Chapter 32 Gu, Gu Yunze?

“My name is Zhao Lan.”

Zhao Lan introduced herself while eating cold noodles, not caring whether Jiang Yiyi wanted to know or not.

“Consider yourself lucky, your brother. I ran out after arguing with Qin Gang at noon today. You know what? Qin Gang secretly sold my motorcycle…”

At this point, Zhao Lan became even angrier, taking several large bites, her words slurred, “I thought we were already a family, but he didn’t treat me like one at all. I was really blind to have been with him.”

“Not blind, but foolish.”

Jiang Yiyi retorted without hesitation.

“You…”

Zhao Lan wanted to show some backbone and throw the cold noodles in Jiang Yiyi’s face. Why was she foolish? Qin Gang was handsome and wealthy; it was perfectly normal for her to like him.

“Jiang Yiyi, I’m pregnant, can’t you just humor me a little?”

“No!”

Zhao Lan choked, then ate several more large bites of cold noodles.

“I know you look down on me. That’s because you haven’t met a man you’d do anything for. When you do, you might be even more reckless than me.”

Jiang Yiyi remained noncommittal.

After eating two servings, Zhao Lan patted her belly contentedly. She wanted to talk to Jiang Yiyi some more; since being with Qin Gang, she had cut off contact with everyone, and usually had no one to talk to.

But Jiang Yiyi wasn’t interested. “I’ll take you back.”

Zhao Lan didn’t want to leave.

“My older sister will be back soon.”

Thinking of her threat to Gu Yunchi that day, Zhao Lan reluctantly got up. Jiang Yiyi sent her to a point not far from the alley and let her walk back herself.

Gu Yunchi didn’t return until three o’clock. Knowing that Gu Yunyang had gone out to play without telling the family, he scolded him again.

Tiantian and Yueyue hadn’t seen their mother for more than a day. They wanted to run into their mother’s arms to act cute, but seeing their mother scolding Gu Yunyang, they didn’t dare to approach.

After Gu Yunchi finished scolding him, they took their small steps and ran over, throwing themselves into Gu Yunchi’s arms.

Gu Yunchi kissed each child’s face. “Have you been well-behaved?”

“Yes.”

The two little ones answered in unison.

Gu Yunchi kissed them again, holding them in her arms, and looked at Jiang Yiyi. “Sister-in-law, I took fifty orders today, starting tomorrow.”

“I also took an order, at least two hundred a day, and the quantity will increase in the future. After you finish eating, I’ll teach you bookkeeping. You can do it when I’m busy.”

Gu Yunchi graduated from junior high school; learning bookkeeping shouldn’t be difficult.

“Okay.”

She was now full of energy, and she would learn anything Jiang Yiyi asked her to.

Two or three days later, Aunt Qi and Aunt Ma joined in. Gu Yunchi went home with Jiang Yiyi every night. Jiang Yiyi taught her bookkeeping and management. They came early the next day, each with a tricycle, selling and promoting, and the sales of cold noodles increased day by day.

During this period, Cui Yong and Brother Liu also introduced several relatives to sell cold noodles, and Wu Gang also brought many orders, even the state-owned restaurant increased to one hundred servings.

The county market was completely opened.

Jiang Yiyi’s thoughts of opening a workshop in the city became more active, especially since Meng Fan’s orders had also increased dramatically, now requiring eight hundred servings a day, with a growing trend; it was only early June.

June, July, and August were the peak seasons for eating cold noodles, and the demand would be even greater.

She decided to go to the city first to see how Meng Fan operated so she could make plans for the future.

“Do you have to go?”

Gu’s mother wasn’t trying to stop her, but she was worried; it was unsafe for Jiang Yiyi to go out alone.

“Mr. Meng called the other day saying he had already opened up a lot of markets, and he needs to replenish his stock at any time. We can’t lose this big client, I need to go and discuss how to cooperate in the future.”

Jiang Yiyi didn’t mention opening a workshop there; she would decide after inspecting the city.

“Let Yunchi go with you.”

“No, it’s only a two-hour drive. I’ll go early in the morning and come back early in the afternoon after the discussion.”

Gu’s mother was still uneasy and gave her many more instructions.

Jiang Yiyi agreed to them all. The next morning, she took some cold noodles and took the early bus to the city.

She called Meng Fan in advance, and Meng Fan came to the station to pick her up personally. His hunch was right; the cold noodles were indeed selling very well, but after summer, no one would eat them. He also wanted to make more money during this time. If Jiang Yiyi didn’t come, he was going to find her.

Meng Fan did wholesale, buying at 20 cents and selling at 22 cents, making a net profit of 2 cents per serving. The profit margin was small, but the volume was substantial.

“I’m here to do some research, and once I’m done, I’ll open a workshop here. Then you’ll have whatever quantity you want, whenever you want.”

Meng Fan was overjoyed and personally took her to do the research.

They didn’t finish the research until nightfall. Jiang Yiyi asked Meng Fan to call Manager Huang and ask him to send someone to tell her family that she wouldn’t be back today.

The next day, Jiang Yiyi didn’t let Meng Fan accompany her and did her own research for a day. On the third day, she made a decision. “Mr. Meng, I will open a workshop here as soon as possible, and the quantity will be much larger then, and you might not be able to handle it all. But you developed part of this market, and I can’t burn bridges. I have two cooperation plans: one is that you become the general agent, and no matter how much my workshop produces, I’ll wholesale it to you; the second is that you divide an area, and I’ll bring people to run the market myself.”

Meng Fan thought for a moment. The city market was large, and he couldn’t handle it all. “The second one.”

“Okay, please help me rent a yard, one that can accommodate people, at least five rooms. I’ll go back and recruit people and open the workshop as soon as possible.”

“I’ll get back to you within three days.”

…

Jiang Yiyi brought a lot of money with her, thinking that if she had time, she would go to the department store to buy clothes for her family. It was just past noon, and it was still early for the last bus, so she went to the department store. On the second floor, she saw a dress on display that she liked very much. She asked the saleswoman to take it down and try it on. It fit perfectly, so she bought it.

She loved wearing dresses, but it was inconvenient to wear them while riding a tricycle every day.

She bought dresses for Tiantian, Yueyue, and Gu Yuncan, a pair of shoes for Gu Yunyang, and clothes for Gu’s mother and Gu Yunchi.

She bought without hesitation, completely unaware that two pairs of eyes were on her, or rather, on her money.

After buying everything, Jiang Yiyi left the department store. The department store was not far from the station, and Jiang Yiyi didn’t take the bus; she carried her things and walked to the station.

The owners of the two pairs of eyes followed her closely. As she was about to reach the bus station, the two exchanged glances and quickened their pace. The one on the left bumped into Jiang Yiyi, and the one on the right took her money.

Having succeeded, the two quickened their pace and walked away.

Jiang Yiyi keenly sensed something was wrong and reached into her pocket, but there was no money left. She threw the clothes in her hand at one of them.

The person was hit and turned around to glare at her fiercely. “You bitch, you’re asking for it!”

“Give me back my money, or I’ll call for help!”

“You dare!”

The two turned and approached her. “You’re asking for it…”

“Catch…”

A green bag flew from the side, hitting one of them. Then a green figure also flew forward, kicking the other person down, pressing him down, and unbuttoning his undershirt to tie his hands behind his back. Then he dragged him and tied the other one up in the same way.

It was so cool, just like in the movies. Jiang Yiyi almost had stars in her eyes. Seeing the man carrying the two thieves towards her, she quickly thanked him. “Thank…”

Wait, that face looked familiar.

It seemed to overlap with someone in her memories.

“Gu, Gu Yunze?”