When Shi Zhen learned that Qian Qi had stolen money, he was neither angry nor surprised.
He had previously worried that if he made money, he would start his own business. Compared to that, stealing a little money was nothing.
His practice of having money help him set up a stall is problematic in terms of oversight.
Most people in the world are ordinary people, and they are prone to making mistakes without supervision.
Therefore, small businesses and shops are generally run by husband and wife teams, otherwise they are likely to run into financial problems.
Most of the time, Qianqi was a man who set up a stall in town. He was the one selling the items and collecting the money.
At first, he was able to refrain from embezzling, but after a while, with so much money in front of him, it's not surprising that he would be tempted to take some.
Although Qian Qilai called him master, he didn't actually teach Qian Qilai anything. Later, the two of them became increasingly busy, and not only did he stop teaching him, but even Qian Qilai himself stopped thinking about practicing martial arts.
The young boy has left behind his martial arts dreams, and now he is busy with the mundane realities of daily life.
Shi Zhen asked Guan Baiyu to show him the account books.
Even after deducting costs, the cooked food stall still makes twenty or thirty yuan a day. Shi Zhen asked Guan Baiyu, "Did he use the money he collected to buy some food?"
Guan Baiyu nodded. There was plenty of food in town, so he took the money he had collected and bought some.
Shi Zhen smiled and said, "I plan to hand over this business to him."
Money doesn't make people bad people, but people are...
At first, Qian Qi helped him set up his stall, and when his family wanted to eat meat, they would buy it from him at the price. But as time went on, he inevitably felt that it didn't matter if he took a little food or money from the stall.
"Brother, are you going to hand over the business to him? He's like this..." Guan Baiyu had a lot of complaints about Qian Qi. His brother had brought Qian Qi out and treated him so well, yet Qian Qi betrayed his brother!
“It was all fair trade,” Shi Zhen said. Qian Qiqi had also helped him. A few months ago, Qian Qiqi helped him watch the stall and earned him a lot of money.
Guan Baiyu was still a little unhappy, but Shi Zhen comforted him, saying, "Don't worry, I can do other businesses in the future."
He didn't have any special skills, so his food stall was destined not to last long.
The saying "those who develop atomic bombs are not as well off as those who sell tea eggs" did exist in certain periods and in certain places.
But this country has too many people, and everyone wants to live a good life. So, whenever a profitable business comes out, countless people will flock to it, and then the profits will be divided up.
Even if someone selling tea eggs makes a lot of money for a period of time, their business will definitely be taken away by other tea egg sellers very soon.
Haven't you noticed that some high-end products in later generations, such as self-balancing scooters, became cheaper immediately after they started being produced in China?
Of course, if a small business owner is hardworking and conscientious, it's not a problem for them to earn more than an average worker in this day and age.
If they had bought a house earlier, their lives would have been completely rewritten.
In this world, there are people like his sister who only think about spending money, and there are also people who enjoy saving money and like to buy houses after saving money.
He had seen some people who made money from street vending or running shops buy houses, and they bought several houses one after another when the prices were still low... Before he died, the prices of decent houses in Changxi City had reached 20,000 yuan per square meter, so you can imagine how much wealth these people had.
However, if these people don't expand their businesses, such as by turning them into chains, then after twenty years or more, with increased competition, they won't be able to earn much more.
This is not the path Shi Zhen wants to take.
As the two were talking, Qian got up and rode over on his bicycle.
Qian Qi's words and actions showed nothing unusual; when he saw Shi Zhen, he still addressed him as "Master."
Shi Zhen showed no unusual expression. After making the preparations, he went to town with Qian Qi.
After the stall was set up and the busiest time of the morning had passed, Shi Zhen said to Qian Qi, "Get up, I have something to discuss with you, it's about the cooked food stall."
Qian Qiqi became a little anxious upon hearing this and looked at Shi Zhen uneasily.
He knew that Shi Zhen's family had come here, and Shi Zhen suddenly said this to him. Did he want to let his family take care of the cooked food stall? What would he do then?
“Master, please speak,” Qian Qi said.
Shi Zhen said, "It's like this, I probably won't be running a stall anymore. I'll be making the fried skewers and rice ball stalls for my parents. If you want to continue running this cooked food stall, you can take it over. I'll tell you all the recipes and stuff, and the stall will be yours. If you don't want to continue, then I'll make it for my sister."
“I want to keep doing it!” Qian Qi said immediately.
“As you know, I’m the one who runs all the cooking and sourcing for all the food at this food stall… If you want to take over this stall, give me six hundred.” Shi Zhen quoted a price.
Qian Qi worked with Shi Zhen for several months and earned a lot of money, but he also had expenses. He didn't have enough money on hand to make six hundred, so he hesitated.
Shi Zhen added, “You’ve always called me Master, haven’t you? Now that you’ve taken over the stall, it’s like you’ve learned a skill from me, and I’m even paying you wages.”
Qian Qi was initially hesitant, but after hearing Shi Zhen's words, he felt that spending six hundred yuan to take over the stall was not a big deal.
The salary Shi Zhen has paid him over the past few months is more than six hundred!
People from their village who go to work as apprentices are not paid wages.
And in the future... although he will have to do a lot of preparation work, which will be a bit tiring and troublesome, he can ask his family for help, right?
Even if he doesn't have enough money on hand... he can borrow some from his family.
Qian Qilai's thoughts now are quite different from before.
Shi Zhen was quite pleased to see that he had agreed.
The preparation work for making cold dishes is tedious and tiring. Although he would earn less if he didn't do this business, he could make things much easier.
Once he hands over the fried food stall to his parents, he can free up his hands to do other things.
When Shi Zhen set up his stall in town, Guan Baiyu took Shi Xinghuo to visit Shi Zhen's parents.
When he went there, he even brought some rice balls with him—the Shi family would probably like them.
Shi Xinghuo was very happy to learn that his uncle had come to Anshan Town, and he talked a lot along the way.
Seeing this, Guan Baiyu chatted with him for a while to find out how much he knew about Shi Zhen's business... He discovered that Shi Zhen hadn't paid much attention to his business at all and didn't know how much money Shi Zhen made every day, so Guan Baiyu felt relieved.
When they arrived at the Shi family's place, it was seven o'clock in the morning, and the Shi family had not yet gotten up.
Guan Baiyu knocked on the door, and Zhao Meiyun opened it, looking very tired.
"Auntie, I'm sorry, we're early."
"It's alright, it's alright. Actually, I woke up a while ago, but I was a little tired from traveling and didn't want to get up," Zhao Meiyun quickly replied.
“Traveling must be tiring. Auntie, you should be able to recover after taking a nap this afternoon.” Guan Baiyu placed the rice balls she had brought on the table. “Auntie, my brother asked me to bring you breakfast. Please eat it while it’s hot.”
"Hey! Why are you buying us food? It must cost a lot of money, right?" Zhao Meiyun said, feeling embarrassed.
"These are things my brother sells at his stall; they don't cost much." Guan Baiyu saw that the room was a bit messy, so he helped Zhao Meiyun tidy up. He put some straw into the coal stove and lit it, then put in a few pieces of wood, and finally put a coal ball on top to ignite it.
Zhao Meiyun felt embarrassed to ask Guan Baiyu to do any work, but there were some tasks... to be honest, she had no idea how to do them.
She stood there awkwardly for a while before going upstairs to call her daughters.
Shi Dalin came out at this time. He greeted Guan Baiyu, then went to talk to Shi Xinghuo, and took the largest rice ball that Guan Baiyu gave him and started eating it.
This rice ball was made with lard and soy sauce rice and had lots of fillings. Shi Dalin took a bite and was pleasantly surprised.
This stuff is just what he wants!
Shi Dalin ate very quickly. Just as he finished eating, Zhao Meiyun came downstairs with her three daughters.
Shi Dalin immediately pointed to the rice ball and said to Zhao Meiyun, "Eat it quickly, it's delicious."
Zhao Meiyun smiled at Guan Baiyu, took a rice ball and ate it. After a couple of bites, she looked pleasantly surprised.
Shi Ting started eating without being told, chattering away: "Wow, there's a sausage in there! Hmm, what's this?"
Guan Baiyu said, "This is a fried dough stick."
“Our fried dough sticks aren’t like this,” Shi Ting said.
"This is from deep-frying dough sticks," Guan Baiyu said.
"The fried dough sticks are so delicious when they're crispy!" Shi Ting's eyes narrowed.
Guan Baiyu smiled and, seeing that the coal briquettes were already lit, filled a kettle with water and placed it on top to boil.
Shi Ting then curiously went to look at the coal stove.
People at her school used coal stoves, but this was the first time she had ever seen one up close.
Seeing this, Guan Baiyu told them how to use the coal stove, something the Shi family definitely needed to learn.
Zhao Meiyun and Zhao Qiujuan listened attentively, but there were some parts they didn't quite understand. Zhao Qiujuan could only ask questions in her broken Mandarin.
Zhao Qiujuan only had two years of schooling.
Zhao Meiyun was in second grade when her biological father kicked her out of the house.
Her biological father was already unwilling to pay her tuition, which was only a few dollars, and after her mother was kicked out, it was even less likely that she would give any more money.
She dropped out of school without a second thought.
Six months later, she remarried with her mother. Shi Dalin did ask her if she wanted to continue her studies, but her mother was embarrassed to use Shi Dalin's money and wanted her to help with chores, so she didn't continue her studies.
Her younger sister, however, went to school with Shi Zhen.
However, studying was not a fun thing. Primary school students did not live on campus and had to walk a long way through the mountains every day. Her younger sister did not want to walk and always found excuses to skip school. When she reached the fourth grade of primary school, she simply stopped registering.
Shi Ting was an exception. Although her grades weren't great, she didn't like staying in the village, so she was happy to go to school with the other children and would never ask for leave unless there were special circumstances...
However, Zhao Qiujuan felt that her interest in reading stemmed not only from the fact that she could play with others while studying, but also from the fact that she ate better food while studying.
When Zhao Meiyun prepared meals for Shi Ting to take to school, she would always choose the best ones for her so that Shi Ting wouldn't embarrass herself at school.
Zhao Qiujuan also overheard Shi Zhen threatening Shi Ting, saying that if she didn't go to school, he wouldn't make her new clothes and would make her wear her sisters' old clothes every day...
Shi Ting was clearly very afraid of this threat.
Lighting a coal stove requires practice. Guan Baiyu had mentioned this before, so he started helping with other tasks.
Seeing him like this, the Shi family had a better impression of him and started talking to him.
Everyone chatted and packed up their things. When they were almost done, Shi Zhen pushed his stall over.
Seeing the stall in Shi Zhen's hands, Shi Dalin hurriedly asked, "Did you go to set up your stall this morning?"
"Okay." Shi Zhen responded, "Dad, I got up before four o'clock. I'll sleep for a while... If you have any questions, you can ask Xiaoyu, or Xiaoyu can take you out for a walk."
It was so hot that Shi Zhen was already covered in sweat after setting up his stall for a short while in the morning.
Although the courtyard of the house was small, there was a well inside. Shi Zhen went to the well, drew water to wash himself and cool himself down, then changed into a clean vest and shorts before lying down on Shi Dalin's bed.
This bed is made of bamboo, and since we don't need bedding in the middle of summer, there's nothing to worry about.
Seeing that Shi Zhen was asleep, everyone fell silent for a while. Later, Shi Ting asked, "Brother Bai Yu, how did my brother get through the past few months?"
Guan Baiyu immediately said, "My brother had a particularly tough time recently."
Guan Baiyu had always felt that Shi Zhen had worked very hard, and now that Shi Zhen's family asked about it, he subconsciously... exaggerated the story.
“I don’t know much about my brother’s life, but he said that when he first came here, he lived under a bridge. You all know what it’s like under a bridge. It was cold back then, and the bridge was drafty from all sides. He almost got sick from the cold.”
"Later, when they rented a house, they didn't have any bedding, so they could only put more straw on the bed and wrap themselves tightly in their clothes to sleep."
“Setting up a stall is really tough. He gets up before dawn every day and doesn’t get to sleep until very late. Sometimes he’ll start to doze off during the day if he’s not careful.”
...
Guan Baiyu felt increasingly distressed as he spoke, and the emotions that moved him could naturally move others as well.
Shi Ting's eyes were brimming with tears.
Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun also felt that Shi Zhen had been living a hard life, and they were glad that they had come!
Zhao Dongjuan was a little unhappy: "So he called us here just to make us work from dawn till dusk with him?"
Guan Baiyu didn't hesitate to make a mental note of Zhao Dongjuan's name.
Shi Zhen woke up from a nap and was having lunch.
Lunch was cooked by Guan Baiyu using a gas stove.
Zhao Meiyun was very uneasy. She felt that she couldn't let the guests, especially the male guests, cook, but she didn't know how to use a gas stove, so this was the only way.
Summer is too hot, so there are not as many vegetables in the fields as before. In Anshan Town, the most popular vegetables are cowpeas and eggplants.
Guan Baiyu stir-fried a large plate of eggplant, another large plate of cowpeas, and chopped up a duck for braising. With the braised eggs and tofu he brought along, the meal was quite sumptuous.
After dinner, Shi Zhen took his family to buy clothes.
Guan Kai's mother is named Li Ahui, and everyone calls her "Ahui".
She loves beauty and has a good eye for fashion. The clothes she buys are all very stylish. Her shop, which just opened upstairs in the market, is doing quite well.
Because she divorced and found a man ten years younger than her, some people even came to her shop after hearing about her, and then bought clothes from her after she talked them out.
Before Shi Zhen went to pick up his parents, he specifically asked her to order some clothes suitable for his family. He came directly to pick them up now.
He didn't want to haggle with people; this was the easiest way to buy clothes.
Before opening her shop, Li Ahui had already found a source of goods. All her clothes were sourced from the provincial capital, where they were not only attractive but also inexpensive.
There was a large market over there that had all kinds of clothes. Although her shop only sold women's clothing suitable for young girls, she bought clothes for the Shi family as Shi Zhen had suggested.
Shi Zhen knew that Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun had just arrived and couldn't accept trendy clothes, so he picked out common styles for them, three sets for each person.
As for the three sisters, he also prepared three sets of clothes for them: one dress, two T-shirts, one pair of shorts, and one pair of trousers.
These are all standard, unremarkable styles; they look quite ordinary.
But these are new clothes, and they look much better than their old ones!
Shi Ting and Zhao Qiujuan held their clothes, admiring them dearly.
Shi Zhen then said to Shi Ting, "Tingting, I promised to buy you a dress. You can pick one out here."
Shi Ting jumped up on the spot to pick out clothes, while Li Ahui gave her suggestions from the side.
Shi Ting had never seen much of the market before and didn't know how to choose; she just loved brightly colored ones.
Unfortunately, she's a bit dark-skinned now, so wearing that would be a disaster.
In the end, Li Ahui chose a white top and black bottom dress for her. The top of the dress was a short-sleeved shirt style, which looked a bit like a school uniform. She looked youthful and beautiful in it.
“She has one more set than us, that’s not fair,” Zhao Dongjuan complained.
Shi Zhen had been annoyed by Zhao Dongjuan for the past few days. Now that he was paying for her clothes, she was still not satisfied. He finally said, "She is my own sister. Even if it's just one more set, or even ten more sets, it has nothing to do with you."
Zhao Dongjuan's expression changed, and she glared angrily at Shi Zhen.
Zhao Meiyun and Zhao Qiujuan were also startled and hurriedly pulled Zhao Dongjuan away.
They just didn't understand. Life was getting better every day, and Shi Zhen still wanted to take them to live in such a good place... What was Dong Juan unhappy about? Why was she making a fuss?
Out of consideration for the rest of the family, Shi Zhen didn't say anything more.
In her past life, Zhao Dongjuan didn't do anything particularly outrageous, but she was still quite annoying.
He severed ties with this person in his past life, and in this life... he will never speak to this person again.
We had a little disagreement while buying clothes, but the atmosphere improved afterwards.
That evening, Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun even went with Shi Zhen to set up a fried food stall.
Shi Ting went along too. She wanted to look around the town, and also... if she went, she could at least get to eat a few fried skewers, right?
Shi Ting did get to eat fried skewers, and Shi Zhen even had Guan Baiyu take her around and buy her some other food.
After all, in two more days, she won't have such a good time anymore.
When Shi Zhen was selling fried skewers, Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun stood beside him, both learning very seriously.
Actually, frying skewers doesn't require much skill; the biggest problem for them is not being able to understand what the customers are saying.
Fortunately, they've heard it so many times that they'll definitely know what the things they sell are called. Also, when they sell fried skewers, they usually collect payment before cooking, so it's less likely they'll make a mistake.
Shi Zhen believed they could definitely do it.
Once they learn how, the two of them can set up a stall all day long, and they'll definitely earn more than he does by only setting up a stall at night.
Shi Zhen was busy until 10 p.m. as usual before going back with Guan Baiyu.
On the way back, Shi Zhen told Guan Baiyu about his plan to raise money to set up the cooked food stall.
Upon learning that Qian Qi was willing to spend 600 to take over the cooked food stall, Guan Baiyu didn't think that selling the stall was a bad thing.
Without this mess, Shi Zhen can relax a lot... They're not short of money now, so Shi Zhen doesn't need to be so busy.
Thinking this, Guan Baiyu added, "Brother, we can't just give him those knives, cutting boards, and stuff...we can make him buy them!"
Upon hearing Guan Baiyu's words, Shi Zhen immediately smiled and said, "Okay."
"The original price!"
"Um."
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