After sending this message, Liu Chen did not look at the QQ group and went to take a shower.
After showering, she glanced at the wall clock in the living room. Seeing that the light in her mother's room was still on, she walked over and leaned by the door, asking, "Mom, did I just hear Auntie's voice?"
"Ah, she called. Said she got into trouble with the four hundred thousand she had. She plans to use the money to buy a house, a wedding house for your cousin. She said judging by the way your cousin was talking on the phone, he must have found someone."
"Ah? Then, when you go house hunting, take me along! By the way, are we still going to the shop at three tomorrow?"
Liu Fang lay on the bed, fanning herself. Hearing this, she refused without looking up, "What are you going to the house viewing for? You don't need to go tomorrow either, just rest at home and ask about that cram school or something. I feel like you haven't opened a book all summer."
Liu Chen quickly replied, "I'll just go to your shop until lunchtime, and then leave after lunch. In the afternoon, I'll go with a classmate to New Oriental cram school to inquire about prices and tell you when I get back."
Liu Fang heard this and didn't insist. She knew her daughter wouldn't eat at home, so it was better to eat with her at the shop. She said, "Then remember to bring a jacket tomorrow."
The next morning.
Liu Chen sat in the passenger seat, yawning, and asked, "Mom, besides tangyuan and dumplings, what else do we mainly sell?"
"We sell hot pot snacks, fried bananas, pumpkin cakes, and breakfast items like steamed buns and mantou."
"Do we sell hand-grabbed pancakes?"
"What kind of pancakes?"
"Hand-grabbed pancakes, you know, the pre-made pancake wrappers that you thaw and pan-fry, then add chicken strips, pork tenderloin, ham, and salad dressing and roll them up."
As she spoke, Liu Chen felt saliva secreting in her mouth. She was craving it.
Liu Fang thought for a moment, then said uncertainly after a long pause, "It seems like a manufacturer came to promote those hand-grabbed pancakes you mentioned and left a sample in the cold storage, but no one asked about them."
Hearing her mother's words, Liu Chen was shocked. Hand-grabbed pancakes, a king of the breakfast world, had no demand? Impossible! In her previous life, she had helped move no less than two hundred, if not five hundred, batches of hand-grabbed pancakes. One could imagine how good their sales were!
With a sense of disbelief, Liu Chen got out of the car wearing a hooded jacket. The cold wind at three in the morning blew away the last bit of her sleepiness.
It was then that she remembered that it was 2008. The hand-grabbed pancake, which would later become a breakfast king, had not yet caught the attention of the people of City C. This meant... if their family sold hand-grabbed pancakes, they could be among the first dealers to capture the market. Moreover, hand-grabbed pancakes weren't just about selling the pancake wrappers; they could also drive sales of their accompanying ingredients like pork tenderloin, chicken strips, and ham.
Thinking of this, at three in the morning, Liu Chen became excited. She hurried to catch up with Liu Fang, who was walking ahead, her eyes shining with excitement, "Mom, take out that hand-grabbed pancake. Let's sell hand-grabbed pancakes!"
Liu Fang heard this and dismissed it as a child's game of playing house. "You're always so impulsive. No one asked for them, so how can we sell them?"
When asked about this, Liu Chen was no longer sleepy. As she walked beside Liu Fang, she lowered her voice as if she were stealing, "It's just like regular jianbing, just pan-fry it. After it's fried, add chicken strips, pork tenderloin, lettuce, and then squeeze on salad dressing. It's delicious! Slurp~"
For some reason, Liu Fang thought she heard her daughter slurp just now. However, these ingredients, when combined, didn't sound unappetizing.
"But if it's that delicious, why haven't I heard of it?" Typically, popular snacks would be researched and promoted by manufacturers to fast-selling dealers. But now, Liu Fang hadn't heard of any major frozen goods distributors selling hand-grabbed pancakes. Furthermore, manufacturers confident in their products would usually negotiate exclusive agency rights with fast-selling distributors, not just give a sample to a small, out-of-the-way store like this.
"Really, really!" Liu Chen nodded firmly and quickly added, "It's my classmates. Some of them traveled to other provinces during the summer vacation and found that hand-grabbed pancakes were very popular there. They had to queue up every morning to buy them! And people there usually order them with toppings, adding at least an egg for two yuan! A single pancake sells for four yuan!"
Liu Fang, who had just reached the shop entrance, turned to look at Chenchen, who was following her with her hair in a simple ponytail and her face still yawning. She couldn't help but ask, "Chenchen, do you want to travel?"
Liu Chen squinted and shook her head. In her previous life, as a manufacturer's sales representative, she had organized ordering meetings for distributors in other places. It was too tiring; she'd rather sleep at home.
Together with her mother, Liu Chen lifted the lid of the freezer, then removed the quilt covering the freezer. She turned on the shop lights, and the dark shop was instantly illuminated by the small incandescent bulb. Liu Chen sat on a chair, while Liu Fang wiped the condensation off the freezer with a rag.
With the lottery tickets she had drawn yesterday, Liu Chen was even more enthusiastic today. Anyone who passed by and glanced at their shop was greeted with a smile and asked if there was anything they wanted to look at. In the dim market early in the morning, this vibrant smile, like the rising sun, was like a piece of candy to those who had been busy all night and were exhausted but still came to restock. After eating a piece of candy, no matter how tired they were, they felt a little better.
The entire morning, 'Liu Jie Frozen Goods' business was non-stop, with one customer after another. The owner of the pork offal stall across the street, Sister Chen, said enviously, "So young, and already knows how to put on a show, tsk tsk."
The owner of the neighboring stall, upon hearing this, wanted to pretend she hadn't heard, but remembering that the little girl had greeted her with a smile that morning, she couldn't help but retort, "A smile is already considered putting on a show? Sister Chen, you should watch your words. She's just a little girl. How would you feel if someone said that about your daughter?"
Sister Chen rolled her eyes at this and turned back to her desk, thinking to herself, "My daughter is well-behaved and obedient, unlike this woman who smiles at everyone!"
They were so busy that they didn't get a break until Li Jie came to work. One person searched for goods in the cold storage, one person was responsible for delivering goods to customers, and Liu Chen was responsible for writing orders and collecting money. The three of them cooperated seamlessly, and the work suddenly became easier. Li Jie also brought steamed buns and soy milk today, which Liu Fang had asked her to bring via text message last night.
Liu Chen drank the sweet soy milk and ate the still-warm steamed buns, feeling a warmth in her heart. As time passed, the market, which was a bit chilly in the morning, gradually became stuffy. Fortunately, business was good today, and the cold storage door was opened frequently, bringing in cool air.
After lunch, as instructed by her mother, Liu Chen, wearing a white baseball cap, walked towards the bus stop outside the market in the thirty-six-degree heat. As soon as she stepped out of the market, beads of sweat on her neck flowed down her back, and Liu Chen felt her clothes sticking to her back, completely soaked.
Thinking of the sixty-eight lottery tickets she had accumulated today, plus the remaining ones from yesterday, and looking at her still fair and tender face on her phone screen, recalling the sunspots on her face from not using sunscreen in her previous life, Liu Chen flagged down a passing taxi.
The taxi slowly stopped in front of Liu Chen. The driver rolled down the passenger window a little and shouted to Liu Chen standing outside, "Where to?"
"The Xinhua bookstore on South First Ring Road, the five-story one."
Hearing the destination, the driver nodded and unlocked the door. However, Liu Chen walked back a couple of steps and opened the rear door. It was important to be safe when traveling alone. Opening the door, a strong blast of cold air hit her, making Liu Chen shiver despite having walked for more than ten minutes and being drenched in sweat. But she felt much more comfortable. Liu Chen, who mentioned the Xinhua bookstore, had the New Oriental cram school on the floor above. She was worried that the taxi driver might not know which New Oriental she meant, so she mentioned the more conspicuous bookstore. Nowadays, bookstores had not yet been impacted by online shopping or e-books. During winter and summer vacations, they became gathering places for students, from high school seniors to preschoolers, all browsing books of interest in this five-story Xinhua bookstore. However, Liu Chen had never been here again since she saw the bearded man send Hu Qian away in her previous life. One reason was that after she stopped studying, there was no reason to come here. Another was that seeing this place subconsciously reminded her of that day, which was bothersome.
"We're here, fourteen yuan." The driver pressed down the meter. Liu Chen saw that it showed 13.6, so she finally took out a ten-yuan bill and four one-yuan coins from her small backpack.
Getting out of the air-conditioned car, Liu Chen looked at the five-story bookstore in front of her, feeling a mixed emotion, both bittersweet and happy. As she walked up the first flight of stairs, reaching the entrance of Xinhua bookstore, the automatic glass door slowly opened as if sensing Liu Chen, as if saying, "Welcome back."