My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 22 Victory in the first battle
Before setting up her stall, Lin Ying brought pre-cut dried tofu, which was packed in a lunchbox under her cart.

She took a piece of dried tofu out of the lunchbox and put it into the pot. After she finished, she looked up and saw Zhou Jiye still across the street. Lin Ying waved to him, and Zhou Jiye, who had been waiting anxiously, jumped up as if he had springs in his body and ran over happily.

"How about it?"

Because they were separated by a street, Zhou Jiye could see that Lin Ying's shop had opened, but he couldn't see how well it was selling. He ran up to her and couldn't wait to ask her a question.

"Look for yourself," Lin Ying said, pointing to the pot with a hint of pride.

Zhou Jiye leaned closer to take a look and instantly beamed with joy.

"Great! You've sold so many tea eggs in just one morning, looks like business is good!" How could Zhou Jiye not be happy with good sales? He then asked, "What did you call me here for?"

"What else could it be?" Lin Ying glared at him irritably. "You have no sense at all. Didn't you see that the tea eggs are almost sold out? Go back and boil some more eggs and bring them back. Oh, and make lunch while you're at it. Eat at home and then bring me a portion."

Zhou Jiye slapped his forehead: "Yes, yes, yes! I'll go right now, I'll go right now..."

As he spoke, he turned around and hurriedly ran towards home. Seeing his rushing appearance, Lin Ying quickly called out from behind, "Don't rush, slow down, and be careful!"

Zhou Jiye waved without turning his head to indicate that he understood, but he didn't stop walking. Watching his departing figure, Lin Ying couldn't help but smile.

Zhou Jiye rushed home, went upstairs and picked out more than thirty eggs. Before he came downstairs, he thought for a moment and then deliberately took a few more.

Business looked good today, and he was worried that if he didn't cook enough, he might as well cook more at once.

Once downstairs, I boiled the eggs first, then deliberately didn't crack the shells and put them in a mesh bag.

Then he quickly made a simple lunch using the groceries Lin Ying had bought that morning. He ate his own lunch first, then filled an enamel mug for Lin Ying. After finishing everything, he sealed the coal stove, picked up the eggs and the enamel mug, and headed towards the movie theater.

Upon arriving at the movie theater, Lin Ying first took the net bag containing the eggs and looked inside, quite satisfied.

"Not bad, Comrade Xiaoling. I forgot to tell you not to break the shell yet. I didn't expect you to know about this."

"That's right!" Zhou Jiye said smugly, "Don't you even know who your husband is? There are very few people as smart as me in the world. Do you think I need to take care of such a trivial matter?"

"You get all worked up just because I said you're fat? What a jerk!"

Lin Ying laughed and scolded, took out a few eggs from the net bag, and then gently cracked them one by one on the back panel of the cart before putting them into the pot for boiling tea eggs.

After a short while, they replenished the tea eggs in the pot, then stuffed the remaining eggs, along with the net bag, into the space under the cart. They ate the food they had brought first, and then asked Zhou Jiye to wash the enamel mug at the movie theater and fetch some water while he was at it.

The tea eggs sold quite a bit that morning, and the broth level inside had dropped, so the pot needed to be refilled. Zhou Jiye went off without a word, and after he returned with the water, Lin Ying filled the pot to the brim, threw in a new spice packet, put the lid on, and then opened the sealed door under the coal stove to make the fire a little bigger.

After finishing all that, Lin Ying looked up and stared straight at Zhou Jiye.

Why are you looking at me like that?

"What do you think?" Lin Ying asked with a half-smile, her chin slightly raised towards the opposite street.

"You...I..."

This girl is so ungrateful! She was all smiles when she needed me, but now that she's brought the eggs, finished lunch, and filled the pot with water, she's telling me to get lost.
Feeling utterly frustrated, Zhou Jiye really wanted to have a serious talk with Lin Ying, but then he reconsidered and lost his nerve. The tea egg business was indeed slow when he was around, but it picked up as soon as he left. Could it really be because of him?
Thinking of this, Zhou Jiye, lacking confidence, could only hang his head and slink back to the street across the street where he had been that morning.

For the rest of the time, one of them continued selling tea eggs outside the movie theater, while the other watched longingly from across the street; they each had their own "duties."

The tea egg business doesn't seem to be booming, but customers come from time to time. There are slightly more customers before lunch and after get off work in the afternoon, especially in the latter period. Not only do passersby not be able to resist buying tea eggs, but even students after school are tempted by them. However, students don't have much pocket money, and tea eggs are too expensive for them. But it's no problem for a few people to pool their money to buy two pieces of dried tofu to share and satisfy their craving.

By six o'clock, all the tea eggs and dried tofu had been sold out. As it was getting dark, although the area in front of the movie theater was usually busiest, it was too late to restock because everything was sold out. Helpless, Lin Ying had no choice but to pack up and close her shop.

She got up and called Zhou Jiye over. After saying goodbye to the cinema staff, the two pushed their cart home. Once home, they made a simple dinner. After eating, Lin Ying asked Zhou Jiye to close the door, and then took a cloth bag containing money out of her pocket.

The bag was bulging, filled with today's sales revenue.

"Quickly count how much you've earned today!" Zhou Jiye's eyes lit up as he rubbed his hands together and sat down opposite Lin Ying, craning his neck to watch her pour the money from the bag onto the table.

Seeing his greedy appearance, Lin Ying really wanted to scold him for being so spineless.

But in fact, Lin Ying was no less excited than Zhou Jiye. Yesterday she was worried that the tea egg business would not be good, but now she no longer had that concern, because reality has proven that her decision was correct.

Banknotes of various denominations were piled up on the table like a small mountain, including both paper money and coins. The largest denomination of paper money was five yuan, but there were many more one yuan, fifty cents, two cents, and one cent, as well as a large handful of fen coins.

The situation in Shanghai is different from that in Northwest China. Perhaps it's due to habit, or perhaps it's because Shanghai has a mint. In Northwest China and other northern regions, people are used to using paper money, but in Shanghai, one-cent, two-cent, and five-cent banknotes are rare. People are more accustomed to using coins.

Such a pile of money, especially the coins stacked together, sparkled under the light, giving people a wonderful sense of wealth.

Count the money!

One cent, two cents, three cents... one dime, two dime, three dime...

Just like the wealthy man and his wife in the cartoon, the two of them were counting their "gold coins" with great enthusiasm. Except that there was no Afanti secretly watching them from outside. After counting for a while, they finally finished counting all the money.

That's twenty-three yuan and thirty cents in total!

In other words, on their first day of business, they sold a total of 89 tea eggs and 110 pieces of dried tofu, and the amount of money matches up without any problem.

"Profit is..."

Zhou Jiye was calculating, but before he could even figure it out using his fingers, Lin Ying had already calculated it.

"If we calculate the profit of a tea egg at 10 cents, that's 8.9 yuan. If we calculate the cost of dried tofu at 1 yuan, the profit is 4.5 yuan. In total, I made 13.4 yuan today!"

"Yes, yes! That's right!"

Zhou Jiye nodded repeatedly, like a chick pecking at rice. Lin Ying's calculation was correct; their profit was indeed this much. They had earned so much in just one day, a figure that far exceeded their previous expectations.

Both Lin Ying and Zhou Jiye originally thought that selling tea eggs was a decent business, earning about four or five yuan a day. But they never expected to earn thirteen yuan and forty cents today, almost quadrupling their initial estimate.

Moreover, this was because they were unprepared for their first time setting up a stall. They hadn't expected to sell so many eggs, and even though Zhou Jiye went home at noon to boil a batch of eggs, it still wasn't enough.

Thinking of the crowds coming and going outside the movie theater in the evening, Zhou Jiye felt a little regretful. He should have prepared more. After all, there are not many entertainment activities now, and there are many people who come to watch movies in their spare time, and most of them are young people, especially couples.

When young men go out, they often like to save face and show off in front of young women, so they will definitely buy two tea eggs for their girlfriends to please them. Isn't that just a business deal?
It's a pity; if they had foreseen this earlier, their income today would be much higher.

But it's not bad now. A profit of thirteen yuan and forty cents isn't small. If you calculate it over a 30-day month, that's 402 yuan in income. This is definitely a high income for people nowadays, considering the average wage in Shanghai is only 36 yuan! A month's income from selling tea is almost a year's salary for an average worker.

Lin Ying couldn't help but sigh in her heart. Her grandfather, Lin Ruoxu, was right. In this era, those who made atomic bombs were not as well off as those who sold tea eggs.

Despite their high social status, highly educated individuals earn at most a little over a hundred yuan a month in terms of income. While this is quite good compared to ordinary workers, it's only a week's income for someone selling tea eggs.

It was fortunate that Lin Ying remembered this matter; otherwise, how could she have achieved today's success? If she had simply followed the original plan and only sold eggs, the profit would have been far less than that of selling tea eggs.

Thinking of this, Lin Ying suddenly remembered the eggs and quickly got up to check the wicker basket where the eggs were kept. Of the thirty catties of eggs they had collected, nearly a third had already been lost.

"We need to prepare more eggs tomorrow morning. We sold 89 today, so let's prepare 120 tomorrow."

"How about we prepare more? If you ask me, we should just prepare 150," Zhou Jiye suggested from the side.

“What if we can’t sell all of these? Although tea eggs taste better when cooked longer, they don’t stay fresh for too long. One hundred and twenty is about right. I remember that the last movie at the cinema usually starts around eight o’clock. Once people are inside, there’s not much business outside. Even if we can sell a few more after the movie ends, it will be limited. Besides, it’s too late to get back safely. It’s not worth taking that risk.”

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Zhou Jiye thought it made sense. They would discuss the specifics of tomorrow's situation and adjust accordingly if necessary. Rome wasn't built in a day, and business is all about taking it slow and steady. There was no need to be in such a hurry.

(End of this chapter)