Chapter 58 Buying a Store
Pu Xiang gave Zhao Qing a red envelope of 200 yuan without saying a word.
This is much more than the popular practice of giving red envelopes to relatives here.
Zhao Qing felt embarrassed when she got it. For more than a year, she had been working and reading at Puxiang. If she had another boss, how could she allow this?
It was Pu Xiang who always encouraged her and analyzed with her how her life would be different after she was admitted to university.
Originally, Zhao Qing just liked going to school, and she even had some thoughts of using it to avoid blind dates and getting married, but later on, she really understood that as long as she could get into college, her life would change.
This was something she had never dared to imagine before.
After Zhao Qing received the acceptance letter, the whole family was extremely happy.
"Is this university's wine business?"
There is a female top scholar in the family, so we must celebrate it properly.
Zhao Qing thought it was all right. She had saved all the money she earned from working over the past year, except for the 1,800 yuan. She had already planned to use it for tuition in the next few years. If her family held a banquet, she could also give out some of it.
The favors received from hosting a banquet can also offset part of the cost of the drinks.
Everything went well. Zhao Qing went home and told everyone the good news and stayed at home for another night.
She had to go to work at the Puxiang store the next day, so she couldn't stop making money.
Zhao Qing was a little excited. He couldn't sleep well that night and woke up early in the morning. He looked out the window and saw that it was just beginning to get light. At this time of year, it was probably around five o'clock.
Zhao Qing really couldn't sleep, so he simply got up and prepared to make breakfast and feed the pigs.
In the past two years, her three brothers got married one after another, but the family was still poor, so they applied for a residential plot and built two small mud houses, which was considered as dividing the family.
That's it, and I still owe money to my relatives.
Fortunately, with her leading by example, her brother and sister-in-law have also found jobs outside, so there is hope for the future.
Zhao Qing lived with her parents in her eldest brother's house. She got up quietly. The house was quiet. She looked out and saw that her mother had already gotten up and was washing clothes by the lake behind the house.
The aunt next door was also sitting on her own "stepping stool", and the two of them were talking from a distance of one or two meters.
"I heard that your Zhao Qing was admitted to university? This is really a big deal."
"Yes, yes, this little girl did a great thing for me without making any noise. I never heard her say she wanted to take the college entrance exam before, but now she's been admitted, hahaha."
"She hasn't told her family that she wants to go to college?"
"Yes, she is usually at work, who would have known she would have such intentions."
"oh……"
After an abrupt pause of a few seconds, the lady suddenly spoke again, and her tone changed.
"Hey, don't blame me for saying bad things. Your Zhao Qing is a bit too ambitious. You only know how to be happy. Of course, getting into college is a good thing, but think about it, she did all this without telling the family. When she goes to college and goes to another place, can she come back? Then she will find a man from another place and get married. Then your daughter will be gone. When you are old and lying in bed, who will take care of you? If your son gets into college, you will have to send him to college no matter what. But this is your daughter. You should think about it. You will spend all that money and marry her to someone else in the end."
…
Zhao Qing went back to work in a depressed mood, and when Pu Xiang and Shi Wenya saw her expression, they knew something was wrong.
When I went back, I was still very happy. After going home, I was completely changed.
"What's wrong? You've already been admitted to university, so your parents won't say anything unpleasant to you, right?"
Pu Xiang asked if he had anything to say.
Zhao Qing hesitated for a moment and told me what she had heard: "My mother seemed to have heard what I said. She was very happy at first, but her face changed when she came back from washing clothes. She didn't mention the wine ceremony anymore... Sister Xiangxiang, will my parents really not let me go to college in the end?"
Pu Xiang was silent for a moment. It was really hard to say. As the saying goes, if a son passes the exam, the family will support him no matter how much they spend. But what's the point of a daughter going to college? She will get married eventually anyway, and even if she supports a college student, she is not theirs.
There are too many things like this in the countryside, like buying a house. Zhao Qing and Shi Wenya both work for her and earn the same amount of money, but Shi Wenya can use the whole family's resources to buy a house.
Her parents-in-law lent her money and supported her in buying it.
But this is not the case with Zhao Qing, because Zhao Qing is a daughter and will belong to someone else's family in the future, while Shi Wenya is a daughter-in-law and belongs to their own family.
Of course, if this happened in later generations, with more divorces, the daughter-in-law would no longer be considered a family member, and people would not want to put the woman’s name on the house they bought.
I’m just afraid of dividing the property after divorce.
Pu Xiang sighed: "Your parents don't agree, so you won't go to this university?"
Zhao Qing didn't even need to think about this question. Why wouldn't she go to the university she had worked so hard to get into?
She had even prepared the tuition and living expenses, and did not count on the money from the Hua family.
Seeing Zhao Qing's expression, Pu Xiang knew what she meant: "Since your parents want you to go to college whether they agree or not, and you don't have to rely on your family for money, they can't control you, so what are you afraid of? If anyone dares to say that your daughter's college education is useless, just scold them back. You are eating her rice, and you want her to be lenient. Your mother is in her seventies and eighties. It will happen decades later, but now she is worrying about it. A daughter is a human being, but three sons are not human beings? And think about the fact that your parents promised to marry you to Shi Dafu."
It is a blessing for parents to give birth to us and raise us, but for this blessing, do we have to live our entire lives to support our parents until they die?
Not to mention that Zhao Qing has three older brothers, so the issue of taking care of them in their old age has to be taken care of by all four siblings together.
Just talking about lying in bed and needing someone to take care of you, how many years will that take?
When Zhao Qing heard the last sentence, his eyes suddenly became firm.
She absolutely did not want to marry a man like Shi Dafu. If she did not go to college, she would have to get married next.
"I figured it out, Sister Xiangxiang!"
At this moment, Zhao Qing looked like a warrior.
Pu Xiang felt both relieved and a little sad when she saw Zhao Qing like this.
She thought, it would be great if she was reborn as a man. The things they are fighting so hard for now, men already have them in their hands when they are born, before they even open their eyes.
Pu Xiang's discomfort only lasted a short time before it got better. This era is always progressing.
The era she had been waiting for for so long finally began when stores in the commercial streets and wholesale markets in the malls began to be sold.
Pu Xiang did not hesitate and bought two stores on each side.
I invested all the money I had, took out a loan of $100,000 from a credit union, and mortgaged my newly bought house.
Fortunately, she still has two stores with good business, otherwise she would not be able to borrow the money.
Now that she had the store, Pu Xiang felt relieved.
My sister-in-law Yu Gaozhu also bought a store in the mall. She told Pu Xiang that she was planning to switch careers and start wholesale business.
Yu Gaozhu finally decided not to buy the restaurant near the hospital and was ready to give up the lease.
The mall's wholesale market mainly sells grains, rice, noodles, daily necessities, some dry food ingredients, and alcoholic beverages.
Yu Gaozhu has been setting up a small stall and opening a small restaurant in the past two years, and has gotten to know a lot of people. With the help of Pu Xiang, who has been in the industry for decades, she was able to give her advice, and she quickly chose her direction.
Yu Gaozhu's own store sells wholesale dry food ingredients, and Pu Xiang's two stores are all rented out. She now has no time to open a wholesale stall.
Mo Yang also bought a store, and he planned to expand his wholesale business to the county town.
The town is still too small.
However, he is not planning to close the wholesale department in the town because he has already established good relationships with his customers. He has even installed a telephone in the store so whenever a customer calls him, he can just arrange for someone to deliver the goods.
This money is not hard to earn.
Pu Xiang doesn't have to worry too much about her shop in the mall. After renting it out, she just needs to collect the rent every month.
She is about to start renovating the two stores on the commercial street.
After some estimation, the new store will be officially open for business after this summer.
Because it is her own store, Pu Xiang paid much more attention to the decoration this time than the previous stores she rented.
Pu Xiang couldn't hide the fact that she bought a store on the commercial street, so the cunning proprietress next door naturally knew about it.
"The clothes are so expensive and the heart is so evil, no wonder he is rich."
She uttered a few sour words and turned to look at the shops on the commercial street.
No one would complain about having too many houses.
Shi Wenya had been keeping an eye on them, and turned around and told Pu Xiang what she had heard.
Pu Xiang didn't care: "If they have money, they can buy it. We can't control it. There are so many stores. If it's not her, it must be someone else."
Shi Wenya just felt uncomfortable and she didn't want to be neighbors with this person anymore.
After being quarreled with several times by others because they followed Pu Xiang's lead, she finally calmed down and changed her storefront sign and packaging bags.
It was renamed "Linshi Boutique Women's Clothing". Some of the styles are still the same as Puxiang, but the two stores are still distinguished.
If anyone comes to her house and scolds her for being a shrewd person because of quality issues, she will just put her hands on her hips and scold them back.
"This is the price range in my store. Don't compare me with others. If you think my quality is bad and others' is good, go buy from other stores."
He managed to bring some business to Pu Xiang.
But her store sells cheaper than Puxiang, so some people who are looking for a bargain but want to wear a certain style will go to her to buy.
In general, the two companies have reached a certain balance.
Now that Pu Xiang has bought a new store, she may have to move. If she moves, she might have fewer customers.
If I have money, I can buy another store.
Pu Xiang, the neighboring proprietress, thought about it and felt that this was a feasible idea. After all, after buying a store, she would know how good the store was.
If you don't use it at home, you can rent it out and earn some income.
"No, why buy a store? This store is enough to support our family, why bother with more?"
When the proprietress told the shop owner about it when she got home that night, she was surprised that the shop owner objected right away.
The boss lady really didn't expect that her husband would disagree with this. When he bought the first store, he didn't have this attitude.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt something was not right.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
The boss was obviously a little guilty and panicked.
"No, there is nothing hidden from you. You just ate your fill and nothing happened. You are so suspicious!"
This not only did not dispel the proprietress's suspicion, but made her even more certain that something was going on.
Her first reaction was to check the money at home.
After checking, the problem was immediately discovered: all the money in the family was gone!
After further questioning, all the facts were revealed. She stayed in the store and her husband brought her meals every day. In his spare time, when he had nothing to do, he would play cards with some new "friends".
He also met a woman while playing cards. She called him "brother" every day and was very affectionate with him. She would treat him to meals whenever she had the chance and buy him clothes and jewelry.
The proprietress herself was reluctant to buy anything, and all the money she earned was used by the man to support other women.
Unable to bear this life any longer, the landlady went mad and slapped the man in the face with her hand.
The couple fought each other, their faces were bruised and their clothes were torn. In the end, it was the neighbors who saw what was happening and called the police for fear of accidents, and they were able to separate the two.
But the matter cannot be resolved even if they go to the police station. All the money was lost at the poker table. Who can return it to them?
It is even less likely that the woman who benefited from the favor would pay the money back.
"It was given to me as a gift. I didn't trick it into coming. Why should I take it back?"
This commotion lasted for more than half a month. Pu Xiang and her friends who were watching from next door all thought that the marriage was over and the proprietress estimated that they would get divorced. However, at the end of the commotion, they were seen going in and out as a pair.