Back to my 1980s

Zhao Hua turned his head away, ignoring Zhao Ru, waved to the two of them, and walked home.

The village officials had never experienced anything like this before and didn't know how to handle it, so they decided to go to the town to ask. They couldn't very well just write her a certificate by hand.

If it really can't be done, then we'll talk about what can't be done. Actually, being a self-employed individual is still a new concept here. Unlicensed businesses are actually the majority, while licensed businesses are a very small minority.

Only someone from the future would care about proof. The Industry and Commerce Bureau never comes to the countryside to inspect unless there's something going on. The management office only has a few people, and they're busy enough at the market. They don't have time to go to the countryside.

However, Zhao Hua still wanted to get a certificate. Although the real task of the sales point was to distribute goods and hand over the profits, and the salesperson received a fixed salary, Old Chen from their village was quick-witted. He resold some popular items in the store, and who knew if he had tampered with the other goods?

Zhao Hua felt that Lao Chen had been secretly selling his own goods under the guise of a government agency for a long time. The two small shops that opened after the millennium were fully licensed by Zhao Hua himself. Besides, Lao Chen should have made enough money by then and didn't want to cause any trouble.

It's hard to say what will happen if this meeting is held. The Industry and Commerce Administration doesn't usually come down to inspect unless someone reports it, but then it's hard to say. There are also those bad boys in the west of the village. Zhao Ru had already declared that Meng Qinghe was under her protection. Before, when her family lived their own peaceful lives, no one would interfere, but now that they've opened a small shop, they might cause trouble. So it's better to get a certificate.

After arriving home and taking out his bicycle, Zhao Hua glanced at the two people waiting in the yard, then at the bicycle, and said, "Zhao Ru, you stay at home. Qing He, come with me. The bicycle can't fit two people."

"I sit on the front crossbar! I've seen the village chief take care of his grandson like that." Zhao Ru patted the bicycle's crossbar and continued, "Brother, you said you'd teach me how to ride, but you still haven't!"

Zhao Hua dragged Zhao Ru aside, glanced at her sideways, and said, "Don't cause trouble. How old is the village chief's grandson? How old are you? If you sit in the front, how can I see the road clearly?"

Zhao Ru was a little unhappy. She walked around and held onto the bicycle basket, saying, "You said you'd teach me how to ride a bike, but you haven't taught me yet!"

"I've been so busy before, I didn't have time to teach you how to ride a bike." The sun was making Zhao Hua a little irritable. He didn't want to get entangled with Zhao Ru. He glanced at Zhao Ru, who was holding the basket and blocking the front of the bike, and gently advised, "Then wait at home for a while. I'll let you ride it when I come back from the market."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ru's displeasure vanished immediately, and she looked at Zhao Hua with a grin, saying, "Then you'd better keep your word and teach me when you get back."

"I meant you can try riding it, okay? Then wait at home for a bit." Zhao Hua waved his hand and pushed the bike out.

Distracted by the brother and sister, Meng Qinghe didn't have time to say anything and followed Zhao Hua out in a daze.

It wasn't until they got outside and Zhao Hua got into his car to wait for her that she realized it was just the two of them on this trip. Only then did she realize that it seemed a little inappropriate for a young, unmarried woman like herself to be sitting in the back seat of an unmarried man's car.

She bit her lip, glanced back at Zhao Ru who was standing outside the gate watching them, then at Zhao Hua who was waiting for her to get in the car. She clenched the household registration book in her hand, gritted her teeth, and sat down in the back seat.

She was feeling uneasy in the back seat, but Zhao Hua didn't seem to mind. It wasn't the first time he'd carried a girl in the back of his car. With a push of his foot, the car swayed and turned onto the side road.

Zhao Hua was still a little worried along the way, keeping his eyes and ears open. After all, the crackdown hadn't started yet, and he might accidentally run into those thugs. Some people had warned them not to mess with Jiang Yue and Xu Qian, but no one had told them not to mess with him.

Fortunately, the journey was uneventful, and the two arrived at the Industrial and Commercial Administration Bureau without incident.

Zhao Hua parked his car at the entrance to make sure the person on duty inside could see it at a glance. Just in case, he also locked the car.

"Comrade, is Director Zhang here?"

"What do you need Director Zhang for?" The administrator looked at him warily. This administrator was a new face, not one of the two people Zhao Hua had met before.

Zhao Hua pursed his lips. It seemed that there was really no need to go directly to the boss for such a small matter; it would be a bit of a waste of his talents. He smiled and said, "It's alright, it's alright. It should be fine if we don't go to him."

As he spoke, he took two steps outside and waved to Meng Qinghe, who was waiting at the door. Meng Qinghe came in upon seeing this. He turned around and smiled, "Comrade, it's like this. I heard that they're encouraging self-employed individuals now. My younger sister heard about it and wants to open a small shop in the village, but she doesn't know if she needs any permits or licenses, so we came together to ask."

The administrator looked young, at most two years older than Zhao Hua. Upon hearing this, he glanced at Zhao Hua, then at Meng Qinghe who had just walked in, and his gaze immediately settled on Meng Qinghe.

"Comrade?" Zhao Hua waved his hand.

"Oh! What did you just say? You wanted to open a small shop in the village?" The administrator quickly looked away from Zhao Hua.

"Yes, this is my younger sister. She wants to open a small shop in the village." At this moment, Meng Qinghe walked to Zhao Hua's side. Zhao Hua took her household registration book and said, "We don't know what we need to prepare, so we just brought the household registration book."

Upon hearing this, the administrator reached out and took the household registration booklet from Zhao Hua's hand, flipping through it as he did so, asking, "Are you educated youth sent to the countryside? Are you siblings?"

Zhao Hua turned to look at Meng Qinghe and said, "No, we're from the same village. She was an educated youth sent to the countryside, but I wasn't."

"Oh! Who are you to her? Why didn't you use your account to open the account?"

Zhao Hua was taken aback. What did this have to do with needing proof to open a small shop? After a moment, he laughed and said, "It's my little sister, a good friend of my younger sister. She's about the same age as my little sister. Does it have anything to do with household registration? Can't she open a household registration?"

The young administrator waved his hand, closed the household registration book and threw it on the table, saying, "No, that's not it. You need to apply for a business license. If you're selling tobacco and alcohol, you also need to apply for a retail license. But just having the household registration book isn't enough. You need to get a note from the brigade stating which village your shop is in, where it's located, and who the owner is. All of this needs to be clearly written down. Come back after you get this note, and then I can process your application."

"Is it enough to just issue a note?" Zhao Hua pressed.

"You also need to bring your household registration booklet. There's a five-yuan processing fee. If you're selling cigarettes, you need a tobacco retail license. If you're selling alcohol, you also need one. Each of these costs an extra ten yuan per year."

Zhao Hua did the math and exclaimed, "Good heavens! Adding them all up, it's exactly twenty-five! This number..."

After finding out what they needed, Zhao Hua didn't delay any longer and took Meng Qinghe back to Shuanghuai Village.