Chapter 9 Of course, I have to make another profit: a side job
The groom made a huge fool of himself today, staring at the bride so intently he was dumbfounded.
This is a modern society. The bride and groom date for almost a year before getting married, and they've exchanged gifts on every major occasion. The old-fashioned custom of the bride and groom only meeting for the first time after the red veil is lifted doesn't exist anymore. The groom was still dumbfounded.
Oh my, he's really overjoyed to have found a wife.
With so many of the woman's relatives and friends blocking the door, he kept stuffing red envelopes into her room. Even if each envelope only contained 50 cents, stuffing so many in still meant he was bleeding money out of his pocket.
However, the bride's acquaintances also had something to say: "Goodness, where did they find a matchmaker? She dressed the bride up so beautifully that she was almost unrecognizable. No wonder the groom was stunned."
Of course, many people joked that the groom had married such a beautiful wife, so he had to treat her well. Otherwise, she might get angry and run away. With such a pretty bride, there are plenty of men who would want to be the groom.
Wang Xiao listened to the whole thing with a smile. Very good, this at least proves that her makeup skills are now recognized by the people of Zhouzhen.
After all, aesthetics are highly time-bound. When she was a kid, the "Shamate" style was all the rage, like in "The Magicians of Love." Looking back now, it makes you want to gouge your eyes out. She's not worried about her makeup skills, she's just afraid of being out of step with the times.
Xiuyun came over and tugged at Wang Xiao, whispering, "Um, Wang Xiao, could you take me to Xiahe Village? I'll take off my clothes and give them back to you later."
According to custom, the bride returns to her parents' home three days after the wedding; she cannot return to her parents' home, Qianjia Village, before that.
Wang Xiao nodded and asked, "When are you leaving?"
"12 o'clock."
In Zhouzhen, the wedding custom is that the groom picks up the bride in the morning and they have lunch together at the bride's house, where most of the bride's relatives also entertain her. After lunch, the groom takes the bride away, and the wedding banquet is held at the groom's house in the evening; it's a wedding ceremony held at dusk.
Wang Xiao glanced at the time and nodded, saying, "Okay, I'll go home first and come back for lunch later."
She rushed home to make braised chicken feet. Before leaving, she prepared a pot of braised vegetables.
Wang Xiao only boiled the braised food in the pot, then added firewood to simmer it slowly. After making braised food for so many days, she had accumulated experience and knew that firewood of this size would simmer for about forty more minutes. It was just cooked, and after lunch, she went home, took it out of the pot, and put it directly into a stainless steel pot. She then covered the stainless steel pot with a straw jar to keep it warm, and carried it directly to Xiuyun's house.
What are you going to do with it?
Of course, it was sold.
She had to take the opportunity to do some business on her way to Xiahezhuang. Otherwise, she would be incredibly frustrated if she wasted the whole afternoon and had to wait until after dinner to go home.
In 1990, cars were a rare sight, not just in Zhouzhen, but even in the provincial capital. Now, the most common mode of transportation on the streets is the bicycle, and picking up the bride by bicycle is not considered undignified at all.
I've heard that in poor areas, some people carry the dowry in one basket and the bride in another, carrying them directly to the groom's house.
However, since the dowry items, such as sewing machines, had to be transported by tractor, Wang Xiao and several of the bridesmaids didn't ride bicycles but instead took the tractor to Xiahezhuang.
The girls were incredibly curious, crowding around the straw urn and asking, "Why are you carrying this?"
Wang Xiao always lies with a lot of suspicion, but now he can still lie with a straight face: "I'm doing a survey on the economic situation of the township. I made some braised dishes and I'm going to sell them in Xiahezhuang. Based on the sales, I can judge everyone's spending power and indirectly reflect the economic development of the township."
If her former friends heard her spouting such nonsense, they'd probably roll their eyes to the heavens. What a shameless thing! If she wants to make money, she should just say so. Why pretend to be so high and mighty?
But this trick works well in Zhou Zhen; her status as a college student is very useful right now.
The girls exchanged bewildered glances. They hadn't fully grasped what she'd said about charging for makeup services being a form of economic research. The terminology she used was simply too sophisticated, leaving these honest, simple girls, most of whom had only worked in factories after graduating from junior high school, completely stunned.
Even after arriving at Xiahezhuang, they didn't have time to linger at the groom's house. Instead, they rushed to the groom's door one after another to help Wang Xiao with his business.
The research was conducted by university professors in the provincial capital; it's really impressive. They're working on this together now, participating in the research activity.
The enthusiastic girls even offered suggestions: "Why don't we find a bicycle and push it around the village to sell our wares? That way, everyone will hear us and come to buy."
Wang Xiao smiled and shook his head: "No need, it's a happy occasion, there will be many people coming to watch the fun. If anyone wants to buy it, they can take it home."
"But they're coming over for the banquet, so we don't need to buy any more groceries." The girl who asked the question stammered, then suddenly realized, no, weddings and funerals are different.
If it's a funeral, the whole village will come over for a tofu feast, and the family won't even have to cook.
But the wedding was much smaller in scale. Almost everyone in the village would come, but only the closest relatives would stay for the meal. The rest would just watch the fun, maybe grab a handful of melon seeds, and the host would give them some candy to share in the joy. Those who needed to go home to cook would go home to cook.
Sure enough, as the saying goes, "no ugly woman is born at eighteen," and when this group of young women gathered at the door, many people looked over. Seeing the still-steaming stainless steel pot, some with sharp noses even asked, "What's this?"
Wang Xiao immediately pulled out her research-based explanation to deceive people again, emphasizing once more that this was the unique secret recipe of a century-old shop in the provincial capital.
This prompted many people with a strong sense of collective honor to immediately turn around and go home to get bowls to buy braised food. They couldn't let the professors from the provincial university think that their Zhou Town was so poor that they couldn't afford anything.
Wang Xiao quickly emphasized, "No need, no need. We'll buy what we want to eat ourselves; it has to be based on real market demand."
Someone nearby joked and egged them on: "That's right, that's right, we can't just buy things randomly. Otherwise, the higher-ups will think that Zhouzhen is so rich that they won't give us any subsidies and will just collect our money."
Several people who wanted to buy braised food were so frightened that they dared not move, fearing they would cause trouble for the town.
Wang Xiao gritted his teeth inwardly, but his smile remained unchanged: "But if we pretend to be very poor and can't afford anything, it will also lead to the wrong conclusion that Zhou Zhenshe's factory is not viable and has no investment value."
Oh dear, that won't do. These days, even farmers who have never been to the county seat have heard of the phrase "attracting investment." Only if we can attract investment to set up factories will they have a place to work and earn money.
The person who was about to buy braised food ran home to get a bowl and some money.
When Chen Yidong came to pick them up in the evening, Wang Xiao had not only sold out a whole pot of braised dishes (Xiuyun's husband and his wife also each bought a portion to add to the banquet), but had also taken on her third job of the day: being the wedding emcee.
To be honest, this was not Wang Xiao's original intention.
She was genuinely surprised to find that Xiuyun's wedding had no wedding ceremony whatsoever. A bunch of relatives and friends would gather together and brag for an entire afternoon, and then the newlyweds would come out to toast at the banquet in the evening, and that would be it.
This is far too perfunctory.
She couldn't hold back any longer. Relying on her experience of having worked as a wedding emcee twice before, thanks to her fair skin, beautiful face, and long legs, she offered to go on stage and help liven up the atmosphere.
She swore she hadn't done anything extraordinary; she just followed the usual wedding procedures, without any fancy technology or tricks. Yet, it was enough to amaze the people of Zhouzhen, who were used to a simple, unpretentious wedding. The relatives and friends who came to the banquet applauded and cheered enthusiastically. She even got carried away and spontaneously gifted the guests a song, "The Moon Represents My Heart."
When she left the stage later, people egged her on to sing another song.
Wang Xiao certainly couldn't return for a comeback; the emcee couldn't possibly steal the show.
The people of Xiahezhuang recognized Chen Yidong and greeted him with smiles: "Wow, your niece is amazing! She teaches so much at university. She's really impressive."
The uncle was completely dumbfounded. He remembered his niece as very quiet and reserved, and he had heard that she didn't really socialize much in college. He never expected her to be like a TV host now.
For a moment, he even suspected that Wang Xiao was excited because of someone else's wedding.
He quickly led his people away, saying, "It's getting late, Xiaoxiao, let's go home."
They were afraid that the person who was overly excited would suddenly go crazy on the spot.
The groom's mother quickly came over and stuffed a red envelope into Wang Xiao's hand: "Take this, girl, thank you so much for today."
In the village, when a funeral is held, a respected elder is in charge of organizing things, and the host family is expected to give cigarettes and pork as a thank-you gift. Today, this young woman volunteered, which is equivalent to doing half the work of a respected elder, making her family very proud. They definitely have to give her a thank-you gift.
Wang Xiao didn't stand on ceremony and thanked them with a smile: "Then I'll share in your family's good fortune."
When she went to the room to greet the bride, Xiuyun had already changed out of her red sweater. She thanked her repeatedly and gave her a red envelope as a wedding gift.
Wang Xiao didn't try to refuse anyone either. She had been doing technical work all day, so it was only right that she put money in her pocket. She said a few more auspicious words, then excitedly got on the back of her uncle's bicycle and went home with him.
Wow, not bad! Both red envelopes are quite generous. One contains 10 yuan, and the other contains 5 yuan. Adding the red envelopes she grabbed earlier, she's definitely made 20 yuan just from the lucky money.
In addition, I sold 18.7 yuan worth of braised food at Xiahezhuang today. After deducting costs, I made 30 yuan in profit today.
Wang Xiao whistled happily and urged her uncle, "Quick, quick, let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative. If it's still open, I need to buy some goods."
Chen Yidong was still a little dazed, and subconsciously asked, "What kind of goods do you want to stock?"
"Needles, thread, and even hot oil are not sold in the village shops; ordinary people can only buy them from the supply and marketing cooperative."
She hadn't wasted her morning chatting with the girls. She noticed that while bicycles weren't uncommon in Zhou Town, they were mainly used by the younger generation for commuting, with many people in their forties and fifties unable to ride. This group often had to take care of grandchildren, work in the fields, and raise chickens, ducks, and pigs, making it difficult for them to find time to go to town to buy what they wanted.
They could ask their children for help, asking them to go to town to help take care of the children. However, a significant manifestation of Chinese family relationships in rural society is that elders are not accustomed to asking younger generations for help. They would rather wait for peddlers to occasionally come to the village to sell things before buying, or try their best to make a trip (literally, on foot) to the town to buy from the supply and marketing cooperative.
After hearing this, Wang Xiao didn't have time to lament the strangeness of the parent-child relationship; she focused on the key point and explored business opportunities.
Since the villagers needed the goods from the supply and marketing cooperative but it was inconvenient for them to come and buy them themselves, she would deliver them to the village. She wouldn't look down on the business just because it was small; it was just a side job anyway.
Her first real fortune came from working with Sam's Club. From initially offering home delivery at a higher price to later earning money through free shopping and points cashback, at her peak she steadily supplied more than 20 supermarkets in the surrounding prefecture-level cities of the provincial capital. With points cashback, she earned a six-figure monthly income and bought a large apartment in the provincial capital within two years. Even when the property depreciated, she didn't feel much pain.
Now, she's just copying Sam's Club's money-making model.
When Chen Yidong heard that she was going to sell needles and thread to make money, he was completely dumbfounded.
His niece must have gone too far. How many times does she plan to earn money from attending this wedding? Even Nezha's three heads and six arms from "Investiture of the Gods" wouldn't be enough for her.
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