Earning thousands of yuan in a single day was astonishing enough.
“As the old saying goes, dragons beget dragons, and phoenixes beget phoenixes. The Jiang family’s genes are already top-tier, so isn’t it normal for their children to be outstanding?”
“Absolutely. Any girl who marries Captain Jiang will be blessed. Her father-in-law is a Minister, her mother-in-law is in business, and her husband is a young Captain.”
“Hey, I have a young niece who’s the same age as Captain Jiang. She’s truly beautiful, with fair skin and lovely features, though her family background might not be quite a match.”
“Is she as pretty as the Jiang family’s daughter?”
“Well, no.”
The aunties chatting together burst into laughter. Everyone in the military district knew Captain Jiang was a hot commodity. But their own husbands weren’t at a level where they could even converse with Minister Jiang.
·
In just two hours, more than half the clothes in the truck had been sold. Wen Ci’s bag was stuffed full of money, and she couldn’t stop smiling.
After finishing this truckload, she planned to promote further at the market tomorrow. Then, she could start negotiating prices with the major wholesale markets and department stores in Beijing for the remaining clothes in the warehouse.
The sun set in the west, staining the sky with an orange glow.
Seeing there wasn’t much stock left on the truck, Wen Ci jumped down, patted the dust off her clothes, pulled out five yuan, and handed it to the truck driver.
“Thank you for your trouble, master.”
The driver waved his hand in refusal. “You’ve already paid. I can’t take this money.”
Wen Ci said, “Consider this your wages for helping out.”
The driver hadn’t been idle that afternoon; he had been busy handing over and packing clothes. Furthermore, she couldn’t keep troubling Xu Jinghe to transport goods from the train station to the warehouse every time. She needed to build a rapport with the truck driver herself.
“Really, it’s not necessary.”
“But it is.”
Seeing he couldn’t refuse, the driver scratched the back of his head sheepishly and said, “Well then, could I possibly have two summer outfits instead? I’ll pay you the difference.”
“That’s no problem at all!”
Wen Ci gave the driver all the remaining clothes—three summer outfits and two winter outfits, all in standard sizes.
“This is really too much,” he said.
As he spoke, the driver pulled a crumpled twenty-yuan bill from his pocket and offered it to Wen Ci. “Twenty yuan. I’m already getting a great deal.”
Those five items together must have weighed at least five or six jin.
“Really, no charge.” Wen Ci pushed the money back while explaining frankly, “I might need to use a truck frequently over the next few months, so I’d like to be friends, master.”
“Just call, and I’ll be there!”
It was getting dark.
Gu Che, after finishing Jiang Ye’s tutoring session, was preparing to leave. Seeing Wen Ci was still there, he jogged over to her. “Wen Ci, don’t misunderstand.”
Wen Ci: ?
Gu Che began explaining on his own: “The relationship between Jiang Ye and me isn’t what you think. She paid me to tutor her at home.”
“And then?” Wen Ci lowered her eyelids slightly.
At best, she and Gu Che shared a fellow-villager connection. Their relationship wasn’t close enough to warrant such explanations. However, remembering that Jiang Ye’s high school boyfriend was top scholarship material destined for Tsinghua University, Wen Ci couldn’t help but view him more highly.
Getting into Tsinghua University was like thousands of troops trying to cross a single log bridge—extremely difficult. She said indifferently, “Actually, there’s no need for any explanation. I don’t really care what your relationship is.”
After saying this to Gu Che, she turned to the truck driver with a smile. “Master, you can head off first. I still need to go to the military compound.”
Today, she had sold a total of 2,374 jin of clothing to the families in the compound. According to the subsidy rate of three yuan per jin from the Beijing Military District’s Logistics Department, the total subsidy came to 2,374 x 3 = 7,122 yuan.
The Logistics Department settled the account very promptly, counting out large stacks of ten-yuan bills and handing them over to Wen Ci.
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