Chapter 71

"Alright, a little more to the left!... Good!" Lin Qiangsheng directed the girls, who were pasting the poster that Qi Wei had brought onto the wall.

"Qiangsheng, hurry up! How long do you expect us to hold this?" Zhang Tianjiao called out from the stool.

"Okay, it's almost done!" Lin Qiangsheng took out the aluminum strips he had prepared, stepped on the stool, and nailed them to the corners of the poster.

The large poster was secured to the wall with four wooden strips. Zhang Tianjiao and Du Ping jumped down, and the girls marveled at the realistic watch on the poster.

"How did they draw this?" Zhang Tianjiao leaned in to take a closer look and touched it with her finger.

"It's really painted on!" she said in amazement.

Qi Wei chuckled behind them, winked at Lin Qiangsheng, and whispered, "These girls are great! They have the potential to be models!"

Lin Qiangsheng glanced at him and said, "Don't tell them that. They are very tough, all of them are educated youth who have returned from the countryside. They have a bad temper and could eat you alive!"

Qi Wei smiled with a wink and said, "I was just saying!"

Lin Qiangsheng pulled Qi Wei into the fabric store, took out a stack of ten-yuan bills, a total of one hundred yuan, and handed them to him.

Qi Wei counted the money several times, lifted his coat, and stuffed the money into his inner pocket, patting it several times.

"One hundred yuan, not a cent less. You're really generous for the painting! If there's any more work, I'll definitely come to you!" Qi Wei said with a raised eyebrow.

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said, "That's because you did a good job. If the result wasn't good, I wouldn't have paid you."

After seeing Qi Wei off, Lin Qiangsheng clapped his hands and said, "Girls, during the lunch break today, someone might come to the store to see the novelty. Are you ready?"

Zhang Tianjiao and the three other girls, Xu Yingnan, Li Yuge, and Wu Yingying, raised their arms in unison and shouted, "We're ready!"

Lin Qiangsheng chuckled. He had taken the girls out for a good meal earlier, ordering several meat dishes to give them energy for the day.

"Alright, everyone go to the store. Get ready, the factory will soon be on lunch break!" Lin Qiangsheng looked at his watch and said.

Zhang Tianjiao and the three other girls immediately returned to the small store. The store not only sold watches but also other goods. Lin Qiangsheng had procured candies, preserved fruits, meats, and a few vegetables from private vendors or the countryside. Although the variety was limited, they were available for purchase.

In two days, it would be New Year's Day 1979, and in a month, it would be the Spring Festival. Now, every household was starting to prepare for the New Year. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lin Qiangsheng planned to upgrade the small store to a small department store and make a quick profit before the Spring Festival.

Lin Qiangsheng turned to look at Du Ping, Zhao Yin, and Xue Shenghong and said with a smile, "You also need to be energetic. During the Spring Festival, many people will want to buy fabric to make clothes. It will be a busy time."

Du Ping and the other three nodded. The seven girls had been trained to interact with customers in the fabric store. Especially Du Ping, who was very quick at measuring customers' sizes, even though she wasn't very talkative, her sincerity won the favor of many customers.

Lin Qiangsheng stood on the main road, looking at the factory gate.

Soon, the factory bell rang, and the sound was faint by the time it reached here.

Except for the on-duty workers, the other workers began their lunch break. Soon, people started riding out of the factory gate, gradually forming a blue wall of workers in their blue work uniforms.

As the workers approached, they saw a huge poster on the wall facing the street. The poster featured a meticulously detailed men's watch, so realistic that it looked like the real thing, very eye-catching!

In the upper left corner of the poster, in white space, black bold letters read, "Dai Guoxi Brand Watch, Let You Master Time!"

"What is this??" the workers speculated.

"Hey, is this watch painted? It looks so real!" Some workers with good eyesight saw the watch on the wall up close and realized it was painted!

"What brand is this watch? Guoxi brand?"

"Let's go in and take a look!" Some workers stopped to watch, while others locked their bikes and walked into the store.

Lin Qiangsheng, standing at the door, quickly ran into the store.

He called out to the girls, "Get ready! If anyone asks, tell them the Guoxi brand watch doesn't require a ticket, just money! The price is 90 yuan, with a minimum of 80 yuan!"

Zhang Tianjiao and the other three girls immediately became nervous. Although they had practiced well, they were still a bit anxious, as they had never experienced a crowd before.

Soon, workers in blue work uniforms flooded into the small store, and the small space was quickly filled with people looking at the watch.

"Do you sell watches? The same as the one in the poster?" the workers asked as they entered.

Zhang Tianjiao and the other three girls squeezed up to the counter. Lin Qiangsheng stood on a high spot, looking at the crowd, and shouted, "Don't crowd! The space is small! Everyone can see, this is the Guoxi brand watch!" He held up a copper men's watch, identical to the one in the poster.

"Hey, isn't that the factory manager's son? When did he start selling watches?!" someone whispered.

"You don't know? He runs both of these small stores!" someone whispered back.

"He's really busy! I hope he doesn't get into trouble!" someone muttered.

In society at the time, there were people who secretly did business and set up stalls, and some even opened stores, but they were usually quite hidden. It was rare to see someone like Lin Qiangsheng openly running a store at a crossroads.

This winter was a special one. Suddenly, there were many more people doing small businesses on the streets. It was said that a morning market had even opened in the city center. The people gradually felt a different atmosphere this year compared to previous years!

The customers inside the store became quieter, looking at the watch Lin Qiangsheng held up. Someone asked, "How much is the watch?"

Lin Qiangsheng shouted, "The watch is 90 yuan each, available for both men and women! No ticket required!"

"We also have candies, preserved fruits, vegetables, and meats, all without tickets! With the Spring Festival just 30 days away, all workers who haven't prepared their New Year's goods can come here. I guarantee the prices are fair!"

The workers smiled. They were quite envious of the goods in the small store, and most of their attention was on the frozen meat by the window. Some workers looked and left, while others pushed forward to ask about the prices.

"How much is the pork?" a worker in his thirties asked.

Xu Yingnan, who was nearby, quickly replied, "One yuan per pound!"

"So expensive! The state-owned stores sell it for 82 cents!" the worker said in surprise.

Lin Qiangsheng said, "It's close to the Spring Festival, and the price of meat has already gone up! Now, the state-owned stores sell it for 87 to 89 cents! The 82 cents you mentioned was the price half a year ago!"

"Ha ha ha..." The workers immediately laughed. The worker who had spoken blushed and stammered, "The meat is too expensive, we can't afford it! We only eat meat once every six months! Besides, it's hard to get meat tickets!"

"I don't require meat tickets!" Lin Qiangsheng loudly told the crowd. The difference between requiring tickets and not requiring them was significant, as the state used these small tickets to limit people's purchasing power.

Actually, for Lin Qiangsheng, selling pork was not very profitable. First, it was difficult to obtain pork during this period, and second, it was hard to transport. However, with the Spring Festival approaching, he planned to sell pork for half a month to attract customers and use up the meat tickets he had stockpiled.

"I'll take one pound! It's just one yuan per pound, no ticket required, that's reasonable!" the worker who had asked the price immediately decided to buy it.

His action stirred the emotions of the other workers, and they began to buy pork one after another. Some even started asking about the watches.

"I didn't bring money today, can I come back in the evening? Just this one! I'll come back to check it out in the evening." A young man in his twenties pointed to a watch on the counter and asked.

Zhang Tianjiao smiled and said, "Of course, you can come anytime!"

The girl's warm and beautiful smile made the young worker's eyes widen! When did the salespeople become so enthusiastic!

While slicing the pork, Lin Qiangsheng watched the scene in the small store, feeling satisfied and smiling.

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