Back to 1978: Getting rich starts with treasure hunting

"Mom, are there fresh yams in the chicken soup today?" Jiang Chaohong took a bite of the yam. It was soft and sticky and tasted very good.

The Gu family has not separated. The housework is done by the nanny, but the one who actually manages the household logistics is Wang Suzhen.

After listening to Jiang Chaohong's words, she glanced at Lin Shu and said, "This is authentic wild yam. Shushu dug it up from the mountain yesterday. You are in for a treat today. This kind of wild yam is not common. There are yam slices in the pharmacy, but they are not necessarily wild."

Gu Changsheng gave Wang Suzhen an approving look, "Indeed, since Shushu came, she would make soup with herbs from time to time. We are much stronger after drinking it."

"Sister-in-law, you and Laojiu make a lot of money every month, why are you still thinking of going up the mountain to dig herbs to sell? The two children at home are still breastfeeding, how can you be so cruel as to stay in the mountain for a whole day?"

These were words of concern, but coming from Jiang Chaohong's mouth, it made people feel uncomfortable.

Lin Shu smiled and said, "How can I compare with you, Third Sister-in-law? I don't have a job, and I feel anxious if I don't make some money myself. When Third Sister-in-law gave birth to Youming and Youxing, did she go to work after the children were weaned?"

Jiang Chaohong felt superior. No matter how she compared them, she had a job in the city, while Lin Shu came from the countryside and didn't have a formal job.

No matter how much money you make, it is not stable.

If your income source is unstable, you will feel insecure.

Jiang Chaohong sympathized with her weakly, "When we had children before, we couldn't wait until the children were weaned before going to work. We would go back to work when the children were three or four months old. We would feed them milk before going to work every day, and rush home after get off work at noon. If the children were hungry in the morning, we could only feed them rice porridge to fill their stomachs."

Lin Shu nodded: "It's hard for the children to survive all the way. I only go up the mountain occasionally, so it doesn't have much impact on the children."

"Sister-in-law, how much money can you and Lao Jiu earn in a month? I've always been curious, but I never had the chance to ask." Jiang Chaohong stared at Lin Shu a little nervously.

Lin Shu glanced at everyone eating at the table. Except for the children, they all pretended not to hear anything.

But who knows whether they really want to know or not.

"What I earn every month is not enough to cover the money I spend on the construction site. All the money goes into the hole on the construction site. It's better not to mention it."

Whether it's family or friends, they will laugh at you for not having anything and be jealous of you for having something. It's the same for everyone.

She and Gu Jiu's income would not serve the purpose of showing off. No matter how much she said, it was more than those who worked honestly. Even if her family members were not jealous, it would be difficult to balance their feelings and affect their mood.

Liu Xiao'e frowned and interrupted, "You young people think you can make a fuss when you have a little money. It would be enough to build a two- or three-story house over there, but you insist on building a seven-story house.

Now, if you put a lot of money into it, you don’t know how much money will be needed to fill the bottomless pit. If the difference is really too big, who in the world is willing to lend you money to make ends meet?"

When Jiang Chaohong heard that there was a shortage of money to build the house, he immediately stopped talking.

However, the two patriarchs of the Gu family took these words to heart.

Gu Changsheng turned around and asked Lin Shu: "How much money do you need to build the house?"

The others became nervous, especially the wives of the Gu family, who glanced at Lin Shu warily.

"Dad, don't worry. We still have some savings and can handle it for the time being." Lin Shu didn't want the two old people to pay.

Otherwise, even if Gu Jiu's brothers had no objection, his sisters-in-law would have some objection in their hearts. If the brothers had a rift because of this, it would be her fault.

Hearing her refusal, the sisters-in-law breathed a sigh of relief.

Gu Changsheng said with relief: "You two are both good kids. You knew how to save money not long after you got married. It's good to have savings. You don't have to be embarrassed to do anything you want. You can do it as you want."

Liu Xiao'e was very proud of her father-in-law's praise for her daughter. She smiled and said, "My father-in-law is right. For ordinary families like us, if we want to save money, we can only be frugal. Otherwise, if we spend money lavishly, we will not be able to save much money in our lifetime."

Gu Changsheng smiled and nodded.

No one else answered, because the few meat dishes on the table were all bought by Lin Shu.

It can be said that Gu Jiu and Lin Shu are good at making money, saving money, and spending money.

The family buys meat and fish every few days. It can be said that since Gu Jiu and Lin Shu came back, there has never been a shortage of fish and meat at home, and the quality of the food has increased several times.

Jiang Chaohong thought of the fruit wholesale business opened by Gu Jiu, which now occupies almost half of the fruit market in the provincial capital, or at least a quarter of it.

"Besides, Brother Jiu's fruit wholesale business is booming. As a result, more and more people are setting up fruit stalls in the provincial capital, and many more fruit stores are opening."

Second sister-in-law Li Ling glanced back and forth between Jiang Chaohong and Lin Shu.

She, who had been silent the whole time, asked, "There are a lot more fruit stalls in the city. Could it be that all their fruits are wholesaled from Brother Jiu's fruit shop?"

"Most of them are wholesaled from him." Jiang Chaohong nodded.

Li Ling looked at Lin Shu in surprise, "I knew Lao Jiu opened a store before, but I didn't know his business was so big."

Lin Shu wanted to roll his eyes in his heart, but he patiently explained, "The fruit shop is not owned by him alone, he has a partner."

Li Ling: "I know about this. The person who partnered with him has good vision. It seems that he is a classmate of Lao Jiu."

"He's a high school classmate." Lin Shu added.

Jiang Chaohong mentioned the fruit shop today not for the purpose of chatting. Seeing that they were about to talk about something else, she quickly brought the topic back.

"The competition among fruit stores in the provincial capital is getting fiercer now, and business is not as good as before. Sister-in-law, can you give me a little more discount when my brother goes to your fruit store for wholesale?"

Li Ling: “…”

So you're waiting here.

Lin Shu sneered in his heart, thinking that even now that the economy has been reformed, your family still wants to do the exclusive business.

"Now that there are so many shares in the provincial capital, even if there are twice as many fruit stalls, business will still be good. Third sister-in-law, do you have any misunderstanding that business is difficult?"

In later times, competition became truly fierce, and the pie became smaller and smaller. As long as you could survive by opening a store, people would do it even if the profit was slim.

Now Jiang family brother’s fruit shop can earn one or two months’ salary of others in one day. Is this a difficult business?

"Suddenly there are so many competitors. If this is not considered difficult business, then what does it mean to be difficult business?" Jiang Chaohong asked back.

Gu Youhui couldn't stand listening to this. "Aunt, although there are more vendors on the street now, the impact on the fruit shop's business is not that big. The daily profit is still considerable. You can't ask your uncle to give you a profit just because your business is slightly affected, right? Besides, your uncle also needs to make money from fruit wholesale."

Doing business is not about charity, making money is definitely the ultimate goal.

Jiang Chaohong was a little annoyed, and her face showed it, "Youhui, isn't your fruit shop affected?"

Gu Youhui said truthfully: "There is definitely some impact, but it is not a big one. The store still makes considerable profits every day."

Lin Shu likes this kid Gu Youhui, he knows when to advance and when to retreat and has a strong sense of boundaries.

"Youhui is right. It is impossible to run a business without competition. Wherever there is money to be made, there will definitely be people who are jealous and follow suit. The key lies in whether you know how to adapt."

Jiang Chaohong stopped eating and turned to look at Lin Shu: "From what you said, you seem to be very experienced in business. How about you tell me and share your experience with me, how can the fruit shop increase profits?"

Lin Shu raised his eyebrows. Who was he looking down on?

"It's easy and difficult for a fruit shop to increase profits. If you meet someone who doesn't know how to adapt, it's very difficult to increase profits."

As he spoke, Lin Shu looked at Gu Youhui: "Take Youhui's fruit shop for example. His shop is located in an excellent location. Youhui, what kind of people go to your shop to buy fruit?"

Although Gu Youhui didn't know what Lin Shu meant by this question, he still answered cooperatively: "Residents of several nearby compounds, and outsiders who came to visit relatives in the compound."

Lin Shu nodded, not wanting to eat anymore, and put down his bowl and chopsticks: "The welfare of the residents in the nearby compounds is good, and they are basically regular customers of your store. If you want to increase the profit of the store on this basis, in addition to promotion, you just need to slightly change the sales method."

Gu Youhui became interested and asked impatiently, "Aunt, what do you think is the best way to change it?"

"For example, you can order a handicraft basket from a handicraft factory that looks grand but can't actually hold much fruit. Put a little of each kind of fruit in the basket to fill it up. Then decorate it to make it look prettier and put it in a prominent place in the fruit shop, and charge a price for each basket."

Gu Youhui's eyes lit up: "How much is the best price?"

"5.88, 6.88, 8.88, any lucky number will do."

Gu Youhui understood what she meant, and stood up and clapped his hands excitedly, "Good idea."

"What's this idea? Why don't I understand it?" Jiang Chaohong looked at Gu Youhui in confusion, then at Lin Shu.

"Haha..." Gu Youhui laughed, feeling happy, and was patient enough to explain to her: "My aunt means that a basket of fruits dressed up high is sold for 6.88 yuan. The actual value of the apples may be 1 yuan, the oranges 1 yuan, the bananas 0.5 yuan, plus some longans and other fruits 1 yuan, plus the cost of the basket, the total value is less than 4 yuan. By dressing up the basket, it can be sold at a high price, which is also a way to generate income."

Lin Shu gave him a thumbs up and said, "As expected of a business rookie who built his business from scratch in just a few months. You are so smart. You may be the richest man in the country in the future."

Jiang Chaohong frowned, "Isn't this a rip-off? Who would buy this obviously uneconomical fruit basket?"

Gu Youhui smiled and said, "Of course it's bought by those who come to visit relatives. Who among the residents living nearby would buy themselves such a good-looking but useless fruit basket?"

For the person giving a gift, it is natural that he will feel proud if the gift is beautiful and high-end in appearance.

Jiang Chaohong's eyebrows relaxed and he began to smile, "This sounds like a good idea. I'll go back tomorrow and tell my brother to try it out as well."

Lin Shu smiled, this was a good idea. But if he wanted to do it, he had to find the materials to decorate the fruit first.

As far as she knew, Jiang's younger brother was not a diligent person. Whether the specific plan could be successfully implemented depended on the second nephew Gu Youhui.

This guy is a young man with very strong brain and execution ability.

Just a random idea allowed Lin Wei to set up a stall in the provincial capital, and it was a success.

Now Lin Wei's noodle shop is doing well, and Lin Wei and his wife have moved out of Gu's villa and moved into the second floor of the noodle shop. They treat the shop as their home, eating and sleeping in the shop.

Liu Xiao'e was helping to take care of the children, otherwise she would have moved into the shop long ago. She could also help Lin Wei and his wife to look after the shop and clean up the tables.

As for Lin Guang, the second son of the Lin family in her hometown, Liu Xiao'e had already told him that she wanted him to come to the provincial capital.

However, because they needed to let Lin Xue and his wife get familiar with the store, they could only come to the provincial capital after they had figured out the purchasing channels and were able to open a store on their own.

Gu Jiu went to the north, and Lin Shu became busier than before.

When Gu Jiu was at home, he would help take care of the children and handle the business affairs outside. If Lin Shu didn't want to go up the mountain, he could basically stay at home and take care of the children every day.

Now that he was away from home, Lin Shu not only had to take care of the two children, but also had to go to the trading company every day to collect the daily turnover. Every few days, she also had to go to the construction site to check on the house and occasionally settle the payment with the material supplier.

Fortunately, there were two old ladies at home to help take care of the children, which was a great help to Lin Shu and made her life a lot easier.

Almost every village near the provincial capital grows a lot of sweet potatoes.

Wang Suzhen asked someone to buy a lot of sweet potatoes from the countryside.

These days, taking advantage of the good weather, my nanny and I steamed the sweet potatoes, cut them into strips, and prepared to dry them to make dried sweet potatoes.

In those days, children in every family had few snacks to eat. Every autumn, those who loved to manage would dry some sweet potatoes and save them as snacks for their children.

Wang Suzhen is undoubtedly a grandmother who loves children. There are many winnowing baskets in the yard, and steamed sweet potato chips are hung on the winnowing baskets to dry.

The twins are three months old now, and they will start to grind their teeth in another two or three months.

In order to save some good snacks for her two babies to grind their teeth, Wang Suzhen steamed the dried sweet potatoes in a steamer until they were soft and then dried them in the sun.

After three steamings and three dryings, the sweet potato has more sugar and is softer to eat. It is very suitable for babies who like to grind their teeth.

Lin Shu held Dabao in her arms and looked at the busy people downstairs. "Qinqin, you see, your sister just loves to join in the fun. That's the normal reaction of a baby."

In the yard downstairs, Liu Xiao'e was holding her second baby and watching them drying sweet potatoes.

Dabao just glanced downstairs and then looked into the distance.

"What's your reaction? Do you think your sister is childish?"

Dabao: "..."

Lin Shu sighed: "My sister is lively, but you are just a baby but you pretend to be deep. Can't you chat with me?"

Lin Shu hugged him and sat back on the sofa, picked up the newspaper of the day, and said, "You can't speak now, if you have anything to say, you can point to the words in the newspaper and tell me?"

This is the most direct way Lin Shu can think of to communicate with his son.

Dabao looked at the newspaper helplessly, pointed at the word "you" on it, and then pointed at another "?"

Lin Shu looked at his chubby little hand resting on the '?', and his eyes lit up: "You mean to ask me what I want to talk about?"

Dabao blinked and said, yes!

Lin Shu stared at Dabao's little face for a long while, then rolled his eyes. "I don't know if you have any impression of your appearance, but I remember very clearly that you look very much like you did when you were a child in your previous life... No, you look the same."

Dabao's heart skipped a beat when he heard this, and he stared nervously at Lin Shu's slightly wrinkled brows.

Lin Shu smoothed his frown, "Dabao, can you tell me what is your relationship with Gu Jiu? I'm asking about your previous life. Is it possible that he was also your father in your previous life?"