Chapter 73 Vegetable Porridge and Peanuts
The sachets in this Qixi Festival limited edition gift box are made of cloth bags sewn by the little people themselves.
Fabrics in various soft colors were transformed into all sorts of shapes by the skillful hands of the children, including elegant little flowers, plump peaches, beautiful butterflies, cute rabbits, and festive pomegranates.
At Ning Jia's suggestion, persimmon and peanut shapes, which symbolize "good things happening," were added.
After Ning Jia told them the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, the little people weren't very interested in the love story of the couple. They just felt that the magpies building the bridge in the sky were working too hard. Out of sympathy, they created the magpie-shaped sachet.
In short, the designs of these sachets are incredibly diverse.
Although these designs are not complicated and the Dwarfs' sewing skills are not particularly exquisite, there is a saying: "A cute person makes cute things."
The final product was unexpectedly adorable, with a kind of clumsy cuteness that melted people's hearts. Even Ning Jia couldn't put it down.
She took many photos with her phone, but none of them captured the charm of the sachets. So she recorded a few videos, which made them look much more vivid.
She quickly posted on her WeChat Moments to notify both new and existing customers:
To celebrate Qixi Festival, Ning's Sachet will be launching a limited-edition Qixi Festival sachet gift box. Stay tuned!
Below are pictures of various sachets, as well as several videos.
Perhaps the sachets were just too cute to be true, because before long, Ning Jia's phone started vibrating non-stop, with orders pouring in from all over the place!
Even customers who had just ordered sachets placed new orders, much to Ning Jia's surprise and delight, leaving her beaming with joy.
The little ones were overjoyed, never expecting that the new sachet, designed through collective discussion, would be so popular!
The children, who were participating in the planning for the first time, were all excited:
This is the result of their joint efforts; in Ning Jia's words, it's the "crystallization of their wisdom"!
An unprecedented sense of accomplishment made the little guys beam with pride, and they were all eager and ready to do something big.
"Ning Jia, take all the orders you can get, don't be shy!"
The little people said very confidently.
Ning Jia said uncertainly, "...Isn't that a bit too much?"
Since the advent of assembly line production, the little people have developed an inexplicable confidence in their manual efficiency.
"No, no, I'll definitely finish it."
When these boastful words were uttered, the petty people hadn't yet realized the seriousness of the matter.
In their view, no matter how many orders there are, as long as everyone works hard, they will definitely be able to complete them.
However, a few of the clan members who were good at math covered their faces in despair after hearing Ning Jia announce the number of orders for just one day, already foreseeing the outcome.
...
Sure enough, as orders kept coming in, the living room, which had only been clean and tidy for a few days, became so crowded that it was about to burst. Everywhere was piled up like a vast ocean of herbs, cloth bags, packaging boxes, and packaging bags, almost drowning the little people.
Gathering herbs, wrapping herbs, embroidering, sewing cloth bags...
The little workers on the assembly line buried themselves in their work, working and working, until their eyes felt blurry and their little arms felt like they were about to break, but still—
I can't finish it, I can't finish it, I can't finish it...
Zhe Lan, who was originally focused on teaching, came to help with Bai Su and a few others. Assembly line workers +1+1+1+1+1+1.
Quartz and He Meng also put aside their own affairs and came, adding another assembly line worker to the group.
Even the little kids who weren't adults got involved, helping with gathering herbs, tidying up, and running errands...
Even the two youngest children, Tuantuan and Mengmeng, gave up playing and used their chubby little hands to hold the needle and thread, embroidering quite skillfully on the cloth bag.
but--
"Tuantuan—you've embroidered all these characters wrong, so the meaning is completely wrong."
"Besides, we don't need to embroider these at all this time."
Overwhelmed with work, Gan Cao glanced at the bag and immediately felt dizzy.
Looking at the messy embroidery of their own language, he sighed. Although he couldn't bear to dampen the child's enthusiasm, he still asked Tuantuan to leave the embroidery group.
Looking at the mountain of cloth bags waiting to be embroidered, he hurriedly picked up his needle and thread again, completely forgetting to pick out the "defective" piece from before...
Ning Jia wasn't much better off.
Although she doesn't need to do delicate work like processing herbs or sewing cloth bags, she is responsible for packaging, contacting buyers, and delivering goods. After delivering goods at night, she still has to check the accounts. She is as busy as a spinning top and has been working late for several days in a row.
In addition, she also had to do housework, grocery shopping, and cooking, and she lost a lot of weight, like a squeezed apple.
"For dinner tonight, let's just make do with some porridge."
That evening, Ning Jia had large dark circles under her eyes and looked like a dehydrated vegetable, slumped weakly on the sofa, not even interested in playing on her phone.
The little people didn't clamor for a big meal as usual. Their little faces were wrinkled like dehydrated chestnuts as they silently drank their vegetable porridge from their small plates, which were soon emptied.
"Another bowl, please!" "I want half a bowl!" "I want a whole bowl!"
"Okay~"
Holding a large soup ladle taller than himself, Shi Ying stood beside a huge bowl filled with vegetable porridge, carefully serving rice to the people of his tribe.
You take a spoonful, he takes a spoonful; you take half a spoonful, he takes another spoonful...
Quartz suddenly stopped what he was doing and said helplessly:
"He Meng, your plate is already full. Come and get more when you're done eating."
"No, if you come back after you finish eating, there won't be any left."
As He Meng spoke, she immediately picked up the small plate and gulped down several large mouthfuls of porridge, then showed the plate, now half empty, to Shi Ying:
"See, is this okay now?"
quartz:……
Xuecao, standing to the side, gave Hemeng's little head a playful pat:
"Don't eat too much, you still have work to do later! If you eat too much and get indigestion, the clan leader won't be able to take care of you!"
Bai Su also said, "That's right, you should only eat until you're 80% full. Eating too much will make you fat."
The word "fat" really stung He Meng. She looked down at her slightly rounder belly and, remembering the chubby, ugly rabbit in the woods, couldn't help but shudder.
"Never mind, you don't need to give me any more porridge."
She snorted and walked away dejectedly, clutching the half-eaten plate of porridge.
The other little people silently drank their porridge, and none of them joined in the conversation.
Because everyone has been so tired these past few days.
I was so tired that I didn't even have the energy to say "it's delicious".
"This can't go on!"
Ning Jia, who was squinting on the sofa, suddenly spoke.
"Starting tomorrow, we will stop accepting orders."
She opened her sleepy eyes, looked at the equally tired little people, and spoke decisively.
The little people who had been silently drinking their porridge all raised their heads in unison, but instead of cheering loudly, they stubbornly shouted:
"No, we need to make money!" "Yes, make a lot of money!" "We need to make money!" "Make a fortune!"
Ning Jia, who had just collapsed, sprang back to her feet, looking at the little people with a surprised expression: ? ? ?
Oh no, her ears are so tired they're hallucinating!
Seeing Ning Jia's incredulous expression, He Meng wiped her mouth, jumped onto the sofa, and emphasized with her hands on her hips:
"Ning Jia, hurry up and take this order! We need to make money!"
Under her influence, shouts of "Make money!" "Make money!" "Make money!" came from all directions as the little children waved their hands and shouted with great enthusiasm.
Ning Jia: Oh no, she's really hallucinating from exhaustion!
...
"Everyone, please calm down—"
Canglan slowly finished the porridge in her dish, wiped her mouth, and then stepped out from the agitated crowd of people, standing in the center of the coffee table and making a stop gesture.
“We have a lot of money left in our account. Even if the whole clan spends it together, we won’t be able to spend it all at once.”
"Really?"
Cang Lan smiled and pointed at Ning Jia, "If everyone doesn't believe me, don't they believe Ning Jia?"
That's right!
The little people relaxed their tense expressions. As long as Ning Jia was a little more stingy, one coin could be used twice.
With that thought in mind, everyone felt relieved and quickly accepted Cang Lan's suggestion to "take a half-day off tomorrow," but still disagreed with Ning Jia's statement that they would no longer accept orders.
How about this?
Ning Jia thought for a moment, "How about we order another 100 gift boxes, and then on Qixi Festival, I'll set up a stall to sell individual sachets and pouches?"
The little ones remembered that Ning Jia had made a lot of money when she set up a stall last time, so they all nodded in agreement.
While everyone continued drinking their porridge, Ning Jia, still reeling from the shock, pulled Cang Lan aside and whispered:
"Chieftain, your accounts have always been quite full, why are you suddenly so anxious about money? Has something happened?"
Canglan touched her chin, and said somewhat shyly:
"Ahem, this is also my fault."
As she spoke, an undisguised joy appeared on her face. "Yesterday, I did a divination by looking up at the sun for the first time in a long time. The sun god told me that we will soon be reunited with our lost people."
"The tribespeople are very happy about this."
Ning Jia was unaware of the sun god's efficacy, but what did this have to do with the petty people's desire to make money?
Canglan glanced at her and said, "There are quite a few lost clansmen. Once they are reunited, their living expenses will have to be doubled."
I see!
Ning Jia suddenly realized, and subconsciously glanced at the house again, her mind starting to wander:
Currently, the Dwarf dormitories are almost full. Where should we arrange for the new Dwarfs to stay when they arrive?
Oh, and tableware too.
According to the Canglan clan chief, with so many people coming, the family's small plates and spoons will definitely need to be replaced.
Ning Jiaxing began calculating the accounts with great enthusiasm.
...
"This year's Qixi Festival gift boxes sold a total of..."
Ning Jia pulled up the Excel spreadsheet and her eyes widened instantly: "976?"
A gift box costs 119 yuan. After deducting the discount for loyal customers and rounding down, it still amounts to 110,000 yuan?
They made so much money in one go? That's unbelievable!
However, considering the two pounds she had lost and the electric scooter that had a flat tire halfway through the journey, Ning Jia felt that the number was within her expectations.
She quietly opened the bedroom door, glanced at the tightly closed door of the second bedroom, hesitated for a moment, and then quietly closed it again.
They slept from noon until evening and still haven't gotten up. It seems the little ones are really exhausted this time.
Although the former employee Ning Jia was also tired, he could still manage due to some ingrained work habits (?). However, this was the first time he had experienced overtime work, so it was normal for him to feel tired.
Fortunately, she'll be the only one going to the stall tomorrow; otherwise, I'm really worried the little people will overwork themselves.
Ning Jia transferred the more than 30,000 yuan she received into the "Ms. Ning's Medical Special Account," and then looked at her fund account, and was completely stunned:
Everyone says this year is a bull market and the A-shares market is bound to rise, so she followed the crowd and bought tens of thousands of shares in the Science and Technology Innovation Board with some skepticism.
I bought it in June, and the price started to rise sharply in July. It's almost September, and it's still rising? That's too weird!
Looking at the nearly 50% return on her account, Ning Jia could hardly believe her eyes:
If she had invested all her savings back then... she wouldn't have to worry about medical expenses now!
But she only thought about it.
Given her frugality, how could she possibly put all her money into such a risky place?
Besides, she just got lucky this time by sheer chance. If she had bought funds a few years ago, she would have been stuck with losses.
Looking at the booming fund market, Ning Jia still felt somewhat uneasy.
After thinking about it, she simply wrote down "sell all holdings by early September" in her notebook, planning to sell all her funds as soon as she was done with this busy period.
After settling the accounts, seeing that the little people still showed no signs of waking up, Ning Jia took matters into her own hands and collected all the remaining loose sachets, putting them into a large cardboard box to take to the market the next morning.
As she tidied up, thinking about her stall, she didn't notice that a sachet with crookedly embroidered Lilliputian script had also been placed into the cardboard box...
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