Xu Mingwan nodded repeatedly. Not to mention the little girls, even she, an adult, couldn't move her feet when she saw these brightly colored and jingling beads, let alone the little girls!
While there was still some time, Zhang Xuemei helped Xu Mingwan familiarize herself with the bracelet-making method again. She quickly made several beautiful bracelets as samples, and then put the last bracelet on her wrist. It jingled when she shook her hand, and she felt very fashionable.
"Ring ring!" As the school bell rang, a large number of students slowly emerged at the school gate. Every girl stopped in front of Zhang Xuemei's stall.
"Wow, Auntie, what's that on your wrist?" The sharp-eyed girl immediately noticed the colorful bracelet on Zhang Xuemei's wrist. After all, it was so bright and made a crisp sound when she raised her hand.
Zhang Xuemei raised her hand and placed it in front of them, then explained, "This is a colorful rope bracelet that Auntie made herself, isn't it pretty!"
"It's beautiful, so beautiful! Auntie, do you have any more? I want to buy it." After seeing and touching it, I wanted to buy it even more.
“Yes, we have some that are already braided. Look, they’re all here. They’re 1.5 yuan each. We also have some that aren’t braided yet. They’re 1 yuan a pack. This auntie over there can teach you how to braid them.” Zhang Xuemei pointed to the box in front of her, which contained the colorful rope bracelets they had braided earlier. Another box contained a pack of packaged colorful threads.
Without hesitation, the little girl picked up a bracelet. "Auntie, I want a pre-made one." She wanted to wear it right now; it would look very pretty.
Zhang Xuemei took the money from the girl and then helped her put on the bracelet. "Look, this can be adjusted. You can tighten it if you want, or loosen it if you want. You can adjust it yourself."
"Thank you, Auntie!" The little girl smiled and thanked Zhang Xuemei, looking at the bracelet on her wrist. It was indeed beautiful.
"Me too, me too!" The girls behind rushed forward as soon as they saw the first person buy it, vying to buy the braided bracelets. Soon, all the bracelets that Zhang Xuemei had braided in advance were sold out.
"Don't worry, little beauties, you can make it yourselves. Auntie will teach you. It's very simple. You can all try it."
"Okay then, I think it's quite interesting that I made it. Yueyue, let's go over there and let Auntie teach us!" The little girl who had paid squeezed next to Xu Mingwan and insisted that she teach them how to make bracelets.
Zhang Xuemei knew that colored rope might be popular, but she didn't expect it to be this popular. Just like cross-stitch later on, it became popular inexplicably. For a while, she also followed the trend and bought a "Harmony Brings Prosperity" pattern. She gritted her teeth and spent two years embroidering it before she finished it. After that, she vowed never to do cross-stitch again, because it was too torturous.
"Come on, everyone, take a look! We have pretty hair clips, gemstone bracelets and necklaces, and sparkly princess headbands. Once they're gone, they're gone for good, so grab them while you can!"
Seeing that more and more people were coming, Zhang Xuemei stood up and shouted loudly, hoping to sell out all the headdresses that came in today.
Every girl dreams of being a princess. The little girls who were learning to braid ropes were captivated. "Auntie, are you talking about this princess headband? It really is! It's shaped like a crown, so sparkly!"
"Yes, yes, I saw it a long time ago. It's so pretty. Auntie, is this headband expensive?" A little girl who wanted to buy it asked cautiously, afraid that the pretty headband was too expensive for her to afford.
"They're not very expensive, just two yuan each. If you like them, buy them quickly. Auntie only stocked a little bit, and they'll be gone once they're sold out." Zhang Xuemei felt like the wicked queen who tricked Snow White into eating the poisoned apple, except that she wanted to take the little money out of the girls' pockets instead of taking their lives.
"Oh dear, I just bought some colored thread, and I also want to buy a gemstone necklace and bracelet, a hair clip, and a princess headband, but I don't have enough money. It's too late to go home and get it now!"
A young girl was dazzled by the various sparkly jewelry items on the stall, wanting this and that, but unfortunately her wallet wouldn't cooperate!
"What's the big deal? We can buy it together. You can wear it one day and I can wear it the next. We can use it for the price of one, isn't that great!"
"Oh right, how come I didn't think of that? Let's compete on the rest too, that way we can enjoy more things for the same amount of money, that's great!"
Zhang Xuemei smiled as she looked at the girls who had suddenly realized their idea. They were so clever; she hadn't even thought of such a good idea herself!
In this way, those who had money would buy one individually, while those who didn't have much money would pool their money to buy one in pairs or threes, and take turns wearing it.
They quickly ransacked Zhang Xuemei's stall, leaving not a single piece of colored thread behind.
Xu Mingwan, suppressing his joy, tugged at Zhang Xuemei's hand and called out, "Sister-in-law..."
Zhang Xuemei patted her hand, signaling her to be mindful of her surroundings and not to appear too happy, lest she arouse jealousy.
It wasn't that Zhang Xuemei was being cautious; it was just that someone who wasn't jealous had arrived.
Qiao Yuzhen leaned against the shop entrance, forcing a smile, and said, "Oh my, I told you your business was good. Look, you've stolen all the business from our area. Our income today is practically zero."
Zhang Xuemei smiled and said, "Sister, it's not that exaggerated. I see the snack stalls next door are doing quite well. I have no ability to steal their business." After all, she sells small accessories that girls like, and boys wouldn't flock to her stall.
"Hehe, I shouldn't say this in a normal way, but you're putting up signs in front of my shop, which is having a huge impact on my business. Don't you think you should move to another location?"
Qiao Yuzhen pretended to look troubled as she looked at Zhang Xuemei and the other woman, but in her heart she was cursing them out. Because of them, she hadn't sold many of the hair clips she had bought, wasting her time and energy.
Zhang Xuemei glanced at Qiao Yuzhen's shop, then looked down at her own stall. This wasn't even near her shop's entrance; it was at least two meters away. It was too far-fetched!
"Hey, how can you talk like that? Look at us..."
"Alright, stop talking," Zhang Xuemei said, pulling back her sister-in-law who wanted to step forward and reason with her. "Big sister, we understand, we'll replace it."
"That's good. It's not that I don't want you to set up a shop, it's just that I also need to support my family, right?" Qiao Yuzhen was even more pleased when she saw that Zhang Xuemei had agreed. After all, she had a shop!
Zhang Xuemei didn't intend to say much to her. After packing her things, she took Xu Mingwan's hand and headed home.
"Sister-in-law, why did you agree to change places? That place isn't hers, why is she so domineering?" Xu Mingwan was still a little unconvinced. She couldn't understand why her sister-in-law didn't argue back.
“Who said I was going to change locations? I only said I would, not that I wouldn’t set up near the school. This afternoon we’ll set up our stall closer to the middle school, since the middle school students are the ones with the most spending power.” Zhang Xuemei wasn’t afraid of Qiao Yuzhen, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to set up her stall for more than a few days, so there was no need to argue with her. It would be bad if she got the school security guards involved, which would affect Qiao Yuzhen’s ability to make money.
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