On the day when Su Qingyang went to private school, everyone got up early. The little guy carried a school bag; his eyes were bright and his spirits were high.

In the end, it was Su’s father and Xiao Qingxing who insisted on sending him to school.

Father Su was wearing new clothes, standing tall, and walking with a breeze. Seeing that his youngest son was about to go to a private school and learn to read, he was very excited when he thought that his son would be better than him in the future and would not have to work in the fields to make a living.

At the entrance of the private school, Xiao Qingxing held her brother’s hand and was reluctant to leave. Why didn’t the private school accept female students? I am not dumber than my brother.

She pouted and looked at the students entering the private school one by one, with an angry look on her face.

Father Su glanced at her and said to Qing Yang, “You must study hard, you know; it’s not easy for you to get this opportunity. You must study hard and come back to teach your mèimèi ^[1]younger sister and jiějiě ^[2]elder sister so that they can learn to read and write like you.”

Xiao Qingyang nodded heavily. “I will definitely study hard, Dad; don’t worry.”

The little guy clenched his fists, light flashed in his eyes, and a raging fighting spirit burned in his chest.

Finally, Father Su and Xiao Qingxing watched him go in and disappear before turning back.

Xiao Qingyang started his private school career then.

Xiao Qingxing was pouting when she arrived at Yangwei Martial Arts School. She was not used to being separated from her twin brother for a day.

“Why is Xiao Qingxing unhappy today?” Madam Ma asked Yaya, who was excitedly flapping her thin, short legs.

“Brother went to private school today.” Xiao Qingxing said dejectedly.

“Are you unhappy that your brother is in private school? Won’t your brother come back after school?”

“Master’s wife, why don’t private schools accept female students? I also want to learn to read and write.”

Madame Ma laughed. She handed Yaya to Cui Yuying, who was standing next to her, pulled Qingxing into her arms, and said, “It’s their loss that they don’t accept female students. They are afraid that girls will be smarter than boys, and the men will lose face.”

“Ah, is that so?” Xiao Qingxing opened her mouth wide and looked at Madame Ma in disbelief.

Cui Yuying looked at Madam Ma helplessly. The young lady was talking nonsense again and corrupting the child.

Madam Ma nodded seriously. “Yes, men are afraid of women being smarter than them. If they are smarter than them, they will lose face; if they are not smarter than them, they will be unhappy and say that rotten wood cannot be carved, and they also say that they don’t want to associate with women. Xiao Qingxing, tell me, isn’t it very infuriating?”

Xiao Qingxing nodded heavily, clenched her fists, and waved them: “Well, how infuriating! Why do men have to be like that? Aren’t women allowed to be smarter than them?”

Madam Ma smiled and said, “That’s right. They are so thin-skinned that they are afraid of losing face.”

“Humph, you have such a small stomach! So bad!”

“That’s right, good and bad. Then Qingxing, do you want to learn to read from Master’s wife? Once you learn to read, we can secretly be smarter than them!”

“Yes! I want to learn to read, too! I want to understand the books in Brother Qiyou’s room. I want to listen to stories, but he is practicing calligraphy and I don’t want to disturb him. If I can learn to read, I can read by myself.”

“Yes, we can read by ourselves; why do we need them to read to us? When we can read by ourselves, we can buy the books we like in the future.”

“Yes. That’s it. After I learn to read, I will buy the books I want to read. I won’t buy any books that make me sleepy.”

Madam Ma covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed heartily: “Yes, we won’t buy such books.”

After saying that, she took Xiao Qingxing into the room and went to teach her to read and write.

Cui Yuying held Yaya in her arms, coaxing her with “Oh oh,” shaking her head, but with a smile on her face. It was great that the young lady was like this, and she saw the young lady full of life again.

Cui Yuying couldn’t help but feel tears welling up in her eyes when she thought of the glamorous and carefree lady in the past.

When she came to her senses, she saw Yaya patting her face with her little hands. She quickly blinked away her tears: “Auntie is not crying. Auntie will take Yaya to see the flowers, okay? Let’s go see the beautiful flowers.”

After saying this, she picked up Yaya and walked away.

As for Su Qingyu, the number of customers in the store decreased, but the vegetables she collected did not decrease. The turnover of the store decreased, and less was sold than received. Everyone was anxious.

Su Qingyu was quite calm.

Although she earned less every day now, it was still enough to cover the rent and labor costs. There was also a surplus of one or two taels every day, so she was not in a hurry to make big moves.

The four vegetable shops were watched not only by her but also by other interested people in the town. If the business was good, there might be a few more vegetable shops in Fengting Town. The neighboring towns and the county might also follow suit.

Su Qingyu had always been pessimistic about price wars. Once prices started, to maintain profits, the quality of items sold and services would definitely be greatly reduced.

Originally, vegetables were not sold on stalls in the vegetable market but in shops, which required rent and labor costs. If the source of the goods could not spread the cost, they could not be sold at a reasonable price.

Selling vegetables was just to attract customers, and profits also relied on providing services and selling peripheral products.

If you didn’t understand this model, supply and demand would eventually become unbalanced, and the shop would not be able to continue operating.

She never targeted the lower-class market. Su Qingyu’s original intention of opening a store was to serve the middle- and high-class market. She also didn’t want to compete with the vegetable farmers who worked hard to get to the early morning market, so her vegetable prices were higher than those in the vegetable market.

She washed, selected, packaged the products, and delivered them to special customers. She was not targeting the general public.

Therefore, it did not take away the way for other villagers to make money in the vegetable market.

Everyone targets different markets, each with its own stratification, and there won’t be any major conflicts. Those who want affordable prices naturally go to the vegetable market. Affordable vegetable markets were more extensive, while mid- and high-level markets were more refined and service-oriented.

But now that the other four shops have opened, they buy vegetables from the surrounding villages at high prices, put them in the shops, and sell them at low prices, causing customers who want to buy cheap vegetables to flock to those four shops. The vegetable market was suddenly deserted.

The villagers who didn’t know what was going on brought vegetables from far away to sell, but they found that no one came to the vegetable market to buy vegetables, and they were caught off guard.

After watching the vegetable baskets for a whole morning, they still couldn’t sell any vegetables. So they got some advice and took them to the four stores to sell. But they were picked and chopped, so they could only sell a small portion of the vegetables. The vegetables that were delivered to the door were naturally sold at a low price, and they couldn’t make as much as they used to at the vegetable market.

The leftover vegetables could not be sold and had to be taken home again.

The vegetable market gradually lost its former prosperity.

Su Qingyu was a little worried.

When she saw that the villagers had brought vegetables from far away and couldn’t sell them and wanted to take them back, she would buy them. Word spread and the farmers who couldn’t sell their vegetables came to her door one after another because she offered a good price.

Gradually, the amount of vegetables in her shop increased, but the turnover did not increase.

Even the people who used to depend on the vegetable market for their livelihood, for example, those who used to collect protection fees at the vegetable market, quit.

All the vegetable farmers had disappeared; who could they ask for protection money?

(End of this chapter)