Ye Cheng

Ye Cheng used the spray paint he bought to process their small cart. First, he used white spray paint to spray a layer of base color on the three facades of the cart. After it dried, he used various pink colors. Spray cloud-like cotton candy one by one, and finally spray azure blue stripes on the upper and lower ends of several facades, echoing the red and white stripes on the canopy, making this small cart look beautiful and energetic.

Now that everything is ready, it is only due to Dongfang. Ye Cheng and the others have to set up a stall and study. It is impossible to push this cart back and forth every day. They have to find a place to put it in the town. This place can't be far from the elementary school. The door is too far away, because they both have limited time after class every day.

For this reason, they searched for a house on Saturday afternoon. Since they visited Tan Xiaosong in the city hospital last time, they rarely went out to mend their shoes. Just to sell cotton candy, they went out every weekend. have something to do.Without going out to repair shoes, the family has almost no income, except sometimes selling a little salted duck eggs and preserved eggs, but the money is still not enough for their family's expenses, the duck eggs are not free, they have to buy food for the ducks, and buy salt Marinated with various materials.

On the streets of the town, there have been more and more shops in recent years, especially since the elementary school was established very early, and it is located in the center of the town. It is really not easy to find a place to put carts in that area.For convenience, the place to find must be very close to the entrance of the elementary school, but the rent is often very expensive near the entrance of the elementary school, and they are not doing business all day, so it is not cost-effective at all.

In the end, Ye Cheng and the others found a house in an alley on the street. They said that the house was actually a bit too much, because the alley was winding, and the shop was a fan-shaped area separated by a corner. There are houses on both sides, but they are not close to each other. The area of ​​this open space is not particularly small. Someone built a prefab house in this place.

There is already someone doing business in the board room. She is a woman who sews for others. She is a bit old. She also sells some hairpins and ropes in her shop, as well as some sundries such as needlework, insoles and lighters, but these sundries are all used. A wooden board is placed at the door, and a sewing machine and some tools and materials are placed in the room, which looks relatively spacious.

When Ye Cheng and the others went, the woman was stepping on the sewing machine to help people make curtains. Her hands and feet were very fast, and the two pieces of curtain cloth were processed within half an hour.Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan waited for her to finish their work before explaining their intentions.

"You two set up a stall by yourself?" She knows best the hardships and fatigue of running a small business, and she is often looked down upon by others. Some people spend one or two yuan to ask her to get something, and they have to pick and choose. She No matter how unhappy I was, I had no choice but to greet people with a smile, not to mention how uncomfortable that feeling was.How come there are still children who want to come out to earn this kind of money?

"Yeah, there is no place to put things, can I leave them with you?"

"Doing business is not easy. What are you planning to sell?" She didn't answer Ye Cheng's question directly.

"Cotton candy." Ye Cheng said honestly, seeing this woman was very talkative, and hoped that she would agree to let them leave the cotton candy machine.

"Sell it at the primary school?" the woman asked again.

"Well, can things be put here?" Ye Cheng asked, if she disagreed, he and Lu Mingyuan would have to find another place.

"You see, my room is not spacious..." she said in a embarrassed tone.

"We can pay the rent." Lu Mingyuan said very directly.

"You're right, my aunt doesn't mean that, but you see, it's really not easy to do business. Why do you two want to go this way when you are young? Just to build this shed, it took a lot of money. It’s a lot of money, let’s start a small business, and it’s enough to buy vegetables. Just like that, those people on the street come all day long to say that they want to demolish my house. Alas, if my man didn’t know a few people, this dilapidated house would be destroyed sooner or later. It was demolished..." The woman was babbling, and she was trying to collect the rent, and Ye Cheng and the others didn't plan not to pay the rent.

"Then shall we give you 100 yuan a month?" Ye Cheng asked.

"How big is your thing?"

"The length is 1.2 meters, and the width is only 1.8 centimeters. With the small shed, the height is [-] meters." The things were made by Lu Mingyuan, so he also remembered the dimensions very well.

"Let me see if there is enough room here." The woman took a soft ruler for clothes into the room to measure the space, and then gestured to the size of Ye Cheng's cotton candy machine. "It's enough to put it down, but it's still a bit crowded. You usually have to study, so it's only a short time to push it out to set up a stall. Oh, forget it, it's not easy for you two."

Hearing what she said, Ye Cheng knew that the other party had agreed, so he quickly took out the 100 yuan in his pocket and paid the rent for the next month first, and then went to the school reception room with Lu Mingyuan to push the cart out. Since I came out to look for a house today, I naturally had to bring the cart out, and put it in directly when I found the house, so as to save an extra trip when I got it.The old man in the reception room was so annoyed by the two of them that they kept on talking, so Ye Cheng and the others had no choice but to push the car and leave quickly.

When they pushed the car to a bridge in the town, they suddenly felt that there were so many people in the town that day, if they set up a stall, they might be able to make some money, and they didn't have to wait at the gate of the primary school for those children to finish their classes. time.

This bridgehead is one of the busiest places in the town. It connects the new street and the old street. There are many shops nearby. At night, there will be many food stalls. I heard that the business has always been good.Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan met each other's eyes, and then they both laughed as if they knew each other. The two found a place on the bridge and stopped the cart, then turned on the gas, and started to make marshmallows.

The two poles supporting the canopy at both ends of their carts were wrapped round and round by Cai Jinzhi with woven straw mats, tied tightly to the poles, and then covered with a thin layer of cloth , the straw cannot be seen from the outside, it is very suitable for inserting marshmallows.Every time Lu Mingyuan pulled out a marshmallow, Ye Cheng inserted them into the poles at both ends of the cart. After a while, both sides of their cart were filled with colorful marshmallows, which quickly attracted the attention of some passers-by. eyeball.

"Is this cotton candy?" a little girl asked curiously.

"You stupid! What else could it be if it's not cotton candy?" said her friend next to her.

"I've never seen cotton candy like this before. Have you seen it? Boss, is this cotton candy?" the girl asked persistently.

"Yeah, fruity ones, one yuan each." Ye Cheng took another cotton candy from Lu Mingyuan.

"Then what flavor is that in your hand?" A thin black girl with a student's haircut asked.

"This orange is flavored with cantaloupe."

"Cantaloupe flavor, give me, I like cantaloupe flavor." Another little man with a ponytail jumped happily and reached out to take the marshmallow in Ye Cheng's hand.

"Is there watermelon flavor?" another girl asked.

"Not this one. There are also strawberry, apple, banana, coffee, and taro flavors."

"Give me a taro-flavored one."

"I want strawberries."

"Is the green one an apple flavor?"

Several girls were chattering, there were seven of them in total, each of them picked out a marshmallow for himself, and one of them, a tall girl in a fashionable dress, gave Ye Cheng ten dollars to find it. Ye Cheng had no intention of doing business today. , I didn't bring much change with me, but fortunately, I can still find three yuan.

This made seven dollars all at once. Although it is nothing compared to when they sold balloons in the city, it is much better than their usual income from repairing shoes. Sometimes they walk outside for a while. All day long, you may not be able to earn 30 to [-] yuan.

After a while, many people gathered around here to watch the excitement. People in the town have a slow pace of life, and everyone is usually quite leisurely. Those who open shops, because the rent is relatively low, so the pressure is also small, unlike in the city. People are so desperate, there are quite a few people playing mahjong with children in small shops, and more people are closing early in the afternoon to rest. Now I saw something new. Some shop owners and nearby residents came to watch the fun up.

"Hey, this thing is fresh!" A group of old men praised while watching.

"Young man, where did you learn this technique?" There was a medium-sized man in his early thirties, who watched Lu Mingyuan make marshmallows freshly, stepping on his feet, wrapping his hands around, and making two or three Colorful cotton candy came out.

"A teacher in the city." You can't say that you came here for nothing, and when people ask, it would be bad for him not to tell.

"Where did you buy this machine?" the man asked again.

"In the city." Ye Cheng raised his head and smiled at him.

"Hey, Da Dao Liu, don't talk to others, you are a fool, can this money-making job be given to you for free?" The people who came to watch the excitement together dismissed the man who asked the question politely.

"What are you talking about, I just find it fresh, hehe, this thing is quite interesting." The one who was called Da Dao Liu raised his eyes to see Ye Cheng's face while talking, Ye Cheng didn't seem to be looking at him .

These people chatted while watching the excitement. "During the National Day last year, a stinky tofu maker came to do business. I asked her how to make tofu so stinky and delicious, but she didn't say anything. Then I thought it was the same, hey, everything It is to earn money to eat, who is so stupid to waste his own job."

"That's right, if I ask how your pig's feet are stewed, can you tell me?" The others laughed.

"But this cotton candy is really fresh and colorful."

"It's fresh."

"Ah, fresh."

Ye Cheng was too embarrassed to say anything until a woman in her twenties brought a child over to buy cotton candy and called out to them: "I say you guys!" These people, on the first day their children opened, they blocked the stall to death."

"I didn't pay attention, it's not to see what they have fresh, everyone come and have a look." The men moved their positions and stood behind and at the side of their stall, at least vacating the front.

The weather this weekend is very good, and there are many pedestrians on the street. It was not like now that everyone had a computer at home, and the children were not very addicted to online games. There were so many arcade players who had to go out to play. .Adults also like to visit, and women always have to visit the newly opened shops on the street in the past few years to see if there are new products.

Lu Mingyuan's skills became more and more proficient, and later he didn't need Ye Cheng to help pass things. He could operate the whole process by moving his hands back and forth.Those who watched the excitement were not in vain. Some people watched and watched, and the children at home found out that they must have to pay for one.Ye Cheng happened to bring no change today, and several of them ran small shops. When Ye Cheng opened his mouth to ask, someone sent over 100 yuan in change, including banknotes and coins.

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, many children surrounded Ye Cheng's stall, and suddenly Lu Mingyuan's speed of making marshmallows could not keep up with Ye Cheng's selling speed, and those children waited around the stall.

"Boss, I want strawberry flavor."

“Apple flavored!”

“Strawberry flavored strawberry flavored!”

"I came first, I want coffee flavor!"

"Bigger, bigger!"

Every time Lu Mingyuan adds material to the cotton candy machine, he has to add several sticks of cotton candy. This is more efficient and the taste is relatively pure. If you do it one by one, the taste will be easily confused, such as in apple-flavored cotton candy. It tastes like strawberry.

But in this way, these children are always arguing over which flavor to make first, and each flavor has its own camp. At the moment, the strawberry flavor camp is the loudest, saying that the most people want to buy this flavor. Lu Mingyuan just finished making a few coffees It tastes like strawberry flavor. After selling a few, there are still two left on the pole. Maybe someone will ask for it later. Then he quickly added strawberry-flavored ingredients to the cotton candy machine. His eardrums were about to burst.

There was a younger girl, about four or five years old, who had no money in her pocket, so she bit her finger and stood aside watching, watching the marshmallow in Lu Mingyuan's hand getting bigger and bigger. took away.Every time the marshmallows were taken away, she was very disappointed.

Finally, after another marshmallow was taken away, she turned around and ran away. When Ye Cheng and his business passed a small peak and the group of children scattered in disorder, she saw the girl being taken away by a A boy in his sixteen or seventeen years old came to the stall again with his arms in his arms. This boy was none other than Zhong Wanli, the propaganda committee member in Lu Mingyuan's class.

"Hey, where are you two setting up a stall?" Zhong Wanli whistled briskly.

"Yes." Ye Cheng smiled, but Lu Mingyuan didn't raise his head.

"My sister said she wants to eat cotton candy, give me one." Zhong Wanli smacked his lips, looked at the rolling and bigger cotton candy in Lu Mingyuan's hand, and said again. "Two."

"What flavor?" Ye Cheng felt that he should list the flavors and hang them up, so as not to keep asking.

"Qiaoqiao, what flavor do you want?" Zhong Wanli asked the girl in his arms.

"Apple flavor." She has already figured out the problem of taste, and her long time just now was not in vain.

"I want two apple flavors, monitor, old acquaintance, make us a bigger one!" Zhong Wanli made the same request as those kids just now.

"Big one!" the girl emphasized again loudly.

"Lu Mingyuan, bring them two big ones." After all, they were classmates. Although they had a fight, they didn't get along too badly afterwards.

As a result, the marshmallow in Lu Mingyuan's hand rolled bigger and bigger, and there was no tendency to stop. When it was ready, Ye Cheng was shocked.Lu Mingyuan's skill got better the more he practiced, on such a not-so-long bamboo stick, he rolled a huge cotton candy, the diameter was estimated to be nearly forty centimeters, and the little girl grabbed it in her hand, If it wasn't for knowing that marshmallows have no weight, Ye Cheng would have worried that she would be overwhelmed.

"Big enough! Squad leader, you are so interesting!" Zhong Wanli took the marshmallow that Lu Mingyuan handed over, smiling like a flower.

"Let's just charge three yuan each." Lu Mingyuan had a look on his face that I already gave you a lot of discounts for the sake of my classmates.

"What? Didn't you say one yuan each?"

"Too many materials are used, and the cost is increased. If you don't buy it, just return it." Lu Mingyuan didn't want to sell the cotton candy he and Ye Cheng found together to this annoying guy at all.

Ever since this guy touched Ye Cheng's ass during military training, Lu Mingyuan has never liked him very much, but he was not enlightened before, so he just didn't like him.But it's different now. Ever since he and Ye Cheng had a closer relationship, his views on that matter are completely different. As long as he thinks that this guy dared to put his hand on Ye Cheng's ass, he can't wait to take a knife It chops.

"No return." The girl who was held by Zhong Wanli opened her mouth and took a hard bite on the cotton candy to show her possession of this huge cotton candy.

"Hmph, profiteer." Zhong Wanli also took a bite of the marshmallow, and then instructed her sister. "Qiaoqiao, take the money."

"Oh." The girl named Zhong Qiaoqiao reached out and took out ten yuan from a small pocket on her brother's chest and handed it to Ye Cheng.

Naturally, Ye Cheng couldn't really accept three yuan from others. Since he was a classmate, he was the one who told Lu Mingyuan just now that he wanted to make it bigger. Even if the marshmallow is more than a little bit bigger now, Ye Cheng still only charged the original price, ten yuan. money, and then find eight dollars back.

"Haha, it's better to be a little leaf!" Zhong Wanli laughed so hard that he couldn't see his teeth, and with a smile, he asked her sister to put the change in her pocket, and glanced at Lu Mingyuan triumphantly.

"It's a loss." After Zhong Wanli left with his sister in his arms, Lu Mingyuan said dissatisfiedly to Ye Cheng.

"It's a bit of a loss." Ye Cheng smiled helplessly.

"I hate that guy!" Lu Mingyuan reiterated his attitude.

"Well, I know." Lu Mingyuan's performance was so obvious that even the blind could see it.

"Don't sell it to him next time." This is what he wanted to say the most.

"That won't work, hehe." Ye Cheng didn't agree with Lu Mingyuan's words this time. "Well, tell me, should we make a few signs and put them up in the future, clearly stating the taste and price?"

"Use a wooden board as a handle, and hang it on the pole in front of the awning." Lu Mingyuan looked up at the awning above, and was successfully distracted.

"Well, why don't we make it in different sizes in the future, and the small size sells for one piece and the large size sells for two?" The incident just now gave Ye Cheng an inspiration. There are also some customers who come to buy cotton candy with relatively good financial means. , like a child from a rich family, or a middle school student like Zhong Wanli.

"Okay." Lu Mingyuan was not very happy about being taken advantage of by Zhong Wanli.

In the following time, people came to buy one after another, most of the time it was Lu Mingyuan who was making cotton candy, and sometimes Ye Cheng would take over the work for a while, but Lu Mingyuan obviously didn't like to be with those big women and small women There are also chattering kids to deal with, so he is usually the one who makes the marshmallows, and Ye Cheng collects the money.

Because the business was not bad, Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan were reluctant to close the stall. They originally planned to go back in the evening, but after six o'clock, there were more people on the street, and their business was booming for a while.

It wasn't until eight o'clock in the evening that the flow of people on the street gradually decreased. Ye Cheng also and Lu Mingyuan pushed the car to the board room that had just paid the rent today. It was so late, they thought that if the other party had closed the door, I had no choice but to push the car back to the village.

In the end, I went to the alley and saw that the pavement was closed, but there was a hair salon opposite the prefabricated house. The proprietress saw Ye Cheng and the others pushing the car, so she yelled upstairs: "Sister Hui, those two children Come here, come down and open the door."

After a while, the woman who collected the rent from Ye Cheng and the others came down from upstairs, still wearing her pajamas: "Why did you two come here? If you don't come again, I will fall asleep." She complained Ye Cheng and Lu Mingyuan felt a little embarrassed when they spoke, but there was a smile on their faces.

The woman called Sister Hui opened the door for Ye Cheng and the others to push the cart in, and then said: "If you want to come here later, please call me downstairs. The house opposite belongs to my family. I will sleep on the second floor." In the room in front of the building, you can hear it if you shout."