Making Money is the Ultimate Truth

Grandma, don't worry, listen to me carefully! Du Yun turned her head to look around the room. Except for her second uncle's son, Du Yang, who was still working in the county town, the rest of the family members were all present. Since she happened to have some things on her mind to say, she decided to lay them all out once and for all.

Grandma, you tell me, our whole family has struggled and toiled together for so many years, suffering for so many years—how much money have we actually made? Instead of stating her own thoughts directly, Du Yun posed a question to her grandmother.

Look at you, child, turning around and questioning me instead! Du Yun's grandmother pointed at Du Yun with a mild complaint, but she did not actually interrupt her. After giving it serious thought, she shook her head. Over all these years, apart from buying food, the money we earned went entirely toward paying off our debts. Added up, it was only a little over two thousand yuan.

Hearing this, the members of the Du family could not help falling silent. Their dozen or so family members had lived through hard times for over a decade, scrimping, saving, and paying off debts. Yet, they could save less than two hundred yuan a year—not even as much as Du Yun could make in a single month by making and selling pastries.

Grandma, you see, our family is large and our expenses are high. Relying solely on scraping a living from the dirt, we can't save much money by the end of the year—at most two hundred yuan, which isn't even enough to cover our debts, let alone allow for any spending. Du Yun continued, noticing that her family seemed startled by these naked numbers, without stopping them.

However, if you don't spend money, how can you know how other people spend theirs? And if you don't know how other people spend their money, how can you ever earn it from them?

Take my making pastries as an example. If I hadn't taken the risk of throwing all my savings into it with the potential of losing everything to make that first batch of pastries, we wouldn't have had anything to sell in town. And if we hadn't sold pastries in town, the young master of the Zhan family would never have known about our pastries, he wouldn't have placed that month-long order, and our family wouldn't have made any money. Knowing that her family's feelings were not entirely comfortable at the moment, Du Yun spoke slowly and chose her words with great care.

This—Du Yun's grandmother's expression flickered with uncertainty, because she was the very person who had always advocated for thrift and frugality to pay off debts.

Du Yun's grandmother opened her mouth, only to find that she could not refute Du Yun or prove her wrong. After all, within the span of a single month, Du Yun had earned more money than the entire family could make in a whole year.

Yet, Du Yun's grandmother felt that she hadn't been wrong either. She couldn't make those delicious pastries herself, and neither could her daughters-in-law. Who could have known whether the next step after spending money lavishly would be earning even more, or squandering their last remaining scraps of family property along with the good reputation they had spent years building up?

Grandma, don't worry. I'm not saying that our thrift and frugality are bad. Seeing the conflicted look on her grandmother's face, Du Yun patted her hand and comforted her. If it weren't for Grandma's thrift and frugality all these years, it's uncertain whether we younger generation would even have been born successfully, let alone be talking about making money. So Grandma, you are our great meritorious hero who saved us!

Hero or not, it doesn't matter much. Just as long as you don't harbor resentment against me, an old woman, for being tight-fisted. Flattered by Du Yun's remark, her grandmother floated back into a good mood. Knowing that the younger generation appreciated her contributions, her spirits lifted considerably as she looked at the sapphire-blue silk fabric on the kang.

Grandma, how could we possibly resent you? Du Yun said with a beaming smile, casting a warning glance out of the corner of her eye toward her third aunt and the others. Even if someone in their heart held a grievance, Du Yun would not let it be voiced. After all, once they earned money in the future and the family divided their household, looking back at these petty grievances caused by a bowl of corn mush or half a sweet potato would only bring a smile as they let it go.

No resentment, none at all! Although Du Yun's third aunt was both greedy and lazy, she had one major advantage: she knew how to read the room and adapt to circumstances. Seeing that Du Yun could make money and that her status in the family was rising rapidly, she started throwing her full support behind Du Yun without a trace of jealousy.

The hard days our family used to have are behind us, and from now on, every day will be a good one. And since it just happens to coincide with my elder sister's joyous occasion, I bought a bit extra of this fabric. First, to show filial respect to Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, and Mom; second, to let my sister get married happily and in grand style; and third, to let everyone in the village, young and old, see that our old Du family has risen up again.

Grandma, you won't hold it against me for having this little selfish thought, will you? Du Yun dragged out her voice in a spoiled, coaxing tone. Sure enough, she saw her grandmother smilingly say that it was fine, that everything was good, and that she would not pursue the matter further.

Grandma, to tell you the truth, I've thought of even more ways to make money! Having settled the matter of the fabric in just a few words, Du Yun continued with what she wanted to say.

Grandma, look at this dress. It was shipped up from the south. The purchase price plus the transportation cost on the road is less than twenty yuan per piece. But once placed in the Zhan family's shop, it can sell for over thirty yuan. Just look at how huge the profit margin is here! Du Yun said with shining eyes.

What? This dress sells for that much? Hearing that the price was so high, Du Yun's grandmother bristled slightly again.

Grandma, listen to what I mean. The same item, in different places, can sell for completely different prices! Du Yun hurriedly reined the conversation back. If her grandmother got stuck dwelling on a dress costing twenty yuan apiece, she wouldn't be able to say what came next.

Take the river fish from our Lotus River, for instance—at most, people nearby eat them just to satisfy a craving for meat. And things like lotus seed pods and lotus seeds are so bitter that people in Lotus River just treat them as idle snacks. But who knows, once they are taken to the county town, they might just turn out to be valuable goods that can fetch a good price!

Since eldest brother has to travel back and forth between the village and the county town delivering pastries for a whole month, instead of letting him make empty trips back and forth, we might as well save the travel expense money and deliver the pastries ourselves. We can pick some lotus seed pods and lotus flowers, make some pastries flavored with lotus leaves and lotus seeds, and take them all together to the county town to see if we can earn a bit more money!

Du Yun's eyes shone as she spoke. Her goal was not merely to sell some rural local specialties, but to find a way to travel frequently to the county town.

The last time she went to the county town, Du Yun noticed that although the town was large, there were very few places to eat. Her mother's cooking skills were quite good; if they could open a small restaurant, not only could they make money, but they could also move the whole family to live in the county town, cutting ties with Grandma once and for all and living a good life.

Furthermore, in such a small town, there were too few people who could afford the high-end goods brought back by the Blue Star merchants. Du Yun was also planning to have the two Zhang brothers expand their business into the county town and even the provincial capital.

Would that actually work? Du Yun's grandmother felt a slight stir in her heart, yet she still felt that things might not be as easy as they sounded.

It will work, Grandma. The travel expenses are all covered by the Zhan family; going and coming back doesn't cost us a single cent of our own money. Even if we can't sell them, at most we've just wasted a bit of effort—why wouldn't it work? Du Yun said with a beaming smile, as if she were brimming with confidence. Indeed, whether selling lotus pods and similar items succeeded or failed really made no great difference to her.

Alright, let's give it a try! Feeling that she had been far too narrow-minded in the past, Du Yun's grandmother slapped her thigh and settled the matter right then and there.