Chapter 66: Setting Up a Stall

After Lanhua left, Zhang Ping'an gave his two nephews a crash course in sales techniques: speak to each person according to who they are.

Two more groups of people came by afterward; Zhang Ping'an demonstrated for them, but when more people arrived, he stopped interfering and let them handle it themselves.

Whenever they were free, the four children would huddle together in pairs to read comic books, and whenever someone approached, they would strike a pose to act as models; fortunately, all four children were quite good-looking, so wearing a few sets of children's clothes added to their appeal.

By eleven o'clock, most of the clothes had been sold, and Zhang Ping'an did not hesitate to pack up and head home; although his two nephews were still a bit stuttery when introducing the clothes, it was barely acceptable.

As soon as he entered his courtyard, Zhang Ping'an smelled the aroma of food.

"Xiaochen, Xiaojing, take the little ones to wash their hands and eat."

"Alright, Uncle."

"Xiaoqing, Xiaomei, not bad; I could smell the fragrance from far away."

"That's right, Uncle, I cook at home quite often."

Both girls looked proud; it was clear they really did help with the cooking at home often, which, compared to later generations, was not something every thirteen or fourteen-year-old—let alone twenty-three or twenty-four-year-old—could do.

"Alright, alright, everyone is here, so bring the dishes over; Jiecheng, Guangfu, treat this like your own home, don't be polite, I won't be responsible if you go hungry this afternoon."

Yushui and Xiaoling had already become familiar with him, so there was no need to be polite with them either.

"Alright, Uncle Zhang."

Zhang Ping'an went to check on Si Jie's studio and found she was still busy.

"Si Jie, stop working, let's go eat first."

"Okay, let me finish this pant leg."

"Okay." Zhang Ping'an knew that this was all one continuous line of stitching, and stopping in the middle might ruin the overall shape.

"Let's eat first." Zhang Ping'an called for the little ones to start eating.

They had only been eating for five minutes when Lanhua came out.

"Ping'an, I asked Si Jie, Huairu, and the He family's sister-in-law to make three sets each; how should we calculate the payment?"

"Hmm~ four thousand per set."

"Fine."

Just as they finished eating, the three of them arrived with the clothes they had finished making.

"Little sister, take a look and see if it's okay?"

It was the first time Zhang Xiaohua and the other two had sewn clothes like this; although they were all experienced hands, the first set still took some time, but they would get faster as they became more familiar with it.

"Good."

"Yes, they are all very good; San Jie, Huairu, and sister-in-law, as long as you don't tire yourselves out, make as many as you can with that fabric, and it's still four thousand per piece."

"What? Little sister, how much money can you make if you give us four thousand?"

"That's right, Auntie."

"We aren't outsiders, so I won't hide it from you; after deducting costs, let's split it half and half."

"Well, that's fine then." Seeing that her little sister wasn't making little profit, Zhang Xiaohua agreed.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Ping'an took nine sets of children's clothes and brought the six of them to the usual spot to set up the stall, while he lay on the tricycle.

"Yushui, you four, organize the clothes and strike a pose; ten minutes, if there's no one around, read comic books for five minutes every ten minutes."

"Alright, Uncle Zhang."

Although the children couldn't read very well, the pictures inside were still very attractive to them.

"Uncle, there aren't many people right now."

"Hmm, that's true."

Zhang Ping'an had forgotten that it wasn't a day off, and few people went out shopping unless it was mealtime.

"Let's treat today as scouting; keep track of what time the foot traffic is highest, and we'll come at that time in the future."

"Alright, Uncle."

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Lanhua brought over another nine sets of finished children's clothes; this was exactly the time when older women went out to buy groceries, and the stall began to get crowded.

"Young man, are the sizes we ordered this morning ready?"

"Ready, ready, take a look."

"Good, not bad at all."

Several people picked them up to look closely, then paid readily; Zhang Ping'an was now a hands-off shopkeeper, leaving all the interaction to his two nephews.

The eighteen sets of boys' clothes were sold quickly, and another batch was pre-ordered; a couple of girls' sets were sold as well. As the crowd dispersed, the sky gradually darkened.

"Pack up, let's go home and eat."

That evening, Zhang Ping'an and Lanhua calculated the profits.

"We made eight thousand per piece, sold forty-seven sets today; after deducting what we owe San Jie and the others, there's about three hundred thousand in profit, and after subtracting today's food expenses, that's two hundred and eighty thousand in profit." Lanhua covered her mouth in disbelief.

"Also, Ping'an, how much do you think we should give Xiaochen and the others?"

"Five thousand a day for Xiaochen and Xiaojing, and two thousand for the two girls, but don't tell them yet; we'll settle the accounts when we go back."

"Alright." Lanhua was also worried they would spend the money recklessly if they got it.

Calculated this way, they had a profit of two hundred and sixty thousand a day; of course, this was because it was the first day, and it would likely not be this high once it saturated, plus they would need to continue developing new stalls.

However, Zhang Ping'an wasn't worried about this; there were still plenty of rich people in this day and age, though the truly wealthy wouldn't care for their goods, perhaps only buying them for their children out of temporary curiosity.

Just like that, Zhang Ping'an took them to set up the stall for a week, and just as Zhang Ping'an had estimated, the daily profit kept dropping, eventually stabilizing at around one hundred and twenty thousand after all deductions.

The three women making the clothes were also busy every day; Tan Cuicui was also brought into the team, but she was slow at making clothes and had to spend most of her time taking care of the children and serving the Deaf Old Lady, so it was a lot if she could turn in three sets a day.

"Yo, Ping'an, here to restock again?"

"That's right, Brother Zhang, let's have a bit more this time."

Zhang Ping'an had also become familiar with the fabric shop owner; the owner's surname was Zhang, a man nearing forty who was a clansman of his, named Zhang Weiping. Zhang Ping'an had been buying fabric from his shop from the very beginning, and they had become familiar over time.

"Done."

Zhang Ping'an selected the colors and quantities, and Zhang Weiping arranged for the Shop Assistant to load the goods; there were ten bolts in total, costing 2.6 million.

The wholesale price for outsiders was 280,000 per bolt, but Zhang Weiping had a good impression of this younger brother, so he lowered the price by 20,000.

"Come back when you've used them up."

"Will do."

The fabric had already been covered with burlap sacks; Zhang Ping'an was afraid someone might lift them to take a look once he reached the courtyard, so he left only three bolts out and would take them all out once he arrived at his own courtyard.

"Ping'an, why did you buy so much at once?"

"Si Jie, I saw that the weather is turning cold, so we can try making some smocks. The children are mischievous, and it's inconvenient to wash clothes in winter; with smocks, everything is solved."

Zhang Ping'an explained the use of the smocks again; smocks were the simplest, just a layer of coarse cloth outer garment, basically all in large sizes, and the easiest to get started with.

"This is good." Zhang Lanhua's eyes lit up; she knew the difficulty of washing clothes in winter—not to mention the freezing hands, they wouldn't dry for a while, and it also saved the trouble of taking them apart to wash.

Of course, for now, the focus was still mainly on children's clothing, with the smocks sold alongside them; the two nephews had completely figured out the sales routine, and the four little models were now much more professional, so Zhang Ping'an prepared to return to the Pharmacy to study, but he still gave them some instructions.

"From now on, you will set up the stall for two hours at ten in the morning, and for an hour and a half at four in the afternoon; you must be home before dark."

It was fine in broad daylight, but it would be troublesome if they ran into hoodlums after dark, especially since they were taking four children with them.

"Understood, Uncle."

"Mm, Xiaochen, you are older, look after them more; there are also steel pipes on the tricycle," Zhang Ping'an added in a low voice.

This was also just in case; Zhang Ping'an and Jia Dongxu always carried wood-chopping knives when they went to the countryside to purchase goods.

"Alright, Uncle, I understand."