Jiang Liye walked over, a worried frown on his face, his tone urgent. “Qingning, they’re only charging one yuan over there. Shouldn’t we lower our price too?”
In his view, the rings were recycled for the next person to use, so they had no cost. Whether it was one yuan for ten rings or two yuan for ten rings, it was all profit.
But Jiang Qingning shook her head. “No, Fourth Uncle, we won’t lower the price. It’s still two yuan for ten.”
“Huh? But… but then ours will be twice as expensive as next door. Over there, two yuan gets you twenty rings.” Jiang Liye still wanted to persuade her. “Qingning, the rings cost us nothing. Two yuan, one yuan—it’s all the same profit. If we don’t lower the price, everyone will go over there to play. Will anyone still come to ours?”
Jiang Qingning remained firm, shaking her head. “No. If we lower the price this time, what if the neighbor lowers theirs even more later? Fifty cents? Twenty cents? Are we going to keep following them down?”
Jiang Liye was taken aback. “But… but there’s still profit to be made, isn’t there?”
“Fourth Uncle, we’ve worked hard enough these past two days. Lowering the price further just to make a little money isn’t worth it.” Jiang Qingning understood that a race to the bottom would only end in mutual destruction. Unless absolutely necessary—like trying to seize market share and completely squeeze out a competitor—it would just be effort for nothing. This stall business wasn’t worth that kind of effort to her right now.
“Fourth Uncle, let’s just set up our things first.” Seeing Jiang Liye still standing there conflicted, Jiang Qingning tried to reassure him. “Let’s see how things go. The stuff they have on the ground next door can’t compare to our toys.”
Jiang Qingning glanced at the neighboring stall’s items. They were mainly in two categories: one was practical plastic goods, like pots, bowls, ladles, and basins. The other was ceramic knick-knacks—little animals, small vases—the kind of decorative pieces that appealed to middle-aged and older tastes. They might find those useful to take home.
But the people who came here to skate were mostly young. They wouldn’t consider practicality; they only cared about whether something was fun or looked good. The people who did consider practicality likely wouldn’t spend money on ring toss anyway. They’d rather go to a store and buy what they need.
Jiang Liye untied the bag and started setting out the items. “That may be so, but the hundred-yuan bill they have at the front is exactly the same as ours. We have two yuan for twelve rings. They have twenty rings for two yuan. You don’t even have to think about it; the chance of getting the hundred yuan is bigger over there… Ah, now everyone wanting the hundred yuan will go over there.”
“Yes, let them all go.” Jiang Qingning, on the contrary, smiled. She leaned closer to Jiang Liye and whispered, “Fourth Uncle, there’s a good chance we’ll see quite a show today.”
“What kind of show?”
Jiang Qingning gave a mysterious smile. “You’ll see.”
Jiang Liye grew curious at her words, his mind spinning with thoughts of what show she meant. This somewhat diluted his anxiety about the neighbors.
No sooner had the stall been set up than customers arrived. A group of children came running over—kids who had played here yesterday. They headed straight for Jiang Qingning’s stall.
“Boss, I want to play for four yuan today!” A slender little girl rushed up first, shouting loudly, holding a five-yuan note.
Jiang Qingning took the money, handing over the rings and the one-yuan change with a smile. “Okay! Good luck!”
The little girl took the rings and started throwing. A crowd of kids gathered behind to watch, chattering excitedly. “Aim for the robot over there!”
“The toy car is better!Get the toy car!”
The girl ignored the voices around her, focusing intently on throwing the rings at a small pink doll in the distance—that was her target.
Finally, with only two rings left, she successfully looped it onto the doll. She spun around in excitement.
Holding the doll, she then went to buy a candied hawthorn stick from the neighboring stall—an orange-flavored one, sour and sweet, and very tasty.
Today, Huang Guoqing had introduced two new items: one was candied apple on a stick, a whole big red apple that looked especially tempting; the other was candied winter jujube, which looked quite similar to the hawthorn ones. Winter didn’t offer many fruits, so these were all he could get.
Over at the Zhang brothers’ stall, they began loudly hawking: “Little friends! Here, one yuan gets you ten rings! Come play over here!”
“Yeah,ours are cheaper! More value for your money here!”
“Two yuan is too expensive.Play here for one yuan, and you’ll still have money left for a candied hawthorn stick!”
Sure enough, this attracted quite a few children.
The little girl eating the candied fruit had no more money in her pocket, but she followed the crowd curiously to watch the excitement.
“Uncles, why don’t you have any dolls here?”
“No toy cars either.”
“I wanted to get a pencil case.”
…
Zhang Da’er pointed at the hundred-yuan bill at the front. “You see that? That’s a hundred yuan. If you get it, what toy couldn’t you buy?”
A little chubby boy said with a serious tone, “My mom says kids can’t handle big money, only small money.”
Zhang Da’er: “…”
A little boy retorted, “You could just use it secretly, you dummy.”
“You’re the dummy!My mom says kids shouldn’t lie.”
The two children bickered back and forth, and other kids joined in, creating a noisy, chaotic uproar.
Zhang Da’er impatiently bellowed, “Stop arguing! If you’re not playing, get to the back! If you want to play, pay up now!”
Several children fell silent immediately. The more timid ones slipped away, scared. “That uncle is so mean.”
“Yeah,he looks like a bad guy.”
A few others, realizing this stall didn’t have what they wanted, turned and left.
The remaining children paid up. Zhang Da’er counted out the rings and handed them over roughly. “Here, take them. Hurry up and play.” His tone was brusque, his attitude instinctively condescending towards the kids.
Children didn’t have much strength. Just throwing the rings a decent distance was a struggle. There was no chance they could land one on the far-off hundred-yuan bill.
“Alright, that’s it. Next!” The Zhang brothers brusquely shooed them away. These brats didn’t have much money and were dawdling too much. So annoying.
The kids who left empty-handed were fuming. “I’m not coming here to play again tomorrow.” Their pocket money for the day was all gone.
…
In the end, most of the children still chose Jiang Qingning’s stall. They weren’t stupid; they knew they couldn’t win the hundred yuan and focused their hopes on what they could get. Naturally, Jiang Qingning’s stall had the advantage for that.
However, older kids and adults tended to choose the neighboring stall. Their target was the hundred yuan. Of course they’d pick one yuan for ten rings. Even a fool knew that meant better odds.
Children’s pocket money was limited; after one or two tries, it was gone. The stream of players at Jiang Qingning’s stall gradually thinned.
Jiang Liye watched the growing crowd at the neighboring stall with increasing anxiety.
Jiang Qingning remained unaffected, still smiling cheerfully as she tended to the group of kids at her stall. These were her long-term customers. She could at least make money from them until school started.
After a while, an adult customer finally approached their stall.
Jiang Qingning immediately recognized him—the short-haired young man from yesterday morning who had won the doll on his first try.
“Hello, big brother! What a coincidence! Did you like the doll from yesterday?” Jiang Qingning greeted him with a smile.
“Haha, my friend said she really liked it.” He glanced at the girl beside him.
Jiang Qingning remembered this girl had been with a shorter guy yesterday. She didn’t know what had happened, but today these two were together. They looked like a good match, though.
“Big brother, big sister, why don’t you try again today? See if you can take that little yellow cat home. It’s a pair with the puppy from yesterday.” Jiang Qingning pointed at the kitten plushie on her stall. “I just brought it from home this morning.”
The girl’s eyes lit up immediately. She clearly loved it.
The young man understood and smiled, pulling out money to play. But the girl beat him to it, paying first.
“Let me try myself first.If I don’t get it, then you help me,” the girl said with a smile.
“Alright.”
Zhang Da’er from next door had been keeping an eye on Jiang Qingning’s stall. Every time a customer headed their way, he would loudly bellow, “One yuan! Only one yuan! Here, one yuan gets you ten tosses! One yuan to win a hundred!”
This time was no exception. He started hawking at the young couple.
The short-haired young man gave him a sidelong glance, then looked away. He leaned down and said to Jiang Qingning, “Little boss, someone trying to compete with you?”
Jiang Qingning smiled. “I didn’t apply for a patent. I didn’t invent ring toss. I have no right to stop others from setting up a stall.”
The short-haired young man chuckled and pulled out ten yuan. “From now on, when I come to play, I’ll only choose your stall.”
Jiang Qingning’s eyes sparkled with an idea. Instead of taking the money, she looked up with a bright smile. “Big brother, it’s okay. You can go try next door. The chance of winning a hundred yuan over there is higher than here. Let the big sister try for the kitten here first. You go try next door. Maybe you’ll both get what you want!”
The girl, taking the rings, nodded. “The little sister has a point. Go try next door. Let’s see who can get theirs.”
The young man grinned. “Alright then.”
Jiang Qingning watched with amusement as Zhang Da’er enthusiastically greeted the approaching customer and even shot a challenging glance their way. Jiang Liye was fuming, fists clenched, but Jiang Qingning just cheerfully smiled back.
The short-haired young man was quite skilled at ring toss. Yesterday, seeing Jiang Qingning was just a kid running a stall, he’d held back. Today, he had only planned to win the toy kitten, not aiming for the fifty or hundred yuan bills up front.
But at the Zhang brothers’ stall was different. What was there to feel sorry for these two grown men? He’d paid, and he was going to play seriously.
He handed over one yuan, received ten rings, and tossed a few first to get a feel. Once he found the knack, he focused on aiming for the hundred-yuan bill.
“Bullseye!” A surprised cheer erupted from the onlookers. “So good!”
“This young man got it on his first try!Such luck!”
“What luck?He’s got skill!”
The Zhang brothers’ faces darkened. They hadn’t expected this seemingly ordinary kid to hit the hundred yuan right off the bat. And he’d only paid one yuan! Over the past half-day, although their stall seemed busy and had stolen a lot of business from next door, their fee was cheap—one yuan per set. Their total revenue had just barely passed a hundred yuan. Who knew this kid would immediately win a hundred? If they gave it to him, their morning would’ve been all for nothing.
Zhang Da’er fumed, his eyes shifting shiftily. He stood there for a long moment without moving.
The onlookers naturally sensed something was off. Someone, eager for drama, shouted, “Hey, boss! Pay up! He won the hundred!”
“Yeah,you kept saying you’d give it if someone got it.”
“Boss,you’re not going back on your word, are you?” another teased with a laugh.
Zhang Da’er gritted his teeth, walked over to the hundred-yuan bill, and picked up the ring. With a stern face, he declared, “That ring just now was blown by the wind. The edge of the ring was partly on the money. It only counts if the money is completely inside the ring.”
Before the short-haired young man could speak, someone nearby couldn’t stand it and spoke up in protest. “Boss, I clearly saw the ring land right on the money. How can you deny it?”
“Yeah,I saw it too. Right in the middle.”
Zhang Da’er argued, “You were too far away, didn’t see clearly. I saw it up close—it was on the edge.”
Someone took it seriously.”No way! My eyesight’s good. It wasn’t touching the edge at all.”
Zhang Da’er glared fiercely at the speaker and pointed at him. “You say it landed perfectly. Got any proof?”
“You…you took the ring away.” The person’s voice grew quieter. Zhang Da’er looked rough and disreputable, clearly not a good guy. Most ordinary people wouldn’t dare argue with him.
Zhang Da’er gave him a dismissive look. “Don’t talk nonsense if you don’t have proof.”
The short-haired young man shrugged, thanked the person who had spoken up for him, and turned back to Zhang Da’er. “Fine. If you say so, I’ll keep playing. I still have three rings left.”
Seeing his confident expression, Zhang Da’er thought for a moment, then actually bent down and moved the hundred-yuan bill, placing it a good distance further forward.
“Boss, what’s the meaning of this?” the young man asked.
Zhang Da’er said righteously, “That closer position was a grand-opening special. The special is over now. This is where we originally intended to put it.”
Dissatisfied murmurs rose from the crowd again.
“This is just cheating.”
“Yeah,don’t play if you can’t handle it.”
“He’s definitely afraid the kid will win it again.”