Chapter 41 The Sea

The decision to open a shop was made, and while searching for a shop, He Yuping used materials from her daughter's online space to make a lot of skincare products.

There were also face wipes, hand wipes, white lipsticks and lip glosses, and some simple-colored lip tints.

Many of the tutorials were found on my daughter's social media page. Combined with the materials available there, the quality of the finished products is even better than those sold in department stores, but the price is also higher.

Nowadays, people don't have much money to spend, so it's really not easy to find a fat man. Unmarried girls working in factories are the ones who are most willing to spend money.

It took half a month to find two shops for sale not far from my father's house. These two shops were in a better location.

The son of this family bought a house in the capital. Because the family has two new children, he wants his parents to sell their house here and go to the capital to help out.

Although the two elderly people were reluctant, they compromised for the sake of their son and grandson. Since they had heard from Old Man He that he wanted to buy a shop, Old Man He was the first person they contacted. After all, they had been neighbors for many years and knew each other to some extent. They would feel more at ease selling to someone they knew.

The old man readily bought both shops with a set of 1,200 silver dollars.

Although the country has issued new banknotes, everyone is afraid that they will depreciate like the previous legal tender, so no one dares to use them, for fear that they will shrink in value as soon as they get their hands on them.

The couple who ran the breakfast shop saw that the old man had bought two more shops, so they thought they should ask him if he could sell them the one they were currently renting.

The old man readily agreed. Since his daughter already had two more shops, selling this one to them was no big deal.

The old man bought these two shops six years ago. The price wasn't as high then as it is now, and during the war, the price was even lower. He bought the two shops for only three hundred silver dollars.

Of course, the prices in this row of shops are all about the same now. Considering they've been neighbors for so many years, the old man gave them a discount of fifty silver dollars.

That afternoon, I went to change the property certificate and also changed my daughter's household registration to the two shops we have now.

He Caiwei remembered that the old man had said that this area was very close to the sea, so the mother and daughter thought they would go out for a stroll before the shop opened.

The old man readily agreed, giving the shop assistant two days off, and the whole family happily drove their donkey cart to the seaside.

It wasn't very far; it only took them four hours by donkey cart. They turned off the main road. There were four villages on either side, and these four villages relied on fishing for their livelihood.

This coastal area is likely affected by the sea, resulting in low grain yields. After paying the grain tax, the remaining grain is only enough for their monthly living needs.

This surplus is only because they have seafood that can be handed over as public grain. However, the fish and shellfish are not edible at all, and they are worthless when they die. Most of them can only be dried and sold as dried goods.

So every year they would dry large quantities of seafood and go to the city to exchange it for grain. Now that liberation has begun, things are better these days; they can get quite a bit of stuff in return.

In the early years, due to the war, people had to hide and flee. Let alone growing crops, even going to sea wouldn't bring them any peace. From time to time, Japanese soldiers or traitors would come and plunder them.

They were lucky to have survived; they couldn't ask for anything more.

The village that He Caiwei and her group came to today happened to have a few families who knew the old man. Perhaps because no one had been here for a long time, many villagers ran out to see them after spotting their donkey cart.

An elderly man, about the same age as the old man, was very excited when he saw him: "Old He, we've been waiting for you! How is it in the city now?"

Although the old man was somewhat thin, his complexion was rosy, suggesting he was living a good life, and his loud voice indicated his good health.

"Old Zheng, how are things? Have you caught any big fish lately? The city is much better than before. Those bastards have all been driven away. Now it's free to buy and sell in the city. You can sell or trade anything you want without being robbed anymore. Look, we grandpa and grandson have all been safe and sound on our journey." Old He reached out and shook the old man's outstretched hand in a friendly gesture.

"Good, that's great! Finally, we don't have to hide anymore. Old He, how's the grain price in the city lately? Do you have any to exchange? I've gotten a lot of good stuff recently." Old Master Zheng was very happy to hear what Old Man He said.

Finally, we can buy and sell freely, and we no longer have to worry about the men in the village not coming back after they leave.

"It's alright. Although it's a little more expensive than before, it's still within an acceptable range. Hmm, before, one silver dollar could buy 110 or 120 catties of rice, now it can buy about 100 catties. If you want it, take it out today and let me take it with you. Two days later, have someone bring a donkey cart or oxcart over, and I'll arrange for them to bring it back for you." Old Man He had done this kind of thing many times before. Because he was friends with the old village chief, he didn't make any profit from their prices; he was just helping out. Now, he didn't need that little bit of extra money, so it was just pure assistance.

While the old man was talking to his old friend, little He Caiwei had already dragged her mother to the beach. In her previous life, she wasn't from the south and didn't live near the sea, so she had never been to the beach before. Therefore, what she longed for most was to go to the beach and go beachcombing.

She was envious of the beachcombing videos on Douyin in her past life, and she really wanted to try it herself to see if she could really find such good things.

Looking at the vast blue sea in front of her, He Caiwei was extremely excited and couldn't wait to take off her shoes and socks and run around in the water.

She had only run a few steps when her mother grabbed her by the back of the collar and pulled her back: "Stay put and behave yourself. A young lady like you shouldn't be taking off your socks here. We'll have them take you out to go beachcombing this afternoon. For now, just play here on this dry beach for a while."

He Caiwei's initial excitement was greatly diminished by her mother's grab. She was about to argue, but upon hearing that they were going to go beachcombing later, her good mood returned.

In the short time that the mother and daughter had been on the beach, many village children had gathered around them, chattering excitedly.

He Caiwei reached out to greet them and introduced herself. The children greeted her one by one and said they would take her to play after dinner.

He Caiwei wasn't stingy either. After the introduction, she gave each of them a piece of sorghum candy. Candy was a rare commodity in this village, and many children who received the sorghum candy didn't even know what it was.

Some children had tried it, and I explained it to those who hadn't, so everyone realized that it was actually candy.