Chapter 25: Great Potential
When Lin Qiu woke up, she was still immersed in a beautiful dream. She superstitiously believed that this was a sign from God: selling popsicles would make her rich.
She checked the time and saw that it was almost three o'clock, so she quickly packed up and prepared to leave.
When she arrived at the popsicle factory, there were already four or five bicycles lined up in front of her, and there were also bicycles coming towards her from behind.
It seems that what Director Chen said is right! The small popsicle has a huge market.
Soon it was her turn, and it was Xiao Li who was still writing the order.
"I want eighty old popsicles, fifty green bean popsicles, fifty red bean popsicles, and twenty ice creams!" Lin Qiu shouted loudly.
"It's you!" Xiao Li looked up and recognized Lin Qiu, "It looks like business is good!"
"Thank you for your good words!" Lin Qiu complimented with a smile.
"Give me 26.6 yuan, and then go to the cold storage on the right to get the popsicles!" Xiao Li reminded, "You asked for a box this morning, so I picked it up and delivered it to you. From now on, you have to take the order to the cold storage to pick up the goods."
"I understand, thank you!" Lin Qiu took the invoice.
"Okay, go ahead!"
Xiao Li waved his hand, signaling the next person to come over and place an order.
Lin Qiu pushed his bicycle to the door of the cold storage and instantly felt that the temperature around him had dropped a lot. It was quite comfortable on such a hot day.
After handing the list over, two staff members checked the list and packed the various popsicles into boxes.
After confirming that everything was correct, Lin Qiu pushed his bicycle towards the school.
Two hundred popsicles are quite heavy. The box weighs nearly 50 kilograms. Adding the weight of the bicycle, it is a bit difficult for Lin Qiu to push it.
When I arrived at the school gate, I heard the bell for the end of get out of class.
There was no time to catch his breath. Before Lin Qiu had parked his bike and could even shout, the children gathered around him.
With the experience from the morning, Lin Qiu was more skillful this time. In less than half an hour, most of the popsicles were sold out. Lin Qiu counted them and found that the old popsicles were probably selling the fastest because they were cheap. There were eleven green bean popsicles left, four red bean popsicles left, and the ice cream popsicles had the most left, with seventeen left.
Lin Qiu decided to push the cart around and found someone selling popsicles not far away. It seemed that everyone was smart and knew that business was better at the school gate!
Lin Qiu pushed his bicycle towards the rental house, and shouted a few words when he saw people. Slowly, he sold four green beans, three red beans, and two ice creams.
When he saw the semi-open-air billiard hall with a tarpaulin on the side of the road was crowded with people, Lin Qiu lowered his head and pushed the cart forward faster.
This billiard hall opened in late April. Although it is called a hall, it actually only has three billiard tables. Every afternoon, the place is crowded with young men wearing colorful shirts and having various hairstyles. They smoke cigarettes and curse at each other, looking so unruly that no one dares to mess with them. This billiard hall is full of smoke and dust, and Lin Qiu has always kept his distance from it.
Suddenly, a cheer rang out, frightening Lin Qiu so much that he shivered and quickly quickened his pace.
"Hey, the popsicle seller, come here and do business!" A man in a black shirt with blue flowers, holding a cigarette, shouted at Lin Qiu, "Why are you leaving? There's no point in leaving when you have business!"
Lin Qiu was so scared that he could only stop and step back.
"What kind of popsicles do you have? Introduce them!" he ordered in a gruff voice.
Lin Qiu trembled and answered in a low voice: "There are mung beans, red beans and ice cream."
"Give me ten of each!" The man in the blue flowered shirt waved his hand.
"Achang is generous!"
"What a heroic spirit, Brother Chang!"
For a while, cheers rang out in the billiard hall.
"Not so many left." Lin Qiu was afraid that the man would overturn her popsicle box if he heard it.
"What?" Orchid Shirt paused, "Then take as many as you can!"
Lin Qiu took out the popsicle quickly, not expecting them to give her money, but just asking them to let her go back quickly.
The man in the blue flowered shirt picked out an ice cream first, and then the other young men each took one without choosing any variety.
"Here, take it!" The man in the blue flowered shirt held an ice cream in his mouth, took out a handful of money from his trouser pocket, picked out a ten-dollar bill and slapped it on the popsicle box, "No need to change!"
Lin Qiu quickly picked up the ten yuan and rushed forward pushing the cart without even putting on the footrests.
The young men behind burst into laughter when they saw this.
It’s not that Lin Qiu is timid. The young men at that time were really bold and would shout for fighting and killing at any time. A long time ago, young men from two factories had a fight at the bridgehead because of jealousy. They just used machetes to hack and chop. Some of them were sent to the detention house, some were sent to the hospital, and it was said that one was sent to the West to see the Buddha. Lin Qiu tried to stay as far away from this kind of people as possible and planned not to walk on this street anymore.
When I got back to the rental house, I was exhausted and lay on the mat without wanting to move. It was almost six o'clock before he got up to pick up Wang Shan.
Buy groceries, cook, take a shower, and wait for Wang Xiuren to come back.
"How was your day?" Wang Xiuren opened the door without even drinking the water.
"It's pretty good!" Lin Qiu shared with him excitedly, "We sold 300 at noon and in the afternoon!"
Wang Xiuren gave a thumbs up and said, "Sure!"
"Not bad!" Lin Qiu raised his chin slightly, and anyone with normal vision could see the proud expression on his face.
"I'm almost dying of thirst!" Wang Xiuren picked up the teacup and drank from it in big gulps. "I'm going to take a shower. You guys eat first!"
Lin Qiu and her daughter didn't move, they still had to eat together.
After the meal, Lin Qiu took out the banknotes and coins from his pocket and asked Wang Xiuren to help him sort them out, while he took out paper and pen and started to write them in vertical format.
"I make three cents a popsicle, so 130 popsicles are 3.9 yuan. I make five cents a popsicle, so 140 popsicles are 7 yuan. I make twenty cents a popsicle, so 30 popsicles are 6 yuan." Lin Qiu added up the three numbers again, "I made 16.9 yuan today! I brought 30 yuan as cost, so the total is 46.9 yuan."
"That's not right!" Wang Xiuren counted it twice. "I counted it twice and it's 47.7 both times. Did you calculate it wrong?"
Lin Qiu recalculated, "It's forty-six dollars and nine cents!"
"Did you give the wrong change?"
Lin Qiu suddenly slapped his head and said, "Look at my memory!"
"Let me tell you, today I passed by the billiard hall on the street, and those young guys called me over to sell popsicles, which scared me to death! But the guy in the flowered shirt gave me ten dollars and bought the rest, maybe that's all!"
Lin Qiu slapped his thigh and said, "Oh, by the way, there was an ice cream left from lunch, I ate it myself!"
To be on the safe side, Lin Qiu asked Wang Xiuren to calculate it again.
"This time the numbers add up!" Wang Xiuren put down his pen. "This popsicle business is doing well! I made more than 17 yuan in two trips. It's more profitable than operating a sewing machine."
"Although this popsicle business is a bit tiring, it is really profitable!" Lin Qiu patted his waist, "I really need to find an opportunity to treat Brother Man to a meal. You don't know how much Director Chen took care of me when I went there today. If it weren't for him, I would probably have earned half as much! This is all because of Brother Man's face."
"That's right! If it wasn't Brother Man, who would we recognize?" Wang Xiuren agreed. "When I see Brother Man, I'll ask him when he's free, and then I'll invite him out for a meal. Director Chen, buy him a pack of cigarettes tomorrow and bring it over to thank him for his care!"
"Do you want me to tell you? I sent him a pack of Hongtashan ice cream today." Lin Qiu raised his eyebrows. "This popsicle business can last until October. Sixteen yuan a day, if it lasts until October, then based on a hundred days, I can make sixteen thousand!"
"Isn't it too tiring? I have to go to the garment factory in the morning and make two trips to the popsicle factory in the afternoon." Wang Xiuren was a little worried. Making money was good, but it would not be worth it if he ruined his health.
"How can I say that making money is tiring? I am willing and happy!" Lin Qiu was full of energy when he thought about making money every day. "I heard that the pedestrian street in Xixiang is very lively every night. I want to buy some ice cream and sell it there around five o'clock tomorrow. Anyway, the rented house is very hot, so I might as well go out to cool off!"
Wang Xiuren shook his head. This was all about money. What else could he say? Doesn't it mean that he gave up just because he opposed Lin Qiu? It's impossible, okay.
So, it was decided to sell popsicles at night.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
