Chapter 9

“What’s next?”

Ye Changyuan looked around nervously.

“Of course you have to shout when you’re selling things, otherwise people won’t know what you’re doing.”

Ye Xiaoxiao had never done this before, but a penny saved is a penny earned. She wasn’t afraid of embarrassment for the sake of making money.

“Selling…” Ye Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, “Selling seeds and popcorn! The perfect combination for watching movies!”

Sure enough, it was pitch black all around, and people could only notice them if they shouted.

Ye Xiaoxiao’s few shouts were effective.

Soon, a young couple walked over. The man asked generously what it was.

“Stir-fried seeds and popcorn. People in the city eat them when they watch movies.” Ye Xiaoxiao untied the sack and showed them.

The girl said, “Yes, I saw people selling them by the cinema when I went to the county last time.”

The man, “How much?”

“A dime per serving. We don’t need to weigh them, we’ll give you a full enamel mug for each.”

Ye Xiaoxiao introduced softly.

Look, you’re going to be charmed to death!

The amount of seeds and popcorn wasn’t much, but the price was cheap.

The man didn’t hesitate and said, “Give us two servings.”

“Okay.”

Ye Xiaoxiao took the enamel mugs and filled them to the brim. Then she said, “If it’s inconvenient for you, we have newspapers here. We can pack them in a box for you to hold.”

This small place, where have they seen such thoughtful service?

The girl also said shyly, “It’s good to hold.”

Ye Xiaoxiao folded a paper box with the cut newspaper and packed it for them. They happily handed over two dimes.

Ye Changyuan widened his eyes, “Xiaoxiao, someone actually bought it.”

Ye Xiaoxiao put the money away, “Of course. Just watch, this is just the beginning of our business today.”

With the first sale, the rest was easy.

Knowing what they were selling, people came over to ask the price. If they thought it was reasonable, they would pay and buy.

Some people wanted to haggle, “Can I buy only the seeds for five cents?”

Ye Xiaoxiao smiled and explained, “We’re a small business, we don’t sell separately. Big brother, don’t make things difficult for us.”

“I don’t like popcorn.”

“Our popcorn has plenty of sugar. If you don’t like it, you can take it home for your wife and children. They’ll be happy.”

The person who asked didn’t get angry after hearing this. Instead, they were a little happy. Yes… spending five cents more to make your family happy, who wouldn’t be happy?

The man paid for a serving without hesitation.

After he left, Ye Changyuan asked, “Xiaoxiao, why can’t we sell separately?”

Ye Xiaoxiao put the money away, “It’s mainly for easy calculation. And doing business is about principles. We can’t set a precedent. If someone buys separately, those who buy together will feel like they’re at a loss, and it’s not good if they start arguing.”

Ye Changyuan, “Xiaoxiao, you’re so smart.”

After the business took off, more and more people came to buy seeds and popcorn. Watching movies and eating snacks even became a kind of status symbol.

Those who didn’t buy felt like something was missing when they saw others eating.

After asking the price, they realized it was only a dime, making them feel even more worthwhile.

Some children cried and begged for popcorn. Their parents had no choice but to bring them to buy some.

More and more people gathered around the small stall, and the three of them were almost too busy.

Ye Changsheng was in charge of collecting money, Ye Xiaoxiao folded paper boxes and watched over the goods, and Ye Changyuan was in charge of weighing and packing.

A sack of seeds was quickly emptied, and the popcorn was sold even faster. It took up a lot of space, but there wasn’t much of it.

“We should have prepared more.”

Ye Changyuan regretted it.

Although Ye Changsheng was silent and pursed his lips, his eyes also showed regret.

They sold out all their goods so quickly, beyond everyone’s expectations.

“It’s our first day, we don’t have any experience.”

Ye Xiaoxiao stomped her numb feet. She finally experienced a little bit of the joy of working hard to get rich.

Ye Changyuan said with annoyance, “There won’t be another time. We’ll have to wait ten days or half a month.”

“It shouldn’t be too far from here to the nearby villages. As long as it’s not too far, we can go there.”

Of course, if it was a closed-off village like Baishi Village, they wouldn’t be able to go.

“That’s right! We can go to the county. It’s only two hours from here to the county.” Ye Changyuan said excitedly, “And the county has a movie every two or three days. It’s much busier than here.”

Ye Xiaoxiao: “…”

Two hours wasn’t far, but it was definitely closer than Baishi Village. After all, this was a town.

But she didn’t recommend going to the county to sell, because to tempt people in the city, they had to come up with something more advanced.

The movie wasn’t even halfway through, and Ye Xiaoxiao and the others had already sold out everything.

If it were normal, Ye Changyuan, who loved to play, would be more interested in watching the movie, but now he just wanted to go home and count the money.

“Let’s go back. It’s freezing outside.”

Ye Xiaoxiao also wanted to see their earnings for the day.

After going home, the three of them found a flashlight and turned it on.

Songlin Town had electricity, but it wasn’t available to every household. The area where Grandpa Miao lived didn’t have electric lights installed yet.

So, it was very dark at night, and they had to be careful when walking.

Now that they had the dim light of the flashlight, they could finally see the amount of money.

They took out the dimes and put them on the kang. Ye Xiaoxiao counted the whole yuan, and Ye Changsheng counted the five-fen coins.

In the end, they had thirteen yuan and fifty cents in dimes and nine yuan and eighty cents in five-fen coins, adding up to twenty-three yuan and three cents.

In this small county, that was about a month’s salary for a factory worker.

And this… was just their first day’s earnings.

“We earned a year’s worth of tuition in one day…”

Ye Changyuan felt like he had opened the door to a new world.

Ye Xiaoxiao put the money away and explained to her two brothers, “This money is our capital. When we stop at the end of the year, we’ll split it, okay?”

Changyuan, “No problem. Whatever Xiaoxiao says is what we do.”

Ye Changsheng’s expression was complicated. He actually knew that the family’s situation was not good. Although his parents never said it in front of everyone, he had heard their private conversations. When his sister, Yan Yan, left the house, she took all the family’s three hundred yuan savings.

He had been a little worried and concerned about Yan Yan’s departure, but now he didn’t feel anything.

Since she wanted to pursue a better future, he wouldn’t stop her. They would just be strangers from now on.

Ye Changyuan, “Are we going to continue tomorrow?”

Ye Xiaoxiao, “Of course.”

“Then I’ll go out and ask where the next movie is.”

Ye Changyuan excitedly ran out.

Ye Changsheng looked at Ye Xiaoxiao and asked, “Why are you so eager to make money?”

“Why? Of course it’s because we need money. Who doesn’t want to live a good life?”

Ye Xiaoxiao didn’t reveal the series of unfortunate events that would happen to this family. She believed that things would gradually get better.

Ye Changsheng didn’t ask further. He silently put things away and made plans for what they needed to prepare for tomorrow.

Ye Changyuan came back with Grandpa Miao. He had found out that the next movie was in the neighboring village of Daliushu, not far from here. It was only half an hour’s walk from here to the village where the movie was showing.

Ye Changyuan, “We should prepare more tomorrow.”

Ye Changsheng, “We don’t have that many seeds at home.”

“It seems like you guys did well today. Seeds are everywhere. If you want more, ask the neighbors on the front and back streets if they have some to sell. They shouldn’t be too expensive.”

Grandpa Miao watched the children busy themselves with a smile, and he also offered suggestions.

“Grandpa is right, I’ll go ask tomorrow.” Ye Xiaoxiao was full of enthusiasm, “We’ll roast the seeds at home tomorrow. Thank you, Grandpa.”

Miao Fengshan, “Hehe, seeing you guys so energetic, Grandpa doesn’t feel tired at all.”