Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 26: Parents‘ Successful Attempt

When there is money to be made, Feng Zhenchang and Mei Qiuping are quick to act. That night they bought a wok and a steamer basket. The next morning, the couple spent their first money on breakfast. In total, they spent only three yuan, but they visited seven places. That night, they decided to make buns.

But the buns they were going to make were going to be bigger, the size of an adult's fist, with plenty of filling, and they were going to sell them for 40 cents each, which was a great price. If you do the math, not counting labour costs, they would make more than 10 cents profit on each bun, and if they could sell 50 in the morning, they would make nearly 10 yuan. In case they made too many and couldn't sell them all, they could take them back to their rented place and sell them for 30 cents each.

On the first morning, they were not sure about the business, so they only made 30 buns. They arrived early at their usual place, but no one came to buy. Later, the owner of a nearby grocery store, who was also an acquaintance of theirs, opened the door and sold two buns.

Then, just before class started, a teacher, riding a bicycle, hurried to the school. Seeing their steaming buns, which did not look like the original sweet-fried chestnuts, he glanced at them and bought one each with meat filling and vermicelli filling. At lunchtime, a few sanitation workers bought a few, plus what they ate themselves. There were still half of the buns made on the first day left.

Of course they had to be made the next day. They had expected that the buns wouldn't sell well on the first day. When they first sold the fried chestnuts, no one came for the first few days. Then there were repeat customers, and regular customers brought people back, and business slowly picked up.

Of course, they won't sell the leftovers from the first day, but will keep them for themselves. They can't be greedy for a little temporary advantage, and this is also an idea that has been changed without them realising it. Over the past few days, they have learned that the more such a small business is, the more they have to care about word of mouth. For businesses like theirs, they mainly face regular customers. If one person is dissatisfied once, it may affect a group of people.

The next morning, however, things took an unexpected turn for the better. First, people from several nearby shops came to buy, and then a group of teachers and students from the school came. It seems that the teacher from yesterday did some free advertising, so all 30 buns were sold out in no time!

Fortunately, Mei Qiuping had thought of everything. In the morning, she wondered what she would do if all the buns were sold out in one day. So she brought along some of the buns that were left over from yesterday, otherwise they would probably have to spend money on lunch.

From the third day onwards, the number of buns sold was fixed at more than 80 per day, which meant that they could earn an extra ten yuan or so each day. But it wasn't easy to earn this extra ten yuan. They had to make extra dough and mince extra filling. In the first few days, even though there were two people in the village who were used to hard work, they were still exhausted and their hands and backs ached.

The second week, because they had been asked many times to buy buns, they added another item to the menu. Not only were there buns in the morning, but they also sold soy milk. So in the evening, they had one more thing to do, grinding the beans in a small stone mill.

At this time, they could buy a small pulping machine, but it wasn't cheap. They also needed to get a motor, which wasn't cheap either, and electricity, which also cost money.

Anyway, they only made soy milk, and not many beans needed to be ground every day, so they did it by hand.

There is an old street 13 stops away from the rented house where Feng Zhenchang and his family now live. Behind the old street are some old buildings from the Republic of China era, and across the road is the Yangtze River.

The old street must have been glorious in earlier years, with grocery stores, small restaurants, barber shops, car repair shops, gas stations, health clinics, and everything else you could need. It must have been very convenient for people living nearby.

Nowadays, the old street has lost its former glory. The shops on both sides of the old street have mostly wooden doors and windows, in their original colours, unpainted. After years of wear and tear, the doors and windows have blackened, and some have even rotted. The cement road surface is also broken here and there, and the road surface in front of the doors of many shops is blackened in colour. I think the people in the shops just casually splash sewage there every day. The floor tiles in front of the shops are also missing pieces, and they don't feel solid when you step on them. Most of them are loose, and if you step on them, you might get some sewage splashing up.

Above the old street are crisscrossing wires of all kinds, densely packed. On each utility pole are overlapping flyers and small advertisements of all colours. Occasionally there is an old sycamore tree, and things of all kinds are also attached to it.

At the innermost part of the old street is a courtyard. The front door of the courtyard has been filled with cement, making it very flat. The courtyard is quite large, with sheds on both sides, tall and covered with asbestos tiles. In the middle of the back of the courtyard is a three-storey building that looks a bit old, with a mottled exterior and green paint peeling off the window frames.

At this time, the chainsaw, which had been making a harsh noise, stopped, and soon after, all the other banging and clattering noises also stopped one after the other, and the courtyard fell into a rare silence.

Mei Yiliang, wearing blue overalls and his cap askew, took off his gloves as he walked. He went into the office on the first floor and said to the old man who was smoking and keeping accounts behind the desk, 'Master, I'm going to my sister's now, so I won't be eating dinner at the factory.'

Cai Dexiang looked up, looked at his apprentice from above his reading glasses, took out a cigarette from the pack on the table and threw it to him, 'It's been a few days since you went, how are they doing?'

Mei Yiliang said, 'It's okay. It's a bit hard work, but the income is okay, much better than farming back home.'

Cai Dexiang stubbed out the last of his cigarette, 'People from the countryside aren't afraid of hard work. Besides, as long as you can earn money, what's a bit of hard work? You should learn from your sister and brother-in-law. You're not young anymore, and you still haven't settled down.'

Mei Yiliang cried out in protest, 'I changed masters a long time ago. Look at the factory now, isn't my craftsmanship the best? And I can even fix the machines in the factory now. This afternoon I just fixed an electric drill.'

Cai Dexiang still went to record his accounts, without looking up, just waved his hand, "I know, you go, and ride slowly.'

As soon as Mei Yiliang's bike was out the door, someone shouted from behind, "Mei Yiliang, where are you going crazy again?'

He braked his bike and saw Cai Hong, still in her work clothes, walking towards him while shaking the wood dust off her body.

'Where else can I go? I'm going to see my sister.'

'Really? Then I'll go with you.' Cai Hong jumped onto the back seat.

'Sure, but at least change your clothes!'

'Oh, right. Then wait here for me, don't run!'

'Okay, hurry up!' Mei Yiliang parked his bike, lit a cigarette and stood there waiting.

Fortunately, girls at this time had not yet developed the good habit of spending at least half an hour on their makeup before going out. In less than ten minutes, Cai Hong came out wearing a different set of clothes: a thin sweater and jeans, very refreshing, and she had probably washed her face.

Cai Hong sat in the back seat, unashamedly putting her arm around Mei Yiliang's waist, and all the while greeting the people in the shops nearby. She had grown up in this area and was very familiar with these people, but it was Mei Yiliang who was a little uncomfortable, keeping his head down and pedalling hard.

Cai Hong gave Mei Yiliang's shoulder a few taps, 'There are so many potholes on the ground, and you're still riding so fast, are you trying to cause trouble on purpose?'

They rode around the university town before they found Mei Qiuping and her husband at the entrance to the High School Affiliated to Normal University. The students had mostly gone home, and they were about to head back to the university entrance.

Seeing his younger brother with a city girl, Mei Qiuping was a little taken aback. Cai Hong greeted her politely, and Mei Yiliang introduced her, 'Sister, brother-in-law, this is my master's daughter, Cai Hong.'

'Oh, these are our own chestnuts, very clean and fragrant, try one, young lady!' Feng Zhenchang handed Cai Hong a paper bag.

Cai Hong was not polite, took it and peeled one off, "Mmm, it's delicious, very fragrant and a little sweet, it's quite tasty.'

Mei Qiuping said, "Yiliang, you really are something, you didn't even say hello in advance, look at now, we can't even offer you hospitality.'

Cai Hong said, 'It's fine, you're busy, I just came along with Yiliang.'

Mei Yiliang saw another pot and steamer on the tricycle and asked, 'What are you selling here? Buns?'

Feng Zhenchang handed him a cigarette and said, 'Yes, we didn't have much business in the morning, so we made buns and soy milk. We can sell dozens of buns and soy milk in the morning.'

'Oh, that's good, brother, so you earn much more than me.'