Chapter 40 Chapter 40 First Battle Victory
The tractor was parked at the entrance of the village, and a group of people had gathered around it. Liu Mianmian pushed through the crowd and saw Shen Weizhuo standing next to the tractor. She quickly looked him up and down. Seeing that there were no scars on his face, he stood straight and did not look like he was injured, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She walked over and asked worriedly, "How are you? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Before Shen Weizhou could say anything, a shifty-looking young man in the crowd spoke up angrily, "He's not injured at all! My fist didn't even touch his face, and he kicked me first! Damn it, pay me for my medical expenses!"
Liu Anmin immediately retorted, "You weren't injured at all! You stole something and hit someone, and you think you're right? You didn't even think about your lies beforehand. Look at our friend, does he look like someone who would hit someone? He's just lucky a few ladies saw you and stopped you, otherwise you would have beaten him to the ground."
The young man was furious: "I told you, he hit me!"
An older woman nearby said, "Oh, you idiot! Stop lying about something so obvious. He's so polite, he doesn't look like someone who would hit anyone. But you, on the other hand, chase chickens and dogs all day long. You'd kick any stray dog you saw on the road. How could you possibly be at a disadvantage?"
Er Laizi was so angry that his face turned red.
He really did want to steal the fabric. With a whole tractor's worth of fabric guarded by this pretty boy who looked like he'd fall over at the slightest gust of wind, wouldn't it be easy for him to just grab a few pieces? But just as he was about to make his move, the pretty boy spotted him.
As a local, Erlaizi wasn't intimidated by being caught stealing. He immediately threatened the pretty boy and raised his fists to strike him twice. He was experienced in dealing with such people. If he beat them up, they wouldn't dare to say anything. He might even cry and beg for a "respect" from him.
However, just as he threw his fist, the other party kicked him lightly, almost sending him falling two miles away! Unconvinced, he got up and tried to fight again, but was stopped by a few nosy old women in the village. Then the pretty boy's accomplices also ran over. So he was surrounded.
Er Laizi often bullied the elderly, the weak and the sick, but this time, he was clearly the one being bullied, but no one believed him.
The more he explained, the less people believed him.
"With this kid's tiny body, how could he possibly kick you that far? Oh my, if you're going to make up a lie, make it more plausible."
"You said you had bruises all over your body from being kicked? Oh my, you must have been caught stealing something these past few days and got beaten up. You can't just look at a young man who's being honest and then blackmail him like that, right?"
"That's right. Look at how handsome this boy is. He's obviously a good guy."
…
Erlaizi was angry: This is a damn world where appearance is everything!
What made Erlaizi even more angry was that since the pretty girl ran over, the pretty boy, who had never said a word no matter what others said, actually acted like a victim. He didn't explain that he was not injured and just said "I'm fine" to the pretty girl. The pretty girl took out a handkerchief with a distressed look on her face and asked him to wipe the sweat off his face quickly.
Liu Mianmian felt that the expression of the spirited young man in front of her was ferocious and a little scary, so she asked cautiously: "What are you doing? There are so many people watching, and you still want to do it?"
Er Laizi felt hopeless and thought, "Never mind, if people knew he'd been beaten by such a scumbag, he wouldn't be embarrassed." He spat a mouthful of thick phlegm, "A pile of tattered, moldy cloth, who cares?"
He just saw that there were mold spots on every piece of cloth.
He turned and walked away, holding his aching chest.
"Just let him go like this?" Liu Mianmian asked.
"Forget it, we still need to sell cloth, so let's not make things complicated," Shen Weizhou said. No one saw him kicking her, and similarly, no one saw him trying to steal something. There was no way to explain this matter.
"Oh my, you're quite tolerant, young man. It's better not to get involved with people like Er Laizi." The aunt who had just spoken up for Shen Weizhou asked curiously, "Are you here to sell fabric? Is it defective fabric?"
The older generation had a deep affection for defective cloth. You have to remember that in the early days, buying cloth required tickets, and only those with connections in textile factories or supply and marketing cooperatives could get defective cloth without tickets. So even though Er Laizi was belittling the cloth, the aunties and grandmas were still very interested.
Liu Mianmian naturally wouldn't miss such a good promotional opportunity and immediately said, "Auntie, our fabric does have some mildew spots, but it's cheap. This is high-quality cotton cloth, which garment factories use to make finished garments. Look at the beautiful pattern too. We only sell it for 55 cents a meter."
"What, fifty-fifty cents a meter?!"
The crowd that was about to disperse after watching the excitement suddenly froze.
Oh my god, the fabric in this store should cost at least one dollar per meter, and it's only 55 cents?!
A group of aunts immediately pulled out the few remaining pieces of cloth from the tractor.
"Oh my, this fabric is really good, soft and thick."
"This pattern is great! My youngest wanted to buy a shirt with this pattern last time, but the ready-made clothes from the supply and marketing cooperative cost over ten yuan. One and a half meters of fabric is enough to make a short-sleeved shirt, and the fabric only costs a little over eighty cents. I asked an experienced tailor to make it, and the labor fee was only three or four yuan. My goodness, a shirt costs less than five yuan!"
"It's so cheap, one or two meters won't be enough. I have to buy more. The weather is getting hotter, so it's perfect to make a few sweat shirts. The old ones at home have several holes in them."
…
There was no need for Liu Mianmian and the others to sell anymore, as the aunts and grandmas had already started selling to each other. There were even two aunties who took a fancy to a piece of cloth and each grabbed one end and refused to let go.
Wang Zhiyuan was standing nearby, scratching his head, and said frankly, "Auntie, this piece of cloth is 50 meters long. You can't buy the whole piece, right? We'll measure it later, and each of you can just take a few meters."
An old lady said, "I have a big family. I have six sons, two daughters, and so many grandchildren. I will just buy one piece of cloth!" She had calculated long ago that one piece of cloth cost 27.5 yuan, which was the price of two ready-made clothes. She had a big family and was very short of cloth. Since she had such cheap cloth, she would definitely buy more.
Another auntie originally only wanted to buy one of about ten meters, but after hearing what she said, she gritted her teeth and stamped her feet: "I have a big family too, I want to buy one too!" Her family is also well-known in the village, and she can't be compared with this old woman.
Before the two started fighting, Liu Mianmian stepped forward in time to stop them: "Auntie, Auntie, there is more than one piece of this pattern. We have many other patterns of fabrics in the market. You can take a look."
Well, a group of people rushed into the village entrance.
Several people were holding cloth in their hands.
Liu Anmin and Wang Zhiyuan hurriedly chased after him.
There was no more cloth on the tractor, so Liu Mianmian and Shen Weizhuo followed over.
Liu Mianmian: "You really weren't beaten?"
Shen Weizhou raised the corner of his lips and said, "Yeah." He reached out and held her wrist.
They arrived late and didn't get a very good spot. They originally thought they would have to shout for a while to attract customers, but after hearing about Er Laizi's incident, the onlookers instantly turned into customers. When Liu Mianmian and the others arrived, the stall was already surrounded by people in three layers.
Seeing how lively it was here, other people became curious about what was being sold and gathered around, with more and more people gathering around.
If Liu Mianmian hadn't said that she was a seller, she would have almost been unable to squeeze into the crowd.
Fortunately, their fabrics were all in whole pieces, so they were more visible. Otherwise, they would not even know if someone took advantage of the chaos to steal them.
Liu Mianmian and Shen Weizhou soon joined the ranks of cutting and selling cloth. Liu Mianmian measured the cloth, cut a notch with scissors, tore it, rolled it up, and handed it to Shen Weizhou. Shen Weizhou took the money and gave the change, then handed the cloth to the aunt who was buying the cloth.
The old lady carefully held the cloth in her hand and looked at it. As she stuffed it into her cloth bag, she said, "There's a mildew spot in the middle of this cloth. When I make clothes, I can just ask the tailor to cut it off." Then she sighed, "Oh, if only this mildew spot could be washed off."
Liu Mianmian felt like a light bulb suddenly lit up on her forehead, and her eyes lit up.
She pulled Shen Weizhuo and asked, "How long will it take you to make that mildew remover? Is a week enough? Can it be mass-produced? How about making some and selling them together?" It was time-consuming and laborious for them to deal with mildew spots by themselves. If they sold products that could remove mildew spots at the same time, as long as the price was not high, they believed many people would be willing to buy it.
After all, as the auntie said before, it only costs four or five yuan to make a shirt with this cloth. If you spend another one or two yuan to buy something to remove mildew stains, then this shirt will be no different from the ready-made clothes that cost ten or twenty yuan in the supply and marketing cooperative.
Liu Mianmian believes that many people are willing to spend this money.
Shen Weizhou: "..."
He didn't even know when the liquid that hadn't been made yet had a name.
Okay, let’s just use the mold removal cleaner.
Shen Weizhou thought for a moment and said, "The idea is feasible and shouldn't be difficult. Theoretically, a week should be enough, but scientific research is always full of variables."
I get it, I get it. In my past life, Liu Mianmian had seen countless online stories of agricultural students unable to graduate because their theses were stolen. While the incident wasn't the same, the principle was similar. Before the accident, no one could have imagined it.
"Oh, stop talking, young couple, and cut the cloth for us. I want five meters of this."
An older woman exclaimed, and several people nearby chimed in, saying the couple's relationship was truly remarkable. They'd even quit their business and talk it out in bed. Liu Mianmian, who considered herself quite thick-skinned, blushed at the teasing. She knew the more she argued back, the more excited she'd become. So, she simply kept silent, picked up the scissors, and quickly cut out five meters of cloth.
Several people worked non-stop until noon, when the crowd gradually dispersed. However, customers continued to come.
There were a few snack stalls not far from them. Liu Mianmian bought a scallion pancake and took the enamel pot she brought with her to another stall to get a pot of jelly. Everyone had a meal together.
Shen Weizhuo did not eat jelly. Before leaving, Aunt Liu repeatedly warned him not to let him eat cold food no matter how hot the weather was. Aunt Liu Mianmian strictly followed the instructions and gave him the hot soup brought from home.
"Not even a bite."
Seeing Shen Weizhuo looking at the jelly in her bowl, Liu Mianmian immediately turned sideways. Shen Weizhuo looked at her helplessly and could only drink the soup obediently, wondering in his heart when his body would get better.
I heard that Shen Weihong will be going to the northwest soon, and Shen Wenshan is already in the process of completing the transfer procedures. The old man has already informed the military region and is ready to move out of the small red building at any time.
Shen Weizhuo secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that perhaps his illness was almost cured.
After lunch, another group of customers came. Some of them saw their neighbors buying cloth and realized that there was cheap cloth to buy here. Some of them came here to "pick up a bargain" after setting up stalls at the big market. In the end, there was only one piece of cloth with relatively more mold spots left, and no one wanted it. Liu Mianmian simply sold it to an older sister-in-law who had been picking for a long time but had not made a purchase for 45 cents per meter.
The first battle was a success. Liu Mianmian calculated that the profit today was more than 400 yuan, so she discussed it with Jiang Hongmei and directly paid 20 yuan for labor fees to everyone, including themselves.
Wang Zhiyuan held the two big unity notes in his hands in disbelief: "Sister-in-law, only twenty a day?"
For someone like him, even if he transferred to a state-owned factory, his monthly salary would only be around 30 or 40 yuan, which averages out to just over one yuan a day.
Twenty yuan is half a month's salary for a worker in a state-owned factory.
At first, Wang Zhiyuan thought that he was free anyway, so he helped Liu Mianmian and just asked Liu Mianmian to give him a few dollars.
He never expected that he would be given so much.
Liu Anmin was much calmer than him: "Well, our Boss Liu has always been so generous. This is just the beginning! Don't worry, brother. You will definitely make a lot of money if you follow Boss Liu."
Jiang Hongmei also joined in the fun: "Follow Boss Liu and make a lot of money."
Liu Mianmian: “…”
Here it comes again.
She laughed and said, "Okay, let's make a lot of money together."
In the next few days, Liu Mianmian had to go to work, so she didn't go to the market with them.
She figured that she could make a few thousand dollars after selling this batch of goods, and there seemed to be nowhere to invest the money for the time being, so she took the time to ask Manager Chen about the situation of the Hong Kong stock market.
In the previous life, Hong Kong had filmed many TV dramas about the ups and downs of the stock market. Liu Mianmian had watched some of them and was particularly impressed by the Black October global stock market crash in 1987 and the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
Therefore, she clearly remembered that before the stock market crash in 1987, the Hong Kong stock market had experienced a crazy surge.
"Miss Liu, you want to go to Hong Kong to buy stocks? The market has been pretty good since last year, but the bosses of the big brokerage houses on TV are saying that it's risky to continue. Stocks don't always rise, so it's better to lock in your profits!"
As soon as Liu Mianmian heard this, she knew that Manager Chen must have sold some of his stocks because he was afraid that the market would change.
But in fact, the following year was the year when the Hong Kong stock market continued to rise.
She didn't say much. Manager Chen was a sensible and experienced stock investor with his own judgment of the market. She knew about her past life, but she couldn't be sure that everything in this time and space would be the same as in her past life.
After revealing her interest in the Hong Kong stock market to Manager Chen, Liu Mianmian began openly borrowing relevant information from him. She planned to do some research on her own, picking out one or two high-performing stocks with good value for money to see if there was any chance of making a profit.
While she was concentrating on studying listed companies in Hong Kong, Jiang Hongmei and her team visited several large markets. At the same time, Shen Weizhuo also made progress.
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