CHAPTER 106: CHAPTER 106: THAT’S NOT HOW YOU DO THE MATH

"Second Aunt gave this to you, just take it." Mrs. Lin peeled one and put it in her mouth. "Chunya, when is your fiancé planning to visit? It’s almost the end of the year, and we haven’t heard a thing."

Chunya had been introduced to someone previously, and they had verbally agreed on the marriage. But with the wedding approaching, the groom hadn’t yet sent the bride price, which puzzled Mrs. Lin, prompting her to ask.

Chunya blushed and smiled shyly, speaking softly, "I saw him recently. He said there’s work building a dam in the neighboring town, with two meals a day plus two yuan wage. He went with his two brothers to earn more money for the bride price."

"That works too; save up more, and you’ll have a better life when you marry."

Lin Xiang caught the key point in Chunya’s words: "He has two brothers? So there are three sons in his family?"

"Four. He has an older brother and two younger brothers. The youngest is in his second year at Town First Middle School."

Lin Xiang blurted out, "With so many brothers, won’t it be hard to get along with the sisters-in-law in the future?"

Chunya blushed even more. "His mom said, his eldest brother and third brother aren’t married yet. I’ll be the only daughter-in-law in their family, and when I marry, I’ll have a foothold in the Zhang family. By the time his brothers marry and bring their wives in, they won’t be able to bully me."

Lin Xiang awkwardly said, "That’s pretty good too."

She could sense that Chunya was very satisfied with this marriage, so she naturally didn’t comment further.

After all, in this era, every household had several children; it was common to marry and then deal with mother-in-law and sister-in-law relationships.

Chunya wasn’t someone who planned poorly, so she would manage.

When they arrived at the market, after finding a spot, Lin Xiang went to find the person in charge and paid the protection fee like before.

Since the incident where Mrs. Lin and Lin Yun were bullied despite paying the protection fee, Lin Xiang felt it was more worthwhile to pay it every day.

When Lin Xiang returned with the receipt, Mrs. Lin and Fifth Uncle had already unloaded the barrels from the cart.

Mrs. Lin looked at the receipt in Lin Xiang’s hand and pouted, "I don’t even know why we spend this money! They don’t protect us; it’s just wasted money!"

If they saved the money spent on protection fees, their daily profits could increase significantly!

"Mom, we must spend the money where needed; otherwise, even if we have a valid point, we won’t have a standing."

Mrs. Lin didn’t understand and just kept muttering.

Lin Xiang didn’t pay attention to her complaints, she started the boiler and began shouting to sell spicy vermicelli.

After about ten minutes of shouting, people started to inquire about the price of the spicy vermicelli.

"Ten cents a bowl, with a free bowl of porridge."

"I don’t want the porridge, just the vermicelli. Can it be cheaper?"

"Our prices are fixed, no bargaining. If you don’t want the porridge, I can make more vermicelli for you to make sure you’re full!"

Lin Xiang was like a robot, repeating the actions of cooking and serving vermicelli. When the initial rush subsided, Chunya counted that they had sold twelve bowls.

"Ten cents a bowl, and we’ve sold twelve bowls just in over an hour, that’s 1.20 yuan. At least thirty bowls a day, that’s three yuan. Wow, selling spicy vermicelli is profitable, huh?"

Chunya only knew Lin Xiang was selling sweet potato vermicelli at the market, but she didn’t expect something considered worthless at the village could earn so much.

Lin Xiang took a big gulp of water and sat down to rest. "The account doesn’t work like that. Not to mention the labor for my mom and me, the cart is borrowed from the captain’s family, and I have to give something in return when I return it, can’t borrow for free."

"These two big barrels, plus a few drainers, I paid to have them made. The spicy vermicelli broth used a lot of condiments. To keep the taste, I added some minced meat. The broth cost per bowl is at least three cents. And the porridge, you saw me cook it early this morning."

"This doesn’t even include the cigarettes I buy for the person in charge every market day and the protection fee. All costs accounted for, selling thirty bowls of spicy vermicelli yields less than fifty cents in net profit."

The gap from three yuan to fifty cents was quite substantial. Chunya now understood that doing business wasn’t as simple as she thought.

By nine o’clock, the market became more crowded. Chunya had originally planned to browse and buy something, but seeing so many people eating vermicelli, she stayed to help Lin Xiang.

Initially, Chunya counted the bowls sold, but later lost track and focused on serving.

After the peak passed, Chunya was exhausted. Lin Xiang offered to make her a bowl of vermicelli, but Chunya just waved it off.

"No, no, I’ve been smelling it all morning, don’t feel like eating."

"That’s fine; I’ll see what the other stalls have, maybe buy something to eat."

Just as Lin Xiang was about to get up, Chunya pulled her back, "Girl, you earn money the hard way, don’t always think about spending it!"

"I’m not spending money, I can trade the spicy vermicelli for food, can’t I?"

Lin Xiang dared to say this because she saw an old acquaintance.

She cooked a bowl of vermicelli and went to find Aunt Ge.

"Aunt Ge, long time no see! I thought you weren’t coming to the market anymore."

Aunt Ge lifted her eyelids and glanced at Lin Xiang: "It should be me saying that. I’m here every market day and haven’t seen you once!"

"Hehe." Lin Xiang smiled and handed the spicy vermicelli to Aunt Ge. "I’ve been busy lately. My brother and mom helped for two days, but they were bullied by a thug and needed two days to recover."

Lin Xiang noticed that Aunt Ge’s stall had not only pancakes but also some extras.

There were pickled radishes, fried shredded potatoes, chili peppers, and even seaweed she recognized!

"Seaweed? We aren’t near the sea; where did you get seaweed, Auntie?"

"My son brought it back from outside a while ago. I tried it a couple of times and thought it tasted good, so I added it to the pancakes to see how it tasted and found it quite popular."

Aunt Ge swiftly rolled a few pancakes for Lin Xiang, "Got extra hands today?"

"My brother went to the town for work. My Fifth Uncle was worried just my mom and I couldn’t bring the cart to the market, so he came to help. The girl next to me is his daughter, my cousin."

Aunt Ge didn’t say anything but rolled another pancake. "Now my pancakes have gone up to eight cents each, you can’t trade one bowl of vermicelli for two pancakes, let alone four!"