Rebirth 78: After being jilted at the altar, I reached the pinnacle!

"Speaking of which, if you're ever short on money in the future, don't buy such expensive cigarettes anymore. You should first think about how to make a living."

The old man did not light his cigarette. After a long history of smoking, he could tell at a glance that the pack of cigarettes in Li Hanliang's hand was expensive.

"Okay, thank you for the reminder, I will definitely keep it in mind!"

Li Hanliang nodded in agreement, saying that in this era, it is extremely rare to meet such helpful people.

After speaking, the old man turned and walked directly into the inner room, while Li Hanliang now had a set of keys in his hand.

After receiving the keys, he immediately got to work. As he pushed open the door to the storeroom, a strong musty smell hit him.

The irritation caused Li Hanliang to sneeze several times, and he quickly covered his mouth and nose with his arm. Enduring the unbearable stench, he hurried to the window to ventilate the room.

After about ten minutes, when the smell in the room had dissipated considerably, Li Hanliang stepped back inside. Looking around, he saw a jumble of odds and ends piled up inside.

Everything imaginable: a malfunctioning radio, a deformed bicycle tire, and even a missing part of a sewing machine are carelessly discarded here.

It seems this old man must have quite a background. After all, in this day and age, families who can afford such items are by no means ordinary.

Seeing all this, Li Hanliang's doubts were finally resolved—it turned out that the old man was willing to generously give him money to use this place because he himself was not short of money.

For the other party, the income from renting out the house was probably insignificant. After roughly estimating the number of items in the room, he had a basic understanding of the situation.

However, it was already close to dusk, and there was clearly no time to properly dispose of these miscellaneous items. "Sir, I'll take my leave now. I'll come back to clean up tomorrow when I have time."

After locking the warehouse door and saying goodbye to the old man, he left.

On his way home, an overwhelming joy welled up on Li Hanliang's face.

Successfully renting the storefront undoubtedly means that the soon-to-open xiaolongbao (soup dumpling) shop is one step closer to its opening.

However, relevant procedures such as licenses and permits still need to be completed before opening a store.

Thinking about these cumbersome procedures, Li Hanliang felt a headache coming on. Without the support of some personal connections, it would be very difficult to get things done quickly.

Just as I was thinking of a solution, a name suddenly popped into my mind—Zhou Weiguo.

As a leader, this director might be able to provide assistance in applying for a business license.

However, their relationship was not yet close enough for the other to help them for free.

Therefore, he still needs to think about how to persuade Director Zhou to provide assistance.

After all, obtaining a legal business license is an important matter that cannot be ignored.

After finding Zhou Weiguo, Li Hanliang spoke directly.

"Brother Zhou, do you know anyone who can help with getting a business license? I'd like to apply for one."

Li Hanliang made no attempt to hide anything; hiding anything in front of someone like Zhou Weiguo would only invite contempt.

"Applying for a business license? You want to open a pork shop?"

Zhou Weiguo looked somewhat surprised after hearing this. Opening a store involves a lot of uncertainty, and it's not something that just anyone would dare to try easily.

"Yes, I am planning to open a shop, but I don't plan to sell pork; I plan to sell steamed buns instead."

He readily admitted to the idea of ​​opening a shop, but selling roasted chestnuts was clearly not worth opening a shop specifically for.

"You're in the steamed bun business? You even know how to make that?"

Zhou Weiguo was quite surprised to learn that Li Hanliang was going to enter this field. He couldn't believe that this young man possessed so many skills at such a young age.

“I want to give it a try. I’ve noticed that there doesn’t seem to be a place that specializes in selling steamed buns in our county, and I want to seize this market.”

The county town currently lacks vendors selling steamed buns, which gives Li Hanliang a great opportunity to fill the gap and prevent others from seizing the opportunity.

"Having ambition is a good thing. In that case, I'll do my best to help you find suitable connections. Keep up the good work!"

After hearing his market analysis, Zhou Weiguo nodded approvingly. People who are willing to spend time understanding and researching market conditions before starting a business are often more likely to succeed.

"Thank you, Brother Zhou. This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please pass it on for me. There are always costs involved in handling these matters."

After saying that, he took out a small envelope from his pocket, which contained all his savings. There would definitely be expenses involved in handling the relevant procedures.

Unlike the future, where you can simply go to the Bureau of Industry and Commerce, obtaining official documents in this era is almost impossible without a network of connections.

Seeing this, Zhou Weiguo accepted the money and agreed:

"Then I'll help you find out the details in the next two days."

He smiled and encouraged him, "I believe in you, young man!"

He always felt a deep affection for these positive and motivated young people, because they reminded him of his own passionate youth.

Perhaps if fate gave him another chance, he might make a different choice...

But life is a one-way street with no turning back; there are never any "what ifs".

Pulling the flatbed cart back to the school gate, Li Hanliang exchanged a brief greeting with the old guard and then went straight to open the door to the storeroom.

Once inside, the two began to clear out the unwanted items and load them onto the cart.

There is almost no space to dispose of trash outside the school, which is one of the reasons why the elderly are too lazy to do it.

Faced with a pile of old and useless items, the old man had already instructed that people could take the useful items back, while the rest of the waste could be disposed of as they pleased.

Based on his accumulated knowledge and experience, Li Hanliang unhesitatingly piled all the items he considered worthless onto the truck. This action pained Liu Quan, who was watching from the side.

"Oh dear, these can still be used, don't waste them!"

"Big brother, stop! That's a good thing, don't mess with it!"

"Hey! Why are you loading everything into the truck? Isn't that just a waste?"

Liu Quan kept trying to dissuade people while also attempting to save every item from being thrown away.

“Dayou, the shop is meant to be used to run a steamed bun shop. These things are completely useless. Look at this junk, even if we gave it to someone for free, they wouldn't want it. Let's buy new things when we make money later.”

Li Hanliang said with a slightly disdainful tone, then threw the things even further away.

After several hours of hard work, they finally emptied the entire storage room.

In the end, only one table that looked relatively intact was left. After all, a table is essential when selling food, and this one wasn't too old except for the dust.

Then it took an extra hour to clean the house.

That concludes today's mission.