The troops take turns to take New Year leave. This year you take leave, and next year it will be mine. Last year they returned to the capital to celebrate the New Year, so this year He Dongchuan couldn't take a leave, so the whole family decided to stay in Shanghai to celebrate the New Year.

Many people stayed in the compound to celebrate the New Year this year. Among the ten buildings, only He Cuixia's family was going back home. They had not been back to their hometown for three years. The main reason they were going back this year was because her husband's nephew was getting married.

Because it was the first wedding in their grandson's family, and they chose to hold the wedding before the New Year, it would be impolite for them as uncles and aunts not to go back.

As soon as the Little New Year was over, the whole family went out with their bags and bags, while the rest of the people in the building were busy making preparations for the New Year.

In the past two years, the social atmosphere has become more relaxed, the atmosphere of the New Year is stronger than before, and more preparations need to be made. So after returning, Su Ting did not rest for a few days. Today she went to the county, and tomorrow she went to the market. Every time she went out, she spent a lot of money.

Not only her, Meng Xiuzhen is almost the same.

During the New Year holidays, Su Ting basically went out with her and Jiang Ya, and occasionally brought other children along.

Jiang Ya and Su Ting were admitted to university in the same year, and she also graduated this year. However, her university was in another city, so she returned two days later than Su Ting.

But after graduating from university, Jiang Ya chose to take the postgraduate entrance examination and was admitted to the capital. She will continue her studies after the year and is still a student, so Meng Xiuzhen did not let her spend money when they went shopping.

Because of this, Meng Xiuzhen was the only one who felt the pain after spending the money.

After the reform and opening up, although many coupons were not completely abolished, as long as you did not go to state-owned stores, you did not need to use coupons, so people were not as stingy when buying things as before.

Besides, it was Chinese New Year and my daughter had finally come back. Although we could save money on other things, we certainly couldn't save money on the New Year's Eve dinner. Chicken, duck, fish and meat were all necessary.

Besides, it’s Chinese New Year, so it’s important to pickle some salted fish and bacon. In the past, tickets were strictly controlled, so pickling three to five pounds of fish was considered a lot. Now there is New Year pork for sale in rural markets, so we have to double the amount and pickle nine or ten pounds, right?

As for clothes, no matter how difficult it was in the past, she would always find a way to make a new piece of clothing for each of her children during the Chinese New Year. Now buying clothes is much easier than before. You don’t even have to go to a department store; there are stalls set up on the street.

The clothes brought in for sale are all imported from the south. Not only are the styles new, but the prices are also affordable. In the past, a winter coat made of industrial cloth would cost dozens of dollars.

Compared to clothes made of the same fabric sold in department stores, the clothes sold at the stalls are really cheap.

The principle of life for Chinese people is: if you don't take advantage of a good deal, you're a bastard. In the first two days after the stall was set up, the clothes were sold like crazy. The news that someone was selling cheap clothes in the county town spread to the Navy compound in a few days.

When Meng Xiuzhen heard this, she felt that she couldn't miss the excitement, so she dragged Su Ting to see it, and if necessary, she would prepare some for everyone in the family.

Just on this trip, Meng Xiuzhen spent all of Jiang Jianping's monthly salary, and the boss gave her a 50% discount for Su Ting's sake.

That’s right, the people who came to the county to set up the stall were Su Ting’s acquaintances, the couple Duan Xiaolan and Lu Zheng.

Su Ting was quite surprised to see them. When there were not so many customers, she pulled Duan Xiaolan aside and asked, "When did you start doing business?"

Although Su Ting had only been their neighbor for one year, they had always had a good relationship over the years and would go home together if they met during evening self-study.

Duan Xiaolan did not hide the truth from Su Ting and answered, "It started during the summer vacation. At that time, it was just a small business. We sold small things like towels and socks. We only started selling clothes in the past few months."

Because she had a job before entering university, she and Lu Zheng had more money than most students after entering university. But no matter how much money they had, it was only enough for them to deal with daily emergencies. If they wanted to start a big business, that little savings would be nothing but a drop in the bucket.

So in the beginning they only sold small items, and they asked their friends in the south to help them get the goods, because the quantity was small and they couldn’t reduce the cost.

After they received the goods, in order to recover the funds as soon as possible, they adopted the strategy of small profits but quick turnover. One thousand towels were sold out in two or three days.

During the two months of summer vacation, they switched from selling towels to socks, and from socks to vests. They then adjusted their products several times, including sweatshirts, sports pants, sweaters, etc. It was not until last month that they started selling winter coats and trousers.

They had already been sold in the market several times before, selling everything from adult men's and women's clothing to children's men's and women's clothing, in a full range of sizes.

But now is different from when the reforms were first implemented. At that time, people were afraid of policy changes, so even if they saw business opportunities, they did not dare to follow suit quickly. Now that reforms and opening up have been going on for several years, people have become bolder. Even after a round of crackdowns, people are still going into business in droves.

Seeing how prosperous their business was, people both rich and poor started to think of ways to do it. Within two months, everyone came to sell clothes.

Although the market is still booming, Duan Xiaolan feels that having so many people selling clothes in the same area is not a good thing. First, there will be a problem with customer flow, and second, it will be too conspicuous.

You know, the severe storm is not over yet.

In order to avoid the spotlight, Duan Xiaolan and Lu Zheng decided to move their base and prepare to travel around the surrounding counties to see if they could clear out all the goods, and their first stop was here.

They came here three days ago, and business has been brisk in the few days since they set up their stall. Most of the goods on hand have been sold, and the rest are expected to be sold out within three days.

Duan Xiaolan said: "After we sell out, we don't plan to buy more. We'll wait until next summer." She and Lu Zheng are both going to graduate school, and they will be busy after the new year and will not have much time to do business.

"It's good to stay out of the spotlight." Su Ting nodded and asked, "Where are you spending the New Year this year?"

"We are staying in Shanghai. We want to take advantage of the Chinese New Year period to look for houses. If we find a suitable one, we will buy one."

"Before I came back, I also bought a suite. It was a worker's house built by a state-owned factory. It had two rooms, but the owner divided it into three bedrooms and a living room. The area was OK." Su Ting finished talking about the house she had just bought and asked, "How big a house do you plan to buy?"

Duan Xiaolan said: "I prefer the house you live in now. It's big enough and the environment is good. I just don't know if there is a suitable one."

Su Ting laughed and joked, "Looks like I should call you Boss Duan from now on!"

Duan Xiaolan said modestly: "It's not that time yet."

However, Su Ting felt that even if it wasn't the case now, Duan Xiaolan would definitely be successful in the future. Although there were many people going into business at this time, there were not many who could keenly discover business opportunities and make timely adjustments based on the actual situation.

And although Duan Xiaolan didn't say how much money she made, they were all planning to buy a villa. They must have made a lot of money in the past six months. You know, the price of villas has increased a lot in recent years.

Although Su Ting owns many houses, she only has two villas, and because she bought them early, the price is not expensive.

If she is asked to buy a villa now, she will have to think carefully.

After figuring out the situation, Su Ting also bought a lot of clothes from Duan Xiaolan.

When selling towel socks, Duan Xiaolan asked her friends to help her purchase the goods, but when it came to selling clothes, she trusted her own vision more and purchased the goods herself.

This batch of clothes, for example, was picked by Duan Xiaolan herself. Although there are only two or three styles of jackets and pants, they are all the most popular in the south and are also easy to match.

Once Su Ting started choosing, she couldn't stop. She bought clothes for He Yan and Man Man respectively, picked out a pair of trousers for He Dongchuan, bought him a sweater vest to wear underneath, and bought a sweater for herself.

After choosing the clothes, Duan Xiaolan packed them for Su Ting skillfully.

However, they had an argument when they were settling the bill. Duan Xiaolan did not want the money and planned to give the clothes selected by Su Ting as a New Year gift to their family. However, Su Ting did not want to take advantage of this and was determined to pay.

The two talked for a while, and Duan Xiaolan had no choice but to ask Su Ting to pay the cost price.

The cost price was a few dollars cheaper than the 50% discount, but Su Ting felt that it was not appropriate for her and Meng Xiuzhen to buy clothes together, with one paying the 50% discount and the other the cost price, so she insisted on paying the 50% discount.

After buying clothes, Su Ting asked: "When will you finish work? How about coming to our house for dinner tonight?"

Duan Xiaolan waved her hand and said, "No, we still have to count the remaining clothes when we go back tonight, and we have to open the stall early tomorrow morning. I'm afraid it will be inconvenient to go to your house for dinner and come back."

Su Ting thought about it and changed the topic, "Then after you finish selling the clothes, come to my house for dinner?"

Duan Xiaolan smiled and said, "It's not certain when all the items will be sold out. Let's wait until next year and meet again when school starts."

"Okay." Su Ting was a little disappointed, but she also knew that food can be eaten at any time, and it is better to make money sooner rather than later, so she said, "See you next year."

…

Although Meng Xiuzhen felt a little sad when she thought about spending her husband's monthly salary on these clothes, she felt that the trip was worth it when she thought that everyone in the family would have new clothes to wear during the New Year.

If she bought these clothes in a department store, her husband's monthly salary might not even be enough, not to mention three months' salary. After all, the prices at the stalls were cheaper than those in the department store, and the boss gave Su Ting a 50% discount because of her.

Meng Xiuzhen remembered and asked, "How long will your two friends continue to sell clothes in our county?"

Su Ting replied: "It should be in the next few days. They said they will go back to celebrate the New Year after selling out this batch of clothes."

"So soon? Will they come back to sell after the Chinese New Year?"

"Probably not. They all have to go to school when school starts."

Meng Xiuzhen said, "Then I have to tell the people in the compound as soon as I get back, so they don't miss out on such cheap clothes."

Su Ting nodded, then remembered and instructed, "Don't tell anyone about the 50% discount."

"I understand," Meng Xiuzhen said with a look of understanding, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you know the boss."

She was able to buy such cheap clothes entirely because of Su Ting's favor. If she told the truth to everyone in the compound, everyone would want to take advantage of Su Ting, how could they do business?

Although they may make some money after the 50% discount, who would complain about spending too much money? Of course, the more the better.

Thinking of this, Meng Xiuzhen lowered her voice and asked, "Do you think doing business is really that profitable?"

In recent years, many people have gone into business, but no one in the Navy compound has taken any action because they are afraid of policy changes. After all, their husbands are civil servants, and if anything happens to them, it is very likely to affect their husbands' jobs.

But outside the Navy compound, many people are taking action. Today, someone in this brigade becomes a millionaire, and tomorrow someone in that brigade buys a TV.

This kind of news would always spread to the Navy compound very quickly, causing the wives of the soldiers in the compound to feel uneasy.

Meng Xiuzhen had never been tempted before because she didn't know those people, and although her family didn't have tens of thousands of dollars in savings, they had at least a few thousand.

As for the TV, it’s not that they can’t afford it, but they just think it’s unnecessary and they’re reluctant to spend the money.

But after seeing Duan Xiaolan and her friends' success in selling clothes, Meng Xiuzhen was tempted.

When Meng Xiuzhen was standing there just now, she counted and found that in less than an hour, not counting what she and Su Ting bought, Duan Xiaolan and the others had sold at least thirty pieces of clothes, pants, sweaters, etc.

Although Meng Xiuzhen had never sold clothes and had not heard the argument between Su Ting and Duan Xiaolan, she was not stupid. She could figure out that 50% off was not the cost price.

Because she didn't know the exact cost price, Meng Xiuzhen calculated it at a 50% discount. The clothes they sold, both expensive and cheap, could make about twelve or thirteen yuan per piece.

Calculated at twelve dollars, they earned more than three hundred, almost four hundred, in less than an hour!

Even if they can't earn that much money every hour every day, they can definitely make a thousand a day, which works out to thirty thousand a year.

Meng Xiuzhen thought that 30,000 yuan a year was very possible. After all, the newly emerged 10,000 yuan households in the surrounding brigades had only been doing business for half a year or less than a year, right?

The more Meng Xiuzhen thought about it, the more excited she felt. She whispered, "What do you think about me doing business too?"

Su Ting didn't answer, but asked, "Aren't you afraid of affecting Brother Wang's work?"

"It may not have an impact. Not all those who went into business were arrested." Meng Xiuzhen pondered, "Besides, at Lao Wang's age, he will definitely not be promoted. He will probably have to change his career in the future. If business is really that profitable, he can make thousands or even tens of thousands a month. Instead of changing his career and returning to his hometown, we might as well stay in Shanghai and do business."

Nowadays, everyone is proud of having a stable job, but Meng Xiuzhen is quite cheerful about it.

But as a friend, Su Ting still had to discourage her a few words: "If you want to do business, that's fine, but if you think you can definitely make over a thousand or even ten thousand a month, I advise you not to do it."

Meng Xiuzhen was stunned: "Why?"

"Do you think my friends have a good business and a high income?"

"Isn't it?" Meng Xiuzhen asked doubtfully.

"Yes, but do you know what my friend studies?"

"What?"

"She studied economics in college and got excellent grades. She got a master's degree from the same university after graduation. You see how easy it is for her to do business, as if she can make money in any way. But in the past four years, she has been learning relevant knowledge."

"When ordinary people do business, they may just follow and sell whatever others are selling. If they follow in time, they may make a living, but if they fail to follow, they may lose everything. But she does business by looking ahead. In the past six months alone, they have changed their main products seven or eight times, and each time they sell one, the street will be filled with people selling the same product soon after they sell it."

Su Ting concluded: "So, if you want to do business, I don't recommend you to stare at her. If you really want to do this, after the New Year, go to the county to take a look and see if there are many people who are following suit and how their business is doing. If you can withstand such a gap, when the time is right, you can give it a try, but I don't recommend you to make a decision on impulse now."

Meng Xiuzhen was not someone who would not listen to advice. After listening to Su Ting's words, she thought carefully for a long time and said, "Then I'll wait and see after the Chinese New Year."

…

After returning to the compound, Meng Xiuzhen really did advertise for Duan Xiaolan and the others. The next day, many people in the compound made appointments to go to the county to buy clothes.

The New Year is approaching, and many people in the compound want to buy new clothes. Things are different now than in the past few years when there was a shortage of tickets and it was common to sew and patch up clothes and wear them for nine years.

Nowadays, buying clothes no longer depends on coupons. Everyone lives in the same compound and has similar incomes. Other families have new clothes to wear during the New Year, so our family cannot be too shabby, otherwise it would be embarrassing.

A family should always buy two pieces of clothing, more or less.

This was because the clothes sold by Duan Xiaolan and her friends were really cheap, otherwise people wouldn't have flocked to them. In less than three days, all their stock was cleared out.

The adult clothes sold out faster because they avoided too small or too large sizes when purchasing, so they were sold out before the afternoon of the second day. On the third day, they sold mostly children's clothes, which had more complicated sizes and some sizes were hard to sell. However, there were not many left, and they were sold out in less than a day after the price reduction.

Therefore, when those indecisive wives in the compound finally made up their minds after hesitating for a few days, they rushed to the county town and found that there was no one in the county center, so they could only leave with regret.

But those in the compound who made decisions quickly basically got everything done in one go and bought all the clothes for their families. For a while, all the talk in the compound was about new clothes.

After hearing this, Su Ting took advantage of He Dongchuan's rest and went to the market with him and the brother and sister, and bought new clothes for each of them.

Although He Yan and Man Man have never lacked new clothes, they basically buy new clothes every year when the seasons change. Su Ting will only buy them one set of clothes during the Chinese New Year.

It was very rare for her to buy two new sets of clothes in a row like this year, so much so that He Yan asked in wonder, "Mom, have you made a fortune?"

"What do you mean?"

He Yan expressed his thoughts: "If you weren't rich, why would you suddenly buy so many clothes for us?"

"Because when I bought clothes before, I didn't expect there would be so many people buying clothes in the compound."

Although Su Ting heard Meng Xiuzhen say on the way back that day that she wanted to help Duan Xiaolan and the others advertise, she really didn't expect the advertising effect to be so significant. The people in the compound were really willing to spend money. Everyone went empty-handed and came back with big bags.

Although Duan Xiaolan has a lot of clothes, there are only two or three styles of each type, and there is only one style of the sweater shirt underneath.

When she and Meng Xiuzhen were shopping, they deliberately chose the wrong styles. However, there were too many military wives who went after them, so even if they chose the wrong styles, some of them ended up wearing the same clothes.

Wearing the same clothes as others is not a big deal, what is a big deal is wearing the same clothes as others in the same school.

Su Ting thinks that if she takes a walk around their compound on New Year's Eve, she will probably see something like this: half of the children in the compound will wear style A and half will wear style B, the boys will be of different colors and the girls will be of different colors, and the same goes for the adults.

Su Ting said: "The clothes I bought today are for you to wear during the New Year. The clothes I bought before can be worn when you start school." Everyone in the compound is busy buying new clothes, and the rate of wearing the same clothes is too high. The situation will be better after returning to the city.

…

Su Ting's prediction was correct. On New Year's Eve, all the girls in the compound were dressed in red, all the boys were dressed in blue, and the adults wore clothes with richer colors, but the rate of wearing the same clothes was still very high.

But people at this time don’t care about these things. Everyone is very happy after putting on new clothes. They smile at everyone they meet when they go out, and they are more generous in giving out red envelopes than in previous years.

After breakfast, He Yan took Manman out for a walk, and when they came back, their wallets were full of red envelopes. Of course, Su Ting and He Dongchuan also gave out a lot of red envelopes.

It's not just their family, other families are similar. After a morning, the children's wallets are fatter and the adults are feeling the pain.

Although the amounts in the red envelopes are not large, ranging from 50 or 60 cents to 10 or 20 cents, small amounts add up to a lot, and the amount of red envelopes given out by each household can be as much as 70, 80 or even 10 yuan.

After the brother and sister returned home with the red envelopes, they sat on the sofa and started counting them.

It was fine at first, but as she counted, she slowly realized something was wrong. After counting a couple of times, she found that her red envelope was indeed one dollar less than her brother's. She immediately questioned her life: "Why?"

Is she not cute enough? Or is she not as lovable as her brother?

Why do we need to treat New Year’s red envelopes differently?

He Yan didn't quite understand why, after all, this had never happened before. Seeing his sister was so sad that she was about to cry, he asked, "I'll give you the extra dollar?"

"I don't want it!" She pouted slowly. She had a strong character! She didn't want to be treated differently for that one dollar!

"Then..." He Yan returned to the room, dug out his savings from the closet, took out a big reunion note, stuffed it into a red envelope and gave it to Man Man, "Give me a happy new year, and I will give you a red envelope too."

He stood up slowly and hurriedly, raised his hands and bowed to He Yan: "Happy New Year, brother! Congratulations on making a fortune!" Then he stretched out his two hands, indicating that the red envelope should be given.

He Yan handed the red envelope to Man Man with a smile and said, "Happy New Year, sister too."

This was the first time that Manman received a red envelope from her brother. She was curious and asked, "How big is the red envelope?"

He Yan kept it a secret and said, "Open it and see for yourself."

"Can I take it apart now?"

"Can."

Slowly open the red envelope and take out the big reunion note.

Because the money I usually deal with is in cents or mao, and one yuan is not a lot, so I gradually don't know much about the big group. After spelling out the pinyin, I asked: "Is ten yuan ten yuan?"

"Um."

His eyes widened slowly: "!!! So many? Are you going to give them all to me?"

She received so many red envelopes, but there wasn't even ten dollars left!

"Yes, this is a red envelope for Manman," He Yan said, looking up at his parents who were busy in the kitchen, put his finger to his mouth, and said, "Don't let Mom and Dad know."

"Yeah!" He nodded slowly without hesitation.

Although her parents would give her a lot of New Year's money every year, and if she went back to her grandparents' house, they would also give her New Year's money, but every year before she could even warm up the money, her mother would take it away on the grounds that she was afraid she would spend it recklessly and save it for her.

Therefore, the only New Year's money she could use every year were the Mao Zedong notes given by the uncles and aunts in the compound; she had rarely seen large-denomination banknotes.

If her mother knew that her brother gave her a red envelope, she would definitely not be able to keep the ten yuan.

The most annoying thing is that during the Chinese New Year, mom only confiscated her New Year's money, but let her brother keep his own New Year's money because he is older and can manage his own money.

Maybe that's why her brother had the money to give her such a big red envelope.

Thinking of this, I slowly asked, "Brother, when did you start managing your New Year's money?"

He Yan thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be six years old."

Before he was six years old, he lived with his grandparents in the capital, and the New Year's money he received every year would be taken away by his grandmother after the New Year.

After I moved to my father's side, my grandmother was no longer around during the first Chinese New Year and could not take away the New Year's money from him. My mother never mentioned it either, so he kept the money for himself.

He Yan asked: "Why are you asking this?"

Slowly making up his mind, he whispered in He Yan's ear, "I will be six after the Chinese New Year. I want to keep this year's New Year's money myself and not give it to my mother!"

He Yan was of course aware that Su Ting took Man Man's pocket money, but he felt that she was different from other mothers. After other mothers took the New Year's Eve money, they would most likely not return it to their children, but she would.

In addition, He Yan also believed that after slowly bringing it up, her mother would agree to let her try to manage her own New Year's money. As long as she managed it well, she would not have to hand it over in the future.

He Yan encouraged, “You can give it a try.”

…

Both the He and Su families are accustomed to having New Year's Eve dinner at noon on New Year's Eve. However, in order to have more time to prepare, Su Ting and He Dongchuan will move the New Year's Eve dinner time to the evening when they celebrate the New Year themselves.

There were more families having New Year's Eve dinner in the compound at night. As soon as it got dark, the sound of firecrackers could be heard one after another.

When Su Ting and He Dongchuan brought the dishes to the table, He Yan and Man Man also went downstairs with the firecrackers, unpacked them, stretched them from one end of the building to the other, and then lit the fuse.

When the sound of firecrackers rang out, Su Ting stopped what she was doing, walked to the balcony and looked down.

There were not just the brother and sister downstairs. Children from the buildings in front and behind who had already eaten their New Year's Eve dinner and those who had not yet started eating came over and gathered together to watch them set off firecrackers.

Although the lights were on in two households on the first floor and the moonlight was nice tonight, the light was still not bright enough. The children were wearing clothes of the same style and color. At a glance, Su Ting could only tell the difference between boys and girls, except for her own children, but could not tell who was who.

After the firecrackers rang, some children threw firecrackers on the ground. Someone bought a powerful Spring Thunder, but was afraid to set it off himself, so he asked He Yan for help.

Although He Yan was in high school, he was still at the age where he loved to play. Hearing this, he was a little tempted. He took Chunlei and put it on the ground, then reached out to take the matchbox.

Before splitting the matches, He Yan turned around and shouted to the person standing nearby: "Stand further away."

He slowly stepped back, and the other children also stepped back in unison.

He Yan shouted again: "Step back a little and stand in the corridor."

They continued to retreat slowly until they reached the corridor which was out of sight of the balcony. The other children followed quickly. The yard downstairs was cleared, leaving only He Yan and a standing Chun Lei.

He Yan struck out a match, brought the lit flame to the fuse of Spring Thunder, lit it, stood up and ran.

“Bang!”

The spring thunder exploded, and everyone in the two buildings in front and behind who was not having New Year's Eve dinner poked their heads out and asked in unison, "Who is setting off the spring thunder?"

"It's New Year's Day, can you kids do something good?"

No one responded to the group of half-grown children, who were crowded in the corridor laughing.

He Dongchuan brought out the last dish and asked, "Xiao Yan and the others haven't come back yet?"

"Let me call out," Su Ting said, calling out to the brother and sister who were being surrounded by a group of children and walking out. When they turned around, she shouted amid the noisy sound of firecrackers, "It's time to eat the New Year's Eve dinner!"

The brother and sister smiled and nodded, holding hands, passing by the children who were surrounding them, and ran home in the dim lights and cold moonlight, rushing towards the new year.