This year was a good harvest for the farmers in the village. Several nearby villages merged into one township, and the newly established township government applied to the county for funding to build a vegetable market.

  The vegetable market is located on a vacant lot near the marketplace, which is a simple arbor-like building.

  But for the vegetable vendors, it has a completely different meaning. Not only do they have a fixed place to shelter from wind and rain, but they can also set up stalls every morning without being limited to the market. The farmers are much more convenient, and there is always a place to buy vegetables every day.

  Half a month later, the market was built and named Xingwang Market. A big sign was hung up and firecrackers were set off to mark the official opening of the market.

  Unexpectedly, there were very few people setting up stalls inside, and most of them took a wait-and-see attitude and still set up their stalls in the usual place outside.

  Of course, there is a reason for this. The countryside spent money to build the vegetable market and naturally had to collect money in return. If you want to set up a stall in the new vegetable market, you have to pay a certain stall fee. This money may not be a lot, but it's also not a small number in the eyes of rural people.

  Zhou Guoqiang was hesitant and reluctant to part with his money, unable to make up his mind.

  Zhao Yuzhen suggested at home: "His dad, let's wait and see what others will do before we make a decision."

  Zhou Xiaoyun, who was eating with her head down, couldn't help but interrupt: "Dad, I think you should consider putting some money into the market to sell meat! Think about it, 10 or so yuan a month is not a lot, but selling meat at the market is much more convenient. You won't get blown by the wind or drenched in the rain, and you can set up your stall every day, which is much better than just setting up on market days. If you sell a bit more, you'll be able to make back the cost of the stall!"

  The last sentence moved Zhou Guoqiang, and he made up his mind to hand over the money to the manager of the vegetable market. The person in charge was Xu Meili's father, Xu Dashan, who was responsible for the production team because the vegetable market was located in their village.

  Xu Dashan gave Zhou Guoqiang a receipt after receiving the money and intentionally left a good location near the vegetable market entrance for Zhou Guoqiang. Zhou Guoqiang was grateful and invited Xu Dashan to his home for dinner and drinks.

  Xu Dashan readily agreed and also brought Xu Meili along.

  Usually doesn't bother with Xu Meili, Zhou Xiaoyun can't slack off now that there's a guest, painfully accompanying Xu Meili for an entire afternoon.

  Zhou Xiaoyun was puzzled, how could Xu Meili talk to herself without feeling bored? From start to finish, she only said a few words, "uh-huh", "ah", "oh", "really?", "okay", and the rest of the time was just Xu Meili talking to herself.

  Wu Mei and Wang Jingjing both loved talking, while Zhou Xiaoyun herself didn't talk much and had always liked listening to her companions' chats.

  What Ke Xiu said was unbearable, and her words were full of self-praise and belittling others. Zhou Xiaoyun listened with great pain and finally understood why Wang Jingjing and the others disliked her so much.

  Xu Meili felt quite good about herself, and she always smiled at Zhou Xiaoyun with a sideways ear to listen, suddenly feeling that the two of them being good friends was not bad either. She made a generous unilateral decision to be friends with Zhou Xiaoyun afterwards.

  Of course, if there's a chance, she still wants to snatch the position of class monitor from her, thought Xu Meili.

  Finally got through this meal and sent the big sister away, Zhou Xiaoyun let out a long sigh. Her ears were so clear that she wanted to cry tears of joy.

  The vegetable market gradually became lively, and farmers began to get used to buying vegetables at the market every day.

  Zhou Guoqiang formally started going to the market every morning to sell pork, and indeed, as Zhou Xiaoyun said, business got a lot better. Zhao Yuzhen took Er Ya with her to the market every day, and the couple couldn't get home until after 12 o'clock.

  Zhou Xiaoyun took on the responsibility of cooking again. Every day at noon, as soon as she got home and put down her school bag, she would start a fire to cook rice. Once the rice was done, she would heat up the dishes that had been prepared the night before and stir-fry them, so that when her parents arrived home, dinner would be ready.

  Dà bǎo wants to hide but can't hide, is the best choice for cooking fire.

  Xiao Bao is not much younger than Da Bao, but he is more diligent. Seeing his brother and sister cooking and burning fire, he helps to hold the bowl, wipe the table, sweep the floor and so on. The three siblings work together to solve the lunch problem perfectly.

  Zhao Yuzhen and Zhou Guoqiang were overjoyed when they could finally have a hot meal at home.

  Zhou Guoqiang and Zhao Yuzhen no longer had to worry about "lunch" and were able to do business with ease, not having to rush back home from the market, and their stall could be closed later, of course, doing better business.

  Although there are two or three more pork vendors in the market, Zhou Guoqiang's pork stall is still the most prosperous.

  Another thing that made the couple happy was that their children were so obedient and well-behaved, there's nothing that makes parents happier than this.

  Days slipped away unnoticed, and the life of the Zhou family underwent a subtle change without anyone realizing it.

  First of all, our family installed a telephone at home.

  At that time, there were only a few households in the village with telephones, at most several households. Zhou Guoqiang's family was unexpectedly among the first in the whole village, which was quite an achievement.

  This phone is certainly not just for show, but has a very practical use.

  Zhou Guoqiang spent a lot of money to install a telephone at home in order to expand the scale of his pork stall. In the past, he had to run around everywhere to collect pigs, but now a large part of his business is done through phone calls, which is undoubtedly a huge progress.

  Now some people who want to sell pigs from a distance call him and Zhou Guoqiang goes to collect the pigs at any time, saving a lot of time.

  Zhou Guoqiang no longer just slaughters pigs for himself to sell, but has also started a wholesale business.

  Several pork-selling stalls in the market came to him for pork to sell, and of course, they didn't make as much money as wholesale, but they had a large quantity.

  It turns out that this idea is also thanks to Zhou Xiaoyun's reminder. Zhou Guoqiang mentioned at home that several pork vendors in the market bought pork from the slaughterhouse in the county town and sold it, and few people like Zhou Guoqiang who collected pigs and killed them for sale.

  "Hey, Dad, why not ask these few families to come to our house to sell pork and charge them a lower price like the slaughterhouse? It's convenient for both parties and saves trouble."

  Zhou Guoqiang slapped his thigh, a word awakened the dreamer!

  The clever Zhao Yuzhen even took her business into the restaurants.

  She has run through all the restaurants in the nearby villages, winning unanimous praise from restaurants with low prices and door-to-door delivery services. As a result, the couple can only guard the pork stall one by one and go out to run errands.

  Zhou Guoqiang rode a tricycle all day, running around busily with his hands and feet non-stop. But as he saw the money he earned increasing, no matter how tired he was, he felt happy in his heart.

  The couple looked forward to it and thought that if things went on like this, they might be able to build a small house in two years.

  Zhou Xiaoyun goes to the market every Sunday to help Zhao Yuzhen sell pork. At a young age, she is polite and courteous when selling things, and her quick calculations and clever words have earned her quite a reputation in the market.

  The family's economy has become more prosperous, and the children's pocket money has increased. Zhao Yu Zhen is unusually generous, giving each child five cents of pocket money every week.

  Zhou Xiaoyun smiled and accepted it, Xiao Bao was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth, while Da Bao blushed and considered whether he could send one dollar a week, but was slapped on the back of the head and sent away.