Dong Ping's clothing overstock business is booming. After selling the first batch of goods, she made a profit of nearly 300 yuan after deducting costs and not counting her usual daily expenses!
Keep in mind that only a little over a month passed from when she received the goods to when all the clothes were sold out. And in such a short time, she earned more than half a year's salary from Fang Hai!
After repaying the 150 yuan she borrowed from Fang Qiao, Dong Ping took the 300 yuan she had earned and, with a burning heart, bought another batch of leftover goods from Fang Qiao's factory. This time, she directly rented a gasoline-powered motorcycle tricycle from a car rental shop and had Xiao Long drive it, taking her around to the countryside.
The rental fee for a motorcycle tricycle is three yuan a day, which is enough for Fang Hai's food expenses for a week. At first, Fang Hai complained that Dong Ping shouldn't have spent money to rent a vehicle, saying that taking the bus to the countryside would have been fine.
But when he learned that Dong Ping had sold out of clothes in just half a month this time, which had taken her over a month to sell last time, he had nothing to say. After deducting rent and gas costs, she was making a lot more money each month!
Dong Ping was full of energy, braving the scorching heat and the blazing sun, traveling back and forth between the city and the countryside with Xiao Long. Although both mother and son were tanned dark, their wallets were bulging and they were extremely happy.
By autumn, Dong Ping had cleared out all the leftover stock in Fang Qiao's factory, so she tried selling some good quality clothes at full price.
Autumn clothes are expensive. The factory price of innerwear is four or five yuan, pants are six or seven yuan, and cheaper coats are eight or nine yuan, while more expensive ones are even ten or twenty yuan. Dong Ping didn't dare to buy too many. She intuitively felt that such high-quality clothes wouldn't sell for much in the countryside. She only spent two hundred yuan to have Fang Qiao put together outfits for her, and bought about ten sets, totaling twenty or thirty pieces.
As she expected, the good quality goods were not as popular as the cheaper, flawed ones.
They genuinely liked it; they didn't want to let go of it while touching it. They also genuinely thought it was too expensive, and after hesitating, they ultimately didn't buy it.
Dong Ping visited more than ten villages, but only sold two pieces of clothing in total.
She bought the innerwear for four or five yuan, but only sold it for seven yuan, making a profit similar to that of defective products, yet she just couldn't sell it. In the end, she took this batch of goods to the city and sold them to workers and cadres there.
After this experience, Dong Ping finally understood that high-end clothes are not suitable for rural markets, while inexpensive, ordinary clothes are more suitable for the countryside.
After processing this batch of high-end clothing, Dong Ping, through Fang Qiao's introduction, began collecting overstock and defective clothing from other factories. The prices were cheaper than the overstock from Fang Qiao's factory, but of course, the quality was also lower.
Fortunately, people in the countryside aren't picky, so even though she set the price low, she wasn't worried about not being able to sell her products.
That year, Dong Ping's clothing sales business in rural areas flourished.
By the end of the year, she had made some money. First, she spent 600 yuan to buy a second-hand motorcycle tricycle. Then, she went to the department store in the city center and bought a pair of gold bead earrings.
The price of gold was 52 yuan per gram. The two earrings weighed a little over two grams but less than three grams. Including the labor cost, Dong Ping spent a total of 145 yuan.
Dong Ping asked the waiter to wrap her up nicely.
The jewelry box was made of red velvet and tied with a beautiful silk ribbon. The outer bag was also made of red velvet, with words embroidered in gold thread on one corner. Dong Ping liked it at first sight and thought that the bag alone was worth a dollar.
Fang Hai remained silent while in the shopping mall.
Dong Ping earned all the money in the house. He gave her face in public, but as soon as they stepped out of the mall, his face darkened, and he questioned her: "Can't you save the money you just earned? I can understand you spending several hundred yuan on a motorcycle, since you and Xiaolong need to ride it to sell clothes and it's inconvenient to always rent one. But I just don't understand why you spent 150 yuan on such an expensive earring? Do we look like a family that can afford to wear gold?"
Dong Ping calmly corrected him: "This year, Xiaolong and I earned a total of over a thousand yuan. Gold is only about fifty yuan per gram. Our family can now afford to wear gold."
"But you spent six hundred just on the motorcycle, and you also spent over a hundred on a watch for Xiaolong, and ninety yuan on six pairs of leather shoes! Now you've spent another one hundred and fifty on gold. Do the math, how much have you spent all this time?"
Fang Hai felt uneasy when he did the math. The New Year wasn't even over yet, and he had already spent almost a thousand yuan. His family had never spent so much money before!
If only this money were saved, it would be great. If I saved it for another five or six years, I could buy a house.
Dong Ping: "Motorcycles are a must-buy. They are a bit expensive in the short term, but we may ride a motorcycle for ten or twenty years, so it only costs a few cents a day."
"And then there's Xiaolong's watch. For the past six months, Xiaolong has been following me all over the countryside without asking for a single penny of salary. All he wants is a watch. Look how tanned he is. Tell me, should we buy him this watch or not?"
Fang Hai fell silent.
Dong Ping: "Watches and motorcycles are necessities, otherwise Xiaolong and I wouldn't even know the time."
"I didn't say watches and motorcycles shouldn't be bought, but leather shoes and gold earrings aren't strictly necessary, are they?"
"The leather shoes are for the children I prepared for the New Year: a pair for Tiantian, An'an, Ningchuan, Ningyue, and also a pair for Kangning and my eldest sister's Panpan. The earrings are for my youngest sister. Our family was able to earn more than a thousand yuan this year, all thanks to her. If she doesn't talk to us, our family will still be living on your monthly salary of forty yuan. I feel that spending one hundred and fifty yuan on a gift for her is too little."
"Relationships should be reciprocal. You can't always rely on others. If you don't reciprocate, even the best relationships will fade. Don't you think so?" After saying that, Dong Ping gave Fang Hai a meaningful look.
Although Fang Hai still felt it was unnecessary to spend over a hundred yuan on a gold earring, he didn't say anything more, only muttering, "Whatever you say," before walking forward with his head down.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Fang Qiao went back to her parents' home alone.
She lingered at the entrance of the alley for a while with the gifts, chatting with the neighbors to let everyone see that she, as a daughter, was returning to her parents' home with gifts, giving Yang Fengxia no chance to gossip behind her back.
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