents have helped us a lot, so we should take good care of them now that we've earned some money."
"I'll buy it for you too, so we can have a good New Year this year," Li Chunmei replied with a smile.
"Let's go to the wholesale market in the city after the New Year. It's much cheaper than in the county town."
"Jianguo, what do you think about us going to Shenzhen? My cousins all live there. They earn high wages working in factories. We can earn this much just by setting up a stall in town, so wouldn't we be able to earn even more in Shenzhen?"
Xia Jianguo didn't speak. He was thinking more about what to do with the child. There were no elderly people in the family who could help take care of the child. Could he take the child to Shenzhen?
"Chunmei, what will happen to Xiaomin if we go to Shenzhen? Father-in-law doesn't have time to take care of Xiaomin."
“Simple. Take Xiaomin with us to Shenzhen. Xiaomin is only two years old and has four years before she starts school. We can go for half a year first and come back if it doesn’t work out. At worst, it can’t be worse than 1992.”
"Okay, let's ask around and find out more information before we go. We can't just blindly follow the crowd."
Xia Minmin played with her toys while listening to her parents. This was different from her previous life, in which her parents never mentioned going to Shenzhen.
This trip to the city to wholesale goods left a deep impression on Xia Jianguo, who in his previous life didn't go to the city to purchase goods until 2000.
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