Chapter 444
“Alright! How about having Hongchen take you back? It’s quite late, and it’s safer with more people,” Mrs. Su suggested with concern, sticking her head out from the second floor.
Su Hongchen, who had been mentioned, walked out of the room, ready to go downstairs.
Su Xiaoxiao quickly waved her hand. “No, no, it’s fine. Yexun and I will go back by ourselves. The road is very close, no need to bother with three people.”
Su Hongchen gave Su Xiaoxiao a slightly jealous look.
Although he knew what she said was reasonable, not being his sister’s first choice still bothered him.
“Brother, you pack up first. Next time, we’ll go together,” Su Xiaoxiao said, knowing exactly what her brother was thinking, and immediately tried to appease him.
Sigh, it’s not that she didn’t want to take her brother, but the task they had to do today wasn’t something she could bring him along for.
However, hearing what his sister said, Su Hongchen immediately cheered up.
“Alright, you guys go ahead.” He waved his hand impatiently at Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun.
Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun immediately held hands and left together.
Looking at their sweet and affectionate manner, Su Hongchen could feel his teeth nearly rotting with bitterness.
The two of them reached the door and saw Aunt Guo walking out of the kitchen with some cooling ointment.
Aunt Guo, surprised to see them still out so late, asked, “Didn’t you just get back?”
“I wanted to go back and get my hairpin,” Su Xiaoxiao explained.
Aunt Guo nodded with a smile. “Well, hurry up and come back, don’t stay out too late.”
“Okay. Mom, you should also rest early. These plasters can wait until the daytime when we’re free, and we can do them together. Make sure you get enough rest,” Su Xiaoxiao said with some concern.
Aunt Guo felt very warm inside from her care, and the smile on her face became even more loving.
“I’m not yet ready for bed. I usually don’t go to bed until about nine-thirty or ten. Right now, I still have time to listen to another hour or so of storytelling and make some dumplings. Also, the dumpling tool that the carpenter made last time is really useful. Before, it took several minutes to make twenty dumplings one by one. Now, I can make twenty in under a minute. And they’re all the same size, round and neat,” Aunt Guo praised.
“This is something I saw at the traditional medicine shop from an old master,” Su Xiaoxiao didn’t want to take credit for this; it was the wisdom of their ancestors from thousands of years ago.
“Being able to notice and remember it is already great. It saved us a lot of trouble,” Aunt Guo said cheerfully.
Su Xiaoxiao felt a little embarrassed by the praise. After blushing, she said goodbye and left with Jiang Yexun, heading towards the necessary path from the residential area to the steel mill.
They hid in the alley for a while, and Jiang Yexun hadn’t even warmed up the little girl in his arms when they saw Qian Junwei humming a tune and walking over from a distance.
Jiang Yexun squinted his eyes slightly, took out the sack, and opened it.
Su Xiaoxiao stepped back under his direction to avoid getting in his way.
As soon as Qian Junwei passed the alley’s entrance, Jiang Yexun quickly threw the sack over his head.
Without waiting for Qian Junwei to shout for help, he delivered a swift chop to his neck, and Qian Junwei immediately collapsed.
Su Xiaoxiao handed Jiang Yexun a stick, and together, they dragged Qian Junwei into the deeper part of the alley. They began to punch and kick the sack containing him.
The sound of the stick hitting his body was loud, and it was clear from the noise that it was painful.
At one point, Qian Junwei woke up from the pain, but Jiang Yexun quickly knocked him out again with a hand strike.
They hit him relentlessly but carefully avoided his head and the area where his internal organs were, to avoid any serious injuries.
They fought for over ten minutes before they exchanged a glance.
In their eyes, they saw satisfaction. Naturally, they stopped and took the sack with them, leaving the alley to find another secluded spot.
As for whether Qian Junwei, lying in the cold alley, would catch a cold or be robbed, Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun didn’t care.
The next morning, Mr. Su woke up early for work. Mrs. Su, whose unit was on holiday, sat at home chatting with Aunt Guo while tidying up the pile of things that had been brought over.
Before, she thought her daughter and son-in-law exaggerated a little to make them bring back more stuff.
But when she saw the piles and piles of things they brought, she couldn’t help but think these two really didn’t know how to live wisely.
It wasn’t just the food they brought too much of; the fabric was also in abundance.
Not to mention making two sets of new clothes for each person; they could easily make four sets for each.
Mrs. Su picked out some fabric suitable for adults’ clothes and some brighter colors for the children, then asked, “This year, both of your cousins’ families are coming back. I see their winter clothes are all worn out. Your aunt probably doesn’t have enough fabric coupons. How about we don’t sell this fabric, but send it to them to make clothes?”
“Okay,” Su Xiaoxiao smiled and nodded, thinking about the four cute little ones.
Mrs. Su continued sorting through the fabrics when suddenly she sniffed the air. “Is that the smell of traditional medicine? Why is it so strong?”
“That’s from our house, should be cooking in the small kitchen,” Su Xiaoxiao explained.
Mrs. Su jumped, immediately looking at her with concern. “Why are you suddenly drinking traditional medicine? Is it you or your mother-in-law? It’s not Jiang, right?”
“No! Look at us, we’re so healthy, how could we need traditional medicine?” Su Xiaoxiao said, feeling a bit helpless, and quickly explained, “We’re not using it for drinking; we’re making it into products to sell to others.”
“Huh?” Mrs. Su frowned, puzzled.
Su Xiaoxiao continued, “The people managing the black market in Beijing wrote us a letter saying they urgently need large quantities of Whitening Pills and Moisture Pills. I’ve developed a downline, and they are running out of stock. After the New Year, there will be a big market, and everyone will have money, so Yexun and I decided to make more and seize the first sales month.”
“Also, we’ve decided that when we sell in the black market in the next few days, we’ll also promote the Whitening and Moisture Pills. Shanghai is a big market, and as long as we find reliable distributors there, the money we’ll make will definitely be more than what we make in Beijing.”
Mrs. Su listened to her daughter speak so confidently and felt a swell of pride inside.
Although personal trading was still not allowed, her daughter had a very clear head.
Even though she was thinking of distributing in Shanghai, not trying to pocket all the money herself, she was expanding the business and increasing the profits.
But seeing her daughter so busy with the business right before the New Year, Mrs. Su’s curiosity only grew.
“Xiaoxiao, tell me more. How much can you earn from selling these Moisture Pills and Whitening Pills?”
“The cost of one Moisture Pill is 0.42 yuan, and if we sell it to others with a 20% commission, the cost becomes 0.62 yuan. But we sell it for 3 yuan, so the pure profit is 2.38 yuan. For the Whitening Pill, the cost for one month’s supply is 1.5 yuan, with a 20-cent commission, but I sell it for 6 yuan. After subtracting the commission, the pure profit is about 4.3 yuan.
In Beijing, we have two channels, and combined, the average monthly profit is 24,800 yuan,” Su Xiaoxiao carefully explained the figures to Mrs. Su.
Mrs. Su, on the other hand, was shocked.
“You said how much? You’re making 24,800 yuan a month? Where are you hiding all that money?” she asked urgently.
“Disguise ourselves and go to the bank, then buy government bonds with the money,” Su Xiaoxiao replied.
The current government bonds were priced at 100 yuan per bond, but there were also bonds priced at 1,000 yuan, and anything higher didn’t exist.
However, the bonds came with stamped certificates, and no identification was needed to buy them, nor was it necessary when selling them.
This made it especially convenient for Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun, who earned so much money every month.