The business deal had gone through, putting Hou Yong in high spirits. On the way back, he even whistled a tune.
Once home, he shared the good news with his parents. Yet, instead of looking happy, his mother wore a distressed frown, and his father looked thoroughly displeased.
"What's wrong?" Hou Yong asked, puzzled.
After a moment of hesitation, Hou Father spoke up. "Son, two hundred portions a day, at thirty cents a portion, that's sixty yuan a day. That Boss Zhou is definitely going to sell them for a higher price. How much better would it be if we kept that profit for ourselves?"
His mother chimed in, "That's right, Monkey. Why don't I skip going to the county hospital with your dad tomorrow and set up a stall in town myself? It'd be so much more practical for our own family to make this money."
The heartache on his mother's face was entirely genuine, as if she were losing sixty yuan every single day.
Hou Yong laughed.
His parents simply couldn't turn their thinking around yet; they would rather suffer through the hardship themselves than let anyone else make a profit off them.
Even though it was the 1980s, Hou Yong had clawed his way up from absolute poverty in his past life, and he had always firmly believed in one principle:
As long as a deal guaranteed that all parties involved could make a profit, that business was already eighty percent successful.
"Ma, let me ask you: we gathered a little over twenty pounds of stone flower seeds today. Do you know how much is left after peeling them?"
His mother was momentarily stunned, then turned to look at the already-peeled stone flower seeds in the courtyard. After calculating in her head, she said, "About five pounds or so, though there are still around ten pounds left to peel."
"Right, so if I take Pan'er out to sell iced jelly every day, and we figure on two buckets a day, we can sell a little over two pounds of iced jelly daily, right?"
"More than five pounds of stone flower seeds can yield about ten buckets of iced jelly. Ma, have you ever calculated this? With ten buckets of iced jelly—even counting you, Dad, and Dong'er, with each person manning a spot—could we possibly sell that much?"
His mother was dumbfounded. She didn't immediately grasp what Hou Yong meant and turned to look at Hou Father.
Hou Father was a bit quicker on the uptake than Hou Mother, and he more or less understood Hou Yong's point. After a long silence, he slowly nodded.
"Our son is right. Relying solely on our own people, it's simply impossible to sell all of that."
"Exactly, Dad. This is just a snack, not some century-old shop with a secret exclusive recipe. We can't grow big if we rely only on ourselves."
Hou Yong smiled and spread his hands. "Besides, that Boss Zhou doesn't look like a saint. If I kept refusing to cooperate with him, who knows what kind of overt or covert tricks he might pull if we went into town to sell iced jelly? It would become a huge headache, and we wouldn't have a moment of peace running our business."
"Son, once we make some money, we'll buy you a town household registration first."
In this era, rural people still harbored an inferiority complex toward urban residents, feeling that city folk were superior—a sentiment the city people very much shared.
This chain of contempt would not begin to shift until national policies changed.
Hou Yong merely smiled and said nothing.
In another twenty years or so, a rural household registration would be far more sought-after than an urban one. Right now, countless rural residents were scrambling to get out and secure city residency, only to find it harder than ascending to heaven if they later regretted it and wanted to transfer back.
"Let's talk about that later. Dad, tomorrow you should go back to the county and focus on recovering. After we finish filling Boss Zhou's order of two hundred portions tomorrow, I'll take Pan'er out to set up our stall. On one hand, we'll sign the contract with Boss Zhou; on the other hand, since we don't have an exclusive agreement, Panpan and I will wander around town to see if we can set up partnerships with other hotels."
Hou Yong arranged everything methodically. Gu Panpan, Hou Father, and Hou Mother all remained silent.
Gu Panpan looked at her man, her eyes practically overflowing with little pink hearts. Hou Father didn't say a word; he exchanged a glance with his old companion, both of them suddenly feeling that ever since their son got married, he had abruptly grown up.
Early the next morning, Hou Yong and Gu Panpan caught the six o'clock bus into town. Boss Zhou didn't show up in person, but he had already arranged for a service attendant at his storefront to receive them. After checking the quantity of iced jelly, they settled the account on the spot, handing over ninety yuan—covering today's payment and tomorrow's deposit.
Hou Yong had drafted the contract the previous night, but since Boss Zhou typically didn't arrive until around ten in the morning, Hou Yong first went to their usual spots to sell out his remaining stock.
Out of consideration for his wife, Hou Yong only brought one bucket today. He didn't even make it to the construction site before all one hundred portions of iced jelly were completely sold out.
Subtracting the thirty yuan deposit, today's income had still crossed the one-hundred-yuan mark.
In 1980, making over a hundred yuan in a single day—if word got out, the entire village would probably turn upside down.
After wandering around town for a bit, Hou Yong stopped by the Nong-staple Food Store to buy the necessary ingredients and seasonings, and incidentally bought two nice bolts of cloth for Gu Panpan, planning to make her a couple of new outfits when they got back to the village.
They strolled around the city until nearly eleven o'clock before heading back to Boss Zhou's restaurant.
The moment Hou Yong pulled out the contract, Boss Zhou was genuinely stunned.
People's awareness of signing contracts was still extremely weak back then; Boss Zhou had only ever encountered this kind of paperwork when dealing with established old family businesses from the southeastern coast.
He never could have imagined that this young man with such a rough, street-smart demeanor would think of doing this.
After briefly reviewing the clauses and confirming there were no hidden tricks, Boss Zhou signed his name. Both parties signed and pressed their thumbprints, keeping one copy each. Just like that, the deal was done.
Boss Zhou originally intended to keep the couple for a meal, but Hou Yong politely declined.
In this lifetime, he hadn't yet figured out how exactly to treat Boss Zhou. Running into him again earlier had already been an unexpected surprise.
If this fellow followed the exact trajectory of his past life, he would eventually end up behind bars.
Hou Yong had already made up his mind. Reborn into this world, everything—every single thing—would go according to his own plan.
Smuggling was enormously lucrative, but if he had to rely on such crooked paths to make a fortune after being reborn, Hou Yong felt that would be utterly pathetic.
That afternoon, Hou Yong and Gu Panpan wandered around town to look for other potential partners, but found no one quite suitable. Hou Yong wasn't discouraged. If things continued to develop along the current path, they only needed one stable month to clear out the family's debts and cover his father's medical expenses.
By the time they returned to the village, it was nearly five o'clock. The two of them hadn't eaten lunch, though each had consumed a bowl of brown sugar iced jelly. Still, they weren't overly hungry; after all, in the sweltering heat, people's appetites dropped significantly.
Pushing open the courtyard gate, they found Mother sitting in the shade with a worried expression, while a large pile of unwashed stone flower seeds remained sitting nearby. A sudden sense of foreboding rose in Hou Yong's chest.
"Ma, what's wrong?"
Hou Yong hurried forward, putting down what he was carrying as he asked.