Rebirth in 1980: The Farm Wife Makes a Comeback
Chapter 382: Why Do You Want to Make Clothes

Chapter 382: Chapter 382: Why Do You Want to Make Clothes

"That’s now, not before," Qin Xiangnuan said simply. She also told a little lie. It wasn’t possible to say she had known in advance that there would be construction on the road there. Instead, she mentioned that one day, as she happened to pass by, someone said the shop was for sale. Seeing that it was cheap and having some money on hand, she bought it. Her thought was that even if she were to resell it later, she could still make a bit more money.

You really stumbled into it by accident.

Granny Lu was finally able to let go of the concern she had been holding on to. She had been worrying about the new shop recently. Now that the shop turned out to be such a good buy, or rather too good of a buy, their family’s shop could continue to operate, and they could make money from it.

However, now that they had the shop, things were not yet complete.

"Granny, this new shop is quite big. You alone won’t be able to manage, and we can’t just sell Conghua pancakes, can we?" Qin Xiangnuan took the opportunity of having some free time, and with Granny Lu also being present, to discuss the matter she had been considering.

"I’ve thought about this already," Granny Lu had her own ideas.

"Granny is planning to hire a few more people, preferably those who come from the countryside, who are honest and quick with their hands. Our upstairs space is just right for living; we can just put some beds there. We can bring in other items to sell in the evening. Since Granny is just idle at home, having some help means Granny just needs to collect the money."

Granny Lu now had some business acumen. She knew her own capabilities. Otherwise, if she were on her own, she could at most only sell in the mornings. But with hired help, she could also sell in the evenings. These places were busy in the mornings and evenings. Not to earn the money would be foolish. In the future, when the two kids grow up, she needs to save more money to provide for them, considering she still has the energy and ability to work. At least, when Xiang Yang gets married, he would need a house, right?

Qin Xiangnuan did not know Granny Lu’s thoughts, but she was relieved that Granny Lu was considering getting some help. As long as Granny Lu could understand this point, things would be fine. Qin Xiangnuan wouldn’t have to worry about Granny Lu exhausting herself.

While Qin Xiangnuan was not yet in school, she helped out with the shop’s business. She specifically wrote a "Hiring" sign, recruiting people while also helping to take care of the shop. In the mornings they sold lotus leaf pancakes with vegetables, and in the evenings Conghua pancake with vegetables. They provided a variety of porridges in the morning, while in the afternoon and evening they sold hot and sour rice noodles.

Qin Xiangnuan taught Granny Lu how to make the stir-fry sauce, the simplest method that tasted quite good. Business was good right from the start, attracting many regular customers. Hearing that Granny Lu had moved here, and being not far from the park, they specifically came to buy. Changing the menu to lotus leaf pancakes in the morning brought a fresh experience to those who had always been eating Conghua pancakes.

In the evening, they also had hot and sour noodles, which attracted a group of customers. With the busy day ending, the previous daily earnings were about 34 yuan, but now with the addition of hot and sour noodles, they could make about a hundred yuan a day. This would amount to earning about 3000 yuan a month, a number that even scared Granny Lu.

Of course, she also noticed a drawback: there were too few hands on deck.

Granny Lu once again decided that hiring help was essential.

There were quite a few people looking for jobs. Granny Lu took a liking to two sisters, both of whom had been working in the city. Coming from a rural background, they were dressed in shabby clothes and looked thin and pale. Life in the city was not easy for the sisters; they had washed dishes, cleaned toilets, and were living in a damp basement without sunlight year-round. Hardly able to afford enough food, let alone sending money home, their meals were unassured. Granny Lu, seeing how pitiful the two girls were, allowed them to help out in the shop first, to see what their character was like.

After a few days, Qin Xiangnuan noticed that although the two young girls were young, they really weren’t lazy at work. They were just too timid to make a mistake, shaking slightly whenever Granny Lu raised her voice, probably out of fear of being fired.

After observing for a few days, Granny Lu decided to take the two girls under her wing. She tidied up the upstairs space and had Qin Xiangyang figure out how to get a bed up there. She bought new bedding, including soft cotton quilts. The wages for the two were set: including three meals a day, each person would be paid 300 yuan a month, adding up to 600 yuan for both. But with the two of them, they could make an extra seventy to eighty yuan a day, so the wages were fair.

In the evening, the two sisters sat on their new soft beds with their eyes reddening. This was since leaving home the best bedding they had ever slept on, the softest quilts, and the most comfortable pillows. The upstairs space was so large, even fitted with a table and chairs.

Lying on their soft beds, the sisters teared up with gratitude. The next day, they got up early to help Granny Lu knead dough and steam lotus leaf pancakes. With their rural upbringing, they had been accustomed to helping with cooking at home, so they were able to work efficiently, with one person doing the work of two.

There were many who came for breakfast in the morning, and Qin Xiangnuan also came to help. By around nine o’clock, the crowd would thin out. The remaining unsold items, Granny Lu would take some to the family, but would also leave some for the two sisters, who could choose to eat the remaining Conghua pancakes or cook their own meals for lunch. At three in the afternoon, they would get ready for the evening meal prep.

In reality, they could sell all day long, but if they did so, nobody would be able to withstand the demands.

Therefore, Granny Lu decided it was best just to sell two meals a day.

Gradually, the shop got on the right track, and the number of regular customers increased. Subtracting the costs, the profits each day were over a hundred yuan. At this point, a bowl of hot and sour noodles sold for 3 yuan, the lotus leaf pancakes for one yuan, and porridge for about 50 cents.

They were making more than they had imagined. In a single day, they could earn about two hundred yuan, and after paying the wages of the two workers, Granny Lu earned thousands of dollars in the first month, more than what a working couple would bring home.

As the time for school to start approached, Li Li and Mao Xiaomei also came; they too had been admitted to universities in Capital City, though not Kyoto University, which required too high a score for them. They chose different paths, one studying medicine and the other attending a demonstration school, with one future as a doctor and the other as a teacher.

As for Qin Xiangnuan, she was enrolled in the fashion design department of the art faculty.

"How could I not think that you’d want to make clothes?"

Li Li sipped on her orange drink, swinging her legs under the table. "Why didn’t you choose a proper profession like me? Isn’t being a doctor good?"