Chapter 233: Cooperation

She reached up to smooth a strand of hair that had been ruffled by the wind, then pulled a folding fan from her pocket.

“I was just wondering if we’d run into each other. Hey, and we really did!”

She snapped the fan shut, tapped it against her palm, and her eyes crinkled into a smile.

The words had barely left her mouth when a young couple stopped beside her.

The man stared at the small wooden sign hanging on the stall, blinking.

“Two bracelets for one-eighty?”

He edged half a step closer, reached out as if to touch one, then pulled his hand back and turned to his wife.

“The handwriting is really neat.”

“Miss, how much for just one?”

“One yuan each!”

Song Yao replied crisply.

She reached into a bamboo basket, pulled out a bracelet, and held it out.

“Here, feel the weight of it.”

“Whoa, not cheap, huh?”

“This is made of agate, not those clattering glass beads you find at other stalls. Feel it—it’s heavy and smooth!”

“Why don’t you try it on?”

Song Yao smoothly picked a green-and-white jade bracelet from the rack and passed it to her.

The woman took it and held it against her wrist.

“Oh? It actually looks good!”

Song Yao deftly took down a gleaming jasper bangle, its surface glowing with a soft luster.

“Pair it with a bangle, and your whole look brightens up!”

The woman looked down at the vibrant green on her wrist, and the corners of her mouth instantly turned up.

“Wow, that’s beautiful!”

“Of course! With your kind of class, you could wear a rope of straw and make it look like a gold chain!”

Song Yao said with a grin.

The woman covered her mouth and giggled.

“So how much for both?”

“The bracelet is one yuan, the bangle is three, for a total of four. And I’ll throw in a rainbow hair tie for free!”

The man immediately frowned.

“Four yuan? That number sounds… unlucky.”

He had just started to speak when Song Yao blinked and tapped her finger lightly on the stall’s cloth.

“Since your wife is so lovely, I’ll knock a bit off for you. Three-eighty!”

“Eight, eight, eight, for endless good luck!”

Her voice was bright and clear as she rattled off the words in one breath.

“Do we still get the hair tie?”

the woman asked with a smile, a teasing glint in her eyes.

Song Yao’s hands were quick. She tore open a new pack of hair ties on the spot.

She pulled out a rainbow one that faded from red to yellow, blue, and green, and pressed it into the woman’s hand.

“Yes! Absolutely! Even if you didn’t buy anything today and just stood here to chat with me, I’d still give it to you!”

After speaking, she gave the woman a playful wink.

The wink was aimed at the female customer, but Qi Xi, standing nearby, felt the tips of his ears turn red.

Afraid his wife might spot something else, the man hastily counted out the money into Song Yao’s palm, grabbed his wife’s wrist, and pulled her away from the crowd.

“How much is this bangle?”

another older woman asked, leaning in, her hand already reaching for a wooden box at the edge of the stall.

When it came to hawking their wares, Wei Guilan usually just played a supporting role.

Drawing in customers with her sales pitch was almost entirely up to Song Yao.

So, the job of talking to Yu Nana naturally fell to Wei Guilan.

She watched for a moment, then asked, puzzled, “Ma’am, you two didn’t bring much with you today?”

While tidying the counter—sorting scattered colorful cords by color and bundling them, then restringing a few small brass bells and hanging them on the wooden rack’s hooks—Wei Guilan smiled and said, “We don’t dare bring too much. We’re only out here for the morning. We have to pack up and go home before noon.”

Hearing this, Yu Nana’s eyes went wide.

“You only work half a day and make two hundred?”

She quickly lowered her voice and mumbled, “Can you really sell that much?”

Wei Guilan also softened her voice and gestured with her chin toward the crowd.

“Look at this sea of people. They’re all tourists from out of town, and they’re eager to buy! That young man in the straw hat just now bought three bracelets in one go and even asked when we’d be here next.”

Yu Nana glanced at the people coming and going, her gaze finally settling across the street.

On Yao Yuzhen’s stall.

There were quite a few people there today, gathered in a small circle.

She couldn’t help but turn her head to ask.

“Ma’am, what are those two young women across the street selling?”

At the mention of Yao Yuzhen, Wei Guilan’s expression froze for a second.

“Oh, they’re also selling bracelets at a stall.”

Yu Nana blinked.

“They know how to make these too?”

“They do!”

Wei Guilan nodded.

“Bracelets, hair clips… neither is hard to make. You can pick it up fast. Just yesterday I saw them practicing their knots by the roadside. Their fingers were all red and raw.”

Song Yao happened to have a break between customers. She turned around and said with a warm smile, “Aunt Yu, if you want to get into this business, we can do it together!”

Yu Nana quickly waved her hands.

“Oh, no, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t thinking of that… I was just asking.”

‘Her heart was pounding. She was afraid Song Yao would think she was after their business and had come over specifically to fish for information.’

She rushed to clear the air before she even finished her sentence.

But Song Yao just raised an eyebrow, her tone completely sincere.

“I’m serious about wanting to partner with you! You sell, and I’ll supply the goods. How does that sound?”

“If you only sell one type of item, you earn less. I have all kinds of styles. You can pick and choose what to stock. With more variety, you’ll get more business and actually earn more.”

Song Yao pushed a stack of fabric swatch books with different patterns toward Yu Nana.

The price she quoted was five percent lower than the average at the wholesale market, and she added another point.

“Try selling for three days. I’ll send someone every day to record your sales. The data will be right there for you to see. You can do the math yourself.”

“Besides, you can take the goods first and pay me after you sell them. If you end up with leftover stock, you can return it to me. There’s no burden on you at all.”

She instinctively turned to look for Qi Xi.

‘How old is this kid, anyway?’

‘But he’s so unbelievably mature for his age.’

Everyone in the village said that Yu Nana’s boy was more discerning in his judgment than most adults.

Whenever she was unsure about something, she always liked to hear her son’s opinion.

Qi Xi was educated, quick-witted, and had good ideas.

He was the one who made the final decision to come to Beijing this time.

He wanted to come to the city to study and couldn’t bear to leave his mother at home alone.

He was afraid she’d be bullied by the village gossips, afraid she couldn’t handle the pressure.

But Yu Nana couldn’t bear to part with her two acres of land.

In the winter of 1960, she had hidden in the root cellar, holding a three-month-old Qi Xi.

Hearing the sound of a tractor above, she’d crawled out and peered over the edge of a furrow.

When she saw someone stealing the radish greens, she grabbed a hoe and stood guard all night.

Having land gave her a sense of security.

But Qi Xi had said, “Mom, it’s just the two of us. What future can we build by just guarding that land? The opportunities are in the city now. We have to take a step forward to find a wider path.”

And he had been right.

She had only been here a few days, but she was already starting to get a feel for it.

The pace of life in the city was completely different from back in the village.

So, as soon as Song Yao made her offer, she immediately turned to Qi Xi for his opinion.

Qi Xi gave her a slight nod.

Yu Nana swallowed, her throat a bit dry, and asked Song Yao again.

“This… it’s really no trouble for you?”

Song Yao shook her head with a smile, her lips curved and her eyes shining.

“What trouble? For every piece you sell, I make a profit. I couldn’t be happier!”

“Alright!”

Yu Nana slapped her thigh.

“Then starting today, I’m teaming up with you!”

Song Yao had landed another deal!

Yu Nana didn’t rush off, and Qi Xi stayed behind as well.

The mother and son stood to the side, eagerly watching to learn the craft.

By noon, the goods Song Yao had brought were almost sold out.

It was probably because more people were on holiday; she noticed the foot traffic had gotten denser, with people constantly gathering at her stall in twos and threes.

Yao Yuzhen’s stall across the street was running the same kind of promotion, with a discount sign and shouts that were even louder than Song Yao’s.

But they still hadn’t managed to steal a single sale from her.

After twelve o’clock, fewer and fewer people stopped to ask for prices.