Year 1983: I was a carpenter in Northeast China

Zhao Fengying immediately asked, "Ready-made garments? Those must be incredibly expensive to source, right?"

Xu Juan chimed in, "Yes, brother, our new polyester pants aren't cheap, even with the fabric ration coupons and labor costs."

"Ready-made clothes and hand-made clothes are not the same thing. I've heard that some pants that cost three or four yuan are sold for twelve or thirteen yuan, and the profit margin in that is huge."

Xu Bei has now become the backbone of the family, and his words are becoming increasingly convincing.

Without a shred of doubt, the mother and daughter exclaimed in surprise, "That's outrageous!" "Oh my, if we could get on those routes too, wouldn't we earn back the room rate just by selling two tickets?"

Xu Bei put down his enamel mug and laughed, "That's right. And even if we don't have enough funds to sell ready-made clothes for the time being, the year before the New Year is the peak season. Everyone buys hair accessories, socks, underwear and the like for the New Year, so you don't need to worry about whether you can make back the rent."

"Mom, find the household registration booklet and two passport photos of you in a bit, then let's hurry up and eat. After we eat, I'll take you to see the rented place. We can apply for a business license when the Industry and Commerce Bureau opens."

Zhao Fengying and Xu Juan immediately abandoned their concerns and sprang into action as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

The former muttered to himself that he was glad he had also taken out his household registration booklet, and went to rummage through the cabinet, while the latter ran to the kitchen to continue shredding potatoes.

"Son, do you think this photo is okay? It was taken two years ago."

Xu Bei looked at the black and white photo with jagged edges in his hand. It didn't look too different from his mother's current appearance. "It should work. Even if it doesn't, it's okay. We can go to a photo studio and pay more for express service."

Even though Zhao Fengying was thrifty and good at managing her household, she could still distinguish between what was important and what was urgent. "Okay, if all else fails, we'll just spend some money to get it washed quickly."

Because they wanted to see the rented place as soon as possible, the potato pancakes they had planned to make were changed to stir-fried shredded potatoes. They also added freshly steamed buns and pickled vegetables from yesterday, and the mother and her two children quickly finished their lunch.

Then we quickly packed up and set off.

As Xu Bei drove his mother and sister into the alley next to the store, they ran into Sister Liu from the tailor shop, who was about to lock up and go home for dinner.

"Oh dear, Xiao Xu, you've brought your mother and the others here again so soon."

Xu Bei was quite grateful to this woman and greeted her warmly with a smile, "Yes, Sister Liu, have you eaten?"

"I was delayed for a while because I was doing some work for someone, and I was just about to go home to eat." Sister Liu fiddled with the lock on the door, then smiled at Zhao Fengying, who jumped off the back of her bicycle, and said, "Your son is really capable and resourceful. In just a few hours, he's rented out the house where he runs a business."

Zhao Fengying had already learned from Xu Bei that the person in front of her had provided the rental information, and she thanked him with a smile, "It's all thanks to you, sister, that we were able to find out so quickly. Otherwise, we would have been completely clueless. Thank you so much."

Sister Liu, wanting to make things easier for her future neighbors since they'd be seeing each other all the time, immediately said with a smile, "Don't be so polite. I didn't really help much, just asked for a few words. Besides, it'll be nice to have someone to chat with when we're not busy."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Sister Liu waved goodbye, and Xu Bei and the other two headed straight for the house two households away.

In fact, Zhao Fengying had been glancing over here while chatting, and had already looked at the exterior thoroughly.

The log cabin was made of logs, with yellow mud stuffed in the cracks between the logs. The walls were mottled from the wind, and the roof was covered with a thick layer of snow.

She immediately stepped forward and touched the yellow mud on the outer wall. "This house looks alright. The wood is sturdy, and the mud is thick. It shouldn't be too cold once it's heated."

Xu Juan doesn't care about these things and thinks everything is fine. "This window is quite big. If we don't put up plastic sheeting, it will let in drafts."

As Xu Bei unlocked the door with his key, he laughed and said, "It's drafty enough? Then it definitely needs to be nailed down. Come on, come in and take a look."

When the door opened, a faint smell of wood and earth, along with a chill, wafted out, barely warmer than outside.

The room was empty, and the floor was cement with cracks in some places.

The walls were white, but some were yellowish, and there were some old wooden planks piled up in the corner next to the small heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove).

However, the windows are large and well-lit, with sunlight streaming through the glass and casting bright spots on the floor.

Xu Bei had already visited the house once before, accompanied by staff from the real estate department, so she wasn't as excited as her mother and sister.

Zhao Fengying and Xu Juan looked around excitedly, expressing their thoughts.

"It's quite spacious, much larger than a tailor shop."

"Oh dear, I wonder if this little heated brick bed and stove will burn well."

"We'll know once we set it on fire."

"It looks a bit empty; it's like my voice echoes when I speak."

Xu Bei was amused by his sister's cuteness. "If we put them on the shelves and counters and fill them with things to sell, they'll be full."

Zhao Fengying immediately started calculating, "Son, how much will those shelves and counters cost? We just paid three months' rent of 45 yuan, and we still need to get a license and go to the provincial capital to get goods. If all else fails, let's use your sister's place for now, and pay her back as soon as we have the money."

Xu Bei naturally didn't want to affect his sister over a small amount of money, so he readily told a white lie.

"No need. Mom, I talked to my boss about this this morning, and he said that if we don't have enough money to buy the goods, we can get it from him first."

"If we take it from my sister, my brother-in-law might not say anything now, but what about later? If we have a fight someday, he could easily bring it up."

Zhao Fengying's biggest fear is that her son-in-law and his family won't value her daughter. "Indeed, in family life, there are bound to be disagreements. This will be a topic of conversation from now on... It's just that it's easy to repay money from your boss, but it's hard to repay favors."

Xu Bei, the real boss, laughed heartily, "It's okay. Anyway, we still have to help sell chairs and tables. The more we sell, the more my boss earns. He'd love for me to owe him a favor so he'll be more dedicated to selling goods in the future."

Zhao Fengying and Xu Juan were both fooled.

"That's true, we've been selling a lot lately. Especially your brother, he orders fifty or eighty at a time."

"My brother is so capable, the boss must be afraid that he might quit working for him one day. No wonder he offered to lend me money."

Xu Bei suppressed a laugh as he listened to their analysis. If he hadn't fabricated it, he would have believed it to be true.

In this day and age, government offices start work at 1 p.m., so the mother and her two children arrived at the Industry and Commerce Bureau before 1 p.m.

After the clerk came to work, Xu Bei explained his purpose.

Although the other party's attitude was so-so, it did not delay their business.

After all, the country is now encouraging the individual economy, and Zhao Fengying, as a family member of an employee, meets all the requirements.

They quickly produced a "Registration Form for Individual Businesses" and required that the form be filled out in neat handwriting.

Xu Juan, who is currently the most educated person in her family (high school graduate), was entrusted with this important task.

After filling out the form, hand it over to the staff along with the required documents, such as a photo of your household registration book and the rental contract.

They informed me that they would conduct an inspection and visit the store location within a few days to a week, and once the inspection was approved, I could obtain the business license...