Chapter 41: Red Fire

"Sister, you're right! I want to start over and divorce that kind of man. I should feel lucky!"

Xiaoling took a deep breath and told herself that she had to be brave.

Others can live well after divorce, why can't she? She did nothing wrong in getting divorced!

The four women clinked their soda glasses together again.

Xiaoling's female companion introduced herself to Pu Xiang and Shi Wenya: "I am Xiaoling's neighbor. We grew up together. My name is Qin Jin. Sister, thank you so much. These days I have been trying to persuade Xiaoling to be more open-minded, but I am not good at talking and I don't know how to persuade her. And I don't know how to scold him for what he said just now. He is a well-known bachelor in our area and can't find a wife. He looks good, but in fact, all his family members are lazy and have no one working. They live on government aid. Recently, when I saw that Xiaoling got divorced, I thought I had a chance. I came to her house every day to pester her. It's really infuriating. Xiaoling must never marry a man like this!"

Who says it isn't?

Pu Xiang looked at Xiao Ling with sympathy. Sometimes the situations of rural women and city women were not that different.

"If that person dares to bother you again, go to the police station and report it to the police. See if he dares to do it again! You just met a bad person in your marriage. It's not your fault that you are getting divorced. You can hold your head high and live your life with your chest held high. Don't be afraid!"

Shi Wenya and Qin Jin also nodded vigorously.

"That's right, if anyone dares to say you're not, I hope he (she) can meet someone like your ex-husband and never get divorced!"

Four women sat at a table, eating pig's trotters and drinking soda, chatting and having fun, and the other diners no longer paid attention to them.

This is a normal human reaction.

By the time they finished eating the pig's trotters and came out of the store, the four people had already exchanged names. Pu Xiang also asked them to come to her store when they were free. They didn't have to buy clothes, but just come to chat and relax.

Xiaoling, also known as Yang Xiaoling, became even more curious when she heard that Pu Xiang opened a women's clothing store in the county town after her divorce, and she promised to go and take a look.

…

The next day, Yang Xiaoling and Qin Jin came together as expected.

"Your store is really beautiful, and the clothes are nice too. Are they all from Lin City?"

Yang Xiaoling and Qin Jin had not originally intended to buy clothes, but after seeing them, they were tempted. The New Year was coming soon, so it was necessary to buy some new clothes.

Not only can you buy one for yourself, you can also buy one for your mother.

The two tried on clothes for a long time and finally bought three pieces of clothing each.

Yang Xiaoling envied: "I wish I had a store like this."

Originally, her parents were both working, so she didn't have to worry about work and could take over anyone's shift. But her mother's job was taken away by her ex-husband, and now she can't get it back. She had to take over her father's shift, and her father had to go home.

What's more, Yang Xiaoling doesn't want to take over her father's job now. Her parents own a factory, and if she takes over, she will be working in the same factory with her ex-husband, where she will see him every day. She must be uncomfortable.

Pu Xiang said, "It's not difficult to open a store. If you really want to do that, next time I go to Lin City to buy goods, you can come with me to take a look."

"No, no, no."

Yang Xiaoling quickly waved her hands, "I just said that. If you really ask me to do this, I won't do it."

Although she was not particularly knowledgeable about the ways of the world, she still knew that she couldn't do such a thing in front of others or if she was really walking with them.

Pu Xiang said, "Don't worry. I really think if you have an idea, I can let you go and see that the whole county can accommodate me and you. Besides, besides you and me, there won't be other women's clothing stores in the county, right? You see, soon, these women's clothing stores will be everywhere."

It is true that competitors are enemies, but it also depends on people's mentality. Pu Xiang thinks that as long as everyone relies on their own abilities and does not use shameful tricks and competes fairly, even if her business is not as good as others in the end, she will admit defeat.

She wasn't the smartest person in the world, and it was normal for someone to be smarter and more capable than her.

Yang Xiaoling listened to Pu Xiang's words seriously and realized that the other party was not just being polite. Her eyes suddenly became red again.

Look, even a stranger who she doesn't know at all wants to pull her up. Her ex-husband is really a bad person. He wants to take away all the benefits in her family and trample her to death.

During the time when she was beaten and scolded by the other party, she was actually pregnant, and the child was aborted.

She really couldn't figure it out, but now she suddenly understood it. There was no reason, it was just because she met a bad person.

And now, she met a good man.

"Sister, thank you. I will think about it carefully when I get home. You are all right. I have to live my life. Even if I meet a bad man, I will have a good life after I divorce him."

Qin Jin gave Pu Xiang a thumbs up behind her.

She and Yang Xiaoling's parents had advised her countless times, but Yang Xiaoling just wouldn't listen. The divorce was too much of a blow to her.

And now, there is another example of a divorce, but the other person's life is not affected at all. One rural woman even opened a store in the county town and built a career.

The success of "Companions" finally gave Yang Xiaoling the confidence to move forward.

There was no longer darkness ahead of her.

After seeing Yang Xiaoling and Qin Jin off, Shi Wenya approached Pu Xiang and asked, "Third sister, are you really going to take Yang Xiaoling to Lin City and help her open a store?"

Pu Xiang smiled at her and said, "When I asked you to come to work in the store, didn't I also tell you that you can open your own store and be your own boss in the future? I mean what I say."

Shi Wenya stared at her with her eyes wide open. Although she had said this, she was a little overwhelmed at that time. Seeing that Pu Xiang was able to open a shop, she thought that it would be okay too.

Now that she has been working in this field for a while, she has discovered that, although this job is not difficult, it is not as easy as she had imagined.

Just like Pu Xiang's store, it seems that her business is doing well and the clothes are selling well, but in the final analysis, it is Pu Xiang who has a good eye for purchasing clothes. She has always been following her to purchase goods, and sometimes she will also look at which style is good and which style is good. Many times, her opinions are different from Pu Xiang's.

Therefore, working in the women's clothing industry requires not only a little capital, but also a good eye for beauty.

Shi Wenya shook her head: "I'd better forget it and wait and see. This is pretty good now."

Most people will be content with the status quo once they have enough food and clothing.

Pu Xiang was not in a hurry to persuade people to change their minds now. As time went by, people would change their minds.

As the Chinese New Year approaches and the weather gets colder, Puxiang's business is booming; cotton shirts, ski jackets and down jackets are all selling like hot cakes.

Especially down jackets, which are expensive and few people buy them at the beginning, but those who buy them and wear them can never go back to the days of wearing cotton jackets.

It's light and warm. It's winter and there's no heating here. They have to put on one layer after another, which makes it inconvenient to move. Women who love beauty can't like cotton blouses because they make them look so bloated that they lose their curves.

Now that we have down jackets, it’s great. I can wear a wool sweater inside and a down jacket outside. I won’t feel cold or bulky.

Nowadays, anyone who can spend hundreds of dollars on clothes must have money at home.

If spending money can buy satisfaction and happiness, then money is not a big deal.

Pu Xiang's women's clothing store became famous in the county town overnight. New customers kept coming to the store, and some old customers who had been there several times even asked Pu Xiang to buy some men's jackets.

They wore down jackets and felt comfortable, but the old men at home were still wrapped in cotton jackets. When you have good things, you certainly can't forget your family.

After hearing several customers asking this question, Pu Xiang thought that men's jackets could also be sold.

Except for her, no one else in this county sells down clothes now. She has to take advantage of this opportunity and make as much money as she can.

So, the next time she went to stock up, she bought some men's down jackets and some men's warm underwear, which are all necessities for winter.

Fortunately, Zhao Qing broke off her engagement with Shi Dafu and came to work in the store. Pu Xiang now had two helpers and was finally not too exhausted.

Money needs to be earned, but she doesn't want to work so hard this time.

You have to spend when you need to spend, and you have to hire people when you need to hire.

Pu Xiang was also thinking about another thing at the moment. After the New Year, maybe she could open a men's clothing store.

Although the men's clothing business is not as popular as that of women's clothing stores, as long as word of mouth is established, the customer base will be stable.

Those men are not like women who are always thinking about changing their shopping habits and have no interest in shopping. They just want to save trouble and buy from wherever they are comfortable and have a habit of buying.

This was the good thing about the 1990s. Looking out, you could do any kind of business and there were only a few stores. It was unlike later times, where every industry was already saturated.

Pu Xiang was extremely busy, introducing clothes to customers every day, and she talked until her mouth was dry. She had no time to take care of anything else, not even the gossip about her ex-husband's family.

During this period, her sister-in-law Yu Gaozhu came to see her again. She had decided to set up a stall to sell snacks.

Yu Gaozhu had been running outside the village recently, visiting the town's primary and secondary schools, as well as schools and large factories in the county. At mealtime, she visited them all.

As soon as she saw it, she realized that there really was someone setting up a stall to do this kind of small business.

When school is over and the factory closes, business is pretty good.

Although only a small number of people would pay for the products, the flow of people is huge. She has counted the number of people from schools and factories with hundreds of people. After a busy day, she can get at least thirty or forty businesses.

There's no need to calculate too much. If a person earns two cents, that's six or seven yuan. With two meals a day, and if the factory has night shift workers, it's easy to make more than ten yuan a day.

That’s several hundred dollars in income per month!

After Yu Gaozhu finished calculating this account, she was so excited that she couldn't sleep well for two nights in a row.

A few hundred yuan a month, that’s several thousand a year!

As long as they work hard for a few years, their family can become a household with a net worth of over 10,000 yuan.

This was something Yu Gaozhu had never dared to think about before. She had decided to get into the food business!

If anyone dares to hold her back, she will turn against them immediately.

Pu Xiang was very happy that her sister-in-law could think it through. She asked her what she wanted to sell and where to sell it, and also gave her some small ideas.

Yu Gaozhu originally planned to sell some small items such as dried tofu, thousand-piece knots, and tea-leaf eggs. These had low costs, were sold cheaply, and many people could afford them, so there was no need to worry about lack of business.

Pu Xiang thought it was a good idea and didn't deny it to her. She was told to add another ten pounds of baloney pork every day. If she was worried that it wouldn't be able to sell, she could just get two pounds first, cut it into pieces of suitable size, tie them up with straw, and then sell them one by one when the time comes. At a price of three or five cents, she would definitely be able to sell them.

The broth from the salsa can be used to make vegetarian dishes such as salsa verde and bean curd sheets, which will make the dishes more fragrant.