Translator: 549690339 |
“What’s going on? Tell me quickly.” Liu Juan suppressed her excitement and sat down on a stool.
“Just a few months ago, a little temptress with the surname Ni moved to our street. Using her good looks to her advantage, she snatched a lot of my business away. Remember how Honghong got arrested recently? She’s the one to blame!”
Sun Chunxiang shifted all the blame onto Ni Yang.
Liu Juan didn’t care about who was right or wrong and echoed Sun Chunxiang’s words, “Such people truly have no shame! Sooner or later, they’ll meet their downfall. Don’t worry Sister Chunxiang, once I’m free I’ll go and confront that little fox. I want to see how she seduces men!”
Sun Chunxiang was deeply moved by Liu Juan’s words, “Xiaoliu, I really can’t thank you enough.”
With Liu Juan’s understanding and willingness to listen, Sun Chunxiang poured out all her grievances.
Upon learning that Sun Chunxiang had been having a hard time recently, Liu Juan couldn’t help but feel overjoyed.
To prevent Sun Chunxiang from asking her for a loan, Liu Juan preemptively said, “Sister Chunxiang, given our many years of friendship, I should step in and help you out during such a difficult time, but all my money has recently gone toward helping my little brother buy a house…”
With Liu Juan having taken such a stand, what else could Sun Chunxiang say?
After delivering the table and chairs to the shop, Ni Yang didn’t head straight home. Instead, she made a trip to the Agricultural Bank, intending to deposit all the money she had earned recently.
She now had around ten thousand yuan on her, not only was it safer to keep the money in the bank, but she could also earn interest.
Even though it was Saturday, the bank was not at all crowded.
The first reason was that in this era, ordinary workers didn’t earn much money and their wages could only cover daily expenses.
The second reason was that the banking system of this era was still immature and found it hard to gain people’s trust.
Ni Yang ended up depositing nineteen thousand yuan, leaving just over a hundred yuan for spending money.
Nineteen thousand yuan.
Ni Yang looked at the balance in her savings book and calculated silently in her mind. She was now only seven thousand yuan short of buying her own shop.
She was now making nearly three hundred yuan per day, so in about another month or so, she would be able to buy and renovate her shop!
The day she would become a fully-fledged individual shop owner was just around the corner.
With such exciting news, it was undoubtedly a time to celebrate.
Autumn had gradually set in.
And in autumn, it was only natural to enjoy some warm food.
Ni Yang turned her bicycle around and made a trip to the Vegetable Market, where she bought plenty of vegetables.
She also purchased a charcoal hotpot stove.
The stove had two layers, making it ideal for cooking in a double-flavour pot.
Hotpot originated from Sichuan and Chongqing, but at this time, not many people ate it.
The first reason was that there were no ready-made hotpot mixes to buy. The essence of hotpot lay in the base ingredients, which the average person would struggle to cook well, especially in an era when people were focused on making money, who had the spare time for gourmet cooking?
The second reason was that hotpot consumed too much oil, most ordinary families couldn’t even afford meat, let alone oil.
After buying the pot, Ni Yang then headed over to a stall selling beef and mutton, “Boss, how much is the beef?”
“Five yuan per pound.”
Ni Yang pointed at the mutton, “And the mutton?”
The beef and mutton vendor was a middle-aged man with a chubby face.
Seeing that Ni Yang was a young girl who looked like she couldn’t afford to buy meat, he answered impatiently, “Mutton is five and a half yuan per pound. If you can’t afford it, stand further away! Don’t block my business!”
People of this era all pursued “fatness”.
The fatness of being overweight.
Due to poverty, they couldn’t afford to eat meat, so people believed that those who were fat were wealthy and looked dignified when they went out, like a leader.
Only those who were wealthy could afford to eat meat, and only those who ate meat could become fat.
That’s why the rich and the minor leaders of this era all had beer bellies.
To them, Ni Yang, who was so slender and tall, didn’t look like a rich person.
Undeterred by the middle-aged man’s attitude, Ni Yang moved on to the next stall, and cheerfully pointed to the beef and mutton, “Uncle, I would like a pound of each, please.”
The vendor at this stall was a friendly, Mediterranean-looking man.
The Mediterranean uncle hadn’t had any customers all afternoon, so he was surprised when he suddenly got a big order. He cheerfully replied, “Of course, young lady. Wait just a moment.”
Because beef and mutton were expensive, people who came to buy it usually only bought a few ounces at a time, who would buy a whole pound in one go?