Back To The 80s-Chapter 372 - 382: A Good Start_1

Just as all the goods were arranged, Chen Zhao ushered in the first customer. Coincidentally, the Chen surname boss was a resident of T City. After some small talk, he purchased five boxes of instant noodles and a few other miscellaneous items without hesitation.

Having counted the money, Gu Xiaobei was somewhat excited as she turned to Lu Zhanguo and said, "Sixty six Yuan, everything went smoothly."

Ji Xiangdong suggested, "You should stock up on cigarettes and alcohol, also buy two more tricycles for local delivery."

Gu Xiaobei agreed, "Right, right, I almost forgot about cigarettes and alcohol, these are big profit makers. It’s not easy to get a wholesale license for tobacco, is it?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Ji Xiangdong laughed and replied, "I can help you with that, I do know a person who’s in-charge of tobacco supplies, we have a pretty good relationship." He had studied with someone who led tobacco distribution.

Gu Xiaobei planned to check out tricycles when she got a chance, and also scheduled a grand opening day that would be celebrated with a few strings of firecrackers.

The other three, including Wang Wei, successively brought in regular customers. Many heard that these goods were cheaper than from state-owned supply and marketing cooperatives, and promptly decided to give it a try. They were pleasantly surprised by the cheap prices, plus, whenever there were trivial coins left, Xiaobei would invariably round off the total which left a good impression on the customers.

By the end of the first day, the goods worth four to five hundred Yuan were cleared out. Xiaobei marked up prices by an additional twenty-five percent which, after subtracting all the expenses, gave a net profit of about ten percent.

After a busy day leading up to dusk, Xiaobei marked down the customers each of them had brought in that day. They would all settle the bills at the end of the month. She then proposed that two of them stay back in the store to help customers fetch goods from the warehouse, while the other two looked for more customers. Those who stayed would receive a certain percentage of commission, but it would be lower than that of those who went out looking for customers. She asked who would like to stay?

Wang Wei and Zhou Tiezhu volunteered to stay. They had been running around all day and managed to pull in just one customer each, making them realize that they weren’t suited for sales, and were better off doing physical labor.

After everything was settled and the night had grown deep, they went out for Lamian noodles. After dinner, Lu Zhanguo and Gu Xiaobei dropped off Qin Li at her home before cycling back to theirs.

On their way home, Lu Zhanguo asked Gu Xiaobei, "What about your license? Why isn’t it displayed? Be careful, people may exploit this loophole," knowing that envy often ran high.

With her face against his back, Gu Xiaobei hugged his waist and reassured him, "Don’t worry, the company’s registration fees have been paid, and we’re just waiting for the license. They told us it’ll be issued in one or two weeks. So technically, we’re not operating without a license. And, I’ve given the company a really common name - Shunda Trade Co., Ltd." With that, she burst into laughter.

"That’s great. May it be prosperous and smooth. We won’t pick up the kids tonight, you should take a rest, we have another busy day tomorrow." said Lu Zhanguo, steering the bicycle straight home.

Gu Xiaobei agreed, "Fine, I’ll go home, take a bath, and if it gets too late in the future, we should just stay over at Mom’s. I’m not used to not seeing the kids around even for a day."

The following days had been even busier. There were occasional retail sales. Some private department stores in the city came over to buy goods. Gu Xiaobei was responsible for general goods and food, while Qin Li managed the fabrics. They were still overwhelmed, and decided to hire more hands.

Two young girls were hired to take care of the shop, with her and Qin Li looking after the money, which she insisted, were tasks to be managed personally.

Bai Xiaolan came by to help on Sunday, and after seeing how busy Xiaobei was, she insisted on investing in the business and abandoning her boring job.

Gu Xiaobei replied with a laugh, "Sure, if you’re not going to follow my brother back to Shule River next month, you can join us."

Upon hearing that, Bai Xiaolan instantly lost interest. She had to go. She had been dreaming of a cute baby like Xiaopang, but they hadn’t even consummated their marriage yet.

Gu Xiaobei pulled her aside and whispered, "When you get to Shule River, do remember to collect Jade Mutton Fat, it will be worth a lot in the future. Even if not for the future, you can sell it for a good price at Panjiayuan now."

Bai Xiaolan didn’t understand and asked, "What if I can’t recognise it?"

Gu Xiaobei gave Xiaolan a look as if she thought she was very stupid, "How can you be so naïve? You can simply ask my brother, he must know about it."

Bai Xiaolan looked at Gu Xiaobei with an air of triumph, "So what if I’m stupid? I’m still your eldest sister-in-law." With these words, she burst into laughter.

When Ji Xiangdong arrived that afternoon, he brought the approval form for the tobacco sales, and all that was left was to apply for the distribution license from the tobacco bureau.

Twenty days later, Gu Xiaobei returned the first batch of money to Lu Aiguo. She asked for more instant noodles, fig powder and fish skin peanuts and such, and for more variety of goods, with at least two hundred boxes of each.

Food is a fast-moving consumer good with high turnover rate. If she could replenish her stocks a few times each month, accumulated profits, though thin, would be abundant.

Gu Xiaobei hired two junior high school girls as shop assistants, one was Chen Xiuxiu and the other was Xiao Hong. Both girls from the Northwest were optimistic and talkative. After a simple training, Xiaobei let them handle things freely while she and Qin Li collected money and kept accounts.

The business that was chaotic before started getting organized and systematic by August. Xiaobei was surprised by Qin Li’s ability to calculate quickly in her head, which helped her calculate the money for each customer with great accuracy.

While counting the money after work in the evening, Qin Li excitedly chirped, "I feel counting money suits me, it just brightens up my mood."

"Let’s aim to earn so much that you can’t finish counting," Xiaobei joked.

After Wang Wei and the others had locked the doors, Xiaobei and Qin Li hopped on their bicycles to head home.

Just then, they saw Lu Zhanguo coming running, with the dog, Da Huang, following him.

Xiaobei was surprised, "Why did you bring Da Huang with you?"

"I wanted him to familiarize himself with the way. If I can’t pick you up one day, Da Huang will be able to." Lu Zhanguo said, bending down to stroke Da Huang’s neck.

Gu Xiaobei burst into laughter, "It’s not that troublesome. If it gets too late, I can ask Chen Zhao to drop me home."

"Let’s go, we need to drop Qin Li home first." said Lu Zhanguo. The thought of these two young women carrying large sums of money on them every day worried him.

After dropping Qin Li home, they reached home just as the night had completely settled in.

The two kids were still wide awake, crawling around on the Kang bed and playing.

Seeing his mother, little Xiaopang came running excitedly calling out, "Mommy～carry～".

Wen Xiuqing commented from the side, "You still haven’t had dinner, right? We had buns and vegetables tonight. I’ve saved some for you, let me heat it."

Lu Zhanguo stopped her and went to heat it himself.

Looking at Gu Xiaobei, who had lost a significant amount of weight lately, Wen Xiuqing couldn’t help but comment, "Don’t expand your business much further. Look how tired you are, you have lost so much weight. Making ends meet should be enough now,"