Little Douzi looked at Lin Lan, his eyes crinkling into a smile.
Yang Liying looked happily at her nephew. "Zhixue, you should learn from your little cousin."
Wang Zhixue laughed and scratched his head, speechless. ’That kid doesn’t know the first thing about being shy.’
Li Wu laughed. "Little Lin’s kid is bold and a smooth talker. He’s got the makings of a businessman."
"Old Li, you’re a grown man and you still don’t know how to talk." Zhou Xiaohong rolled her eyes at him. "What’s so great about being a businessman! Little Douzi here is going to study hard and get a governnt job."
Li Wu smiled good-naturedly. "You’re right! A governnt job is much more respectable."
Li Xiangyang smiled and waved Little Douzi over. "Little Douzi, bring your uncle twenty zongzi. More of the red bean paste and chestnut ones, please."
"Okay!" Little Douzi looked at Lin Lan. "Mama, that uncle wants to buy twenty."
Lin Lan smiled as she picked out the zongzi for him, tying them together with a grass rope. "Tell Uncle Li that three yuan is fine."
The little boy nodded, happily carried them over, and a mont later ca running back with three yuan, a wide grin on his face.
"Mama, the money from the uncle."
Lin Lan took it with a smile and put it in her wallet. "Good boy. Go play for a bit, then head back with your aunt."
There were more shoppers than usual before the festival. An hour passed, and Lin Lan only had a few zongzi left. Soone even asked if she was selling any chickens or ducks.
Seeing how well business was going, Lin Yuezhen was also very happy. She gestured to Lin Lan that she would go back ho to cut more zongzi leaves while it was still early.
"Okay, Yuezhen," Lin Lan replied. "I’ll head back as soon as I sell out here." Then she said to Little Douzi, "Douzi, go back with your aunt. Mama won’t be able to carry you later."
Little Douzi nodded obediently. "Okay! I’ll go back and help Auntie cut zongzi leaves."
Looking at her son, Lin Lan was reminded of her younger sister’s child and gave him a loving kiss. "After the Dragon Boat Festival, Mama will take you to buy picture books and see a movie."
Little Douzi smiled and nodded. "Let’s bring Big Brother Dandan and Youngest Uncle too."
Lin Lan’s heart ward as she looked at him. ’This child... he rembers every bit of kindness others show him.’
"Youngest Uncle is a grown-up; he doesn’t need Mama to take him. Mama will take you, Dandan, and your aunt."
"Oh!" Little Douzi thought for a mont. "Youngest Uncle has to go on a business trip."
Lin Yuezhen smiled, lifted Little Douzi into the carrying basket on her back, and left with a water bucket in hand.
A little over an hour later, Lin Lan had sold everything. After a day of testing the market with several flavors of zongzi, she found that the savory pork ones sold better, while the red bean paste ones sold a bit slower.
The trial run boosted Lin Lan’s confidence considerably. She found Li Wu and asked him to deliver dozens of jin of glutinous rice to the Eucalyptus Forest.
She then ordered so pork belly and lard from Li Xiangyang, who said he would deliver it that afternoon. He also placed an order for sixty zongzi.
Zhou Xiaohong had tried Lin Lan’s zongzi before. Seeing how well they were selling, she thought about making her own to sell, but then she rembered that the taste of her zongzi was a far cry from Lin Lan’s.
’Lin Lan is the smart one,’ she thought. ’I’ve been running a stall for so many years, how co I never thought of making and selling zongzi?’
After so thought, she decided to buy zongzi wholesale from Lin Lan to sell at Dongzikou. She went to Lin Lan’s stall and placed a standing order for one hundred zongzi per day from then until the end of the Dragon Boat Festival.
After closing up the stall, Yang Liying had Zhao Dehai carry their things ho, while she and Wang Zhixue followed Lin Lan to the black market near the clothing factory.
Once there, the three of them walked around but didn’t see anyone selling fried fava beans, bean curd rolls, or pea cakes. They did, however, see two people selling zongzi—plain ones with a single date inside, for fifteen cents each.
Lin Lan scanned the area but didn’t see the short young man from last ti. She led the other two toward a small hut in the corner.
In the distance, she saw a rocking chair on the steps. A tall, sturdy man in his thirties was leaning back in it, his feet propped up on a round stool in front of him, eyes lazily narrowed. This was probably Brother Yong, the man in charge of this area.
"Hello, Brother Yong." As Lin Lan approached, she noticed a scar running diagonally from his right cheek to his temple. It was quite intimidating. "We’d like to set up a stall here!"
Brother Yong glanced at the three of them coolly. "Selling what?"
Lin Lan smiled. "Fried fava beans, bean curd rolls, pea cakes, and so other pastries. All homade."
Brother Yong nodded. "Stall fee is fifteen yuan a month, or seventy cents a day. Pay first, then set up. The morning market opens at 7:30, evening market at 4:30."
"Okay!" Lin Lan agreed and gestured for Wang Zhixue to co forward. "Brother Yong, this is Wang Zhixue. He’ll be the one setting up the stall here."
Wang Zhixue’s face flushed red as he thanked Brother Yong. "Hello, Brother Yong."
"Right," Brother Yong said. "I don’t care who runs the stall, but the fee has to be paid on ti."
Lin Lan nodded. "Don’t worry, we’ll definitely pay on ti."
"Zhigang!" Brother Yong called out, then leaned back in his chair again.
The dark-skinned Zhigang ca out of the hut and glanced at Lin Lan. "Co in."
The three of them entered the hut. Zhigang took out a card, asked for a na, and wrote it down.
Lin Lan paid the fee. Zhigang then led the three of them to an empty spot out front and said to Wang Zhixue, "This is the area for long-term stalls. Over there is for temporary ones. Don’t get them mixed up."
Wang Zhixue smiled and nodded. "Thanks, big brother!"
Zhigang explained a few more of the stall-keeping rules, handed the card to Wang Zhixue, and turned to leave.
Once they were out of the compound, Yang Liying asked Lin Lan curiously, "They have a morning and evening market here. Even though it’s five yuan more a month, there are plenty of custors. Why doesn’t Sister Zhou set up her stall here?"
Lin Lan said in a low voice, "Sister Zhou lives nearby. Setting up a stall so close to ho, she’s probably worried about being seen by people she knows."
"Oh! No wonder! Sister Zhou is really sothing else, running between two places morning and night. We have to go to our regular jobs, otherwise we could do the sa."
On the way, Lin Lan told Wang Zhixue to go back and ask Yang Liqun to sew a money pouch onto his waistband.
Yang Liying then coached him on how to be enthusiastic with custors, not to argue with them, not to sell old food in the sumr, and not to raise prices arbitrarily...
Wang Zhixue took careful note of it all.
By the ti they reached the ditch by the Eucalyptus Forest, the sky had already darkened. Wang Zhixue headed straight back to the Third Team from the direction of the vehicle factory.
His family lived on the edge of the First Team’s Wang family area. Nearly eighty or ninety households in that area were all part of the Wang family.
They lived in a bamboo grove next to an abandoned well. The mud-brick courtyard wall looked quite spacious, but the dilapidated wooden gate was riddled with wormholes and had a bowl-sized hole in it.
The courtyard gate was wide open. He entered the yard and saw Wang Zemin weaving a carrying basket while smoking a tobacco leaf pipe. Wang Zemin was of dium height with a square face and a slightly receding hairline. His face was tanned a deep reddish-brown, and he had a deep furrow etched between his eyebrows.
Yang Liqun was in the courtyard bundling straw. Her figure and appearance were sowhat similar to Yang Liying’s. Though only in her forties, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were like a spider’s web, and her hair was already streaked with gray. She looked at her son with a loving expression.
Mother and son exchanged a look, and Wang Zhixue gave her a little wink. "Dad, Mom, you’re busy!"
Wang Zemin looked up at him, took the spotted-bamboo pipe from his mouth, and frowned. "You’ve been gone all day. Where were you running wild this ti?"
Wang Zhixue, slightly nervous, gave his prepared excuse: "I found so odd jobs to do at the kiln."
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