By the time they arrived at the textile factory gate, Li Na had already packed up her stall.
After selling out her goods, Li Na sat under a large tree at the main entrance of the textile factory, waiting for Li Yi to pick her up.
“Jingle-jangle!”
The bells around the big red mule’s neck startled Li Na out of her doze!
She looked up and saw the familiar bright red mule cart, her younger brother on it, and her best friend and sister-in-law, Tang Xue.
Li Na immediately climbed out from under the shade of the tree and walked toward them with a smile.
“Sis, you must have been waiting a long time!”
Li Yi reined in the mule cart and asked with a smile.
“Not too bad, just a little hungry!”
“How could you starve yourself when you run a food stall?” Li Yi asked in surprise.
“I was so happy today that I forgot to keep track of sales. By the time I remembered, everything was sold out!” Li Na said, looking a bit embarrassed.
In truth, Li Na felt a bit wronged and a bit foolish. Usually, her brother would prepare over three hundred servings of liangpi and two or three hundred white-skinned pancakes.
But because the state-run restaurant and the sugar factory had placed large orders these past few days, Li Yi had been swamped with work, so he’d only managed to prepare two hundred sheets of liangpi and a little over a hundred white-skinned pancakes for her.
There was no way that amount could satisfy the frenzied enthusiasm of the textile factory workers, so by a little before one o’clock, Li Na had already sold out of everything.
By the time she realized she was hungry, there was nothing left in the car except for some condiments!
And she was still quite a distance from the county seat, not to mention that all her stall goods were still there—she couldn’t take them with her.
With no other choice, Li Na had to stay put, waiting for Li Yi on an empty stomach.
“Alright, then take a break. I’ll load the stuff into the car and take you into town for a meal!”
With that, Li Yi loaded all the market stall supplies onto the truck one by one, then set off for the county seat with the two women.
Sales had been so brisk these past few days that they were going through a massive amount of flour daily, so Li Yi had to restock at the supply and marketing cooperative every day.
On the way, Tang Xue asked Li Na with some curiosity, “Sis Na, how does it feel to run a street stall?”
Li Na’s eyes lit up as she replied, “Great—it’s really, really great!”
“Is it really that good?”
Before Li Na could answer, Li Yi chimed in, “How could running a stall be good? My sister just loves the feeling of taking money—in reality, it’s really tiring!”
Li Na chuckled and said, “You really know me well, don’t you?”
“It’s not that I know you—you’re just a money-grubber!” Li Yi said.
“So what if I’m a money-grubber? I’m not stealing or robbing anyone—I’m just enjoying it!”
Then Li Na turned to Tang Xue and said, “Xiao Xue, you don’t know that feeling of making money—it’s just so satisfying. Something that’s only worth a few cents turns into a few dimes the moment we resell it. What could be more joyful than that?”
Tang Xue said thoughtfully, “That really is a joyful thing!”
“Xiao Xue, let me tell you, I think I was born to be a businesswoman!”
“Why?”
“Do you know how much I made today?”
“I don’t know, probably around ten or twenty yuan?” Tang Xue guessed.
“Not a penny more or less—38 yuan!” Li Na said proudly.
“My goodness, that much?” Tang Xue said, somewhat surprised.
“Hehe, that’s because I didn’t bring enough stock today. If I had plenty of goods, I could easily make fifty yuan!”
Li Na was confident—this wasn’t her first time setting up a stall. Every time she stood there, the employees would swarm her.
Hundreds of plates of liangpi would be snapped up in an instant—in fact, she’d even sold nearly all of the chili oil Li Yi used to dress the noodles.
This gave Li Na the illusion that even if she were selling rocks or clods of dirt at her stall, people would still buy them!
While that might be a bit of an exaggeration, Li Na could clearly see the potential in this business.
This wasn’t even a question of making money—it was practically a free-for-all to grab it.
Seeing her third sister’s money-grubbing nature, Li Yi couldn’t help but shake his head.
The reason business was so profitable right now was partly due to the scarcity of goods and partly due to government policies.
Since no one dared to set up a stall openly, Li Na was currently operating in a seller’s market, which naturally made things easy.
Once the government lifts restrictions on individual businesses, more people will enter the market. Competition among small businesses will emerge, and things won’t be as easy as they are now.
Still, this era was just too conservative; there were far too few people willing to be the first to take the plunge. As long as you dared to go out and do business, you wouldn’t have to worry about not making money—it was just a matter of how much.
……..
As the three chatted, the carriage arrived at the state-run restaurant.
When Liu Jingshan saw him, he assumed Li Na had come to settle the bill for the morning’s mountain produce and immediately pulled out the receipt to check the details.
Li Yi didn’t stop him. While Liu Jingshan was tallying the accounts, he went to the front desk and ordered a bowl of pork noodles for her.
The noodles were ready in no time, though to Li Yi’s eyes, they were nothing special.
But whether it was because Li Na was truly hungry or not, she ate the bowl with great relish, even finishing every last drop of the broth.
After finishing the meal, Li Yi went to pay the bill, but Liu Jingshan refused to let him.
In his words, it was just the cost of a bowl of noodles—he certainly could afford it.
Li Yi didn’t insist; given their relationship, there really was no need to argue over a bowl of noodles until they were red in the face.
But this incident also showed that Liu Jingshan was truly a great guy to hang out with!
So Li Yi secretly resolved that if the opportunity ever arose, he would take Liu Jingshan along with him!
People like him are rarely lacking in courage or talent; what they lack is simply an opportunity.
After settling the bill for the mountain produce and the liangpi, Li Yi and his companions left the state-run restaurant.
Once they stepped out of the state-run restaurant, they realized it was getting late, so the three of them hurried straight to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, afraid they might be too late and find it closed.
Don’t let the fact that the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was the equivalent of a modern-day supermarket fool you—it was a bona fide government agency, tasked with the important duties of centralized purchasing and distribution, and it operated under a strict schedule.
Once closing time hit, they shut the doors immediately—they certainly wouldn’t make exceptions for ordinary folks!
Today, the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was packed!
Even at this hour, it was bustling with activity!
However, since Li Yi and his group had made a name for themselves earlier by taking down that bald director and his mistress, they had greatly intimidated the other staff at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
The staff at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative had already taken a liking to Li Yi, and as soon as they saw him walk in, a middle-aged woman in her forties immediately came over to greet him.
You definitely don’t want to cross this guy—if he gets upset, he’ll really come after you!
“Comrade, you’re back again. What are you buying this time? Let me help you pick something out,” the saleswoman asked warmly as soon as she approached.
“Flour, rapeseed oil…”
With the previous experience fresh in their minds, no one dared to underestimate Li Yi and his group anymore.
A cautionary tale—a hard-learned lesson.
Soon, thanks to the sales clerk’s enthusiastic service, Li Yi and his group had bought everything they needed!
Afterward, the three of them rode the bright red mule back to Nianzishan Village!