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Chapter 509: Chapter 498 Starting with a Bang
That afternoon, after Shen Yunfang finished school, she picked up her two children and went straight to the courtyard house.
"Yunfang, school’s out, we’ve been waiting for you, hurry and bring the kids to wash their hands, it’s time to eat." As soon as Wang Da Nai saw Shen Yunfang had returned, she hurriedly called everyone to set the table for dinner.
"Alright, got it," Shen Yunfang responded loudly and then grabbed her own two kids who were eager to go play with their cousins, to wash their hands. Bringing Da Shuan and his wife over with Wang Da Nai was the right decision, look, now there’s a hot meal waiting when you get home, not like last year when had to cook after coming back.
Jiajia had already prepared warm water for them, "Auntie, time to wash hands."
Shen Yunfang looked at the steam rising from the basin and smiled, "Ah, our Jiajia is such a good girl, you two should learn from your sister, understand?"
Pangpang and Manman giggled as they washed their hands quickly and then rushed inside to find their brothers and sisters to play.
After Shen Yunfang washed her hands, the dining table in the main room was also set up. There were a lot of people this year, eight adults in total, and seven children. One large table simply couldn’t fit everyone, so when everyone was there, they set up two tables in the house, one for the adults and one for the kids.
"How did it go today?" Shen Yunfang asked as soon as she sat down, most concerned about their business that day.
Mu Huazhen blocked the two eager reporters from speaking, turning to ask Shen Yunfang instead, "Guess?"
Wow, even eating needs intelligence now. Shen Yunfang put down her chopsticks and turned her head to look at the couples sitting opposite her, not counting Ma Liguo and his wife. She observed carefully, then smiled and started to pick up her food and eat again.
"Looks like you’ve had a good start today."
"Oh, Yunfang, you really are something else, how could you guess that?" Li Xianglian said in surprise, Yunfang wasn’t there, so how did she know?
"Heh, it’s all written on your faces, do I even need to guess?" Shen Yunfang said with a smile.
Li Xianglian and Da Shuan’s wife both touched their own faces, looking foolish.
"You two blockheads, can’t keep a secret to save your lives. Just look at those grins on your faces, it’s obvious what happened," Wang Da Nai scolded them. These days, the two families got along very well. Li Xianglian and her husband treated Wang Da Nai as they would their own elders, so she didn’t see them as outsiders.
"Haha, that’s better, it’s clear what’s going on at a glance," Mu Huazhen couldn’t help laughing.
Li Xianglian and Da Shuan’s wife exchanged a silent look, questioning each other, "Is it that obvious?"
"Extremely obvious," Liu Jianjun and Da Shuan said in unison.
Laughter erupted around the dinner table once again.
After the laughter and banter, Li Xianglian started discussing serious matters.
"Yunfang, you wouldn’t believe it. Today we made fifty-four dollars in total, much better than our first day of business last year," Li Xianglian recalled how they had only made four or five dollars on their first day last year, and even that had thrilled her. Even so, they made a good amount of money last year, and now the first day this year was ten times better than the first day last year. Based on this, they might earn even more this year.
"That much?" Shen Yunfang was also surprised. They had fireworks this year, so she thought it might be better than last year, but she didn’t expect it to be this much better.
"Exactly, but most of the profit came from selling the small whips and sparklers," Da Shuan explained.
"Here’s thirty-eight yuan and sixty cents, the money from selling firecrackers. Count and see if it’s right," Dashuan’s wife offered a handful of money at the right moment.
Shen Yunfang didn’t take it, "No need to count, sister-in-law. You don’t need to give me the money you earn right away. Just keep it with you, and jot it down in the ledger. We’ll settle up after the harvest."
"Oh, you really think you’re some big landlord now, waiting to settle accounts after the harvest," Mu Huazhen joked with her.
Mu Huazhen was pleased to hear that they had earned so much money on the first day, because this year one could say that she and Ma Liguo had put all their assets into this venture. If they lost money, their family would be set back to square one, so the pressure was indeed heavy.
"That’s right, I’m just sitting here doing nothing and then wait to collect money," Shen Yunfang thought that being a leader should be like this. It didn’t matter whether she had any real skills, as long as she could mobilize these soldiers under her command, and they were willing to work hard and sell their lives for you, then you were successful.
"Hey, talking about it this way, I feel like I also have such good luck," Mu Huazhen pondered. The two of them were indeed just sitting around waiting to collect money.
"Haha, we are both fortunate people."
"I think you two have not only luck but also thick skins. Come on, let’s eat," someone chimed in.
After dinner, the group carefully reviewed today’s sales data.
"It looks like the small firecrackers are the most popular, followed by the ’double kickers’," Ma Liguo summarized.
"You can’t tell much from one day. Let’s wait to see after a couple of days," Shen Yunfang felt that the other two items should sell well too. "However, brother-in-law and Dashuan, you must keep track every day of the goods you take and what you bring back. Don’t think it’s too much hassle; only then can we figure out exactly how much money we’ve made."
"Sure, it’s no hassle," Liu Jianjun shook his head. It was just a matter of counting, what difficulty could there be?
After giving them instructions, Shen Yunfang took her children and Taxue and went home with Ma Liguo and his wife.
In the following two days, Li Xianglian and Dashuan’s wife were all smiles, visibly showing that business was good.
And indeed, it was good. They made more money each day from their stall, and by the third day, they had sold over a hundred yuan worth of goods. How could they not be happy? They would have leaped for joy if they hadn’t been so well-composed.
By mid-January, Shen Yunfang’s school had officially closed for the holiday. She dumped the children at the courtyard house and rode off on a tricycle with Shitou and Shuanzi, and the three of them embarked on market days.
Shen Yunfang didn’t join Li Xianglian and Sister Li in selling goods near home as she felt the four of them there were enough. Adding herself to the mix would be a waste of labor. It was better to try selling in other places instead.
In just these two days, some people had already come to buy in bulk. Shen Yunfang only allowed the sale of couplets and blessing characters in bulk. Firecrackers and such were not for wholesale. Since the stock of firecrackers wasn’t as abundant as the couplets and blessing characters, which could be printed more if sold out, and the profit margin on firecrackers was considerable, she felt her people could handle selling these goods. There was no need to let others earn that money.
"Auntie, where are we headed?" Shuanzi sat on the edge of the tricycle, asking the person riding behind.
Shen Yunfang had made special modifications to the tricycle in order to tour the surrounding areas, cannibalizing their own big ’Golden Deer’ in the process.
"Auntie is taking you to the market," Shen Yunfang pedaled hard. This tricycle carried not only a few dozen pounds of fireworks but also two half-grown children, totaling about two hundred pounds. If Shen Yunfang hadn’t been so strong, she wouldn’t have been able to pedal at all, let alone ride for dozens of miles.
"They have markets here too?" Shuanzi was surprised. He thought only their old home had those big markets. Didn’t the cities all have regular markets or department stores?
"Of course, they do. Besides, the Capital’s outskirts have villages and production teams. We’re heading to one of their markets now."
