Chapter 130

Xu Wen stood up straight suddenly, pursed his lips, walked around to the side of Lu Yuanzheng's face, stared at him and asked: "For me?"

"You have been wronged on the island."

Xu Wen's talent is not limited to her ability to predict the future after living for two lifetimes.

Much of what she did on the island was visible to everyone.

This requires real talent. Even if she cheated, these ideas are hers.

Building a school requires real hard work, and so does guiding my sisters-in-law in running a business.

She is obviously a free-spirited person, but she is trapped here just because of him.

Xu Wen sighed softly, raised his hands, held his face and rubbed it vigorously, "Why are you still stuck in a dead end? Haven't we talked about this several times in the past year? I don't have any ambitions for a career. It's the same wherever I am. I like it here! Where you are is my home! Why don't we work hard to make this place what we want it to be?"

Lu Yuanzheng let her pinch his face into various shapes, and his voice became a little unclear: "That's based on the premise that I have meaning here. If I have no meaning here, I would rather go to the countryside."

He had been to Pengcheng, and although he was not as clear as Xu Wen about the future of this place, he could also see the potential of this city. At least he had seen with his own eyes the city changing day by day.

He wasn't being sentimental on a whim; he was just thinking of another way.

Take off this green suit and become a businessman like Xu Wen. Make a lot of money and let Xu Wen buy whatever he wants and go wherever he wants.

He didn't explain it clearly, but Xu Wen understood it, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He pinched his face with his thumb and index finger and pulled it outward until his cool face was deformed. Then he let go with satisfaction and said, "Lu Yuanzheng, are you stupid?"

No matter how she manipulated Lu Yuanzheng's face, he remained indifferent. However, Xu Wen's words made Lu Yuanzheng frown and narrow his eyes, with a strong warning look in his eyes.

Xu Wencai was not afraid of him and chuckled, "Are you stupid? Why do you give up what you like to do something you don't like? You are different from my brother. For my brother, doing business is more profitable than farming. It can improve the lives of the whole family and pay off the huge debt he owed for building a house.

You like this green, you like this sea, you like to protect these ordinary people on the land. Besides, your salary is more than more than half of the people in the country, you can support your wife and children without pressure... Well, although your wife can also support herself, she is more willing to spend your money.

Besides, brother, I have to tell you something! Just because you are a good soldier doesn’t necessarily mean you will be a good businessman.”

Xu Wen's words were a bit unconscionable, but it was not very important at this time. "It's easy to do business, but it's not easy to be a big boss. Even if you didn't join the army, you would still be a standard young man. You can pick up a pen and paint, but you can't drink with others and say some hypocritical polite words. Do you feel uncomfortable?"

Lu Yuanzheng thought about the picture and frowned.

Xu Wen told him a lot about business, of course, picking out things that Lu Yuanzheng didn't like. So much so that a few years later, Xu Wen almost couldn't get past Lu Yuanzheng when he first started doing business.

At the end, Xu Wen made a concluding speech: "Comrade Lu Yuanzheng, if you really feel that you are not worthy of your excellent, intelligent, beautiful, generous, virtuous and knowledgeable wife, I will give you a clear direction. In addition to military skills, you can learn more about computers."

Lu Yuanzheng raised his eyebrows, obviously skeptical about the words "excellent, smart, beautiful, generous, virtuous, and knowledgeable".

These words can actually be used to describe Xu Wen, and she can handle them all.

It's just that the tone and the way she praises herself makes it hard for people to nod and agree with her.

So Lu Yuanzheng lowered his head and glanced at her waist and abdomen, "No need to tell her openly! But you can try to tell her secretly."

The implication of timeliness in his eyes was too obvious, so obvious that Xu Wen couldn't even play dumb. His whole body felt like it was burned, and his face quickly became hot.

Her first reaction was to look around. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, she raised her hand and pinched Lu Yuanzheng's waist, "Lu Yuanzheng! Do you want to kneel on the durian?!"

Lu Yuanzheng was not interested in the rich flavor of durian, which had a hard-to-describe shell. However, he knew that the more he refused Xu Wen, the more he would torment him. So he smiled and said, "It's so exciting! It's worth kneeling on the durian."

Xu asked: "..."

She took a deep breath and turned away.

There's nothing to say to a gangster.

Come to think of it, I am a bit tired of durian. I have been too busy recently and all the durians on the trees are ripe.

When she came today, she heard a few little warriors discussing what on earth could be so smelly in their sisters-in-law's fields? !

However, several sisters-in-law said that it smelled sweet, and Xu Wen thought that he would definitely eat it when he got back.

Lu Yuanzheng also turned around, leaned against the railing, and watched with a smile as Xu Wen walked gracefully into the group of sisters-in-law.

This woman!

She deserves the best in the world!

Xu Wen and Lu Yuanzheng first sent their fellow villagers to Xu Wen's place and asked them to wait in the store to taste their sister-in-law's cooking skills.

To be honest, Sang Xiaoqing’s cooking is really delicious.

Even in her hometown where the conditions were so poor, the meals she cooked were always delicious. Moreover, after opening the restaurant, she was willing to use oil and other seasonings, making the meals even more fragrant.

However, it has only been a week since I last came, but the business in Xu Wen and Sang Xiaoqing's store has improved a lot. Although it is not yet dinner time, there are already people waiting to eat in the store.

There is also a wooden board with the menu in front of the cashier.

They only serve lunch and dinner, mainly dumplings, but they also sell some home-cooked stir-fried dishes and other staple foods such as big pancakes, steamed buns, and flower rolls.

Because the long journey brought more than 10 people with him, Xu Wen had to greet the guests and help Sang Xiaoqing cook. He couldn't spare the time to accompany Xu Wen to his uncle's place, so he handed the accounts he helped to keep to Xu Wen, "Take a look first, and leave when you can understand it. If you don't understand, ask me."

Xu Wen leaned against the cashier and opened the account book to take a look.

Xu Wen's handwriting was a little sloppy, but he kept the accounts very clearly.

He remembers exactly how many pieces of a certain product were sold on which day, how many pieces were left, and how much money was made in total.

As expected of her brother, he thinks the same as her.

When Xu Wen saw the account book, she breathed a sigh of relief, as it saved her a lot of trouble.

Xu Wen, Lu Yuanzheng and Xu Wen agreed to come over for lunch and then go to their second uncle's place.

When they arrived at Second Uncle's door, Second Uncle was loading goods onto an especially long cart.

Xu Wen wondered, "Uncle, why are you loading the goods so early?"

Isn't it a night market? It's only morning now!

Second Uncle was carrying them on his back to pile a heavy-looking jar of pickled vegetables onto the cart. He was startled when he heard Xu Wen's words, and as soon as he relaxed, he saw the jar was about to fall and hit Second Uncle's feet.

Lu Yuanzheng stretched out his long legs, bent over and caught the pickled vegetable pot to prevent his uncle's feet from being injured.

The second uncle was frightened. He patted his chest with one hand and turned back to glare at Xu Wen. "Girl, you suddenly made a sound. You scared me to death!"

Xu asked: "..."

"Although I'm a little embarrassed to scare you, but, Uncle, this is not sudden."

Her voice was neither high nor sharp.

Second uncle: “…”

"Why are you here?"

"Today is Saturday! I'm here to deliver the goods to you! But why are you loading the truck so early, uncle?"

The second uncle sighed, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and pointed to the door, "Let's go inside and talk!"

The room was not as clean as it was when Xu Wen was here. It was a bit messy and dirty.

The second uncle hurriedly cleared a space, "I've been busy all day and can't take care of it, so it's a little messy, you guys just make do with it."

Seeing Xu Wen and Lu Yuanzheng sitting down without saying anything, he spoke: "Although we don't have much of each item, there are too many types. Some of them take up a lot of space. It takes me at least three hours a day just to load and unload. So in order not to delay things, I start loading some of the goods in the morning."

What is not mentioned is that he is not young after all, and he can hardly handle the ups and downs of a strong man.

"I'm sorry, Uncle! I didn't think it through." Xu Wen was a little apologetic. She only thought about how to maximize the talents of her sisters-in-law and generate income for them, but she didn't expect that there were more than a hundred sisters-in-law, each of whom had more than a hundred kinds of goods. Many sisters-in-law made more than one thing.

It would be fine if it was just clothes and shoes that didn't take up much space, but most things do take up quite a bit of space.

For example, my sister-in-law, who is good at carpentry, made some small tables and chairs.

For example, the stone altars and stone jars used by my sister-in-law to pickle pickled vegetables are very heavy.

Moving it up and down twice a day really tests your waist and legs.

The second uncle waved his hands and said, "You are very thoughtful! To be honest, except for the trouble of moving things up and down, everything else is good, and the income is higher than that on the construction site. I am just an out-and-out farmer, I dare not even dream about it, the most I can earn a day is ten yuan!"

Although not all of the ten yuan belonged to him, he only earned seventy cents for a full day's work in the production team. Even if it was only four yuan, it was enough to work for a week at home. Why would he be dissatisfied?

Lu Yuanzheng pointed at the long cart outside the door and said, "Uncle, where did this cart come from? It doesn't look like the carts we usually see."

"I specially asked a former carpenter from the construction site to make one for me. The small car can't hold so many things."

Xu asked, "Then second brother, please calculate how much this car costs."

The second uncle waved his hands and said, "This is mine, no need to keep a record."

"That won't work! We agreed that even brothers have to settle accounts clearly. If you use this to sell goods, you have to calculate the cost."

Uncle Er couldn't persuade Xu Wen, so he only quoted the cost of the wood and wheels. "I just treated my coworkers to a meal, and they didn't ask me for wages. Don't remember this, okay? Even if they don't make carts, it's normal for us to have a meal together since we're all from the same hometown."

Xu Wen had no choice but to nod.

"Uncle, I just checked my brother's account book. I saw some of the things my sisters-in-law made are selling well, while others are not. Some haven't been sold in a week?"

The second uncle nodded, "Yes! That's right. It's normal. Most of the people in the night market are local people and migrant workers like us. Only a few foreigners and rich people will occasionally go there. We ordinary people earn our money through hard work. We won't spend it if we don't have a special need.

If you look at the account book, you will find that the items that can be sold are daily necessities and food. The pickled cabbage of the sister-in-law from Northeast China is selling well. But the quilts are not so good. It is a hot day in Pengcheng now. Who will cover themselves with quilts?

Tables, chairs, benches and pony tickets are selling well. Your brother alone took away several sets."

Xu Wen said, "I was wondering why those tables and chairs in my brother's store looked so familiar."

"Originally, your brother offered me money but I refused. He disagreed, saying that business is business and relatives are relatives and should not be mixed up like this."

"My brother did the right thing!"

If Second Uncle doesn't want money and sells at a loss, then what if he doesn't mind doing it once, twice or three times?

When the second brother saw that his second uncle was embarrassed to ask for money, he felt bad and next time he was too embarrassed to buy from his second uncle and went to someone else's place instead.

You are all doing business, why don’t you take care of your own family?

The second uncle hurriedly explained: "I didn't say I don't want any money at all. I still have to give my sister-in-law her share."

"I want everything from everyone. Second uncle, I have something to say to you about this. Many relatives or good friends start a business together, but they end up falling out. Most of the time it's because of the unequal distribution of money or power.

This is just the beginning, and everyone thinks it doesn’t matter if they have more or less. But trading is a long-term thing. You can’t have any muddled accounts, otherwise one day in the future when you want to sort it out, you will find that you can’t sort it out at all.”

The second uncle thought about it and nodded, "You are right."

Seeing that his second uncle had given in, Xu Wen stopped talking and took out Xu Wen's account book and copied it again into his own account book.

She was busy keeping accounts while Lu Yuanzheng and his second uncle went to the dock to move goods.

My second uncle had just loaded half of the goods with great effort and had to unload them again.

Fortunately, we still have the strong man Lu Yuanzheng to help.

By the time my second uncle and Lu Yuanzheng came back, sweating profusely, it was already time for lunch.

The three of them simply went to Xu Wen's place to have dinner together.

Xu Wen had already laid out the food and called out to Xu Wen: "You guys eat first!"

He has to entertain guests.

For hotel owners, meal times are the busiest.

Lu Yuanzheng and his second uncle each drank a bowl of ice water in one breath and breathed a sigh of relief.

Xu Wen watched Lu Yuanzheng use his index finger to scrape off a layer of sweat from his forehead and flicked it onto the ground, and asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid of the heat?"

They train and work in this high temperature every day.

Lu Yuanzheng glanced at her without saying anything.

The second uncle spoke up: "Not being afraid of the heat doesn't mean it's not hot! We have to work because we have no choice. No matter how hot it is, we have to grit our teeth and work!"

Xu asked: "..."

She looked up at Shanglu Yuanzheng's resentful gaze and felt inexplicably guilty.

It’s not that she doesn’t care about Lu Yuanzheng, but mainly because Lu Yuanzheng doesn’t seem to be afraid of the heat at home.

Especially when the two of them were making love, he was obviously covered in sweat, but he felt cool to the touch.

Xu Wen always thought that he was not afraid of the heat as the journey was long.

No, it's not hot.

Xu Wen coughed lightly and decisively changed the subject, "Second Uncle, while you two were busy shipping goods to the dock, I had already sorted out the accounts for the first week. So, I won't let my sister-in-law do these things that can't even sell one or two pieces a week. Also, you stick with it for another two weeks and see. If the current business can really make money, we can rent a storefront and open a department store like my brother did."

After all, it's not appropriate for my second uncle to push such a large cart of things and load and unload it every day.

However, Xu Wen looked through the account book and found that his second uncle's daily income from the stall was very unstable.

When things are good, I can earn more than ten yuan a day, but when things are bad, I can only earn a few cents a day.

In this case, if we rent a storefront, the cost will be too high, and my uncle and his sisters-in-law will have worked in vain.

As my second uncle said, the reason why people buy pickled vegetables is because eating them with steamed buns is the most economical way to eat them.

Some people buy cloth shoe sleeves because they need them for work.

Tables, chairs and benches are probably only bought by shop owners, and only small shop owners like Xu Wen need them. Big shops have decoration requirements. Most of the time, no one is interested.

Such heavy things have to be moved around.

There are also some small gadgets made by my sisters-in-law. They look nice, but not very practical.

The banana leaf fans are selling very fast.

Brooms can be sold.

Xu Wen took out a pen and paper and wrote down the products that were easy to sell and those that were not, and asked his second uncle to help him check and see if these products were needed all the time or just temporarily.

These unnecessary items have always been difficult to sell or are temporarily difficult to sell.

If the products have been selling well, I will ask my sisters-in-law to make more. If the products have been selling poorly, I will tell my sisters-in-law not to waste their time.

If the products are selling well at the moment, we will buy more of them within a week, and stop selling them when the business is not good. If the products are not selling well at the moment, we will keep them at my second uncle's house and sell them when the season comes.

After Xu Wen and his second uncle sorted things out, his second uncle had a lot less things to bring to set up his stall.

Sang Xiaoqing had just finished her work and came out to stand beside the table. She lifted up her apron and wiped her hands. She smiled and said, "Look, Wenwen is so smart! He can do anything. By the way, Wenwen and Xiaozheng, can we go to your island to take a look?"