Quite a few more women came that afternoon, referred by others who had bought clothes before.
Over the past two days, most people had learned about the spot where they set up their stall, especially the women. No matter the era, women's purchasing power was formidable.
Especially those with steady jobs who were unmarried, or newly married without children-they bought an outfit or two without batting an eye.
In the eighties, workers ate at canteens, their housing was allocated by their work units, and they had neither car loans nor mortgages to pay. Most rode bicycles, so they did not need to buy fuel.
Apart from occasionally spending a little on eating out and during holidays, they could save quite a bit each month, so they did not bat an eye at spending some of it on clothes.
In this era, a town's population was about the same as a county seat's in later years. The town they were in was roughly the size of a county seat and was called Hua'an Town.
There were plenty of factories and workers, and most households had two working adults, so the families who worked there were generally fairly well-off.
Shen Moxi had chosen a good spot for her stall. With people constantly passing by, it attracted plenty of attention, and returning customers referred others, so sales were quite good.
By around four that afternoon, they had sold well over half the women's clothing and nearly half the men's, along with some leggings and little leather shoes.
The two sat on chairs to rest for a while and drank some water.
Shen Moxi counted the money while Song Qi took down the remaining clothes and sorted them, placing them in the boxes one by one. Then he folded the racks and stacked them together, and took the clothes off the four mannequins and put those away too.
Shen Moxi finished counting the money. Including the children's clothes from that morning, their total income for the day was nearly six hundred yuan. That was already considerable. They had not invested a single cent, so all of it was pure profit.
Shen Moxi put the money into her shoulder bag and saw that Song Qi had nearly finished packing. What if someone saw them putting everything away in broad daylight?
"There are still people on the road. What if someone sees us?" Shen Moxi asked Song Qi with a frown.
"How about this? You start walking first. I'll wait here a little longer and put everything away when there's a gap with no one passing by. Then I'll catch up with you on the bicycle," Song Qi told her after thinking it over.
Shen Moxi nodded at that. "That's our only option. I hope the shop is ready soon, so we won't have to sneak around like this anymore. It's like we're thieves." As she spoke, Shen Moxi laughed.
Song Qi smiled too and stroked her head. "Start walking. I'll catch up in a bit."
Shen Moxi went on ahead, while Song Qi waited there for another ten minutes or so. Finally, there was a gap with no one passing by. With a wave of his hand, he put everything into the space, quickly got on the bicycle, and left.
Barely a few minutes after he left, two or three young women came together to buy clothes. Seeing that everyone was gone, they sighed in disappointment and agreed to come earlier the next day.
Song Qi caught up with Shen Moxi on the bicycle and took her to the deserted little alley they had used before. They took out all the lighting supplies and put them into a large cardboard box on the rear rack, then pushed the bicycle to the shop together.
When they arrived at the shop, they saw that the walls and storefront had a completely fresh look.
They stopped the bicycle, and Song Qi carried the box as he followed Shen Moxi through the door.
The walls inside the shop had already been painted, and the floor was being worked on. Shen Moxi made a rough count of about twenty people. This crew was a decent size.
Hong Jin'an was holding the plans and saying something to Shen Tao and Shen Yuan. Catching sight of Shen Moxi out of the corner of his eye, he put the plans away and said something to the two of them.
Seeing their little sister arrive, the two walked over with smiles. "Little sister, what brings you here?"
Shen Moxi pointed at the large box Song Qi was carrying. "We brought you the lighting supplies. We just got them from a friend."
Shen Tao quickly took it and carefully set it on the table in the farthest corner. "You could've just told us, and I would've gone to get them. You didn't have to make the trip."
"I wanted to come check on the progress too, and see roughly when it'll be finished so we can open sooner," Shen Moxi said with a smile.
Hong Jin'an walked over, smiling. "Our little sister is eager to make big money, so of course we'll work overtime to get it done for you. At our fastest pace, another seven or eight days should do it."
Shen Moxi nodded sheepishly. "Thank you for the hard work, Brother Hong. Once it's finished, I'll treat you all to a feast to celebrate."
"Haha, absolutely! Brother Hong's renovation skills are simply this good." Shen Tao laughed and gave a thumbs-up.
"You brothers are all doing me an honor. Since I've taken the job, I'll certainly do my very best," Hong Jin'an said with a hearty laugh.
Shen Moxi and Song Qi stayed a while, then left after seeing that there were no problems.
On the way back, they bought some vegetables, meat, eggs, and a bag of White Rabbit milk candy from the system.
When they reached the courtyard gate, they heard a young girl's laughter coming from inside the house.
They exchanged a glance, and Shen Moxi asked, "Has your younger sister come home?"
Song Qi shook his head. "How would I know? I've never even met her. What's my sister's name?"
"Your sister's name is Song Zhitao. I heard from my mother that Aunt Shan especially loved eating peaches when she was pregnant, so that's the name she gave her. Come on, let's go in and see. My mother said she's still in school and boards there." Shen Moxi had him carry the things while she put the bicycle away.
The two walked into the house and saw a girl of fourteen or fifteen sitting beside Huang Yushan. Whatever they had said, both were laughing heartily.
Seeing them come in, Huang Yushan stood and patted the girl's hand. "Your brother and sister-in-law are back."
The girl stood too and ran over to Song Qi. "Brother! Sister-in-law!"
Shen Moxi smiled and nodded. "You're home, Taozi."
Song Qi nodded too. "You're home, Taozi."
That was all he said before going inside and placing the things he was carrying on the table.
Seeing her brother ignore her, Song Shan looked at Huang Yushan, feeling wronged. "Mom, what's wrong with Brother? Why is he ignoring me?"
Huang Yushan sighed and beckoned her over to sit. "Your brother hurt his head before. He can't remember anything."
"What? How did he hurt his head?" Song Zhitao was startled to hear that.
"Ah, we don't know. The people sent by his superiors to bring him back said he ran into danger on a mission and had an accident. He almost never woke up. It was thanks to your sister-in-law marrying him to bring good fortune that he finally woke up," Huang Yushan said, shaking her head.
Hearing that, Song Zhitao stood and looked at Shen Moxi. "Thank you, Sister-in-law."
Hearing this, Shen Moxi thought her little sister-in-law was quite nice, not the sort of illiterate girl who knew nothing and could not tell good from bad.
"We're family. There's no need for thanks. It's my good fortune to have met someone as good as Brother Song," Shen Moxi said with a smile.
"Sister-in-law, Mom said you and my brother opened a shop in town?" Song Zhitao sat beside her and linked arms with her without any reserve.
"Yes, running a shop is a little better than working for someone else. We talked it over and opened a clothing shop." Shen Moxi nodded. "It's still being renovated. We'll be able to open in a few more days."
Song Zhitao leaned closer at that. "Sister-in-law, I'll come help you when we have time off from school."
"Of course. I was worried we wouldn't have enough people. Come help, and I'll pay you wages," Shen Moxi said, nodding with a smile.
"Haha, thank you, Sister-in-law! I'll work really hard!" Song Zhitao jumped up happily.