Back to my 1980s

Upon hearing this, Meng Qinghe hesitated for a moment before saying, "I heard from my father that my mother used to be a teacher, and she... Father and I were implicated because of her."

She paused for a moment, then said, "Father said that I can only look for a job after his case is overturned."

Zhao Hua understood. These were the reasons why people were sent to the countryside midway through their careers. There was nothing strange about it. Actually, he had just gotten carried away with the conversation and hadn't expected that his father might actually be facing difficulties with his paperwork.

He pursed his lips and said, "It's okay, you can get it done. A lot of people have done it now, not just in our countryside, but even more in the county town. Besides, this certificate is issued by the government, so there's nothing to worry about."

Meng Qinghe glanced at him, but ultimately said nothing, and simply nodded.

Zhao Hua pressed on, saying, "Where were we? Hiss... oh, it's about proving things, that's easy, then it's about getting the goods." He paused there.

Actually, sourcing goods isn't a big problem. As long as you get the license, you can open for business immediately. It doesn't require much capital. Just start with some daily necessities, like matches and economy cigarettes, which are cheap and easy to sell. The only problem is that you need to go to the county town to source the goods!

Zhao Hua had a vague feeling that he had gotten himself into a lot of trouble, but since he had already said all that, he looked up at the sky and thought, "Wow, it's so blue..."

He coughed twice and said, "It's actually quite simple to source goods. You can start by selling matches and economy cigarettes. Matches have gone up in price now. Negotiated matches are three cents each, while regular matches are two cents each. Wholesale a box of a thousand. If you buy that many at once, you can get the same price as regular matches, which is twenty yuan a box. This stuff sells well, especially for smokers. Plus, if they get wet in the rain, they'll sell very well."

Meng Qinghe leaned closer, looked down at the lines Zhao Hua had drawn on the ground, and said with a soft, fragrant breath, "That box of matches can earn ten yuan, right?"

Zhao Hua nodded and said, "A box of matches normally contains about 50 matches. A family eats three meals a day, and some people also use kerosene lamps, so they use up two boxes a month. This is because in the past, supplies were controlled, and there was nowhere to buy more after they were used up, so they used them sparingly."

"As for those heavy smokers, their consumption is much higher; they have to use up a pack every two or three days."

At this point, Meng Qinghe suddenly looked up at Zhao Hua and stared at him quietly, as if she had said something, or as if she hadn't said anything at all.

Zhao Hua glared at her, annoyed, and said, "I was talking about the old smoker, I'm not old."

Seeing that she was still looking at him, Zhao Hua waved his hand on the ground to indicate that she was focusing on the wrong thing. This time, Meng Qinghe stopped staring at him. Zhao Hua continued, "One box every two or three days, so you'll use about ten boxes a month."

"Everyone in our village, young and old, smokes. The women smoke very little. Even among the men, each family has at least three pipes. That means each family uses about 32 packs of cigarettes for meals and smoking. However, we can't rule out the possibility that they borrow lighters from each other. Let's compress it to 15 packs per family."

He wrote the number '15' on the ground with a twig, and then said, "One family sells 15 boxes. There must be at least thirty families in this area, front and back. Let's say thirty families. That means they can sell 450 boxes a month. If they sell them all in two months, it's equivalent to earning five yuan a month selling matches."

Having calculated this, he looked around and said, "You've been gone for so long without going back, hasn't your father been looking for you?"

Meng Qinghe unconsciously fiddled with the hem of her clothes, smiled, and said, "I looked for it. He came out to take a look just now, but went back inside."

"Huh? When did this happen?"

"When you were drawing on the ground with a twig just now."

"Oh……"

He nodded and said, looking down, "Look, you can make five yuan from matches, and then you can get some economy cigarettes, which sell very well. You can also mix some good cigarettes together and sell them. The supply and marketing cooperative has been secretly selling good cigarettes for a while now, which means the profit margin isn't low."

Meng Qinghe couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle, "Why do I feel like everything you've said is related to smoking? First matches, now cigarettes, what about alcohol? Isn't there any profit in alcohol?"

Zhao Hua glanced at her and said, "Next, let's talk about alcohol. I'm just talking about things with high profit margins, like soy sauce and salt. A few cents from each household will last a long time."

Meng Qinghe kept nodding, but it was very perfunctory; she clearly didn't believe a word he said.

Zhao Hua curled his lip and said, "Anyway, running a small shop is quite profitable. Matches are five yuan a month, cigarettes and alcohol are one yuan each, so that's ten yuan. Add soap, salt, clam oil, needles and thread, combs, preserved plums, straw ropes and other trinkets, and you should be able to earn thirty or forty yuan a month, which is more than the wages of workers in the city."

"It is indeed quite profitable, but unfortunately our family cannot afford the initial investment; we wouldn't even have enough to buy wholesale matches."

Zhao Hua thought about it and realized that all these odds and ends combined actually cost less than a hundred yuan, and he could break even in two or three months.

He glanced at Meng Qinghe. Her simple clothes couldn't hide her elegant and beautiful appearance. Her black hair fluttered in the breeze, clean and lively. It seemed that Meng's father really cared about this daughter. Not only was her skin whiter than that of an average girl, but he also didn't sell her hair.

He smiled and said, "I can pay for it first, and you can pay me back gradually as I make my money."

Upon hearing this, Meng Qinghe hesitated and said, "Isn't this considered speculation and profiteering? Our family's situation is already quite unique..."

Zhao Hua shrugged and didn't force it. It was just a casual topic to talk about; you can't force a cow to eat grass.

She looked at Zhao Hua, smiled, and said, "Why do you want me to open a convenience store?"

"Because your family runs a small shop, it can improve your life, right? I'm a kind-hearted person."

"Is that all?" she suddenly pressed, relentlessly pursuing the question.

"Of course not, it's mainly because the village supply and marketing cooperative closes too early, making it inconvenient for me to buy things sometimes," Zhao Hua said honestly, with nothing to hide.

"it is good."

"I'll drive."

Zhao Hua turned his head and looked over, somewhat bewildered.

Seeing Zhao Hua's expression, Meng Qinghe giggled again and said, "I know, you just want it to be more convenient for you to buy things, but you find it troublesome and don't want to run this small shop, so you asked me to open it, right?"

Zhao Hua nodded subconsciously.

She got up and stretched, revealing the curves of her young and delicate body. Zhao Hua quickly lowered his head, when he suddenly heard Meng Qinghe chuckle.

She said softly, "My father's identity is not good, so I'll run this small shop myself. But if I get arrested in the future, you have to come see me at least once a month."

"Don't worry, who will arrest you? The certificates are all from the government. It's not like before. I've been selling fish for so long and no one has bothered me. Besides, I get my fish from the government. It has nothing to do with speculation."