They had no choice but to close – they had hardly anything left to sell.

Xia Xiaolan had focused on promoting thicker winter wear and down jackets, and not a single piece would remain after New Year’s. Few coats were left, though they weren’t worried about the jeans and sweaters, which could still sell as spring clothing. Wool coats could sell after New Year’s without worrying about overstock. Why keep the store open – did they need to stay open until New Year’s Eve?

Money couldn’t all be earned at once, and without a few days’ rest, the whole family would collapse.

These days Li Fengmei had been so busy she barely had time for her child, fortunately, Liu Yong could help. Tao Tao was already on winter break, with adults too busy to mind him, and they’d even asked Hu Yongcai’s wife to watch him for a few days.

Though exhausted, thinking of their earnings brought great satisfaction.

First-day sales were 6,448 yuan, dropping slightly to just over 5,000 on the second day, stabilizing around 3,000 for the next two days. Today, their last day before New Year’s, the remaining clothes would only bring in about a thousand. When Chen Xiliang’s restock hadn’t arrived, many styles had sold out. Back when Xia Xiaolan had a street stall, people would dare to pay deposits, and with such a proper store they wouldn’t just disappear – many had paid in advance to collect their items when the new stock arrived.

In total, over 20,000 yuan worth of clothes sold, just 200 yuan short of reaching 50,000 in total sales.

With ten-yuan notes being the largest denomination, 50,000 yuan had the same impact as 500,000 would in later years. In stacks of 1,000 yuan, that meant 50 stacks. Liu Fen lay awake at night guarding the money… and this was after exchanging for ten-yuan notes – the previous smaller bills had been even more impressive in volume.

Now with all the money gathered, everyone except Xia Xiaolan was stunned.

Though it was profit-sharing, it felt like thievery, staring at the money speechless.

“How… how do we divide this?”

With the money laid out on the table, Li Fengmei felt like she was dreaming.

A ten-thousand-yuan household was considered wealthy – had they accidentally created several such households?

Xia Xiaolan, having seen large sums before and with plans ready, set aside 29,800 yuan: “This is the store’s working capital. Uncle, you advanced some of the renovation money too – I wouldn’t have known without checking the accounts. There’s 2,000 yuan unaccounted for, so I’ll give you 4,000.”

Before Liu Yong could refuse, she explained: “2,000 is your advanced renovation costs, and 2,000 is your labor fee. Don’t refuse – I think the renovation business has great potential… While Shangdu residents might not renovate their homes much, won’t private business owners want to decorate their stores? You could take on Kang Wei’s project and form your renovation team.”

Building a construction team would be better – renovation was profitable, though home decoration concepts hadn’t caught on yet, especially since people lived in state-allocated housing owned by the nation – why decorate extensively?

Real estate development was truly profitable but restricted by policies. Private individuals couldn’t obtain land and there was no precedent for commercial housing. Liu Yong couldn’t yet become a real estate contractor.

Liu Yong couldn’t sit idle at home – his drive for activity never ceased. If he had to stay home watching children while Li Fengmei earned money from the clothing store, he’d likely be miserable. If he was going to venture into something, why not choose a promising path?

It didn’t matter if work was scarce now – it was practice. Take jobs when available, and do other things during downtime. Get the team working smoothly, get ahead of others before they realize the industry’s potential, and accumulate experience before moving into real estate!

The country’s first commercial housing complex had been built in the Peng City Special Zone, though no one dared mention “real estate.” The local government cooperated with Hong Kong developers under the banner of “compensation trade,” building houses to sell to Hong Kong residents. At 2,000 Hong Kong dollars per square meter, local Peng City residents couldn’t afford it – a 50-60 square meter apartment costs over 100,000 Hong Kong dollars, how could locals afford that?

But Hong Kong people could afford these prices – they were less than half of Hong Kong’s!

The government sold land to Hong Kong developers for commercial housing, using the fiscal income to build cadre dormitories – the so-called “compensation trade.”

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t possibly remember every detail of Peng City’s development. The news came from Bai Zhenzhu, who didn’t understand the “compensation trade” but knew Hong Kong people could buy houses in Peng City. A house for 100,000 Hong Kong dollars – selling both current Bai Zhenzhu and Xia Xiaolan by weight wouldn’t raise enough money. Xia Xiaolan asked her to watch for any “welfare housing” available to locals, which would be much cheaper. State enterprises in the special zone were bold – such things must exist, it was just a matter of whether Bai Zhenzhu could seize the opportunity.

With welfare, housing would come a market for the renovation industry.

Xia Xiaolan explained all this to Liu Yong. Though she couldn’t mention the future “housing reform,” she had already got Liu Yong thinking. Practice in Shangdu, then seek fortune in Peng City. Besides smuggling, weren’t there other ways to make money?

“I think we can try it.”

Xia Xiaolan was pleased, “Don’t worry, I’ll try to get someone to bring back some foreign magazines. While there’s no such knowledge domestically, this industry is mature abroad.”

Liu Yong was convinced but wouldn’t take the extra 2,000 yuan labor fee.

“What labor fee? You planned all the renovation. Let’s talk about profit with my next job!”

“Your next job is renovating Kang Wei’s house? He helped get me and Xiaolan out of the police station – how could you charge him a labor fee?”

Li Fengmei made sense. Liu Yong rubbed his nose – his wife was becoming more tigress-like, and he was helpless.

Leaving the 20,000+ yuan inventory money untouched, the remaining 20,000 could be distributed. Xia Xiaolan’s 60% share was 12,000 yuan, Li Fengmei’s 40% was 8,000 yuan. Compared to both families’ initial investments, they had recovered principal plus profit, not to mention now having a store with stable cash flow.

“How did life suddenly become like this?”

After seeing off her uncle’s family, Xia Xiaolan heard her mother mumbling.

“Can’t believe it? Touch the money on the table – it’s all real!”

Liu Fen truly couldn’t believe it. Back in the Xia family, she’d never seen money, which was so hard to earn. Later, following Xia Xiaolan to the city to sell eggs, finding they could earn 10 yuan a day seemed incredible. Then when Xia Xiaolan bought eels to send to Shangdu, they could make twenty or thirty yuan per trip, plus income from selling pork crackling back in the village.

When Xia Xiaolan stopped the eel business to deal in clothes from Yang City, Liu Fen continued selling crackling. She worked hard, making several trips daily to township markets and villages around Shangdu – there wasn’t a place she hadn’t been. But even then she couldn’t earn a thousand in a month. This much money was beyond her wildest dreams.

Who knew that in just over three months of clothing business, Xia Xiaolan would earn money counted in “ten thousand”!

“Ten-thousand-yuan household” was a term that had only emerged in recent years, referring to people who had secretly accumulated over ten thousand yuan in savings from small businesses. Liu Fen certainly never imagined becoming one, yet just months after leaving the Xia family, she and her daughter qualified.

Following Xia Xiaolan’s words, she touched the money on the table. Xia Xiaolan smiled:

“You keep it all in savings – you’re our family’s money manager.”