With Ruan Jie's help during the summer vacation, Ruan Xi had a lot less work to do every day. At least she didn't have to work on the sewing machine while watching the stall selling things. When she was busy, she would move the sewing machine back at night. When she was not busy, she would read and rest at night.
Ruan Jie stayed to help Ruan Xi do this little work within her ability, and naturally she didn't ask for wages. She followed Ruan Xi out of the mountains, and lived in Ruan Changfu's house for nearly three years. She studied and took the college entrance examination. The living expenses during her current school period were also given to her by Ruan Xi. If she still wanted to get paid for doing some work for Ruan Xi now, she would be an ungrateful person.
She borrowed a lot of books from the library before the holiday. When she had free time after setting up the stall every day, if Xie Dongyang didn't nag her, she would sit in front of the stall and read. After closing the stall and returning to school at night, he would lie under the lamp and read a book all night.
The goddess that Xie Dongyang had been pursuing for several years only came to see him once. After she left with a cold face this time, she never came again. But halfway through the summer vacation, Xie Dongyang gave the key of the repair shop to Ruan Xi and disappeared for a few days.
Ruan Xi thought he was "turning over a new leaf" and "returning to the right path". He planned to give up the stall business and go back to his old business of repairing cars, or find some other decent job, such as being a factory worker.
But he appeared again three or four days after he disappeared, and he and Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie were still pulling goods to the street to set up a stall.
Ruan Xi asked him curiously: "What have you been doing these days?"
Ruan Jie: "The goddess didn't let you come?"
Xie Dongyang looked much more serious than before, and it was obvious that he had something on his mind. He didn't smile either, and when he was serious, he looked quite gentlemanly. He just looked at Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie and said: "It's a fight, no more talk."
Ruan Jie looked at him and blinked, "You won't... lose your temper with the goddess, will you?"
Xie Dongyang lowered his head, "I don't deserve her, I admit it."
In fact, it wasn't the goddess who came to him to make trouble. He had a stall in Dazhalan, and whenever someone in the alley came to the street to play and buy things, they would naturally see him. The goddess kept telling him to stop, but he didn't listen.
This matter was said more than once or twice, so the goddess directly put on a sour face when she came to the stall last time.
Later, she lectured Xie Dongyang twice, forcing him to find something respectable to do.
Xie Dongyang did consider whether to quit this job, find a respectable job to satisfy the goddess and her parents, marry a beautiful woman, live a down-to-earth life, and have a baby to be a father.
But these few days, he was at home, and the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt.
The goddess lectured him and scolded him again, and he just happened to be holding his anger in his heart. The moment he got angry, he didn't want to be a grandson, so he got angry for the first time and refuted the goddess' words, and then the goddess got angry and they quarreled, and it was a direct quarrel.
Xie Dongyang even slammed the table and said, "I know you look down on me, and you think I'm shameful for not having a decent job. I also look down on myself! From now on, I won't delay you, you can find whoever you want, I won't serve you anymore!"
The goddess was so angry that her face turned red, and she said to Xie Dongyang, "Xie Dongyang, don't regret it! I gave you the opportunity but you didn't cherish it. It's not that I look down on you, but you are like this, you have no ambition and don't work hard, you only want to do speculation, you will never amount to anything in your life! Just set up a stall on the street for the rest of your life and see who looks down on you!"
...
After listening to this, Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie looked at Xie Dongyang with sympathy and said, "You are so miserable."
Xie Dongyang: "..."
As he was talking, someone came to buy something, and Xie Dongyang hurriedly got up to greet people.
After Xie Dongyang and his goddess had a complete falling out, he never missed the stall again. Except when the weather was bad or it rained too hard, he would come to Dazhalan with Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie every day. Because the weather was hot, they also got a big umbrella to shade themselves.
Ruan Xi's craftsmanship was recognized by more and more people, and there was an endless stream of people coming to her to ask her to make clothes, after all, they were scarce. Some people came to her two or three times and became repeat customers, and they became familiar with each other after a few more words.
Ruan Xi also took special care of regular customers, such as Mrs. Zhou who lived in Qianmen. Because her legs were not very convenient, Ruan Xi would deliver the clothes she made directly to her home.
Mrs. Zhou's family is very wealthy. Her sons and daughters went abroad very early and are no longer in China. Her husband passed away a few years ago. She didn't want to live abroad, so she stayed in Beijing alone and lived in a courtyard house.
A few days ago, she came to Ruan Xi to make a single autumn dress. Maybe the older she gets, the more she wants to find something new, so she especially likes the clothes made by Ruan Xi. This is the third dress she has asked Ruan Xi to make.
On this day, Ruan Xi made her dress, took it back to the dormitory at night to iron it, and brought it to the stall the next day.
She chose the time after lunch to take the dress to Mrs. Zhou's house.
Ruan Xi came to Mrs. Zhou's house once when she just started summer vacation. That time, Mrs. Zhou also asked her to make clothes. Ruan Xi saw that she was not feeling well, so she sent her back, anyway, it was closer.
Ruan Xi knocked on the door outside the main gate. Fearing that she couldn't be heard from the far distance, she went in again and stuck her head out of the second door to look into the yard, and called out: "Grandma Zhou, are you home?"
This time, Mrs. Zhou responded and said from inside the house: "Yes, yes, yes, come in quickly."
Ruan Xi then took the clothes and went through the second door. When she entered the main room, she saw Mrs. Zhou sitting on the kang couch, preparing to eat. In the middle of the kang couch was a small kang table with two plates of fried dishes on it.
These furnitures were all old furnitures, often seen in Qing palace dramas.
Mrs. Zhou smiled when she saw Ruan Xi, asked her to sit on the other side of the kang table, and asked her: "Have you eaten?"
Ruan Xi sat down holding the clothes, nodded and said: "I have eaten and came."
Then, just as she finished speaking, someone suddenly came in from outside the door, to be exact, a young girl. The girl, wearing an apron and holding white rice and chopsticks in her hands, came straight to the kang after entering the house.
But she stopped before she reached the kang, staring at Ruan Xi.
Ruan Xi didn't expect that she could see Ye Qiuwen again, and in such a place.
Seeing Ye Qiuwen standing still, Old Lady Zhou said, "Bring it over quickly."
Ye Qiuwen came to her senses and hurried over to put the bowl and chopsticks in front of Old Lady Zhou.
Ruan Xi glanced at Ye Qiuwen, and asked Mrs. Zhou with a smile, "Grandma Zhou, who is this? I didn't seem to see her last time."
Mrs. Zhou said to her calmly, "A distant relative of the family, I brought her here to keep me company."
Then she said to Ye Qiuwen, "You can also serve yourself some rice and eat together."
Ye Qiuwen hurriedly whispered, "No, you eat, call me if you need anything."
Then she hurried out the door and escaped from Ruan Xi's sight.
Ruan Xi couldn't help laughing, and shook her head.
If it wasn't Ye Qiuwen, Ruan Xi wouldn't doubt what Old Lady Zhou said, but this person was Ye Qiuwen, so she naturally knew that Old Lady Zhou was lying, because hiring a nanny nowadays was not something that could be discussed.
Their Ruan family didn't have such a wealthy distant relative.
Ye Qiuwen fled to the kitchen, sat down on the bench and covered her face, and after a moment, she pulled her hair hard. She felt that Ruan Xi was like a ghost that wouldn't go away, and she would bump into her wherever she went!
She didn't want to be a nanny, but Lu Yuanzheng couldn't find anything else for her to do, so he asked various classmates for help and it took more than a month or two to find one. Think about how embarrassing it would be to set up a stall on the street, but being a nanny at least no one would know, and on the surface, she was a relative of the family, which was quite face-saving, so she chose to come here.
But who knew!
I met Ruan Xi again!
Damn Ruan Xi!
Ruan Xi had to go back to make clothes, so naturally she didn't stay long at Old Lady Zhou's house. She sat and talked to Old Lady Zhou for a few words, collected the labor fee, put down the clothes, and then got up and went out to return to Dazhalan Street.
Before leaving, she went to the kitchen door and said to Ye Qiuwen with a smile: "Hi, distant relative."
Ye Qiuwen blushed with anger and replied to her: "You stinky stall!"
Ruan Xi smiled, "You forgot, I am a top student of Peking University. After graduation, I will have a stable job assigned by the state. I am a member of the state. I am afraid your brain is full of paste. You can only see that I am now a stall."
Ye Qiuwen was so angry that she was about to explode, but she didn't dare to make trouble at Old Lady Zhou's house.
Ruan Xi didn't have time to chat with her, so she waved at her and said with a smile, "Bye, distant relative."
After that, she stopped standing and walked away.
Ye Qiuwen was so angry that she wanted to smash things, but nothing here belonged to her and she couldn't afford to pay for it if she broke it, so she had to hold it in.
As long as she didn't die, she would hold it in.
Ruan Xi didn't care whether Ye Qiuwen went home or what she was doing in Beijing, so she didn't think much about it. She still took care of her own business, set up the stall to make money and save funds.
After the summer vacation, when school started, Ruan Jie could no longer help her.
Going to college at that time was completely different from going to college in modern society. Students in modern society have been pressured to study for more than ten years in primary, middle and high school. When they go to college, they will relax and no longer focus on studying.
Many people only require themselves to get a degree without failing.
But most of the college students at that time were a group of people who had been away from campus for many years and wanted to learn but couldn't. They studied hard for a month and got into college, which means they are here to study and to make up for their knowledge.
Ruan Jie was like this, and so were Ruan Xi's roommates, and even almost all college students.
In addition to attending classes, after-school time was either spent studying in the study room or reading in the library.
The goal of many people was to read all the books in the library in four years of college.
There are very few people who stay in the dormitory when they have nothing to do. At most, they get up a little later on Sunday morning, or occasionally come back a little earlier at night, because there is no learning atmosphere in the dormitory and it is not suitable for studying with peace of mind.
Ruan Xi is an outlier among these people. She stays in the dormitory during her spare time.
Because other people are basically not in the dormitory, she feels quiet and can do her own things with peace of mind.
When her roommate comes back from outside during the rest time, she puts away the sewing machine, washes up together and prepares to go to bed. If there is still some time, she will sit on the bed and read a book for a while.
The summer heat slowly subsides on the surface, and the winter in the north is very cold.
When going out to set up the stall, Ruan Xi will wrap herself tightly with a scarf, and wear thick woolen gloves on her hands, the kind that can cover the hands or half of the gloves. If there was work to do, she would show her fingers.
At noon, Ruan Xi and Xie Dongyang used the sewing machine as a table.
Ruan Xi could see that Xie Dongyang was in a bad mood, so she asked him when she had time to eat: "Why are you so sad?"
Xie Dongyang took two bites of shredded potatoes and rice, stuffed his mouth and said: "She got married."
Ruan Xi was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "To whom?"
Xie Dongyang said: "An executive of the grocery store."
Ruan Xi looked at him and sighed softly, "There are always beautiful women in the world."
Xie Dongyang took another big mouthful of rice, and his eyes turned red while chewing, and he could see that tears were about to fall.
Seeing him like this, Ruan Xi felt both pitiful and wanted to laugh.
Of course she didn't laugh, and didn't talk about this topic anymore. She asked Xie Dongyang again, "How much money did you make this year?"
When she mentioned this, she felt better. Xie Dongyang sniffed and said in a clear voice, "Almost 10,000. If I sell it for another ten and a half months, it will definitely be 10,000."
Ruan Xi smiled and whispered, "I've already made more than 10,000."
Xie Dongyang understood, "You have a skill."
The weather was cold, and Ruan Xi hurriedly finished the rest of the meal for fear that the rice would get cold.
After finishing the meal and putting down the chopsticks, she cleared her throat and looked at Xie Dongyang, "Are you familiar with the countryside here?"
Xie Dongyang also finished the meal and put down the chopsticks.
He raised his head and looked at Ruan Xi, "Not very familiar, but OK, what's the matter?"
Ruan Xi put her hands into the sleeves of her cotton coat, "Now that I have some money, I want to buy a yard. I can't afford a yard in the city for the time being, so I want to buy one in the countryside."
Xie Dongyang looked at her and said, "You earn more than 10,000 yuan, what yard can't you afford in the city? Let's not talk about those shabby bungalows and large courtyards. I really can't afford a courtyard with two or three entrances, but a courtyard with one entrance is enough."
Ruan Xi put her hands in her pockets to keep warm, "Then don't I have to save the money to do something else? If I use it all to buy a yard, I will have no money left. I can't do anything else. "Okay, I can't borrow money."
Xie Dongyang said, "How much money can you get
from purchasing goods? Just keep some." Ruan Xi snorted, "Do you really expect to set up a stall here for the rest of your life? There are fewer people this year, so we made a lot of money. Just wait and see, this year people will know that we make a lot of money, and next year stalls selling these small groceries will spring up like bamboo shoots after rain."
Xie Dongyang: "We didn't shout, so who knows how much we made?"
Ruan Xi pushed his head with his hand, "Are you stupid! We are not the only two people setting up stalls in the whole city, there will always be people who will come out to show off, and soon people will know that we make 10,000 a year!"
Xie Dongyang blinked and thought for a while, "Yeah."
He looked at Ruan Xi again, "Then what should we do next?"
Ruan Xi said to him, "You have made money, and this money is your capital. You can do whatever you want. Think about it, we get the goods from the factory and work hard to sell them here. Who makes the most money?"
Xie Dongyang thought for a while, "The factory makes the most money?"
Ruan Xi nodded and said nothing more.
Xie Dongyang thought for a moment and said, "But we can't afford to open a factory. There are no people. Those factories are all state-owned."
Ruan Xi looked at him, "You don't pay attention to current affairs? Not long ago, there was a person selling roasted nuts. He was so busy that he hired a few people to work at home. He was reported to the higher-ups."
Xie Dongyang's eyes widened slightly, "And then?"
Ruan Xi said, "The higher-ups said there's no rush, let's wait and see. What do you mean by this?"
Xie Dongyang slapped the sewing machine, "Does that mean you tacitly agree to hire someone to do the work?"
Ruan Xi pursed her lips and hit his hand, "You broke my sewing machine, so pay me back!"
Xie Dongyang put his hand away, "But opening a factory is still too big a deal."
Ruan Xi put his hands in his pockets again, "If you can't do a big one, why don't you start from a small workshop? It's not like you want to open a factory or something, anyway, there are plenty of opportunities now, You have to be sure of it. If there is a business, do it without hesitation. You are so familiar with the city, don't you know what is needed here? Whatever is needed, sell it. Sell the valuable and large things, don't just focus on small sundries like pots and pans. If you can't get the goods here, go to other places, to the well-developed south. Aren't you very knowledgeable about speculation?"
Xie Dongyang also put his hands in his pockets, looked at Ruan Xi for a moment and said, "You are worthy of being my Master Xi, you have foresight!"
Ruan Xi still looked at him with his hands in his pockets, "Help me find a yard in the countryside, preferably a bigger one, with a vegetable garden to grow vegetables. I will go home during the winter vacation, it would be best if it is done before the winter vacation."
Xie Dongyang patted his chest, "Leave it to me."
Ruan Xi raised his hands to bow to him, "Then thank you first."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
