Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "Don't worry, my elder brother and his family are at home. It's a rare opportunity for us to come here, so let's have fun in the provincial capital for a few days before leaving."
The old man frowned after hearing this, "How about you guys just stay here and buy me a ticket, and I'll go back first?"
Yang Chunyan saw his expression and knew that he was worried about his family, so she smiled and said, "Grandpa, don't listen to Huai'an. We agreed when we came here that we would take the train back at around 6pm the day after tomorrow."
The old man turned his head and glared at Zhou Huaian, "A liar like that is not likable at all."
"I was just joking with you." Zhou Huaian looked at him with a smile, "Wang Zhen said that since it's a rare opportunity for us to come here, he will take us to the zoo tomorrow, then take you to the theater to watch a play, and go to the market to buy things the day after tomorrow.
Tell my mom and my husband that we can have fun here peacefully tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Get on the bus the day after tomorrow afternoon and have a good night's sleep. We will arrive in Ning'an at dawn."
"Why didn't you tell me when I asked you? Your child is not as sensible as Chunyan." The old man didn't appreciate it. He gave him a sidelong look, put his hands behind his back, and went back to the house.
Zhou Huaian looked at his back, smiled and shook his head, "I told them that I would take them around when I had the chance, but you noticed that after only two days, they were already worried about the chickens, ducks and geese at home, and they were clamoring to go home, just like a little kid."
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "Otherwise, how can you say old is still young!"
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian pulled a chair and sat next to her, "I went to Boss Zheng's place yesterday, and he asked us to harvest more morels, big-foot mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, chanterelles, and green shiitake mushrooms this year.
He said that he gave some of the ones we gave him last year to his friends, and the response was quite good. He plans to purchase a large number of them this year.”
"If we collect a large amount, Mom and I won't be able to handle it. We'll have to ask Aunt Jiang and the others to help." Yang Chunyan looked at him. "In that case, we also have to think about the profits from these fungi. How should we divide them with my eldest brother?"
Zhou Huaian nodded, "I forgot about this, let's discuss it when we get back."
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan stood up, "I'll go into the room to wash Jiuer and get her to bed. You should also go to bed early."
"I'll go back to the house too. It's a bit chilly sitting outside for so long." Zhou Huaian picked up a chair and followed her into the house.
The next day, Wang Zhen and Yang Dongmei arrived after breakfast. They went to the zoo in the north of the city and saw big tigers, peacocks, and cute giant pandas. The children watched them intently.
After leaving the zoo and having lunch at a restaurant, Wang Zhen took everyone to the theater to watch a Sichuan opera.
The older ones were watching with great interest, while the younger ones were sleeping on their chairs. After coming out of the cinema, they went to the department store, but after looking around they felt that the things there were too expensive, so in the end they didn't buy anything. They went to a hotpot restaurant to eat a hotpot, and then slowly walked back home.
Wang Zhen said to Zhou Huaian and the others, "Brother-in-law, get up early tomorrow morning. I will drive over to pick you up at five o'clock and take you to the place where the wholesale market will be built. Take a look at the "ghost market" there. If you want to buy anything, buy it there. The price is much cheaper than in Ning'an."
Zhou Huaian nodded, "Okay, we'll wait for you tomorrow morning!"
After shopping all day, everyone was exhausted. We washed the children and put them to bed, and the adults took turns washing and soaking their feet. They went to bed without even watching TV.
The next day, Wang Zhen came in a van at five o'clock. The old man didn't want to go shopping, so he stayed at home to take care of the children.
Everyone squeezed into the car and went to a place called Honghuatan.
It was still dark when we got there the next day, but the place was already bustling with people moving around everywhere. There were also many large trucks parked at the door of the warehouse. When we got closer, we saw that there were all kinds of goods, both those we had seen before and those we hadn't seen before, and those we could imagine and those we couldn't imagine.
Yang Dongmei said to Yang Chunyan and the others, "Sister, this is the 'ghost market'. These people come here at 3am to do wholesale in the dark, and sell retail at dawn. They make a lot of money in a year."
Yang Chunyan also heard from Zhou Huaian that a wholesale market will be built here next year. "So many people are here to buy things and sell them back?"
Yang Dongmei nodded. "There are small appliances, clothes, shoes, wool, and everything in there. Take a look and see if you like anything. The prices here are much cheaper than in Ning'an."
After hearing this, Mrs. Yang said, "I want to buy some material and weigh some wool. My clothes and shoes have grown so fast in the past two years that they can't be worn in a year."
"We bought these too. The grandchildren at home seem to have grown taller in the past two years, and the clothes have become shorter again soon after they were made." Zhou's mother whispered to Yang's mother, "Before, the older ones couldn't wear them anymore, so we gave them to the younger ones. In the past two years, things have gotten a little better at home, so when the relatives' children come to visit, we give them to them."
Mother Yang nodded, "It's the same at my house. Most of the clothes in the big and small pairs are still about 80% new. If someone wants them, I'll find them and give them away."
Everyone followed Wang Zhen and Yang Dongmei into the market and saw wholesale radios, tape recorders, tapes... further in, there were all kinds of fabrics and all kinds of clothing. Especially the clothes and fabrics, they were much cheaper than in Ning'an.
Zhou Huaian bought a flashlight, and seeing that the batteries here were cheaper than those in Ning'an, he bought a dozen boxes. As he walked along, he also bought a few desk lamps, a few boxes of tapes for Zhou Yiding, and a few headlamps, saying that he would use them to hunt birds when he returned.
Yang Chunyan and Yang Dasao thought that black and dark blue wool and polyester would never go out of style, so they bought about ten meters of them, including clothes, sweaters, both for adults and children. They picked out a lot. This was the case with so many people in the family, it was almost like doing wholesale.
Even Zhou's mother and Yang's mother, two old people who were always frugal, picked out more than a dozen pieces of material.
I bought a bag full of woolen yarn, acrylic yarn, and blended yarn, choosing colors that were resistant to dirt and suitable for everyone. When I saw someone selling socks, rubber shoes, and rain boots, I bought a lot of them too.
Yang Chunyan saw a wholesale store selling bedding products. There were sheets, quilt covers, wool blankets, and towel blankets of various textures, which were dazzling.
Especially those jacquard wool blankets, which come in several colors such as red, green, purple and yellow, and feel thick and tight in the hand.
I asked the boss, and he said the minimum order is two beds, and the price is 56 yuan per bed. The price of a bed is 40 to 50 yuan cheaper than that of Ning'an Department Store.
Yang Chunyan picked out three beds, one purple-red one with peony flowers and two beds with bright red peony flowers. She also bought two towel blankets. Zhou's mother asked her to pick a few more beds and take them back to Zhao Huifang, Zhou Yumei and others.
When Mrs. Yang saw this, she also started buying things. These were gifts from relatives and friends for Yang Dongmei's wedding, and she had just bought several new sets of clothes, so she accompanied them shopping.
Zhou Huaian, Wang Zhen and Brother Yang followed behind, carrying large and small bags, shopping madly and helplessly.
Father Zhou and Father Yang were so amazed that they couldn't help but mutter, "How can you take so many back home? Do you want to move all this back home?"
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "The things here are much cheaper than those in Ning'an. It would be strange if they didn't save up to buy them!"
Father Zhou shook his head. "No matter how cheap it is, it costs money. It would be a shame to buy so many and then leave them old."
Seeing that he was mumbling endlessly, Zhou's mother took out a set of spring and autumn clothes and whispered to Zhou's father, "I tell you, it's very cheap. The money for one piece in Ning'an can buy two pieces here."
"It's not free, it's cheap!" Father Zhou saw her taking one set after another, and couldn't help but feel overwhelmed, "Can you wear all these clothes?"
"How many people are there in the family? There are more than a dozen people. If each person has two sets of clothes, that means more than 30 pieces." Zhou's mother gave him a dissatisfied look and said, "Find a place to sit and don't get in the way here!"
Father Yang pulled him back with amusement, "Look, my wife is also choosing. It looks like it's really cheap. Let them take their time to choose. We'll find a place to sit and wait for them."
Father Zhou thought about it and it made sense. Given his wife's calculating personality, if it wasn't much cheaper than Ning An's, she definitely wouldn't have done so. But no matter how cheap it was, she couldn't buy it like this!
"Buy less. You're not in this business. Come back and buy more when you're done wearing them."
"Okay! Okay!" Zhou's mother waved her hands without even raising her head. Her action was like she was shooing away a fly. She hoped that he would not delay her shopping here.
After Zhou's father left, she suddenly pulled Yang Chunyan and asked in a low voice: "Yan'er, how much money did you bring?"
"Yes, if it's not enough, just ask my sister!" Yang Chunyan looked at her in surprise. Is the old lady addicted to shopping?
Zhou's mother whispered in his ear, "I'm telling you, if you buy these things back, you'll have to pay a few bucks more. It would be strange if the old ladies in the village didn't scramble to buy them. If I buy more, they can get them at a lower price, and our family can save some money."
"Ginger is always more spicy with age, so let's buy more to take back." Yang Chunyan suddenly remembered something. In two years, He Jianjun's brother-in-law will open a clothing store. "Mom, you can buy more and sell it to Sister Yumei."
Mother Zhou thought of the prosperity of the clothing stalls during the holidays and nodded repeatedly, "You are thoughtful. They are tired from selling snacks all day long. They wash potatoes and knead ice powder until their hands are soaked white, but they don't make much money. This is better for making money faster."
Yang Dongmei praised: "Aunt Nian, you are much more financially savvy than my mother."
"That's because your mother didn't collect the goods to sell!" Zhou's mother said with some pride: "I learned this from collecting chicken, duck and goose eggs every day for the past two years and sending them to Ning'an to sell."
When Zhou Huaian heard that Zhou Yumei wanted to buy some clothes and shoes to sell at her stall, he thought of Ning An's price and felt that this deal was possible.
The money everyone had brought was almost used up, so after some discussion, they decided to purchase goods worth five or six hundred yuan for the first time to see which ones sold well. They would then take Zhou Yumei with them and let her choose for herself.
After the agreement was reached, Wang Zhen, Zhou Huaian and Brother Yang sent back what they had just bought, brought some money, and thinking that the weather over there would be hotter than here, they bought some lighter clothes and pants, and also bought a lot of hangers.
Looking at the two large bags of goods, everyone felt that it was worthwhile. Even Sister Yang was tempted. She wanted to wait until Zhou Yumei sold all the goods and ask her about the income. If it was good, she would also help her sisters from her natal family.
After the goods were delivered, Wang Zhen took the ticket and went to the train station to check the goods in. The women went home and started packing the house and luggage. They would not be back until the New Year, so the quilts and blankets had to be taken apart, washed and put away. (End of this chapter)
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