Chapter 19

It was clear from today’s sales that she had done much better than yesterday. Besides the coins and change, it seemed like every stack of different bills had more than doubled in thickness.

“So much money!” Little Lele, who had woken up, rubbed his big eyes and exclaimed, “Mom, how many candied hawthorns can we buy with all this?”

Ye Xiaoyu chuckled. Lele had the same taste as her, both loving sour-sweet treats. But while she preferred the sweet ones, Lele liked the sour ones more. Lele’s sugar limit wasn’t a problem, but eating candied hawthorns every day was a different story. Just candied hawthorns alone wouldn’t be enough.

“Yes, it’s a lot, but we can’t just buy candied hawthorns. You ate some yesterday, remember? You’ll have to wait a couple of days before you can have more.” She paused, then added, “But Lele, you did really well today. Tomorrow for lunch, we’ll have scrambled eggs with tomatoes. In the afternoon, you can have an extra tube of hawthorns and a bag of figs.”

Lele smiled widely, his eyes squinting in joy. “Mom, you’re the best!”

“You’re the best, too. My little sweet talker. Did you secretly rub honey on your lips?” Ye Xiaoyu grinned and patted his little bottom. “Do you need to go to the bathroom now?”

Their store didn’t have a bathroom, though there was an emergency urinal that they rarely used. Normally, they went to the public restroom at the station.

The public restroom was a bit dirty during the day, but it was cleaned at night, and each stall had a small wooden door. Besides Uncle Li, Ye Xiaoyu occasionally took Lele there at night.

Lele shook his head. “Not now.”

Ye Xiaoyu continued with her accounting. She had a good habit of recording final figures whenever her work was interrupted, so even if something unexpected happened, she wouldn’t forget and would save time.

The calculator beeped as Ye Xiaoyu calculated aloud: “There are 1,500 100-yuan bills, and 50-yuan bills… adding it all up, the total is 23,608 yuan. We’ve broken 20,000 in sales today!”

Indeed, it more than doubled.

Ye Xiaoyu also calculated the turnover from the sales volume. The difference between the two was 486 yuan, which was a bit large, but given the high number of people today and the increased chances for opportunistic buyers, a difference of no more than 500 yuan was already quite small.

She could confidently say that all her employees were outstanding; every one of them was the best employee.

Lele didn’t know how much 23,608 yuan was, but after days of learning to account, he could now count from 1 to 100 and recognize several Arabic numerals.

He was seriously counting on his little fingers: “Twenty thousand is many hundreds, and each hundred is many ones. A one yuan is many ten-cent coins, and a ten-cent coin equals two five-cent coins. One five-cent coin can buy two small bags of figs.”

“That’s right, very smart.” Ye Xiaoyu gave him a thumbs-up. From Lele’s calculation, she also realized just how strong the purchasing power of the money was. Even though the profit was just the gross margin without deducting the original cost,

she was still shocked by the number.

However, today’s sales were an exception.

The celebrity effect of foreigners was quite strong, and a significant portion of it was also due to the herd mentality. Seeing everyone buying, people subconsciously thought the items were good, and how could one not buy good things for the New Year? Even the cheapest 8-yuan gift set was affordable for the working crowd.

After calculating the daily account, Ye Xiaoyu stood up, stretched her neck and hips. After sitting and squatting for so long, her muscles were sore, so she decided to do some yoga.

Children are naturally more flexible, and Little Lele had also learned some moves. Unfortunately, his rhythm was a bit off, and he wasn’t too interested in music. Otherwise, he could try learning dance.

That night, mother and son fell asleep in each other’s arms. In her dreams, Ye Xiaoyu heard the sound of gold coins clinking. Thanks to Lele’s training in good sleep habits, he wasn’t disturbed by the “hehe” laughter.

The next day, the store’s sales volume was noticeably lower than yesterday.

Although the employees’ wages were not directly linked to sales performance, they were still a bit disappointed. Ye Xiaoyu, on the other hand, remained the calmest. She knew it was a normal fluctuation, and yesterday’s sales had been a gift from the heavens.

That noon, Ye Xiaoyu noticed that there were more handsome men at the police station across the street, and she spotted a semi-familiar face among the officers. She instinctively looked around but couldn’t find the other attractive person in uniform.

It was a shame that the handsome police officer wasn’t in uniform.

She withdrew her gaze and continued with her business. Even though sales were lower than the previous day, she was still busy.

That day, the sales were over 14,000 yuan. It was not as high as yesterday’s 20,000, but still higher than the previous few days.

On the third day, the turnover was 11,000 yuan, showing a further decline of 2,000 yuan from the day before.

At 5 p.m. that afternoon, Ye Xiaoyu didn’t go to the bank to deposit money. Instead, she contacted several businessmen and specifically placed orders for a new batch of goods.

On the fifth, sixth, and seventh days, sales remained stable at around 10,000 yuan and didn’t drop further.

By the eighth day, sales rose again to 12,000 yuan.

Ye Xiaoyu understood that this increase was due to more people returning home for the New Year. It was a predictable rise, and if nothing unexpected happened, it would continue.

Around noon that day, two familiar people came to the store.

Hearing someone call out “Xiaoyu” and “Auntie,” Ye Xiaoyu turned around and was pleasantly surprised to see her second sister, Ye Ermei, and her daughter Tian Niu. “Second Sister, Tian Niu, what are you doing here?”

“You still have the nerve to ask,” Ye Ermei said with a sideways glance. “You’ve been out of contact for so long, I thought you and your son got lost! We had to come check out the place you’re renting.”

It was also Sunday, and as soon as Tian Niu heard she was going to see her aunt, she insisted on tagging along.

The mother and daughter arrived at the sixth floor of Hua Yuan Community, knocking on the door for a long time, but no one answered.

They went downstairs to ask the security guard, who informed them that the tenant of 601 hadn’t been seen for several days. The guard also mentioned that she and the third-floor landlord, Old Lady Yang, were good friends.

Ye Ermei then visited the Yang family, and luckily, Ye Xiaoyu had mentioned to Old Lady Yang just the day before that she would be running her shop at the station for a couple of months.

After getting the news, Ye Ermei and Tian Niu finally found the place.

Hearing Ye Ermei’s complaint, Ye Xiaoyu quickly offered them two bottles of Wahaha drinks, not realizing that this beverage was now available. She had bought quite a few for Lele and herself.

“I told you before that I planned to start a business. I’ve been running around for market research, and found an opportunity to make quick money. I had to seize it. Since opening this specialty store, I’ve been too busy to go anywhere.”

Ye Ermei had been observing her younger sister’s shop and was surprised at how successful the business was. In just ten minutes, they received a large red packet.

She couldn’t help but think back to Ye Xiaoyu’s suggestion of a “business by the school gate,” which they had yet to act on. Since the end of the school term was near, they had been dragging their feet, but now it seemed like tomorrow they could finally give it a try, as her younger sister suggested.

Aside from business matters, Ye Ermei couldn’t help but notice how much weight Ye Xiaoyu had lost. “You’re really working yourself too hard. Don’t you eat more?”

Ye Xiaoyu:

“…”

The weight loss was certainly due to the busy days, but it was also from the diet and exercise she had been following for the past month.

But this wasn’t something she could explain directly to Ye Ermei.

Just then, a few customers entered the store, and Ye Xiaoyu let her sister and niece sit on a bench in the corner. She went to greet the customers herself.

Seeing the store so busy, Ye Ermei and Tian Niu couldn’t sit still. They got up to help, but Tian Niu was sent to the back storage room to play with Lele.

“What’s the point of playing? She’s old enough to help,” Ye Ermei said.

Ye Xiaoyu replied, “She’s still young, and with so many people at the station, it’s easy to get lost.”

Ye Ermei didn’t say anything more but found another fault: “Then why did you bring Lele here?”

“…” Ye Xiaoyu found it hard to explain the psychological issue, so she simply said, “I just got divorced. I can’t leave him, and he can’t leave me.”

Ye Ermei immediately quieted down.

That day, with Ye Ermei’s help, the burden on Ye Xiaoyu and her employees was noticeably lighter. Even Tian Niu, who was in the warehouse, didn’t get a break—she helped pack boxes instead. Poor middle schooler, her rare Sunday was completely taken over by work.

And it might not be the only Sunday like this.

From that day onward, whenever Ye Ermei had a day off, she would come to the store to help. The poor middle schooler, Tian Niu, didn’t get a single Sunday free from packing boxes.

Without a doubt, having someone as reliable as Ye Ermei helping made Ye Xiaoyu’s work much easier. Even though she didn’t come every day, her contribution was much more significant than that of other employees.

However, since Ye Ermei had her own job, Ye Xiaoyu tried to persuade her not to come so often, saying she could handle it. But her sister simply didn’t believe her.

It was all because of her weight loss.

Unable to convince her otherwise, Ye Xiaoyu could only let them help and even asked her to introduce new employees.

Puzzled, Ye Ermei asked, “If you can manage, why waste money hiring more people?”

Ye Xiaoyu: … I might be a capitalist, but I’m not heartless.

“Haven’t you noticed, Second Sister, how crowded the station has been lately? The Spring Festival travel rush has already started.”

The store’s foot traffic was steadily increasing, and last night’s turnover calculation was about to break 15,000 yuan. If things continued, there was a chance to hit a new high.

Ye Xiaoyu wasn’t avoiding hiring people to save money but rather because it was hard to find trustworthy employees amidst the busyness. If she could get even two more reliable workers, it would be worth it.

For Ye Ermei, finding people was much easier since she and Zhao Qing had good connections.

Some people immediately refused upon hearing they’d have to work until Lunar New Year’s Eve. However, others were tempted by the promise of 1,000 yuan for 20 days’ work (even though the hidden New Year bonus wasn’t mentioned).

The next day, Ye Ermei brought two people to help: one was a temporary worker from a neighboring factory, and the other was Ala, someone she had worked well with before.

Ye Xiaoyu hired them both on the spot.

Among the two, the female temp worker was inexperienced in sales but had quick hands from her factory work, making her a good match to assist Aunt Mao with packing. Ala, on the other hand, had a scarred face unsuitable for sales but was perfect for security. Just his presence was enough to deter troublemakers and petty thieves.