Chapter 49 100-Day Sign-in Gift Pack
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Yang Qiaomai also went to the store to resume work.
Every day, I help with cleaning, chopping cured meat and sausages, and making meatballs.
Since the business hasn't opened yet, the work has been relatively easy these past two days.
Guo Baiwen sent him a red envelope as a start to his work, and then talked about how Xiaohua would be going to learn from the embroiderers later.
Before he could even mention hiring another helper, he was already pounding his chest so hard it was making a 'bang bang' sound.
“It’s alright, shopkeeper!” Yang Qiaomai said earnestly, seemingly oblivious to any problem. “I’ve seen all the work Guo Meimei did before, I can manage it.”
In fact, ever since Yang Qiaomai was hired to help out at the store, Guo Xiaohua has gradually shifted many of her responsibilities to him.
She still needs to help with some things like preparing and serving the dishes.
This is also why Guo Baiwen wanted to hire another person to help out at the store.
But since Yang Qiaomai had said so, he thought for a moment and said, "How about this, let's try it out before the Lantern Festival. I'll give you an extra two hundred coins for this period of time."
"But if you're really too busy, please, please, you must tell me!"
Yang Qiaomai was surprised that her wages would increase so suddenly. Although she didn't think it was difficult to do more work, she nodded vigorously and said, "Don't worry, shopkeeper."
That works too; at least he won't have to worry about where to hire people in the short term.
So after mentioning it to Grandma Guo, that's how it was settled.
When the shop opened on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Grandma Guo, who felt she had rested well, was ready to get to work with her specially made sieve.
However, they were surprised to find that there were far fewer customers after the New Year than before.
After careful consideration, it was discovered that nearly 70% of the customers who used to come for lunch had left because they were busy preparing for their own farming at the beginning of the year and no longer went to the city to find short-term jobs.
Even though there are still quite a few people coming to eat in the evening, the daily revenue is barely half of what it was before the Lunar New Year, which is already considered pretty good.
Grandma Guo was discouraged for several days because of this.
Although Wenzai had told her before that business was only good in winter and that it probably wouldn't be as booming as before.
I had a bit of confidence, but I never expected these good days of making money to end so quickly.
She originally thought that her business would make money quickly, and even if the days with money were not long, she could eventually buy the shop if she worked hard every day.
But now, let alone saving up enough money to buy a shop.
During her break over the Lunar New Year, she and Wenzai studied together for a few days, and she's now quite proficient at addition and subtraction.
With the money I've saved so far, I should be able to pay next year's rent, support Guo Baiwen's tuition for a quarter, and still have some left over.
As for her desire to buy a house, she can only wait and see.
After doing this calculation, Grandma Guo, who had been somewhat discouraged, quickly cheered up again.
It's not that we didn't make money, it's just that we made less.
Moreover, even this less money was more than what he could earn in a year of hard work in Guojia Village.
But this is just right, even though Xiaohua isn't helping out at the shop anymore, the three of them can still manage.
Life went on at a leisurely pace.
The Lantern Festival arrived quickly.
On this day, when Guo Baiwen got up and just signed in, the usually mechanical sign-in system suddenly exploded with colorful fireworks on the screen.
He was startled, only to realize that he had unknowingly checked in for a full 100 days.
At the same time, the system detected that today is the system host's birthday.
Although there wasn't a special update like when it was the 30-day sign-in period, Guo Baiwen was given a 100-day sign-in gift package, plus eight electronic fireworks to celebrate his birthday.
The gift pack is great, but we could have had more.
We can skip those fancy electronic fireworks next time.
He watched the screen until all the fireworks had finished before he could continue operating the screen to proceed to the next step.
It looks great, but it's a bit of a waste of time.
Although he was complaining in his heart, when he actually held the 100-day gift package in his hands, Guo Baiwen felt as if he could hear his own heartbeat, which was rare for him.
Although I don't know what's inside, but—
Please bless me!
One shot, and you're dead!
I want to get rich quick!
I want to get rich!
After muttering the entire sentence to myself with my eyes closed, I nervously opened the lid of the gift box.
...
Okay, he's overthinking it.
[Birthday Cream Cake (8-inch) x1]
[Beige woven with gold bamboo leaves, flat hem, round neck robe x1]
[Folding, triple-layered, thickened umbrella for heavy rain, multi-person use x1]
[Complete set of small regular script calligraphy practice x1]
[Calcium, Magnesium, and Vitamin D Supplementation for Improved Absorption: 100 Capsules x 1]
[One pair of mother-of-pearl cufflinks]
There were six items, but Guo Baiwen opened the box that said "Complete Set of Copying".
Inside, besides a small bamboo calligraphy brush, there was a plum blossom ink butterfly, one hundred sheets of grid calligraphy practice paper, a box of Lingfeijing calligraphy practice cards, a 50x70 cm water-washed felt, and 250 ml of lampblack ink.
If we were to buy all this stuff at a bookstore, it would probably cost a lot of money.
However, after thinking about it, he decided to recycle the bottle of ink that the system had given him. If he got used to using the ink, he would be even less likely to grind his own ink.
It is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality, so it is best not to disturb one's spiritual path in the first place.
A bottle of ink, unopened, was exchanged for only five coins.
...He still doesn't understand how the system determines the recycling standards.
The amount he received from daily recycling always exceeded his expectations.
The items in the gift package, while not the best, were indeed things that Guo Baiwen needed.
The oil-paper umbrellas here are too expensive, and they need to be taken for regular maintenance from time to time. If you accidentally lose them, you'll really regret it.
It's really not as convenient as the umbrella from my previous life.
Although he had mentioned it to himself a few times, he hadn't been selected in the daily check-in draw, and it hadn't rained very often during this period.
The two raincoats were barely enough for the occasional light rain.
Gradually, I forgot all about the umbrella.
After finally winning the draw, Guo Baiwen excitedly picked up the beige umbrella. Before even opening it, he remarked that it was indeed designed for heavy rain, as it was quite heavy.
Once it was opened indoors, it was discovered that the umbrella was large enough to comfortably accommodate three or four people.
nice one.
Just like the umbrella, the gift set included a bottle of calcium tablets because I kept saying I wanted to grow taller, which is probably the same reason.
The birthday cake was because it was his birthday today, which makes sense.
But Guo Baiwen didn't quite understand the remaining two things.
He first took out his cufflinks, which were made of 925 silver. Due to modern technology, they were even shinier than modern silver ingots.
Inside is white mother-of-pearl, specially shaped like a ginkgo leaf, which is quite pretty.
But cufflinks were something he rarely used, even when he wore suits in his few previous lives.
Not to mention in ancient times, when people didn't even know what a suit was.
He put the item back in the box, intending to recycle it to the system like the ink before, when he suddenly remembered the silk flowers that Xiaohua had made for Grandma last time…
Grandma is this age, and she really doesn't have any decent jewelry.
She usually wore a peach wood hairpin, which had faded in color due to its age.
The bracelet she wore on her wrist was nothing more than a bracelet made of chicken blood vine.
Both of these items combined are not as brightly colored as the headscarf she usually wears.
And he remembered—Grandma seemed to have pierced ears.
They usually wear it with two short tea stalks, so it's rarely noticed.
Because taking these cufflinks to a pawn shop would be too conspicuous, he figured it was better to avoid trouble and decided to just take them back.
But instead of exchanging those few coins, I might as well add a little more money and take it to a jewelry shop to have it altered into a pair of earrings.
There are pairs on both sides.
It's just a matter of adding an ear hook on top with silver; it shouldn't take much effort.
Having made up his mind, Guo Baiwen quickly put away his cufflinks.
Looking at the remaining round-necked robe, he felt a rare headache coming on.
This dress is certainly beautiful, and the style is also very common at the time. Not to mention that the bamboo embroidery on it uses gold thread, the fabric itself is something that can't be found in fabric shops these days.
Even if there are a few fabrics that feel the same as this garment, their prices are still quite shocking.
But it's precisely because it's so good.
So good that Guo Baiwen felt he didn't deserve to wear it out like that.
And this outfit is way too eye-catching.
He's not some rich young master.
But when it came time to actually take the clothes to be recycled, Guo Baiwen hesitated.
After much hesitation, I decided to keep it.
I placed it at the very bottom of my wardrobe, carefully folded it, and worried that it would be eaten by insects, so I added two mothballs in a few corners.
Only then did he close the wardrobe door, completely satisfied.
What if?
Who knows, he might one day wear clothes like that and swagger out in public again.
After packing up most of the things that needed to be packed, Guo Baiwen took one last look at his room, which was now somewhat cramped due to the constant check-ins and the accumulation of various items.
I plan to set aside some time later to thoroughly clean the room.
For items that are no longer needed and take up space, it's best to recycle them.
Having made up my mind, I picked up the cream cake first.
Today is the Lantern Festival, so the shop will only be open for half a day.
Since the store hasn't opened yet, it's a good time to split things up.
An eight-inch cake is quite large; our family is small and can't finish it all. It's perfect to divide half of it in advance as a gift for today's holiday.
However, then you'll have to cut it even smaller.
Let's make sure that everyone who comes to the store gets to try a bite.
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