At night, the twinkling lights in the city went out one by one, and the city fell asleep.
Downstairs in a small four-story building, the only sounds are the ticking of the clock hanging on the wall and the occasional sound of residents walking on the floor on the three floors above.
Wen Xin was reading a book in the light of the electric lamp, with a pen stuck on her head and another in her hand. She was squinting her eyes and marking the key points while reading. She originally thought that she could just review the books of this era casually, and it would not be difficult for her to take the exam again. But after getting the book, she remembered that she was wearing a fictional novel!
Fictional novel! Although the entire history is similar to the era before she came here, but! Every time has its own differences, and all the characters have changed, even the leaders' names have been changed. Wen Xin is almost in tears. Does she have to learn politics again? There is also the geography subject. Wen Xin was flipping through the worn-out Chinese Economic Geography book. MMP! The whole world has changed! Let alone Chinese geography, there is also Chinese language...
She was devastated inside and was pulling her hair out. Victoria Song, come out! I'm going to beat you to death. I didn't want to beat her to death when I described her as a prostitute before. But at this moment, she is flipping through a book that is completely different from history with her eyes wide open. I really want to beat her to death.
Moreover, schools did not have textbooks at that time. The student stuffed his sister's messy handwritten notes from her senior year of high school into her hands and sold them for ten yuan. There were also various quotations, editorials from two newspapers and one magazine, etc. in them. Are all these going to be tested? She was a little confused.
At night, Wen Xin was overwhelmed looking at the review outline and densely packed notes. Fortunately, the foreign languages in the world of this book were the same. If the fictional world had even the language, she would have fainted on the floor from tears.
After looking at it for a while, she threw the pen away angrily and packed up her things. She gave the cloth and wool she bought during the day to Grandma Wei. Grandma complained that she was spending money indiscriminately again and told her not to buy anything else. But she was still very happy. She dug out a green cardigan from the bottom of the box. It was made of long fabric, a tender green color, which looked very beautiful. It set off her green skin and white flesh, which was as white as fat. Her face looked even more soft and tender against the tender green. The material was also well maintained.
"…This dress belongs to a family member. The person got lost before it was finished, and there is no daughter in the family. You can keep it and make another dress to wear. It has never been worn. Even though the style is a bit old, the material is good." The old lady handed over the dress firmly.
Wen Xin didn't want it, but the old lady had stuffed it into her hands, so she had to accept it. She cleaned up the table, picked up the clothes and took a look. It was an outer coat, which looked like the ones worn by wealthy ladies in the Republic of China period, with a fork on the side.
The shape is finished, but there is no embroidery. It is a semi-finished product. As for the material, it is indeed good material. The green silk emits a pearl-like glow under the light. The cloth is placed on the naked arm like a second layer of skin. There is no sense of friction at all. It is smooth as if there is nothing, and there is only a slight coolness.
Even if Wen Xin didn't understand, she knew that this was a rare piece of good silk material. However, although it was good, no one wore silk now, so if you had to wear it, you could only wear it as pajamas.
Before going to bed, she counted her savings and found that she only had 760 yuan left. This made her feel a little crisis. She had to save more for seven months' living expenses even if she was admitted to university and received various subsidies. This amount of money was simply not enough.
She was a little worried. Her system was used to extract the purest part of an ingredient, such as ginger. The system would filter out only three or five drops of the most refined ginger juice from a piece of ginger. The ginger would still look the same, but when cut open, she would find that the ginger flavor was a little lighter. However, it did not affect its use. She just had to cut two more slices.
The three or five drops extracted are the best essence in it. When cooking, you only need to put half a drop. Moreover, the substance extracted by the system is sterile and can be stored for a long time without deterioration.
She had been wandering around Longzhou for several days and saw some small fish and shrimps being sold very cheaply. She spent two yuan to buy a bunch of them, then extracted some shrimp oil and fish oil, and sold the remaining shrimp and fish for sixty cents. Adding two drops of fish oil and shrimp oil to dishes and soups is very fragrant and fresh, but it cannot be sold for money. There is also ginger juice, which only she can use, and no one else knows what it is.
Wen Xin is a little worried about lack of money. It would be great if the system was a storage system. Then she could store a large amount of rice, flour and other daily necessities. When she is short of money, she can just sell some and she won't have to worry.
But she didn't dare to think too much. What if she thought too much and the system really changed?
Comparing extraction and storage, she would still choose the extraction system, because compared with storage, the extracted food is of great benefit to herself. She likes to cook food, and she likes to see others being amazed after eating her food. Then she will not cook it anymore, so that others can only watch but not eat it, which makes people cry. Just like her college roommates, she will show off her skills occasionally, and they will be so moved that they will cry and call her dad.
She would only share some of the system's things with others, and use them more to nourish her whole body and mind. Moreover, extraction is more advanced than a function that can only store things.
But in this era, materials are scarce and people have never seen anything good. She has no way to make money with the high-end products she extracts, unlike online shopping in later generations, where she can make a fortune just by selling essential oils, olive oil and coconut oil, although some buyers have complained that her products are of a small brand and whether she is from a small workshop or something like that, and whether there are any safety hazards.
But anyone who uses her products knows that the quality is definitely the best on the entire Internet, far exceeding that of exported products. If it weren't for the need to make money, she would not be willing to sell the products produced by the system. Later, she directly limited the number of products to be sold, and people could buy them if they wanted. As a result, the products were sold out as soon as they were put on the shelves, and no one complained about the brand anymore.
Should we ask her to buy a bunch of tea seeds and beans and extract cooking oil to sell? Eh, this... doesn't seem to be impossible.
The next day, Wen Xin took a bag and ran to the Second Grain Store in Longcheng. She took a look around. Although Longcheng is not a big city, it is close to several big cities around Xianghai, so it has a complete range of products. There is a post office next to the grain store, and it is very lively with people coming and going.
She followed the crowd and waited in line for a while before she got her turn. The grain store's room of dozens of square meters was filled with cabinets and bags filled with grain. There was a register clerk, two cashiers, and four grain payers.
The food items included rice, noodles, red beans and soybeans. When it was Wen Xin's turn, she asked for soybeans directly. When she was buying palace oil and clothes in Kyoto, she didn't have enough money, so she asked for tickets. She had exchanged a lot of national food coupons, which were just enough to buy soybeans.
The price of food in this fictional era was not cheap. White flour was 1.85 yuan, soybean oil was 8.14 yuan, and rice was divided into different grades, with some costing 1.85 yuan and some 1.75 yuan. Cornmeal and sorghum rice were both 95 yuan, and soybeans were 1.16 yuan.
Wen Xin calculated in her mind that the system can extract two taels of oil from one pound of beans. There is still oil in the beans after extraction, but the remaining is the inferior oil that the picky system has eliminated. The oil extraction rate is half as low as it should be. Normally it should be around four taels. At that time, she can sell the beans at 40 or 50 cents, less than half the price, so she can probably earn more than half the money.
This deal is still quite worthwhile.
When it was Wen Xin's turn, she smiled at the cashier and said, "Thank you for your help, ten kilograms of soybeans." After that, she handed over the money and coarse grain coupons. The grain payer glanced at Wen Xin. Not many families bought so many beans. Wen Xin took the beans in a bag and lifted it, but she didn't expect it to be so heavy.
After leaving the grain store, she found an alley with few people. In fact, it didn’t matter if there were people there, because the system could not see other people.
Wen Xin called out the system, specified the extract, and then it was automatically extracted. After the extraction, she opened the bag and looked at the soybeans. The soybeans were originally plump and round. When she picked up one and looked closely, she found that the surface was slightly wrinkled. The essence and oil stains of each soybean's germ had been extracted, and the rest were the dregs that the system didn't want.
It can't be said to be rubbish, the remaining part can still be eaten, but the nutritional content will be slightly lower. Wen Xin went back with the beans and found a female comrade at random. She pulled her and the woman glanced at Wen Xin sideways.
She whispered, "Do you want to buy soybeans? Eight catties, fifty cents a catty, with food coupons."
The woman had short hair, white eyes and a pointed mouth. She had just been haggling with the person she met in front of her about which one was a few cents cheaper, which one was a dime more expensive, and what was the most cost-effective exchange. When she heard Wen Xin mention beans, she wanted to refuse outright. She didn't want to buy beans at all. What she wanted to buy was refined grain.
But when she heard Wen Xin say that it was 50 cents per pound, she swallowed her words.
I turned around and reached into the warm bag to grab a handful of soybeans. I felt that the grains were a little small, but 50 cents a pound. This, this is too cheap. These are soybeans. They are sold for 1.16 yuan in the grain store, which is more than half the price.
She immediately nudged the person she knew in front of her, then gestured to Wen Xin to go to the side, and finally walked to the corner next to the grain store.
The two women squatted in front of the bag of soybeans, rummaging around in it, and made sure that the beans were fine. After looking at each other, they determined that Wen Xin would sell it for 50 cents plus food stamps, so they happily found a place to weigh the beans and each got four pounds.
These soybeans are 40 cents a pound. If you can't finish them, you can buy some back and share them with your relatives. Even if you buy them for 1.16 yuan, if you do someone a favor, they will give you a gift of the same price in return.
In this way, Wen Xin bought the soybeans at seven yuan per catty. Ten catties of beans produced two catties of oil, with a cost of seven yuan. The oil and grain store sold one catty at eight yuan and fourteen cents, and she sold it for seven yuan, thus doubling her profit.
It was okay, something was better than nothing. Wen Xin had asked around and found out that the nearest black market was in the second alley in the south. She went back to Wei's house, wrapped herself tightly, and then found a small jar and a small container for measuring oil, and ran over with them.
In the past, this was called the black market and was illegal, but in the cities near Xianghai, the wave of reform and opening up came ahead of schedule. There are more and more grains and various agricultural and sideline products. According to the trend in two years, food coupons will become less and less valuable. Many restaurants no longer accept food coupons because they can justifiably charge more money.
So now in the black market, which is the free trade market, although people are still trading secretly, the number of traders has obviously increased, and it is enough to fill an entire street. The authorities also turn a blind eye and do not arrest many people.
Wen Xin didn't expect the oil to sell so well. After a while, it was all bought by a square-faced man. It was only fourteen yuan, while a pound in the grain store was eight yuan. He didn't even ask for oil coupons. Only a fool would not buy it.
After she finished selling her goods, she looked around and saw someone selling soybeans, about ten kilograms. She bought some and the man quickly said, "Hey, girl, you have to give me back the bag. Don't you have anything to put it in?"
Wen Xin said that the moment she took the bag, she called up the system and immediately extracted two and a half kilograms of oil. Then, while extracting, she smiled and said to the big brother: "Big brother, wait for me, I will sell the beans and return the bag to you."
The big brother looked at Wen Xin: "What?" He didn't quite understand.
At this time, a woman wearing a headscarf came over stealthily, "How much is the beans?"
Wen Xin hurriedly whispered, "Half price, fifty cents, that's all, big sister, you take it all. If I can't sell it, I'll take it back later. You won't get this price anywhere else."
"Fifty cents?" The big brother who owned the bag next to her looked at Wen Xin as if she was a fool. He just sold it to this girl for one dollar, and in the blink of an eye she sold it for fifty cents. Is she, is she a fool?
"Fifty cents? Really?" The woman immediately pried open the bag that Wen Xin had placed on the ground, grabbed a handful and took a look, but couldn't see anything. The beans were a little small and seemed to have lost some water, but selling them for fifty cents was really a profit. Wen Xin borrowed the scale from the big brother and sold all the beans in seconds.
The older lady, who looked very strong, took the bag, filled it with beans, threw it over her shoulder, and walked away with big strides.
“Girl, you, you are losing money, aren’t you?” The big brother was trembling as he spoke. He had seen stupid people, but he had never seen anyone as stupid as this. Buy for one dollar and sell for fifty cents? What's the point?
"No compensation, no compensation." Wen Xin said with a smile, "Brother, do you want to buy some oil? It's seven yuan a pound. I have two and a half pounds here. Just give me fifteen yuan."
Products produced by the system must be of high quality. The oil sold by Wen Xin is clear in color and you can tell it is good oil at first glance.
Finally, Wen Xin carried the small empty jar and walked and skipped along the alley back home. Unexpectedly, she earned more than ten yuan in one trip. On the way back, she passed by a state-owned restaurant. There was seafood on the menu, including hairy crabs with rich roe and fat meat. Wen Xin bought three, ate one, and packed up the other two to take away. It only cost her three yuan.
…
When he got home that night, Old Man Wei ate hairy crabs and told Wen Xin about this: "... Gu's wife said that your fish head soup is very good. I'll give you two yuan for a pot. I think this price is okay. When the time comes, you can put the ingredients in, and I'll help you watch it, and you can come back to continue studying."
The old couple knew that Wen Xin was going to take the college entrance examination next year, and they were very supportive.
"If you don't want to go, I'll tell Gu's wife." Old man Wei looked at Wen Xin picking rice grains, and guessed that she was unwilling.
Two yuan was a little less, but Wen Xin thought it was not a big deal. She just needed to prepare the ingredients and Old Man Wei would be there, so she just had to watch the fire. Although she made more than ten yuan in one round today, oil was not a large-volume consumable like rice or flour, so it was impossible for her to sell it every day. It would be fine to make two rounds every few days.
In this day and age, she still has to continue to earn money for college tuition and living expenses. Just thinking about it makes me cry. How much money does she have to earn to cover her college living expenses? Will she ever finish college?
Two dollars a day, sixty dollars a month, more than four hundred dollars in seven months. If you calculate it this way, it is a good income before school starts. And she doesn't know if there are any female customers inside. She can also sell some palace oil by the way. There is business only where there are many people. When she came here, she was unfamiliar with the place and knew few people. She urgently needed a large customer base.
"No, Grandpa, you tell the proprietress that I'll go!" Wen Xin said to Old Man Wei with a sweet smile, why not go? You have to go. The proprietress surnamed Gu is one of the first people who dares to try new things.
Her current business model is the predecessor of a private restaurant. Probably after next year, she will be able to apply to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau to open a store. The black market has become a free market, and private business will soon be legal.
…
The next day, the weather was not very good. It was drizzling when I went out. The whole Longzhou was shrouded in endless mist and rain, which made it look poetic and dreamy. The alleys in the city with black tiles and white walls, and the stone roads on the ground were washed by the rain and restored to the original color of bluestone. The city in the rain was full of charming and hazy beauty.
Wen Xin thought the city was beautiful. She followed Grandpa Wei into the three-story building and walked into a simple and quaint main room. Others also thought she was beautiful at first sight.
Holding an oil-paper fan, she followed Old Man Wei through the alley. As soon as she entered the house, Gu Qingtong felt her eyes brighten when Old Man Wei made way for her. Her long hair was tied up like a waterfall, her small face was the size of a palm, her eyebrows and eyes were sparkling, her mouth was smiling, her lips were as red as wild cherries in May and June, and her skin was like snow. She was wearing a waist-pinched Republic of China-style side-breasted blouse and a long skirt. When she walked, her waist swayed slightly, three parts habitual and seven parts charming. However, in Gu Qingtong's eyes, although this little beauty was seven parts delicate and three parts charming, she did not have a single bit of lewdness. From the way she walked, you could tell that she was still a girl, she just walked like that.
"This is my niece, Wei Xin, and this is Mrs. Gu, the daughter-in-law of the Gu family. You can just call her Mrs. Gu." said old man Wei.
Madam Gu? What is it called? It's a different era now, but now the world has all kinds of people. Wen Xin has seen many modern beauties, so she felt okay when she saw Gu Qingtong. She just felt that the other person's temperament was very special. Temperament is a very illusory thing, but when you really come into contact with someone with temperament, you can find that the aura and demeanor are obviously different from those of the people around you, and they are unique.
If Wen Xin jumped out of a modern magazine, then Gu Qingtong walked out of a painting of ladies. Wen Xin is unrestrained while Gu Qingtong is reserved and polite.
Gu Qingtong thinks Wen Xin is very innocent and childish, while Wen Xin thinks Gu Qingtong is very comfortable to get along with.
"Hello, boss lady." Wen Xin extended her hand.
"Hello, Miss Wei."
"...Just call me Wen Xin." Wen Xin almost rubbed her forehead. "Miss," in this era, calling her like a little princess, is not a good word in modern times. Nowadays, people call her just "Little Sister."
Gu Qingtong smiled faintly, "You can also call me Qingtong."
"Okay, Sister Bronze."
Wen Xin had a very pleasant stay here, because Old Man Wei was there, taking care of her in every way, and Mr. and Mrs. Gu Qingtong were not talkative, and the environment here was quiet, so when no one was around, she could go to the inner room to read. When the fish head was stewing on the stove, she would recite the book while looking at the fire.
Gu Qingtong was a person who knew propriety and rules very well. She built a stove for Wen Xin and separated it into a room so that people would not think that someone was spying on her craftsmanship. Her mute husband worked very efficiently and built the stove with blue bricks in just half a day.
At first, Wen Xin came and put the ingredients in the pot, lit the fire and left. Old Man Wei would watch the fire. Later, she was too lazy to walk back and forth, and carried a school bag every day like she was going to school.
I read books while cooking, and then went back home with Old Man Wei in the evening.
She also helps out when things are busy around the house.
"Wenxin..." Sister Qingtong called her.
"Hey!" Wen Xin quickly served the fish soup over.
She has a stove and two pots here. The pot for cooking fish soup is not big, it is one of those large old-fashioned clay pots. I don’t know how many years it has been used. Only the soup cooked in this old pot tastes good.
The stove next to her was idle. Wen Xin was a hardworking person, not lazy at all. Her business acumen was certainly not that smart. The modern catering industry was all about delivery and pickup. She took a pot and poured some water, sprinkled some refined sea salt extracted by the system, and dripped a few drops of shrimp oil extracted by the system. She still had a lot of dried fruit oil in her system, such as peanut oil, almond oil, sesame oil, walnut oil, and there were more than a dozen kinds. Before, Yan Motou gave her a bag of hazelnuts and asked her to shell them, but she didn't finish shelling them, so she simply extracted the oil, so there was still hazelnut oil in it.
Just add a few drops of either type of oil and a handful of chopped green onions, and you'll have a pot of clear soup. It's completely free, and you can give customers a bowl of it to freshen their mouths if they need it.
She didn't expect that the clear soup would be so popular and the whole pot was gone in no time.
The people who come here are not ordinary people. Most people go to state-owned restaurants to eat. Gu Qingtong's guests are all repeat customers brought by friends. They eat there once and think it's good, so they bring their friends here. Then their friends think it's good and bring their colleagues here.
The duck she cooks is indeed unique, and you can't find it anywhere else. There are few private ducks now, and the taste of state-owned ducks is average. Gu Qingtong's duck restaurant relies on word of mouth. Ordinary people are reluctant to come to eat, and she doesn't receive them. Those who come here are all public servants with good incomes. They occasionally come to have a bite to eat or have a meal with friends. Gradually, her business became prosperous.
Four tables came today, and there were two rooms on the left and right. All four compartments were full, and three pots of clear soup had been cooked. When the clear soup came up at the beginning, these young leaders of the municipal party committee thought it was hot pot water, and their faces looked unhappy.
Even though it's free, there's a layer of oil floating on the top of the bowl, with a few chopped green onions thrown in, and then you can see the clear soup at the bottom of the bowl with nothing in it. Isn't this hot pot water?
Pour water in the oil pan, rinse it and serve it?
Several people didn't drink it. Later, one of them was so full that he took a sip of it as if it were water. Wow, he finished it in one gulp and asked for another bowl. There was nothing in it, but it tasted damn delicious. If you feel greasy after eating the duck, just drink a sip and all the greasiness will disappear. You can even eat another one.
People at several tables had eaten too much, so Gu Qingtong came in with a smile, handed Wen Xin ten yuan, three pots of fish head stew six yuan, and gave her the rest for clear soup.
Gu Qingtong, a smart man, could of course tell that the clear soup was not hot pot water.
Wen Xin was short of money, so she took it without any hesitation, "Thank you, Sister Qingtong." Thinking of something, she turned around and asked Gu Qingtong with a smile, "Sister Qingtong, what are you using to put on your face now? I have a very good facial oil here. You can try it. If you think it's good, I'll give you a friendly price."
Gu Qingtong used it for two days and gave her ten yuan for two boxes. Wenxin earned dozens of dollars in two or three days.
It’s a pity that most of the people who come to eat here are men, and there are quite a few women. How about recommending that they buy it for their wives? I guess everyone would rather eat it than buy it.
…
Wen Xin reads books when she has nothing to do at Gu's house. When she is tired, she helps out with some activities. Sometimes when there are a lot of people, she will serve plates or pass bowls. She serves with enthusiasm, a sweet smile and a charming look, making people feel comfortable and considerate.
Business in Gu Qingtong's store is getting better.
At the table yesterday, a deputy director from the industrial and commercial cadre side casually said to Gu Qingtong: "Comrade Qingtong, does your comrade Xiao Wei have a girlfriend?"
Gu Qingtong smiled and said, "I don't know about that. What's this, Director Liu?"
"I think Comrade Wei is a good guy, let me introduce her to someone."
"This..." Just then someone from the other room called her. She smiled and went out.
Ever since Wen Xin came to the Gu family, the Gu family's business has reached a new level. Before she came, there were only two or three tables a day, and sometimes three or five tables. But now there are eight or nine tables a day. Every table will leave twenty to thirty yuan after eating. Now the daily income is two or three hundred yuan. After deducting the labor and material costs, the net profit is two hundred yuan.
This was a considerable amount of money at a time when the average monthly salary was 50 yuan, the highest for workers was only 70 or 80 yuan, and the children of cadres earned more than 100 yuan.
Before Wen Xin came, the Gu family only made fifty or sixty yuan a day, but now it has more than tripled.
"You are just a little lucky star?" Gu Qingtong said to her.
Wen Xin took the ten yuan she gave her. She had been getting paid ten yuan a day these days. When she heard this, she smiled and said, "Since you are a little fortune star, give me a raise, boss."
"You think it's not enough?" Gu Qingtong said, "Look around and ask around to see if there's anyone who's making 10 yuan a day?"
well! Wen Xin sighed. She also wanted to join in the fun, but unfortunately she didn't have the energy. She was reading books every day. It would take more than a day or two to set up such a stall. She should wait until she was admitted to university.
…
The next morning, it was very cold. Wen Xin wore the thin pink sweater knitted for her by Grandma Wei. She knitted too slowly, and the old lady had nothing to do at home, so she finished it in one day. The old lady had very skillful hands, and she knitted it exactly according to the instructions given by Wen Xin. The sweater was loose, with a large round collar, and a pair of straight blue pants, making her look pink, tender and sweet but not greasy.
In the evening, Wen Xin took some time out from Gu's house to bring some duck meat back to Old Lady Wei for dinner. After a while, she returned to Gu's house. At this time, everyone there was busy. As soon as she entered the alley, she saw Old Man Wei and his mute husband serving duck meat and braised food to the guests in the two rooms.
Old man Wei had been feeling a little uncomfortable in his legs and feet these past two days, so Wen Xin quickly took him over and asked him to rest for a while. She then brought the duck meat from that room over to him. As soon as he left the house and came to the alley, he heard the sound of a car coming from outside.
Who drove here? Cars were still rare at that time, and Gu Qingtong walked out of the kitchen.
Those who come here are friends and small cadres and leaders in their friends' institutions. They have the spending power and most of them know each other, but not a single one comes by car.
Through the bamboo curtain of the alley, I saw someone getting off the bus.
It was a domestically made black sedan, and two people got out of the car.
The two men were also dressed very fashionably. One of them had a sturdy figure and a handsome appearance. From a distance, he looked very flashy. Even from the perspective of later generations, he was fashionable. He was wearing a light gray tweed half-coat with his arms folded, a white sweater, black trousers, and a pair of black combat boots. Especially when he came out from the co-pilot seat, he lowered his head slightly, stepped on the ground with his long legs, glanced sideways, and when he stood up, he was really indescribable, especially when set off by the rustic clothes of that era, he looked like a god.
The yard was not big to begin with. After getting out of the car, he walked in a few steps. When the curtain was opened, two people came in one after the other. The tall man in front wore glasses, and the man behind had his shirt open. He had clear brows, but he didn't look very well and his face was gloomy. When he came in, he glanced at the person who was standing in the hall, with her long hair tied up, a few strands of soft hair hanging on her cheeks, her tender red lips slightly open, staring at her in a daze.
Gu Qingtong couldn't figure out the identity of the person behind, but she thought she was much more impressive than the one in front. She knew the person in front. He had been here once. He was a small section chief in the Education Bureau, and his father was a capable man. "Since you two have visited my humble home, please come this way for your meal." Gu Qingtong went over and led them into another room gently but not overly attentively.
When the two passed by Wen Xin, the person behind them walked up to her and suddenly stopped beside her.
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