Before school ended in the afternoon, Qiao Yuzhen didn't see Zhang Xuemei and the other girl coming over, and she felt smug. She thought to herself that she should have chased them away earlier, and let them take such a big advantage for nothing.
As soon as the school bell rang and the students came out, she called out loudly, "Little beauties, come and see! These pretty hair clips look good on everyone."
Qiao Yuzhen imitated Zhang Xuemei and called out to several female classmates who were passing by, which actually attracted some people.
"Why are there only hair clips? No colored threads?"
"Yes, the two aunties who set up a stall here at noon, I think theirs are prettier and they have more styles."
Qiao Yuzhen's face stiffened, feeling very resentful. She thought that the place she went to was inferior to theirs, implying they had no taste.
But she still smiled and said, "You young girls just don't understand. We all come from the same market, how can we be different? Besides, Auntie sells them cheaper than them. Three hair clips for one yuan and a pair of hair ties for free, is that alright?"
Sure enough, there's no such thing as a cheap bargain. The little girl, who was touching her hair clip, lit up when she heard the shopkeeper's words and immediately smiled. "That's great, shopkeeper, I'll take these three. Can I choose the hair tie myself?"
Qiao Yuzhen smiled and took the one yuan. "Okay, okay, you can choose for yourself." Although she lost a pair of hair ties, she still made a profit, so it wasn't a loss.
"Oh dear, those two ladies were selling things around the corner, let's go buy some!" a few girls whispered as they passed by.
"Hey, are those two aunties really standing there in front?" The little girl who had just bought a hair clip asked the group of people who were talking.
"Yes, Xiaoyu told us when she came back to get the money. It's close to the junior high school, and there were lots of older girls there. I wanted to buy another princess headband. I have to go now."
"Then I'll buy them all, Auntie, I..."
Before she could finish speaking, Qiao Yuzhen immediately replied, "Young lady, you can't return it."
"Oh no, what should I do?" The little girl stamped her foot and looked ahead anxiously. She really wanted a princess headband!
"It's okay, let's go take a look first. I'll lend you the money." The girl who came with her tugged at her hand to comfort her. Luckily, she was slow and hadn't paid yet. As she spoke, she put the hair clip she had chosen back.
And so, Qiao Yuzhen thought her family's business would be good, but it was still snatched away by Zhang Xuemei and her group, which made her so angry that she just wanted to curse.
She refused to believe that she could lose to two street vendors. She decided to wait and see who was better, as she would go to buy goods herself tomorrow.
Zhang Xuemei and Xu Mingwan had no idea what Qiao Yuzhen was thinking; they were only focused on collecting money until their hands were numb.
Only after the last wave of people had passed could Zhang Xuemei breathe a sigh of relief. "Phew, so tired, my mouth is so dry from talking."
Xu Mingwan pursed her lips and chuckled softly, "Sister-in-law, don't let the shopkeeper overhear you say that, or she'll get so angry she'll hit you."
"Who cares? She's petty. Anyway, we've sold almost everything. Tomorrow we'll go to another school to set up our stall, sell the rest, and then go get more stock."
"Sister-in-law, look at how much money these kids have these days. They don't hold back when it comes to spending it." Xu Mingwan had witnessed the generosity of today's kids. They would give out five or ten yuan at a time, much more generous than she was.
Zhang Xuemei suddenly burst out laughing, "You know what, we're changing locations tomorrow, otherwise I'm really afraid those parents will come and beat me up. After all, I emptied their kids' wallets, haha!"
Xu Mingwan laughed upon hearing this and nodded repeatedly, "Indeed, for safety's sake, let's change locations, lest someone come knocking on our door."
The two chatted and laughed as they packed their things, and then bought the groceries they needed for dinner on the way.
Over the next few days, Zhang Xuemei took Xu Mingwan to several different places and sold all the remaining socks and trinkets. Of course, she also kept a few pairs for each member of her family.
"Come on, let's divide the money. Xiao Wan, take out the notebook. Let's calculate how much we sold these past few days and start dividing the money!" Today, Zhang Xuemei took advantage of the fact that her family was all here, so she thought of calculating the money she had made in the past few days and letting them see if she was just making a small profit.
"Okay, coming right away." Xu Mingwan ran back to her room and pulled a small notebook from under her pillow, which contained their daily income for the past few days.
When the topic of dividing the money came up, the others also became interested. Even though they wouldn't get a share, they could still enjoy watching the excitement.
"Sister-in-law, Xiaowan, do you want me to help you with the calculations?" Xu Mingjiang asked as he watched Xu Mingwan struggling to write out the equations on the paper.
"No need for you, I can calculate it myself." Xu Mingwan knew she was slow at calculating, but that was to avoid making mistakes. After calculating it three times in a row, she had her sister-in-law calculate it again before she said with relief, "We bought a total of 1,500 pairs of socks. After deducting the ones we wore and the ones we gave away, we made a profit of 1,100. Of course, the most profitable items were the small accessories. Can you guess how much we made?"
Xu Mingwan smiled and looked at his third brother and the others, wanting them to guess how much they had earned.
"Two thousand?" Xu Mingjiang guessed with a smile. Judging from Xiao Wan's appearance, she must have earned more than socks, so two thousand was about right. After all, she was a student; how could she have much money?
“No, guess again.” Xu Mingwan shook her head with a smile.
"Four thousand? It can't be five thousand, can it? Do you guys make that much money from these little trinkets?"
Zhang Xuemei stopped Xu Mingwan, who wanted to guess again, and announced the answer with a smile, "It's about nine thousand six hundred. Don't you think that's a huge profit?"
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