Lin Yinghui was somewhat disappointed.
Lin Wan smiled and wasn’t in a hurry. It was unlikely they’d just come and find the right place immediately. Things aren’t that coincidental. After all, she wasn’t in a rush, so she intended to take her time.
The two of them spent two or three hours at the entrance of the hospital before going back.
"How was it over there?" As soon as they got home, Liang Hongmei asked eagerly.
"It’s alright, we’ll observe for a few more days." Lin Wan took a sip of cool boiled water but didn’t mention that they’d found a shop they liked; it was just too expensive to rent.
"There are quite a lot of people eating, and most of the consumers at the hospital entrance are the hospital’s patients. There is foot traffic, but there isn’t a suitable location yet. It will take time to find one." Lin Yinghui was somewhat worried; generally, places that can earn money are costly.
"That’s true, to do business you need to find a good location. There’s no rush with this, we can take our time," Liang Hongmei reflected over the past few days.
She bought a pancake at the morning market; if the spot isn’t good, no one sees you. Let alone a storefront.
Now that she has something to do, she isn’t in such a hurry. This matter takes time.
"If we’re really going to open, we should keep a low profile and avoid causing trouble," Lin Yinghui reminded Lin Wan.
Lin Wan nodded. She realized over the past few days that in big cities, individual households selling their own things is fine, but there aren’t many actually doing business.
There’s not even an individual business yet; Lin Wan remembers that the first individual business license in the country wouldn’t be issued until the latter half of ’81. They still had a couple of years to wait.
After her brother went to school, Lin Wan went to the hospital area to look around again. The cart business was good during mealtime. However, Lin Wan didn’t want to sell food from a cart. It’s fine in summer, but once winter hits, it could freeze people outside. It’s not a long-term solution.
That day, Lin Wan took a stroll around the city.
The architecture in S City bears some resemblance to Russian architecture. She didn’t go to her brother’s school but instead headed to the most famous shopping street in S City.
The department stores were dazzling, selling all sorts of things. The most popular were Shanghai watches, semiconductor radios, Phoenix bicycles, Seagull cameras, and Butterfly sewing machines. Nationalized department stores required coupons to purchase these items, and they were in short supply.
There were also TVs, but not many. It seemed that in a year or two, black-and-white TVs would become popular.
Lin Wan inquired about the price of a watch, which cost over a hundred and required an industrial coupon. Radios weren’t expensive, costing over seventy yuan each. Bicycles were even pricier, exceeding two hundred, and sewing machines cost more than two hundred as well, all needing coupons.
These items were luxuries for her at the moment. Lin Wan walked around the mall, eyeing an Anchor brand mechanical alarm clock with a wooden case. It was priced at thirty, but without a coupon. Lin Wan asked the salesperson, who whispered, "I have it. If you want to buy, give me five yuan extra."
Lin Wan raised an eyebrow, looked around, nodded, and reluctantly took out thirty-five yuan.
Ah, regardless of the era, money certainly makes things easier.
After bringing back the alarm clock, although Liang Hongmei felt it was extravagant, she thought about it and realized it could be earned back in two mornings. She didn’t say much.
Instead, she curiously asked Lin Wan to teach her how to read the time.
Liang Hongmei had learned for more than half a year, and now she recognized most of the arithmetic and texts from elementary school.
She could read an entire newspaper article.
She could be considered an elementary school graduate now.
In the following days, Lin Wan left early and returned late. She accompanied her mom in the morning market, selling pancakes with vegetables and fried rice cakes, and took the opportunity to inquire about local prices, contemplating whether the three hundred yuan they needed to open a shop was enough.