Manager Yang fell silent, and Xie Sui also remained quiet, waiting for him to gather his thoughts. He no longer had his usual glib, mercenary air; instead, he exuded a newfound steadiness and composure, instilling a sense of trust and reliability.
Agile, willing to humble himself, ambitious, and bold – this was Manager Yang's impression of Xie Sui.
"Manager Yang, this manager position you hold now, have you never thought about your future?"
Xie Sui offered him another cigarette and began his persuasion – no, his painting of a grand vision – no, that's not right either, he was showing Manager Yang a path to a brighter future.
"What do you mean?"
Who in a position of authority wouldn't want to be promoted? While 'manager' sounded good, there was still the station chief above him, and advancement was as difficult as ascending to heaven. In a collective economy, nothing mattered more than merit.
"The grain station might be easy, but it's a dead end. If you could earn some merit, wouldn't that open up opportunities for a different position?
If nothing else, I can help you generate revenue, Manager Yang. The village's special products need to be turned into money. If the economy picks up, the villagers' lives will improve, and they'll be grateful to you. When your superiors see your efforts, they'll certainly be willing to promote you. If you just stay put here, to be honest, you'll only be waiting for retirement and a pension."
"At your age, you have both the seniority and the capability. Are you willing to let go of the next few decades for a meager pension?"
Manager Yang chuckled, "You rascal, just tell me what you need my help with. The production line is definitely out, I don't have that kind of authority."
"We've collected some scorpions and cicada molts at home. Can we sell them to our county's Traditional Chinese Medicine station?"
"That's easily done. Both are always in high demand. I know the head of the TCM station. Go there and mention my name, he'll give you a good price and won't cheat you."
"Thank you, Uncle Yang, you truly are my benefactor. I still want the production line, please keep an eye out for it. I'll be going now; I'll visit you again next time."
"Alright, off you go then."
Manager Yang was amused and exasperated. He was being called 'Uncle' again by this sly young man!
With Manager Yang's introduction, the TCM station offered a high price of four yuan per jin for the scorpions. The cicada molts were even more valuable, at ten yuan per jin. However, they were so light that a bag weighed less than a jin, selling for eight yuan and ninety cents.
Still, Xie Sui had used child labor, so his costs were negligible, it was like finding money.
Finally, only the canned peaches remained. Zhang Wenfeng was at his wit's end; the supply and marketing cooperative wouldn't accept canned goods without labels!
Their shelf life was only two days, and if they couldn't sell them, they'd have to be discarded.
Xie Sui carefully tucked the money into his clothes, along with the earnings from the grain. It amounted to over three hundred yuan, a considerable sum in those times.
"Let's go to the primary school entrance. They should be finishing classes around now."
The county's primary and middle schools were on the same street, with over a thousand children. As soon as the dismissal bell rang, they poured out like birds released from a cage.
"Canned peaches, yellow peach preserves, three for fifty cents, selling cheap!"
Xie Sui expertly hawked his wares, attracting the attention of the children. The golden peaches, with each piece containing about a quarter of a peach, were not expensive at three for fifty cents.
"Uncle, how much for one? Three is too many, I don't have that much money."
"Two cents. I'll add a little syrup. It's very cheap."
In those days, there were no strict rules. He used two bowls, poured out enough syrup for two servings, added a piece of canned peach, and two cents was indeed a good deal.
"Okay, I'll take two cents worth."
"Alright, Wenfeng, get to work."
The children who attended school here were all from well-off families; they all had pocket money of three to five cents. There were even more middle school students, some of whom bought a whole bottle directly.
The two of them worked up a sweat, with a crowd surrounding their stall. In less than half an hour, all the remaining canned peaches were sold.
Xie Sui's throat was parched. He drank half a pot of water to recover.
"That was insane, all I saw were hands, like they were going to tear me apart."
Zhang Wenfeng was still a little shaken, as he cleaned up the empty cans, which could be reused at home. He had one dime left.
"As expected, children and women are the easiest to make money from. These canned peaches were no challenge for you, Brother Xie? You could sell anything if you knew how to do it."
"Brother Xie is amazing."
Zhang Wenfeng gave him a thumbs-up, genuinely impressed.
"Hey, who are you two talking to? Who let you set up a stall here? Don't you know this is private property? You're not allowed here next time, or I'll flip your stall." A Sudian Novel website was mentioned.
While they were celebrating, the small grocery store owner was not happy. All the children's money had been spent on their canned peaches, so they wouldn't be buying candy from her. How was she supposed to make money?
"I'm so sorry, sister, for disturbing your business. How well do you think my canned peaches sold?"
The woman at the grocery store was over thirty. Xie Sui smiled ingratiatingly; he was good-looking and spoke sweetly, which softened her anger somewhat. "You sold them all, so what do you think? Did they sell well?"
"Then, sister, would you like to do this business?"
The woman's eyes lit up, and her face instantly broke into a smile. "It's a hot day, come in and have some water."
Her mood changed as quickly as flipping a page, as the saying goes.
"Thank you for your hospitality, sister."
When Xie Sui came out again, he had gained a new business partner. This woman, named Hu Lan'er, became the first distributor for his canned peaches.
Zhang Wenfeng stared, dumbfounded. "So from now on, we'll give her the canned peaches to sell, and we won't have to sell them ourselves, right?"
"Exactly. We'll give her a two-cent profit per piece. We'll save time and labor, it's quite worthwhile. However, we have to deliver them once a day. We absolutely cannot sell anything that's been kept overnight; if anyone gets sick, our business will be ruined."
Xie Sui reminisced about jelly from his previous life. The business he was currently engaged in was essentially the precursor to jelly, but without packaging, it was entirely handmade.
Thinking of jelly, Xie Sui smacked his forehead. "I can make that right now! How did I not think of it?"
All the goods on the mule cart had been sold. The two of them ate two large bowls of noodles at Majia's noodle stall to fill their stomachs, and then went to the county hospital.
Huzi had already had his surgery and was in good spirits, pestering Xie Lan for snacks. Xie Lan tried to soothe him, saying they had already spent so much on his treatment, where would they get the money for candy?
"Sister, is Huzi feeling better?"
Xie Sui came in. Huzi turned his face away, not wanting to look at him or call out to him. His uncle was too mean; he had tricked him out of his New Year's money before.
"You child, quickly call out to your uncle."
"It's alright. It's just the candy and pastries I bought. Some people might not want them, after all."
"Uncle, I want candy. Even Gousheng gets brown sugar water when he's sick. I have nothing, and I'm eating corn porridge, I'm so pitiful."
Xie Sui smiled. Children's thoughts were so simple; when they were sick, they wanted to eat good food, and some even deliberately got sick just to eat something nice and get their parents' sympathy.
"We'll have to ask the doctor. If the doctor says it's okay, then we'll eat, alright?"
Of course, Xie Sui hadn't come empty-handed. He laid out a table full of canned peaches, candies, pastries, brown sugar, and even some eggs.
"Xiao Sui, why are you wasting money like this? The child is just craving sweets, a little coaxing is enough. This is too much."
Xie Lan was distressed. She hadn't slept well at night, worrying about the remaining medical expenses. What if they refused to treat him?