This was a state-run restaurant named Hongxing Restaurant, the kind you would find once or twice in practically every county town.
Private restaurants were rare back then, mainly because opening one required too much capital for ordinary people to bear. Besides, cooking was a specialized skill. In this era when people were just starting to have enough to eat and wear, simply filling their stomachs was already a blessing; nobody had the leisure to research gourmet dining.
Inside the restaurant were a dozen tables. Along the southern wall stood a row of private booths, half-hidden behind hanging door curtains.
There weren't many diners; only two tables were occupied by people drinking and chatting.
The two of them casually found a table and Liu Ye sat down.
Xiao Weiguo walked up to the serving counter, where the names and prices of dozens of dishes were written on the wall.
He ordered a portion of braised pork belly, a dish of Kung Pao chicken, a basin of seaweed and egg drop soup, and six large steamed buns. The total came to just nine yuan and fifty cents—truly a bargain.
Behind the counter were plenty of ready-made delicacies: pig trotters glistening with oil, freshly roasted chickens, and more. Since they weren't in a hurry, Xiao Weiguo skipped these.
By the entrance stood a large iron barrel filled with complimentary boiled water. Xiao Weiguo poured two cups and handed one to Liu Ye.
The two sipped their water and chatted idly while waiting for the food.
"Liu Ye, do you have any more of these socks at home?"
The socks he had brought wouldn't even last Xiao Weiguo a single day of peddling. He urgently needed money right now, which was why he wanted to get more socks from Liu Ye to sell.
"No, my dad only had a hard time with his wages these past two months. Before that, salaries were always paid out normally."
Xiao Weiguo suddenly slapped the table.
"That's right! Your father was paid in socks these past two months, which means other workers were paid in socks too. Over in Shangxian, there are hundreds of workers at the sock factory. Don't they still have plenty of those exact same socks in their hands?"
"I suppose so. I haven't asked my dad, but the situation should be pretty much what you said."
Liu Ye nodded as she sipped her water, then asked, "What, are you thinking of collecting the socks from their hands to sell?"
Xiao Weiguo chuckled.
"Spot on, you guessed it. How about this: you have your father collect them from his fellow workers at thirty or forty cents a pair, and I'll take the whole lot off your hands at sixty cents a pair? Your family can make close to a hundred percent profit."
That morning, Xiao Weiguo had only wandered through two or three apartment buildings before selling out all over two hundred pairs of socks. By his estimation, a single residential compound like that could easily absorb a thousand pairs.
And that wasn't even counting the residential compounds of other factories. Across the entire county town, two to thirty thousand pairs should find buyers without a problem.
Information was scarce in this era; as long as you were willing to use your head and had a bit of thick skin, making money was simply too easy.
Unfortunately, people back then lacked that kind of commercial awareness, mostly still stuck in the mindset of unified purchasing and marketing.
Liu Ye did the math. Xiao Weiguo was right: her family could make twenty or thirty cents on every pair of socks. For a hundred pairs, that was twenty or thirty yuan. What about a thousand pairs?
Wouldn't that be two to three hundred yuan? That was equivalent to three months of her father's salary.
How could anyone turn down such a good deal?
"Alright, I'll tell my dad as soon as I get back and have him gather all the socks his coworkers received, then bring them all to you."
Then her brow furrowed as she suddenly thought of a question.
"Tell me, since you're so enthusiastic, you must have made quite a bit of money, right? Exactly how much are you selling a pair for?"
"That's a military secret for now. Haha, even if I sell them for ten yuan a pair, that's my own capability, isn't it? Didn't you just say I'm so capable? As long as I make sure you've got money to make, isn't that enough?"
Xiao Weiguo didn't dare tell the truth—with two-thirds of the profit margin, he was afraid the young girl would feel unbalanced if she heard it.
The ancients said: "Do not worry about scarcity, but rather about inequality."
No matter how many benefits you gave the other person, as long as they were less than what you got, it would breed suspicion. It wasn't that Xiao Weiguo didn't trust Liu Ye, but rather that he wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"Hmph, keeping secrets from me."
Liu Ye wrinkled her dainty nose and let out a dissatisfied huff, rolling her large eyes at him.
That pretty, coquettish look made Xiao Weiguo stare blankly.
Good grief, this young girl was simply too charming.
In his past life, he had drifted among nightlife and romance, surrounded by artificial flummery. A natural beauty like this was the most effective at stirring his feelings.
In his previous life, he knew Liu Ye had later married into the city and lived a pretty good life.
He didn't know what happened after that; once he ran off, he rarely ever came back.
"Hey, the food hasn't even arrived yet, why are you already drooling?"
Seeing his lovesick expression, Liu Ye assumed he was just craving the food.
"Ah, haha, beauty is a feast in itself—no dish can compare to your peerless looks."
Xiao Weiguo wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, his words exceptionally brazen.
Flattery never fails. Praised like this, Liu Ye instantly blushed a deep crimson.
"You really only know how to run your smooth tongue."
Liu Ye lowered her head, though her heart felt a little sweet.
Soon, the dishes were served. Both of them had been hungry all morning, and they each grabbed a steamed bun and began to eat heartily.
Though the dishes of this era tasted ordinary, they made up for it with generous portions that filled you up.
This was the first meal Xiao Weiguo had eaten since crossing over, and having been starved for so long, he still found it extraordinarily delicious.
In no time, the tableful of food was swept clean by the two of them. Liu Ye only ate one steamed bun and picked at a few bites of vegetables; the rest all went into Xiao Weiguo's stomach.
Well-fed and satisfied, Xiao Weiguo patted his round belly and felt strength flood back into his limbs. Remembering that his younger siblings at home probably hadn't eaten yet, he hurriedly stood up.
"Let's go. We'll finish selling the remaining socks this afternoon so we can head back early."
The two rode their bicycles back to the machinery plant's residential compound. Familiar with the territory now, Xiao Weiguo took less than two hours to peddle the rest of the socks.
Handing Liu Ye another 125 yuan to clear all the capital costs, Xiao Weiguo counted his money. Subtracting the lunch expenses and fifty cents for cigarettes, he now had a total of 490 yuan on him.
Meanwhile, Liu Ye had pocketed 250 yuan—equivalent to her father earning over half a month's salary for doing nothing.
This outcome could truly be described as a win-win.
Glancing at her wrist by pulling back her sleeve, Liu Ye saw it was only three in the afternoon. Xiao Weiguo pedaled her over to the supply and marketing cooperative.
First, he bought his younger sister Xiao Shanshan a white floral-print dress, along with a box of vanishing cream.
Every day his sister labored in the fields, exposed to wind and sun, and on top of that had to endure the torment of having him as an older brother. At sixteen or seventeen, she was as haggard as a middle-aged woman. Now, just thinking about it made Xiao Weiguo's heart ache as he mentally cursed himself for being a bastard.
He wanted to buy his sister a pair of high heels, but figuring Shanshan wouldn't know how to wear them anyway, he instead bought her a pair of flat velvet cloth shoes modeled after the ones on Liu Ye's feet.
He also bought children's outfits for Xiao Jiang and Xiao Yue respectively, a pair of plastic sandals each, and a large bag of peanut crisp candies.
A few pretty hair clips in the glass counter caught his attention.
He picked out two: one shaped like a dragonfly and one like a butterfly.
He handed the butterfly-shaped one to Liu Ye.
"Classmate Liu Ye, thank you for helping me today. Please accept this hair clip as a small token of my gratitude."
Though it wasn't anything expensive, Liu Ye fidgeted shyly for a moment before accepting it. After all, this was the first time she had ever received a gift from a man.
He also bought several catties of rice and flour at the cooperative; the bicycle had a limited load, so he didn't dare buy too much.
Passing by the Hongxing Restaurant again, Xiao Weiguo ran inside and bought four braised pig trotters and a large roast chicken.
He owed his younger siblings far too much. Now that he had some capability, Xiao Weiguo always wanted to compensate them as much as possible.
After a large round of shopping, Xiao Weiguo had spent close to a hundred yuan.
Seeing that the day was getting late, the two of them mounted their bicycles and hurried home.
On the country road under the setting sun, a bicycle loaded down with miscellaneous goods carried two vibrant, youthful lives speeding along.
1980, I am back. In this lifetime, I will never let regrets repeat themselves.
The "Pigeon" bicycle beneath him and Liu Ye behind him brought him more peace and joy than any luxury car and beauty from his past life ever could.
Right now, Xiao Weiguo felt like roaring at the top of his lungs to release the worries that had weighed down his entire previous life.