Xia Xiaolan wanted to start another business.

Li Fengmei thought this girl was too restless.

“When you can’t sell eels anymore, there’s still the oil residue business. What other business do you want to do? Just stay home and study quietly. Getting into university next year is the top priority.”

The oil residue business wasn’t as profitable as the eel business, but it was more stable. Several hundred jin of oil residue could be easily sold at rural markets every day. Though it was hard-earned money, farmers who scratched a living from the soil, especially hardworking oxen like Liu Fen, weren’t afraid of hard work.

No matter how tough it was, earning several hundred yuan monthly was more than what workers made. Li Fengmei thought this business was wonderful!

What did earning several hundred yuan mean in 1983?

From Li Fengmei’s experience, she hadn’t seen a higher income than this. Even when her husband Liu Yong said he earned money outside, most of it was tied up in ‘business,’ and he didn’t bring home several hundred yuan monthly.

This income was enough to support Xia Xiaolan’s education. If Liu Fen couldn’t continue, there were still Liu Yong and herself.

Xia Xiaolan thought for a moment and didn’t hide anything:

“Aunt, I’ll manage my time well. I study better on my own. If I study with others in a classroom, I can’t focus… I want to let Mother handle the oil residue business, not expecting her to earn much, just to keep her occupied. The new business I’m thinking about is selling clothes.”

Xia Xiaolan shared what she’d observed at Shangdu’s farmers’ market.

From her recent trips to Shangdu, she’d naturally gathered more useful information. She had plans about what clothes to stock, their price points, and where to set up stalls. She desperately wanted to stand out in the 80s and prove herself. Getting into university wasn’t her primary goal – she’d already achieved that in her previous life. Though she’d worked her way up to a high position then, she was ultimately working for others. Now, Xia Xiaolan wanted to be her boss!

Xia Xiaolan spoke so sensibly that Li Fengmei was stunned.

How many rural girls knew about these things? That accident truly brought good fortune – Xia Xiaolan had become enlightened.

Seeing Xia Xiaolan’s determination, Li Fengmei worried that too much interference might backfire. She could only set three conditions:

“If your school test scores drop, you’ll have to stop all business!”

Xia Xiaolan gladly agreed.

Regarding investment, Li Fengmei didn’t want to take advantage: “How many pieces of clothing can 50 yuan buy? Don’t mention investment – how could your uncle earn anything? How could elders let you suffer losses?”

For egg trading, several dozen yuan could go far.

But for clothing? How expensive were ready-made clothes in the country? Li Fengmei thought it couldn’t even buy two pieces – what investment could they talk about?

The clothing business had huge profits. Even thirty years after the 80s, the factory price, wholesale price, and retail price differed by several times. Xia Xiaolan wasn’t trying to convince Li Fengmei; she just planned to share some profits with her uncle’s family once she earned money.

She needed Li Fengmei’s support. Among the four family members, Taotao was too young to vote. With her and Li Fengmei against Liu Fen, it was 2:1. Even Li Fengmei could outtalking Liu Fen, who would get confused after a few sentences.

Xia Xiaolan was planning a trip to Yang City.

Liu Fen and Li Fengmei were very worried. “Shangdu has wholesale markets too. Can’t you get stuck there and sell in Anqing?”

Xia Xiaolan shook her head: “Shangdu’s styles aren’t novel at all. Other vendors also get stock from Shangdu’s wholesale market. The same items won’t be competitive. If we’re going to sell, we should sell unique items. Customers shouldn’t choose my goods – I should choose my customers.”

Like the clothing stall she saw at the farmers’ market – the prices weren’t cheap, but the styles didn’t attract female customers. What good was stock sitting unsold? Her capital wasn’t abundant, and she couldn’t bring many pieces from Yang City in one trip. But if the styles were new and attractive, every piece sold meant profit! With good enough merchandise, she could be selective about customers. Someone thinks it’s too expensive? If you don’t buy it, others will.

People now lacked both money and goods.

Beautiful clothes could draw money from customers’ pockets!

Li Fengmei and Liu Fen didn’t understand; they just knew it wasn’t proper for a young woman to travel alone. Now they saw the disadvantage of having few family members. The Liu family were outsiders with few relatives to help. Liu Fen had to deliver eels to the provincial city and bring back oil residue to sell, while Li Fengmei had to manage both the fields and housework, plus take care of Taotao.

The family truly couldn’t spare anyone to go to Yang City with Xia Xiaolan.

Who could they ask to accompany her?

Li Fengmei was very troubled. Among Liu Yong’s three siblings, he had two sisters. While Li Fengmei had previously found her sister-in-law Liu Fen honest but dull and unlikeable, Liu Yong’s other sister, who had married into a neighboring county, had little contact with her natal family, almost cutting ties completely.

In the seven or eight years since Li Fengmei had married, she hadn’t even seen what Taotao’s Second Aunt Liu Fang looked like.

Could they count on such relatives?

As for her own family, that wasn’t even worth mentioning. Besides, there was no reason to ask her relatives to help Xia Xiaolan. Li Fengmei herself didn’t trust her natural family members – they might get envious seeing Xia Xiaolan making money and stealing her business opportunities!

Xia Xiaolan didn’t think traveling alone was a problem.

Yes, she was very beautiful, and train stations and trains were complex places with all sorts of people. But Xia Xiaolan wasn’t some inexperienced ‘village girl.’ With enough vigilance, ignoring strangers’ attempts to chat, not walking alone at night, not accepting drinks or food from strangers – surely no one could kidnap her in broad daylight!

With cold weather approaching, missing the chance to sell this batch of winter clothing would mean missing a business opportunity.

Xia Xiaolan carefully counted her money. Apart from the small portion tied up in the eel business, she had 600 yuan in cash. This wasn’t like six thin banknotes of the future – with the largest denomination being 10 yuan, 600 yuan was quite thick. Valuables need to be kept safe while traveling. Liu Fen directly sewed a pocket outside Xia Xiaolan’s underwear… Xia Xiaolan was shocked by this money-hiding method. In her previous life, she often traveled by train for business but never carried large amounts of cash – after negotiating deals, companies would wire money directly.

Hiding 600 yuan in an underwear pocket?

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t accept this at all and had Liu Fen sew two inner lining pockets in her jacket:

“Better keep the money separated.”

Surely she wouldn’t be unlucky enough to have money stolen from both places?

Li Fengmei didn’t take Xia Xiaolan’s repayment and instead gave her another 300 yuan, “I’m lending this to you, not investing.”

Liu Yong hadn’t left much money at home, and Li Fengmei needed to keep some on hand. After thinking, she could only spare 300 yuan. When traveling, especially for a pretty young woman like Xia Xiaolan – boys might sleep under bridges if they ran out of lodging money, but that wouldn’t work for her.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t refuse – another 300 yuan could count as more investment from her aunt.

For long-distance travel, an introduction letter was necessary. When Xia Xiaolan went to get one from the village, the postman was delivering mail:

“There’s a telegram for Xia Xiaolan.”

The delivery person handed an envelope to Xia Xiaolan, following her with curious eyes.

Civilian telegrams cost seven fens per character, so telegrams were only sent for important matters. Messages were condensed to the absolute minimum, and delivery people usually just carried a slip of paper… This was the first time delivering a telegram that needed an envelope!

How many characters must that be?

How much did that cost?

Never having seen such wasteful spending, the postman thought a letter would have sufficed!