◎First update◎
Liang Baoying did not tell her husband Song Jianguo about this when she got home. She knew her husband well and he probably would not think highly of her setting up a stall to do business. Anyway, he had to work during the day and he would not be able to notice her if she went out in the afternoon.
The next day, she and Baozhen waited directly at the entrance of the food factory. The two of them wholesaled another 500 popsicles and sold popsicles every day. No matter how many people came and went nearby, no one would eat popsicles every day. The business obviously slowed down. On the first and second days of the sale, everyone hadn't eaten popsicles for a long time, so naturally they were anxious to try them. Later they had to take a break, so Liang Baozhen reduced the amount of purchases.
But as the day went by, she quickly noticed something was wrong.
There was a man and a woman around me who kept looking at me, their eyes were wandering and they glanced at me from time to time.
"Baozhen, did you see it?" Liang Baoying also noticed it, and whispered to the girl while giving change to the customer.
"Well, it's okay, just ignore them." Liang Baozhen knew it in her heart. Her family has been doing good business selling popsicles here. Everyone can see it and they are always tempted.
She had thought about it a long time ago. At this time, there are business opportunities everywhere. No one can do the exclusive business. For example, Fang Tianzhao, who sells big bowl tea, has a stall selling the same thing right across from him. Who can say that it is not right?
Just like selling popsicles, she can't stop others, she just needs to do her own thing.
Sure enough, the man and woman couldn't help themselves and came over to inquire.
"Comrade, I see your popsicle business is pretty good?" The female comrade looked at Liang Baozhen with a slightly scrutinizing look, and occasionally peeked into the popsicle cart.
The man was even more anxious, rubbing his hands and asking, "How much can you make in a day? I see you sell a lot."
Liang Baozhen smiled and said vaguely, "It's just to support the family."
"How much can you earn from this one?" The two people kept asking, "Will your family agree to let you sell popsicles?"
Liang Baoying was a little annoyed by the two people's questions. When she saw a customer coming to buy popsicles, she asked loudly, "Comrade, what flavor do you want?"
"Take one with butter and one with adzuki beans."
"Okay, that's nine cents in total." Liang Baoying received a dime and found a one-cent note in the change box and handed it over. "I'll take your dime and give you a cent in change. Bye."
Liang Baozhen was watching from the side and thought that the elder sister was now really good at entertaining guests. She praised her so much that Liang Baoying blushed.
However, the two people had not left yet. One of them even walked to the back and tried to look into their coin box to see how much money was in it.
Liang Baozhen closed the box and said, "Comrade, please don't interfere with our business. If you don't want to buy popsicles, go somewhere else."
"Tsk, you are so stingy." The man dragged the woman away and said before leaving, "I don't want to buy these stalls."
After they walked away, the two whispered to each other, saying that the coin box they had just seen was full of money, and they must have made a lot of money. After they got together, they decided to go and sell popsicles as well!
"There's a food factory nearby. They must have gotten their work from there. Let's go get some too!"
"become!"
——
After selling all the popsicles today, the two found a quiet alley to count the money. They earned a total of nine yuan and eighty yuan today, but they did not divide the money. They just kept it as capital and settled it every month.
Although Liang Baoying said that the work was tiring and she felt uncomfortable standing under the eaves in the scorching sun, she was excited at the thought of making money. Regardless of whether it was dignified or not, that was real money!
Liang Baozhen also felt sunburned. Both of them wore hats and tried to stand against the eaves, but they still couldn't block the hot sun. She looked around and suddenly had an idea.
"Sis, we still have time. Let's look around and see if there are any vacant shops."
Just rent a store.
She thought about it carefully. The food factory has many products. Even if it can no longer sell popsicles, it can sell other things. More importantly, this is the key development area of Beijing in the next 30 years. Commercial streets, schools, hospitals, and cinemas will all be developed. It would be best if she could gain a foothold here first.
The two sisters walked through the streets one by one, and saw workers in work clothes riding bicycles in the alleys. In the state-owned stores on the street, sales clerks were casually waving palm-leaf fans, not paying much attention to the customers who came in.
Liang Baozhen saw an old man sitting on a recliner on the bluestone road, rocking leisurely with a newspaper covering his face. Next to him was a small wooden stool with an enamel cup with the porcelain peeling off on it.
Perhaps noticing someone's gaze, the eldest uncle flipped open the newspaper and looked at the two young lesbians standing in front of him.
"What's wrong? Can't you two ladies find the way?" The eldest man was about sixty years old, but in very good spirits. He straightened up slightly and wanted to show people the way. Their area was a bit winding because the alleys were not well planned back then, and people who came here for the first time often couldn't find their way back.
"Master, can I ask you something?" Liang Baozhen saw that the master was an honest man, so she went straight to the point.
"What's going on?"
"Is there any house for rent around here? I want to rent a storefront."
Renting a storefront? The old man was a little confused. Nowadays, it is rare to hear people talk about renting a storefront. This thing probably existed more than ten years ago. At that time, it was possible for private transactions. He opened a barber shop to shave people's hair. Later, the policy was tightened and private transactions were not allowed. Those shops were closed.
"Why do you rent a storefront?"
"Business."
"Oh, the little girl is quite ambitious." The master looked at the two people in front of him. They were both well-dressed and polite, especially the one with clear eyes like spring water. He pointed to the street in front and said, "There is a storefront for rent at No. 63 Tiansheng Street. Go there and say that Master You introduced you there."
"Thank you, Master You."
Seeing this gentleman enjoying himself here leisurely, Liang Baozhen thought that he must live nearby. Since he could walk around the street so leisurely on weekdays, he must have heard a lot of news. She didn't expect to get the news as soon as she asked.
When they went there as Mr. You said, they saw that No. 63 was on the other side of the back door of the steel plant, not far from where Liang Baozhen sold popsicles. However, after wandering around here, they didn't realize they could get there that way.
When they entered the shop, Liang Baozhen asked and found out that it was an old shop that sold steamed buns and steamed bread more than ten years ago, but was closed down later because private sales were not allowed.
The location was good, at a prominent intersection, with a wide view and a size that was neither too big nor too small, which was just right. Liang Baozhen liked it at first sight.
"Is this gay place for rent? How much per month?"
The young comrade in the door heard that the house was introduced by Mr. You, so he talked to Liang Baozhen for a few words and agreed to rent it out.
"Three dollars and a half a month. Water and electricity are at your own expense." There are wires connected here. There is a rope on the wall that connects to the switch of the light bulb on the ceiling.
"Okay, thank you." Liang Baozhen didn't plan to bargain at all. The price was fair and she felt she had gotten a bargain. She didn't know if she was being sold out to give Mr. You some face.
After writing the rental documents, signing and fingerprinting them, each party kept a copy, Liang Baozhen and Liang Baoying prepared to return.
"Let's come early tomorrow and clean the storefront first. We'll put the popsicle cart inside."
"Okay, let's meet here tomorrow at ten o'clock."
Liang Baozhen solved a big problem and went home with the money she earned today. On the way, she met a vendor selling watermelons. There are more and more stalls on the street now, and some sell one-teeth watermelons. The watermelons looked bright red and very delicious. She saw a sign in front that said - two cents per tooth.
He immediately paid for four teeth and brought them home. Except for Shanshan, everyone in the family got one tooth.
"I'm back." Liang Baozhen carried the watermelon home and couldn't wait to share it with everyone. As a result, when she walked into the house, she saw a tall and familiar figure.
Xu Shengjie was sitting at the table. He looked up when he heard his wife's voice, and their eyes met.
After not seeing him for more than a week, Liang Baozhen looked at the man sitting there and found that he seemed to have aged a little, with stubble on his face, but his eyes were full of tenderness. He smiled at her, and his features softened.
The two of them didn't say anything, just looked at each other. Zhou Yun was holding Shanshan excitedly, "Baozhen is back? I just said I would let Xiaowei go out to look for you, and Xiaojie just got here."
Zhou Yun finally felt relieved when his grandson came back. Now the family was together again.
"You're back?" Liang Baozhen put the watermelon on the table to dry, looked at Xu Shengjie and said softly.
"Yeah." Xu Shengjie poured her a glass of water, "Why are you sunburned like this? Your face is all red."
"It's okay." Liang Baozhen put the back of her hand against her face and felt a little hot. It was all because of the weather. It was really too hot.
But it’s not too strange. How can you make money from your popsicles if the weather is not hot?
Zhou Yun temporarily went to Master Wei's house to borrow a piece of meat. Her grandson had finally arrived and he must eat well. She always thought that people would suffer when they went out. Little did she know that Xu Shengjie and Qin Huai had spent a lot of money to treat people to meals in state-owned hotels every day in order to get through Wu Er.
"Let me see Shanshan." Just as Xu Shengjie was about to get closer to the lady, she looked at him with a frown.
The little girl said in a baby voice, "Stinky~"
She loves to say reduplicated words, the key is that they can still express the meaning well. Xu Shengjie laughed when he heard this. He is indeed sloppy now. The train smells bad when he comes back. It's summer, and so many people have been on the train for two days and one night. He is also uncomfortable.
Before dinner, Xu Shengjie went to take a shower. Liang Baozhen brought him some clean clothes and knocked on the wooden door.
"I've brought you clothes."
"Okay." Liang Baozhen watched a bony hand reach out and take the clean clothes in. After a moment, the wooden door closed again.
After taking a shower, Xu Shengjie finally felt refreshed. Wearing a white shirt and black trousers, he looked like a handsome young man again. This time, Shanshan recognized him as her father.
The baby opened his arms and threw himself into his father's arms, "Dad~"
"Oh, my Shanshan." Xu Shengjie kissed Shanshan on both sides of her cheeks. It was still the familiar soft touch. Shanshan giggled, her cheeks puffed up with the arc of her smile, and her eyes were like two black grapes as she looked at her father.
She also missed her father. She was puzzled because the father whom she used to see every day suddenly disappeared.
"You should kiss daddy too." Liang Baozhen coaxed the girl beside her, "Kiss daddy's face quickly."
Shanshan looked at her mother and then at her father. When she saw her father's face coming towards her, she pursed her little mouth, put it close to him, and gave him a kiss.
Xu Shengjie was so touched by how cute his lady was that he thought it was impossible for him to have a child as cute as his lady in the whole world.
Shanshan felt that she had accomplished her mission and smiled happily again. She pointed her little finger at her mother and then at her father, "Mommy, dear."
The author has something to say:
Shanshan: After the baby kisses dad, it’s mom’s turn!
Xu Shengjie: You are truly my good girl!
Liang Baozhen: "..."
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