The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

Chapter 160 Clear accounts

Seeing that today's situation was not a good time to speak, Darong simply sat at the table and ate quietly, and did not ask Darong's mother about borrowing money.

Xiao Ling had become accustomed to Darong's mother's responsiveness to her every request. This time, when she hit a snag, she did not think that she was being too much. Instead, she put the blame on Darong, believing that she was unable to borrow the money because of something Darong had said to Darong's mother.

Darong became Xiaoling's "vicious" sister-in-law without knowing it.

The next day, when Darong was getting ready to go to work, her father rode into the yard on a motorcycle.

"Take this little money, but don't tell your mother. This is Dad's private money. If you want to do business, go ahead. But you have to change your temper and be more careful in everything. You have always been too sincere to others since you were a child."

Darong's father hadn't been to Darong's house for a long time. After entering the house and taking a look around, he saw the peeling and mottled wall paint and the bed raised with bricks, and he felt mixed emotions.

After Darong's father left, Darong also went out to work. The next day after work, Darong went to Xiaoping's house with the 15,000 yuan she had collected.

"Sister-in-law, my second sister-in-law said she would also like to invest in it. The three of us will work together and each of us will contribute 10,000 yuan."

Xiaoping happily told Darong that Xiaoping herself did not have that much money, and in fact most of the money was scraped together.

With Wu Meifeng's investment, the pressure on both of them was immediately relieved.

In fact, there was no obvious conflict between Darong and Wu Meifeng, but when she thought of the previous dispute between Wu Meifeng and Zhong's mother because of Xiaoping, she couldn't help but worry about these two people.

After Wu Meifeng's investment, the three families were able to actually run the store. Because Darong and Wu Meifeng both had to go to work, the stocking of goods and business operations in the store were managed by Xiaoping and her husband.

"Sister-in-law, you don't have to come over right after work. I can get here with Xiao Gao helping me."

Since Xiao Gao didn't have a formal job, he simply followed Xiao Ping to take care of the store business.

Xiaoping's shop is located in the Food Street in the southern suburbs. Although it is called Food Street, it actually sells all kinds of things. The street is not long, but it is very lively.

At that time, the development of the southern suburbs had begun to gradually catch up with the urban area. With the continuous improvement of road traffic, the dazzling commercial markets also began to become diverse.

The days when Darong had to go to the city to buy perfume and powder when she was young are gone forever.

"After all, three families have invested in this business. We can't let only the two of you suffer. Your brother is almost done with his work. When he's done with his work, you can let Miaomiao go to our house. Don't let her sit here with you all the time. It's so tiring for the child."

Xiaoping's home is not in the town, so she always brings Miaomiao with her when she goes to the store every day. Darong loves her child and often takes Miaomiao to her home.

Miaomiao was not in school at that time yet, and Ruyi was a little older and could always watch her sister play.

"It's you, sister-in-law. Look, my second sister-in-law only came once on the opening day, and she sat there like a boss lady."

Xiaoping pouted and imitated the way Wu Meifeng acted when she came to the store, which made Darong couldn't help laughing.

Because Xiaoping was solely responsible for the task of purchasing and selling goods at the time, when they bought shares, Darong and Wu Meifeng each contributed 1 yuan, and Xiaoping and her husband contributed 2 yuan plus labor.

Darong didn't make such a clear division. When she had time, she would go to the store to help Xiaoping.

Although Darong is over 30 years old, her naturally fair and translucent skin is a living signboard. Every time she sells goods in the store, the sales of skin care products in the store can double.

"Sister-in-law, do you really use this?"

After Darong successfully sold two more bottles of YSL, Xiaoping couldn't help but ask her about it. After all, what she said was so vivid and it didn't sound like a fabrication at all.

"How could I bear to use something so expensive? I bought a lipstick once two years ago, but I've never used this cream." Darong whispered into Xiaoping's ear with a smile.

While the aunt and sister-in-law were chatting and joking, Wu Meifeng also came to the store.

"Sister-in-law, are you off work today too?" Xiaoping greeted Wu Meifeng cheerfully when she saw her coming over.

"Your second brother is on a business trip for inspection, and he just sent Jixiang to school." After a few greetings, Wu Meifeng sat back on the chair inside the counter.

"Xiao Ping, our store has been open for a month, right? Isn't it time to calculate the profits?"

Wu Meifeng seemed to casually glance at the small notebook on the counter, which contained Xiaoping's daily sales records.

"Oh, you see, I've been busy these past two days and haven't sorted out the accounts properly. I'll report to you two tomorrow when I've finished the calculations..."

"You are usually too tired to buy and sell goods, so let me do it. I'll go to work first and bring it over in the evening."

Wu Meifeng was quite considerate at this moment. She put the small notebook on the counter directly into her bag, turned around and walked out of the store to go to work.

Before leaving, he did not forget to ask Darong to help pick up the children at noon.

After Wu Meifeng left, Xiaoping sat on the bench at the door with a sullen face and said nothing. In fact, she had never wanted to ask Wu Meifeng to invest in the company, but her conditions were so difficult at the time that she had to get involved with her for the sake of that little bit of start-up capital.

Originally, she thought that Wu Meifeng was just trying to get a share of the profits and would not help if she didn't want to. After all, she paid a lot of money at the time. Now it seems that she really treated her as an outsider who was watching over the store and was on guard against her.

Darong looked at Xiaoping's face and knew that she must be feeling very upset. Although she often came to help, Xiaoping had always been in charge of the accounting and she almost never asked about it.

For Darong, the trust between family members should be beyond doubt, but in fact, people like Wu Meifeng are more suitable for doing business. Once interests arise, disputes are always inevitable.

"Ping, go buy another notebook. We still have to do business well."

The customers who just came in all looked at Xiaoping's ugly face intentionally or unintentionally. Darong had to send Xiaoping out first to calm her down, while she continued to enthusiastically introduce the cosmetics in the store to the customers.

The weather after early autumn is always especially cold at night. When Wu Meifeng came to the store with the account book, Darong had already gone home to cook for the three children.

"Aunt, look at this account book. I have calculated it for you. Just keep it in mind. I will come over to help you calculate it from time to time."

When Wu Meifeng put the notebook on the counter, she saw another newly bought one.

"Yes, let's divide it into two, so that we can use one per month, so that I won't have any unused ones when I take them away."