After giving Fourth Uncle his task, Jiang Qingning and Su Yuanjie skated for a little while longer before returning to the Su family home.
They arrived just as Grandma Su was returning from the neighbor’s house. Seeing them run in from outside, she asked, “Where did you two go? Oh, you bought tanghulu?”
Both of them were still holding their unfinished tanghulu skewers.
“They were given to us by Qingning’s Fourth Uncle,” Su Yuanjie replied casually.
“Qingning’s Fourth Uncle came? Why didn’t you invite him in to sit?”
Jiang Qingning quickly explained, “Fourth Uncle said he still had things to do and went to take care of them.”
She then glanced at Su Yuanjie, signaling him not to let slip that they had just gone ice skating.
Su Yuanjie stuck out his tongue—he had almost forgotten.
Grandma Su didn’t think much of it and led them inside, murmuring, “You’re still children, after all. When someone comes from far away, you should at least invite them in for tea…”
Jiang Qingning nodded obediently. “I’ll know what to do next time this happens. I’ll definitely pull them into the house.”
Grandma Su was satisfied and patted Jiang Qingning’s head with a smile, praising, “Our Qingning is the best-behaved.”
…
Jiang Liye, meanwhile, was busy running errands for Jiang Qingning.
Earlier that morning, his niece had asked him to get her some plastic rings, specifically emphasizing that she didn’t want the large hula-hoop kind, only rings about twenty centimeters in diameter.
Jiang Liye immediately recognized these as “throwing rings.”
Every year during temple fairs, there were always a few vendors setting up small items like ceramic bowls and pots on the ground. You’d pay for rings to throw, and whatever you looped was yours to keep.
With Jiang Liye’s lively nature, he went every year to join the fun and spent money throwing rings for plenty of trinkets.
However, the thrill only lasted when he won something. Back home, he’d realize the items were useless—even scrap collectors wouldn’t take them—and they’d end up getting thrown away.
He wasn’t sure why Jiang Qingning wanted these now, but he assumed it was just a child’s whim to play with them.
Even though it was a child’s request, he was still doing his best to fulfill it. After all, among all the Jiang brothers, she was currently the only child in the family. Since she rarely asked for anything, he might as well indulge her this once.
Over the years, even without a formal job, Jiang Liye had made plenty of friends and knew people in all sorts of trades.
He happened to have a friend who worked at a plastics factory. Business there had been poor for the past couple of years, and there were rumors about the factory being sold, leaving the workers anxious.
Jiang Liye went over and made his request, and the friend readily agreed. The factory hadn’t received any orders in months, and wages had been suspended half a year ago. During the New Year, only a few people were on duty at the factory, and it just happened to be his friend’s turn today.
“We still have quite a few throwing-ring toys left from the batch we made for some kindergartens before the New Year. The factory wanted to hand them out as wage substitutes, but no one took any. They were all left in the warehouse, planned to be thrown into the recycling station after the New Year.”
As he spoke, he led Jiang Liye to the warehouse. “Brother Ye, they’re all here. Take however many you need.”
Jiang Liye had thought it might take some effort, but there turned out to be ready-made stock. He casually took a few and smiled, “Thanks, brother. I’ll treat you to a meal when I have time.”
“Brother Ye, you’re too kind. You helped me out so much before, and I haven’t even had a chance to thank you properly.”
Jiang Liye waved his hand. “I’ll head off now.”
With the items in hand, Jiang Liye went straight to deliver them to Jiang Qingning. He was familiar with the tube apartment building where his older brother lived, and he arrived just in time for lunch.
“Qingning’s Fourth Uncle is here! Have you eaten?” Su Guiying invited him in and turned to fetch bowls and chopsticks.
Jiang Liye never knew the meaning of the word “polite.” With a grin, he pulled out a chair and plopped down. “Haven’t eaten yet. Perfect timing, huh?” He casually placed the plastic bag he was carrying beside his feet.
“Big Brother isn’t back for lunch?” Jiang Liye glanced around the room as he asked.
Su Guiying replied, “He’s on a twelve-hour shift today and doesn’t have time to come back for lunch.”
Jiang Qingning looked at the bulging plastic bag and asked, “Fourth Uncle, are the things I wanted in that bag?”
“That’s right. See if they meet your requirements.” Jiang Liye nodded.
Jiang Qingning was delighted. “Fourth Uncle, you’re amazing! You found them so quickly.” His efficiency was impressive.
“Just look at who you’re talking to—there’s no one in Beijing I don’t know.” Jiang Liye bragged, “I’ve got plenty of friends. Handling a little thing like this is as easy as catching a turtle in a water jar—done in no time.”
Su Guiying handed a bowl of rice to Jiang Liye and asked with a smile, “Qingning, what did you ask your Fourth Uncle to do for you?”
Jiang Qingning pointed at the plastic bag on the floor. “Mom, I asked Fourth Uncle to help me prepare the things I need for starting a business.”
“Starting a business?” Su Guiying was surprised.
“Starting a business?” Jiang Liye paused while picking up his chopsticks.
Jiang Qingning nodded. “Yes, I’m going to run my own business.”
Su Guiying remembered her daughter’s words from the previous night. She hadn’t expected her to still be thinking about it. She sighed and said, “Qingning, didn’t Mom and Dad explain to you last night? Our family can’t start a business.”
Jiang Qingning nodded, pointing at herself. “I know. This time, it’s not about you and Dad starting a business. It’s me starting my own business, and I’ve even hired Fourth Uncle to help me.”
Su Guiying turned to look at Jiang Liye, her eyes questioning. Jiang Liye quickly said, “I had no idea! I thought she wanted these throwing rings to play with herself.”
Jiang Qingning continued, “Mom, don’t deposit the red envelope money I gave you yesterday yet. Give it to me as business capital. Once I earn money, we can deposit it all together.”
Su Guiying took a deep breath, suppressing her rising temper. “Qingning, children can’t run businesses either. Be good, finish your meal and take a nap. You can go watch TV at Grandma’s house in the afternoon.”
But Jiang Qingning dropped her chopsticks, pouting stubbornly. “No, I want to do it! Why can’t children run a business? The older brother Yangyang and sister Xiaohui upstairs collect bottles and sell them for money.”
Su Guiying’s expression turned stern. “If you want to collect bottles, go ahead right now. I won’t stop you. I’ll take you to find Yangyang and the others in a moment.”
Seeing that Su Guiying was genuinely angry, Jiang Liye stopped shoveling food into his mouth and chimed in to mediate, “Sister-in-law, don’t be mad. Kids are always having sudden whims. It’s partly my fault for getting Qingning those throwing rings in the first place.”
“Fourth Brother, I don’t blame you,” Su Guiying quickly softened her tone. “You went to all that trouble out of kindness, and I should be thanking you.”
Jiang Qingning seized the moment to interject, “Mom, Fourth Uncle will be with me. There’s no need to worry about being cheated out of money. I promise you—however much money I take out, I’ll bring it all back tonight.”
Jiang Liye, who had already been unilaterally designated as part of the plan, looked at his niece’s pleading eyes and smiled helplessly, joining in the persuasion. “Sister-in-law, let’s just think of it as playing along with the child. Qingning doesn’t have any cousins to play with usually, so I’ll just keep her company today.”
Jiang Qingning ran over and hugged Su Guiying’s arm, looking up with big, bright eyes, pitifully pleading, “Mom, please agree. Just let me try. If I fail, I’ll give you all my New Year’s money for the next ten years, okay? Please?”
Unable to withstand the relentless coaxing from both uncle and niece, Su Guiying finally nodded in agreement. She took out one hundred yuan from the red envelopes of the previous day and handed it not to Jiang Qingning, but to Jiang Liye. “Let Fourth Uncle hold onto the money for you. Take it out when you need it.”
“That’s not enough, Mom. Give me all six hundred yuan.”
“No way. What do you need that much money for? I’ll give you another hundred.” With that, she took out another hundred yuan.
“No, five hundred yuan.” Jiang Qingning bargained.
Su Guiying gritted her teeth and took out two more fifty-yuan bills. “This is it. If it’s not enough, then don’t go out.”
Alright, three hundred yuan would have to be enough.
After lunch, Su Guiying tidied up and left for work.
Jiang Liye picked up the bag from the floor and chuckled, “Alright, little lady boss, where are we heading next? Want to go to the secondhand market to hunt for some stuff?” He had already guessed that Jiang Qingning was planning to run a ring-tossing game.
Jiang Qingning, however, shook her head. “No, I’ve already prepared everything. Let’s head straight out to set up the stall.”
“Already prepared?” Jiang Liye was surprised.
“Yes.” Jiang Qingning dashed into her room and came out carrying a bag of her own. She was so small, and the bag was nearly bigger than her. She dragged it along with effort, looking rather amusing.
Jiang Liye quickly went over and took the bag from her. “Whoa, what’s in here? Such a big bag.” The bag looked large but wasn’t very heavy when he lifted it.
“They’re all good things I gathered.” Jiang Qingning patted the bag with a smile.
Curious, Jiang Liye opened the bag and saw it was filled with plush toys. As he rummaged through, he also spotted several comic books, a jumping rope, and a pencil case.
“Well, so you’re going to sell scrap,” Jiang Liye said with a teasing smile, raising an eyebrow.
Jiang Qingning stomped her foot. “You don’t get it. These things are really special. Kids in our building have to coax me and wait in line just to play with them.”
In this era, plush toys and dolls were still quite rare. The bag contained toys Jiang Qingning had grown tired of and no longer cherished.
Her aunt had a classmate who ran a toy factory in the south. Every year, she would send several boxes of toys to her aunt’s family. Jiang Qingning and Xiaojie received quite a few toys every year too, making all the other kids in the factory district envious.
Thinking of this, Jiang Qingning felt a little sad. She had always liked this aunt, even though they weren’t very close and only met a few times a year. But her aunt was generous, often sending delicious food and fun things back to the family home, and Jiang Qingning benefited from it too.
Ah.
Jiang Liye really didn’t know what was popular with kids these days, but today he was just going along with the little lady boss. He hoisted the bag and said, “Alright then, where to next? Today, I’m your bodyguard—just point, and I’ll go.”
Jiang Qingning grinned. “Let’s go to Shichahai. I checked it out this morning. It’s a suitable spot.”
Jiang Liye laughed. “Yes, ma’am, Boss Jiang. Let’s get going.”
The two quickly arrived at the location. Perhaps because the afternoon was warmer, the crowd was even larger than in the morning, mostly made up of kids having fun.
In 1990, the national Spring Festival holiday was officially only three days, typically from the first to the third day of the lunar New Year. However, each work unit set its own schedule. Factories like Jiang Lifeng’s and Su Guiying’s gave only two days off, with work resuming on the third day.
Some factories didn’t even have a single day off. Of course, a few units extended holidays until after the fifteenth.
Adults who weren’t working during the New Year were busy visiting relatives and paying New Year’s calls, rushed from day to day. But the children were completely free, running around in groups to play wildly.
The third day of the lunar New Year was the peak for visiting relatives—and also when kids had the most money on them.
Jiang Qingning was targeting them for business.