Chapter 149: The Opportunity to Prove Oneself

Once the topic was broached, Tang Xin found it much easier to speak plainly.

To put it specifically:

"Take this apple, for instance. If you sell it individually, it might only fetch two or three cents. But if you put it in a fruit basket and dress it up with a few other things, I believe people will be willing to pay two or three yuan for it, if not more."

Hearing this figure, Li Kai's eyes lit up. As he listened to his sister-in-law's analysis and explanation, he felt it made complete sense.

Li Kai was not lacking in brains. He certainly understood that human relations and social etiquette sometimes required gift-giving to maintain interpersonal connections.

With the current policies in place, you couldn't just give cold hard cash as a gift. Something like a fruit basket, with a few fine apples tucked inside and properly wrapped up, made for a present that was both decent and practical.

Only—

"The fruit basket is easy; our dad knows how to weave those. But we don't have any fruit."

Besides, even if they made the fruit baskets, they wouldn't have a marketplace to sell them.

However, Li Kai smartly refrained from asking this latter question. Judging by his sister-in-law's demeanor, since she brought up the subject, she must have a way to solve it, right?

The most crucial issue was the fruit itself. At present, most people barely had enough grain to eat; who had the luxury of growing fruit?

Especially things like apples, which were quite scarce in their province and city.

Tang Xin, however, gave a soft chuckle and said, "If I didn't have a source of goods, I wouldn't have come to talk to you about this. As for an outlet, you don't need to worry either; Comrade Chen Liguo knows plenty of people in the county town."

The key was that Tang Xin, having read the book, knew not only that Chen Liguo worked at the movie theater, but also that a portion of the goods could probably be sold right through those channels.

Chen Liguo's father was a leader of some standing, and he had connections with the department store. He would surely need a portion for himself and could easily arrange for some to be displayed and sold at the department store.

Tang Xin dared to speak so boldly and directly to Li Kai also because Li Sheng had actually intended to eventually use his convenience as a truck driver to hustle some goods back.

He planned to partner with his younger brother to handle the distribution.

Ever since Li Sheng learned from his wife that his second brother had no interest in studying, disliked farming, but possessed a great talent for business, his mind had been set in motion.

Unlike Father Li, who held traditional views that rural folk must farm the land—even though current policies did not support individuals running small businesses—Li Sheng had spent several years traveling far and wide as a truck driver and was well-traveled and broad-minded. He knew very well that out of the instinct for survival, people needed to trade things with one another.

Therefore, small grocery stores and supply and marketing cooperatives would always be in demand. Yet, under the current circumstances, those places often suffered from shortages and inconsistent product quality.

Over the long run, individuals running small businesses was bound to become a prevailing trend.

Just like right now—though it had been strictly forbidden for years, the black market had always existed and remained quite thriving.

What was that for?

It was also because, after setting up a family, Li Sheng wanted to give his family, especially his wife, a good life, so he had to work hard to earn more money, which gave birth to these ideas.

Naturally, he had discussed this with Tang Xin.

During that period, Tang Xin had told Li Sheng that in the process of teaching her family members to read and write, she discovered that everyone had their own unique strengths.

She specifically highlighted Li Kai's aptitude for arithmetic and business.

She had also implicitly suggested that the few of them could cooperate on certain ventures to secure some benefits for the household.

It was also because she had interacted with Chen Liguo a few times and learned that he was actually close friends with Li Sheng, while Tang Xin herself knew of Li Kai's commercial success more than a decade later.

That was why she had a sudden flash of inspiration: what kind of impact would it have on the future if she fostered a partnership between Chen Liguo and Li Kai?

Tang Xin could produce many things for them to trade, but she could never explain where those goods came from.

Therefore, while Li Sheng was away on a trip to the provincial capital for a few days, she had made up her mind to use this time to establish a solid cooperative relationship with Li Kai first.

Because she knew Li Kai would not relentlessly badger her, his sister-in-law, about where the items came from.

By the time Li Sheng returned, they would have already started doing business in private, and engaging in such activities should naturally be done quietly in the first place.

Presumably, big brother Li Sheng wouldn't cross-examine every single detail by then, right?

So, this was what Tang Xin told her brother-in-law: "Don't worry, I've already made the arrangements. Someone is helping me mail the fruit over from the provincial capital. They are all top-quality apples, paired with a pretty fruit basket. Very high-end."

At this, Li Kai was so excited he didn't know what to say. He rubbed his hands together, his youthful face faintly glowing with the impulsiveness and drive characteristic of a young man.

In truth, at Li Kai's age, if he had lived in the era Tang Xin came from in her past life, he would still be an unruly child, spoiled and pampered by his parents.

But here, especially under the harsh survival conditions of the Li family, children matured and grew sensible far ahead of their years.

Therefore, Li Kai had long wanted to go out and accomplish something, both to let his family live a better life and to find an opportunity to prove himself.

Now, his sister-in-law was truly about to help him find a way out—a way to prove to his family that he, too, could earn money and take care of his family just like his eldest brother.

How could his mood not be soaring?

However, in matters like this, pure passion alone was useless. Thus, Tang Xin and Li Kai put their heads together to discuss everything in meticulous detail.

They strove to think through every aspect of the operation to avoid any major blunders.

Mainly, Tang Xin would be responsible for the source of the goods, while Li Kai would handle all the trivial legwork in between.

As for the sales outlet, they needed to find Chen Liguo. Since it was essentially a three-way partnership, Li Kai, of course, had to be the one to make contact.

Tang Xin, after all, was a woman and Li Sheng's wife; it was inconvenient for her to have too much private, one-on-one contact with her husband's good friend.

As for the initial startup capital, since Tang Xin also represented the eldest Li household, she would contribute twenty yuan to hold the major share.

As for the other two, each would put in ten yuan. This was practically all of Li Kai's savings accumulated over the years.

Of course, most of it had only been saved up after his sister-in-law married into the family. Previously, Li Kai never even had the chance to touch money at home.

As for New Year pocket money? Heh, usually their mother would only give them one or two pennies.

At most, after accumulating it for twenty years, it amounted to just a few dozen cents!

The money he had earned helping his elder brother and sister-in-law in recent days was hard-earned savings, totaling ten yuan.

Yet, even if he had to shell it all out, Li Kai felt no regret or heartache, because he knew his sister-in-law could help him gain much more.

After Tang Xin and Li Kai finished their serious discussion, Li Kai headed to the county town to find Chen Liguo and iron out the details.

Once everything was settled, Tang Xin went indoors first, while Li Kai stayed behind, saying he needed to calm down before going in.

And calm down he certainly needed to. If it weren't the middle of the night for fear of waking people up, he would have loved to look up at the sky and let out a loud roar.

At that moment, Li Kai's face was flushed with radiance, and his entire body felt light as air. He needed to let the cold wind blow on him outside for a bit longer; otherwise, if his mother saw him upon entering the house, she would think he had come down with a fever.