23
There Are Many Ways to Make Money (Catching Bugs): Making an Extra Buck on the Side
After mentally preparing herself, Wang Xiao went to receive the province’s first Advanced Individual for Courageous and Righteous Acts award with complete composure.
Good heavens, it wasn’t until she arrived at the award ceremony that she realized just how lucky she was.
Among a group of true heroes with broken arms and legs, removed spleens, repaired intestines, or even permanently confined to wheelchairs, her week-long bed rest for a concussion seemed almost embarrassing to mention as an injury.
Even more fortunate was that although the passengers on their bus had initially been like quails, completely clueless about resisting, they eventually mobilized and collectively subdued five robbers.
Other heroes who acted courageously during robberies weren’t so lucky—they mostly fought alone with no one around to lend a hand.
The worst off were two journalists who, when assaulted by thugs during a bus robbery, asked the driver to head to the police station, only to be scolded for meddling.
When they finally got off the bus bleeding and battered, the bus attendant even yelled at them, demanding they pay for the window glass broken when the thugs smashed their heads against it.
It was absolutely absurd—like absurdity opening the door for absurdity, taking absurdity to the extreme.
Wang Xiao even suspected that the reason she managed to smoothly receive this provincial Advanced Individual for Courageous and Righteous Acts award was because the authorities wanted to use her as an example to prove to the public that the cost of righteous acts isn’t that high, and that human kindness still exists.
Dr. Chen Yanqiu attended the award ceremony as a family representative but was so frightened her face turned pale. After her daughter stepped off the stage, she sternly warned her that if she ever encountered such a situation again, she should stay as far away as possible.
The rewards for righteous acts were indeed good—they handled Rural-to-Urban Residence Conversion Procedures for a farmer who lost his leg and arranged a Boiler Worker job for him. His family members were moved to tears.
But their family didn’t need any of that. Were they lacking the 1,500-yuan bonus, or were they counting on a two-level salary increase to strike it rich? Their family didn’t care for any of it; they just wanted their daughter safe and sound.
Comrade Wang Tiejun wasn’t having it and lectured his wife: “What do you mean ‘encounter such a situation again’? Pah, pah, pah! All the disasters of a lifetime are over; there won’t be any more from now on.”
Chen Yanqiu, unusually, didn’t argue with the old man and instead agreed: “Yes, yes, yes, that’s enough.”
They’d already experienced a blood-related disaster—what more could they want?
Even if it was someone else’s blood, it still counted as a blood-related disaster.
Even someone as seemingly heartless as Wang Xiao was moved hearing the old couple say this and smiled in agreement: “Yes, yes, yes, it’s over. There won’t be any more from now on.”
Comrade Wang Tiejun then had a brainstorm: “Come on, let’s go burn some incense to calm Xiao Xiao’s nerves.”
This time, it was Dr. Chen Yanqiu’s turn to criticize him: “Do you have a brain? Our Xiao Xiao is now an Advanced Individual. Her director even said they plan to focus on cultivating her and will recommend her for Party membership soon. If you go burn incense now and engage in feudal superstition, are you trying to ruin her chances?”
Wang Xiao found it utterly hilarious listening to them—the old couple sounded like they were performing a crosstalk comedy routine every day.
As she stood there grinning, a car horn sounded nearby.
Tang Yicheng leaned out of the driver’s window of a minivan and called out loudly: “Get in!”
Wang Xiao was especially surprised: “Hey, how come you’re here?”
As soon as she spoke, she felt embarrassed—the bright red award certificate and stack of cash in her hands suddenly felt burning hot.
If anyone should receive the honor, it ought to be Tang Yicheng.
If he hadn’t demonstrated such extraordinary strength, the other passengers on the bus probably wouldn’t have found the courage to fight back.
Tang Yicheng gestured for them to get on the vehicle, not showing any sign of displeasure on his face: “I’m delivering Scented Soap to a hotel, and it happens to be on the way.”
He wasn’t lying. It was already evening, and he didn’t dare to travel back to Xin County in the dark. He planned to park the car downstairs in the steel mill’s residential area.
In 1990, even in the provincial capital, parking lots were scarce. People had to find their own spots to leave their cars. But if you didn’t choose the location carefully, someone might smash your windows, ruin your doors, or even set your car on fire, leaving you with nowhere to vent your frustration.
Chen Yanqiu shot her husband a fierce glare. What on earth was he thinking? Even if the award ceremony was in some convoluted location, requiring them to transfer twice to get home, that was still better than calling Tang Yicheng over.
How awkward this was.
Wang Tiejun felt awkward too. He had only mentioned it casually yesterday, never expecting the young man to specially come pick them up.
Well, with so many people receiving awards, he was the only one missing. Who could bring themselves to say it out loud?
Wang Xiao furrowed his brow as he got into the car and began questioning: “Delivering soap? Do you deliver the soap to each hotel individually?”
Tang Yicheng nodded, completely unfazed: “Of course. We can’t expect them to go all the way to Xin County to pick up the goods.”
During the planned economy era, soap factories only handled production. Once the products were made, supply and marketing company trucks would come to collect the goods. After reforms were implemented, distributors at various levels would bring their pick-up orders to the factory to collect the products, which would then be distributed further down the chain until reaching consumers.
Now that they were starting fresh, directly producing custom Scented Soap for hotels, their original distribution network naturally became useless, leaving the factory responsible for deliveries.
Wang Xiao nearly fainted upon hearing this.
This was 1990! Twelve years had passed since the Third Plenary Session of the 12th Central Committee – how could these people’s minds remain so stagnant?
Door-to-door delivery? How could they even consider such a thing!
With the entire country being so vast, they’d be delivering until who knows when.
Forget the whole nation – just within their province alone, the shipping and transportation costs for each delivery might end up higher than the profits from selling the Scented Soap.
Tang Yicheng had to awkwardly explain that the factory had only completed its first batch of orders so far, delivering only within the provincial capital. They hadn’t started deliveries to other areas in the province yet.
“Stop.” Wang Xiao couldn’t take it anymore, abandoning his principle of never meddling in others’ affairs. “Use express delivery directly. Well, postal service, understand? Negotiate properly with the post office. You’re shipping large volumes with substantial order quantities – you have the advantage. You can confidently negotiate to lower the shipping costs.”
Seeing Tang Yicheng’s completely bewildered expression, Wang Xiao grew impatient. “Soap factories have business targets – doesn’t the post office have them too? Everyone wants orders. If they want orders, they’ll lower their prices.”
Tang Yicheng was quick on the uptake and soon grasped the concept, but he also pointed out a potential flaw: “But if the post office refuses to give us a discount, there’s nothing we can do. We have to rely on them for shipping.”
Well, that’s the arrogance of a monopoly.
Thirty years later, even China Post would have to compete with private courier companies like STO, YTO, ZTO, Yunda, and SF Express for business.
But now, there was only one option, no alternatives. If you wanted to ship something, you had to go through the post office.
They couldn’t care less about you.
Wang Xiao, however, took a tough approach: “There’s more than just Xin County’s post office in the world. If they won’t lower the price for you, rent a warehouse in the provincial capital—heck, even just a room would do—and ship from there. The postage might even be cheaper. Or you could contact the post office in the neighboring county and ship from there. In short, make Xin County Post Office understand that although they have a geographical advantage, they’re not the soap factory’s only option. If they can’t do the job well, the factory can replace them at any time.”
Wang Xiao began painting a rosy picture again, “We need to make the post office fully realize that this is a very important opportunity. If they can make a big splash with our factory’s business, they’ll successfully set a benchmark. In the future, other factories in Xin County can also sell their products through postal delivery instead of relying solely on layers of distributors.”
Tang Yicheng, after all, came from a military background and knew little about business. Hearing this, he fell into confusion again: “What else could even be shipped?”
“Plenty of things—everything can be sold through mail.” Wang Xiao casually gave an example, “I remember Xin County has a paper factory that produces toilet paper, right? Toilet paper can also be sold to hotels. Printing the hotel’s name and information on the inside of the paper tube is also a way to advertise.”
It’s hard to believe, but in this era, neither ordinary hotels nor public restrooms provided toilet paper—something that really should be improved.
Poor Tang Yicheng looked even more bewildered: “What’s a paper tube?”
Wang Xiao blurted out: “Toilet paper rolls—isn’t there a paper tube in the middle of the roll?”
As soon as she said it, she suddenly realized something: even her own family currently used those packs of crinkly toilet paper that couldn’t be flushed directly and had to be thrown away in trash bags.
So she quickly corrected herself, emphasizing seriously: “Fine white toilet paper rolls are definitely the future direction of toilet paper development. Since existing paper factories don’t have this technology, we need to find ways to introduce new technology and start production quickly. In short, as long as we find fixed buyers, we don’t necessarily need to develop layers of distributors—we can complete sales entirely through remittances and mail delivery. Make the pie big enough, and the post office will surely be tempted. The new business they develop will be the highlight of their work this year. They’re about to write their year-end summary—this is something they can really boast about.”
She then jokingly added, “If you secure the cooperation with the paper factory, you’ll have to give me half of your commission.”
Chen Yanqiu, seeing her daughter talking with such excitement, had to clear her throat to remind the girl not to talk about making money all the time: “Xiao Tang, regarding Xiao Xiao’s matter, your aunt and uncle haven’t had the chance to properly thank you. If it weren’t for you, who knows what would have happened to this silly girl.”
Wang Xiao also remembered and quickly took out her purse, producing the envelope containing 1,500 yuan, and motioned to Tang Yicheng: “I’ll keep the award certificate—the prize money is yours.”
Tang Yicheng directly refused: “This is recognition for you. I don’t want it.”
Wang Xiao said seriously, “That won’t do. We both know exactly what happened. They have their own considerations when it comes to publicity—that’s their business and has nothing to do with us. You must take this money, or I won’t feel right about it. But you’ll need to write me a receipt. It’s nothing personal—I just need to clarify things with my workplace. I can’t hide the truth from them; I have to be honest.”
The actual truth, of course, wasn’t as noble as she made it sound. She simply believed in always having a backup plan.
Since she had already decided to build her personal brand, using her image as the main attraction to generate income, she had to maintain her public persona and avoid leaving any potential scandals. Otherwise, the backlash in the future could be devastating.
By sharing the bonus now, even if someone dug up this matter later, she could still stand firm in her image as a principled and loyal person.
Tang Yicheng still wanted to refuse, but Wang Tiejun, sitting in the passenger seat, had already stuffed the envelope into his pocket. In his attempt to dodge, Tang nearly swerved the car off course.
“Hey, hey, focus on driving!” Wang Tiejun said sternly. “If the money is meant for you, then you must take it. As you can see, Xiao Xiao is our only daughter. Both her mother and I have jobs—our family isn’t short of 1,500 yuan.”
Only then did Tang Yicheng fall silent.
Feeling reassured, Wang Xiao declared outright, “For the orders that came to the soap factory after the news reports, we’ll split the commission fifty-fifty.”
After all, to express their gratitude to her, the soap factory had quite generously raised the commission rate to four percent.
Now that was genuine appreciation.
With the factory’s business booming, even if she took only half—a two percent commission—she would still earn more than before.
Tang Yicheng was stunned. He had genuinely come to pick them up as a casual favor, not to settle scores with Wang Xiao or anything of the sort.
Besides, in his view, intervening bravely on the bus was simply his duty. Whether he would be promoted as a hero wasn’t something he concerned himself with.
On the contrary, he now felt quite relieved. Even though he had killed one person and injured another, the incident had been officially resolved, and there would be no further repercussions.
Listening to his lengthy explanation, Wang Xiao could only feel utterly speechless.
This guy was really laid-back.
If it were her, she would have turned it into a major social incident. Even negative publicity was still publicity.
As long as there was attention, it could be monetized.
But then again, thinking about how decades later people would still fear that defending themselves might be labeled as mutual brawling, being able to emerge unscathed from a righteous act could indeed be considered a good outcome.
Still, she emphasized again, “No, you have to take half of the commission. These hotels and guesthouses approached the soap factory because of the halo of the ‘righteous hero.’ As for which of us is the real hero—we both know the truth.”
Tang Yicheng laughed. His eyes were long and single-lidded; when he smiled, they didn’t narrow into slits but curved like crescent moons. “You are the hero. If you hadn’t wanted to fight, I wouldn’t have actually taken action.”
His words sounded harsh, but his military background had ingrained in him the habit of prioritizing mission completion above all else.
Accompanying Wang Xiao on her errands, the factory leadership had ostensibly assigned him to help with promotions, but everyone knew his real role was that of a bodyguard, responsible for Wang Xiao’s personal safety.
Under this overarching premise, his focus remained on Wang Xiao. Even if others nearby were in danger, as long as Wang Xiao was unwilling to get involved, he would never abandon her to fight the robbers.
He still regretted being too lenient with the two robbers who had moved to the back of the train car—he should have just snapped their necks.
Unfortunately, the narrow confines of the carriage limited his movements, which later led to Wang Xiao being endangered while he dealt with the other robbers at the front.
From a professional standpoint, he considered his mission a complete failure. What heroism was there to speak of?
Wang Xiao rubbed her nose, giving up on trying to understand others’ thought processes, and simply made a decision: “Alright, I said half means half. I don’t like taking advantage of others. Just one thing—keep a close eye on the factory. Don’t let them play tricks with the paperwork. Every cent that’s rightfully ours must be accounted for.”
A few days earlier, the soap factory’s leadership had specially visited her in the hospital, honoring her as a heroine.
Once the news broke, the factory’s phone lines were overwhelmed, with orders flooding in like snowflakes.
Now, even reducing the size of the existing stock of Scented Soap wasn’t enough to meet demand. The production lines had restarted, operating in three shifts, leaving the factory leadership with no time to spare.
Wang Xiao had no interest in exchanging insincere pleasantries with them either. Rather than having them hover around her, she’d prefer they focus on production and not delay her commission.
Tang Yicheng chuckled, his tone noticeably lighter: “The leadership wouldn’t dare. They’ve even said privately how lucky they were not to have tried taking advantage of you earlier—otherwise, they wouldn’t be enjoying such good fortune now.”
This was a long-term, thriving business, and the factory was overjoyed.
Wang Xiao snorted: “This is just the beginning. Tell your leaders that as long as the factory doesn’t stab me in the back, I won’t abandon the soap factory. Just wait—there’s a fortune waiting to pour down from the skies.”
Wang Tiejun and Chen Yanqiu exchanged bewildered glances, completely unable to make sense of their daughter’s strange remarks.
Oh well, let her be.
It was a blessing she hadn’t lost her wits after hitting her head—what more could they ask for?
Instead of heading to the residential area of the steel plant, the car went straight to the factory’s public bathhouse.
Despite Dr. Chen Yanqiu’s outward disdain for her husband’s incense-burning and prayer rituals as superstitious nonsense, she was, in reality, more superstitious than anyone.
After such a major incident and a week-long hospital stay, her daughter couldn’t just return home directly—that would bring bad luck back with her.
They had to go to the public bathhouse for a thorough wash, cleansing all the misfortune away, before comfortably heading home.
Wang Xiao didn’t object. Due to limited conditions and her physical state during her hospital stay, she hadn’t bathed once and felt as uncomfortable as if covered in prickles.
Even if her mother hadn’t insisted, she had planned to take a good bath as soon as she got home.
Since they were already here and in no hurry, why not all go in for a refreshing bath?
From the time she transmigrated into this book until now, this was Wang Xiao’s first visit to the steel plant’s public bathhouse. It was also her first time, in either of her lives, stepping into such an old-style bathhouse, and she found it quite novel.
Perhaps because the steel plant had abundant residual heat, enabling a steady supply of hot water, the public bathhouse was especially warm and spacious, appearing quite roomy.
However, the women’s section only had shower stalls—otherwise, Wang Xiao would have loved to soak in a bath.
But beggars can’t be choosers. After half a second of regret, she dashed inside to shower.
Hey! What luck—quite a few showerheads were free, no need to fight for one.
Wang Xiao scrubbed herself thoroughly for over half an hour, from head to toe, as if trying to scrape off a layer of her own skin.
Her mother had initially helped scrub her back, but eventually even Doctor Chen, who considered herself somewhat fastidious, couldn’t take it anymore. Just how clean did she need to be?
As Wang Xiao rinsed the Bee & Flower Hair Conditioner from her hair, she declared with mock seriousness, “Isn’t it great that there are so few people? If it were crowded, I wouldn’t be able to wash this thoroughly.”
The bathhouse owner’s wife came by to clean and casually replied, “Take your time, there aren’t many people anyway.”
Wang Xiao was surprised. “Not many people bathing?”
That didn’t make sense. Although the steel mill’s benefits were at least above average among state-owned enterprises in the province, the limitations of the era meant that few families had self-contained units with private bathrooms and kitchens like theirs.
Most workers’ homes lacked private bathrooms, let alone water heaters. Winters in the provincial capital were damp and cold, so if they wanted to bathe, they’d have to choose the bathhouse.
The owner’s wife shook her head. “Not at all. How many people bathe in the dead of winter?”
Wang Xiao was puzzled, but the shower room was stuffy, and she couldn’t stand staying there after bathing, so she went out to change into clean clothes.
Chen Yanqiu then whispered to her daughter, “It’s because of the price hike.”
Since the steel mill had a constant supply of waste heat, the bathhouse had always been cheap. Initially, bathing cost five fen, later rising to one mao. Those with good connections to the bathhouse attendants could even bathe for free.
Then the winds of reform swept through the steel mill. A few years earlier, contracting had become especially popular, and facilities like the bathhouse and service center were among the first to be contracted out.
Once contracted, the contractor not only had to hand over profits to the factory but also ensure their own earnings, so cost control became essential.
Free bathing for acquaintances was the first to go, which significantly increased the bathhouse’s revenue.
But soon, the contractor noticed another problem: many people treated the bathhouse like a laundry, especially in cold weather. For one mao, they could bring in a large bucket of clothes and wash them for hours.
Naturally, this affected the bathhouse’s business.
The owner wanted to stop it but found it difficult. Since everyone worked at the same factory and saw each other regularly, he couldn’t be too strict for fear of offending people.
Eventually, he came up with a clever idea: raise the bathing fee to two mao per visit.
This made housewives reluctant to spend an extra mao, so they gave up on specifically coming to the bathhouse to do laundry.
However, as a result, fewer people came to bathe.
After all, given the limited conditions at the time, it was normal for many people to bathe only once a month in winter, or even just once all season.
Wang Xiao listened with half an ear, not paying much attention. Anyway, the bathhouse heated water for free, so the costs were low, and it didn’t matter if business was slower.
She dried her hair with a towel and followed Chen Yanqiu out.
The men bathed quickly. Wang Tiejun and Tang Yicheng were already sitting by the ticket window, smoking and waiting.
Wang Tiejun boasted animatedly to the bathhouse owner, “Of course! What kind of person is my daughter? She’s the best in every way.”
Tang Yicheng chimed in, “That’s right. If it weren’t for Engineer Wang, our soap factory would still be in a mess.”
The boss stamped his feet and sighed, complaining to Wang Tiejun, “Old Wang, Old Wang, why didn’t you have your Xiao Xiao mention our bathhouse to the reporters? At least it could’ve brought me some business.”
Wang Tiejun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “How could Xiao Xiao bring that up? It’s completely unrelated—there’s no way to even mention it.”
The boss, however, refused to accept this and waved Wang Xiao over as she came out, “Come, come, college student, help your uncle think of a way to boost business.”
Chen Yanqiu was caught between laughter and exasperation, “You just love teasing kids. Our Xiao Xiao is in chemical engineering—what does she know about this?”
But Wang Xiao’s eyes sparkled mischievously as she grinned and asked, “If I come up with something, Uncle, how much of a red envelope will you give me?”
Chen Yanqiu couldn’t resist pinching her daughter’s arm. This silly girl—the older she got, the more unreasonable she became. Why say such nonsense?
The boss lady, who had just finished cleaning, chimed in casually, “Well, let’s hear it.” Don’t worry, Auntie definitely won’t shortchange you.”
Chen Yanqiu grumbled inwardly, Stop boasting. Isn’t it simple to bring business back? Just lower the price of bath tickets by ten cents.
Wanting the horse to run fast without letting it eat—isn’t that just dreaming?
Wang Xiao, with her changed soul, couldn’t share the same thoughts as Doctor Chen and her mother. She simply smiled and said, “Well, I’ll say it then. Think differently—bring in people from outside to support your business.”The boss lady shook her head vigorously, ‘That won’t work.’ Who’s going to walk half an hour just to take a bath?”
Nearby residents were already bathing here.
Wang Xiao’s smile widened, “I’m not talking about bathing—I mean lodging.”
Thirty years later, spending the night at a bath center was one of the essential options for budget travel, completely normal.
Now, the bathhouse could also make good use of this idea.
“I see it’s almost the end of the year, and more and more people are coming to the provincial capital on business or to collect debts. Staying at a hotel is expensive now, and they might not be willing to spend the money. But it’s so cold—they can’t sleep on the streets, right? Why not bring them to the bathhouse? Let them bathe, sleep for a night, get a haircut and a shave, and include dinner and breakfast—all for five yuan. You won’t have to worry about lack of customers.”
The steel mill’s bathhouse was famous, even having a barbershop operating alongside it. A standard men’s haircut and shave cost one yuan. Noodles were twenty cents per liang, and a large Ci Fantuan with all the toppings was only fifty cents. Calculated this way, two meals—dinner and breakfast—could be covered for one yuan.
So, the accommodation fee for one night at the bathhouse would be a full three yuan!
What easy money.
The boss immediately perked up. Wow, he really hadn’t thought of that. There were indeed many people traveling on business now.
But then, they’d need two people at the train and bus stations. He and his wife wouldn’t be able to handle attracting customers alone.
Wang Xiao shook her head with a smile, “No need. Go directly to the air-raid shelter to find customers. The hostel converted from the air-raid shelter—that’s where you’ll have better results.”
Why? Because the customers’ psychological price points differ.
Those with money and bigger budgets wouldn’t compromise themselves—they wouldn’t even skip a decent bed.
Those who go to hostels converted from air-raid shelters, sleeping in dormitory-style rooms, are mostly trying to save money, willing to spend three to five yuan to rough it for a night. A small portion are those who genuinely can’t find a proper hotel and have to settle for less.
What these two groups have in common is their relatively low requirements for accommodation conditions, making them more likely to accept the bathhouse’s simple lodging.
Compared to the air-raid shelter, the bathhouse uses hot water, offers bathing, shaving, and haircuts, and even includes two free meals—allowing guests to tidy up and present themselves respectably. The latter has clear advantages, so attracting customers shouldn’t be a problem.
The proprietress was already calculating in her mind: earning three yuan per person, with forty sleeping berths in the bathhouse, that would be one hundred and twenty yuan in a single night.
Goodness, just two nights would cover the profits owed to the factory.
This was truly a goldmine.
Wang Xiao, standing nearby, emphasized: “Since you’ve brought people in, you need to manage two things: safety and discipline. Everyone should lock their belongings in the lockers, and you must keep an eye on them. Don’t let things get stolen and then find yourselves in a difficult position. The other point is to avoid noise—lights out at bedtime. These people are here on business, and if they don’t rest well, they won’t be happy. For those who snore loudly, set up a few tables in the women’s changing room where they can sleep.”
She laid out each point with remarkable clarity, prompting the proprietress to speak up: “Tell me, Xiao Xiao, how much of a red envelope do you want? Auntie will get it for you right away.”
Wang Xiao remained cheerful: “You decide, then.”
Wang Tiejun, worried his daughter might be shortchanged, quickly added: “Last time our Xiao Xiao gave someone advice, they gave her an eight-hundred-yuan red envelope.”
The bathhouse proprietress was reluctant—after all, they hadn’t even started yet, and who knew if the business would succeed?
As a gesture, five hundred yuan would do.
Wang Xiao had no objections. It was just a side task, after all. Smiling, she made another request: “But right now, I’m stationed at the soap factory. For the guests staying here, you’ll need to give them Scented Soap—one bar each. The wholesale price is forty cents per bar.”
The bathhouse owner frowned, clearly displeased.
Wang Xiao insisted: “When people travel for business, how many bring their own soap? If they want to leave feeling clean, they’ll definitely need soap. Be generous, Uncle. It’s okay to earn a little less. If needed, your family can cut back on purchases and cook your own meals instead.”
Tang Yicheng, having learned to be shrewd, chimed in: “Besides, this could also serve as advertising for the bathhouse and boost its reputation.”
“What use is reputation to me?”
“Of course it’s useful,” Wang Xiao said seriously. “Business travelers have their own networks. If they hear how cost-effective it is to stay at the bathhouse, you won’t even need to solicit customers—they’ll come to you on their own.”
Half-jokingly, she added, “That way, you won’t have to keep pulling in customers, and the air-raid shelter hostel won’t get upset and pick a fight with you.”
The bathhouse owner finally relented, albeit reluctantly.
Fine, it was at least a way out. After all, the bathhouse stood empty late at night when no one came to bathe.
Wang Tiejun, satisfied, accepted a cigarette from the bathhouse owner and said proudly: “See? I’ve always said our Xiao Xiao is the best at everything.”
Chen Yanqiu felt a bit embarrassed and urged everyone to leave: “Alright, let’s go home. It’s almost dark, and we haven’t even started cooking dinner.”
Indeed, after the start of winter, the days were shorter, and outside, the light had already faded to gray.
Once everyone was back in the van, Tang Yicheng suddenly remarked: “So from now on, our soap factory will focus on the hotel business?”
Wang Xiao looked puzzled: “How could that be? With mobile advertising and growing recognition, all kinds of places—department stores, supply and marketing cooperatives, even small shops—will come to us for stock. Have your factory’s salespeople put in more effort, and I’m sure some are already interested.”
She gave an example to illustrate, “For instance, guests who immediately check into the bathhouse are at their most disheveled moment, and they experience the warmth brought by the complimentary Scented Soap. In this way, Lotus Soap holds extraordinary significance for them. When they purchase soap in the future, under equal conditions, they will naturally choose Lotus Soap.”
After working in live-stream sales for a long time, hosts all understand one thing: most products don’t make much difference to consumers.
Who they choose to buy from mainly depends on memorable impressions.
It’s unclear whether Tang Yicheng truly understood or not, but he nodded very earnestly anyway.
Chen Yanqiu and Wang Tiejun exchanged a glance, seriously suspecting that their daughter hadn’t majored in chemistry in college.
Why was she constantly spouting business strategies all day long?
Although, however… at that time, there were indeed few victims who resisted during the roadside robbery. The robbers operated in gangs, and while there were many passengers, they were unfamiliar with each other and disorganized. Very few dared to fight back.
The journalist’s act of righteous courage mentioned in the text has a real-life prototype: Baoji Daily reporters Liu Bin and Ning Lijun. None of the materials I researched mentioned any disciplinary action against the driver involved.
It’s also true that those who performed acts of righteousness struggled to secure their livelihoods at the time, and it was only later that rewards in this area were increased.