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Chapter 158: Chapter 141 Gunshot (Subscribe Please!)_1
Tang Qing took advantage of the situation and put everything down.
Upon learning that her son was back for lunch, Qin Yuzhen immediately took out some specially purchased fruit and beverages. Tang Qing voraciously bit into the apple that had already been cleaned in his hand, and it was sweet.
At that time, a few more customers trickled in. Father Tang and Mother Tang hurriedly went up to serve them. Tang Qing and Lin Jiaxue just watched from the side to see if anyone would take the opportunity to steal clothes, a common occurrence during the Spring Festival. Not only were there professional thieves, but there were also many who liked taking advantage of the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Tang could not take care of everyone at once, possibly stuffing an item into their coat.
In winter, everyone usually wears thick clothes, so it’s not easy to notice. In the end, only a very small portion would be discovered, but most of the loss would be unexplained. The Tang family lost a lot in this way every year during the Chinese New Year period. There were several times when fights almost broke out. However, Tang Qing has only heard his parents talk about this and has never seen it personally.
Tang Qing casually glanced at the clothes sold by his family. The merchandise quality and style were not very good, all off-brand. The most expensive wholesale price was just 60 to 70 yuan, usually around 20 to 30, and then they would mark up the price by 150% or more. Even after customers bargained, they would ultimately still make a profit of over 50%. This was generally the case in the clothing industry.
Therefore, when buying clothes and shoes, it’s best to start by slashing the price by more than half, because merchants selling off-brand clothes know that customers will bargain hard. They have already left a large space for negotiation.
Certain unscrupulous traders might even mark up the price by three to five times. For example, a pair of canvas shoes that cost only about 20 yuan at the place of production (and that’s not even the factory price) could be sold for 60, 80, or even over 120 yuan elsewhere. If you’re too embarrassed to haggle or care too much about face, you’ll end up being the sucker. Don’t think that such merchants would be grateful to you, or say that you’re generous, because that’s impossible. The dishonest merchants would only think: ’We met another fool today.’
However, Tang Qing’s parents were not so unscrupulous, and they only marked up the price by a maximum of two times. After haggling, they just earned a small amount of hard-earned money.
Seeing his parents working their tongues off and the customer still not buying, Tang Qing began to feel unhappy. It was just as when Lin Jiaxue introduced the spice to a customer who ended up not buying it. Although the decision to buy or not lies entirely with the customer, he didn’t care and glared at them, blaming them for wasting his parents’ energy.
"Big sister, please take care on your way. We welcome you to come again."
After the wave of customers leaves.
Qin Yuzhen turns around and chuckles at Tang Qing, "Haha, we made another fifty yuan. Business is good during the Chinese New Year. Everyone is willing to spend money. Old Tang, you take Jiaxue and others to get something delicious to eat and then put the stuff back home. Come back later. It’s not safe with people coming and going."
"Mom, why don’t we stop doing business this afternoon? We haven’t seen each other for so long; we should go home and chat." Tang Qing suggested when he heard this. Seeing her mother so happy about earning a few tens of yuan, Tang Qing felt a bit sorrowful.
"This..." Qin Yuzhen hesitated. It was now the Spring Festival period. Business each day was several times that of normal days. What they might lose in just half a day was considerable. But since her son had already proposed, and Lin Jiaxue was also there, she didn’t want to be seen as being money-grubbing.
Seeing this, Tang Qing quickly signaled to Lin Jiaxue, who instantly recognized what he meant and smiled.
After being persuaded by Tang Qing and Lin Jiaxue, Father Tang and Mother Tang decided to stop doing business that afternoon. They wanted to spend quality time at home with their children. They hadn’t seen their son and Lin Jiaxue for a few months, and there was a lot they wanted to tell them. Especially since their son’s grades had increased drastically, jumping to the top position in his grade. It all felt like a dream to Father Tang and Mother Tang.
They had a good understanding of their son’s performance beforehand. They thought it would be good enough if he could get into a university, but now it seems attending Tsinghua University or Peking University would be no problem. As for the two children’s plans to enroll at Fudan, their aunt had already told them. Although in their eyes Fudan is not as famous as the universities in Beijing, they naturally supported it since their son and daughter-in-law liked it.
At noon, Tang Qing’s family ate out. They found a decent restaurant and ordered a few good dishes. Mother Tang asked Lin Jiaxue a lot of questions, while Father Tang chatted with Tang Qing about ordinary family life and asked about Uncle Li Jianguo’s family. They already knew that Qin Yugang had been promoted to the chief of the police station, but they had no intention of curry favor, they weren’t those kinds of people. They were simply happy for their nephew.
After lunch, Tang Qing’s group returned to their long-abandoned home.
Then, indeed, it was Tang Qing’s turn to taste some bitterness. Previously, at both the Lin’s and Snow’s residences, he was a guest; all the cooking was done by Lin Jiaxue and Mother Lin. He and Lin’s father casually sat around drinking tea and watching TV. But when he was back at Tang’s house, Tang Qing turned into the host. Under his mother’s coercion, he naturally took over the household chores. He reckoned that his aunt must have mentioned his good cooking skills on the phone, and he once again ended up splendidly taking charge of the kitchen, while his mother pulled Lin Jiaxue with her to watch TV in the living room with Father Tang.
Tang Qing shook his head and bitterly smiled, thinking ’only a mother would do this’.
What could he say about it? He just got to work.
During dinner, Tang Qing deliberately leaked the news about his shares at Li Jianguo’s restaurant, as it would facilitate many things later on.
