Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

Time flies like a stream, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of 1983. Both of them were already twenty-seven years old. Su Yu held his youngest daughter in one arm and carried another on his back. The two daughters clung to him like vines and wouldn't let go. His son, Su Xi, was only a little over a year old, swaying back and forth against the wall, and couldn't take more than a few steps.

Ever since Su Yun and the others left the village to study, all the heavy work—digging for loaches, digging up yams, and drying goods—fell onto their mother's shoulders. Wang Guifen took Luo Lan to the city, carrying freshly steamed glutinous rice cakes and pickled bamboo shoots, and specially brought them to Su Yu.

In 1981, the two families bought two houses side by side in the county town and plunged into the aquatic product business. They also collected mountain products from the village and sent them directly to the provincial capital, where they were then distributed by Su Yu. Su Guang bought a "Dongfanghong" tractor in the village and became a living map of the village. He would transport the mountain products he collected to the county town, specifically for Wang Guifen's business.

The Wu Jun and Wu Jun families, with their children in tow, followed in Su Yu's footsteps and moved to the provincial capital to seek a better life.

At the end of 1981, Su Yu obtained a plot of land in the county town to build a house. He demolished his old house in Yun County and rebuilt it into a magnificent villa with white walls, gray tiles, a small courtyard, and a terrace. After its completion, he rented it out as a dormitory for children from other places who came to study in the county town. He entrusted Su Guang to manage it, and the rent money was used to supplement his family's income. The family of five thus set off and settled down in the provincial capital.

Wu Qun and Wu Ni also accompanied her. Su Yu took over more than a dozen street-front shops in one go, testing the waters of business bit by bit. After Wu Jun and Wu Jun settled in, Su Yu rented out two shops to them: Zhou Yan and Fan Min sold ready-made clothes, hair accessories, and earrings, while Su Yu took her two uncles to Guangdong Province to resell electronic watches—on their first trip, they bought watches for only four yuan and fifty cents, wholesaled them for twelve yuan in the provincial capital, and retailed them for nearly twenty yuan. They brought back five hundred watches in one trip, making a net profit of over a thousand yuan. Their hard work paid off.

His shopping mall project, which he had applied for approval in the provincial capital, has also been launched. He's starting with a small-scale project. The land next to the train station has already been approved for construction, with scaffolding everywhere and the sound of concrete pouring never ceasing. All the shops along the street are up for rent, and the rent alone will bring in a large sum of money every year.

On weekdays, Su Yu often plays with her children in the mud and builds blocks in the courtyard of her newly built villa; Xiao Yulan carries Su Xi on her back and rides her bicycle through the streets and alleys to collect rent. She rushes back at noon, with a few freshly bought roasted chestnuts dangling in her bicycle basket.

Su Yu was thinking about buying a motorcycle, but couldn't find a way to do so, so she had to wait another year.

While coaxing Su Xi to eat rice cereal, Xiao Yulan said, "The garment factory license has been approved, but we're just missing the machines, so we'll have to take care of that ourselves."

Su Yu looked up and replied, "The deal has been finalized in Shanghai. The goods will be shipped at the end of the month and arrive within three days. Is Grandpa still in good health? Isn't it tiring running a breakfast stall all by himself?"

"He's full of energy, even more energetic than he was ten years ago! This morning he even gave us two meat buns, neatly wrapped in oil paper." Xiao Yulan smiled and wiped the corner of her mouth.

Su Yu nodded: "Your aunt wants to take over our two shops, but I haven't agreed. Let them apply for building permits themselves—the policy is still flexible now, but in a couple of years they might not have the opportunity anymore."

In just one year, the two businesses earned a combined nearly 150,000 yuan. That was in the 1980s! This was all Su Yu had earned from the price difference between buying and selling goods between the north and south, not even counting the revenue from their respective small shops, let alone the dividends from her grandfather's lively breakfast stall. Back then, you could count the number of households in the entire county with 10,000 yuan on your fingers; if word got out, it would be astonishing.

Over the course of seven years, Su Yu saved up 250,000 yuan, which she then invested all at the end of last year in the provincial capital: she bought more than 40 apartments in a tenement building and more than 20 street-front shops.

Half of the money earned from reselling electronic watches was invested in the construction of a garment factory, and the other half was used to build the foundation of a shopping mall next to the train station.

As they were talking, Wu Jun and Wu Jun stepped into the villa's courtyard.

Su Yu put down the children's picture book in her hand, stood up and greeted, "I heard that the supply of televisions and tape recorders in Guangdong Province has been liberalized. I have already contacted the manufacturers to order a hundred units as a trial and see how the market develops."

Wu Jun made the decision: "Okay, we'll set off tonight."

Su Yu handed over a piece of paper covered in writing: "The factory price of electronic watches in Province F is 1,000 yuan per 100 units, and we get them for 12 yuan each. This time, don't all crowd into one route—split your forces into two groups: one group continues south, and the other goes north. They don't have these yet over there, so let's secure the market and create a foothold. Take a few trustworthy brothers with you, keep a low profile, and build a solid reputation. That way, our garment factory's fabrics and finished garments can be distributed to several provinces in the future. Oh, and by the way, ask Lao Jiang if we can get any pager parts."

Wu Jun rubbed his hands together and laughed: "I ran all the way north! I've never even touched the red walls of the Forbidden City in my entire life."

Su Yu patted him on the shoulder: "Speak less when you're out, listen more and observe more, take a step back when things happen, and remember that harmony is the key to making money."

Wu Jun nodded: "After running this for over a year, this principle is ingrained in my bones."

Su Yu nodded: "I'll keep an eye on the shop approval for my two aunts, and I'll make sure to ask everyone I can for favors."

With their funds in hand, the two boarded a green train heading south that afternoon.

Su Yu strolled to the garment factory in the afternoon—the factory building had already been topped out and renovated, the floor was polished so that you could see your reflection, the windows were bright and clean, and it was just waiting for the machines to be installed.

Wu Qun and Wu Ni have been studying with Su Yun for two years and have become fascinated with management. Now, their bedside books are "Principles of Factory Organization" and "Cost Accounting Practice," and their notebooks are filled with dense notes.

By the end of the month, all equipment installation and debugging were completed. The manufacturer left twelve technicians at the factory to provide hands-on training for a full month, ensuring that each female worker could operate the sewing machine, fabric inspection machine, and ironing table independently before packing up and returning to the factory.

Recruitment then began: only women aged 16 to 28 were recruited, male workers were almost never hired, and the dormitory was only for female workers, which was clean, bright, and had hot water and a shared laundry room.

The first garment—a modified diagonal-front short-sleeved shirt patterned according to Su Yu's hand-drawn sketch—slowly slid off the assembly line, its stitches fine and its buttons delicate. Xiao Yulan tried it on, twirled in front of the full-length mirror, and asked with a smile, "Should the waistline be shortened by half an inch? Should we add a subtle pattern to the cuffs?"

Su Yu squinted and examined it for a moment, then nodded decisively: "This is the version, go all out."

Second-hand dealers from all over the country had been eagerly waiting. As soon as they heard that the finished garments were being delivered, they drove over and crowded at the factory gate to sign contracts, deposit money, and place orders.

After Wu Jun established himself in the north, he called that very night to urge the delivery of goods. In the first month's settlement, the garment factory had a net inflow of 400,000 yuan—a figure that sent shivers down one's spine.

Su Yu also received good news from Wu Jun in Guangdong Province—there really was a factory there specializing in pager parts, with ample production capacity. Su Yu quickly recruited about a hundred female workers and taught them how to assemble them. The profit margin on these machines was astonishing, earning a net profit of seven hundred yuan per machine, and each girl could easily produce twenty machines a day; but it was like fireworks, brilliant but short-lived, completely outdated in ten years at most. But that was enough; ten years was enough to solidify the foundation and pave the way.

This pager manufacturer's supply network quickly expanded to eight or nine surrounding provinces, and orders poured in like snowflakes. Taking advantage of this, Su Yu rushed to build commercial plazas in neighboring provincial capitals, moving as fast as a beach landing—and sure enough, by the 1990s, the value of those few plots of land alone had soared to over 100 million yuan.

In 93, with the garment factory and pager factory operating as two engines, Su Yu's cash flow was rock solid. She finally secured all the commercial plazas in major provincial capitals across the country. The annual rent for each plaza easily exceeded one million, and a glance at the accounts revealed a sea of ​​hard currency.

At that time, there was a wave of layoffs from state-owned enterprises. The streets were full of people whose secure jobs had suddenly been shattered. Setting up stalls, opening shops, and dealing in small commodities became the most practical way to make a living. Street-front shops, especially in the bustling city center, were highly sought after and extremely difficult to find.

System: "Congratulations, host, on achieving the main objective. You will be immediately transported to the new world. This body will be returned to its original owner intact—complete two more tasks, and you can go home."

Su Yu: "Wait, the original owner is still alive?"

System: "The person is 'dormant' in my space. Everything you do will be automatically inherited by him when he wakes up. His life is your resume."

I recommend my new book, "I Exorcise Demons and Protect the Righteous Path in the Demon Suppression Division." Feel free to check it out and offer your feedback. Thank you for your support!

Some readers say the world-building is weak? Then we'll write more based on TV dramas in the future, making it more relatable.

For the next episode, "Home-Style Dishes," I recommend watching the show first—it's full of everyday life, the characters are familiar, and stepping into the show feels like returning to your own kitchen.

……

When Liu Hongchang opened his eyes, the youthful face in the mirror made his heart skip a beat: he had transmigrated again.

Liu Hongchang: "System, just popping in to say hi, where am I?"

System: "The 'Home-Style Dishes' world. Tasks are open to you. Bonus: deliver the eye medicine in your space to Wenhui's mother, Yu Qiuhua, personally."

Liu Hongchang: "Do you have a crush on me?"

System: "Huh?"

Liu Hongchang: "From the very first world, the first job I ever did was cooking! Your system must have been written by the Kitchen God before he retired!"

System: "This is purely a random match. I don't even know your name. Once the person is delivered, my job is done. After that—you're in charge."

Before she could finish speaking, Wang Cuilan called out from outside the door, "Hongchang! The sun's high in the sky, why aren't you up? What are you muttering about!"

Liu Hongchang called out, "Mom, I'm having a wedding ceremony in my dream!"

Wang Cuilan slapped her thigh with delight: "Oh my, you've finally figured it out! I've picked out a wife for you; we're going on a blind date at the Cultural Square this noon!"

Liu Hongchang wiped his face: "Okay, I'll be there after get off work."

After washing up, my sister-in-law Wu Xiaoying had already served breakfast: steaming hot cornbread with pickled vegetable shreds, the aroma wafting into my nose.

As soon as they stepped out of the hospital gate, Wang Cuilan whispered to Wu Xiaoying, "Why did this child suddenly agree to go? Could she be delirious from the fever?"

Wu Xiaoying smiled and shook her head: "I've figured it out. I'm in my early twenties, it's time to settle down."

Liu Hongchang strolled towards the second canteen of the state-run restaurant, sorting out the old stories of this body as he walked—the original owner's personality was so twisted, like a knot that couldn't be tied: he didn't dare touch his wife for three years after getting married, and when he secretly watched her wash her hair, he was caught and had a huge fight with her; later, he ended up starving himself and even paying out of his own pocket to support his in-laws.