My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 141 Brothers
I rested at home for a day and had a good, restful sleep.

The next morning, Zhou Jiye went out.

He didn't need to worry about Lin Ying going to work, as Lin Wen and Lin Xi were there to keep her company. He asked Lin Ying to specifically send a message to Xie Xiangrong, telling him that he had returned. As for the coffee shop, Zhou Jiye would go, but not now.

Now he has to see Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen. They must be very worried about him since he has been missing for so long. Moreover, Lin Ying told Zhou Jiye that Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen often go to the coffee shop to see Lin Ying these days to ask if there is any news about Zhou Jiye. This shows that they care about Zhou Jiye.

Riding his old bicycle that had been sitting idle for a long time, Zhou Jiye went straight to the West Palace.

As soon as I parked the car at Xigong, I saw Lao Wen busy at his stall in the distance.

Even after several months away, Xigong is still bustling with activity. However, near Lao Wen's stall, there are now many new stalls selling southern goods. With the recent establishment of the special economic zone and the further opening up of policies in Lingnan, more and more people from Shanghai are now heading to Lingnan, bringing back goods from there.

Although most of them were independent traders and started later than Zhou Jiye and his group, and they also lacked sufficient funds, they could only wholesale goods from Guangzhou for the time being, and then carry the goods back to Shanghai by train in large and small bags.

With so many people, a considerable amount of goods naturally flooded into Shanghai. Coupled with Shanghai's large market, strong economic foundation, and high purchasing power, goods from the south could fetch good prices. Those in this business quickly reaped the rewards and made money. As a result, similar stalls sprang up like mushrooms after rain, even forming specialized markets in some bustling areas.

The situation is similar in Xigong. With the emergence of these stalls around the area, a wide variety of goods are on display, and business is booming, making everyone even more enthusiastic about this line of work.

"Come and see! Come and see! Hong Kong digital watches! Authentic Hong Kong digital watches...!"

"Don't miss out! Jeans! Bell-bottoms! Leading the new trend!"

"Microphones! All kinds of microphones have arrived, various styles are available, take a look and have a look!"

"Come and take a look at all kinds of lighters, they're all good stuff, including DuPont, Langsheng, Dunhill... Come and see, friend? Want to buy one?"

……

These stalls were all next to Lao Wen's stall, and there were several in a row. The stall owners were all young people. They wore large-collared shirts from the south, jeans or bell-bottoms, and sunglasses on their noses. They all looked pretty much the same.

Two of them even had funny mustaches, and their hair looked curly, whether it was permed or natural, which made Zhou Jiye want to laugh.

Old Wen's stall has the best location, which is naturally the "territory" that Zhou Jiye and his team "conquered" back then. Moreover, compared to other stalls, Old Wen's stall has the most complete variety of products, including some rare items that other stalls don't have.

Although the increased number of stalls has had some impact on the overall market, the clustering of stalls will also attract more customers to stroll around.

Zhou Jiye didn't go over to greet Lao Wen right away. He watched Lao Wen bustling around at his stall. In just over ten minutes, Lao Wen had sold two pairs of jeans (bell-bottoms), a pair of sunglasses, and a lighter.

After seeing off a group of customers, Lao Wen squatted in front of his stall to tidy up the goods that had just been messed up. He was busy with this when he felt someone walk up to his stall.

"Take a look at what you want. Everything here is genuine Hong Kong goods, absolutely top-notch. Just tell me whichever one you like," Old Wen said without looking up as he busied himself.

"Hehehe..." Zhou Jiye chuckled twice.

Old Wen was stunned. Why did that laughter sound so familiar? He looked up abruptly, and when he saw a familiar face in front of him, he could hardly believe his eyes.

“You…you…”

He opened his mouth, pointed at Zhou Jiye, and suddenly stood up. But who would have thought that he had stood up so suddenly while squatting that he felt dizzy and almost lost his balance.

"Hey Wen, there's no need to get so excited to see me! What, are you planning to kowtow to me?" Zhou Jiye quickly helped Old Wen up, joking with a smile.

"Pah! You want to kowtow again? How dare you accept my grand gesture?"

Old Wen laughed and scolded, looking Zhou Jiye up and down, his expression extremely excited: "Where did you come from, kid? Holy crap! You're finally back! You have no idea how worried we've been these past few days! Aqing and I have been thinking about whether you're safe, how you are, and when we'll hear from you. Especially Aqing, who told me several times that if we hadn't left you there and had gone to Fengdong together, none of this would have happened. We've been asking around everywhere for you these past few days, we've been so anxious..." As he spoke, tears welled up in Old Wen's eyes, and he reached out and lightly punched Zhou Jiye's chest twice, as if to confirm that the person in front of him was real and not a hallucination.

Zhou Jiye was deeply moved. Lao Wen was the first friend he made in Shanghai and had helped him a great deal since then. Moreover, Lao Wen was genuinely kind to Zhou Jiye. Without Lao Wen's help, Zhou Jiye would not have met Xu Guoqing, let alone obtained a suburban household registration with Xu Guoqing's help, and later cooperated with him in this business.

During the days he was missing, he could imagine the anxiety and self-blame of Lao Wen and Xu Guoqing, and he also learned about the situation of these two friends during his time in Hong Kong from Lin Ying.

Although Lin Ying withdrew from the previous cooperation, they still treated her as a partner, kept their promise, and delivered her share of the sales revenue without fail.

If Lin Ying hadn't insisted on quitting, according to them, regardless of whether Zhou Jiye could come back or not, they would have continued to do this business with Lin Ying as before, even if Lin Ying couldn't help with setting up the stall and buying goods because of her own reasons, she would still be counted as a part of it.

Compared to many opportunistic and fickle people, what Lao Wen and Xu Guoqing did is truly commendable. So-called righteous people are often from humble backgrounds; although they both come from humble origins, they never lacked integrity and loyalty. Such genuine friends are truly rare and precious.

Zhou Jiye hugged Lao Wen and patted his back hard, his eyes also welling up with tears.

"Thank you, Brother Wen, and thank you, Brother Aqing. I'm sorry to have worried you these past few days..."

"It's all in the past... It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back..." Old Wen sniffed hard, and couldn't help but laugh with a sigh: "When did you come back?"

“I just got back yesterday. I was planning to let you know as soon as possible, but I had a lot of things to do at home. Your sister-in-law is heavily pregnant, so…”

"Of course, of course!" Old Wen grinned. Zhou Jiye had only been back for a day, and he had come to see him as soon as he had settled his family. That was enough. Seeing Zhou Jiye safe and sound, Old Wen, who had been worried about him all this time, was completely relieved and very happy.

"By the way, where's Brother Qing? Why are you all alone?"

"He's not here right now; he's setting up a stall over on Fengyang Road." Old Wen took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Jiye. After they lit it, he explained the current situation to him.

When Zhou Jiye learned that in order to facilitate the delivery of goods, they had discussed opening a stall on Fengyang Road and even brought in Amin to help out, he suddenly realized why he had only seen Lao Wen at the West Palace.

Lin Ying actually knew about this, but Zhou Jiye had just returned yesterday and she hadn't had a chance to tell him the details yet. After listening to Lao Wen's explanation, Zhou Jiye nodded and thought it was a good idea. More stalls meant more sales channels, and with more and more stalls making similar products, the competition was getting fiercer, so this was a good thing.

"Boss, how much is this watch?" Just then, three young men came to Lao Wen's stall, squatted down in front of the stall, carefully examined the electronic watches that Lao Wen had displayed, and looked up to ask.

"These watches are all eight yuan each. The two on the side are Casio, but this one is more expensive, costing forty-five yuan."

"Don't they look different? Why are these two so expensive?" one of the young men couldn't help but ask.

"Hehe, you get what you pay for. There's a reason why it's expensive." Old Wen explained with a smile, "The ordinary ones are from Hong Kong, while Casio is a big Japanese brand. It has all the functions and is very reliable. Different products naturally have different prices."

The three young men hesitated for a moment, then picked up the two watches and compared them. Indeed, they seemed almost identical when viewed individually, but the difference was stark when held in their hands. The former felt light and flimsy, while the latter felt solid and substantial; the materials and functions were different.

Although the Casio was better, it was just too expensive. These young people were clearly not rich. After playing with it for a while, they shook their heads, put the Casio back, and started bargaining with Lao Wen with an ordinary digital watch.

After some discussion, the three young men finally bought three ordinary digital watches for twenty-two yuan each. Old Wen even picked out the three best-condition watches for them. After paying and putting the watches on their wrists, the three young men were overjoyed and left happily.

Zhou Jiye observed this scene and couldn't help but frown slightly. After Lao Wen finished the transaction, he asked softly, "Why has the price dropped so much? Wasn't it selling for ten yuan before? Now three watches are only twenty-two? That works out to less than eight yuan per watch?"

"There's no other way. There are so many people setting up stalls now, and their products are all pretty much the same. If you don't lower your prices, what can you do when others sell them cheaper?"

Old Wen pointed to the left and right, a hint of helplessness on his face: "There's nothing we can do about it, but it's not too bad. Even with the reduced profits, there's still a lot. Besides, I have a wider selection of goods than others, and I was the first stall here to sell southern products, so more people know about it, and business is generally okay. But then again, there are more and more people doing this in Shanghai these past few months, so it's hard to say what will happen in the future."

Zhou Jiye nodded silently. They hadn't anticipated this situation, but they hadn't expected it to happen so quickly. It had only been a little over half a year since they started in this industry, and they hadn't expected so many competitors to emerge in such a short time—it was truly unbelievable!
(End of this chapter)