My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 85 Old acquaintance

The first day's sales were so-so. They packed up around 8 p.m., went back to the warehouse, took inventory, checked sales, and tallied the payments.

Today is the first day, so we can't say it's good or bad; it just hasn't been as explosive as expected. However, according to Lin Ying, it's only the first day, so this result isn't bad, and we can see how things go from here on out.

The four of them didn't stay at the warehouse for long, since it was getting late and none of them had eaten dinner yet.

After getting everything ready, they chatted briefly, agreed to continue the next day, and then parted ways. Back at the small building, Fang Manxia, ​​unusually, didn't stay upstairs but waited for them downstairs.

"Grandma!"

Upon entering, they were immediately surprised to see Fang Manxia.

"Xiao Zhou, Xiao Ying," Fang Manya asked sternly, "I'm asking you, are you two doing some kind of business outside?"

"Grandma, you..."

"I'm not blind. You've all been so busy these past few days. Someone came looking for you yesterday, and you went out early this morning. Xiaoying came back to cook lunch, and you came back so late tonight. How can I not worry?"

Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying exchanged a glance. Lin Ying quickly stepped forward to help Fang Manxia up and said softly, "Grandma, you guessed right. We do business outside. You know that my husband and I don't have many jobs. We used to do business at the vegetable market and the movie theater. Now business at the vegetable market is not good, so we have to think of other ways."

Hearing Lin Ying say this, Fang Manxia's expression softened, and she sighed softly, "I know that. Since we have to make a living, we have to find something to do. I understand that, but you are young after all. You have to be careful about what you do, especially don't just focus on making money. Pay attention to other things to avoid getting into trouble."

"Many things aren't as you wish them to be. One breeze blows from the east, another from the west; nobody knows what the wind will blow tomorrow. Always be careful, don't touch what you shouldn't touch, and if you feel things aren't going well, don't take chances. Let go when you should, understand?"

"Thank you, Grandma, we remember." Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying nodded emphatically. They could feel the deep concern in Fang Manxia's words. Seeing this, Fang Manxia finally smiled.

"Alright, I won't nag any longer. I'm sure you'll all find me annoying if I say too much. Looks like you haven't eaten yet, have you? You've all been busy these days. It's not hot now, so Xiaoying can cook some extra food when she comes back at noon. You can just heat it up for dinner. That way, it'll be more convenient for you."

Seeing that Lin Ying was about to say something, Fang Manxia waved her hand and said, "I've said what I needed to say, that's enough. You've had a long day, go eat and get some rest. I'm going upstairs too."

After saying that, Fang Manxia turned and walked towards the second floor. Lin Ying helped her and took her back to the second floor. When she returned, she nodded to Zhou Jiye, who smiled knowingly. The two went to the kitchen, heated up the leftovers slightly, and ate. After eating, they washed up and rested, as they had to continue setting up their stall tomorrow.

Several days passed in the blink of an eye, and just as Lin Ying had said, their stall business was getting better day by day.

In fact, by the second day, business had clearly started to improve. Just as Lin Ying had predicted, because they had just started selling these things, very few people knew about their stall and products. In addition, everyone didn't have much money on hand. Although many people wanted to buy and were willing to buy, they were limited by their lack of funds, so the situation was indeed not ideal at first.

However, as time went on, this situation gradually changed. Regardless of the era, pursuing trends is a characteristic of young people. In addition, Shanghai is the largest and most developed city in mainland China. Even though everyone's income is not high now, if they really want to find a way to scrape together some money from their families, they can still afford to buy one or two things they like.

As more and more people learned about it, some who were well-off or who pooled their money from home came to their stall one after another to buy these goods.

The shipments started to rise on the second day. Not only did the already popular sunglasses, lighters, and digital watches sell well, but the sales of bell-bottoms, jeans, and shirts doubled all at once. As for the calculator, one was even sold, although it was the most basic and lowest priced one. But it was still a good start.

Surprisingly, the best-selling items were perfume samples. Perfume truly is the most attractive thing to women; regardless of age or appearance, they have little resistance to it. Moreover, these samples only cost one yuan each, which, while not cheap, was much lower than other products. By the fifth day, only about two hundred of the thousand perfume samples remained, and it seemed they would be sold out in less than two days.

On the third day, the cassette tapes were also put out to sell. On the second day of their stall, Xu Guoqing made a special trip to the Overseas Chinese Store, asking an acquaintance to take him inside for a look around, finally figuring out the prices. The cassette tapes at the Overseas Chinese Store weren't cheap; a blank tape cost four yuan. After discussing it, they decided to put out the blank TKD tapes and sell them for three yuan each. As for the original tapes by Teresa Teng, Fong Fei-fei, and Liu Wen-cheng, they would keep them hidden away. They couldn't put those out to sell; if someone reported them, it would be a serious matter.

Business boomed today. Perhaps due to the buzz that had spread over time, word of mouth had made many people in other districts of Shanghai aware of the stall selling these things at Xigong. Plus, it was Sunday, so the number of people at Xigong was several times higher than usual. The entire Xigong area was packed with people, and their stall, located in the best spot near the entrance, kept the four of them extremely busy from the moment they set up.

By lunchtime, the goods they brought were almost sold out, especially bell-bottoms, jeans, and shirts, which were almost gone. Microphones and digital watches were also sold out, and even the most expensive lighters had been bought by some people.

Seeing that business was so good, the four of them were overjoyed. But they couldn't just pack up and leave when they were almost out of stock. There were still some left in the warehouse. Lin Ying said she would go back and bring all the remaining goods. At this time, Xu Guoqing said that it was a long way to and from the warehouse, and since there weren't many goods left, he and Zhou Jiye would go to the warehouse together and bring all the goods. It would be more suitable for Lin Ying and Lao Wen to watch the stall here.

Xu Guoqing's suggestion was agreed upon by Zhou Jiye. It wouldn't take the two of them, two grown men, much time. It was afternoon now, and there were fewer customers. They could let Lin Ying and Lao Wen stay at the stall and rest for a while, while they would be right back.

And so, Zhou Jiye and Xu Guoqing went to get their bikes, and the two of them hopped on and headed towards the warehouse. They chatted enthusiastically as they rode, their excitement fueled by the strong sales of the past few days. However, they were also anxious about running out of stock; they couldn't just close their stall if they ran out of inventory, could they?

Although Xu Guoqing had written to Achang a few days ago, things didn't go as planned. Zhou Jiye suggested that they go to the post office to send Achang a telegram instead, since they didn't know how long they would have to wait for a letter.

Not long after Zhou Jiye and Xu Guoqing left, Lin Ying, who was guarding the stall, chatted with Lao Wen while occasionally dealing with customers.

But Lin Ying had no idea that while she was chatting with Lao Wen and glancing at the stall, a malevolent gaze was fixed on her from not far away. The owner of that gaze was Xiao Jiang, the son of Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying's former landlady, Aunt Wang.

Ever since Zhou Jiye and his family moved away from Aunt Wang's place, Xiao Jiang's living conditions have plummeted.

Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying originally rented a room in their attic for six yuan a month, which later increased to eighteen yuan. At that time, due to their household registration, they chose to keep quiet and try to buy peace. However, Aunt Wang's family took advantage of the situation. After only a few months of raising the rent to eighteen yuan, they tried to use the household registration issue to pressure Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying again, planning to raise the rent even further and demanding an exorbitant price.

Both Aunt Wang and Xiao Jiang believed they had Zhou Jiye and his group in their grasp, thinking they had no choice but to comply if they wanted to stay in Shanghai. But unexpectedly, everything changed. Because of Xu Guoqing, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying obtained Shanghai suburban residency through a roundabout method. Although it was only rural residency, with this residency, they, as local farmers of Shanghai, naturally had a legitimate reason to rent a house in the city.

In the end, Aunt Wang's family was too clever for their own good. Instead of benefiting from the scheme, they ended up completely falling out with the police. They not only lost their high rent but also had to obediently return their deposit.

Once Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying moved out, their attic was left empty.

How easy is it to find new tenants for such a dilapidated attic? It's impossible for anyone to offer Zhou Jiye and his family such a high rent. Let alone eighteen yuan, even the previous six yuan rent didn't attract any tenants. Later, the rent was lowered to five yuan... Four yuan and fifty cents still couldn't be rented out. The attic remained vacant for nearly two months. Finally, they gritted their teeth and lowered the rent to four yuan, which was barely enough to rent to a couple whose living conditions were really tight.

The loss in rent was quite severe. Moreover, when Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying lived there, Aunt Wang's family could occasionally take advantage of them. Putting aside everything else, they had tea eggs almost every day. These freebies were worth quite a bit over a month.

Now, all of this has come to nothing.

The new tenants completely ignored Aunt Wang's family. Not only was the rent low, but they also didn't get any advantage. Aunt Wang felt terrible thinking about these losses, especially since her son, Xiao Jiang, was still the same good-for-nothing. He didn't earn enough money himself and kept asking his old mother for money.

Previously, because of the high rent, Aunt Wang could give her son some extra money every month, which was fine. Now, the rent is only four yuan a month, and even if all that money is given to Xiao Jiang, it's less than half of what it used to be! Without the extra income, Xiao Jiang is very unhappy. His usual smoking and drinking habits have plummeted, and the family argues every few days because of this. They blame each other, and the relationship between mother and son has also cracked.

"Damn it! It's all because of those two scoundrels, Zhou and Lin! If it weren't for them, how could I have ended up doing manual labor?" Today, Xiao Jiang had another argument with his mother about money at home. He was very upset because he hadn't received a single penny of subsidy, so he decided to go out and clear his head.

Arriving at the West Palace, he was still thinking about the subsidy and the losses he had suffered at the hands of Zhou Jiye and his gang. He was furious! He couldn't help but curse a few times. But when he was almost there, he looked up and suddenly froze. His gaze was fixed on the West Palace gate. Wasn't that the woman with the stall, Lin, who had been his previous tenant? What was she doing here?
(End of this chapter)