The 1970s: Married First, Fell in Love Later-Chapter 209 - 208: Self-Service Supermarket

Mrs. He said with a smile, "As long as the baby is healthy, a little chubbiness is fine. It’s a sign of good fortune."

Zhang Qian blinked and looked at Xue Yue, who just smiled and shrugged.

’It’s true, there’s a generation gap between the older generation’s mindset and that of young people.’ For their generation, the children and the men were everything. Their whole world revolved around them, so they never cared about whether their figure looked good.

Meanwhile, Mrs. He gently touched Tun Tun’s little face. "This child seems so quiet."

Zhang Qian said helplessly, "Auntie, that’s because you haven’t seen him when he’s being naughty. I don’t know what’s up with this kid. Every night, he wakes up, drinks his milk, and then refuses to go back to sleep. He has to play for an hour or two, and then he falls asleep on his own without anyone needing to soothe him. He doesn’t even like being picked up and rocked to sleep. It’s been like this for three months now, every single day. It’s absolutely exhausting."

Mrs. He asked her, "Does he sleep too much during the day?" Everyone asked the same question.

Zhang Qian shook her head. "He plays during the day, too. My father-in-law says this kid might just have a lot of energy."

Mrs. He couldn’t help but laugh. She had never heard such an explanation before.

Then, Zhang Qian asked Xue Yue about clothes, saying she wanted to buy a couple of looser-fitting, but still good-looking, outfits.

"Come by the shop some other day and pick some out. I’m sure you’ll find something that fits."

Speaking of which, Mrs. He still hadn’t been to the shop. "Mom, you should come too, some other day. See if there’s anything you like and pick out a couple of things."

These past few days had been busy with the kids’ schooling and Mr. He’s affairs, so Xue Yue hadn’t been to the shop in a while either.

Mrs. He waved her hand dismissively. "I’ll go take a look, but I don’t need any clothes. Your father said the shop is decorated to look very high-end. I have plenty to wear, and they’re all new ones you bought for me."

Zhang Qian said, "Auntie, you must be pretty satisfied to have such a wonderful daughter-in-law."

Mrs. He laughed heartily. "Yes, I’m very satisfied."

Xue Yue blushed a little from their teasing.

Over on the other side, Xue Xingzhou asked about Mr. He’s leg.

Mr. He nodded. "It’s doing well. It doesn’t hurt as much as before, and the swelling hasn’t come back. Right now, it’s just leg exercises. He Lang bought me a pair of crutches, so recovery is going okay. Oh, right, this is all thanks to your father’s help. He’s so busy with work, but he still said he wants to invite him over for drinks someday."

He Lang scoffed. "I think *you’re* the one who wants a drink. You haven’t touched a cigarette or a drop of alcohol these past few days. Can’t hold it in anymore, can you?"

Called out by He Lang like that, Mr. He’s shoulders slumped in resignation.

"You unfilial son."

Xue Xingzhou’s lips curved into a smile. "Uncle, once my father has some time, I’ll have him come over for tea with you. I think it’s nice for you to stay in Beijing City. Why don’t you just stay? Focus on getting better first, then you can find a job here. It’s better than going back home to work in the fields, no matter how you look at it."

Mr. He was taken aback for a moment, then quickly waved his hands in refusal.

"No, I can’t. I don’t know how to do anything but farm. The cost of living here is too high. Once my leg is a bit better, your aunt and I will head back."

He Lang chimed in, "I think that’s a great idea. Dad, you and Mom should just stay in Beijing City. I’m planning to open another store, and I definitely won’t be able to handle it all by myself. I’ll need to hire people anyway. If you stay, you can help me. And Mom can help with the cooking and picking up the kids from school. The last live-in helper I hired, an older lady, cost fifty yuan a month, but she had a bad character and faked the accounts. It was a real hassle to get rid of her. I’d rather give that money to my own mom—at least I can trust her. I’ll even pay you and Mom a salary. It’ll definitely be more money than you’d make toiling away on those few acres of land back home."

Mr. He began to hesitate. It wasn’t that he particularly liked Beijing City, but after hearing what He Lang said, he realized how difficult things were for them and wanted to stay and help out.

Sometimes, elderly parents don’t want to live with their children, mostly because they feel they can’t contribute anything and will only be a burden.

Xue Xingzhou asked He Lang, "Are you planning to open another store? Are you still going to sell clothes?"

He Lang shook his head. "I originally wanted to sell electronics. As you know, I never planned on selling clothes; it just happened to meet market demand. But Xue Yue gave me an idea. I’m thinking of opening a department store—the kind that sells everything."

"A supermarket?"

He Lang looked at Xue Xingzhou, confused. "What’s a supermarket?"

Xue Xingzhou explained, "A supermarket is a place with all sorts of goods—food, daily necessities, clothes, electronics, everything. You let the customers go inside and pick out what they want themselves, then they go to a counter to pay."

As soon as Mr. He heard this, he shook his head. "That won’t work. If you let customers pick things out themselves, some people will definitely give in to temptation and steal things. Forget about making money; you’ll lose a fortune!"

He Lang nodded. "That is a genuine problem."

Xue Xingzhou thought about how things like security cameras didn’t exist yet. ’That is a genuine problem.’

"If you have to, just hire a few more people to keep an eye on things. Put up a sign that says, ’Shoplifters will be fined ten times the value of the stolen item.’ You could also install a row of lockers at the entrance so customers can’t bring their bags inside. But letting customers choose their own items will definitely drive sales."

He knew this from personal experience; almost no one who entered a supermarket ever came out empty-handed.

Xue Xingzhou told He Lang pretty much everything he knew. This was the beginning of a new era of development, a great tide, and Xue Xingzhou knew that opening a supermarket was a surefire way to make money.

He Lang fell into deep thought.

Mr. He didn’t understand any of this, so he just listened to them talk quietly.

After a moment, He Lang nodded. "It sounds very interesting. I want to give it a try."

Xue Xingzhou patted his shoulder. "I support you."

He Lang smiled, relieved.

At that moment, Mr. He made up his mind. He wouldn’t go back for now. He would stay and help He Lang. If they were opening their own supermarket and hiring only outsiders, how could they possibly feel at ease?

"A self-service supermarket? Did my brother tell you about that?" Xue Yue asked.

He Lang nodded. "Your older brother’s description made me really excited. It’s basically like moving an entire market into a store. Just imagine it."

"Like a Friendship Store?"

He Lang thought for a moment. "Something like that, I guess."

Xue Yue looked at him. "Are you really going to do something that big? Won’t we be overwhelmed? If so, what about our current shop?"

"We’ll keep this shop open, of course. I’m planning to choose someone from Shitou’s group to be the store manager, just to be in charge of this place. Then I’ll focus on the new store. But there’s no rush. Right now, these are just ideas. We still have to plan things out slowly."

He Lang also knew that opening a supermarket couldn’t be rushed. Setting aside everything else, just choosing a location and buying a storefront would take time.

Renting was definitely not an option. If they decorated the place and were halfway through setting up, and then the landlord decided to back out, their losses would be huge.

But buying another storefront, and a large one at that, would cost a huge amount of money.

Although their clothing store’s revenue was good, bringing in tens of thousands of yuan each month, it was still far from enough. They could only make a long-term plan: first set the goal, then work hard to achieve it.

At the end of October, He Lang heard about a privately-owned supermarket in Shanghai. After discussing it with Xue Yue, he decided to go see it for himself, to get a reference for how they did things and have a better understanding of what to do.