Chapter 5 Fives

The bleak year has finally passed.Twenty-eight shops of all sizes in the town closed down.There is a "reputable" silk shop in it.Julong and Heyuan, who owed Mr. Lin 300 yuan in goods, finally collapsed.During the daytime on the New Year's Eve, Shousheng went to those two shops for a long time, and only took more than twenty yuan; Hidden from seeing each other.As for Mr. Lin himself, thanks to the good mediation of the chairman of the chamber of commerce, there is no need to hide in the countryside. However, the more than 400 yuan owed to Hengyuan bank must be paid off before the fifteenth day of the first month; From the day the market opened in May, Hengyuan will send people to Mr. Lin's shop to "guard the withdrawal", and 80% of the sales proceeds will be deducted by Hengyuan.

During the four days of the New Year, Mr. Lin's house was like an icehouse.Mr. Lin often sighed, and Mrs. Lin's hiccups were like a series of cannonballs.Although Ms. Lin didn't hiccup or sigh, she was dumbfounded as if she had suffered from yellow sickness for many years.Her new big silk cheongsam has already been pawned in order to pay Mama Wu's wages; the little apprentice has been waiting in front of the only pawnshop since seven o'clock in the morning, and did not take it out of the crowd until nine o'clock. Squeeze out two dollars.From now on, the pawn shop will stop pawning.Two dollars!This is already the highest price.No matter how much expensive clothing is worth to you, it can only be worth two yuan!It is called "two dollars to seal the door".The countryman endured the cold and took off his cotton-padded jacket and handed it to the counter. The man in the pawn shop picked it up and shook it, then threw it out, shouting angrily, "It's not right!"

From New Year's Day, it is a great sunny day.In the empty field in front of the Guandi Temple, vendors and jugglers came as usual to catch up with New Year's business.People dragged their legs lazily in front of the stalls, with their empty pockets in their hands, and then lazily walked away.The children grabbed the mother's clothes, and Lai refused to leave in front of the fireworks stand, so the mother gave him a big slap in the face.Those vendors who came here for the New Year couldn't even afford food, so they stayed in the "Anshang Guest Apartment" and quarreled with the owner of the apartment every day.

Only those tricksters offered a big business worth eight yuan, and the party masters called them to embellish the "Shengping atmosphere". On the night of the fourth day of the fourth day, Mr. Lin managed to raise three yuan, and held a banquet for the "friends" in the shop to eat the usual "five-way wine", and discussed how to open the market tomorrow.Mr. Lin has already thought it over well: if this shop continues to open, it seems to be a loss-making business. If it does not open, his family of three will have no livelihood, and after all, there are still four or five hundred in debt owed to him. Closing the door is even more difficult; the only way is to reduce expenses, but taxes and salaries cannot be escaped, and "extortion" is especially unavoidable. Let's lay off one or two shop assistants. Originally, he only had three clerks. The two of you are also very pitiful, and besides, resigning is not enough to welcome business; as for the family, there is nothing to worry about, Wu Ma has already resigned.He felt that he had to bite the bullet and continue, or rely on the blessing of the Bodhisattva, and the countrymen would be ripe in spring, and his deficit could be remedied.

But to open the market, the biggest difficulty is the lack of goods.If you don't have cash to send to Shanghai, you can't get the goods.Shanghai has been playing harder, so don't change your mind about credit.Let’s just sell low-end goods, his store has already been sold out, and the cartons of sanitary clothes on the shelves are empty, but they are just there as a cover.There are only some daily groceries left in his shop, washbasin towels and the like, and the bottom is still thick. Everyone drank for a while, scratching their cheeks and scratching their ears, unable to come up with a good idea.Later, when we were talking about idle days, a fellow suddenly said:

"In troubled times, people are no better than dogs! I heard that Zhabei in Shanghai was burnt to the ground, and hundreds of thousands of people escaped naked. In the area around Hongkou, even before the fire was burned, everyone fled. The Orientals were so fierce Very, you are not allowed to move things. The rent in Shanghai has increased several times. The people who escaped have come to the countryside. Yesterday, a group arrived in the town. It seems that they are all good people, but now they are homeless!" Mr. Lin shook his head and sighed.Hearing this, Shousheng suddenly thought of a good way; he put down his chopsticks, picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, and said to Mr. Lin with a smile:

"Master, can you hear Ah Si's words? Our washbasins, towels, soap, socks, tooth powder, and toothbrushes can all be sold off." Mr. Lin stared out his eyes, not understanding what Shousheng meant. "Master, this is a great opportunity. People who escaped from Shanghai always have some money, and they always want to buy some daily necessities, don't they? Let's get this business done quickly." Shousheng continued.Sifted another glass of wine to drink, his face was full of joy.The two guys also came to their senses and laughed.Only Mr. Lin is not very clear.Recent adversity had turned him into a befuddler.He asked in bewilderment:

"Can you hold it steady? Washbasins and towels are also available at other stores——" "Master, you forgot! We only have a lot of things like washbasins and towels! Yuchangxiang can't get ten washbasins, and they are all leftovers. This business cannot escape our palms." Alright! Let’s quickly write a few more advertisements and post them in Sizha, where the refugees live—hey, Ah Si, where do they live? We’re also going to post advertisements.” "Those who have relatives have gone to their relatives' homes, and those who don't have lived in an empty house in the cocoon factory outside Xizha."

The fellow named Ah Si replied, his face brightened, and he was very proud of his unintentional contribution.Mr. Lin also fully understood at this time.As soon as his heart was happy, he became flexible again. He immediately drew up the draft of the advertisement, and listed out the daily necessities available in the store, and there were about a dozen kinds.He also imitated the method of selling "one yuan goods" in Shanghai's big stores, selling washbasins, towels, toothbrushes, and tooth powder in sets for one yuan, and advertised "big cheap one yuan goods".There were red and green papers left in the store, but Shousheng cut them out in large sheets, and wrote on them with a pen.The two men and the apprentice took the washbasin, towel, toothbrush, and tooth powder in a mess and assembled them into a set.There was not enough manpower, so Mr. Lin asked his daughter to come out to help with the writing and matching. In addition, he also distributed several "one-yuan goods", all of which were sporadic daily necessities.

This night, the Lin family's shop was busy until around five o'clock before it was almost ready.In the early morning of the next day, firecrackers sounded and the door was opened, and the Lin family shop was newly decorated.The advertisement that Leu Ye rushed up had already been posted separately by Leo Ye.The area around the cocoon factory outside Xizha was arranged by Shousheng himself, in order to persuade those refugees who lived in the cocoon factory to stand up and watch it as a piece of news. In the "inner house", Mrs. Lin also had a fifth watch. Incense was lit in front of Porcelain Guanyin, and Mrs. Lin crawled and kowtowed for a long time.She prayed for everything, except that she did not pray to the Bodhisattva that the war in Shanghai would expand and prolong so that more refugees would come.

Everything went smoothly, and everything did not go as Shousheng expected.On the first day of Xinzheng's opening, the business of Lin's shop was very good. By 4 o'clock in the afternoon, it had sold more than 100 yuan, which was a new record that had not been seen in this town in the past ten years.The bulk of the sales are indeed "one yuan goods", but umbrellas, rubber rain boots and the like have also brought in sales, and the business is simply interesting.Although they are "refugees", they live in Shanghai after all and have seen big scenes. They are not as small as country people or people from this town. Picking and picking, and not insisting on dividing the odds. When Aunt Lin saw her daughter running in excitedly and boasting, she climbed up to Porcelain Guanyin and knocked her head back.She also had this thought in her mind: If it weren't for the great age difference, it would be good to recruit Shousheng as a son-in-law!Maybe at Shousheng's side, he often used half his eyes to look at this seventeen-year-old "junior sister" whom he knew well. There was only one thing that disappointed Mr. Lin; Hengyuanzhuang sent people to withdraw 80% of the total business volume of the day without regard to face.In addition, the depositors Zhu Santai, Qiaotou Chen Laoqi, and Widow Zhang, all of whom were instigated by someone, all came to advance the interest under the pretext of "needing to measure rice"; Make a deposit!But there is also good news. I heard that another group of refugees has arrived. At dinner, Mr. Lin added two dishes of meat dishes to reward his clerk.Everyone praised Shousheng for his ability.Although Mr. Lin was happy, he couldn't help but think about the fact that the three depositors including Mrs. Zhu wanted to withdraw their deposits.It is always unlucky to encounter such a thing in the new year.Shousheng said angrily: "What do those three know! It's not that someone provoked them!" As he spoke, Shousheng clicked his mouth diagonally to the opposite door again.Mr. Lin nodded.But these three people who don't understand anything are hard to deal with; one is an old man, and the other two are lonely women.Mr. Lin thought for a long time and decided that he had to go to the president of the chamber of commerce and ask him to talk to the three treasures.He talked to Shousheng, and Shousheng strongly agreed. So after dinner, after calculating the "current account" of the day, Mr. Lin went to visit the president of the chamber of commerce. After Mr. Lin explained his intentions, the head of the chamber of commerce agreed immediately, and praised Mr. Lin for his excellent business skills.Touching his chin, the head of the chamber of commerce smiled again, turned his body and said: "There is one thing I wanted to tell you a long time ago, but I just didn't have the chance. Director Bu in the town has met your daughter somewhere, and he likes it very much. Director Bu is about forty years old and has no son yet. Although there are two daughters in the house Personally, I have never had a child; if Ling'ai passed away and gave birth to a boy and a half girl, she would be the ready-made wife of the bureau chief. Oh, at that time, even I would get a little bit of luck!" Mr. Lin never dreamed that there would be such a problem, so he was stunned and could not speak.The president of the chamber of commerce went on to say solemnly: "We are old friends, and we can explain everything clearly. As far as this kind of thing is concerned, according to the old school, it seems to be not good-looking; —Besides, since Director Bu has this heart, it will be inconvenient for him not to agree; but if he agrees, there will be hope in the future. I am planning for you, so I said this. " "Hey, I'm afraid you mean to persuade me to be careful! But, I'm from a small family, and my little girl doesn't know how to behave. Director Gao Panbu, I really dare not!" Mr. Lin said bravely, his heart beating wildly. "Ha, ha, it's not that you are high-ranking, it's that he likes it. ——That's all, you go back and discuss it with Mrs. Zun. I'll leave it here for now. When I see Director Bu, I say I haven't had a chance to mention it, okay? But you have to reply to me sooner!" "Ok--" After thinking about it for a while, Mr. Lin reluctantly agreed, his face looked like a dead person. Back home, Mr. Lin dismissed his daughter and told Mrs. Lin everything.Before he finished speaking, Mrs. Lin burst into a fit of uh, which could be heard clearly by the neighbors. She barely suppressed the uhs that surged up, panting and said: "How can I agree, uh, I'm not a little wife, uh, uh--I'm also reluctant to let Axiu go to someone else's wife." "That's what I meant, but—" "Uh, we do business in a proper manner. Uh, don't we agree, so he can snatch it away? Uh—" "But he must come to make trouble for the blackmailer! This kind of person is more cruel than a robber!" Mr. Lin whispered, almost crying. "I risked my life. Ugh! Avalokitesvara, Avalokitesvara!" Aunt Lin stood up tremblingly, wanting to leave.Mr. Lin quickly stopped him and shouted without a word: "Where are you going? Where are you going?" At the same time, Ms. Lin also came from outside the room, she had obviously heard something, her face was pale and her eyes were staring.When Aunt Lin saw her daughter, she hugged her, cried and hiccupped, struggling and gasping for breath, and said: "Uh, Ah Nan, uh, who will snatch you, uh, I'll fight him for the rest of my life! Uh, when I gave birth to you, I got this--disease, uh, and managed to survive until I was seventeen, uh, uh, Die and die together! Uh, how good it was for Shousheng! Uh! Robbers! Don’t be afraid of the sky!" Miss Lin also cried, calling "Mom!" Mr. Lin rubbed his hands and sighed.Look at how bad the crying is, the narrow house and the shallow house will alarm the neighbors, and the New Year is not auspicious, so he had to hold back his anger to persuade the mother and daughter. That night, the three members of the Lin family did not sleep well.Mr. Lin had to get up early tomorrow morning to do business. During the night of turning his head and thinking, he occasionally heard a sound on the roof, and his heart would jump, thinking that Director Bu had come to trouble him; Thinking about it carefully, I am a well-behaved businessman and have not violated the law. As long as the business is good and I don’t owe money to others, can I make trouble for no reason and cheat him for nothing?As for his business, there is clearly a glimmer of hope in front of him.After giving birth to a daughter, she looks upright, but she is going to cause trouble!If we got engaged earlier, maybe there wouldn't be such a problem? ——Is the president of the chamber of commerce really willing to help? I can only beg him to help——but Mrs. Lin is hiccupping again, cough, she is sick! As soon as the sky turned pale, Mr. Lin got up, his eye circles were a little red and swollen, and his head was dizzy.But he couldn't help cheering up the business.It is not enough to rely on Shousheng on the pavement, and this young man has been tired enough in the past few days. Mr. Lin was sitting at the counter, always in a state of uncertainty.Although the business was good, his whole body trembled from time to time.Seeing the unfamiliar big man coming up to buy things, he suspected that Director Bu had sent someone to spy on him and find trouble; his heart was beating so hard. But it was also a mischief. The business was so good that day, which was unexpected.By noon, it had sold for fifty or sixty yuan, and there were also people from the town among the buyers.It's not like buying things, it's like grabbing things, which only happens when the shops are closed and the bottom goods are auctioned.While Mr. Lin was a little happy, he also looked shocked. He reckoned that "such a good deal doesn't look good".Sure enough, during lunch, Shousheng quietly told: "There are rumors outside that you dismantle the filth and sell a batch of sluts, and after making some money, you plan to run away!" Mr. Lin was so angry and scared that he couldn't speak.Suddenly, two men in uniform came, barged in and asked: "Who is Boss Lin?" Mr. Lin hurriedly stood up, and before he could answer, two uniformed men grabbed him and left.Shousheng chased after him, wanting to stop him, but also wanting to inquire, the two men shouted sharply: "Who are you? Go away! The party department wants him to question!"