The child took a bite and exclaimed happily, "It's icy cold and delicious!"
Upon hearing this, the other friends also clamored to buy it.
The child who spoke first, while eating a mulberry popsicle, suddenly frowned and said, "Isn't this just the taste of mulberries?"
Chen Kai quickly covered his mouth and said, "Shh, keep your voice down. You guys eat, I won't charge you."
The child said happily, "Then I want to try everything!" The other children also clamored to have one of each.
Chen Kai rolled his eyes and said in a low voice, "We'll give you two for free, you'll have to pay for the rest. It wasn't easy for us to transport them here, and we still have to make money from selling them. If you really want to eat them, come to our house next time, and we'll let you eat your fill without charging you any money."
The child said, "I'll buy all the food from your stall and have it delivered to our house later."
Chen Kai exclaimed excitedly, "You really booked them all!"
The child said disdainfully, "Hurry up and pack it up, I have money!"
After the child finished speaking, he turned around and shouted, "Butler, come and pay the bill! Brother, come here, there's something delicious here!"
The child asked, "Chen Kai, Xiao Tian, do you want to come to my house to play? I have lots of delicious food at my house."
Chen Kai said with a smile, "We're not going, it's too busy here. You guys go have fun!"
The child frowned and said, "You're so young, and you already have to go out and earn money?"
Chen Kai said, "Our family is poor, so we can only do more."
Chen Shi turned around and shouted, "Restock, restock, restock stall number ten. Stall number ten offers delivery, send someone to deliver the goods."
Not long after, Uncle Zhou's eldest son came over pushing a cart, loaded the goods, and then left with a group of children.
After finishing his popsicle, Chen Kai started wandering around their stall, looking for anything he could help with.
When Old Man Chen saw his youngest son running around, he quickly picked him up and put him on a stool nearby, saying, "Good boy, don't run around. You're too small. What if someone steps on you? Stay here quietly, okay?"
Chen Kai said helplessly, "I know, I won't run around." When will he grow taller!
Just then, Chen Laosi came over with an ice pop, eating it as he said, "Little brother, are you going to see the flowers? Mother and the others are all there looking at the flowers."
Xiao Bao and the others shouted, "I want to go! I want to go!" They didn't like looking at flowers; they just wanted to run out and play.
Chen Laosi said, "Alright, let's go, let's go together."
Chen Kai said, "Fourth Brother, you take them over there, I'll just play here." There are already a lot of people on their side, and there will definitely be even more people over there. It will be crowded, so it's better for him not to go.
Chen Laosi asked, "Xiao Tian, are you going or not?"
Xiao Tian shook his head; with so many people around, he didn't want to move.
Chen Laosi said, "Alright then, I'll take them there. Xiaobao, come here, let your uncle carry you over."
Not long after Chen Laosi and his group left, people at all their stalls started shouting that they needed to restock.
Chen Kai looked around and realized that the supply of goods at the stalls was running out, and it seemed that there would be a shortage of goods for a while. However, there were still quite a few people waiting to buy cold drinks at each stall.
Uncle Zhou said anxiously, "What should we do? We don't have much supply left. Should we send a few more people back to pick up the goods?"
Old Man Chen said, "Alright, let my nephews go!"
Chen Kai thought to himself that it wouldn't make a difference if a few more people went back; they only had so much saltpeter at home, not enough to make more cold drinks. It seemed they would need to expand the team that went to collect saltpeter in the future, and they would need to collect more saltpeter.
A truckload of goods arrived, so they quickly unloaded it to replenish the stock for each stall. Business was booming, but that wasn't good either. They could only make so many cold drinks, and the supply couldn't keep up. Several other vendors had already booked the entire place and were waiting here.
Suddenly, the sound of drums echoed through the bustling streets, signaling the start of the flower festival.
The Chen family's cold drink business is booming. Several stalls are out of stock, and even their jelly and konjac noodles are sold out.
Uncle Zhou had nothing to do, so he went to help wash the dishes.
Upon seeing this, Old Man Chen quickly called out, "Brother, go and keep an eye on Chen Kai and the others!" He knew his wife would be furious if she found out that his older brother was washing dishes at their house.
Uncle Zhou wiped the water off his hands, walked over to Chen Kai, picked him up, and sat him on the stool.
Uncle Zhou kept nagging, "This county town has really changed a lot. Before, the place where we set up our stall was a small hill, but now it's completely different."
Uncle Zhou reminisced about the old days, and Chen Kai would occasionally chime in with a comment or two, and the two seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.
Meanwhile, Old Man Chen was worried. Business was so good, but his family couldn't keep up with the demand. He was really heartbroken to lose so much money!
The village chief and the village women strolled around Chen's stall and were surprised to find that Chen's business was booming. They must be making a lot of money!
The village chief walked up to Old Man Chen and said, "Chen Dong, your business is so good, you must have made a lot of money!"
Old Man Chen smiled and said, "It's alright, but a few items are out of stock. How's your business?"
The village chief sighed and said, "Our business can't compare to yours. We also make some sour plum drink to sell, just like yours, but we add some hawthorn and other ingredients, so it tastes better. Everyone in our village who sells sour plum drink has sold some."
When the village chief's daughter-in-law visited their home last time, she tasted their plum juice and thought it tasted good, quite different from what she usually drank. So she asked Zhou how it was made. Zhou hesitated for a long time before telling her, and soon everyone in the village knew about it.
The village chief's wife walked over to Chen Kai and his group and asked, "Chen Kai, where's your mother?"
Chen Kai said with a smile, "My mother and the others went shopping. Is there something you need from my mother?"
The village chief's wife said, "It's nothing, I was just asking."
Over here, the village chief said to Old Man Chen, "Chen Dong, didn't you say you wanted to support our village's businesses? Your family business is doing so well, you should help everyone out!"
Old Man Chen was a little embarrassed. He regretted not making such a boast and taking on the job.
Old Man Chen said, "Well then, several of our stalls have sold out and we've closed them down. There are still a few stalls that can fit over there. Why don't you move over there? You can pick a few more stalls to move over. That's all I can do for you."
The village chief was so happy that he went back and had people move the things over.
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