I awakened the cultivation panel.

Chapter 16: Startup Fails Before Business is Halfway Through

The weather isn't very good tonight; the clouds are a bit thick.

You can see the moon, but it's not very noticeable.

Chen Jingle had no choice but to sit on the rooftop and wait for the moon to rise.

We might not even see it until dawn.

But there's nothing he can do but wait. After all, he doesn't have the power to summon wind and rain or draw clouds and mist right now.

A gentle evening breeze blew, making him feel a little chilly, but thankfully his physical condition had improved, so he didn't feel cold.

"It would be even better if we could see a sky full of stars."

I miss the starry nights when I was a child.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find these days in the countryside; they can only be seen in areas with higher altitudes and less light pollution.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for the moon to emerge from the clouds.

Chen Jingle dared not delay and quickly used the Qi Condensation Technique.

After more than three hours of effort, the task was finally completed. The moon dew collected tonight was still only a single drop.

This made Chen Jingle somewhat dissatisfied.

"Just a single drop!"

But there's nothing we can do about it; that's how it is at the beginning of the month. It's good enough if you get anything at all. If you want to get more, you have to wait until the full moon in the middle of the month.

We must respect the laws of nature.

Since watering lychees with diluted moon dew during the day produces fruit that tastes much better than the usual varieties, we plan to continue using this method to cultivate lychees.

"Let's dilute this drop into 10 liters and pour it over that glutinous rice ball."

Before dawn, the diluted solution was poured directly onto the lychee trees.

However, the fruiting season for this glutinous rice tree was originally scheduled for June. Even after watering it with half a bucket of diluted moon dew, it still took some time to ripen, unlike the 'Imperial Concubine Smile' tree next to it, which could be harvested on the same day.

Fortunately, Chen Jingle wasn't in a hurry; he could simply continue tomorrow or the day after.

"All done! Time to go to sleep!"

……

While Chen Jingle was busy collecting Moon Dew, Chen Wenjie and Li Guangming were busy setting up their stall.

They are quite capable of taking action.

They had previously discussed trying to start a business selling fried noodles at a street stall. They quickly found a second-hand stall cart, prepared everything, and found a decent-looking location near Jiangbei Middle School before starting their first business venture.

However, the result seems somewhat unsatisfactory.

The fried rice noodles cost 10 yuan. On the first night, 13 servings were sold, on the second night, 16 servings were sold, and on the third night, 11 servings were sold.

Today is the fourth day. I don't know if it's because of the holiday, but after waiting all night, we only sold 8 portions.

After deducting 50% of the costs, there's practically no profit to be made.

This made the two of them a little disheartened.

"This is not the way to go."

Li Guangming scratched his head in frustration: "Sigh, do I really have no talent for business? Our stir-fried rice noodles don't seem that bad."

Chen Wenjie was getting tired of the job; he preferred staying home, relaxing in the air conditioning, and playing games. He offered a weak consolation: "I think the problem lies elsewhere. Let's try to hold on for two more days; if it doesn't work out, we'll have to stop the flooding."

In doing business, besides technical skills, luck also plays a significant role.

In the same location, with the same products, some people have booming businesses, while others have almost no customers.

Furthermore, he wasn't optimistic about the street-selling fried noodles business from the beginning because the barrier to entry was too low, too many people were doing it, and the taste was pretty much the same for everyone, which meant it would be difficult to retain customers.

But when Li Guangming approached him, out of loyalty to his friend, it wouldn't be right not to lend a hand.

Now that we've helped him, if he really can't get up, we can't blame him.

It's estimated that after this experience, Li Guangming will realize that business isn't so easy, and he'll continue to work honestly or do something else.

Who doesn't want to make a lot of money?
The problem is, you have to be born with the right fate!
Do you really think that you can just set up a stall on the roadside and make money flow in like water?

Want to eat fart!

They stayed up until almost 2 a.m., but still hadn't gotten any business, so the two of them had to call it a day.

Ah, another day has passed!
...The following afternoon.

Chen Jingle had just finished eating when Chen Wenjie came over again.

This time, I was carrying half a jackfruit.

He said, "My dad just opened this place. My grandparents don't like it, so they asked me to give half to you, Brother Le."

"Thank you. I didn't expect your pineapples to ripen so quickly. Mine probably won't ripen until the end of June or the beginning of July."

There were several jackfruit trees in the orchard, which Chen Jingle had seen before, but unfortunately none of them were nearly ripe.

When this thing is almost ripe, you can smell its aroma from a great distance. If you press the skin and it's still firm, it's basically ripe.

It's best to let it sit for a day or two after picking before opening it, as this will reduce the amount of sap.

Chen Wenjie nodded: "Yes, this tree ripened relatively early, but there aren't many. I gave one to my older sister to take back yesterday, and this is the only ripe one left. The others will probably have to wait a while."

Chen Jingle accepted the jackfruit, planning to open it later, and casually asked, "By the way, didn't you and Li Guangming talk about starting a business by setting up a stall? How's it going?"

Chen Wenjie said dejectedly, "Don't even mention it, we're all ready to break up."

"what?"

Chen Jingle was taken aback and asked curiously, "Tell me what happened?"

Chen Wenjie waved his hand: "Business is bad, I can't keep going. I stay up until one or two in the morning every night, and after deducting costs, I don't even make 100 yuan, which has to be split between two people. If you ask me, I'd rather stay home and sleep."

Chen Jingle suddenly realized.

Ultimately, it was all too naive.

Two passionate young people, on the last stretch of their youth, make a final, desperate attempt, full of hope, only to be taught a harsh lesson by reality.

Well, that's actually quite normal.

The stories of ordinary people achieving success against all odds and reaching the pinnacle of life are ultimately only a very small minority.

Chen Jingle had anticipated this.

After all, this is no longer the special era of the 80s when people could pick up money from sacks. In the current highly competitive environment, it is difficult for restaurants to succeed without investing heavily in the early stages.

Even setting up a stall.

If you can't get off to a good start in the early stages, it will be very difficult to keep going later.

Normal people need to see positive results to be motivated.

Although I guessed the outcome, it's still a bit of a pity that it ended so anticlimactically. If he had experienced a few more setbacks, his youthful spirit would have been worn away sooner or later.

Chen Jingle still wanted to see how well they were doing and where the specific problems lay.

So after thinking for a moment, he asked, "Are you still setting up your stall tonight?"

Chen Wenjie asked in surprise, "Tonight should be the last night, right? Why?"

Chen Jingle smiled slightly: "I'd like to see how you've arranged it."

“Sure. We’ll set up our stall at eight o’clock, next to Jiangbei Middle School.” Chen Wenjie said nonchalantly.

"Then call me when you leave later."

"OK!"

"..."

In Chen Wenjie's view, his and Li Guangming's fried noodle stall was destined to go out of business.

Because it's really hard to make money.

Including the time spent setting up a stall, working more than 13 hours a day only earns a pittance, which is less profitable than working in a factory tightening screws!
The best outcome would be to break up after tonight and sell our belongings to recoup our losses.

Just think of it as paying for a lesson.

Although Brother Le is smarter than them, can he really help with something like setting up a stall?
Don't quite believe it.

……

night.

After Chen Jingle finished peeling the jackfruit, he followed Chen Wenjie and Li Guangming to their stall.

When I saw Li Guangming again, he was no longer as spirited as he had been when we were having a late-night snack and talking about starting a business by setting up a stall. He looked a little embarrassed.

(End of this chapter)