Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 125 - 121: Tricycle

Chapter 125: Chapter 121: Tricycle

The vegetable-selling big sister was stunned and immediately became indignant, "How can Tao Ermei talk such nonsense, twisting a child’s words like that?"

Xia Yuan simply didn’t know whether to laugh or not. She, of course, had no idea that as soon as she and Lu Yun left, quite a few people gathered around the vegetable-selling big sister, chattering away.

"What did they just say to you? You all whispered for so long."

"It’s just Tao Ermei talking nonsense, saying that they are so poor they can’t afford meals and can only buy potatoes to eat as meals, and when buying vegetables, they only buy green veggies. They said it’s because the rice and meat they brought from home hadn’t finished yet, so they didn’t come out to buy any."

"Really? Is that true?"

"How could it be true? They’re just stringing you along; in this weather, what kind of meat can last that long? It’s just an excuse."

"If they salt the meat, why can’t it last a few more days?"

"I think it could be true. That family doesn’t seem to be that poor. Look at their complexions, the clothes they wear, and the two men push carts out every day. They don’t look like they can’t afford meals at all."

.....

Xia Yuan, Lu Aiguo, Shitou, and Lu Yun had no idea that their family had accidentally become a hot topic of conversation and an object of "sympathy" during everyone’s leisure time.

But even if they had known, nobody would probably have spent much time dwelling on it; they would have had a quick laugh and then brought it up over dinner before letting it go. Just as it had happened this time.

After hearing Xia Yuan’s complaints, Lu Aiguo and Shitou were initially taken aback, but then they found it funny. The family laughed it off, and afterwards, nobody paid any more attention to it — there just wasn’t time to care.

Each person felt like they didn’t have enough time for everything.

Especially Lu Aiguo and Shitou. Both men were busy with their external affairs, thinking of ways to increase the sales of potato chips; they also had to sell mountain goods, and they used this opportunity to ask around for information about houses; in the meantime, they also had to take care of registering Lu Yun for school.

Not to mention that, upon returning home, both had to race against time to read books and learn new things.

Reading books was such that if you didn’t read, it was fine. But only when you seriously started reading did you realize how little you knew. There was always someone better out there, and there was always a higher mountain.......

So the two were as busy as spinning tops, wishing they could split themselves in two to get everything done. How could they have the time to worry about others laughing at them?

Every day, after Lu Aiguo and Shitou returned home and rested for a bit, they would start to settle accounts with Xia Yuan. If they came back not too late, the first thing to do was to check the accounts and then hand over all the money they earned that day to Xia Yuan, which had become a routine for everyone.

After finishing the accounts and dinner, finally, after washing up, the whole family would stay in Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan’s room. With thick curtains drawn and no electric lights on, each person used a simple L-shaped desk and bookshelf combination, and each had a solar emergency light. Everyone held a book, not disturbing each other, studying eagerly.

In the middle of the room was a small round table for four with matching stools, with juice, milk, plain water, and various snacks on the table.

If someone got tired of studying, they would come over, have a drink, a snack, and take a break. Or, if there was any fresh topic for the day, everyone would sit down, holding their cups and discuss it.

During the day, Lu Yun and Xia Yuan stayed at home. Whenever there was spare time, Lu Yun would watch her mother diligently self-studying financial knowledge and clumsily establishing and learning to keep the books.

Everything is difficult at the beginning. Watching her mother go from initial confusion and an unprofessional ledger to gradually gaining more insight, Lu Yun firmly took her place as an observer. This time, she truly did not give her mother any hint, no matter how superfluous.

Aside from occasionally going out to buy some vegetables, Xia Yuan began to prepare meals in larger quantities, cooking enough for one or two extra meals.

Of course, Lu Yun was not idle either. While her mother was engrossed in her books, she would hold a dictionary or some other book as a cover, but in reality, she was already immersed in the Pharmacopoeia in her private space, intently researching new formulas.

Lu Yun’s alchemy was not as easy as outsiders imagined, especially when learning to concoct new formulas.

Practical experience in alchemy was important, but comprehending and mastering a new formula before practicing it was not an easy task either. And as time went on, Lu Yun needed to invest increasingly more effort into new formulas.

Sometimes, a short passage or a few words required her to repeatedly ponder and mull over them. When she finally felt she understood them thoroughly enough to start practical experimentation, she would often encounter many obstacles, both big and small.

A new formula required a considerable amount of energy, patience, solitude, and even frustration to progress from initial contact to ultimate success—more than outsiders could imagine.

So whenever she had time, Lu Yun would fully dedicate herself to studying those formulas.

The potato chip business was getting smoother and smoother. Gradually, they were able to deliver over two thousand tubes per day. They sold a tube of potato chips for ten cents, the wholesale price was seven and a half cents, and their largest cost at the moment was potatoes at five cents per pound—the rest was almost negligible.

As they started calculating their daily earnings, just from the potato chip accounts, Xia Yuan, Lu Aiguo, and Shitou all felt their hearts race. Later on, they all became more composed but also more committed to the potato chip business.

Outside, the "secret" that the potato chips were made from potatoes couldn’t be kept. It wasn’t the landlord, Mrs. Tao, who had let the secret slip; she didn’t know about the sale of potato chips at all.

Some enterprising people who bought from them began to envy their success and attempted to imitate their business. Unfortunately, their family’s advantage was not something easily replicated. After trying it out for themselves, many found that it was more cost-effective and profitable to get their supplies from Lu Aiguo’s family than to make potato chips themselves.

For those who initially rejected their goods and then shamelessly came back asking for them, Lu Aiguo and Shitou did not refuse to deliver to them again. However, they invariably raised the price to eight cents each, reasoning that seven and a half was no longer covering the costs.

As for whether they grumbled about the price increase in private, Lu Aiguo and Shitou expressed indifference and adopted an even prouder attitude of take it or leave it.

Just two days before Lu Yun’s school term began, Lu Aiguo and Shitou suddenly came back riding a brand-new tricycle with a cargo bed.

Seeing the new tricycle, Xia Yuan and Lu Yun were momentarily surprised but soon saw it as normal. In just over ten days, their family’s potato chip business had grown from supplying two thousand tubes a day to nearly three thousand. In time, this number was likely to increase even further.

So it wasn’t just a tricycle; even if Lu Aiguo and Shitou decided to buy a motor tricycle, Xia Yuan wouldn’t be surprised. With the profits from the potato chips alone, they could probably recoup the cost in a month. They could well afford it and make good use of it.

The ones who were really surprised were the landlord, Mrs. Tao, and the nearby villagers. They couldn’t help but become even more curious about their family.

Unfortunately, Xia Yuan was a complete homebody who didn’t go out except to buy vegetables. And both Lu Aiguo and Shitou were the unsmiling kind when they went out, especially Lu Aiguo, whose stern face could truly be frightening.