Yue Mingyuan’s leave was short. Three days after returning to Guojing, he went back to the base.
Ye Zhiqiu and the others would perform in Guojing for half a month straight. During those two weeks, almost every show was sold out—their dance drama was incredibly popular.
Lu Shuangshuang and Kang Zhimiao made plans to go see it together, and both were left with complicated feelings.
“Zhiqiu really is a born dancer,” Kang Zhimiao praised.
Watching Ye Zhiqiu on stage truly made her envious.
She deeply regretted leaving the stage, leaving the performing arts troupe.
She should have held on a little longer—even just a little—and she wouldn’t be filled with such regret now.
Lu Shuangshuang, on the other hand, felt envy. In the past, she might have been jealous, but not anymore. The more time she spent with Ye Zhiqiu, the more she could feel the gap between them.
Some people are truly beyond reach—existences you can never surpass in a lifetime.
She had accepted her fate. She could never measure up to Ye Zhiqiu in this lifetime, but being Lu Shuangshuang wasn’t so bad either.
She had an aunt who doted on her, and she was happy every day.
After the Guojing performances ended, Ye Zhiqiu and the others would rest for a while before heading to Jinhai City.
During this break, Ye Zhiqiu didn’t idle around. Every day she would go to the performing arts troupe to help coach the younger kids.
On another note, Ye Yunlin had come to Guojing—not to visit Ye Zhiqiu this time, but for business.
Hou Haihong and his team had analyzed the formula of the milk powder Yaya had been drinking, made various improvements, and finalized a milk powder formula suited to Chinese people’s constitution.
Ye Yunlin had come this time to discuss this milk powder formula with Hou Haihong.
Originally, this matter was spearheaded by him and Hou Haihong, but what they could think of, others could too. Now, besides them, other milk powder factories also wanted to get their hands on this formula.
Fortunately, Hou Haihong had told Ye Yunlin about this in advance, so Ye Yunlin rushed over immediately.
Hou Haihong and Ye Yunlin agreed to meet at He Weijun’s place. Ye Zhiqiu came along to check on He Bin’s situation.
He Bin had been following Yue Mingde for a while now, helping him run his stall since after the New Year.
Even though it was already spring, Guojing nights were still quite cold, and there were hardly any people on the streets. But Yue Mingde still insisted on setting up his stall.
The first thing he taught He Bin was this—if you want to make money, don’t be afraid of hardship. Money isn’t earned all at once; you earn it bit by bit.
When others aren’t doing business, that’s when you do—that’s how you make money.
The night market didn’t have many people, but since they were near a university, there were customers almost every day.
It was true, just as Yue Mingde said—they didn’t earn much. But he also taught him a second rule of business: business is done between people. Good products matter, but good people matter even more.
Many people don’t buy things based solely on the product or the price—they also look at the person.
The night market situation was indeed terrible, just as Yue Mingde had described.
Many educated youths who had returned to the city still hadn’t been assigned jobs, or if they had, they were only temporary workers with meager wages. They had no choice but to find their own way out—which meant doing small business, setting up stalls.
There was no shortage of clever people. Even if they didn’t think of it at first, seeing how crowded the night market was and how booming others’ businesses were, they all knew this was a way to make money.
Last year, more and more people set up stalls in the night market. This year, even more.
With so many people and no rules or regulations, things inevitably got chaotic. Whatever sold well, everyone stocked up on it. Then I’d undercut you, and to sell your goods, you’d have to undercut him.
In the end, nobody could get a good price.
And no one could stay out of it. For example, Yue Mingde would group together things that girls liked to buy, and then others learned to do the same.
Yue Mingde had been here the longest and sold the best, so naturally others watched what he sold and how he sold it, and copied him.
Last year, Yue Mingde already realized he couldn’t keep setting up a stall here forever. He planned to rent a storefront, and recently he’d found a good one.
It was currently being renovated. Since he had nothing to do at night anyway, he figured he might as well come earn whatever he could.
The storefront he rented wasn’t small. He planned to keep his current model but expand it, adding small accessories that girls liked. Basically, anything girls liked, plus supplies students needed—he planned to make it a wholesale shop.
That way, they could buy several things at once.
He had originally planned to just sell the few items he was currently selling, since he was familiar with them. But during the New Year, he happened to hear Huo Jiusi mention a business model from abroad—putting many different things together in one shop. This reduced shopping time and increased people’s desire to buy.
For example, a girl might only want to buy a hair clip, but when she sees a pretty necklace nearby, she might buy that too. So instead of just selling one hair clip, he’d end up selling both a hair clip and a necklace.
And even if she didn’t buy it right then, it might plant a seed in her mind, making her keep thinking about that necklace, and she’d come back to his shop next time.
Yue Mingde was greatly inspired. But his capital was limited—he couldn’t set up too big a spread all at once. Still, he could build it up bit by bit, and this way he could also see how well this model worked.
If it worked well, he would definitely expand the shop.
These days, more and more kids were going to school, and every family placed great importance on their children’s education. So in the future, more and more kids would go to university, and his customer base would only grow.
Also, recently many new shops had opened in the wholesale market, and more out-of-towners were coming to stock up.
It seemed not only was Guojing’s commerce developing rapidly, but other places were following suit.
In any case, he was very optimistic about doing business, and he believed there would only be more and more businesspeople in the future.
Once his operation grew bigger, he could actually become a wholesaler himself.
He Bin had learned a lot from Yue Mingde, and the wages Yue Mingde gave him were quite good—higher than a regular worker’s at a factory.
But still not as much as Lu Shuangshuang, and still far from the requirements Lu Shuangshuang had set.
Fortunately, He Bin’s mindset was in a good place now. He just wanted to grow quickly—not just to earn more money, but to become a man Lu Shuangshuang could confidently rely on in every way.
Ye Zhiqiu didn’t tell He Bin that Lu Shuangshuang knew about him dropping out of the martial arts school. She also didn’t mention that Lu Shuangshuang actually had feelings for He Bin—she just couldn’t get past the age gap in her own heart.
She felt she needed to give both Lu Shuangshuang and He Bin time.
Like she always said, if two people are truly meant to be, they’ll end up together sooner or later. If not, then let that period of time be a beautiful memory.
“Big sister, this is for you.”
He Bin took out a particularly pretty hair flower from his pocket and handed it to Ye Zhiqiu.
