Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 114 - 113: Trading

Chapter 114: Chapter 113: Trading

Shitou looked at the snacks in different "packaging" in his hands, poor in presentation, and pursed his lips, "The profits from selling our harvested goods directly are limited, but if we figured out a way to make these snacks and then sell them, it would be different. These could simply yield exorbitant profits."

Shitou scanned the surroundings, and seeing no one around, he whispered to Lu Yun, "Xiaoyun, do you have machines that can process raw materials into various snacks?"

Lu Aiguo’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Right, why hadn’t he thought of that? If Xiaoyun had machines similar to an oil press but for processing snacks, then processing the goods before selling them would indeed result in exorbitant profits, wouldn’t it? He couldn’t help but look toward Lu Yun with hope.

Lu Yun smiled and nodded slightly, "There are several types. There are machines for popping popcorn, roasting chestnuts, frying soybeans, and sunflower seeds. There are also ones for making various hawthorn slices, hawthorn cakes, hawthorn strips, and even machines for making potato chips, egg yolk pies, all kinds of candied fruits, fruit juices, candies...there are too many to list in a short time. But the place we’re living in now is too small for those machines to be taken out."

With each snack Lu Yun mentioned, Lu Aiguo and Shitou’s eyes brightened further, and though they hadn’t even heard of "potato chips" or "egg yolk pies," it didn’t stop the rush of excitement surging within them.

But upon hearing the end, both men’s enthusiasm deflated again. Yes, without the right living space, all this talk amounted to nothing.

"Let’s buy a house."

This time, Lu Aiguo didn’t hesitate at all. Money was no longer an issue; if they didn’t solve the housing matter, everything else was pointless.

He gobbled up the ice cream in a few bites, picked up a cylinder of sunflower seeds, tipped them out, and held the small handful, maybe a few dozen seeds, in his palm.

As Lu Aiguo extended his hand to show them the seeds, he announced with boundless enthusiasm, "Look at this, just this little bit, tsk tsk. Let’s hurry up and buy a house. If we’re doing this, we’re going to do it big. We won’t only take over the snacks here at the cinema’s doorstep, but if there’s demand elsewhere, we’ll take on that too."

Having been prompted by Shitou, Lu Aiguo’s thoughts were unleashed, and the more he pondered, the more he believed it was a road to sunshine. The occasional laments of his grandfather leaped from his memory, "In this world, the money of women and children is the easiest to earn."

"Dad, you’re so amazing!" To have pointed out such a classic summary? Lu Yun’s eyes widened in surprise, looking at Lu Aiguo with an admiring gaze.

"Of course," Lu Aiguo, basking in Lu Yun’s admiring glances, felt his blood boil with pride and couldn’t help but smile smugly.

Shitou laughed along. The money from women and children really was the easiest to earn, wasn’t it? Children loved snacks, and so did women. Hadn’t they seen that the men hurrying to buy snacks always brought their female companions along?

Right then, Lu Aiguo and Shitou lost the immediate desire to head back home. After discussing, they decided to stick to the original plan and stroll around the vicinity of Haicheng No. 6 Elementary School, selling their goods while casually inquiring about suitable housing.

The cinema area was actually not far from Haicheng No. 6 Elementary School.

The two adults and the child picked a random alley nearby and headed down it. The alley’s road was paved with blue stone slabs and was only wide enough to allow two bicycles to pass by each other.

Lu Yun carefully observed the surroundings. At that time in Haicheng, the houses were still low-lying, and even those that were two stories high were mostly built from wooden boards of various colors.

Even in the center of the city, there were still many houses that were not considered small, with doors that retained that quaint look of being double-leafed, some with marks of door knockers. Looking through the occasionally open main doors, Lu Yun could also see the shadow screen made of wood planks blocking the entrance.

Apart from the double-leafed wooden doors, single narrow wooden doors were also quite common. Most of the households with only one door would install a wooden fence about half a person’s height in front of their doors. With the door open and the fence closed, even on a bright day, it was dark to look into the house from the outside.

They hadn’t walked much farther when they came face-to-face with an old woman returning with a washed and empty sputum pot.

Seeing strangers walking around in the alley, she immediately stared at them warily and asked with a guarded expression, "Are you here to visit relatives? Whose family are you looking for?"

"No, granny, we’re here to sell some things." The three stopped, and Lu Aiguo put on a smile, but unfortunately, his face was so dreadful that it wasn’t as intimidating without the smile, but quite frightening when he did smile at first glance.

The old woman’s eyes grew even more guarded, but she glanced at the large baskets on the backs of Lu Aiguo and Shitou, then looked at Lu Yun and Shitou smiling at her, and her expression softened a bit, with the child along, they probably weren’t bad people.

"What are you selling?" Her voice carried a hint of curiosity.

"We have quite a few things, let me show you." Just as Lu Aiguo was about to set his basket down, Lu Yun had already quickly filled it with goods. So when they lifted the cloth covering the basket, the first thing that came into view was a large, glistening drum of cooking oil and a measuring cup with scale markings.

Just as Lu Aiguo was about to lift the oil out, "This is peanut oil..."

"No need to take it out, come with me." As soon as she saw that big tub of shining golden oil, the old woman’s eyes lit up instantly and she quickly waved her hand, signaling for the three to follow.

They followed her into a house next door with a single door and no small fence at the front. Entering, they first saw a kitchen with a square dining table, long benches, and a corner stove. The kitchen was a bit dim, and there was a short corridor next to it, through which one could immediately see a very small courtyard with a tiny well on the green stone floor.

Lu Yun refrained from looking around more, turning away her gaze, as the old woman had already turned on the lights inside the house, gesturing for them to sit down on the long benches in front of the dining table. "How are you selling this oil?"

"With Food Coupons, it’s two yuan per pound, and without Food Coupons, it would be three yuan per pound," replied Lu Aiguo with a smile.

This price had been discussed at home. Actually, it was quite a bit lower than the highest prices Lu Yun and Xia Yuan had sold in the countryside before, but it was already two to three times more expensive compared to the price of one yuan and ninety-eight cents per pound sold by the supply and marketing cooperatives.

Although the supply from the cooperatives was limited and not the same, considering that they were planning to settle down in Haicheng for the long term, and since peanut oil was likely to bring repeated customers, they didn’t want to raise the price too high.

"Can it be any cheaper?" The old woman’s tone was casual, clearly not very hopeful.

"It’s already not too high. If you don’t have Food Coupons, you can also use Cloth Coupons and industrial vouchers to offset the cost," said Lu Aiguo, shaking his head.