CHAPTER 245: CHAPTER 245: RENTING AND BUYING A HOUSE

"Aunt Ge, what are your plans after Yuanyi goes to Beijing?"

Aunt Ge fanned Lin Xiang with a fan in her hand, "I’ve already talked it over with your Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt, from now on they will pay me two yuan rent every month. Their family of four will live in my house, and there will be someone to look after the stall every day."

"I’m not worried about Yuanyi going to university in Beijing, because I know you’re there, and you’ll take good care of her, right?"

Aunt Ge didn’t mean to morally bind Lin Xiang, but she knew that Lin Xiang had a strong sense of responsibility because she was the one who convinced Ge Yuanyi to take the college entrance exam and helped her catch up on lessons. Now that Ge Yuanyi was also going to Beijing for university, Lin Xiang would definitely keep an eye on her.

Aunt Ge didn’t demand any specific care from Lin Xiang for Ge Yuanyi because they were both new to Beijing, and she felt embarrassed to ask.

But in an unfamiliar city, having someone you know to occasionally meet up with and discuss things with was enough.

Lin Xiang took a big sip of iced tea and then said, "Huaqing University and Beijing Medical College are not far apart, they’re in the same district, and on the same bus route. It’s twelve bus stops, even accounting for waiting time, it won’t take more than half an hour."

"My mom and I have rented a house near Huaqing University. The house isn’t big, but there are several empty rooms, so Yuanyi can come over on weekends."

"My Yuanyi... never mind, I won’t mention it. Xiangxiang, Aunt has to thicken her skin and ask you to look after Yuanyi a little more. Honestly, I didn’t want her to go so far away for university, I always fear something bad will happen to her without me by her side. But since it’s about her future, I can’t stand in her way. So, you must help Aunt and take care of Yuanyi a little more."

Lin Xiang put down her chopsticks, looked at Aunt Ge, and then at Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt, "I’ve just observed the foot traffic and found that more people are going to the Welfare District compared to when I used to set up a stall."

Chunya said, "That’s right! At first, there were only a few stalls, but as more people found out, more and more joined in. The more people, the lively it gets."

"Girl, can you guess how much we’re making a day now?"

Lin Xiang calculated in her head and cautiously held up four fingers, "At least forty yuan, right?"

Nowadays, Chunya handles the bookkeeping, so she knows the daily sales and profits best, "The barbecue stall alone brings in over thirty yuan a day; the spicy noodle stall earns less, but still makes over ten yuan."

"The costs for the barbecue stall are actually lower than for the spicy noodles. Vegetables basically cost nothing, at most you trade with white rabbit candy or eggs like you used to, distributing several big bags of vegetables over the days, and costs don’t even reach one yuan. Plus, the most profitable item at the barbecue is the grilled fish, which we catch from the river, so there’s no cost there."

Not entirely without cost, the fish-catching has switched from Dong Sheng to his little buddies, and the cost is an ice pop for each person daily, and a bottle of soda per week.

Dong Sheng isn’t stingy, and his buddies work hard to catch fish. Aunt Ge’s backyard pond is filled with fish.

As for the spicy noodles, it’s the spices for making the base that are expensive.

Since the weather is hot and there’s a risk of spoiling, the base needs to be freshly made every day. Even though it sells for over ten yuan, the net profit is less than five yuan.

But the spicy noodle business is long term, while the barbecue, once autumn and winter come and vegetables become scarce, will only have grilled fish to sell.

Mentioning grilled fish, Dong Sheng’s face fell, "When the river was full of fish before, we just stood by the river and the fish would jump out without us having to catch them. Less than a month in, and there are one-third fewer fish in the river. By the end of the summer, at least half will be gone."

Lin Xiang had thought of this issue before; fish are not like vegetables, you have to maintain sustainability, so to have endless fish to eat, you have to buy fish fry.

After hearing Lin Xiang’s suggestion, Fifth Uncle thought for a moment, "When it rains and we can’t set up the stall, I’ll ask around to see where we can buy fish fry, and we’ll stock the Lihua Team’s river with them."

"There’s also another problem," Lin Xiang said, "The barbecue business is doing well, and many are envious. What worries me is that if a relative of some leader takes a liking to this business and forces you to relocate, then the customer base you’ve built up during this time might be taken away."

Fifth Aunt was shocked, "Can they really do that?"

"But they’re big leaders now, they shouldn’t be interested in our small business, right?"

What Fifth Aunt didn’t say was how could leaders stoop so low.

Of course, leaders would not stoop that low. Whether it was the seventies or the twenty-first century, the country strictly controls these matters. What happens in secret aside, at least on the surface, those with a bit of power wouldn’t dare blatantly exploit their position for wealth.

Running a business themselves is a type of exploiting their position for wealth anyway.

So, what Lin Xiang was referring to were the leaders’ relatives.

The barbecue stalls can make over thirty yuan a day, with a net profit over twenty yuan, meaning monthly profits could easily reach over six hundred yuan.

This is six hundred yuan in the late seventies!

Take a first-class female worker in the textile factory, for example, her monthly salary is only thirty to forty yuan.

Director Chen’s monthly salary, including various benefits and bonuses, was just over two hundred yuan.

A net profit of over six hundred yuan per month, who wouldn’t be envious?

Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt were only focused on running their business and hadn’t considered these issues at all.

Now that Lin Xiang brought it up, both of them became a bit nervous and cautiously asked, "Girl, do you have any good suggestions?"

"My suggestion is to get a fixed stall. That way, customers will know where to find you when they want barbecue."

"So you mean we should also rent a storefront?"

The reason for the ’also’ was because others were already doing so.

Nowadays, attitudes are becoming more open, and more people are enquiring about small businesses.

However, only a few are willing to spend money on rent. Most open shops use their own houses, which reduces cost, and even if the business doesn’t work out, there’s not much loss.

"Rather than renting, it’s more cost-effective to buy a property," Lin Xiang said. "Before school started, my mom and I rented a house in the town and got a feel for the market. The rent is higher for good locations. To run a shop that can accommodate enough customers, the monthly rent is at least five yuan, that’s sixty a year. This doesn’t even include landlords raising the price maliciously when they see your business doing well."