Chapter 7#

On New Year’s Eve, L City finally had its first snow of the winter. A foot of deep snow covered the entire city, giving the children a New Year filled with ecstasy. However, when the snow began to melt a few days later, the joy turned into torture. In these years, the coverage of cement roads was too low, and the drainage facilities were not perfect. The accumulated snow turned into flowing streams, and the streets and alleys were like a muddy swamp, making people who were dressed in new clothes to visit relatives and friends miserable.

As the snow melted, the temperature in the city also dropped by several degrees. The vendors selling New Year’s goods by the roadside were shivering with cold. After the fifth day of the new year, the peak period of visiting relatives had passed, and their business began to decline. They could only set up stalls in front of the department store to attract some customers. They hadn’t made a single sale that day when they saw two teenagers carrying a small table to the side of the road and setting up a stall.

A clean red cloth covered the table, and a large poster was nailed to the tree trunk. Colorful textiles were piled together. A few literate vendors curiously gathered in front of the small stall and carefully examined the calligraphy on the poster, which read “Pure Wool Warm Learning Gloves.”

“Are there learning and non-learning gloves?” one person muttered in confusion, looking at the gloves on the table. On the small table, there were 7 or 8 pairs of woolen gloves, not the usual thick mittens, but with five fingers separated and the fingertips left empty, cut off at the first knuckle, like semi-finished products. The colors and patterns were very cute, soft and gentle, very attractive.

“Of course.” A clear voice replied. The shorter of the two teenagers in front of the stall came up with a smile, “Learning requires writing and doing homework. How can you write when your hands are frozen in the winter? These are all high-end learning gloves imported from Shanghai. It’s very convenient to write with them on.”

As he spoke, he raised his right hand, which was wearing a coffee-colored glove. A long ballpoint pen spun nimbly between his fingertips. After a few spins, he gripped the pen and wrote a line of words. The handwriting was even and handsome, quite beautiful, not at all like what could be written with woolen gloves on.

“Hey.” A man laughed, “Don’t say it, it’s really convenient to write. Shanghai people have a lot of ideas. How much are they?”

“8 yuan for the ones with patterns, 5 yuan for the patterned ones.”

The crowd immediately burst into an uproar, “How much? 8 yuan for a pair of gloves?! Are you crazy for money?”

Surrounded by a crowd of people, the teenager was not flustered at all. He smiled and picked up a pair, “Uncle, you have to look at the quality when you buy things. Finely spun Australian fine wool, not prickly, not fading. Look at this label…” He turned the glove over, revealing a small trademark with a colorful cloud and a string of English letters embroidered on it, “Dawn brand, do you know Dawn? They all go through the foreign trade export line. Look at these patterns, Hello Kitty, Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh, which one is not well-known, cute and fashionable! This batch of goods was obtained through connections from the factory. This is the only batch in our city, absolutely no other branch!”

A torrent of words left people stunned, with a few English words thrown in from time to time. Although the teenager’s expression remained natural and friendly, he unknowingly drew people in, making his words somewhat convincing. At this time, a little girl on the side suddenly tugged at her mother’s corner.

“Mom, I want the kitty! The pink kitty!!”

This shout earned a glare from her mother, but the teenager didn’t let go of the opportunity and opened his mouth, “Little sister also likes meow meow, it looks good with your red cotton-padded jacket! Big sister, do you want to buy a pair? It’s so cold in winter, how hard it is for children to do homework. No matter how poor you are, you can’t be poor in education. No matter how hard it is, you can’t let the children suffer. Such fashionable gloves will not go out of style. You can wear them for several years. In this way, it’s not worth much money at all. It’s the New Year, buy a pair for the child~”

In these years, those who came to the mall were not poor people. Besides, where had they ever seen this kind of hawking-style sales promotion? Under the joint attack of her daughter and the teenager, the woman finally gritted her teeth, “15 yuan for two pairs, sell or not?!”

“Oh, big sister, you are really…” The teenager showed a painful expression, “The boss doesn’t allow bargaining. The purchase price of this thing is too high, and it doesn’t make any money at all. You see, we only have a few pairs in total, not enough to sell…”

However, this big sister was obviously also a formidable character. The two of them haggled for a long time, and finally the teenager slapped his thigh, “It’s the New Year, the first order, I’ll give it to you! Second Brother, come and pack this big sister’s gloves!”

Putting the two pairs of gloves in an exquisite small colored bag, the teenager seriously handed it to the little girl with a happy smile on her face, and patted her little head by the way, “Little sister, hold it well, study hard and make progress every day~~”

With the first order, the onlookers also began to be moved. The desire to buy is the easiest thing to be incited by the group. The crowd grew larger and larger, and it almost became a抢购. The hagglers were nowhere to be seen, and more were teenagers who were afraid of not being able to buy their favorite patterns. The two were so busy that they were sweating profusely, and their smiles were almost frozen on their faces. In less than an hour, more than 100 pairs of gloves were sold out.

A few customers who came late shouted unhappily, “Why are they sold out? Are there any more? Just spare one pair!”

The teenager laughed, “There are really no more today! I’m sorry, this product is really too popular, we didn’t get much in. When we get more in stock, I’ll come here to set up a stall again! Definitely, definitely!”

The crowd gradually dispersed. Chen Yuanming let out a long breath and squatted on the ground. His throat was hoarse from shouting for a long time, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth were twitching from smiling. He thought he would never do street promotion again, but he didn’t expect to use this trick so soon. Liu Yun and her daughter were still knitting gloves at home, so only he and Sun Lang could come out to sell them. But the business was really good now, much smoother than he had imagined.

The teenager beside him pushed him hard, almost pushing him to the ground.

“Doudou!” Sun Lang lowered his voice, his eyes shining brightly, “They’re all sold out! More than 100 pairs!”

Chen Yuanming glared at him with a straight face. Just as Sun Lang was about to retract his words, he showed a big smile and put his arm around his shoulder. “Hehe, that’s right. It depends on who knitted them and who sold them!”

The two teenagers looked at each other for a moment and burst into laughter together. A month of hard work was worth it!

Another week later, two days before the end of the winter vacation, they went to the gate of the municipal government family compound to set up a stall again. A total of 80 pairs of gloves with patterns and 146 pairs of pure patterned gloves were sold in two times, with a total income of 1362 yuan.

When the last one-yuan bill was put into the pile of money, Liu Yun raised her head. Because of knitting for a long time, her beautiful black and white eyes were now full of bloodshot, the bags under her eyes were swollen scary, and her fingertips were all wrapped in bandages, with some dark red stained on the gauze. But her smile was sweet and happy, and her whole person was shining.

More than 1,000 yuan! After deducting the cost of less than 150 yuan, the net profit for this month was more than 1,000 yuan! It was equal to her annual salary. She had thought about doing some side jobs to supplement the family income, but she had never thought that doing business could be so profitable! It was just a small business of gloves…

Her eyes were a little hot. Liu Yun took a deep breath, took out a stack from the pile of money, and seriously handed it to Chen Yuanming. “Doudou, I really owe you a lot this time! Take this money, you deserve it!”

Chen Yuanming smiled slightly and took the money. The stack was about 400 yuan, with one-yuan, two-yuan, five-yuan, and the largest denomination was only the Great Unity, not even a single Gongnongzhi. It was a heavy stack. He just shook it lightly, took out half of it, and put it back.

“Doudou, you!” Liu Yun was anxious, grabbed the money and wanted to stuff it into Chen Yuanming’s arms.

Chen Yuanming took a step back directly. “This is enough, really.”

He looked at her bloodshot eyes, and his heart felt a little sour. This month, the one who really worked hard was not himself. But even so, she was willing to give him 1/3 of the profit… In his previous life, he had never met such a simple partner.

“It’s all thanks to you and your sister that we were able to knit so many this time. I just moved my mouth. It’s already a lot to get so much.”

“But if it weren’t for you, how could we…”

“Don’t! Auntie, really don’t!” Chen Yuanming moved away again, “There are still opportunities to make money. You are the one who needs the capital. If there is a chance next time, I will just get some dividends with you.”

The word “capital” made Liu Yun’s hand freeze in mid-air, and she hesitated. The richness of the profit this time really made her very interested in business. Such a small business of a hundred pairs of gloves could bring in a thousand yuan. What if she really bought and sold goods? It’s just that for Chen Yuanming… she thought for a long time and finally gritted her teeth, “Alright! When I get more wool this year, I’ll start earlier. I’ll definitely be able to earn more in the winter…”

“No.” Chen Yuanming shook his head, “There won’t be such profits in the future.”

“What? How could that be! I don’t think these gloves will go out of style in two or three years…”

“It’s precisely because they won’t go out of style and are very simple that if nothing unexpected happens, imitations will appear within a month. By autumn, the streets will be full of people selling this kind of gloves. At that time, it’s possible to sell them for 2 or 3 yuan a pair.”

This sentence hit Liu Yun with a dizzy spell. So this was just a one-time deal? Then she should have stayed up later, even if it meant making a few more pairs…

“But…” Chen Yuanming’s tone changed, and a smile appeared on his face, “It’s not impossible to make money. It’s nothing more than expanding the scale and upgrading the products. They are all fingerless gloves. What if you knit a semi-circular brim so that you can cover your whole hand when you’re not writing? Or fluffy woolen scarves, earmuffs that can cover your ears… Doing business can’t just follow the old calendar. Only by constantly innovating can you make progress. Everyone is not stupid. If you take one step at a time, you will eventually be caught up.”

These words sounded very ordinary and simple, but like a thunderclap in winter, they exploded in Liu Yun’s heart. She felt as if a door had opened to her, and she saw a brand new world. Her lips trembled for a long time, and Liu Yun smiled.

“Doudou, you are really a talent for business. You are really…” A thousand words turned into a sigh. After a long time, she smoothed the hair on her forehead with her hand and showed a shy smile, “I understand a little. Let me think about it again. Doudou, don’t think Auntie is stupid. It’s just that this is the first time I’ve heard these things, and I need some time…”

No, she really wasn’t stupid. Chen Yuanming showed a bitter smile in his heart. No one knew his roots better than him. Now what he could rely on was the advanced business concepts from his previous life, the experience accumulated by countless predecessors who had struggled in the business world. And the woman in front of him, who had never even done a small business, could understand what he said so quickly. Her talent was already quite amazing.

With this introduction, Chen Yuanming chatted with Liu Yun for a long time until it was getting late. He declined the other party’s dinner invitation and didn’t let the exhausted Sun Lang escort him. He walked along the small road towards home. The evening wind was very cold, and there were no street lights. Chen Yuanming walked slowly, but his steps were steady and firm. In this month, he not only completed his first business and received his first dividend, but more importantly, he found something more familiar in the newspapers he saw at Sun Lang’s house.

The Gulf War, the inspection of Shanghai, encouraging the development of Pudong… Some things that impressed him deeply were moving in the direction of his memory. It was only 1991. After the great man’s southern tour speech next year, what pace would this era take to move forward?

His heart was like a boiling volcano. Chen Yuanming gritted his teeth and quickened his pace in the cold wind. The hundred yuan in his chest was like a piece of hot charcoal, burning his heart, making his blood boil and his heart beat wildly. He could grasp something, he just needed to find a perfect method…

Author’s Note: Great Unity, the 10-yuan denomination of the third edition of RMB, with the black image of the people’s representatives walking out of the Great Hall of the People, issued in 1966.

Gongnongzhi, the 50-yuan denomination of the fourth edition of RMB. The dark brown portraits of workers, peasants, and intellectuals, issued in 1987.

Gulf War, January 17 to February 28, 1991, a military operation launched by a multinational force led by the United States against the Iraqi army.

Inspection of Shanghai, from January 28 to February 18, 1991, the chief architect pointed out during his inspection of Shanghai that the development of Pudong should be grasped firmly and not shaken. He hoped that the people of Shanghai would be more open-minded, bolder, and faster in their pace.