Knowing that several people hadn’t eaten yet, Mrs. Qin brought out the buns left by Lin Chuxia for them to eat.
They were all vegetarian buns, which wouldn’t go bad in the summer heat, so the group made do with them for dinner.
After dinner, Qin Han brought a half sack of white flour to Lin Chuxia. These days, they were able to have buns steamed by Lin Chuxia quite frequently. Although Lin Chuxia wasn’t particular about it, he, as the eldest brother, couldn’t just eat and drink at someone’s expense for free.
Lin Chuxia did not refuse. She understood the principle of reciprocation in regards to favors.
She was running a bun business, which could offer some convenience to her brother’s family. Yet, the two families were after all separated; between siblings, financial matters should be clear.
Qin Han brought the white flour directly to Lin Chuxia’s kitchen, turned around to leave, and Lin Chuxia spoke again, “Brother, leave 20 pounds of your eggplants and string beans for me, just calculated at today’s market price. I plan to make some buns with eggplant and string bean stuffing tomorrow, so I won’t need to go to the market to buy vegetables.”
Qin Han knew that his younger sister was helping him out as his vegetables were not selling well, and he agreed quickly.
Back in the house, Qin Han took out a cigarette from the cigarette box and lit it up. This was actually a cigarette given by his sister. He didn’t usually smoke much, and this pack was almost gone.
Zhang Guilan came in after washing up and, smelling the cigarette smoke, glanced at her husband, “Hurry up and wash up and go to sleep. You need to get up early tomorrow. You really don’t seem tired.”
Qin Han didn’t reply, and Zhang Guilan continued, “Why don’t you just take the vegetables to the station tomorrow? We can’t make much by selling them here and it is exhausting having to get up before dawn.”
“You know what the station is like. The cheaper the price, the pickier they are. Half of a basket of vegetables can be picked out just because they look a bit flawed. It’s the same everywhere,” Qin Han took another drag on his cigarette.
Zhang Guilan sighed, “We can’t just throw them away, right? Everyone said that after dividing the land and being your own boss, good days would come. But the market changes daily. Before, when did we ever have vegetables that didn’t sell? I don’t know if this free market is a good or bad thing.”
Qin Han finished the last puff of his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground, and crushed it with his foot.
“Have you ever thought about doing business? You see how our little sister sells buns, it seems busy, but have you ever done the math?”
Seeing his wife looking over, Qin Han lowered his voice, “I’ve calculated when I was free. Our little sister sells a few cages of buns every day, easily making a few dollars. And the buns she makes sell well, never any left over. It’s a guaranteed profit, even if it’s occasionally rainy and she can’t set up her stall, she still makes more a month than a regular salary.”
In the factory, workers only made thirty or forty dollars a month.
Zhang Guilan frowned slightly, knowing her husband didn’t want to farm. Initially, when her sister-in-law invited them to do business together, her husband was interested, but she was thinking about their small plot of land.
If the harvest was good just as before, that would be fine, but if the market continued like this, they would toil and suffer but the vegetables they grew would sell for little, or even have to be thrown away…
Zhang Guilan, after much consideration, still advised, “We don’t have the skill to make buns that delicious. Also, if everyone went into business, what would come of the land? Dad’s health is passable for looking after half an acre, but leaving all the land for him alone would exhaust him even if the fieldwork is light.”
They were farmers generation after generation; not cultivating the land was simply unthinkable.
Hearing this, Qin Han didn’t say anything further.
Meanwhile, Lin Chuxia was finishing her washing up and found some stationery to write a reply to Qin Yang.
She hadn’t mentioned the business to Qin Yang yet, but now that it was on track, she could share some details with him.
Thinking of the business, Lin Chuxia remembered the old lady selling buns at the train station today. Although she wasn’t afraid of market competition, it was time to start making some plans.
Selling buns from a stall was just the beginning; with limited funds, she could only start from setting up a stall. Now, she estimated she had over three hundred yuan, enough to rent two storefronts and open a bun shop.
The original cooking equipment could still be used, and besides the rent for the house, adding some tables and chairs would likely suffice with 300 yuan.
However, she didn’t mention these things in the letter as she felt it unnecessary. With Qin Yang’s temperament, he probably wouldn’t care much about what she was doing.
Moreover, she feared that talking too much might lead him to overthink, so she shifted the topic to Mr. Qin and Mrs. Qin’s health.
During this period, every time she had meals with Mr. Qin and Mrs. Qin, she would find opportunities to add some spiritual spring water to their water tank, and indeed, Mr. Qin’s complexion seemed to improve.
Today, Mrs. Qin mentioned that Mr. Qin was careless and forgot to buy medicine after finishing it, he did not take his medicine all day, but fortunately, he did not fall ill.
Previously, missing just one dose of medicine would cause him difficulties, but now missing a day’s medicine didn’t make him sick, indicating that his health was indeed getting better.
After finishing talking about home, the letter was already half full. Lin Chuxia thought for a while, then advised him on several points, fulfilling her responsibility as a wife, before folding the letter properly and putting it in an envelope.
Thinking of the meat sauce and fried chili he mentioned, she planned to buy more tomorrow and make some to send to him.
It was just that the weather was hot which made it inconvenient to make other things, otherwise, she could also make some beef jerky snacks.
But then she thought, Qin Yang wasn’t the type to eat snacks, and Lin Chuxia felt relieved.
The next morning, Lin Chuxia went to the post office to withdraw money, then wandered near the train station.
She was already familiar with this neighborhood where all around were residential zones.
They were located in the north, and the winds of economic reform reached here two years later than other places; the shops in the big and small streets were mostly still state-owned.
Lin Chuxia wished if she could rent a small courtyard facing the street, speak to the landlord to either punch a hole in the wall or open a direct pathway, even if it meant paying a bit more rent.
As she was thinking, a figure emerged from the alley—it was Su Wensong whom she had just met yesterday.
Seeing Lin Chuxia, Su Wensong was also taken aback and then nodded slightly as a greeting.
Lin Chuxia nodded back at him and was just about to say something when an elderly lady with white hair caught up from behind Su Wensong.
“Wensong, Wensong… don’t go,” the old lady grabbed Su Wensong’s hand, her face full of distress and pleading, “it’s just a job, let’s not take it. What if they sue you again and make you go to the countryside to a farm? Grandma only has you.”
Su Wensong, paying no attention to anything else, quickly comforted the old lady, “Grandma, I’ll listen to you, I won’t go to them anymore.”
“Really?” The grandma obviously didn’t believe it, “Then why do you keep running outside every day?”
“Really, these last few days I’ve been looking for other jobs. Don’t worry, grandma, I won’t leave you again.”
Lin Chuxia felt it wasn’t right to disturb the two of them, quietly turned away and went elsewhere.
After wandering for quite some time, she couldn’t find a suitable courtyard; after all, many homes were already tightly packed and had no spare courtyards to rent, plus she wanted one that faced the street.
Not finding one didn’t discourage Lin Chuxia. She planned to explore other areas tomorrow, first, she would go buy ingredients for today’s buns.