Chapter 170: Lottery Ticket

Lu Ping was in a good mood today. After finishing these matters, he specially steamed a portion of osmanthus cake and sent it over to Master He.

It was rare for Master He not to be busy by the workbench, but instead sitting in the small hall drinking tea and resting. His eyes stared blankly at the teacup he held in his hand, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Lu Ping went over and put down the plate of osmanthus cake:

“Master, you didn’t eat much for dinner. Try this pastry, I made it myself, it’s not too sweet.”

Master He snapped back to his senses, nodded, and let him sit down to eat some with him.

Lu Ping also hadn’t eaten well for dinner. He kept thinking about the matters from earlier today, and after feeling deeply moved, he could only let out a sigh:

“Zimu has grown up. In the past, he wasn’t even as tall as my knees, and in the blink of an eye, he can help you.”

“Is he helping me?”

“No, no, no, he’s helping me, helping me!”

“Didn’t you see it during the day? [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] You are also just incidental. Ever since he was little, his whole mind has been set on helping that silly boy from the Lei family!”

……

Master He sat there thinking for a while. He felt a mix of emotions in his heart, but a trace of warmth still gained the upper hand. Remembering the words his good grandson said when coaxing him, he felt both moved and amused:

“This child, why would I need him to think about these things? With so many schemes in his head, it will weigh him down and keep him from growing taller.”

“Zimu has grown quite a bit taller. When he came to eat lunch yesterday, he even measured himself against the doorframe, he’s almost 175 cm!”

Lu Ping still spoke up for him, also smiling cheerfully. He traveled back and forth between Dongchang small city and Pingjiang City every year, and could almost be said to have watched Bai Zimu grow up bit by bit.

“Master, rest assured, I won’t take Zimu’s blueprints for nothing. I just hope you return for Mid-Autumn… I mean, you bring Zimu back to eat crabs, and I will definitely prepare two large baskets of the best crabs for you.”

Master He took a sip of tea and said:

“That child is thoughtful. You guys keep the blueprints. Baohua Silver Building is not what it used to be these past few years, it does need some new styles. Speaking of which, he is using you guys, but you won’t suffer a loss either, it can be considered taking what each needs.”

Old Man He thought for a moment, tapped his finger on the tabletop and said, “You go back and arrange this matter well. Just say it’s my intention, take a ten percent cut from it for Zimu, and you guys keep the rest for yourselves.”

“Master, this is too much for us to take…”

“It’s decided then.”

Lu Ping agreed and went out. Only after going out the door did he hurriedly raise his hand and wipe his tears.

He was truly quite happy.

From the day he carried a bamboo basket on his back and took the train to Dongchang City, he had never hoped for today. At that time, he only hoped to take good care of his Master and do his part for his fellow apprentices. In a flash, several years had passed. His Master had relatives, and that little kid had already grown up and could even come up with ideas to help them.

Lu Ping thought of Bai Zimu’s drawing from today, and also thought that Master ultimately doted on them, always leaving the best things for Baohua Silver Building… Thinking like this, he was both happy and had red rims around his eyes.

Fang Qi studied those few napkins for two days, and respectfully wrote a business proposal to hand over.

Bai Zimu roughly flipped through it, then had him take the proposal to look for Mother Lei:

“The direction is right. You go discuss the details further over there. I still have some matters, so I won’t go to Baichuan today.”

Fang Qi took back the document, nodded in agreement, and asked:

“It’s a very important matter, right? Is there anything I can help with?”

Bai Zimu revealed a somewhat distressed expression for the first time, but still shook his head:

“You can’t help.”

“Why?”

“There’s a physical education exam this afternoon.”

Fang Qi was rendered speechless; he truly couldn’t help with this.

Inside the school.

Bai Zimu changed into a set of sportswear and sat there tying his shoelaces.

Lei Dongchuan bought a bar of chocolate, placed it on the table for him, and conveniently helped him tie them, instructing:

“Weren’t they perfectly fine when you were at home? Why did you undo them again?”

Bai Zimu lowered his eyes and said: “The shoelaces were dirty.”

Lei Dongchuan looked seriously for quite a while, and only saw a gray mark the size of a sesame seed. He couldn’t help but say:

“You really are, where did you cultivate this young master temper? Next time do it yourself, I won’t clean up after you. Also, keep the chocolate in your pocket. Later, it will definitely be either running or pull-ups right off the bat, so take it easy, don’t hold your breath until you can’t breathe—”

He finished tying the bow underneath, looked up and asked, “Did you hear me?”

Bai Zimu sat there holding his knees and laughing, resting his chin on his arms and whispering:

“I know, Brother, you’re the best.”

Lei Dongchuan raised an eyebrow:

“Currying favor with me is useless. Come back immediately after running later, you’re not allowed to stay long.”

Bai Zimu thought for a moment, held up one finger and negotiated with him:

“I’ll just practice for one more recess period, just a little while?”

Lei Dongchuan pressed his finger back down: “Not even for one minute.”

He understood his brother too well. Since childhood, he looked like a tiny little ball, but inside he was more competitive than anyone else.

Physical education classes had been somewhat relaxed these past two years, but they still carried a certain weight in high school, being factored into the grades during the graduation exams.

Generally, in order to prepare for the college entrance examination, major middle schools would arrange the physical education graduation exam in advance. Just like academic subjects, everything was completely finished in the second year of high school, and the third year was dedicated to a year of focused revision.

To make it convenient for everyone to pass the graduation exam and get their high school diplomas, the school generally wouldn’t let the P.E. teachers be too strict. Even when encountering students with weaker constitutions, they would turn a blind eye; as long as they persevered through the test events, they would be given a passing grade.

Ever since Bai Zimu started school, he only got ‘Excellent’.

This time was absolutely no exception, heading straight for ‘Excellent’.

It was just that he was a bit late when selecting events, only snatching up long-distance running which he was good at; the rest were assigned to the shot put and javelin groups.

Both of these were pure strength events. Bai Zimu belonged to the agile type, and found it truly somewhat strenuous.

During the P.E. class in the afternoon, the teacher seized the last bit of time right away to let everyone train. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Blowing his whistle, he had the three classes having lessons at the same time assemble together.

After calling roll with a clipboard in hand, the P.E. teacher said:

“Do you guys think running 1500 meters is tiring or not?”

The students of the whole class shouted at the top of their lungs:

“Tiring—”

The teacher was amused, clasped his hands behind his back and said:

“Alright then, let’s run 800 meters first to warm up. Come on, class monitors of every class, get ready! Fall in! Class One take the lead, don’t mess up the formation.”

Bai Zimu was not bad at running, especially long-distance running; his stamina had always been very good.

After the run, quite a few classmates needed to be supported as they walked. Bai Zimu stretched a bit on his own and recovered, even itching to go train his strength.

Lei Dongchuan was afraid he would hurt himself, so he first took him to do a few pull-ups to let him exercise his arms a bit. Bai Zimu managed to do them all. When he got down from the horizontal bar, he even rolled up his sleeves and showed off to his brother:

“Brother, see that? I have muscles too!”

The area covered by clothes was very white. Bending it hard, one could see a faint bulging line, which Bai Zimu was very proud of.

Lei Dongchuan said: “How does this count? Look at mine.”

He rolled up his sleeve and showed Bai Zimu. Over these years, he hadn’t boxed any less with Second Uncle Lei. Who knew how many sandbags he had broken; the bulging muscles on his arms were rock-hard.

Bai Zimu looked for a while, and even reached out to touch it, “Brother, you’re amazing… Hey, it can even jump on its own?”

Lei Dongchuan hurriedly rolled down his sleeve. His bicep twitched slightly a couple of times. He only felt as if ants were crawling on the spot Bai Zimu had just touched, an itch penetrating deep into the seams of his bones. He didn’t understand what was going on, but his mouth refused to admit defeat:

“Amazing, right? Eat well when you go back, and in another two years, you can be the same as me.”

Bai Zimu had been tricked by these words since childhood and no longer really believed them, but when his gaze fell on his brother, it still carried envy.

Just as class was about to end, the teacher called Bai Zimu over individually and said to him:

“I’ve seen the application your class monitor submitted. He’s trading his long jump event with your javelin. You handle the remaining shot put yourself, is that okay?”

Bai Zimu was stunned for a moment, and quickly replied: “Okay!”

The P.E. teacher wrote down the swapped events on the roster and said with a smile:

“This class monitor of yours can really wear people down. Last week he came to me with the swap list, saying this girl is suitable for long jump, that one wants to change to high jump, and there’s yours… If I didn’t agree, I’m afraid he could annoy me for a whole semester.”

Hearing this, Bai Zimu also laughed: “Our class monitor is very good.”

On the other side.

Mother Lei received the business proposal handed in by Fang Qi. After flipping through two pages, she slowly sat up straight and became serious:

“Fang Qi, did you write this?”

Fang Qi shook his head:

“Zimu told me to bring it over, I merely did a simple organization.”

This proposal was already planned extremely in detail. Being able to read it once was already his luck; he didn’t dare claim the credit.

Mother Lei read it seriously, becoming more pleasantly surprised the more she read. She looked up and said to Fang Qi:

“This proposal is written very well. I’ll read it a bit more, and tomorrow I’ll have someone list out some data so we can calculate it in detail.”

Fang Qi stood in place without moving.

Mother Lei glanced at him again and said:

“You can go back and rest first today. I still need to read it for a while, there’s no rush.”

Fang Qi smiled and said: “It would be better to sit in the car and read. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] I’ll take you somewhere.”

“Where to?”

“Zimu said, after reading it you would definitely want to go take another look at the commercial street side. I’ll drive slowly, Boss Fang, you’ll finish reading it in the car right as we arrive.”

Mother Lei smiled and said:

“This little clever ghost, whatever I think of gets guessed right by him. Let’s go.”

She had always been accustomed to acting briskly and energetically. She immediately packed up the proposal and led Fang Qi, taking large strides out of the office.

After months of preparation, Dongchang City’s commercial street finally opened.

He Jiale Hypermarket had been preparing for a long time, choosing to open on the very same auspicious day. Having the same idea as him was also the Baichuan Hypermarket next door.

Fireworks and salutes from both sides rose one after another, ringing out for a solid half an hour, which could be described as extraordinarily lively.

As soon as the “Hypermarket” signboard was unveiled, it attracted many people.

The people of Dongchang small city had gradually recognized the difference between a “supermarket” and a “hypermarket”; it wasn’t just the words, these were two distinct concepts. Boss He spent a huge price to establish the banner of “He Jiale Hypermarket” in Dongchang, popularizing the differences of a hypermarket to everyone. Just as this sense of high-class was brought into contact with the masses, the Lei family borrowed this east wind and rode the momentum upward.

Boss He was angered enough to choke.

But he was at his wit’s end. They could register a store name, but they weren’t the creators of the term “Hypermarket”, so they could only grit their teeth and swallow this loss.

Boss He had been in business for many years. These past few months, not only was the hypermarket undergoing renovation, but he had also brought in a batch of high-end imported food, wanting to outdo the Lei family in this aspect.

With the two stores adjacent, they were bound to compete. Whoever lost at the beginning was destined to become the other side’s foil. He Jiale Hypermarket belonged to a high-end supermarket, so the prices couldn’t be low; thus, they could only put effort into product sourcing and selection.

Boss He was very smart. Besides imported food, he also brought in a large quantity of Changhong TVs.

This brand was very popular recently, and the quality was good. They had prepared a promotional price much lower than usual, fully stocked the goods, and planned to have a booming start.

Since he dared to come to Dongchang City to make a venture, he naturally had confidence.

Boss He was thoroughly smug and satisfied.

When he took a car to go cut the ribbon on the first day of opening, before even reaching downstairs at the mall, he saw many people gathered around from afar. Boss He felt proud in his heart, assuming the people coming to buy goods had already lined up all the way outside. The secretary sitting in front was also constantly flattering the boss, “President He, you still thought it through thoroughly. Look, once this TV is brought out, won’t it sell like crazy?”

Boss He laughed heartily and said:

“Not at all, just yielding a little profit—”

As the car drove closer, Boss He turned his head to look out the window and his voice abruptly stopped. First it was surprise, closely followed by anger. Slapping the back of the seat, he scolded loudly:

“What’s going on? Why are they all gathered over at Baichuan’s side!”

Downstairs at the mall was a sea of people. Some people even stood on top of the flowerbeds to get a better look, but none of them were at the He’s store; instead, they were looking at the adjacent Baichuan Hypermarket.

Out of concern for his face, Boss He couldn’t go see for himself, and could only send his secretary over to investigate.

He paced back and forth in his office with his hands behind his back, unable to calm his mind for even a moment. His brows were twisted into two iron lumps. Waiting for what was just a few minutes, he was simply burning with impatience. When he finally waited for the secretary to return, he immediately went up and asked:

“What’s going on? What did Baichuan and the others put out, did you see clearly?”

The secretary said: “I saw clearly. Baichuan Hypermarket set up a wooden stage at the entrance and displayed a car. They said for every 200 yuan spent, a lottery ticket is given, and you can draw for the car!”

Boss He was stunned, followed closely by a sneer:

“200 yuan? Just for a lottery ticket, spend 200 yuan? Not to mention they just have some agricultural and sideline products, even at our imported goods counter, how many people would buy hundreds or thousands worth?”

The secretary stammered: “More than 200… Baichuan, they… they set up a gold jewelry counter. It’s from Baohua Silver Building. Buying some gold and silver, it easily surpasses this amount.”

“What?!”

……

On the other side, Baichuan Hypermarket.

Mother Lei wore a slim-fit business suit. She specially wore one with shoulder pads, appearing full of vitality. Her hair was also permed into large waves, draped behind her head making her look like a strong businesswoman.

After cutting the ribbon, her heart was actually pounding quite violently. Mixed with the sound of firecrackers and the smell of smoke, she didn’t know whether she was nervous or excited, sitting in the office nervously waiting for the first batch of checkouts in the store.

God did not disappoint her hard work and luck; right off the bat was a booming start!

Baohua Silver Building’s signboard was resounding enough. The moment the gold counter opened for business, many citizens flooded in to snap things up, and the lottery tickets they gave away were distributed into the customers’ hands at the first opportunity.

200 yuan of shopping amount exchanged for one lottery ticket. The worst prize drawn was still a pack of tissues; most were discount coupons that could be used to deduct from other goods, as well as cash coupons. The best prize was the car parked at the entrance!

A brand-new Santana car. In this era, who could resist this temptation?

There were extremely many people coming to buy things!

It practically became a one-stop wedding service!

The gold and silver counter of Baohua Silver Building on the first floor was long and thin, enough for everyone to gather around and see clearly, but even so, people lined up in three or four circles, all crowded there looking at the gold and silver jewelry.

There were young people getting married buying the Three Golds, and there were also those buying small silver bracelets and longevity locks for their own or relatives’ children. The face of everyone gathered around looking was beaming with joy. This was Baohua Silver Building’s gold and silver jewelry, genuine good stuff!

There were too many people gathered around the gold jewelry counter, so shopping guides also went over to help. They wore a gold-trimmed sash that read “Baichuan at Your Service” across their bodies, walking over to introduce things to everyone. Seeing people standing on the outside, they would also cordially say:

“Comrades, there are some newly arrived clothes upstairs. The DC brand’s denim clothes, the men’s formal wear series, and also the women’s clothing brands are all new arrivals for the season. You and your lover can go up together to take a look~”

Some young ladies blushed, pulled their hands out of their boyfriends’ hands, and said:

“We aren’t married yet, just engaged, came to look at rings.”

The shopping guide smiled and said: “Then congratulations to you first. Our Baichuan has discount coupons, I have one here to give to you two, it can be used throughout the whole store.”

She said as she handed over a discount coupon, printed with the words “20 yuan”.

The young girl said in surprise:

“20 yuan? Can it be used in the supermarket too?”

The shopping guide nodded and said:

“It can, but the supermarket requires a minimum of 100 yuan before it can be deducted. You can go look at women’s clothing and other goods, they can be deducted and used on just one item.”

The girl calculated in her heart. Even like this, it was quite a lot, and she immediately pulled her partner’s hand with joy to go stroll around the hypermarket.

Baichuan Hypermarket was divided into zones. Besides the gold counter and daily necessities, what they were best at was agricultural and sideline products.

Unlike ordinary supermarkets, in the agricultural and sideline products area, fresh ingredients were piled on open display shelves one after another. Vegetables and fruits were all complete in variety, and they even hired a person to stand there and take charge of explaining.

That was a vegetable farmer from Lei Family Village. He stood there extremely nervous.

The staff on the side tested the microphone well and clipped it to his collar. The vegetable farmer raised his hand and smoothed the hem of his clothes. The people on the side cheered him on, and only then did he step forward.

He stood there and said: “I am a person from Lei Family Village. In the past, I used to push a flatbed cart to sell vegetables at the entrance of Red Star Cinema. The most famous thing in my family is pumpkins!”

He was nervous at first, but when speaking of the most formidable vegetable in his family, he became extremely proud again.

The surrounding people all laughed, and quite a few also recognized him.

This vegetable farmer was a vegetable king famous far and wide. The pumpkins he grew were very good. Because they were huge, one year he even made it into the newspaper, hugging it and bringing it to the city for an exhibition once, and everyone found it novel. Young people might not remember, but these local old men and old ladies remembered it way too clearly!

Most people in Dongchang City had been to Red Star Cinema. With the vegetable farmer mentioning this, it also evoked everyone’s memories, making them feel the distance between them had closed significantly. Fellow townsfolk and villagers, they looked exceptionally cordial.

The vegetable farmer pointed at this section of stalls, and smiled:

“These are all vegetables from our own countryside, they are green products. We eat them ourselves, don’t use pesticides, and pick the best to display here.Also, the radishes and tomatoes in these plates are all for tasting. They’ve been washed clean, everyone is welcome to taste!”

As he spoke, he himself also ate a piece of radish. The radishes in this season were crisp and sweet, making crunching sounds as he chewed.

The surrounding people went forward one after another, some curiously tasting, while others, seeing the vegetables were bright and fresh, bought some.

At the fruit stall next to it, an honest and sincere fruit farmer was also hired to speak on the side. They were all fruits from their own homes, picked up and wiped with a tissue to eat directly.

On the fruit stall, besides seasonal peaches, there were also baskets of red apricots. They were very small, the orange-yellow apricots having bright red tips. The newly available apricots were sweet and sour; just smelling the scent made one’s mouth water.

In front of the fruit stall, the people tasting were obviously much more numerous, and the enthusiasm for buying was also greater.

Not far away.

Bai Zimu leaned against a snack counter, currently opening his mouth and biting down on the red apricot handed over.

Lei Dongchuan knew he cared about his face, so he helped block him from view, asking in a low voice while feeding him:

“Delicious?”

Bai Zimu nodded, saying indistinctly: “Mn.”

“Very sour, right?”

“Not sour.”

Lei Dongchuan didn’t believe half a word.

Just by watching his brother eat, he felt it was sour enough to choke him, his Adam’s apple rolling up and down a few times.

After Bai Zimu finished eating one, he looked toward the fruit stall again, his eyes sparkling, “Brother, can I…”

Lei Dongchuan said: “No. That was the last one. If you eat too much and your teeth ache, you’ll blame me again.”

Bai Zimu was somewhat hesitant. The red apricots were truly too delicious. If he ate a hearty meal of them, and then drank congee for the next few days, it didn’t seem like it wasn’t impossible.

Lei Dongchuan saw through what he was thinking at a glance, blocked him from going over, took his hand and led him elsewhere:

“Didn’t we agree you came to help? Let’s go, we can’t just inspect the fruit stall, right? Let’s change places to take a look.”

There were many zones in the hypermarket, but the food category was mostly concentrated in one place, which happened to be the place where everyone came out after walking a lap. Bai Zimu walked over and saw quite a few familiar faces. Some were from Lei Family Village, and some were from Shifang Town. Everyone operated a product produced by their own family workshop in front of them.

The boss of the tofu workshop in Lei Family Village saw them and was very enthusiastic, greeting:

“Big Lei, you must be tired from being busy all day, right? Come drink a bowl of soy milk, there are stools here too, you two sit down and drink.”

He bent down to wipe them, and asked again, “For Zimu’s bowl, still two spoonfuls of sugar, right?”

Lei Dongchuan said: “Mn, Uncle, get a cup for us, we’ll take it away later, too busy today so we won’t sit.”

“Alright!”

……

Bai Zimu followed his brother, eating all the way through. For the first time, he felt the satisfaction of being able to eat casually in his own family’s supermarket.

For several days in a row, Baichuan Hypermarket’s business boomed.

In comparison, the He Jiale Hypermarket next door was somewhat worse. Those beautifully packaged organic vegetables in the He’s hypermarket, although boasting the slogan of incorporating the country’s most excellent agricultural and sideline products, were transported from very far away. Therefore, despite the packaging being quite nice, the portions were small, and they were far less fresh and juicy than those at Baichuan’s side.

As for fruits, they did sell some, but those were all bananas and the like specially transported from the south, originally intended for special opening promotions.

The people who came here at the very beginning were just coming for the novelty. The imported goods area had the most people, but after walking a lap, not many people took things; it was too expensive.

Only a very few customers brought their children over and took a bit of imported chocolate.

But no one picked up things from the toy area with the highest profit margin. Even when buying things for children, they were reluctant to buy such an expensive doll. An imported, authentic Barbie doll printed with English letters cost 95 yuan! It was simply eating money; this was enough to buy a gram of gold!

Thinking like this, people went to the Baichuan Hypermarket next door again, heading to the gold counter over there to purchase. They hadn’t managed to line up and buy anything over there the previous few days.

For the first two days of opening, the gold jewelry sold like hotcakes, at one point only leaving behind some silver longevity locks and the like. It was said that Baohua Silver Building’s gold jewelry was exceptionally sought-after.

Not to mention other things, real gold and silver were the true practical things!