Jiang Liye found the neighbor who sold tanghulu in the morning and started setting up his things right next to him.
“Brother Ye, you’re setting up a stall too?” the tanghulu vendor greeted warmly.
Jiang Liye bent down to arrange items on the ground and pointed at Jiang Qingning beside him with a laugh. “Not me. Today, I’m just the hired help. The real boss is this little lady of ours.”
“Oh, is this Brother Jiang’s daughter? She’s already this big! Here, have a tanghulu on Uncle.” With that, he plucked a tanghulu from his stick bundle and handed it to her.
The tanghulu vendor was named Huang Guoqing. His father and Grandpa Jiang had been colleagues at the same factory, and the two families had been neighbors for decades. He had grown up playing with the Jiang brothers since childhood.
Jiang Qingning accepted the tanghulu and thanked him politely. “Thank you, Uncle. Fourth Uncle brought me your tanghulu this morning. It was especially delicious—the sugar coating was crispy, and the hawthorns were chosen well.”
Most kids simply said something was tasty when they praised it, but it was rare for someone to explain it in such detail. Huang Guoqing chuckled. “Well, little lady, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Every hawthorn in my family’s tanghulu is washed twice by my old mother. The ones used for tanghulu are carefully selected—guaranteed not a single bad one in the bunch.”
“As for the sugar coating, that’s our family’s ancestral craft. Starting from my great-great-grandfather, we’ve been selling tanghulu right here by the old imperial city walls…”
Jiang Qingning ate her tanghulu while listening with a smile. When he finished, she offered a small suggestion. “Uncle, I’ve had two hawthorn tanghulu today, and I’m feeling a bit tired of them. Could you make orange tanghulu? Sour and sweet would definitely taste great.”
“Orange tanghulu?” Huang Guoqing was taken aback and instinctively replied, “Our ancestors have always made hawthorn tanghulu. My dad never mentioned anything about orange tanghulu.”
Jiang Qingning said, “Your family’s craft dates back to the Qing Dynasty. In our new era, you have to keep up with the times and innovate a bit when appropriate.”
Huang Guoqing thought for a moment and found the idea rather interesting. He laughed. “Alright, I’ll give it a try tonight. Maybe someone will really like it.” Even if they didn’t sell, it wouldn’t go to waste if the family ate it themselves.
Over there, Jiang Liye had already finished setting up. He clapped his hands. “Boss Jiang, it’s ready. We can open for business.”
Jiang Qingning walked over to check the stall Fourth Uncle had arranged. It actually looked quite professional. The more attractive large dolls were placed in tricky spots where it would take real skill to land a ring.
It seemed Fourth Uncle had plenty of experience with ring-tossing games—he clearly knew which positions were easy and which were hard to hit.
“Let me tell you, there’s a method to how I’ve arranged these. Don’t go messing with it, or else someone might easily win everything,” Jiang Liye explained, thinking Jiang Qingning wouldn’t understand.
Jiang Qingning smiled. “I trust Fourth Uncle to handle things. Now, we just need to add the secret weapon.”
“Secret weapon?” Jiang Liye was puzzled. He had already taken everything out of the bag and placed it on the ground.
Jiang Qingning walked up to him and held out her hand. “Fourth Uncle, you can take out the money my mom gave you now.”
“Money?” Jiang Liye took the money out of his pocket and handed it over. “Here. What are you going to do with it?”
Jiang Qingning found a few small stones and used them to weigh down the money, placing it right at the front of the pile of items. She put two one-hundred-yuan bills in the farthest spots, with two fifty-yuan bills behind them.
“You’re letting people ring-toss for cash directly?” Jiang Liye was surprised. After all his years seeing ring-toss games, this was the first time he’d seen someone so boldly lay money on the ground for people to aim for.
“Exactly. It’s eye-catching, isn’t it?” Jiang Qingning patted the dust off her hands, satisfied.
Jiang Liye was still a bit uneasy. “Aren’t you afraid someone will win all the money? You’ll have nowhere to cry then.”
“I’m not afraid. If someone wins it, they win it.” Jiang Qingning patted her chest. “As long as it draws people in, that’s what matters. I’m actually hoping someone really does win it—then others will see and be even more willing to come play.”
Jiang Liye gave a thumbs-up and grinned. “Alright, little lady boss, you’ve got guts.”
With everything ready, it was time to open for business.
“Two yuan for a chance to win a hundred! Two yuan for a hundred yuan! Don’t miss out, come take a look!” Jiang Qingning shouted in her clear, bright voice.
Jiang Liye’s eyebrows twitched, and he hurriedly said, “Qingning, don’t just shout like that. We’re running a ring-toss game. If you say ‘two yuan for a hundred’ and people come over only to find it’s not what they thought, they might wreck the stall.”
Jiang Qingning grinned. “I’m just a kid. It’s normal if I don’t explain things clearly.”
“…” Jiang Liye patted her head. “Impressive. So young and already lying. Be careful you don’t get beat up. With your little arms and legs, who could you possibly fight?”
Jiang Qingning giggled. “Fourth Uncle, I have you here. Hehe.”
Jiang Liye fell silent. After thinking about it, he realized she had a point and let her continue shouting.
After just a few calls from Jiang Qingning, a crowd of onlookers gathered. People in this era really did love a spectacle, perhaps because there were too few entertainment options.
“Hey, little girl, what do you mean by ‘two yuan for a hundred’?” someone asked.
Jiang Qingning explained, “If you spend two yuan, you get ten chances to throw rings. Anything you land a ring on, you can take home.”
“Can we also win the money over there?”
Jiang Qingning nodded. “Of course, if you can land a ring on it.”
Some were skeptical. “Little girl, that’s several hundred yuan. Won’t your parents beat you if they find out?”
Jiang Qingning pointed at Jiang Liye, who was standing nearby, and introduced him to the crowd with a smile. “This is my guardian. Without an adult’s permission, how could a little kid like me have so much money?”
Hearing this, the onlookers nodded. That made sense—a child so young wouldn’t dare take out so much money on their own.
Jiang Qingning quickly scanned the crowd and then walked up to a young man in a black leather jacket and blue jeans. Looking up, she struck up a conversation with a smile.
“Big Brother, would you like to play? Just two yuan, and I’ll even give you two extra rings.”
Leather jackets and jeans were fashionable items over the past couple of years, and they weren’t cheap.
Coming to the frozen lake in winter without wearing a padded jacket—he was probably the type who loved showing off. He had a few other young people with him, likely friends he had come out to play with.
Being asked by a child in front of his friends, the young man—with his thin skin—felt too embarrassed to refuse.
In business, it’s the thick-skinned who earn money from the thin-skinned.
Jiang Qingning’s parents in her previous life had constantly preached business wisdom to her since she was little, to the point where her ears had nearly grown calluses. Now, she could finally put it to use.
Sure enough, the leather-jacketed young man readily took out two yuan and grinned. “Little sister, if I end up winning all your money, don’t start crying, okay?”
Jiang Qingning shrugged. “That depends on your skills, Big Brother.” She counted out twelve rings and handed them over.
“Alright, just you wait then.” Confident, the young man took the plastic rings and started aiming.
Unfortunately, after throwing all twelve rings in a row, he didn’t land a single one.
Jiang Liye had been a bit sneaky. When he set up, he deliberately placed the starting line upwind. The plastic rings were light to begin with. Standing there, not only did it take considerable strength to throw them far enough, but the wind also blew the rings off course.
The person tossing the rings knew how difficult it was to land one, but the onlookers, seeing him miss every time, just thought the leather-jacketed young man was hopeless. They watched anxiously, wishing they could step in and throw for him.
“Ah! So close! Put some strength into it!”
“Yeah, a big guy like you with no strength at all.”
“Let me try, let me try! Give me two yuan worth!” someone with an impatient temper couldn’t hold back.
Jiang Qingning smiled as she counted out twelve rings and handed them over. “I’ll give you two extra as well.”
The leather-jacketed young man was still itching for more. Turning to see his friends’ teasing smiles, he unwillingly took out another two yuan and gave it to Jiang Qingning.
Jiang Qingning took the money with one hand and counted out rings with the other, inwardly delighted. Yes, just like that. How can you give up without winning something?
“Hey, little boss, can I play for one yuan?” someone asked.
Jiang Qingning nodded generously. “Of course! But for one yuan, you only get four rings.”
“That’s not right. Two yuan gets you twelve rings. One yuan should get you six.”
“The other two are freebies.”
“Then one yuan should still get five rings.”
Jiang Qingning smiled. “Uncle, bulk purchases get discounts. This is a small business. If you spend two yuan, I’ll give you two extra rings too.”
“Alright then. You’ve got quite a sharp tongue for a little girl. Fine, give me two yuan worth as well.”
“Sure thing! Thanks for your patronage. That’ll be two yuan. Here are your twelve rings.”
Within half an hour, Jiang Qingning had already collected fifty yuan. The first spender, the leather-jacketed young man, finally landed a small plastic car after spending twenty yuan and proudly returned to his friends with it.
“Min Yong, you’re no good. After all that, you only got this little thing,” a boy with hair covering his eyes teased him.
Leather Pants wasn’t happy. “If you’re so great, why don’t you try? Look at all the people who played just now—what I won is the best so far.”
“Hey, what’s so hard about that?”
“Long Hair, you’re all talk. If you think you can do it, then go ahead.”
“Fine. I can tell how this works just by looking. Just you wait.”
This long-haired boy actually had some skill. He didn’t win anything on his first two tries, but once he got the hang of it, on his third two-yuan attempt, he landed a doll.
The crowd burst into applause, and he strutted over with the doll, giving Leather Pants a taunting look.
“See, I told you it wasn’t that hard.”
Provoked, Leather Pants immediately pulled out a ten-yuan bill—he was determined to beat Long Hair today.
Jiang Qingning was naturally happy to see this and simply kept smiling as she collected the money.
When Leather Pants finally landed a doll too, she deliberately exclaimed loudly, “Wow, you’re amazing, Big Brother! The doll you won is this year’s latest model from Hong Kong—much more expensive than the one that brother won earlier.”
Leather Pants was delighted and shot a glance at Long Hair in the distance, huffing triumphantly.
Long Hair: Fist clenching.