Chapter 12 I Want to Sell Tofu

  Qiu's mother led the girl with her left hand, while using her body and right hand to hold an iron basin containing tofu dregs on their way back home.

  "Mom, why don't you make more tofu?" Qi's mother now only makes five blocks of tofu every day, four of which are given to the teachers' college, and the rest are left outside the tofu shop, waiting for the teachers' family members to exchange them for soybeans. One kilogram of tofu is exchanged for 0.6 kilograms of soybeans. Sometimes Qi's mother would keep one block for the children to improve their diet.

  "What's the point of doing so much, we can't eat it all and can't exchange it for anything else either. It's not like winter is coming and making more would be a waste." Qiu Ma doesn't think there's anything wrong with this now, but Qiu Ye knows that in her past life, her mother had complained to her countless times after she grew up, if only people had so many ideas back then and knew how to adapt, they could have made extra tofu and sold it outside to earn a lot of money.

  You have to know that it's the 80s now, a time when goods are extremely scarce. It's already May and soon will be June, but at home we're still eating potatoes that have sprouted. It's not just because my family is poor, but also because in this era, there aren't many small vendors, so even if you want to buy good food, there's no one selling it.

  This tofu sells even less because it's not easy to store, if it can't be sold out on the same day, no one will buy it the next day, and if it still can't be sold, it will go bad, so now people who make tofu would rather make less, they can't make too much that won't sell.

  Qiu Ye knew that not far from his home, there was a street similar to the commercial streets of later generations. However, it didn't have the high-rise buildings of later times, just a few flat houses with several restaurants opened in them. At noon, some nearby farmers spontaneously organized a small market selling daily necessities, pork, eggs, bean sprouts and so on. The prices were much higher than those at the public houses and grain stores. Qiu's mother never went there to buy things, saying that buying things there was too costly.

  In her old age, Qiu's mother regretted that she had missed the opportunity and failed to catch up with the first wave of getting rich.

  Qiu Ye felt that since she had been reborn, she had a responsibility to help her mother avoid doing things she would regret.

  "Mom, let's make more tofu and sell it outside. That way, when we have money, you can buy meat for me and my brother to eat. Okay?" Qiu Ye tried her best to speak in a childish tone, which was really hard for her since she was already 35 years old.

  Qiu's mother felt heartbroken when she heard her daughter say that. Her family was not well off, and it was hard for the children to even get a bite of meat. But what could they do? The burden at home was heavy, with her husband's family and her own mother relying on them for support every month. As a housewife, she didn't earn much, and although their daughter wouldn't have to pay tuition fees when she started school, there were still other expenses like books that needed to be paid for. Every little bit counted, and even if they had some money saved up, they didn't dare touch it in case of emergencies. Usually, every month, they could only save a little by cutting back on their own food.

  "Girl, don't you know that nowadays everyone exchanges beans for tofu to eat? Who spends money to buy it? We make so much tofu and exchange it for so many soybeans, what's the use of that? Are you going to ask your mom to sell the soybeans?"

  "Mom, why don't we take the tofu to that market on Central Street and sell it? People who go there to buy vegetables can't all be carrying soybeans to buy things, right? If they want to eat tofu, they'll have to pay for it." There was actually a tofu vendor on Central Street in my previous life, but it seemed to be a year later.

  "You're talking nonsense, your father and mother are both working, where do they have the time to sell tofu? Are you going to do it? If you're not afraid of being laughed at, then mom might consider it." At that time, everyone looked down on small business owners, whoever did a small trade, people would point fingers behind their backs. Now Qiu's mother also thinks this way.

  In my previous life, there was a classmate in Qiuye Elementary School whose family was like this. This classmate also had a twin brother, and his mother was a relative who set up a small stall at the school gate to earn some money, usually selling popsicles, stickers, and snacks. In school, classmates in the same class wouldn't play with this boy, saying that his mother did business and their family wasn't decent.

  Qiu's mother is now thinking this way, deliberately letting Qiu Ye think that she doesn't dare to go out and sell, so she won't have such thoughts again.

  But the Qiu Ye now is not the 8-year-old Qiu Ye, she has no shame in selling things, how normal it is in the 21st century, you buy I sell, you are willing I am willing, fair trade, each takes what they need, so she happily says: "Mom, are you telling the truth? Are you really letting me go sell? That's great, Mom, you're too good."

  Qiu Ye pulled her mother over and kissed her on the face, but she herself didn't know how to persuade her mother to let her go sell things. Her mother proactively brought it up, this is really a case of sleeping and having someone deliver pillows.

  But she saw her mother's face was a bit stiff, so she quickly added another sentence: "Mom, you're not fooling me, are you?"

  Qiu's mother was a bit unnatural with her own daughter's little eyes glancing at her, the words were spoken by herself, but she really didn't expect her daughter to agree.

  "How could Mom cheat you?" Qiu's mother said, looking at her daughter's relieved expression, and then continued: "But, as I just said, the soybeans are fixed. If Mom sells all the tofu, Mom won't have any beans to make tofu for the cafeteria, that means Mom will be in breach of contract and have to pay a large sum of money to the cafeteria." Can't directly say no, can only find other excuses.

  "It's okay, mom. After making tofu, you can take some to the tofu workshop and exchange it for soybeans with others. Moreover, on the way to Central Street, we have to pass through a building district, where we can also sell some and exchange tofu for soybeans." Qiu Ye said, imagining this beautiful future.

  "Heh heh, silly girl, what's the point of exchanging so many soybeans? We can't even eat that much at home. Don't waste your time, in three months you'll be going to school, if you have time, focus on reviewing the math and characters your dad taught you, that's more important than anything."

  "Who says I'm messing around? If we had more soybeans, we could make more tofu. Then we can use some of the tofu to exchange for more soybeans and continue making tofu, and sell the rest to earn money."

  "Girl, have you thought about it? If mom makes too much tofu and can't sell it, what's going to happen? The tofu won't keep for long, overnight it'll be unsellable. Are we supposed to eat the leftovers ourselves? We can't finish them either. In the end, the spoiled ones will have to be thrown away, and our family will lose money." Qiu Ma tried to explain to the girl that making tofu isn't a 100% profitable business, otherwise there wouldn't be anyone selling tofu at the market now, they all think like Qiu Ma.

  Now every unit has its own tofu-making place, just like mom's, making a little more every day, and exchanging it at the door of the house. No one dares to make too much, take it out to sell, and be afraid that it won't sell out, and finally go bad.

  "Mom, our family has the advantage of having a convenient condition, how can we lose money? Think about it, where does Dad work? It's in the cold storage. If our tofu doesn't sell out, we can let Dad take it to the cold storage at night and freeze it, then we can sell frozen tofu tomorrow. And now with this weather, no one else is selling frozen tofu, so our family will be the only one, definitely a best-seller."

  Qiu Ye had already thought about this problem just now, she felt that given her parents' work environment, if they didn't make money from selling tofu, it would be a waste of the advantageous conditions provided by heaven. Finally, she said to her mom in a pretentious tone: "Before doing things, we need to think with our brains, isn't this what Dad always teaches us?"

  As a result, mom had a stroke.

  Qiu's mother also fell silent after listening to the girl's words and no longer opposed her, because the method the girl mentioned was actually feasible upon careful consideration.

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