Ye Cheng

On this day, old man Wu was very happy. He hummed a little song and bought a catty of pork belly. When he came back, he chopped it up and made a plate of meatloaf. Stew until the skin is rotten and the meat is crispy.

Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan just stuttered a lot of steamed stuffed buns in the alley, and they were not hungry, so they helped old man Wu set up the stall. When someone came to repair shoes, they went straight to work.Old man Wu’s shoe repair stall has also been set up in this old street for many years. The people who come to repair shoes are all nearby residents. In a few words, the identities of Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan were clarified, hey, isn't this the two beggars back then.

Old man Wu didn't like to hear these people being careless in his house, those who watched the excitement were all driven away by him with a rag. , drove away waves and came again, some delivered food to their homes, and some took some food from their homes, all of them were very acquainted.

"Hey, Old Wu, this has caught up with your skills, your apprentice has graduated!"

"It's already a teacher." Old man Wu has never been a modest person.

"The dolls here can earn their own tuition fees, right?"

"What tuition fees do you earn? You don't have to pay tuition fees if you have good grades." Old man Wu was even more proud.

"Hey you, what are you talking about? We haven't produced a doll who doesn't need to pay tuition fees in this alley, and his grades are not good?" The old woman probably also has a doll who is studying at home. Hearing old man Wu say this, he was unhappy.

"That's our alley, your doll can show his face in our alley." The grandson of the old woman's family has good grades and is one of the best in this old district. The one who speaks proudly, old man Wu She has been displeased for a long time, but today is just the time to choke her.

"Why, you two don't have to pay tuition fees for studying?" Some people responded quickly and just asked Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan that way.

"Well, you don't have to pay tuition and miscellaneous fees." Ye Cheng was also happy to save face for old man Wu, but Lu Mingyuan curled his lips, but he still didn't say anything.

"Hey, this baby is promising, tell my aunt, why did the school waive your tuition fees?" Once the aunt and aunt heard that this child was so promising, her tone of voice suddenly became unbearable.

"If you do well in the high school entrance examination, you won't have to pay tuition fees for high school." Seeing old man Wu's smug face, Ye Cheng became more cooperative in his words.

"Then you are in high school this year?" No matter how you look at it, this doll is not yet 16 years old, right?

"We're both freshmen in high school."

"No, it's only been a few years? Let me calculate... It's only been six or seven years. Why are you in the first year of high school? The elementary school in your village teaches you when you are less than eight years old?"

"Yes, skip a grade."

"Oh, these two children are amazing. They have skipped several grades, and the school can waive their tuition fees. It's amazing..."

Seeing that it was almost time to eat, the neighbors in Mr. Wu's house gradually dispersed. Walking in the alley, I could still vaguely hear people from various households talking. It was amazing. some type of.

Old man Wu was in a good mood. After they had dinner, they took out ten yuan from the ticket box and asked Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan to go outside to play and buy some delicious food. It's so different seven years ago, let the two of them hang out and have fun.

It was already afternoon, and the vegetable market was almost closed, so Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan didn't look for Gao Jinhua, but took the bus to the city.As the old man Wu said, this city is very different from seven years ago. The movie theater that used to be considered tall and gorgeous has long been submerged by a few tall buildings next to it. The movie theater is no longer a movie theater, but has been renovated. , changed into a small wholesale market, not only the movie theater, but also the high-end teahouses upstairs, and several alleys nearby, are also included in the scope of this wholesale market.

Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan went in and took a look around. There were some accessories and hairpins that girls like, and there were many dolls with bright colors and different styles.Most of the people who come here to shop are here for wholesale, with a trailer in their hands, and various cardboard boxes and big black and red bags are piled up on the trailer. When they were negotiating the price, Ye Cheng also listened to it, and most of the prices were very low. .

Many large supermarkets have been built in the city center. Lin Xingdi is distributed in various areas. The supermarkets have several floors. The elevators running up and down the stairs are running non-stop. Ye Cheng and the others went in for a while and didn't buy anything. , came out again empty-handed.

They used to go to the upper reaches of the river where they used to play and touch snails. Now a large playground has been built. Standing on this side of the river, you can see the tall Ferris wheel and pirate ship on the opposite side, as well as adults and children paddling on the river. .The river water is not as clear as before, and the color is a little dark. Standing by the river and looking down from the top, you can't see the pebbles at the bottom of the river, and the snails are probably gone.

Walking in this familiar yet unfamiliar city, both Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan felt a little lost. The corners of their memories had been occupied by all kinds of strange things, and the city had changed.

But these are unimportant. The reason why Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan came here was not to remember the past, but to earn some money to go back.They walked around and looked around, and felt that if they wanted to make money during this winter vacation, they could probably make some money by setting up stalls at the entrance of the playground in such a short period of time. Except for the entrances of various shopping malls, people near the playground The flow is maximum.

But what to sell?The best business at the entrance of the amusement park is just a few kinds of sales, such as candied haws, popcorn, cotton candy, balloons, etc. They don’t know how to do candied haws and hawthorns, and wholesale hawthorn is too troublesome, and it’s easy to stock up. Marshmallows You need to buy a machine for popcorn, not to mention that the two of them don't know where to buy it. Even if you buy it, it would be too troublesome to move here from old man Wu's house every day.

The rest is the sale of balloons. With the rapid economic development in recent years, people spend money more casually. As long as the children are happy, it is not uncommon to spend a few dollars to buy a balloon that cannot eat or drink. .The man who sells balloons has a pair of dexterous hands. When he puts the small balloon in his mouth and blows it, pushes and ties the two ends, it becomes a round apple. The strip-shaped balloon bends and turns, like a green leaf on an apple, so cute.He also has balloons of various shapes hanging in his hand, some are long and some are round, some are colored and some are transparent, and there are also transparent balloons with colored ones inside. Good.

After deciding to start the balloon business, Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan went back to the wholesale market. There were two alleys dedicated to selling toys, and several of them were specialized in selling balloons.

Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan naturally don't have the skills of others, but there will inevitably be competition in business, and their skills are not as good as others, so they have to think of other ways.Hydrogen balloons are good, but it's a pity that hydrogen is not easy to buy. According to the proprietress who sells balloons, there is a workshop in the east of the city that specializes in selling hydrogen, but the price is not cheap.

Both Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan can do the chemical experiment of making hydrogen, but that was in the laboratory of their school. The teacher provided the experimental equipment and materials. Now they have nothing. If they want to make hydrogen, they can do it. I had to create the conditions myself.

Fortunately, the chemical principle is relatively simple. They only need to find aluminum powder and caustic soda to make hydrogen by themselves. Aluminum powder is relatively easy to find. There is a metal equipment dealer in this city, and they found it after asking two more stores.Caustic soda is not so easy. There are few stores selling chemicals, and caustic soda is an industrial product, so it is not usually retailed. They asked and searched all the way, and finally found a store called "Xintai Chemical". I bought it here.

With materials, utensils are needed. Naturally, they can't make a bunch of curved glass tubes like in the laboratory. They only need a sealed container, which will not react with the materials used in this experiment. It is convenient when taking hydrogen. That's it.Naturally, the two children thought of a pressure cooker, but the pressure cooker at Old Man Wu's house was too small, and they had to keep it for cooking, so they bought another pressure cooker before it was dark.

This afternoon, they bought balloons, materials, and a pressure cooker. The two of them really spent a lot of money. It's dark.

Old man Wu had already prepared dinner. The grandparents and grandchildren ate dinner. Old man Wu told them to wash up and go to bed. They spent the night on the train last night and went out to play for another day today. They must be tired.But Ye Cheng and the others had just spent so much money buying materials, and they couldn't sleep without experimenting, so the three grandparents and grandchildren moved the shoe repair tools to the side and started tossing the balloons.

The chemical reaction went smoothly. They put the aluminum powder and caustic soda in the pressure cooker, added some water, and covered the lid. After a while, the air holes of the pressure cooker began to "chuck" out. Ye Cheng took I took a balloon and inflated it against the air hole. After a while, it bulged up. I tied it with the cotton thread that old man Wu used to repair shoes. As soon as I let go, the balloon floated up and directly hit the ceiling.

Considering that a well-inflated balloon will leak overnight, Ye Cheng and the others just tried it that night. They didn't get much hydrogen, and the balloons disappeared after a few balloons.Old man Wu was happy, and said that the doll is really different after reading the book. He can make the balloon fly when he fiddles with it at home. good-looking.

Lu Mingyuan asked the old man to take the two of them to buy. The store where the old man bought thread had cotton thread of all colors and thicknesses, and the price was also cheap. Lu Mingyuan followed him once before, but it was so long that he no longer remembered how he got there. , Old man Wu was very happy in his heart, so he agreed with all his mouth.

Early the next morning, the grandparents and grandchildren went to the alley to eat buns, chatted with the bun shop owner for a while, and then drove to the wire shop.That shop was in a grocery market. Old man Wu bought several bundles of colored cotton threads for Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan, and bought some things for himself. The shop owner and old man Wu are also old acquaintances. There was no business early in the morning. Pulling old man Wu to talk, there was no other way, so Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan had no choice but to go back with their things.

This time, they added more ingredients to the pressure cooker, and they increased the amount. Considering safety, they did not dare to add too much. The two moved two small stools and sat on both sides of the pressure cooker. Ye Cheng was inflating the balloon with a balloon in his hand. When it was time, Lu Mingyuan prepared one in his hand, and when Ye Cheng was ready to move away, he immediately replaced it.

The two people inflated alternately. At the beginning, the movements were not proficient enough. In addition, the pressure cooker was directly used as a hydrogen generator without modification, and a lot of hydrogen was wasted. However, in such a short time, I added materials to the pot several times. , In the end, a hundred or so balloons were blown out.The distance from old man Wu's house to the playground is not far, and it is impossible for the two of them to run back and forth to several stalls in a day, so they had to buy more balloons, preferably at one time.

Because of the lack of technology, Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan's balloons basically kept their original shape, round, heart-shaped, long, in various colors, tied with various cotton threads, and put them in their hands. Once you grab it, it's colorful.

The two of them came out of the alley with a lot of balloons, attracting a lot of people to watch. Children shouted and jumped around them, and some asked the price like little adults, so Ye Cheng gave them one dollar a piece. Only did a few orders.

The process of getting on the bus was not very smooth. There were too many balloons. The front door of the bus was short and narrow. Ye Cheng accidentally broke several balloons. Fortunately, Lu Mingyuan was smart. The balloons were stuffed into the car one by one, and they were grabbed one by one after getting on the car.

Those colorful balloons were leaning against the roof of the car one by one, and colorful cotton threads hung down. The people in the car also thought it was very interesting. The aunts and aunts who went out to buy vegetables were originally enthusiastic. Helping them catch the balloons, some people didn't want to return them after they caught the balloons, so they asked Ye Cheng how much they paid for one, Ye Cheng said two yuan, and then made a few more deals.

When I came out to take the bus early in the morning, I saw two children holding a bunch of colorful balloons floating in their hands. Everyone was probably in a good mood. Even the bus driver couldn't help but talk to Ye Cheng and the others. talk.

"I think you two are still students, why come out to sell balloons?"

"It's vacation, make some money." Lu Mingyuan didn't like talking to strangers, and Ye Cheng's answer was very straightforward.

"Are you going to the playground?" The bus in this city is the busiest on the playground side.

"Yes."

"The balloon business over there is easy to do, and there are many children, haha."

"However, there are many people in the playground from noon to afternoon, and there are fewer people in the evening. If you really want to make money, you can go to the pedestrian street to continue selling at night."

"That's right, you two know about Chengnan Pedestrian Street, right? It's very lively there. It's also a movie theater and an entertainment city. Many young people are dating there. There are many people there at night, and there is an ice skater. Field, a place for young people."

"When you get there, don't buy balloons for children, but specialize in balloons that young people like. Heart-shaped ones, transparent ones, and pink ones are all easy to sell."

The people in the car were talking to Ye Cheng and the others. Ye Cheng listened with a smile, nodded while listening, and planned to go to the pedestrian street to have a look tonight.