Chapter Twelve Making Money

  In three more days, the weather was fine and dry, and the bean sprouts had grown well under careful care.

  Early in the morning, Zhao Juan and Li Shu had already boarded the tractor to go to the town. At this time, Song Jie was still sleeping soundly in her bed, completely unaware that she missed the opportunity to witness the family's first bucket of gold being earned.

  The bean sprouts were all piled up in a large bamboo basket, and the first time two people had sent out 50 kilograms of green beans, which grew into 200 kilograms of bean sprouts. The two of them struggled to carry the big frame to the vegetable market.

  As the year-end approaches, more and more people are flocking to the market. However, the vegetable market is not as lively as the cloth market. After finding an empty stall to stand at, the two of them were already drenched in sweat.

  They set up their stall and both of them were at a loss for a while. Neither of them had any experience in doing business, what to do now...

  "Hey, take a look, take a look! Fresh bean sprouts, if not fresh, no charge! Come and buy quickly, one yuan per kilogram, cheap!"

  Watching Aunt Li's scolding, Zhao Juan still stood aside with a red face and couldn't open her mouth, after all she was still young and had thin skin.

  Auntie Li didn't mind, and said to her: "You're young and thin-skinned, when the person comes later you help find the money, I was like that before too, it gets better with age." Zhao Juan still looked very embarrassed, unable to open her mouth.

  In a short while, a crowd of people gathered around. An elderly aunt asked: "Why is the vegetable you're selling so expensive? Pork costs only 20 cents per catty, with that price I can buy half a catty of meat, it's too expensive, lower the price."

  "This is a good opportunity, Aunt Li introduced: "Everyone, don't be stingy. This bean sprout is the first batch here, who doesn't buy some new goods for the New Year? Spend a few more dollars to buy some fresh vegetables, when guests come home, who won't praise you? Everyone just wants to have a good New Year, why care about one or two cents? Come and buy quickly, once sold out, there will be no more, come and buy quickly."

  Every year-end is the time to spend money on New Year's goods. After working hard for a year, isn't the money earned just for having a good New Year? Although it's reluctant to part with the money, it's not too expensive, and buying some dishes back home is still worthwhile.

  At first, the two were afraid that the fixed price was too expensive and no one would buy it. The cabbage was only 2 cents a pound. Unexpectedly, they underestimated the purchasing power of the masses. As soon as they heard there were only so many, they started scrambling for them. No one cared about spending more money during the New Year.

  Li aunt weighed, Zhao Juan collected money. Everyone you three pounds, I five pounds, in a short while it was all snatched up, the two were busy and couldn't even wipe the sweat from their foreheads.

  In less than an hour, the bean sprouts were sold out. Some people who didn't get any were unhappy and asked when they would come again. The two of them could only say that they would come back in a few days.

  At this time, Li Shu and Zhao Juan both couldn't believe it, but the bulging wallet told them that this was no longer a dream.

  Business is so good, it's a pity not to do more. They went to buy some green beans again and hurried back home.

  It was already noon, and the two of them arrived at Aunt Li's house. They didn't even have time to cook lunch, and they started counting the money. One yuan could buy three kilograms of green beans, and there were fifty kilograms in total, so the cost was one point seven yuan.

  More than 200 catties of bean sprouts, one mao per catty, sold for a total of 21 yuan and 2 mao, making a profit of almost 20 yuan. What a huge profit! The two people stared at each other, taking a long time to come back to their senses.

  Li Shu's husband, De Zhu, returned home and saw that no one was cooking in the kitchen. This had never happened before. He went to the inner room and found two people sitting around a pile of money, staring blankly.

  What's going on? "Cough, cough, cough" Zhang Dezhou's sudden coughing fit woke them up from their beautiful dream. The two of them were startled and then came back to their senses, seeing that it was the male owner of this place, they let out a sigh of relief.

  "What's going on? Why hasn't anyone cooked dinner?" Zhang Dezhou asked in puzzlement. Something wasn't right.

  Aunt Li was so excited that she spoke incoherently and told the whole story again.

  "What? Earned twenty bucks?" Zhang Dezhou hurriedly covered his mouth after speaking loudly, but his eyes were still wide with incredulity.

  These two women, Dou Yun and Zhang Dezhong, knew that they wouldn't succeed. They were just lucky to break even, but unexpectedly they made so much money, equivalent to half a year's worth of his salary... this is just unbelievable.

  The pile of IOUs on the table told him that all this was real, he pinched himself hard, hey! It really f**king hurts.

  Let his daughter-in-law tell the whole story in detail, and Zhang Dezhu was also shocked. Originally, he looked down on these old ladies' households, thinking that they could do anything. Heh, unexpectedly, they really succeeded.

  After all, he is an elderly person with a high seniority, and has experienced many things.

  Zhang Dezhu quickly came to his senses and instructed Li Shu and Zhao Juan: "Making money is a good thing, but you must not mention it to anyone. Although the crackdown on speculation has eased, we still need to be cautious. Even if the villagers find out, it's not necessarily a good thing, so let's just quietly get rich. Also, don't sell this dish after New Year's. When people see you making money, they're not blind, and there will definitely be followers. If you continue to make it, I estimate you won't be able to sell many, and the price will definitely drop."

  Ginger is still spicy, a basin of cold water poured over the two boiling people. The two listened to that speech very reasonable, and couldn't help but nodded. Making money is good, but getting into those troubles is unnecessary.

  "You understand now, we only make money once or twice. So it's still about quantity over quality, I'll help you guys out and do more, we can quietly earn back a lot of money." As he said this, Zhang Dezhou's mouth curled up into a smile.

  The two people beside him also looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  Talk is cheap, after dinner, several people quickly picked and cleaned the bean sprouts, moistened them with warm water and placed them on the kang. Because there were too many raw bean sprouts, they even occupied half of the kang where people slept. However, no one felt resentful, these are all white money.

  Song Jie took one look at the situation and knew that they must have made a profit. She didn't ask how much money they had made, although she was very curious, but her original intention had been achieved. In fact, if she really wanted to calculate it, she could just count how many green beans they had bought.

  These days, the whole family is filled with a joyful atmosphere. Those who don't know think it's because of the upcoming New Year that they're so happy. Only they themselves know what's going on, and they can secretly enjoy it.

  A few days later, the bean sprouts were sold out and they produced more than 500 catties of green beans and over 2,000 catties of bean sprouts. Adding to what was produced in previous days, there were a total of 2,500 catties of bean sprouts. Everyone had made a fortune overnight.

  Zhang Dezhu was very prestigious in the village. He borrowed a tractor and pulled the bean sprouts to the market before dawn, occupying a good position.

  It's already the 27th of the twelfth lunar month. Almost everyone has come out to shop at the market, and the number of people buying vegetables has suddenly become the largest.

  Before long, the crowd was swarming with people. Looking around in all directions, it turned out that two other families had also started selling bean sprouts, but their quantities were too small to compete with them.