Chapter 18, Part One

Lin Xuexia went to bed early last night and woke up early the next day. She busied herself preparing everything first. When she opened the door, she came face to face with Gao Chunyan, whose eyes were swollen with dark circles like a panda’s. It was clear she hadn’t slept well the previous night.

Gao Chunyan herself didn’t quite understand why, but she felt particularly excited.

“Aunt Chunyan, what’s wrong? Didn’t you sleep well last night?” Lin Xuexia asked.

Gao Chunyan laughed, “You girl, how can you say that? And yet you managed to sleep.”

She whispered, “Hey, that guy of yours—does he really own a house? Is it his own, or his family’s?”

In the city, it was rare for someone like the landlady to own an entire house alone. Most people pooled resources as a family or among several families to build a building. Saying someone ‘has a house’ could mean either they individually owned it or the whole family shared it—two very different things.

But no matter which was true, if Lin Xuexia married into that family, she wouldn’t have to worry about housing in the city anymore, and she could transfer her household registration, making it easier for future children to attend school.

Gao Chunyan felt genuinely happy for Lin Xuexia.

Gao Chunyan and her husband, Old Liu, left their hometown to struggle in an unfamiliar place. Liu Xigui was determined to settle here. Aside from worrying about finances, Gao Chunyan was anxious about having few relatives or friends in this place.

For ordinary people, the distance from village to county was already considered “far” and worth mentioning. Going to the city was even further, and heading south to the coastal economic zones was something most wouldn’t even dare to think about.

This was true exile from home—long journeys, expensive tickets, and maybe only one trip back per year, or even several years.

Gao Chunyan was torn about staying here. Though she often talked about returning home, deep down she also strongly wished to stay. Life here was entirely different from the hometown, full of new and curious things.

In the past few days, Gao Chunyan got along well with Lin Xuexia, liking this pretty and hardworking girl. If Lin Xuexia settled successfully here after marriage and remained long-term, they could become companions, linking both families, chatting in their hometown dialect—a comforting thought.

Because of this, a sudden surge of ambition rose within her.

“The house is his. He went south alone to make his way. His family isn’t here,” Lin Xuexia, knowing Fu Wei’s family situation, simply explained without revealing too much.

“Really!” Gao Chunyan’s swollen panda eyes almost sparkled with joy. She grinned widely, delighted. “Then why are you still fussing around here every day? You should be focusing on keeping your man happy.”

“Once you marry him, you won’t worry about housing. I think you should put all your heart into Brother Wei. You were dressed nicely yesterday afternoon, so why are you dressed like this now? Tsk tsk—” Gao Chunyan smiled excitedly, wishing she could become a matchmaker to help forge such a perfect union.

Lin Xuexia smiled with pursed lips. “Even if I don’t marry him, I’m not worried about housing. Aunt Chunyan, look, I already have a place to live now.”

“Aunt Chunyan, our businesses have been going well these past days. If we save up for a few years, can’t we buy or build a house?” Buying a house here cost tens of thousands, and building one was even more complicated. Local villagers got resettlement plots, but outsiders had to buy land themselves, a hefty sum paid in full.

Since this year, housing reform started. Within a year or two, employee housing loans and later commercial housing loans would gradually appear. With commercial loans, as long as one had at least 30% of the house price saved for over six months, they could apply for loans.

Lin Xuexia said coolly, “Relying on yourself is better than relying on others. At least don’t pin all your hopes on someone else.”

Gao Chunyan was taken aback for a moment. “You’re right.”

This year, rent and prices had risen several times. Similarly, more migrant workers came from the south, increasing the number of outsiders. Gao Chunyan clearly felt her rice noodle stall business was better than before. Since Lin Xuexia arrived, they’d made more money and gained many regular customers who liked spicy food.

Before, Gao Chunyan hadn’t paid much attention to her stall partly because she couldn’t adapt to local tastes. Her methods didn’t suit the local palate; some people liked it, which brought some business, but mostly it fell flat. She tried changing the flavors to fit local tastes but only ended up pleasing no one.

After much trial and error, she decided to do things her own way, sticking to the flavor she liked. With more outsiders around, more people shared her taste.

Before, Gao Chunyan thought only about earning enough to break even. Her stall rented for 2,500 yuan a year in a prime location with heavy foot traffic, which she had fought hard to secure. She was reluctant to give it up, so she grit her teeth and persisted, unwilling or unable to change careers.

She could only hope Liu Xigui would succeed and make enough money to build a house.

Now, counting the earnings from these past days, she might really be able to build a house someday.

Gao Chunyan sighed, “Speaking of building a house, I’m a bit worried. It would be better back home—buy materials, build the house, and treat the villagers to a meal—”

Ordinary village houses were easy to build, but for two or three-story buildings, you needed a qualified construction team to plan it.

“My boyfriend is currently helping some people build houses here. He’s even planning to start a construction company. Aunt Chunyan, if you want to build a house in the future, you can ask him about the process. Maybe he can even give you a friendly discount,” Lin Xuexia teased. “Even if I don’t marry him, you can still contact him for your house.”

“Oh, my girl,” Gao Chunyan raised her hand to cover Lin Xuexia’s mouth, but she dodged. “Stop jinxing it. Your luck is coming. I see you two are really into each other. Focus on courting and getting married. Don’t say such unlucky things.”

“Enough talk. Let’s get the stuff down.”

With those puffy panda eyes, Gao Chunyan was in high spirits, full of energy. Thinking about a distant future, life suddenly seemed hopeful. She resolved to save money and build a house!

Lin Xuexia sat on a tricycle and wanted to help pedal, but Gao Chunyan refused. Today, she pedaled energetically without looking back, off to open the stall and make money.

They arrived and unloaded their goods. Gao Chunyan looked puzzled. “You brought less porridge today. Are you going to cook some fresh later? That’s good.”

Lin Xuexia said, “I don’t plan to sell that much porridge today.”

Lin Xuexia knew plain porridge with cold dishes wouldn’t stay popular for long. Many people tried it for novelty but preferred other foods. Eventually, the number of customers buying porridge daily would stabilize at a mediocre level.

Porridge wasn’t filling.

Only protein- and fat-rich meats could truly satisfy hunger.

Her marinated beef had been drying overnight and was ready, as was the char siu. She brought six jin (about three kilograms) of marinated beef and seven jin of char siu to sell some new items.

Lin Xuexia put on gloves and sliced thin pieces from the marinated beef with a kitchen knife. She tasted one—salty, fragrant, and delicious, with a rich flavor that grew on you. She had Gao Chunyan try some.

Gao Chunyan was pleasantly surprised. “You’re going to sell this? It tastes great. Yours is much better than mine.”

“Hey, how about this: you sell your marinated beef to me from now on. I’ll add yours as the meat for my rice noodles and pay you an extra thirty cents per serving,” Gao Chunyan, motivated by profit, began thinking about improving her rice noodles.

She felt Lin Xuexia’s marinated beef and char siu would make excellent meat toppings for her rice noodles.

“Sure,” Lin Xuexia agreed. She actually had the same idea but was glad Gao Chunyan brought it up first. This would benefit them both.

The cost of marinated beef and char siu was about two to three yuan per jin, with char siu a bit more expensive. Lin Xuexia sold marinated beef to Gao Chunyan at five yuan per jin and char siu at six yuan per jin. Calculating costs, Gao Chunyan would earn about three yuan per jin, and Lin Xuexia about two to three yuan—a mutually beneficial arrangement.

However, Gao Chunyan couldn’t use all the meat in her rice noodles. She still had five jin of char siu and five jin of marinated beef left to sell herself. Lin Xuexia had other plans.

The night before, Lin Xuexia had thought of several ways to sell. She decided not to sell the meats separately for now but to slice them and sell alongside breakfast porridge, also offering glutinous rice with cold dishes and one or two slices of beef or char siu for fifty cents.

At noon, she planned to sell char siu rice and marinated beef rice—each with a bowl of rice topped with about forty to fifty grams of meat, cold dishes, half a boiled egg, and a spoonful of rice sauce made from the marinade. The cost was about sixty to seventy cents per box, and she planned to sell these boxed meals for one yuan fifty. She was confident these would sell well.

These meals had meat and vegetables, were filling and appetizing, convenient, and importantly, affordable. A small restaurant might charge fifty to sixty cents for a vegetable dish, around one yuan for a meat and vegetable dish, and two yuan for a large meat dish. Her boxed meal with meat and veg at one yuan fifty was genuinely inexpensive.

Any leftover cold dishes would be mixed with the boxed meals, ensuring nothing went to waste by day’s end.

Lin Xuexia and Gao Chunyan set up their stalls. On the other side, a fruit stall surprisingly set up a table and, mimicking Lin Xuexia, displayed seven or eight varieties of cold dishes and sold porridge, even making a sign advertising forty cents per serving with free cold dishes added.

Lin Xuexia had previously sold porridge for fifty cents, which was quite profitable. Anyone who calculated the costs would know there was room to lower prices, so the fruit stall owner imitated her but undercut the price by ten cents.

For people at this time, even a dime made a big difference. To save that ten cents, they could tolerate slightly worse taste as long as portions were sufficient.

“He’s copying you selling porridge!” Gao Chunyan was annoyed. Indeed, seeing Lin Xuexia’s success, others began to imitate her.

The couple running the fruit stand were usually not stingy. Gao Chunyan sometimes chatted with them, but she hadn’t expected them to copy so quickly and lower prices.

Now, one sold fruit, the other sold porridge—a clear division of labor adding income to their stall.

“Let them copy. It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Lin Xuexia wasn’t worried at all. She had anticipated this yesterday.

Porridge and cold dishes were simple with low costs—easy to imitate, though taste would differ.

As for who would have the last laugh, we shall wait and see.