Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

"My second uncle said that you've already helped the family a lot, and these days it's not easy for you to do your job as a purchasing agent. You're still a student, so he doesn't want us to bother you."

"..."

Zhang Dabiao didn't know how to answer; his feelings towards the Zhang family were somewhat complicated.

"Is it easy to buy grain in Zhangzhen now?"

"...No, several production brigades nearby have had poor harvests, everyone is short of food, and it's basically impossible to buy any more."

"..."

"You two brothers come over to my place on Sunday, just the two of you. Don't tell anyone else. I'll prepare some food for you."

He couldn't take care of the entire Zhangjiatun village, but he still had to look after his second uncle's family. After all, Zhang Banxian was still buried in the ancestral graveyard, and it wouldn't be right to completely ignore them.

After leaving the post office, Zhang Dabiao was a bit dejected. Whether his behavior was saintly or not, it was just human nature. Some people could accept it, while others only cared about themselves. Everyone had their own reasons.

The key issue is not mindset, but rather funding, risk, and room for maneuver, among other things.

Funds: Zhang Dabiao had scraped together 200,000 yuan and deposited it in the bank as a fixed deposit. He wouldn't touch it unless absolutely necessary. He didn't want to touch the six boxes of precious gold and silver jewelry, and even less so the antiques and cultural relics. He only had a little over 200 yuan and a few small silver dollars left, not enough to last more than a few months.

Risk: Needless to say, the risks of trading grain during this period are inherently high.

Space: The size of the main base "nest" is fixed and cannot be increased. Zhang Dabiao can only free up one secondary bedroom and one living room to transfer food. The small wooden house in the courtyard and the village house in Hong Kong are not safe enough to store large quantities.

We need to make money!

Invest in Hong Kong dollars, and let your money make more money!

Otherwise, we won't be able to sustain ourselves by just spending money on food!

Zhang Dabiao took a deep drag on his cigarette, then threw the butt away and stomped on it a few times.

I'm from a later era, so let's not talk about whether I can do business or not. I admit that I can't do business and make money in China.

But you still can't make money in Hong Kong?

Isn't that ridiculous?

Zhang Dabiao figured it out: the first step was to make money in Hong Kong! Money begets money! With money, everything would be easier.

The second step is to set up a warehouse or courtyard in Beijing to store supplies. We'll keep a low profile there; Qin Mancang will be the only one to retrieve the supplies. The supplies in the small courtyard are limited, so we can't be too extravagant and must keep a low profile.

The third step was to dig a basement in the village houses in Hong Kong to store gold and silver jewelry and antiques. The village houses were haunted and not in a wealthy area, so they wouldn't attract attention.

But there was one problem that Zhang Dabiao just couldn't figure out—

I originally just wanted to live a carefree, lazy life, but how did it turn out like this, and now I have to work hard to earn money?

------------

He quickly returned to his main base and counted his remaining four small yellow croakers.

According to Lou Bancheng's previous statement and the price quoted by the pawnshop owner, these four small yellow croakers could only be exchanged for a little over a thousand Hong Kong dollars. In addition, Zhang Dabiao's own monthly income was only about 100-200...

To be honest, there isn't enough grain to supply Qinjiatun and Lao Zhang's family.

They were reluctant to sell their gold and silver jewelry.

Zhang Dabiao looked at those boxes; the large yellow croakers were at the bottom. Each box contained 24 pieces, so there were 144 pieces in total for the six boxes!

Zhang Dabiao wouldn't be willing to lose even one piece!

Moreover, he had no business experience and dared not expand too much at the beginning, fearing he would lose everything.

So, with four small yellow croakers in his pocket, Zhang Dabiao changed his clothes and went to Hong Kong again.

------------

I came out of the village house and checked it over. There were no signs of strangers coming in or out. The windows and doors on the first and second floors were all closed properly, and there was no sign of any household items being touched. Zhang Dabiao had sprinkled flour at the front door, but there were no footprints. There was also 50 Hong Kong dollars on the table in the main room, but no one had touched it.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief, took the last 50 yuan, pushed open the door and walked out.

Zhang Dabiao went to the village to look for Ah Xiang. His family told him that Ah Xiang had gone to help out at a fish stall at the port, so he went there. As soon as he arrived, he saw Ah Xiang being scolded by the fish stall owner, who accused him of being lazy, saying that he hadn't been seen all day yesterday and was ruining the business of the fish stall. He told Ah Xiang to do his job if he could, or get out.

Ah Xiang looked aggrieved.

There was something going on in the village yesterday, and Old Man Chen asked him to accompany Zhang Dabiao to look around, so of course he had to listen to Old Man Chen.

When Ah Xiang saw Zhang Dabiao looking for him at the entrance of the fish stall, he laughed again: "Yaoyang, I'm here."

The boss exclaimed, "Oh ho?"

You're always frowning when you're working for me, but you're all smiles when someone comes to visit you. You chat during work hours, do you even respect me as your boss?

Fuck off!

Then Ah Xiang was pushed out of the fish stall.

Zhang Dabiao looked completely bewildered and patted him on the shoulder: "Ah Xiang, what's wrong?"

Ah Xiang pouted, looking a little aggrieved: "Oh, it's nothing, I got fired..."

Zhang Dabiao's eyes widened: "This isn't anything?"

"Hey, you got fired?! You lost your job!"

"It's okay, if this place doesn't work out, we can just go to another one. There are plenty of fish stalls around Shau Kei Wan, and the salaries are all about the same."

Zhang Dabiao was speechless. You…

How little they take their work!

I took him to a dessert shop on the street, bought him a cup of dessert, and listened to him talk for a long time before I found out that he had annoyed the owner by spending the whole day with me yesterday.

This can be considered an undeserved disaster.

However, there is a high turnover rate of workers here, so there is no need to worry about him not finding a job.

These temporary jobs pay only HK$30-40 a month—enough to keep you from starving but not to make you rich either. So Ah Xiang felt a bit aggrieved for a while and decided to look for another job the next day.

Zhang Dabiao could only admire his mentality.

Zhang Dabiao suddenly had an idea, so he asked, "Ah Xiang, if you had 1000 yuan, what business would you start?"

Ah Xiang looked completely innocent: "But I don't have 1000 yuan!"

"I mean, hypothetically, hypothetically, if you suddenly had another 1000 dollars, what kind of business would you do here in Shau Kei Wan?" Zhang Dabiao had a bit of a headache; this kid was always a little simple-minded.

Ah Xiang thought for a long time: "If I had 1000 yuan..."

"Then open a seafood congee stall, or a fish stall, right next to that fish stall owner's, steal his business, and squeeze him out of business!"

Looking at Ah Xiang's innocent face, Zhang Dabiao didn't know what to say. "The gold bars I have are only enough to exchange for 1000 yuan as start-up capital, and then I'll follow you to do business out of spite..."

Wouldn't that lead to huge losses?

Besides, I smell like fish every day. How am I supposed to explain that when I go home?

There aren't many fish left in my fishpond.

"The smell is too strong, let's get another one."

"But there are only a few types of businesses here. The ones with low operating costs are seafood stalls, fish porridge stalls, dessert shops, and grocery stores..."

Zhang Dabiao was completely bewildered. Firstly, it wasn't suitable, and secondly, how could he possibly compete with the locals in these things? He had absolutely no competitive edge.

Or maybe I should open a pastry shop. I have a popular PDF tutorial for that, so I should be able to manage.

But Ah Xiang suddenly pointed to the small shop across the street and said, "Oh, you could also open a tea stall or ice cream parlor to sell milk tea. That would have low costs."

What is this? A bubble tea shop?