Chapter 2 two

The next day, Mr. Lin's shop had a new layout.The oriental goods, which hadn't shown their faces for nearly a week, were all placed in the most conspicuous position again.Mr. Lin imitated the method of big stores in Shanghai and wrote a lot of red and green notes with "10% off big and cheap" and pasted them on the glass windows.This day is the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month, which is the "prosperous month" of Shangyang Guanghuo Store in the township.Not only is Mr. Lin's extra "four hundred yuan" expected to be recovered at this time, but Ms. Lin's new clothes are also relying on the business in the past few days.

At around ten o'clock, groups of rural people rushing to the market passed by on the street. They held baskets on their arms, or led children on their hands, talking in rough voices while walking.When they saw Mr. Lin's colorful shop, they all stopped, raised their faces, their wives called their husbands, their children called their parents, and they all admired those goods.The New Year is coming, the children hope to wear a new pair of socks, the women think that the washbasin at home has long been worn out, the face towel used by the whole family is an old guy from half a year ago, and the soap has been cut off for more than a month. Should buy some.Mr. Lin sat on the counter, cheered up, with a smile all over his face, looking at the country folks, and led two clerks and two apprentices in his shop, hoping that the goods would go out and foreign money would come in.But these country people looked at it for a while, pointed and praised it for a while, and then lazily walked to the Yuchangxiang shop diagonally opposite the door and stopped to look again.Mr. Lin stretched his neck, looking at the background of the group of countrymen, his eyes burst into flames.He can't wait to pull them back!

"Uh-uh-" Aunt Lin, sitting behind the counter by the butterfly door that separates the shop from the "inner house", let out the "uh" that she had barely held back for a while.Miss Lin leaned against her mother, staring blankly at the street without making a sound, but her heart was pounding; at least half of her new clothes had been taken off. Mr. Lin rushed to the counter and stared at his colleague Yu Changxiang diagonally across the door with wide-eyed jealousy.Four or five clerks over there were lined up in front of the counter, waiting to do business.But none of the country folks approached the counter, they looked at it for a while, and then walked over as usual.Mr. Lin felt relieved, and couldn't help smiling at Yu Changxiang's buddy.At this time, a group of seven or eight countrymen walked up to Mr. Lin's shop. Among them, a young man stepped forward and tilted his head to look at the hanging umbrellas.Mr. Lin turned his face suddenly, and his lips parted immediately; he personally courted the expected customer:

"Hey, brother, do you want to buy a foreign umbrella? It's cheap, and a foreign umbrella sells for nine cents! Go and see the goods." A clerk had already taken down two or three parasols, opened one at once, and shoved it hotly into the hands of the young countryman, pulling himself together and showing off: "Little master, look! Foreign satin face, solid bones, sunny, rainy, durable and beautiful! Ninety cents a cap, it can't be cheaper! ... Over there is a foreign cap, the goods are not as good as this , you will understand after a comparison." The young countryman held an umbrella and opened his mouth wide open as if he had no idea.He turned his head to look at an old man in his fifties, and shook the umbrella in his hand again, as if to say, "Will you buy one?" But the old man shouted anxiously:

"Ah Da! You're in a coma and want to buy an umbrella! A whole load of hardwood was sold for just over three yuan. Your mother is waiting to measure the rice and go back to eat, so how can she have the money to buy an umbrella!" "The goods are cheap, and there is no money to buy them!" The country people standing there watching sighed and lazily left.The young countryman blushed, shook his head, and wanted to leave after putting down his umbrella. This made Mr. Lin very anxious, so he gave in quickly and asked: "Hey, hey, Brother, how much do you say?——Look again, the goods are reliable!"

"The goods are cheap, but the money is not enough." As the old man answered, he grabbed his son and ran away as if fleeing.With a bitter face, Mr. Lin walked back to the cash desk, feeling very weak.He knew that it wasn't because he didn't know how to do business, but because the country people were too poor to afford an umbrella worth 90 cents.He stole another look at Yu Changxiang who was at the opposite door, but there were still only people standing there watching, no one went to the counter to buy.Yu Changxiang's Shengtai Grocery Store, Wansheng Bakery Shop next door, hardly even half of the people look at it.Groups of country people passing by are holding baskets, but the baskets are empty; occasionally there is a bag of blue cloth, which can be seen to be rice: even the late rice harvested by the country people more than a month ago has long been buried. Landlords and usury creditors have squeezed out their money, and now country people have to eat expensive rice by the measure of one or two liters.Mr. Lin understood all this, and he felt that his business was at least indirectly deprived of by the landlords and usurers.

Time gradually approached noon, and there were very few country people walking on the street. Mr. Lin's shop only managed a business of more than one yuan, which was only enough to pay for the red and green notes of "10% off big and cheap" advertising fee.Mr. Lin walked into the "inner house" dejectedly, hardly having the courage to meet his daughter and wife.Miss Lin sat in the corner of the room with her head down, with tears in her eyes; Mrs. Lin struggled through a series of hiccups and said to her husband: "Spent four hundred yuan,——it was busy all night to set up, er, the oriental goods are ready to sell, but the business is slow, er——A Nan's grandpa!... Wu Ma needs to get wages again—— —”

"It's only half a day! Don't worry." Mr. Lin tried to comfort him, but the pain in his heart was worse than being cut by a knife.He paced a few steps sullenly.I have thought about all the ways to promote the business, but I don't think it is the way.The business is slow, and it has been like this for a long time, not his family; people are poor, but there is nothing they can do.But he always hoped that the business in the afternoon would be better.People in this town buy things in the afternoon.Don't they buy something for New Year's?As long as they buy with heart, Mr. Lin's business is sure.After all, his goods are cheaper than others.

It is this hope that makes Mr. Lin still able to sit on the counter and wait for his expected afternoon customers. This afternoon was obviously different from the morning as usual: there were not many people on the street, but almost everyone knew each other by their first names, or the names of their fathers and grandfathers.Mr. Lin leaned on the counter and greeted the townspeople who were walking and talking slowly past his shop with unusually gentle eyes.He often smiles and shouts to people who often do business: "Heh, brother ××, do you want to go to Qingfeng Pavilion to have tea? The small shop has a lot of goods, so go and trade!"

Sometimes the person being called would stop and come up to the counter, so Mr. Lin and his clerks would be extremely busy, watching the eyes of the unknown customer very sensitively, seeing his glances. If you find any goods, quickly take out that kind of goods and ask him to take the exam.Ms. Lin stood by the pair of butterfly doors to watch, and was often called out by Mr. Lin to call "Uncle" to the unknown customer.The little apprentice brought a cup of light tea, plus a small couplet. In terms of prices, Mr. Lin also made special concessions; when he encountered a customer who had to remove the mantissa of around 10 cents, he took the abacus from the clerk and calculated it for a while, and then he had to remove the mantissa from the abacus. Dial up and say with a smile:

"It's really not enough! But the old theme, so I have to obey. Please make a few more deals!" The whole afternoon passed like this.Even cash and credit, large and small, there are actually a dozen transactions.Mr. Lin was already sweating through his cotton robe.Although he was so tired, Mr. Lin was very happy in his heart.He peeked coldly at Yu Changxiang who was diagonally across the door, as if he couldn't keep up with the "hustle and bustle" of his shop.Ms. Lin, who often visited by the pair of butterfly doors, also had a smile on her face, and Aunt Lin also stopped hiccupping a few times. When it was almost time to turn on the lights, Mr. Lin calculated the "current account" of the day; in the morning it was zero, in the afternoon it was sold for 16 yuan and 85 cents, and 8 yuan was credit.Mr. Lin smiled slightly, but immediately frowned; his "big sale" today was indeed sold as it was, with no expenses, let alone official profits.He stayed for a while, then opened the account box again, took out a few account books and flipped through them for a long time to calculate; the amount "owed" in the account was more than 1,300 yuan, more than 600 yuan in the town, and more than 700 yuan in the four townships. ; But the customer account of "owing people" is 800 for Dongsheng in Shanghai alone, and the total is no less than 2,000!Mr. Lin sighed in a low voice, thinking that if the business still does not improve after tomorrow, then he will be a little sad at the end of the year.He looked at the red and green note on the glass window that read "10% discount for large listings", and thought to himself: "If you put the listings seriously like today, the business will be good; will you lose money? If you don't have business, you will still have to spend. We have to go first Bring in some customers and then slowly try to increase the number of goods... If there are wholesale businesses in Sixiang, that would be even better!—” Suddenly a person came to interrupt Mr. Lin's sweet dream.It was an old woman in her fifties who walked into the store tremblingly, holding a small blue cloth bag in her hand.Mr. Lin suddenly raised his head, he was meeting the old woman face to face, he couldn't dodge if he wanted to, so he walked up to greet her and said: "Santa Zhu, are you going out to buy something for the New Year? Please go inside and sit down. ——Axiu, come and help Mrs. Zhu." Ms. Lin was no longer by the pair of butterfly doors, so she didn't hear her.Mrs. Zhu shook her hands again and again, sat down on a chair in the shop, and solemnly opened her blue cloth towel bag—there was only one button in the bag, and she held it in trembling hands, and sent it directly to Mr. Lin. In front of her nose, her shrunken lips twisted a few times, and just as she was about to speak, Mr. Lin had already taken the fold with one hand, and at the same time said first: "I see. Send it to your house tomorrow." "Oh, oh; October, November, December, one is always three months, three three is nine, is it nine yuan? - you will send it tomorrow? Oh, oh, don't send it, let me bring it Go. Hmm!" Mrs. Zhu twisted her shriveled lips, speaking with difficulty.She has 300 yuan of "old money" stored in Mr. Lin's shop, and she gets 3 yuan in interest on a monthly basis, but recently Mr. Lin has been in arrears for three months. It was originally said that the total payment will be made at the end of the year, and tomorrow will be a delivery of the stove. One day, the old woman wanted to buy something for the stove, so she went to Mr. Lin's shop in person.Seeing how she twisted her puckered lips, she would definitely refuse to leave if she didn't have the money. Mr. Lin scratched his scalp and remained silent.The interest of nine dollars, he didn't intend to do nothing, it's just that business has been slow for three months, and the money he sells every day is only enough to eat and pay taxes, and he has unknowingly defaulted on it.However, if she doesn't pay today, the old woman might just yell on the shop floor, which would be too embarrassing, and would have a great impact on the future of the business. "Okay, okay, take it, take it!" Mr. Lin finally said with a grudge, his voice a little choked up.He ran to the cash register, put together the cash he had sold in the morning and afternoon, and took out a double penny from his pocket. Only then did he make up eight yuan, ten cents, and forty copper coins, and delivered them to Mrs. Zhu.When he saw the old woman solemnly counting and counting the silver coins, and wrapping them up in the blue cloth handkerchief tremblingly, he couldn't help sighing, whimsically planning to pull back a few coins. Come; and with a forced smile he said: "Third Madam, your blue cloth handkerchief is too old, why don't you buy an old-fashioned linen white handkerchief? We have good face towels and soap. Buy some for the New Year. The price is fair!" "Don't, don't; the old woman is useless." Mrs. Zhu waved her hands again and again and said, she hid the booklet in her pocket, and went away with her blue cloth handkerchief bag. With a mournful face, Mr. Lin walked back to the "inner house".Because Mrs. Zhu came to ask for interest, he remembered that there were still two deposits, two hundred yuan from Qiaotou Chen Laoqi and one hundred and fifty yuan from Widow Zhang. The interest of a total of ten yuan was in arrears due to "inconvenience". , must be sent in advance.He counted the days with his fingers: twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six——by twenty-six, the accounts in the four townships should be collected. At the end of the day, twenty-six should be back; the town's accounts always have to be twenty-eight or nine.However, the bill collectors from Shanghai Haojia might arrive tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, so they have to borrow from Hengyuan Bank.But what about tomorrow's store? ... As he walked with his head down, thinking, he suddenly heard his daughter's voice whispering in his ear: "Father, do you think this piece of silk is good? Seven feet, four yuan and two jiao, isn't it expensive?" Mr. Lin's heart skipped a beat, he stopped and opened his eyes wide, speechless.Miss Lin was holding the piece of silk in her hand, but she was smiling foolishly.Four yuan and two cents!The amount is really not that big, but today the store only sold a total of more than 16 yuan, and it was sold at a low price honestly!Mr. Lin was stunned for a while, and then asked listlessly: "Where did you get the money?" "Put it on the account." Mr. Lin heard that he was in debt again, and couldn't help frowning.But his daughter was spoiled by him, and Mrs. Lin was protecting her to the death. Mr. Lin had no choice but to smile wryly. After a while, he sighed and complained softly: "So impatient! Wouldn't it be better to buy it after the New Year!"