It’s just a bottle of hand cream, not worth much.
Jiang Mingyu wasn’t planning to accept it, but Wang Mengyuan cut in front of her father, saying, “Dad, let’s keep this money to buy flour! Grain is hard to buy now, so don’t waste your money on me!”
Boss Wang frowned, “No, even if grain is hard to buy, I can’t watch your hands get frostbitten!”
“Grain is hard to buy?”
Jiang Mingyu asked casually.
In those days, you needed grain coupons to buy grain; trading grain privately with money could get you arrested and landed in jail.
Therefore, people with grain wouldn’t easily sell to strangers; they usually supplied regular customers. Many people, even if they had money, didn’t have the connections to buy it.
Mr. Wang sighed, sat down, and spoke to her, “To be honest, my comrade, my steamed bun shop has been closing earlier and earlier lately. You’ve probably heard it too; many customers say we’re making fewer and fewer buns…”
“Sigh! It’s not that we don’t want to make more, it’s just that we can’t buy enough grain. Without flour, we can’t make any!”
Beside her, Wang Mengyuan blinked, looking up sadly at the steamed bun shop, “If we can’t buy enough grain this month, I’m afraid this steamed bun shop won’t be able to stay open… So, my father and I are trying to save as much money as we can.”
It turned out that although the steamed bun shop seemed to be busy and profitable, it was actually losing money because of the supply shortage.
From their words, Jiang Mingyu deduced that they weren’t entirely telling the truth.
The real reason the steamed bun shop was losing money was probably because Mr. Wang was buying grain at high prices but hadn’t raised the price of the buns.
This father and daughter were honest people, and their steamed buns did indeed have potential; the taste was even better than the buns she had eaten in the high-end tea restaurants in her previous life!
Just as the atmosphere reached its most somber moment, Jiang Mingyu feigned regret, feigning an eagerness to lend a helping hand, and said, “These buns are so delicious, it would be such a pity if they went out of business!” ”
I see that Boss Wang uses top-quality ingredients and fillings. How about this, to prevent your bun shop from closing down, I’ll sell you grain. What do you think?”
The choice seemed to be in their hands, but in reality, it was giving Boss Wang a lifeline. His eyes lit up with excitement, and he stood up excitedly: “Comrade, you have a way to get grain?”
But he quickly calmed down and said seriously, “However, could I check the quality of the grain first? If it’s not good, I won’t accept it.”
“This Wang’s Steamed Buns brand was built by my wife and me. My wife has been in poor health and bedridden, so I can’t just buy grain without considering the quality. Please understand.”
He spoke frankly, and Jiang Mingyu didn’t hide anything either, smiling gently, “No rush. I’ll come to the county town again tomorrow, at the same time. I’ll bring the grain to you. But I hope you can keep this a secret. If you’re satisfied with my grain, we can discuss the price.”
Finally, she looked sincerely at the steamed bun shop, “Boss Wang, Wang’s Steamed Buns are a memory of an era. The taste alone is incomparable to many other brands. I really don’t want it to go out of business.”
The three adorable children, hearing this, were also moved by the sentiment and chimed in, “Yes, Uncle, your steamed buns are really delicious! Even the people in our town know about them!”
Boss Wang knew his steamed buns were popular, but he never imagined they carried the memories of an entire era!
Immediately, a sense of mission and responsibility appeared on his face. He didn’t want the steamed bun shop to go out of business, so he readily agreed, “Okay! Comrade, then bring the grain over tomorrow. If I’m satisfied after I’ve checked it, I’ll definitely buy it!”
“And don’t worry, I won’t tell a third person what we’ve discussed today.”
Wang Mengyuan nodded quickly, “Yes, big sister, we won’t tell anyone!” After chatting for a while, the group became much more friendly.
Jiang Mingyu smiled and handed her hand cream.
“You calling me ‘big sister’ sounds just like one of my younger sisters. Really, take this hand cream. I like hardworking girls like you.”
Then she introduced herself to the two women, “My surname is Jiang, my name is Jiang Mingyu, and I’m an investor. That’s settled then. See you tomorrow.”
“Oh, Miss Jiang, take care!”
Boss Wang was much more polite to her. He had thought the three children liked his steamed buns and wanted to give them some,
but then he realized that the buns were all gone.
He could only smile sheepishly, “When you come back tomorrow, I’ll save you two extra steamers of xiaolongbao.”
“Okay, thank you, Uncle Wang! Goodbye, Uncle Wang~”
The three little ones said goodbye to him spontaneously and skillfully without Jiang Mingyu needing to remind them.
But after leaving the xiaolongbao shop, the three little ones couldn’t help but mutter,
“We don’t have much food at home, will we really have anything to sell them?”
“But Mom can do magic tricks, maybe she can really conjure up food!”
“Shh! We agreed not to mention magic tricks outside, if Dad finds out, we’ll definitely get a beating!”
“Mom, what is an investor?”
The youngest, Sanya, was very interested in the “investor” that Jiang Mingyu had just mentioned, and pulled her to ask.
Jiang Mingyu lowered her eyes, patted her head, and patiently explained,
“It means doing what you think is worthwhile, using your current abilities to help others—that’s investing.”
“You can invest in others, or you can invest in yourself.”
“Before that, you need to keep learning and become a little smarter.”
“Oh, then Mom, is Sanya smart?”
Sanya asked, her bright eyes sparkling, so lovely and endearing, it was hard to say no.
But the older and younger children beat her to it, asking Jiang Mingyu, “Mom, we’re smart too, right?”
Jiang Mingyu chuckled and shook her head: “Whether you’re smart or not is up to you to decide, not others.”
“Oh, then we’re smart kids!”
The topic was quickly changed, only Sanya seemed to be pondering the explanation of what an investor is, looking serious.
It was already noon when they came out of the steamed bun shop.
Jiang Mingyu just needed to get the children back before seven o’clock, so she still had many places to visit before then.
This time, she took the children to the job market.
Most of the people here were looking for factory jobs.
Most of the factories here were related to heavy industry, so the atmosphere was somewhat serious.
Jiang Mingyu walked around for a while and finally came to a small stall with only a few people waiting in line.
“Excuse me, is this the job posting office for disabled workers?”
The clerk standing guard there suddenly woke up from his drowsy state and looked at her in surprise: “Yes, this is the job posting office for disabled workers, you…”
After looking for a while, he couldn’t see any disability in Jiang Mingyu, so he asked: “Are you looking for someone or a job?”
Jiang Mingyu shook her head,
“Neither, I’m here to hire someone.”