Chapter 24: Sharing the Money
There were several thick stacks of bills (one yuan, fifty cents, and twenty cents), and everyone smiled when they saw them.
In this era when 36 yuan wages are common, 322 yuan is an absolute huge sum of money. Li Daqi and his colleagues never expected that the clothes hanger would sell so well. If they had any doubts before, now that the real money is in front of them, that doubt has long disappeared.
Song Yuanchao originally planned to divide the money after all the hangers were sold out, but now seeing everyone's high morale, he thought about it and counted out a stack of money.
"Everyone has worked hard these days. After being busy for so long, we finally see the money." Song Yuanchao said to everyone with a smile, and everyone was laughing.
"Give everyone 10 yuan first, go home early and have a good rest. We will continue tomorrow after we have regained our energy."
"Long live Brother Song!"
"Long live aid to Korea!"
“Long live the RMB!”
As soon as Song Yuanchao finished speaking, cheers rang out.
10 yuan, although not much, is not a small amount. You have to know that this business was started by Song Yuanchao alone. Whether it is the raw materials, the initial advance payment and the business ideas, they are all Song Yuanchao's, and the others are just helping him.
What's more, if Song Yuanchao hadn't been there to sell the goods today, the sales probably wouldn't have been so good. It was agreed that they would be paid after the sale, and now Song Yuanchao gave them 10 yuan each on the first day, which was really loyal.
Smilingly, Song Yuanchao counted out ten yuan bills and stuffed them into each person's hand. He also thanked them for their hard work. The people who received the money had smiles on their faces and felt proud of having earned the money.
After dividing the money, Song Yuanchao and his companions left the air-raid shelter and went home one after another. After Li Daqi, Zhang Bin and Wang Jianjun left, Song Yuanchao deliberately walked last and took out the 20 yuan he had prepared and stuffed it directly into Gu Jie's hand.
"Brother Song, what are you doing...?"
Gu Jie was suddenly at a loss, not understanding why Song Yuanchao gave him this money.
"Keep it. Otherwise you would have borrowed the money to get this place. Although you said before that you don't want rent, it's not okay to borrow it for free. Brothers should settle accounts clearly. This money is what you deserve."
Patting Gu Jie on the shoulder, Song Yuanchao said, "Tell your dad about this when you get back. We'll have to do this business for a while if we don't succeed."
"I understand. Thank you, Brother Song." Gu Jie was a very smart man. He immediately understood what Song Yuanchao meant. He took the money with a smile and nodded.
In the next few days, Song Yuanchao and his colleagues gathered at the air-raid shelter before four in the morning every day, set up their stall on time at four-thirty, and closed the stall at seven-thirty.
Song Yuanchao led them on the first day, and starting from the second day, Song Yuanchao divided the five people into two groups.
Song Yuanchao and Gu Jie were in one group, Zhang Bin and Wang Jianjun were in another group, and Li Daqi was responsible for riding a bike to transport the goods. In addition to the vegetable market where they set up the stall on the first day, Song Yuanchao took Gu Jie to another nearby vegetable market. This not only increased the number of sales points, but also avoided the waste of too many people at one stall.
Because their products are of good quality, beautiful shape, bright colors and affordable prices, the sales of clothes hangers are extremely hot.
Each stall could sell nearly a thousand pieces, and two stalls could sell nearly two thousand pieces. After a few days, the stalls gradually gained some fame. Residents who lived far away would come specially to buy after hearing about it. In addition, there were many repeat customers, so the business became more and more prosperous.
As the number of clothes hangers piled up in the air-raid shelter decreased, everyone felt happy and worried.
They were happy that the business was so hot that it would be sold out in a few days at most with the current sales situation. They were worried that as the goods were decreasing rapidly, they would be gone after they were sold out. For this reason, Li Daqi and his friends could not help but ask Song Yuanchao if he could find a way to get some more raw materials. However, Song Yuanchao was not in a hurry at all. He smiled and told them to wait and sell all the goods on hand first, and he would make arrangements.
On March 2, Song Yuanchao's household registration was approved. With the household registration, he had the food grain book and coupons, which also meant that Song Yuanchao had regained an official identity in Shanghai.
Sunday, March 4th is a great day to celebrate.
After closing the stall that morning, all the stock hangers were sold out. A total of 8,962 hangers were sold for a total of 3,012.35 yuan. Although this total amount was slightly lower than the total price originally set by Song Yuanchao, considering the promotion that Song Yuanchao specifically proposed that customers get a discount if they buy three, it was still worth it for them to sell all the hangers in such a short time.
According to the rules set previously, Li Daqi and others were paid 5 cents for each clothes hanger, so 8,962 clothes hangers would be paid 448.1 yuan.
After returning to the air-raid shelter and checking the accounts, Song Yuanchao simply rounded up the amount for them to 120 yuan per person. Minus the 10 yuan he gave everyone on the first day, Song Yuanchao gave each person 110 yuan.
When thick stacks of banknotes were handed into everyone's hands one by one, everyone's eyes were red, and their hands trembled slightly as they held the banknotes. They couldn't even believe that this money was earned by themselves.
"Wu... Wuu..." Wang Jianjun, a grown man, actually squatted on the ground started crying, wiping his tears and crying loudly. It was not easy.
Wang Jianjun's family was in a difficult situation. Most of his brothers and sisters lived in poor conditions. He did not save much money when he went to the countryside, and he had no job when he returned to Shanghai. He had nothing to do at home every day. It was okay at first, but after a long time, although his family did not say it to him, Wang Jianjun knew that his brothers and sisters, including his parents, looked down on him and thought he was a burden.
Even his friends, neighbors, and relatives were the same. In their eyes, Wang Jianjun was a useless man who had no job and no future, who came back from other places to take up space in their homes and just stayed at home to eat free meals.
In fact, it is not only Wang Jianjun, but also Li Daqi, Zhang Bin, and Gu Jie. Which one of these educated youth has not contributed their most precious youth to the country, left their hometowns full of passion and ideals for unfamiliar rural areas, and struggled there for many years, but now they have become redundant when they return to their hometowns?
Wang Jianjun’s crying made everyone feel sad, and Song Yuanchao’s eyes couldn’t help but turn red, because everyone was thinking the same thing at this time.
"There will be bread, there will be milk, there will be everything, Jianjun, you should be happy now, why are you crying?"
"I'm happy to help North Korea." Wang Jianjun wiped his tears, feeling a little embarrassed.
"A real man should shed blood but not tears!" Song Yuanchao patted his shoulder heavily and said to him and everyone present: "Life will get better slowly. Now is just the beginning. If you believe me, I promise that things will get better and better in the future."
"Thank you, thank you for your aid to North Korea! I'm sorry to have made a fool of myself in everyone." Wang Jianjun wiped away his tears and smiled. Holding the money in his hand, the frustration that had been weighing on his heart for the past few days disappeared. 120 yuan, this is more than three months' salary for an ordinary young person, but they earned it in less than ten days.
The same was true for others. In just ten days, everyone earned more than three months' salary of an ordinary person with their own hands, proving that they were not useless people who just ate for free, but were valuable. This was the greatest recognition for those of them who had been confused about the future after returning to their hometown.
After distributing the money, Song Yuanchao asked everyone to have a good rest for two days and wait for his notification. Then everyone left the air-raid shelter reluctantly. Song Yuanchao was the last to leave. He cleaned the inside, turned off the lights, locked the door of the air-raid shelter, and walked briskly towards home. Not far away, he saw Li Daqi waiting for him in front.
