Chapter 40: 039: Have you stopped studying? _1
Translator: 549690339
Although Zhu Yonghong snatched away many of her customers, Ni Yang’s five small tables were always full.
After all, quality ensures patronage.
But Zhu Yonghong did affect Ni Yang. Yesterday, all the noodles were sold out past ten in the morning, while today they continued to sell until after eleven. Whereas Zhu Yonghong packed up early.
On her way out, she even sneered at Ni Yang.
But, this time, Ni Yang chose to ignore her, concentrating only on her noodles as if she hadn’t seen her.
The business is more important.
She doesn’t have the time to squabble with someone irrelevant.
Plus, she roughly calculated that Zhu Yonghong sold about a thousand buns this morning.
The current pork price in Beijing is two yuan and eighty cents per jin.
With the additional ingredients, about 70 to 80 meat buns can be made from one jin of meat.
Not counting the price of flour and labor, the cost per bun is about 4 cents.
Under normal circumstances, one cent can buy only two meat buns, so selling a thousand buns needs to bring in more than 35 yuan for a profit.
However, selling a thousand buns at Zhu Yonghong’s price of six for one cent would only garner around 15 yuan.
That means Zhu Yonghong lost over twenty yuan this morning…
The reason Zhu Yonghong can still smile is that she hasn’t done the math yet and doesn’t realize how much she has lost.
1 guess she won’t be able to smile when she gets home.
“Ni Yang.” Ni Yang had just finished setting up the tables and chairs when she heard a gentle male voice above her.
“Hmm?” Ni Yang looked up in confusion.
The speaker was none other than the sunny young man Liu Wei.
“Is anything wrong?” Ni Yang asked politely.
Ni Yang was standing against the light, with people passing by and towering plane trees behind her. Bright sunlight scattered through the leaves, bathing her jade-like face in light.
Liu Wei felt his heart was about to jump out. He struggled to control this unusual emotion before saying:
“Ni Yang, 1 heard… you’ve stopped going to school?”
“Yes.” Ni Yang nodded, “That’s right.”
Liu Wei was surprised that she admitted it so calmly. He then asked, “What do you plan to do in the future? You can’t be a peddler all your life, right? Have you thought about making a change?”
Being a peddler is the least promising profession.
There was a popular saying at the time: “If a young lady wants to experience life and practice haggling, she should marry a peddler.”
This gives an idea of how low the status of being a peddler was.
Ni Yang shook her head, “Not for now, 1 think being a peddler is okay, it’s all honest work.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Liu Wei continued, “1 think it would be better if you, a girl, read more. If you encounter any difficulties, you can tell me, maybe I can help. Being a peddler… is ultimately not a long-lasting profession. Your future life path is still very long.”
Girls who are always out in the open, yet illiterate, will find it difficult to find a good husband.
Even if Ni Yang was attractive, he doubted any college students would want to marry an illiterate woman.
He said this for her own good.
If Liu Wei knew that the peddlers of today would become the first generation of rich people in the future, he would certainly regret his words today.
No matter how much people look down upon peddlers today, later generations will be envious of the first generation of peddlers.
Ni Yang nodded with a smile and said, “Thank you for your suggestion, 1 will consider it seriously.” Regardless of what Liu Wei said, she was not going to give up her studies.
It’s just that the time is not yet ripe; she has not yet found her footing in Beijing.
In her previous life, she was a top student at a 211 University.
This life can’t be too bad either.
Liu Wei scratched his head, laughing, “You’re welcome, if you encounter any problems, you can tell me.”
Ni Yang politely smiled, “Thank you, I will.”
**
In a courtyard home in Beijing.
Zhu Yonghong, pushing her old bike, walked in beaming with pride. “Honghong’s back. How was business today?” Sun Chunxiang immediately greeted her.
She was feeling a bit off today, so she hadn’t gone out with her daughter.
Zhu Yonghong parked her bike and said, laughing, “Mum, 1 sold all the buns today.”
Upon hearing this, Sun Chunxiang was astonished, “Honghong, are you joking with me?” She then asked, “Didn’t the woman who sells noodles show up this morning?”
“Mum, what are you talking about!” Zhu Yonghong hugged Sun Chunxiang’s arm and said, “In your eyes, am I not even comparable to that hillbilly?”
Sun Chunxiang patted Zhu Yonghong’s hand, “1 didn’t mean that, so you really sold over a thousand buns?”
“Of course it’s true!” Zhu Yonghong puffed up her chest, “You don’t know who your daughter is!”
Hearing her words, Sun Chunxiang’s smile became even more kind, “Right, how can my daughter not be awesome?”
Zhu Yonghong held onto Sun Chunxiang’s arm and continued, “Mum, you didn’t see Ni Yang’s face when I stole all her customers this morning! Haha, I laughed so hard!”
Just the thought that she had successfully stolen most of Ni Yang’s customers this morning made her feel so satisfied.
Sun Chunxiang couldn’t help laughing either, then she held out her hand to
Zhu Yonghong, “Where’s the money, let me have a look.”
The bun business hadn’t been so good in a long time.
Zhu Yonghong pulled out a handful of change, “Here, this is it.”
Sun Chunxiang took the money and stood there happily counting it, but slowly, her smile faded.
Did she miscount?
Sun Chunxiang counted it over and over, but no matter how she counted, it only amounted to 15 yuan and 70 cents.
These over a thousand buns were supposed to sell for at least thirty-seven eighty yuan, so why is there so much missing?
“Honghong, is there more money?” Sun Chunxiang looked uneasy.
Did her daughter secretly misappropriate the money from selling the buns? “That’s all there is,” Zhu Yonghong frowned slightly, “I gave you everything.” Sun Chunxiang’s face suddenly darkened, “Over a thousand buns total, and here’s only 15 yuan and 70 cents, where’s the other twenty or so yuan? Did you eat it?”
She still has a son in college, who needs about fifty yuan a month for living expenses. All the money she earns each month goes to her son. Seeing that her son’s living expenses for this month have not yet been settled, of course, Sun Chunxiang is anxious!
“Don’t worry, let me explain.” Zhu Yonghong told the whole truth about this morning to Sun Chunxiang.
After listening, Sun Chunxiang was immediately furious. She threw all the change in her hand at Zhu Yonghong’s face, “You good-for-nothing! Rip-off! You’ve squandered the buns I worked all night to make! Go get my money back right now! If you don’t bring it back, don’t bother coming back!”
That’s over twenty yuan! That’s enough for half a month’s living expenses for her son!
All her work for the past several days had been for nothing!
Sun Chunxiang, who hadn’t been to school for very long, didn’t mind her words when she was full of anxiety and anger.
“Mum! How could you say that about me!” Zhu Yonghong wept plaintively, “Didn’t 1 do it for our business? You don’t understand how many people came
to buy buns this morning..”