Chapter 11: Returning Customers
In the morning, Shen Lin woke up from his sleep, feeling a little dazed, and found that Lu Xiaorong had already woken up. The flames in the stove were jumping up and down, the rice was bubbling in the pot, and the aroma of millet porridge filled the room. This ordinary smell of fireworks made Shen Lin burst into tears.
Shen Lin glanced at the time and hurried to wash up. It was only a little after six o'clock, so he could still catch the morning market.
"Wife, boil three eggs later. We need to ensure they are nutritious." Shen Lin said before leaving.
Lu Xiaorong hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded. Seeing that Shen Lin was only holding a radio, he asked, "Why did you only hold one?"
Shen Lin shook the radio in his hand and said, "You like listening to the radio, let's keep one at home."
Lu Xiaorong was stunned for a moment!
She and Shen Lin had been married for the past six months, and they had mostly quarreled. This was the first time she had heard such thoughtful words.
Just as Lu Xiaorong was thinking about this, Shen Lin had already walked out of the house with the radio.
Looking at the radio that had been cleaned by Shen Lin and had regained most of its luster, Lu Xiaorong could not help but turn on the button, and melodious singing began to spread out from the radio.
"The clouds from my hometown are floating across the sky
It keeps calling me
When the breeze blows gently around me
There is a voice calling me
Come back, come back
The Wanderer
Come back, come back
Stop wandering around..."
Lu Xiaorong felt that his whole heart was struck by this beautiful melody. The feeling was truly indescribable.
Shen Lin came to the morning market. As soon as he got to the place where he sold radios yesterday, someone grabbed his arm.
Such an action surprised Shen Lin!
He turned around and saw that it was the middle-aged man who bought his radio yesterday. He thought that maybe there was something wrong with the radio he repaired, but that didn't make sense!
Shen Lin was quite confident in his repair skills. According to his estimation, the radio could be used for at least another three or four years.
"Young man, why are you here just now?" The middle-aged man said to the person next to him, "Old Zhong, the one who sold me the radio was this young man."
The man called Lao Zhong is a middle-aged man who looks to be in his forties or fifties. He is not tall and exudes a shrewdness.
"Young man, I asked Lao Chen to bring me to you just to ask, do you have any old radios to sell?"
As he spoke, Lao Zhong's eyes fell on the radio in Shen Lin's hand.
Shen Lin finally realized that this was his first repeat customer. He had just made his first order and now he had a repeat customer. This was a very good momentum.
"Sell! I'm planning to sell this radio." Shen Lin said with a simple smile.
A bright smile appeared on Lao Zhong's face. When he came here, he was worried that he would not be able to meet the young man selling radios. However, he did not expect that not only would he find the young man so easily, but he would also sell radios.
"How's the sound quality of this radio?" Lao Zhong, who was eager to buy a radio but had limited money, looked at the old black radio with anticipation.
Shen Lin directly turned on the radio he had repaired. This old radio looked like a large shoe box. It was also an item imported from abroad. Due to years of disrepair, there were problems with the wiring inside.
The unit couldn't find anyone to repair it, so it had to be left in the warehouse. Now it has been repaired by Shen Lin, and the sound quality is very good.
Of course, another gray radio with better sound quality was left at home by Shen Lin to entertain Lu Xiaorong!
"...A little poplar tree grows next to the sentry post
Deep roots and strong trunks guarding the northern border
The breeze rustles the green leaves.
The sun makes the green leaves sparkle with silver light. Come, come, come... Come, come, come..."
Although in a noisy downtown, the penetrating tenor voice still reached my ears clearly.
Lao Zhong was very satisfied with the radio, which had some paint peeling off but had extremely pure sound quality. But just as he was about to speak, someone asked, "Young man, how much is your radio?"
Lao Zhong was immediately unhappy and said to the person who asked for the price: "Brother, I already want this radio. You should ask somewhere else! We have to decide on a first come first served basis anyway!"
The man who asked the price glanced at Lao Zhong, and then said bluntly: "Hey, comrade, you said you bought this radio, did you pay the young man? If not, don't act on your own!"
Old Zhong dragged his companions over early in the morning, and naturally refused to give in. He snorted, and just as he was about to start quarreling, Shen Lin smiled and said, "Okay, both of you, don't hurt the harmony. This uncle really just wants to ask about the price of my radio."
"If you don't want it, we can talk about it later. What do you think?"
After hearing what Shen Lin said, the person asking the price stopped talking, and Lao Zhong asked Shen Lin impatiently, "How much is this radio?"
"The radio I sold to this uncle last time was of better quality than this one. I asked for 17 yuan for that one, but I'll sell this one for 15 yuan."
Shen Lin said this seriously, "I don't want to do a one-time deal, and I won't cheat anyone."
When Lao Zhong came, he had already prepared himself to buy a radio for twenty yuan, but he did not expect that the young man would actually take the initiative to lower the price. This really made him overjoyed.
Although the quality is not as good as that of his companion, the price is two dollars cheaper. This guy is good. At least he is willing to tell the truth. This is really a conscientious business.
"Okay, okay, I'll buy it!" As Lao Zhong spoke, he took out a Great Unity note and a five-yuan steelmaking note from his pocket and quickly stuffed them into Shen Lin's hands.
As Lao Zhong happily left with the radio, Shen Lin was about to leave. The customer who had just bid with Lao Zhong pulled Shen Lin aside and said, "Young man, do you have any radios to sell tomorrow?"
Shen Lin thought of the radio at home and wanted to answer yes, but when he thought of his wife Lu Xiaorong's fascinated look, he swallowed the words back.
"I'm not sure, but there should be radios for sale in the next few days!"
Shen Lin's answer made the customer a little dissatisfied, but in the end, he still said unwillingly: "Then I will come to take a look in the next few days."
"Young man, let's make a deal. You must sell it to me when you have it!"
Shen Lin smiled and said, "Okay, if there's a radio, I'll definitely keep it for you."
Shen Lin took the money and left. He didn't notice that as he left, two middle-aged women wearing red armbands were staring at him.
"Aunt Liu, where do you think this young man got so many second-hand radios?" asked the plump lady standing on the left.
"If it's from home, there are only one or two at most. I just heard him say that he seems to have some more, but he's not sure when he can take them out." The skinny Aunt Liu said in a positive voice: "I think there must be something wrong here."
"I think there's something wrong with that, too!" said the chubby old lady. "Nowadays, young people are all lazy and don't work hard. They just do crooked things all day long. I tell you, we must put a stop to these people's arrogance!"
"Aunties, you say that Shen...his radio was stolen?" A young man wearing glasses, quiet and handsome, suddenly said.
The two middle-aged ladies wearing red armbands did not notice that the young man said the word "Shen". They looked at the quiet young man and immediately developed a lot of good feelings for him. After all, this young man looked like a cultured person.
"Young man, his radio is not stolen. I saw him sell two half-new ones. He also promised the person that he had one. How could he get the radio except by stealing it?" The chubby old lady said to the man wearing glasses, "Young man, don't learn from this kind of person!"
"I know, thank you, Auntie." The man with glasses adjusted his glasses, and a smile appeared in his eyes.
