Chapter 50

Su Ye ordered 300 boxes from the cardboard factory. The boxes she wanted were different from regular ones, the front of the box had two layers, with a hollow center, allowing Feng An’s artwork for the box cover to be inserted. The boxes had to be sturdy, and the texture of the cardboard had to be fine and smooth, with a tactile feel to it.

Due to her meticulous requirements, the factory took some time to select the right materials and hadn’t finished printing the boxes yet. Su Ye wasn’t in a hurry, so she took 100 pieces of cardboard and sent them to Feng An for painting.

The next day, Su Ye specially gave Feng An a key. “If you don’t have a place to paint, you can come to the No. 1 School.”

The key was for the “Green Factory” practical base, where students usually repair watches and radios. However, as the semester was nearing its end and the students were busy with their entrance exams, the classrooms were empty, making it a perfect space for Feng An to use.

Feng An was overjoyed. If he had a dedicated place to focus on his painting, his speed would indeed improve. On days without classes, he could paint seven or eight pieces, and once he got more skilled, he could easily paint ten to twenty pieces a day. That would mean he could earn five yuan a day, and if he completed all 300 pieces, he would earn 150 yuan!

His heart raced with excitement. This large sum of money was something Feng An had never dared to even dream of! It would cover his food expenses for the entire year! Feng An had never encountered such a generous client as Su Ye before.

Seeing the high-achieving student with an expression clouded by money, Su Ye couldn’t help but laugh, “Is this all it takes to impress you?”

She didn’t even know where Professor Ning found this student. His painting skills far exceeded her expectations. As expected, people around big shots were also big shots. The combination of the golden-inlaid jade from Shanggou Village and Feng An’s paintings complemented each other perfectly, each enhancing the other.

Su Ye was very confident in the finished products. She didn’t even know how beautiful they would turn out, but unfortunately, people’s purchasing power was limited in this era. If only that wasn’t the case, Su Ye knew she could sell them for the price they truly deserved.

—

Meanwhile, on the other side…

Since Fang Xiulian bought several pounds of tea leaves from Su Ye, she had held a few high-profile tea parties. All the military wives who tasted the tea spoke highly of it, urging her to ask Su Ye where the tea was from so they could inquire with their fellow villagers.

Fang Xiulian felt proud of herself, as it was her good taste that allowed her to find such great tea to share with everyone. However, she was the one enjoying the tea, while others could only envy her for it.

Whenever people asked about the tea, Fang Xiulian always replied, “This is all the tea Su Ye gave me. If you ask her, she’ll tell you the same.”

Many of the military wives who interacted with Fang Xiulian were from the city and had little acquaintance with Su Ye, having never even spoken with her. After attending a few tea parties, they couldn’t tolerate Fang Xiulian’s boasting anymore, and eventually, they lost their pride and went directly to the Gu family to find Su Ye.

They arrived just in time to meet Feng An, who was delivering the finished products.

Feng An took the key and worked tirelessly every day, with an exceptional work efficiency. In less than a week, he had completed ten drawings. A few days later, he handed the artwork to Su Ye and, as a bonus, assembled the boxes for her and even helped her divide the tea into ten small portions, placing them into the tea boxes.

When Su Ye received the finished products, she was astonished. Feng An had designed a set of traditional Chinese color-themed gift boxes—vermilion, begonia red, primrose, moon white, dark green, and tea white. The colors were soft and blended perfectly with the pure white embedded in the design. Each box had a small poem in cursive calligraphy in the blank spaces. For the primrose-colored dusk, beneath the bamboo, a boy was brewing fresh tea, with the running script, “At noon, I alone hear no sound, while the mountain boy taps the tea mortar through the bamboo.”

For the moon-white night, a foreigner holds a tea cup to the moon, with the poem, “I have no way to hold a bowl, but send it to those who love tea.”

Under the bright moon between the pine trees, the stream murmured, and orchids bloomed at the dawn of tea white, with the verse, “Pure nature cannot be polluted, it cleanses the dust of the mind with each sip.”

The tea boxes far exceeded Su Ye’s expectations. As the saying goes, ^[1]“A horse can’t get fat without midnight grass” is a Chinese idiom, which means that success or progress often requires hard work, effort, or resources that may not be immediately … Continue reading”A horse can’t get fat without midnight grass.” Su Ye felt that the 50 cents she spent was truly worth it! These tea gift boxes were like works of art, and Su Ye even wanted to keep a set for herself.

But just as the tea boxes hadn’t had a chance to warm up, she heard a knock at the door.

Su Ye opened the door to find a group of unfamiliar military wives. After a moment of awkward silence, Su Ye smiled and invited them in. She brewed a pot of tea and offered it to them.

One of the military wives glanced at the tea leaves and the tea boxes still sitting on the table, not yet tidied up, and hesitantly asked, “Is this… a tea gift box? It looks quite nice.”

Indeed, the moment they entered, their attention was immediately drawn to the exquisite boxes.

Su Ye set down the teapot and humbly explained, “A few fellow villagers asked me to sell some tea, and I thought I’d make a set of boxes to package it. When visiting relatives for the Dragon Boat Festival, it would make a nice gift. It’s just a small thing, but it’s presentable, right?”

Not just presentable—it was stunning!

The other military wives could no longer contain their curiosity, and exchanged looks of astonishment.

These tea boxes were made by Su Ye? She was from the countryside, how could she possibly make such beautiful boxes? If she hadn’t mentioned it, others might have thought they were high-end products from a department store. They had been wondering when department stores started selling such striking tea gift boxes—did she get them from relatives or friends in Shanghai?

They had no idea it was all Su Ye’s work.

“Is this true? Su Ye, did you design these?” one military wife asked, almost biting her tongue in surprise.

Su Ye almost laughed out loud. She tried to keep a straight face, saying, “I’m not capable of such design. I had someone paint them for me.”

The military wives finally calmed down and turned their attention back to the boxes. One of them remarked, “No kidding, they really are beautiful. They’re even better than the ones from the department store. If you hadn’t said it, I wouldn’t have guessed they were painted on.”

Not to mention, the packaging lines of modern printed boxes were often rigid and monotonous, with simple colors. There was nothing compared to the delicate, elegant shades of Su Ye’s boxes, which had a subtle and pleasing quality to them.

They couldn’t help but ask the key question, “How much is a box of tea like this?”

Su Ye had already calculated the costs earlier. Each box of tea weighed two pounds. After deducting the costs, labor, and considering people’s purchasing power, selling each box for five yuan seemed reasonable.

“Six yuan,” Su Ye said.

Some of the military wives thought the tea wasn’t worth that much. A box of tea could cost as much as a week’s salary. But the more knowledgeable military wives quietly reached into their purses and pulled out a large black ten yuan note.

Su Ye smiled as she collected the money, quickly giving them their change. Although she really wanted to keep this batch of tea for herself and was reluctant to sell it, she couldn’t resist when others wanted to buy it.

There was plenty of time ahead. Once she earned enough money, she could have Feng An paint as much as she wanted.

The ten boxes of tea she had just received were gone in no time, and her pocket was now filled with a thick stack of cash. The fresh, crisp bills had a reassuring feeling.

If only it were her own money. If this were her money, it would be even sweeter…

In the evening, Gu Xiangqian brought Su Ye some good news.

As he drank water, Gu Xiangqian said, “I talked to Maogang’s uncle about your tea. He wants to order fifty pounds of tea from you. I’ll help you deliver it tomorrow. You can talk to Uncle Li about how to sell the tea.”

Although fifty pounds didn’t sound like much, considering the poor economy and the quiet business at the guesthouse, asking Su Ye for fifty pounds of tea was already a huge favor. However, Su Ye quickly came up with an idea in her mind.

She pushed Feng An to speed up the process and pressed him to finish thirty boxes in two days.

The next day, Gu Xiangqian found an elastic band and tied fifty pounds of tea to his bicycle, while Su Ye carried a box of tea herself. Due to the large volume, Gu Xiangqian had to ask Su Ye to wait in place. After a while, he came back with a small car.

Su Ye was so surprised that she almost twisted her ankle. Once she got into the car and settled down, she touched the soft car seat beneath her and glanced at Gu Xiangqian. Even though she herself owned a car, it didn’t stop her from thinking that men with cars were really handsome!

During this time, Su Ye had suffered walking everywhere on foot and riding on He Meimei’s bicycle. Besides, she couldn’t afford a bicycle, since buying one required a bicycle coupon! In those days, bicycles were considered a luxury item and were not as common as they were in the 70s and 80s.

In an era like this, owning a small car meant unimaginable wealth. After all, having money didn’t necessarily mean you could buy a car.

This person, who usually appeared low-key and said he had donated all his family assets to the country, could it be that she had married a second-generation rich person?

Su Ye asked in surprise, “When did you learn to drive? Didn’t you say you donated all your family assets?”

Gu Xiangqian turned the steering wheel and calmly replied, “I learned to drive when I went to the Soviet Union. What I donated were houses and antiques. The army had special cars—bulletproof and bomb-proof. When I saw that I wouldn’t need it, they returned it to me.”

A hint of a smile flashed in his eyes. “Hold on tight.”

The car stopped at the guesthouse, where Li Maogang’s uncle, Li Xianjin, greeted them warmly. He carefully sized up Su Ye—she was quite tall, and even standing next to Gu Xiangqian, she didn’t appear short.

The young woman had fair skin, red lips, and white teeth. Her cheeks were sun-kissed and rosy. There weren’t many people who looked this lively these days!

“You must be Xiangqian’s wife, right? Maogang sent me some tea a while ago. It tasted pretty good. I also heard from Xiangqian that you helped the tea farmers solve their sales problem—very thoughtful, just like your mother-in-law.”

Su Ye weighed the fifty pounds of tea and handed it to Li Xianjin, making sure there wasn’t a gram missing. “Thank you, Uncle Li.”

Li Xianjin noticed that Su Ye had brought another box of tea. He asked in surprise, “What’s this?”

Su Ye smiled as she pulled out a packet of homemade dried pork jerky from her bag and handed it to Li Xianjin. It felt solid and weighed a full two pounds.

Li Xianjin opened it and took a quick glance, nearly unable to contain his excitement. This… was pork—full of it, a whole bag of pork!

He hadn’t seen pork in over half a year and almost forgot what it tasted like. Life had been tough lately, and even as the manager of the guesthouse, he couldn’t get any oil or meat. During the Spring Festival, he might have found pork on the black market, but now it had completely disappeared.

It was rare for Su Ye to give him a bag of dried pork jerky, and for Li Xianjin, it felt like a soul-shaking gift.

Could it be… that this Xiangqian’s wife wanted to raise the price of the tea?

Su Ye smiled and said, “Uncle Li, could I use a spot at your guesthouse to sell the tea? I won’t take up too much space, just for half a month.”

Although the guesthouse business was slow, there was still a certain flow of people. Guests from all over the country passed through, and those coming to City C often bought some local products to bring back to their families. In fact, the “golden inlaid jade” phenomenon had become a local trademark of City C. Moreover, people who could stay at a guesthouse usually had some economic means.

Li Xianjin didn’t mind offering a space for Gu Xiangqian’s wife to sell tea, especially since it was a legitimate business, not some shady transaction. However, he was skeptical about whether the tea could actually sell.

He nodded readily. “No problem.”

However, Li Xianjin quickly understood why Su Ye was confident that the tea would sell.

Su Ye brought over the boxes Feng An had designed. When she placed the 30 exquisite tea boxes on the counter, it was as if a light had suddenly illuminated the entire area. Even the usually unremarkable counter seemed to invite a second look.

Su Ye smiled as she discussed the pricing with Li Xianjin. “Loose-leaf tea will sell for 2 yuan per pound. These boxed teas each contain 2 pounds, and I’ll sell them for 7 yuan per box. I don’t want you to do this for free, Uncle Li, so for each box of tea sold, I’ll give you a 1 yuan commission.”

Li Xianjin was surprised when he heard this and looked at Su Ye intently. He felt quite pleased inside and nodded, thinking that Su Ye really knew how to handle things. This way, it wasn’t just him doing Su Ye a favor, but rather a mutually beneficial arrangement. The stack of thirty boxes was enough to cover more than half a month of his salary if sold.

These days, people were straightforward in their dealings. If the higher-ups assigned a task, they would pay out of their own pocket to get it done, driven solely by idealism. It wasn’t like Su Ye—what went into her pocket was real, tangible gold and silver.

As she spoke, Su Ye took a piece of paper from her bag and handed it to Li Xianjin. On it was a neat and elegant handwritten introduction about the tea.

At this point, Li Xianjin could only admire her. Su Ye had thought of everything, leaving no gaps. He quietly thought to himself that selling tea at the guesthouse was probably just a secondary goal for her—her real intention was likely to use the guesthouse space to sell the tea.

However, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse her request, especially since he still had two pounds of her dried pork in his pocket.

Giving her a space to sell the tea, which might even bring him some extra income, was certainly not a bad thing. Moreover, Su Ye’s paperwork was all in order. Li Xianjin couldn’t help but mutter to himself in frustration, thinking, Su Ye is about the same age as Xiulian, yet that girl is always just eating, drinking, and having fun—what’s wrong with her?