Business in the Morning Market

Qin Guan and Cong Nianwei could see their parents waiting on the platform. Qin Guan carried their luggage on his shoulders. As soon as the door opened, he went out.

Qin Guan's father moved forward to take the luggage as Cong Nianwei’s parents hurried over.

Before Qin Guan could say a word to his father, both families began to exchange pleasantries. “How are you? I’m Qin Guan’s father.”

“How are you? I’m Cong Nianwei’s father.” Then they looked at each other silently. This was their first meeting. They didn’t know each other at all, so they had nothing to say to keep the conversation going.

Cong Nianwei pulled at Qin Guan's coat. He hastened to introduce her parents to his father. “How do you do, sir? Ma’am? Cong Nianwei and I were classmates in senior high school. This is my father.”

Tactfully, Cong Nianwei stood behind her parents. Qin Guan's father handled the situation while he thought, “Well done, dude! You come home with a girl?”

He looked quite pleased with himself.

At Qin Guan’s words, Cong Nianwei's parents immediately became nervous. They regarded him carefully.

Qing Guan hurried to add, “I’m also studying in the capital. Our colleges are not far from each other. It’s not safe for a girl to travel alone by train, so I kept Cong Nianwei company.”

Her parents looked relieved at his explanation. That’s not too bad. The young man hadn’t jumped into calling them his parents-in-law. Their heart rates slowed down gradually.

After Qin Guan had set their minds at rest, they found that he was very handsome and tall. Cong Nianwei’s mother looked quite satisfied with him as she asked, “So, you also study in the capital like our Weiwei? Which university are you attending?”

Qin Guan replied with particular politeness, “The Capital University of Finance and Economics.” At his words, his father stood up straight.

Realizing that Qin Guan was also studying at a famous university, Cong Nianwei’s mother’s impression of him got even better. He’s a hard-working college student, too.

Cong Nianwei felt like this was some kind of blind date. She pulled on the corner of her mother's clothes. They said goodbye to each other, and each of them dragged their child’s luggage and left the platform.

When they got home, Qin Guan and his father found Qin Guan’s mother waiting by the door to welcome them. Breakfast was already on the table. Qin Guan washed his hands quickly and sat down.

There were salted duck eggs, smoked sausages, steamed buns and rice porridge on the table. A complete homemade meal was right in front of Qin Guan.

He was starving. He finished two bowls of porridge in a hurry, washed his face and got in bed. Not long after, he fell asleep. No one could have stayed up any longer after sitting in a train the whole night.

The landline phone rang and woke him up. Qin Guan checked his watch and realized that it was afternoon. His parents had to be at work.

He massaged his head and answered the phone, “Hello? Who is it?”

A particularly excited voice came through the receiver, “Are you back, Qin Guan? This is Zhou Jing.” Qin Guan looked at the receiver before he hung the phone up with a slam. He dropped down on the bed and tried to go back to sleep.

The phone just wouldn’t let him. It rang ceaselessly. Qing Guan was beyond annoyed. He picked the receiver again and shouted, “You brat! Stop harassing me! I’ll call you after I’ve gotten enough sleep. Don’t you have any common sense?”

A cold voice came through the receiver, “Qin Guan? This is Cong Nianwei.”

“What? Dear me! Cong Nianwei, I thought you were Zhou Jing. I didn’t mean to shout at you. How are you doing? Did you have a good rest?” Qin Guan's attitude changed instantly.

Cong Nianwei burst into laughter and said, “I’ll go to my grandma’s for the Spring Festival. I’m telling you in advance that I won’t be able to accompany you, in case you were planning to ask me.”

Qin Guan felt disappointed. Lying on the pillow, he answered slowly, “Okay. I’ll call you. Have a good time.”

As he hung up the phone, Qin Guan felt listless. The holidays had finally arrived. He had planned to take advantage of the vacation to make their relationship more intimate. He hadn’t expected that they’d end up spending the holidays separately in different locations.

Suddenly, the phone rang again. Qin Guan answered gloomily, “Hello?” It was Zhou Jing again. “Hey, it's me. What about our vacation?”

Qin Guan was confused. “It’s your vacation. How would I know about it?”

Zhou Jing sounded nervous as he said, “Will you help us or not?”

“Help you do what?”

“Make money!”

He had tasted the sweetness of money and was now totally dependent on Qin Guan. Qin Guan sat up straight and answered, “Wait a moment. Let me get this clear. You and Li Jian want to make money, is that right?”

“Definitely.”

“Why are you depending on me, then? Find a solution yourself.” Qin Guan was helpless. Zhou Jing, on the other hand, was quite frank and shameless. “You major in Economics, Li Jian and I study Law and Computers. We’re no good at making money!”

Qin Guan gritted his teeth. Okay. You want to make money, eh? Wait and see. I’ll exhaust you two! He gritted his teeth as he told Zhou Jing, “Come to my house tomorrow with your capital.”

On the other end of the line, Zhou Jing and Li Jian looked at each other. We did it! They answered immediately, “Okay, we’ll be there.”

Early on the next morning, the two shameless guys bummed breakfast off at Qin Guan's house. Noticing the expression on Qin Guan's face, they took out of their pockets 200 yuan in cash.

They showed Qin Guan the two notes casually, setting them on the tea table beside the sofa. Pointing to them, Qin Guan looked up and told them, “Are you kidding me? This is your capital?”

The two of them looked ashamed as they replied, “We haven’t been able to save much money lately. That's all we have.”

Originally, Qin Guan had planned to take advantage of them, but now he just pocketed the money and said, “That's fine. We’ll go prepare our stock. We’re starting early tomorrow morning. Let’s go.”

Zhou Jing and Li Jian followed Qin Guan obediently. They rode Qin Guan's little tricycle to the largest wholesale market in the City of Y. Qin Guan focused on nothing but the stands selling scrolls and pictures, as well as pictures of Chinese Zodiac signs in the Spring Festival merchandise section. He spent nearly all their capital on common goods at wholesale prices.

When Qin Guan carried all the goods to the tricycle, Zhou Jing seemed confused. “Aren’t we selling kebab?” he asked.

Qin Guan regretted that his friend’s offspring hadn’t lived up to his expectations. He stared at Zhou Jing. “Who will come out for outdoor kebab and cold beer in the freezing night before the Spring Festival?”

They both looked resentful as they promised to follow Qin Guan's instructions. Qin Guan sighed and said, “We’ll meet at six o’clock at the morning market on Haibin Road. Lets call it a day now. Go back to where you came from.”

Hearing that concrete plan, they both went home happily. Qin Guan sighed again. A person shouldn't look back at his bad friends, or some silly friend will get them killed by accident. I’ll get exhausted when I should be having a fun vacation.

Early on the next morning, the three of them met up at the Haibin Morning Market. It was one of the largest morning markets in Y City, located by the harbor. The pedlars began their business before dawn. There were all kinds of goods sold there, including fresh fish and shrimp, fruit, vegetables, various household supplies, scarves, underwear and so on.

After walking through the whole market, they discovered that there was a certain discipline and organization to it. The stands were fixed, and special market management was applied.

The three of them were stunned. Shamelessly, Qin Guan played his best card. He used his looks to flatter the old women who were selling underwear and cheap bedsheets.

The two women noticed a handsome young man who looked like he was freezing. His ears were red on such a cold morning. He must have a hard time doing business at that age. Poor thing!

The two women immediately showed their maternal instincts by making room between their stands for Qin Guan to display his Spring Festival scroll.

The three boys lay down their scrolls and yelled down the street, “Ladies and gentlemen, Spring Festival season is approaching! Buy a pair of scrolls for good luck!”

Believe me, their business was quite good. The scrolls they had bought by bulk were sold out with profit. Generally speaking, a cheap pair could earn them 0.5 yuan while the more expensive Spring Festival and colourful bunny pictures could exceed the prime cost by 1 yuan.