Chapter 052: Making a Fortune

"Apples? Xiaoyuan, where did you get the apples?!"

"My friend happened to have some, so I exchanged them all for them," Tang Yuan brought a bag of apples and gave one to everyone in the boiler room, "I'll give them to you guys to eat."

Whether facing Tang Jianguo or the Tang family, everyone in the boiler room has always stood by her and given her a lot of support.

The apples she took this time were not too big, but three of the kind that weighed one pound. Even if everyone got one, it wouldn't cost much. It's just that these things are hard to buy in the mainland nowadays, so it was a token of her thoughtfulness.

"How can we eat your food?"

"That's right, how can this be good..."

Having said that, the few people who got the apples were reluctant to return them to Tang Yuan. After all, this thing is really hard to buy.

"I'm embarrassed," Aunt Qian said, "but I'm not taking your things for nothing. I have some pickled cabbage at home. I'll get you a bowl of it later in exchange for this apple. Is that okay?"

"Then I'll exchange it for salted duck eggs."

"I'll trade with you, too."

"Actually, no need," Tang Yuan put the last apple in the last person's hand, "Thank you for taking care of me these past few months. If it weren't for you, I don't know what I would do."

"What's the point of us caring about you? We only care about you because you are good enough."

"That's right. Your problem is that the Tang family is not a good person. It has nothing to do with you. Besides, you work diligently and conscientiously, and never complain about being on duty. What's wrong with being treated with some care?"

"Don't be polite with us. These apples are hard to find. It wasn't easy for you to exchange them. We exchanged with you, and we made a profit. Apples are hard to buy now, and we haven't had apples for a while."

"Xiaoyuan, don't be polite to us. We are happy to exchange pickles for apples."

"That's right, we won't take advantage of you."

"It's a deal then. We'll get you some pickled vegetables later, enough for you to eat until the New Year."

Tang Yuan listened to everyone talking and a smile appeared on his face.

When she first traveled here, she was somewhat nervous. Even if she managed to escape, she was afraid that she would not be able to stay in the machinery factory. If she went back in that situation, her life would probably not be easy.

I didn't expect that not only would I be able to stay, but I would also receive so much care from everyone.

News about Tang Jianguo and Liu Hongmei came from time to time. It was said that Liu Hongmei's parents sent money and supplies to make Liu Hongmei's life in the Tang family better. She finally settled down and stopped clamoring to return to the machinery factory.

As for the machinery factory, they were also very ruthless and spread the word that one could not enter or leave the factory as they pleased. Tang Jianguo and Liu Hongmei had to stay in the Tang family for a full sixteen months, and no one was allowed to come back before the time was up.

This gave Tang Yuan enough time.

For a while afterwards, her life remained the same as before, selling eggs, bacon, switching to the sweater and wool business, and also selling apples on the side.

However, her business circle has not expanded much and is still among a few people, so the risk is relatively low.

Because the business on hand can make some money, she sells almost all the things she grows in the game space, and uses almost all the game coins she earns to upgrade the planting area.

Once the planting area is upgraded to a certain level, it will become easier and easier to save game coins.

When there were about ten days left before the Chinese New Year, the educated youth who had gone to the countryside returned to the city one after another to celebrate the New Year. A secret message spread that some of the educated youth could stay in the city and would not have to go back to the countryside after the New Year.

Tang Yuan didn't know much about the specific situation in that era, but she did remember that around the time when the college entrance examination was resumed, the educated youth would be able to return to the city one after another. Now there is news that it is very likely that it was after the new year, which was the year when the college entrance examination was resumed.

But this had little to do with her, at least that's what she thought before she met Aunt Cao.

"How many pounds do you want?"

"The more the better," Aunt Cao said firmly. "You should have heard the news, but it's not exact. It's just that the policy has been relaxed, so many people want to use their connections to find a job for their children. No matter what kind of job it is, even if it only pays five or eight yuan a month, as long as they can find one, they can stay."

"It's not like there's only one job for every radish. How can there be so many jobs in such a small place like ours?" Tang Yuan asked. She was now extremely glad that she came here in the summer. If she had come here at this time, even if the machinery factory sympathized with her, they would not have given her this job.

"Who said we are the only ones here? I'm telling you this. My son and daughter-in-law's friends at the station wanted it. They have friends all over the country. And although the job is one radish per job, it's not impossible to bury two radishes in the same job," Aunt Cao said, winking at Tang Yuan. "You understand what I mean, right?"

"I understand." Tang Yuan nodded. She hadn't thought that this would be possible. She knew that after the college entrance examination was resumed, a large number of educated youth would return to the city. But it seemed that the educated youth would also need to find a job when they returned. If they could get a job by returning early, it would be better than being an unemployed vagrant at that time.

As for the time when we could do business on a large scale, we had to wait until at least after 1980.

After thinking for a moment, she said, "But apples are harder to find these days, and they must be more expensive."

As the Chinese New Year is approaching, the price of apples in Hong Kong has increased a bit. When she passed by a fruit store two days ago, she found that the price of apples had increased from 6 yuan per catty to 8 yuan per catty.

"My son told me that the most they can offer is one dollar. As long as the price doesn't exceed that, someone will be willing to take it," Aunt Cao gave an exact price. "We don't make money, we just help out. After all, we are all friends. If we make friends now, it will be easier for us to get things done in the future."

"I don't make much money from apples now," Tang Yuan said with a wry smile, "mainly because I don't have any money."

"That's right. This is the trouble. Normally, these things shouldn't be hard to find with trains running all over the country, but it's really hard to find them now," Aunt Cao said, glancing at Tang Yuan and whispering, "Even if there's someone like you, you wouldn't just go to the station to find someone."

"I understand. The risk is too high," Tang Yuan nodded. "But let's make it clear in advance that we can't allow any accidents to happen. This is too risky for me to do."

"I understand. We are really anxious now. No one dares to say anything more." Aunt Cao promised.

Having said that, Tang Yuan still kept it in mind and set the transaction location at Aunt Cao's house. This way, both parties were like grasshoppers on the same rope, and if something really went wrong, Aunt Cao would not be able to escape.

Of course, if something unexpected happened, it would be Aunt Cao who would have to escape, not her.

If someone really wants to catch her, she will hide and this body will never appear again, and no one will ever find her.

After confirming this, Tang Yuan became bolder and went around various markets in Hong Kong, visiting one store after another. Every time he came back, he would carry 20 kilograms of apples. After putting them away, he would go out again and carry another 20 kilograms of apples.

It took several days and I made twenty trips back and forth, buying a total of 400 kilograms of apples.

Then she discussed with Aunt Cao and decided to place the apples in a hidden place in her house in advance, and she would go to pick them up, 50 kilograms at a time, and Aunt Cao's son and daughter-in-law would bring them to the station in batches.

In just ten days before the New Year, all 400 kilograms of apples were sold out.

Tang Yuan earned a full four hundred yuan from this batch of apples alone.

However, she spent 3,200 Hong Kong dollars to buy this batch of apples, which was almost her entire income from selling sweaters in a month.

Thinking about it more carefully, 400 RMB, assuming Shen Wenyu and Second Aunt each earn 80 RMB a month, this amount is enough for her to pay their wages for five months. With this calculation, her business this time is still a good deal.

Fortunately, she had income from sweaters during this period, otherwise she wouldn't have the money to buy 400 kilograms of apples in one go, and naturally she wouldn't have earned the 400 yuan.

Part of this batch of apples also found its way into the hands of some households near the machinery factory. There was some discussion in the boiler room, saying that there were more apples this year.

But 400 kilograms of apples, even if there are three apples per kilogram, there are only 1,200 apples. They can be easily overlooked in the crowd.

After the business, Tang Yuan deliberately reduced her interactions with Aunt Cao. She wouldn't even let "Xiao Fang" show up often, and instead wandered around Hong Kong as Wen Jiaqi.

After deducting the NT$3,200 she spent on the apple, she still had some money left, enough for her to move around Hong Kong freely, watch movies, go shopping, and bring back some delicious iced drinks, cakes, and morning tea.

It’s not Wen Jiaqi who eats it, it’s Tang Yuan who eats it.

Wen Jiaqi's body is the same as Xiaofang's. She is not suitable for eating outside food. It is okay to eat a little occasionally, but not too much, or she will vomit.

But this is not a big problem for her. After all, she still has a body that can eat, so she doesn't have to worry about wasting these delicious foods.

Xue Shiqi's handmade sweater shop also did particularly good business during the Chinese New Year. Tang Yuan brought in dozens of sweaters during this period. Now, only two or three are left hanging in her shop, and the rest have all been sold out.

After shopping for another half a day, Tang Yuan came to Xue Shiqi's sweater shop carrying the handbag she had just bought for twenty yuan.

I have to buy some wool today.

As a result, when I arrived at the store door, I found Xue Shiqi packing things.

"Jiaqi, come quickly. It's a good time to clear out the warehouse during the New Year. I'll give you all these old wool yarns." Xue Shiqi took out a large bag of wool yarns. "It's just that they've been pressed for a long time, so they're a little dusty."

"It doesn't matter, but are you really giving them all to me?" Tang Yuan asked in surprise.

"Of course, after the New Year I'm going to buy a batch of the latest wool, the colors are much better than these old ones," Xue Shiqi said happily, "and I've made a lot of money in the past two months, do you want some?"

"Yes, of course, thank you!" Tang Yuan thanked him and held the wool in his hand, "So are you going to close the business now?"

"Well, we'll be closed for the New Year and take a half-month break," Xue Shiqi nodded and handed Tang Yuan a small red envelope, "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year!"

Tang Yuan saw the closing time posted by Xue Shiqi, and realized belatedly that after the New Year when the weather gets hotter, the sweater business might be slower, and by spring and summer, no one might buy sweaters anymore.

She watched Xue Shiqi close the shop before she slowly walked back, thinking about what to do next.

Just as she walked downstairs to her residence, she felt the sympathetic gazes from people around her. Every time she looked over, she saw someone who seemed to be hesitant to say something to her.

At this moment, the landlord came down from the building, opened his mouth several times and closed it again, and finally spoke: "Go and see for yourself."

Tang Yuan was at a loss. For the first time, she did not notice the debris piled on the stairs. She went upstairs easily, and then she saw a lot of people gathered at her door, pointing at the house.

Wait, why is her front door open? Wouldn't it be discovered that there's nothing in her room?

How is she going to explain?