“The handlebars are bent like this. How are you supposed to fix it?”
As soon as they returned to the little courtyard, Liu Changyun squatted beside his bicycle and began repairing it.
“Don’t we need to take it to a repair shop?”
“No need. It’s a minor problem.”
Xu Zitao removed the handlebars.
A little while later—
Liu Changyun pushed over an old bicycle.
“How much did it cost?”
“Five yuan.”
“We bought it as scrap metal.”
Zhou Yuwei watched as the two of them worked with practiced efficiency, dismantling parts from one bike to repair another.
In less than half an hour, the handlebars had been fixed.
The front wheel was repaired as well.
Xu Zitao tested it first. Once he was satisfied, he had Liu Changyun ride it around the courtyard.
“Done.”
Zhou Yuwei reached out and touched the bicycle.
“Whoa! Ancestor, please don’t touch this bike again!”
Liu Changyun immediately panicked.
“I’m traumatized now.”
“If you really like it, give me thirty yuan. I guarantee Zitao can assemble you one just like this. No—an even better one! He can even modify it and make you a smaller one that’s easier to ride. He’s really good at this.”
Zhou Yuwei looked at the bicycle.
“You’re that skilled? Then why haven’t you thought about making money with this?”
The two boys looked at her.
“We have,” Liu Changyun admitted, “but we figured it wouldn’t sell well. Besides, wouldn’t that count as illegal profiteering?”
They still had school to attend. They weren’t unemployed people with endless free time.
“We don’t have time to sell them.”
“If you don’t have time,” Zhou Yuwei said after thinking it over, “then just assemble the bicycles. Let the bicycle repairman sell them for you. Give him a commission for each one he sells.”
“That doesn’t really count as illegal profiteering.”
“That’s actually a pretty good idea.”
Liu Changyun nodded enthusiastically.
“Zitao, not many people have your kind of skill.”
“Where did you learn it?” Zhou Yuwei asked.
Judging by how smoothly he’d worked just now, his craftsmanship was impressive.
“I taught myself.”
Xu Zitao scratched his head.
“I read books and tinkered around on my own. There are only so many parts on a bicycle. After studying them for a few days, I figured it out.”
The three of them then sat down in Xu Zitao’s house and started drafting a business plan.
“Zitao is the technician, so he gets five shares. You get three, and I get two.”
Zhou Yuwei handed them the plan she had written.
“I’ll take four. The two of you each take three.”
Xu Zitao picked up a pen and immediately changed the profit-sharing ratio.
Well, if the person involved insisted, she had no objection.
“Is this really necessary?”
Looking at the agreement Zhou Yuwei had drawn up—which she called a contract—Liu Changyun felt speechless.
“We’re only making a few bicycles. At most we’ll earn a few dozen yuan. Do we really have to spell everything out this clearly?”
“Trust me.”
Zhou Yuwei smiled.
“This business won’t stay a small one that only earns a few dozen yuan.”
“Should we invite Bingkun too?” Liu Changyun suggested.
“Aunt Cao won’t agree.”
Xu Zitao immediately stopped him and glanced at Zhou Yuwei.
“Don’t go looking for him.”
“I don’t have any objections. You two decide.”
Zhou Yuwei didn’t really mind.
“I need to go home and review my lessons.”
“Review?”
Liu Changyun laughed.
“You sure you don’t mean preview?”
His meaning couldn’t have been more obvious.
He was mocking Zhou Yuwei’s poor grades.
The two of them had always been neck and neck at the bottom among the students in the residential courtyard compound.
“Stop looking down on me.”
Zhou Yuwei headed for the door.
“My heart just wasn’t in studying before. Now I really want to work hard and get into a good university.”
“Oh? You’ve turned over a new leaf?”
Liu Changyun grinned.
“Don’t do that! You’re putting a lot of pressure on me. If you actually get into college, won’t I be the only one left behind?”
If everyone else in the compound got into university except him…
His father would beat the life out of him.
“Then work hard from now on and study with me.”
When Zhou Yuwei got home—
“What’s been going on with Bingkun lately?”
Even someone as oblivious as Liu Changyun had noticed something was off.
“He has his own difficulties.”
Xu Zitao continued studying his bicycle repair book.
Meanwhile, Cao Bingkun stood by the window in his room, watching Zhou Yuwei’s graceful figure emerge from the Xu family’s house before walking toward the back courtyard.
“If you get into college,” Mother Cao’s voice sounded behind him, “I won’t interfere with whatever you want to do or whoever you want to be with.”
“But there’s one condition.”
“You have to get into Peking University.”
A mother knew her own son better than anyone.
She knew exactly what he was thinking.
“If you can’t even get into college, do you think Yuwei would ever like you?”
“Zitao is such an outstanding young man. He’s standing right in front of her.”
“And even if not him, Changyun’s family isn’t bad either. Neither of them is particularly suited for academics, so they’d actually make quite a good match.”
She was about to continue when—
Cao Bingkun picked up a workbook.
“Mom, I’m going to do my exercises now. Please close the door on your way out.”
…
When Zhou Yuwei got home, she immediately noticed Zhou Yulan hurriedly stuffing the clothes she had been working on underneath the quilt.
In her haste, she pricked her finger with the needle.
“Are you okay?”
Zhou Yuwei quickly grabbed her hand.
“I’m fine.”
Zhou Yulan lowered her head.
“Older Sister.”
“Hm?”
“We’re family.”
“And being family means that whatever happens, we solve it together.”
“…Mm.”
Zhou Yulan looked at her, her eyes reddening.
“I want to make money.”
She had to earn a lot of money.
A tremendous amount.
“Then we’ll figure out a way to make money together.”
Zhou Yuwei’s gaze fell on the buttons sewn onto the clothes.
“Older Sister, when you make clothes, do you have to buy all the buttons separately?”
Zhou Yulan nodded and took out several kinds of buttons she had purchased.
“How much does each one cost?”
“A few cents each, depending on the material.”
She pointed to them one by one.
“These black ones are two cents each, and these larger ones are five cents each.”
“This could work.”
“Work for what?”
“Older Sister, there are already people setting up stalls over by the West Gate. Have you ever thought about buying buttons wholesale and selling them?”
“Why insist on working in a factory? National policy has already changed. Going into business for yourself is definitely better than working for someone else.”
Zhou Yulan clenched her hands.
“Wouldn’t that be illegal profiteering?”
Zhou Yuwei smiled.
“It’s fine. Really.”
“Think about it. The government is already encouraging private businesses. How could this still count as illegal profiteering?”
After thinking for a while, Zhou Yulan looked down at the tiny wound on her finger.
Finally, she nodded.
“All right.”
“If you’re serious about it, then go to the button factories in Suzhou to buy your stock. There are plenty of suppliers there.”
At the dinner table, Zhou Yuwei brought up the idea.
“Yulan, if you’re going all the way to Suzhou, have your father go with you.”
Lin Hongmei was worried about her daughter traveling such a long distance alone.
“It’s okay, Mom. I’ve traveled far before.”
Besides, bringing another person meant paying for another train ticket.
“Well…”
“The child has grown up.”
Zhou Kun patted his wife’s hand.
“It’s time to let her spread her wings.”
“When are you planning to leave?”
“Tomorrow.”
“All right.”
He nodded.
“Have your mother prepare two hundred yuan for you.”
…
Early the next morning, Zhou Yulan headed for the train station.
“Be careful on the road,” Zhou Kun reminded her. “Call home when you’re on your way back, and I’ll come pick you up.”
“Older Sister, remember to buy lots of different kinds of buttons!” Zhou Yuwei called after her.
“Especially styles people haven’t seen here yet, or prettier designs. Buy more of those.”
“Okay, I know.”
Zhou Yulan boarded the train bound for Suzhou.
Zhou Kun turned to his younger daughter.
“Aren’t you going to school?”
“Dad…”
Zhou Yuwei looked at him thoughtfully.
“Even my older sister has decided to start her own business.”
“Have you… really never thought about doing something else yourself?”