Qian Yu took two five-yuan pencil cases and the most expensive one, which was priced at fifteen yuan, from Qian Mu. The first, second, and fourth rooms of the Huang family now have children in school, and the three pencil cases are enough, but the quality is different, which is enough to worry Mrs. Huang for a while.

Qian Qing smiled secretly, her sister was indeed not stupid, with just a little instruction from her, she could come up with new innovative methods on her own.

Qian Qing immediately started to prepare to go out. This trip to the south was different from going to the provincial capital. It was almost an unknown journey.

This time she planned to go to two places. One was a small town where a factory producing pillowcases and handkerchiefs was located. She heard from those people last time that many of the small factories there were now impacted by the factories in Guangzhou, and most of them were struggling. Qian Qing planned to make a trip to see if she could pick up any bargains.

Another option is to go to Guangzhou in the southernmost part of the country. As the province closest to Hong Kong Island, Guangzhou can be regarded as a weather vane and one of the fastest and earliest developing cities.

With this calculation, the money in hand was not tight at all, it was extremely tight. Lao Ding had already paid back the 500 yuan, and Chen Xinran generously gave her 1,000 yuan for her to use until the New Year. But even so, Qian Qing only had 4,000 yuan in her hand.

If it’s summer, it’s not so bad because the clothes are light and easy to carry, and each piece is cheap so you can buy more and earn more.

Winter clothes are difficult to make. They are expensive, heavy and difficult to transport. In addition, people generally don’t have many winter clothes. Some poor families only wear one cotton-padded jacket for the whole winter. More people buy cloth and make it themselves on sewing machines, which greatly reduces the demand for purchases.

Qian Qing was counting money in her hands, turning it over and over with her pale fingers.

Zhou Hao came back from the bathroom and came over to her seeing her sad face.

Qian Qing put the money down, hugged Zhou Hao's head and shook it: "Zhou Hao, I'm so poor."

Zhou Hao: ...

No, you hold the financial lifeline of the whole family in your hands, with a lot of cash in your hands. How can you complain to me, who only gets pocket money every month?

Qian Qing counted on her fingers and told Zhou Hao: "I plan to divide the money into two parts. One part will be used for clothes, preferably more, because it will be difficult for me to run south when the weather gets cold. I also need to save enough money to prepare for bargain hunting. If I come across something good, but I don't have the money to buy it, I will cry to death, I tell you!"

Zhou Hao pulled down the money-obsessed girl's hand and said, "Is this really the way we have to fight?"

Qian Qing said seriously, "It's not that I'm trying hard, I just think it would be a shame if I missed the opportunity. And I also like the feeling of making money."

Before marrying Zhou Hao, many people around her said she was stupid, that she could have made a living with her looks, but she insisted on marrying into a working-class family and living a miserable life without a good life. But Qian Qing didn't think so. Marrying someone and just sitting there waiting for a good life to fall from the sky? Such good things in the world are mostly traps.

After marrying Zhou Hao, she became more and more clear about her own ideas. She bought and sold based on her intuition, communicated with people, and met all kinds of people. The fun in it was something that those people could not understand.

Zhou Hao was lost in thought. Qian Qing complained for a while and then moved on. She had a lot of things to do and didn't have time to complain all the time. One of the most important things was shipping.

These days both small and large cars are unsafe. I heard that some villages would deliberately move trees to the middle of the road and wait for cars to pass by. They would then approach and pretend to be passing by, asking the driver for "help fees".

There are also unreliable drivers who collude with others to steal the cargo owners' belongings and then disappear with the cargo and cannot be found.

What's worse is that some people go out with money and show off their wealth, so much so that they can't even be found.

With this in mind, the only safer way is the train. So Qian Qing planned to pull Lin Xiaohui onto her chariot.

Lin Xiaohui didn't follow every bus, so when she followed the bus, she would put the stuff in the employees' rest area. Qian Qing was worried about leaving it in the cargo box, because she had heard too many stories of people who went into business but ended up losing half their life's fortune instead of making money.

Of course, there is some exaggeration in this, but the fact is that no matter how long it takes, only a few people succeed, and where there is profit, there is always risk. The higher the profit, the greater the risk.

So Qian Qing planned to talk business to Lin Xiaohui. Since they were going to borrow someone else's place for a long time, it would be better for them to make it clear in advance.

Qian Qing specially picked a day to look for Lin Xiaohui who was taking a break. She had already done some research before coming. The bus that Lin Xiaohui usually took went through Y City and went to Yangcheng. It also passed by the town that Qian Qing wanted to go to. However, the stop time in the town was very short, so someone had to pick up and drop off the goods in the middle.

Qian Qing: "This should be the only time in this town. We will escort the goods."

The most important one is Guangzhou.

Lin Xiaohui worked as a train conductor. Her family conditions were not bad. She lived in a railway family compound. The living room was covered with a fashionable lace sofa and a rare Panda TV. Her husband also worked on the railway. The couple rarely saw each other and spent their time on the train.

She pondered for a moment. Although it was against regulations to help others carry goods, many train attendants would carry things for relatives and friends to a certain extent. Some people would also choose to buy some goods themselves and then give the goods to their relatives to sell.

Her whole family lives on the railway, and she makes her living from the railway, so naturally she doesn't have such relatives. In the past, she just brought some southern fruits or new styles of clothes for her friends.

Qian Qing directly quoted her a price of 100 yuan for each delivery, and a higher price for larger quantities. She also said considerately that there would be someone following the car every time, and all she had to do was to find a safe place for their goods on the car, and she didn't have to worry about anything else.

With this calculation, one hundred dollars per trip is very tempting.

"Okay, as long as you have someone to escort the goods every time."

Lin Xiaohui thought clearly that if she transported the goods individually every time, the money would be a bit uneconomical. She also had a proper job, so how could she keep an eye on other people's goods? In addition, if she really did that, she would be sued and she might even lose her job.

It's different if someone is guaranteeing the goods. You can say that they are your relatives and you are just helping them find a place to store the goods. Even if the leader knows about it, it's okay. Who doesn't have a relative?

Now that the cooperation was finalized, Qian Qing felt relieved.

Lin Xiaohui was a little embarrassed: "I wonder if Auntie can make a few more bottles of the chili sauce you gave me last time?"

Qian Qing was a little surprised: "Have you finished eating?"

Not really. That small bottle can last for half a month even if I eat it every day, right?

"I finished it a long time ago. You don't know that I finished it on the bus you just gave it to me. Later I was too embarrassed to ask you for more. My colleagues all said it was delicious and asked me where I bought it."

Lin Xiaohui has been out all year round and has eaten all kinds of delicious food, but that small bottle of chili sauce still surprised her.

The spicy flavor is mixed with the aroma. You can vaguely taste a lot of flavor enhancers, as well as white sesame seeds and crushed peanuts. The food on the train is not delicious. At this time, just get a steamed bun, split it open, and spread a thick layer of chili sauce in the middle. It is best to have a slightly hot steamed bun, which is simply delicious with the chili sauce. The smell attracted even the train conductor to come over and scoop a big spoonful.

"Of course we couldn't let Auntie suffer a loss, so we colleagues bought three bottles each and paid for them."

Qian Qing's eyes lit up. This was a good business. Her mother had said a few days ago that she wanted to make some money from the food business. Wasn't she just sleepy and wanted to do it?

"Okay, I'll go back and ask my mom about the price..."

Lin Xiaohui calculated the price of chili sauce from the supply and marketing cooperative: "Three yuan for a bottle, what do you think?"

Qian Qing pinched her hand. No wonder people say there is money on the railway. There is really money. How much does a bottle of chili sauce cost? It only costs one dollar to make it, and it can be sold for three dollars!

Lin Xiaohui also used the consumer's thinking to calculate: "The chili sauce in the supply and marketing cooperative is more than two yuan, but it's not fragrant, and there are no sesame seeds and peanuts in it. I can taste that there are good things in the chili sauce made by Auntie, and there are fried red bean curd, right? It's probably a lot of work to make, so we'll charge three yuan. Can Auntie hurry up and make twenty bottles first? To be honest, our mouths have no taste when we drive recently."

Train attendants usually spend a lot of time on the train, so they usually bring some of the side dishes and sauces they are used to eating at home. However, no one brings a sauce as good as the bottle of chili sauce, which has just the right salty taste and the chili seeds inside are fragrant.

Qian Qing was very happy and then she took the initiative to humbly adjust the price: "2.5 yuan a bottle, you guys want more, so we'll match the price with the supply and marketing cooperative."

Lin Xiaohui was very happy, Qian Qing secretly reminded her: "The chili sauce is also delicious when cooking. I'll give you two more bottles. Ask the chef to add some when you cook on the train. You can't just eat steamed bread when you stay on the train all day."

These words really touched Lin Xiaohui's heart. She immediately pulled Qian Qing to complain. She said that although the job of a train attendant looked glamorous, it was actually very tiring. She had to follow the train every time it moved, and she couldn't eat or sleep well. When she first went there, she couldn't sleep after getting off the train. She always felt like she was floating on the sea, going up and down, and she couldn't close her eyes.

Qian Qing, who was later described as a model of high emotional intelligence, immediately started talking to Lin Xiaohui about the difficulties of doing business. Soon, the two of them became closer. Lin Xiaohui even gave her a few small pendants that she said were from the south, which were plastic figurines of various colors.

By the time Qian Qing returned to the oil field, the sky was already filled with sunset glow.

It had been more than 20 minutes since the end of the school day at Zidi Primary School. There was no one else at Qian's mother's grocery store window except for a few people who were still picking out candies.

Qian Qing used a pair of tongs to pick out a small sweet potato from the small iron stove at the door.

He went in to look for Qian's mother while breathing heavily.

"Hoohoo—Mom, is my brother-in-law here?"

Qian's mother collected the money and handed the candies to the children at the window. She watched them skip away and said, "They have been here. They should be taking Qianqian and your sister to the supply and marketing cooperative now."

Qian Qing threw away the sweet potato peels, put her hands on her waist and asked for credit to her mother: "Mom, don't you want to start a food business? I found a good way for you."