"Young lady, here's your change." Just then, the old man adding firewood to the boiler called out, "Come and get this."
Wen Qing, carrying green vegetables, noodles, and a thermos, walked around the boiler, bent down, and took a penny: "Thank you."
"Be careful when carrying it, don't burn yourself," said the old man adding firewood.
"Oh, thank you." Wen Qing smiled and then walked deeper into the alley.
At the same time, Ji Yanjun got out of the car and stepped into the store: "Boss, give me a pack of cigarettes."
What kind of cigarette?
"Daqianmen".
"Three and a half cents a pack."
"Give me another box of matches."
"Matches have gone up in price; they're five cents a box now."
"Hmm." Ji Yanjun took out a cigarette and matches and asked, "Boss, are there any students from No. 1 High School here who come to rent rooms?"
"No, renting a house is too expensive. Students all live in dormitories. I haven't heard of any students renting houses here."
Ji Yanjun said thank you, took the cigarette, and left.
He drove around Nanzhou No. 1 Middle School, almost knocking on every door, but still couldn't find Wen Qing.
As dawn broke, he parked his car in front of Nanzhou No. 1 Middle School, leaned his head back in his seat, and watched the endless stream of students heading to their morning self-study sessions.
"Old Ji!" someone suddenly knocked on the door and called out.
Ji Yanjun was startled. He turned around and saw an acquaintance, then lazily asked, "Gangzi, what are you doing?"
"You forgot! We're taking the train today to make big money! It's almost time, what are you still doing here!" Gangzi opened the car door and plopped inside.
Ji Yanjun rubbed his face and said, "Oh, I remember now."
"Let's go," Gangzi said.
"Wait a little longer, we'll leave soon." Ji Yanjun said, sounding a bit tired. "I haven't seen Wen Qing yet."
"Wait and wait! When can't we see Wenqing? Train tickets are free! If we wait any longer, we'll miss our train!" Gangzi shouted. "Go away! Look at your eyes, they're bloodshot. You haven't slept for days. Go to the back and sleep. I'll drive."
"Wait a little longer," Ji Yanjun said.
Gangzi ignored him and forcibly pulled him to the back seat of the car: "Damn it, you have money but I don't. We still have to catch this train for the price of two train tickets. Damn it, you also have a fever. Well, when we get to the train station, we can just buy two paracetamol tablets and you'll be fine."
Ji Yanjun fell asleep as soon as he got to the back seat.
Gangzi drove past Wen Qing and Wan Min.
“It’s a toy car,” Wan Min exclaimed.
Wen Qing was drinking soy milk with her head down: "Stop talking like that, hurry up and finish your drink so you can go to study. It's not easy to treat you like this."
"Oh, okay." Wan Min lowered her head and drank.
The two entered the classroom together, but Ji Ningzhi still didn't come.
Ji Ningzhi didn't come to class until Friday. Wen Qing didn't think much of it; Ji Ningzhi wasn't a child, and Liang Wenhua, Ji Yousheng, and Ji Yan all doted on her unconditionally.
Thinking of Ji Yanjun, Wen Qing felt much calmer than before.
She didn't think much about the Ji family's affairs. Instead, when school ended at noon on Friday, she went back to her place, put on her backpack, which contained the shoes she had made—corduroy shoe samples—and prepared to take them back for Yao Shiling and the others to make.
Wen Qing wasn't the only one carrying a backpack to the classroom, because Nanzhou No. 1 Middle School lets out an hour and a half earlier every Friday to make it easier for students to go home.
Everyone carried their backpacks into the classroom, saving them the trouble of going back to the dormitory and then back to their accommodation to unpack.
"Wen Qing, you're really proactive this time," Wan Min said, looking at Wen Qing's military green backpack.
Wen Qing smiled and nodded: "Because I went home, I might have to come back again."
"Another round?"
"Um."
Why?
"Something's up."
There was indeed something to do. Today was the day she had promised Zhang Xiuying to return the clothes and shoes, so she had to go back to the county town, take the clothes and shoes with her to the city, give them to Zhang Xiuying, and receive the money before she could return to the county town.
So, as soon as the school bell rang on Friday, Wen Qing was the first to rush out of the classroom.
Nowadays, everyone has become accustomed to Wen Qing's behavior of actively leaving school and avoiding evening self-study.
After all, Wen Qing is good-looking.
After all, Wen Qing was a good student.
After all, Wen Qing could get good grades even without studying.
Therefore, Wen Qing's behavior of running away as soon as school was praised by her classmates, who said that being good at studying meant being willful, and even the teacher didn't say anything.
Wen Qing ran quickly out of the school gate, but was grabbed as soon as she got out.
"Wen Qing".
Wen Qing turned her head and saw Zhang Xiuying: "Sister Zhang, what are you doing here?"
"We're waiting for you," Old He, who was next to Zhang Xiuying, chimed in. "You really need too many clothes, so we can't wait any longer."
"I'll go back and get my clothes now."
“We’ll go with you,” Zhang Xiuying and Lao He said at the same time.
Wen Qing glanced at the two of them, thinking that if they left, she wouldn't have to take the bus to the city again, so she said, "Okay, let's hurry up and go, otherwise the bus will be too crowded and we won't be able to squeeze on."
"Okay," Zhang Xiuying and Lao He replied at the same time.
Then the three of them ran to the bus stop and just managed to catch the bus. They squeezed into two seats and it took them half an hour to reach the county town.
Upon arriving in the county town, Zhang Xiuying and Lao He followed Wen Qing toward Aunt Xiao's tailor shop.
Before even entering Aunt Xiao's tailor shop, you could hear the clattering of sewing machines.
Zhang Xiuying was taken aback. She followed Lao He into Aunt Xiao's tailor shop and saw more than a dozen people familiar with operating sewing machines, skillfully performing their respective tasks, and handing over their finished products to the next stage.
A stack of white polyester shirts, black plain cloth trousers, and white leather-soled shoes were piled up against the wall.
While Zhang Xiuying and Lao He were overjoyed, they never expected that Wen Qing had such a skilled team behind him, and from their conversations with Wen Qing, they could tell that Wen Qing was capable of making decisions for them.
Could it be that Wen Qing is the owner and runs this tailor shop?
"Aunt Xiao," Wen Qing called out, hurrying into Aunt Xiao's tailor shop and asking directly, "Are the clothes and shoes ready?"
As soon as Wen Qing arrived, all ten tailors stopped and stood up, saying, "Wen Qing is back."
"You all go about your business, you keep going." Wen Qing waved her hand and walked towards Aunt Xiao.
Zhang Xiuying and Lao He exchanged another glance. Wen Qing, this young lady, really is a boss.
"Sister Zhang, Boss He, come and take a look." Wen Qing and Aunt Xiao had already walked to the corner of the wall.
Zhang Xiuying and Lao He followed.
Wen Qing asked, "Aunt Xiao, how many sets of clothes are there in total? How many pairs of shoes?"
"Two hundred sets of clothes and one hundred and fifty pairs of shoes," Aunt Xiao said.
Two hundred sets?
Wen Qing nodded secretly; the speed of these ten tailors exceeded her expectations.
"Two hundred sets!" Zhang Xiuying exclaimed with delight.
"That's a bit too little," said Mr. He.
Aunt Xiao chimed in, "It's mainly because we weren't familiar with it for the first couple of days, so it was a bit slow. But now that we're more familiar with it, everyone's pretty fast."
"It's alright, it's alright," Zhang Xiuying said with a smile. "We've taken it all." As she spoke, Zhang Xiuying took out her purse and reached for her money. When she opened the purse, there was a wad of RMB.
The ten tailors glanced over furtively and thought to themselves, "Wow, the boss is really rich!"
When the money was handed to Wen Qing, the ten tailors gasped. They learned from Aunt Xiao that Wen Qing was the real owner of Aunt Xiao's tailor shop, and that she was also in charge of clothing design. At first, they looked down on Wen Qing because she was young and thought that the clothes she made would not sell. However, they thought that she would earn twenty yuan a month, so they would wait and see.
I never expected that Xiao Wenqing would earn so much money so quickly, several thousand yuan. They could never earn that much in their entire lives.
Unexpectedly, Wen Qing declined, saying, "I can't give you all the clothes."
Zhang Xiuying and Lao He were taken aback: "Why?"
“These are goods from two companies; I can’t give them all to you,” Wen Qing said.
Zhang Xiuying laughed: "Hey, you little girl, it's all about making money for whoever you give it to. Old He and I are here to pick up the goods ourselves."
Wen Qing laughed: "Sister Zhang, Boss He, doing business requires integrity. If we were in their shoes, and they said the same thing to me, how would you explain it to your customers? Wouldn't that be harming them? Don't you think so?"
Zhang Xiuying and Lao He immediately fell silent.
Aunt Xiao was initially worried that Wen Qing's words would offend people and tried to stop her several times. Now it seems that she was considering the matter from Zhang Xiuying and Lao He's perspective. Not only would she not offend them, but she would also make them more convinced of Wen Qing's abilities. This is the charm of Wen Qing's strong personality and sharp edges.
As expected, Zhang Xiuying was not angry at all. Instead, she didn't take back a single penny of the money in her hand and said with a smile, "Here is three thousand two hundred yuan. Half of it is for the clothes and shoes this time, and the rest is the advance payment for next week. Anyway, you said that the clothes will keep being made, so is this okay?"
“Okay.” Wen Qing took the money.
The ten tailors were overjoyed when they saw the stack of money. They had finally found a wealthy boss, and their thinking was simple: the boss would pay them their wages tomorrow.
"Come on, help me out. Let's split this batch of goods in half and pack them up for Mr. Zhang and Mr. He." Aunt Xiao said.
Two tailors immediately stopped and began to pack the clothes and shoes into two separate bundles.
Wen Qing looked at Zhang Xiuying: "Sister Zhang, please check your clothes and shoes again."
"No need, no need, I trust you to handle things," Zhang Xiuying said with a smile.
As they were talking, a voice called out from outside: "Wen Qing, Wen Qing, Wen Qing! Come out here!"
His tone was clearly furious, and the group of people were stunned at the same time.
The ten tailors also curiously peered out.
"What's going on?" Zhang Xiuying asked. "Wen Qing, who's calling you from outside?"
Wen Qing frowned immediately.
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