After Shi Zhen and Qian Qi set up their stall that day, they turned on the radio and started listening to the broadcast.
Early in the morning, many radio stations were silent, only playing music. Qian got up and searched for a while before finding one that was broadcasting the morning news.
The two of them listened to the news while doing business.
Shi Zhen felt that the radio was a worthwhile purchase, as it would allow him to learn about the outside world.
It should be noted that although he was reborn, he could no longer remember many things from this period.
Shi Zhen treasured every radio he bought, whether it was the one with Qian Qilai or the one with Guan Baiyu.
Guan Baiyu, in particular, always handles the radio with the same care as if it were a child, and when he puts the radio on the table, he always places a clean cloth underneath it.
The radio had been used continuously for several days. When it suddenly started hissing because it ran out of power, Guan Baiyu almost cried in panic, fearing that it was broken. This made Shi Zhen feel both amused and sad.
Batteries weren't cheap, so Guan Baiyu was even more careful when listening to the recordings afterward. After learning a few sentences from the radio, he would immediately turn it off and then memorize them while working, until he had memorized all the sentences and words perfectly before listening to the rest.
Shi Zhen felt quite uncomfortable looking at it, so he could only buy more batteries to store.
He has always been very frugal, but he also believes that money that needs to be spent should be spent.
Moreover, he earned quite a bit.
Shi Zhen's rice ball business is now very stable because the cost is low and the income is quite good, earning him about 20 or 30 yuan a day.
As for Qian Qilai, someone previously said that the pig's head meat was too fatty and they wanted to eat lean meat salad. So Shi Zhen bought some lean meat, cooked it, and sliced it into salad just like the pig's head meat if anyone wanted it.
In addition, they added kelp and bean sprouts to their vegetarian cold dishes, and started selling pure vegetarian cold dishes for 50 cents a serving.
The various changes have significantly increased business for the cooked food stalls.
Now, this cooked food stall can be set up all day long, with a net profit of about fifty yuan. After deducting the initial investment, Shi Zhen can earn about forty yuan a day.
Shi Zhen is already considering increasing Qian Qi's salary, fearing that if he doesn't give him enough, Qian Qi might go out and start his own business.
In his past life, Qian Qiqi always followed him, but that might not be the case in this life.
Another option is the fried food stall; as long as it doesn't rain, you can easily earn twenty yuan.
As April arrives, J City gets hot. Generally, wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a light jacket on top is enough. Sometimes, when the sun is strong, you can even wear just a short-sleeved shirt.
At the same time, there was more rain.
The rain didn't have a big impact on Shi Zhen and Qian Qi, at most it just meant Shi Zhen wouldn't sell fried skewers at night, but it affected the couple who were trying to sell cold-cut pig's head meat like Shi Zhen and Qian Qi.
The couple doesn't know how to set up a stall, so they can't set up their business on rainy days.
Sometimes they cook too much pig's head meat, and if they don't sell it all the day before, it rains the next day... In the end, they can only leave it to wait until the rain stops before they can sell it.
Cold-cut pig's head is salty and doesn't spoil easily, but if it's not stored properly, discerning customers can still tell something's wrong. His stall eventually attracted some complaints from customers because the food wasn't fresh.
That's not all; the price of pig's head meat is no longer as cheap as it used to be. Now it costs 80 cents a pound, so the profit margin is naturally lower.
Setting up a street stall is not that simple. The woman in this couple is alright; she's a down-to-earth businessman. But the man, even though he's setting up a stall, is afraid of losing face and always acts high and mighty. When customers come to cut pig's head meat, he always tries to cut off the worst parts for them without offering any discounts... Isn't that driving customers away?
His family's business was getting worse and worse.
One day, the man stopped coming to set up his stall, and after the woman had been setting up her stall alone for a few days, she changed what she was selling.
Almost every household in the town has a coal stove for boiling water and such. This woman brings two coal stoves over every day. On each stove is a large pot; one pot is filled with zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and the other with tea eggs—she has switched to selling zongzi and tea eggs. She doesn't keep her stall open all day; she usually closes her stall when Shi Zhen closes his.
Shi Zhen thought this woman was quite clever.
Actually, if he had wrapped zongzi
He might be able to sell zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) along the way, but he doesn't know how to wrap them, so that idea has to be abandoned.
The people here eat meat-filled rice dumplings. The woman sells two kinds of rice dumplings, one with pure lean meat and the other with pork belly, both for one yuan. A big pot has about thirty or forty dumplings. If she makes three or four mao (0.3 or 0.4 yuan) per dumpling, she can earn ten yuan a day. Add to that tea eggs... She can earn about ten or twenty yuan in a morning.
Zongzi are more expensive than rice balls, so fewer people buy them; they can't sell over a hundred rice balls in one morning like he does.
It was good that this family was gone and they were competing with each other for business, but soon others followed suit—at the entrance of the town's junior high school, someone set up a stall selling rice balls that were similar to Shi Zhen's.
Shi Zhen was also quite helpless, but there was never a shortage of people imitating this kind of small business, and he couldn't stop them.
Fortunately, there are still quite a few people buying rice balls from him, and some small workshops will order a dozen or twenty in advance.
Shi Zhen bought some bottled dairy beverages, such as AD calcium milk and strawberry milk, and put them on the side to sell, which allowed him to earn an extra dollar or two every day.
Before we knew it, it was the end of April.
Shi Zhen was always busy, and despite all this, he earned a decent amount. After deducting costs and various miscellaneous expenses, he could save an average of seventy or eighty yuan a day.
He had previously emptied his savings twice by buying a tricycle and a radio, but by the end of April, Shi Zhen still had 1,000 yuan in savings.
This was the first thousand yuan he had ever earned in his life, something to be commemorated.
But he wants to buy a gas stove and a coal stove... all of these cost money.
Before Shi Zhen could buy anything else for his home, Shi Xinghuo finished his river repair work and was temporarily unemployed.
He's a stubborn person, but that has its advantages. He never slacks off, and he's also strong and powerful. All the foremen on the construction site, whether they're small or big, like him. When they settle the accounts, they all say that if there's any work to be done next time, they'll ask him to be their laborer.
Even so, he still has no income right now.
Shi Zhen then made him his assistant, paying him five yuan a day.
If Shi Xinghuo were even slightly capable, Shi Zhen wouldn't have paid him such a low salary, but Shi Xinghuo really couldn't do many things.
Fortunately, Shi Xinghuo is very satisfied with this salary; in fact, he's been walking on air lately.
When their work on the construction site was finished, he received four hundred yuan in one go.
Adding to what Shi Zhen had saved for him, he now has six hundred yuan in savings!
In Anshan Town, there are also wealthy people who drive cars and own mobile phones. The cigarettes and alcohol that the foreman at Shi Xinghuo's construction site smokes are very expensive.
For most people, seeing too much of this might have negatively impacted their mindset, but Shi Xinghuo is different.
He didn't notice any of those things!
He remembered what his parents told him—to earn more money outside, so that he could get married.
And given the situation in their village... he's already rich now.
Although he doesn't have enough money to marry a wife, if he keeps working like this, he'll be able to get married by the end of the year!
Every day, Shi Xinghuo would respond to Shi Zhen's words with a big smile and loud "oh oh oh," doing whatever he could.
For example, he has no problem making fried skewers.
With an extra person to command, Shi Zhen started thinking about expanding his business... cough cough, he planned to add a new type of rice ball.
The rice balls are made with glutinous rice, and there is a local tradition of eating glutinous rice during festivals.
Glutinous rice comes in two varieties: sweet and savory. Shi Zhen had a particular fondness for a savory version of glutinous rice with pork ribs in his past life.
That's glutinous rice mixed with soy sauce, lard, and pork ribs, then steamed.
Rice balls would taste amazing if they were made this way!
Shi Zhen tried cooking a pot of glutinous rice with lard and soy sauce, and then used it to make rice balls.
Wrapping fried dough sticks and peanuts in lard and soy sauce rice...it's so delicious! It's definitely for people who don't have enough oil in their stomachs these days.
These rice balls are already salty, so it's not good to add pickled vegetables. However, you can add some crunchy pickled mustard greens to improve the texture.
Shi Zhen also made egg crepes and chopped ham. And later... the five-cent rice balls were only...
There's a small piece of fried dough stick, two or three peanuts, and some pickled mustard greens and chopped green onions. If someone buys a one-dollar rice ball, you can give them two pieces of fried dough stick, more peanuts, and also some egg skin and chopped ham.
On May 1st, schools and factories were closed, but Shi Zhen and his group did not get a day off and continued to set up their stall as usual.
Breakfast business is usually a little worse on rest days than usual. Although Shi Zhen has launched new products, he hasn't prepared much.
He used to sell a big pot of white rice every day, but this time he only made half a pot of white rice and half a pot of soy sauce and lard rice.
Once in town, Shi Zhen would greet anyone he recognized, mentioning that there were new varieties of rice balls and asking if they wanted some.
The glutinous rice cooked in soy sauce and lard was really fragrant, and since it was the first time I'd ever seen it before... a lot of people bought it.
This rice ball tastes a bit like a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling). Although the filling isn't meat, it's still delicious. Most importantly, a rice ball that can fill an adult only costs 50 cents, while the zongzi next door costs a dollar.
So even though there were fewer customers who didn't eat breakfast at home on weekdays because they were going to work or school and would just buy a rice ball on the way, Shi Zhen still sold out all the rice by 8 a.m.
He went home and slept for two hours. While he was sleeping, Shi Xinghuo had already skewered the food for him. After waking up and eating, he didn't linger and went straight to town to sell fried skewers.
After all, it was a holiday, and the town was quite lively during the day.
At this time, people wouldn't avoid going to town just because it was lively on a particular day; on the contrary, the more lively it was, the more they wanted to go to town to see the excitement... and as a result, there were even more people.
It would be a waste not to sell fried skewers on a day like this!
Shi Zhen sold a lot of fried skewers that day. If it weren't for the best-selling ham sausages and sausages, which don't require any preparation and can be unpacked and fried on the spot when customers order, he probably wouldn't have had anything to sell in the end.
So, when Guan Baiyu came to find him at four o'clock in the afternoon, Shi Zhen said, "Xiaoyu, I won't be going home for dinner tonight. Could you go and get me some food? Also, have Shi Xinghuo make extra fried skewers and bring them to me. There should be a lot of customers tonight."
Actually, buying some to eat wouldn't be a bad idea, but he felt it wasn't worth it. Besides, Guan Baiyu was going to bring him fried skewers anyway, so he figured he could just have some rice to eat while he was at it.
"Okay!" Guan Baiyu replied and immediately ran home.
He was particularly happy to help Shi Zhen.
Shi Zhen had previously instructed Shi Xinghuo to make more skewers, and when Guan Baiyu returned home, he saw that Shi Xinghuo had already made quite a few.
He asked Shi Xinghuo to make some more skewers, while he cooked rice in the rice cooker and stir-fried two dishes. After eating a little, he prepared to deliver the skewers to Shi Zhen.
Seeing this, Shi Xinghuo said, "I'll go too." He wanted to go to town to play.
When Shi Xinghuo was going to town, Guan Baiyu naturally didn't stop him and went with him to deliver things to Shi Zhen.
When they arrived in town, rice cakes, dried tofu, potato chips, chicken hearts, and other snacks were all sold out. Shi Zhen was frying shrimp chips for people.
The shrimp chips are in pieces, somewhat like colorful plastic sheets, but they puff up when fried in oil.
After frying the shizhen (a type of fried stone), let it cool to a stop. Once it's cooled down, sprinkle some salt and pepper on it, pack it up, and give it to customers.
When Guan Baiyu and the others brought over the things, Shi Zhen smiled and took them before continuing his work, saying only, "The town is very lively today, why don't you go and have a look around?"
Guan Baiyu didn't respond. He stood next to Shi Zhen and skillfully began to help him.
Shi Xinghuo went elsewhere to watch the excitement... He really couldn't be of any help here.
Shi Zhen was busy until 10 p.m. that day, and then he learned that someone would be coming to town to sell lottery tickets the next day.
Some lotteries nowadays have their results drawn on the spot.
The organizers will bring all the prizes and other items, and neatly arrange all kinds of scratch-off tickets. After purchasing them, people can scratch them on the spot to see what prize they have won.
Of course, the most common response is "Thank you for your patronage".
Sometimes, the poorer people are, the more willing they are to spend money on such things. Just like decades later, most people who have been buying lottery tickets for a long time and persisted in doing poorly are not doing very well.
And now... Shi Zhen is certain that the town will be especially lively tomorrow.
The fried skewers he usually sells are mostly 50 cents or a dollar, the more expensive ones...
Because the goods weren't selling well, they didn't prepare much, but tomorrow... Shi Zhen plans to prepare more chicken wings, chicken legs, and other fried items to sell.
Shi Zhen was too busy to do the accounting that night, but he felt he had earned at least a hundred yuan.
Although it's tiring, earning so much money is a really happy thing.
They should be able to make a lot of money in the next few days, so when Guan Baiyu offered to help Shi Zhen the next day, Shi Zhen did not refuse and asked Guan Baiyu to go to town with him early in the morning.
When he was selling rice balls, Guan Baiyu bought some chicken wings and drumsticks to skewer as he requested. After he finished selling the rice balls, he didn't go home to rest, but instead set up a stall next to the square where lottery tickets were sold to sell fried skewers.
Lottery tickets went on sale at nine o'clock in the morning, and various prizes were displayed.
The first prize this time is a 17-inch black and white television set, the second prize is bicycles (there are several in total), and the third prize is electric fans (there are even more in total).
There are also some other prizes, the most common being... Mimi Shrimp Chips.
Shi Zhen glanced at it and then stopped looking. In his opinion, rather than hoping to win an award, he would rather make money selling fried skewers.
There were a lot of people in town today, and a lot of people came to buy fried skewers. He was surrounded by people!
Fortunately, Bai Yu was there to help, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have been able to handle it.
Shi Xinghuo couldn't go out and watch the excitement today. He directly skewered fried skewers behind Shi Zhen's stall and immediately put them on Shi Zhen's barbecue stall.
Seeing this, Shi Zhen felt bad and said to Shi Xinghuo, "Brother, I've been quite busy these past few days, so I'll give you ten yuan a day for your wages."
Shi Xinghuo said, "Oh... Zhen, can I use my salary to buy five yuan worth of fried skewers?"
Ever since Shi Zhen set up this fried food stall, he's been craving it every day, but unfortunately Shi Zhen wants to sell it for money and doesn't give him much to eat.
Shi Zhen: "..."
Shi Zhen wasn't very interested in fried skewers, but if Shi Xinghuo liked them... Shi Zhen let him pick a few things he wanted to eat, with a five-yuan limit.
Shi Xinghuo picked out a two-yuan fried chicken leg and used other fried skewers to make up the three yuan.
It was lunchtime, and there were fewer people around, so Shi Zhen threw the fried skewers into the pot and asked Guan Baiyu, "Xiaoyu, what do you want to eat?"
"I don't need it," Guan Baiyu refused. These could all be sold for money!
"Pick one, it doesn't cost much," Shi Zhen said.
"Then... one fried sausage, please." Guan Baiyu picked out a small sausage that cost five cents.
Shi Zhen threw it into the pot as well.
These things were fried quickly. Shi Zhen spread sauce on some and sprinkled powder on others. After they were done, they were handed to Guan Baiyu and Shi Xinghuo.
Shi Xinghuo ate heartily, but Guan Baiyu, as usual, handed it to Shi Zhen first.
Shi Zhen took about a fifth of the bite and said he didn't like it, so Guan Baiyu started to savor it little by little, eating it with great care.
It was the first time Shi Zhen had ever realized that a fried sausage could last for half an hour.
During this time, someone came to buy fried skewers, and Guan Baiyu collected the money while holding his fried sausage in his mouth, which was quite cute.
"Isn't this Xiaoyu? Your stall is doing very well!" A voice rang out, and Shi Zhen looked down and saw Guan Pingguo.
Ahem, Guan Pingguo is really quite short.
The eldest son of the young aunt, who had never married, was short and had a small head. He looked a bit like a monkey with a pointed mouth and cheeks. He was holding several lottery tickets in his hand and standing next to Shi Zhen's stall scratching them.
Each time they shave, their complexion worsens.
These lottery tickets cost two yuan each. Shi Zhen had thought about having Guan Baiyu buy one to play with, but considering the many expenses in the future, he gave up on the idea.
Guan Pingguo had practically no income, yet he bought over ten tickets in one go... How desperate was he to get rich?
However, only a few people can win this kind of prize; most people just become part of the denominator.
As expected, Guan Pingguo didn't win anything and could only collect a few packs of Mimi Shrimp Chips as a consolation prize.
Shi Zhen has already met about ten villagers while setting up his stall here today. Some greeted him and left, while others bought something, but no one stayed.
I chatted with him, since he looked very busy.
After failing to win, Guan Pingguo stayed behind and talked on and on, saying that according to his prediction, there might be a first prize in one of the boxes, and that he didn't have enough money to buy it...
"Shi Zhen, lend me some money so I can buy it. Once I win the first prize and sell it, I'll pay you back double," Guan Pingguo said.
Shi Zhen: "..." If you win the lottery, you get double the prize money, but what if you don't win?
Shi Zhen didn't speak, so Guan Pingguo continued, "Shi Zhen, I'm really confident that I can at least win the second prize!"
"Uncle, my family is in debt, and the money I earn is going to be used to pay off the debt. I can't lend you the money," Shi Zhen made up a reason.
Anyway, there's no way I'm going to borrow money.
Wouldn't it be better to give the money to Guan Baiyu? Why lend it to Guan Pingguo?
"It's not like I'm not going to pay you back!" Guan Pingguo said, somewhat annoyed.
Shi Zhen smiled but didn't say anything.
Guan Pingguo, ever flexible, said, "If you won't lend it, then don't... but fry me a sausage." He was pointing to the large sausage that Shi Zhen sold for one yuan.
Shi Zhen said, "Uncle, this sausage costs one yuan."
"Isn't it normal to pay after you've eaten? How can you ask for money before you've even eaten?" Guan Pingguo said.
Shi Zhen, too lazy to maintain the facade of peace any longer, looked at him coldly and said, "Uncle, do you have money? I only cook things here after you pay!"
Guan Pingguo certainly didn't have any money.
He didn't dare to steal Shi Zhen's things and run away like his mother did.
Guan Pingguo said irritably, "What are you doing, acting so arrogantly, you outsider! Guan Baiyu, are you just going to stand by and watch him bully your uncle?"
Guan Baiyu ignored him.
Guan Pingguo got even angrier: "Guan Baiyu, you've become arrogant now that you have a powerful backer? You think he's genuinely good to you? He's just eating your food, living in your house for free, and treating you like a free laborer! You're the only one who doesn't know anything!"
Guan Baiyu generally doesn't argue with these elders. He's not a proper member of the Guan family, so he always feels inferior.
But now he's very angry: "Don't talk nonsense, my brother treats me very well!" He knows best how his brother treats him!
Guan Pingguo's face was full of disdain: "He's good to you? Bah, that's why he won't let you study anymore..."
"Are you ever going to stop? Do you believe I'll pour oil all over you?" Shi Zhen said, "Guan Pingguo, if you want money, go ask your son for it, don't come to me! And, with your character, you think you can win the lottery? Go home and sleep, you can have anything in your dreams."
Guan Pingguo, who hated it most when people mentioned that he didn't have a son, glanced at the oil pot, his face flushed red, and ran away.
Guan Baiyu saw this and looked at Shi Zhen with admiration. His brother's words were really good, hitting Guan Guoping's sore spot!
His brother is the best; he's eloquent and fearless.
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