The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 204: Chapter 204: Booming Business at the New Store

”Mommy, I want one!” a little foreign girl said, pointing at the colorful ornamental fish.

Seeing her daughter was interested, the red-headed foreign woman stopped and asked, ”Which fish tank do you like? Which fish?”

The little girl blinked, her eyes fixed on a small, apple-shaped fish tank holding several types of shimmering tetras. ”Mommy, I like the fish that glow.”

She especially liked the neon tetras, glowlight tetras, fluorescent tetras, and cardinal tetras inside.

The little girl asked for three of the fluorescent tetras.

Since the tank was only 25 centimeters at its longest, it could hold five to eight small fish.

After they finished picking, the foreign mother asked in slightly stiff Chinese, ”Hello, how much is this?”

Han Xiaorui replied in English, ”The fish tank is three yuan, and the small fish are one yuan each. A bag of fish food is five yuan and will last for three months.”

In total, that was eight small fish, one fish tank, and one bag of fish food, coming to sixteen yuan.

The foreign woman paid without hesitation. ”Thank you. Your English is excellent.”

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”Your Chinese isn’t bad either. Please come again.”

Wu Lingling swiftly poured the fish and water into a plastic bag, filled it with oxygen, and quickly sealed it to prevent any leaks.

She took a new, identical apple-shaped tank, packed it in a bag, and handed everything to them.

Overjoyed, the mother and daughter left, carrying the fish tank and fish.

Yang Jianguo was stunned. ”The prices are much higher than at the school gate.”

”Of course. The people who shop here aren’t short on cash,” Han Xiaorui said with a nod. ”Besides, we offer better service, and we have a wider variety of tanks than the small shops.”

Wu Lingling nodded repeatedly. ”That’s right. There’s more variety here, and the quality of the tanks is better too.”

”Sister Xiao Rui, there are a lot of foreigners here. I need to learn English—at least the basics, so I can state prices and quantities clearly.”

Yang Jianguo’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe these words were coming from his sister-in-law, who had hated studying since she was a child. ”Lingling, you really want to study?”

Questioned by her brother-in-law, Wu Lingling felt a bit embarrassed and gave a sheepish smile. ”Brother-in-law, I didn’t study hard when I was a kid because I didn’t see the point. It’s different now. I need it for work, so of course, I have to learn.”

Yang Jianguo chuckled. ”Good. If your sister finds out, she’ll be thrilled. She won’t have to cry out of frustration with you anymore.”

”Brother-in-law, stop teasing me!” Wu Lingling stomped her foot in frustration. Her brother-in-law was the worst for undermining her.

Just as Yang Jianguo was about to say more, he saw another customer approaching.

In two hours, they sold over thirty small fish tanks and several hundred small ornamental fish.

Although no large tanks were sold, there were some inquiries.

With more people asking, it was only a matter of time before someone would buy one.

Once they bought a large tank, they would naturally buy large ornamental fish, which had even bigger profit margins.

Yang Jianguo and Zhou Wei were completely reassured. Business here was sure to be good.

”Xiao Rui, I just asked around. This place closes at nine. Lingling can’t handle it all by herself. We need to hire people.”

Han Xiaorui nodded and looked at Wu Lingling. ”Manager Wu, I’ll leave the hiring to you. Initially, we’ll use the same salary-plus-commission model.”

”This shop will need about six employees to cover the morning and evening shifts. The salary will be forty yuan a month, plus a one-percent commission. As for the specific hiring process, you can handle it as you see fit.”

Wu Lingling was thrilled to hear this. ”Thank you, Sister Xiao Rui! Don’t worry, I’ll definitely do a great job.”

She had a ten-percent share of the shop’s profits.

Even though the shop wasn’t entirely hers, she was still a shareholder, so of course she had to be even more dedicated.

It wasn’t busy today, so they closed the shop at seven.

Wu Lingling would hire people as soon as possible; she was fully in charge of things here.

Zhou Wei drove Han Xiaorui and Yang Jianguo home.

When they got home, everyone else was already asleep, but Han Xiaoqing was studying.

”Xiao Jing, why are you still up? The exhibition must have been exhausting. Thanks for your hard work.” Han Xiaorui washed two apples to share with her sister.

Han Xiaoqing put down her pen, took an apple, and said with a smile, ”I’m not tired. At first, I was too embarrassed to speak because my English isn’t standard. But once I realized the foreigners could understand me, I wasn’t scared anymore. My spoken English has gotten much more fluent in the past two days.”

”Also, two foreign guys asked for my contact information, my phone number and all that. It was obvious they were just trying to hit on me, so I gave them the business card for the foreign trade company.”

”Haha,” Han Xiaorui laughed, finding her sister amusing. ”Exactly, you have to be on guard. A lot of guys just see that you’re pretty and want a foreign fling. It might not even count as a romance; they just want a one-night stand. We can’t fall for that. I’m not against you dating, but I hope you’ll be careful about your relationships.”

Han Xiaoqing nodded, agreeing with her sister. ”I know, Sis. Whatever you do, you have to keep it within your control. Those foreign guys can just pack up and leave. It’s not like I can search the whole world for them, right?”

”Besides, university starts in half a month. I’ll be a college student. I need to study hard and improve myself. I don’t have time for dating.”

Han Xiaorui chuckled lightly. ”If you meet someone suitable at school, you could date him.”

Han Xiaoqing shook her head. ”They’re from all over the country. Many of them will be assigned jobs back in their hometowns. My household registration has been moved to Shencheng, and with my professor’s help, I’ll most likely be assigned a job in Shencheng.”

”We’d date in college, and then we’d just break up. Besides, there isn’t much research in this field in our country. My professor even encouraged me to try to study abroad in the future.”

Seeing that her sister had such a clear plan for her life, Han Xiaorui smiled. ”Alright. No matter what, I’ll support your decision. My only condition is that you must ensure you stay safe and happy.”

”Oh, right. If you run into any trouble out there, you have to tell me. If you’re short on money, you have to tell me, too. I’m your older sister. Our parents and brothers might as well not exist. We sisters are the closest, and we rely on each other. I don’t want you hiding things from me when you’re in trouble and not letting me help.”

Moved, Han Xiaoqing came over and hugged Han Xiaorui’s arm. ”Sis, you’re the best. I know. I’ll never hide anything from you again.”

Han Xiaorui calculated the dates. ”I can go out to sea in another three days, and I’ll be back in about three days. After that, I have to go on a trip to Japan with an inspection team.”

”But don’t worry, I’ll be back before your university starts, so it won’t affect your schooling. After that, when I go out to sea, Wu Jiao, Wu Yao, Granny Cai, and Sister Cuicui will be here to help take care of things.”

Han Xiaoqing nodded. ”Sis, Pingping and An’an are recovering well. When you go out to sea, just give me a call, and I’ll take the bus back.”

Han Xiaorui waved her hand. ”Don’t go to all that trouble. There are too many hooligans out there now; it’s not safe at night. I’ll try to go out to sea on weekends from now on. That way, we can have as much time as possible to be with the kids.”

”If the kids really need me, I just won’t go out. Anyway, there are two captains on the boat and plenty of crew. They can handle things on their own.”

Han Xiaorui was pragmatic about it. Making money was important, but money was meant to serve people. She couldn’t neglect the people around her just for the sake of earning more.