On the third day of the New Year, everyone who had gone to Grandma's house to pay New Year's greetings had returned home. A total of eight children gathered at Grandpa's house, and the house suddenly became lively.
My younger uncle also returned from my uncle's house, reeking of alcohol, and took out a 'Chinese Idioms Dictionary' and a small box from the bag under the bed.
Feng Yiping took it over and looked at it. The dictionary cost a full 35 yuan, and the small box contained a Hero fountain pen. He didn't know how much the pen cost, but it was definitely not cheap. His uncle had not given him any New Year's money before, but he had made it up to him this time.
Feng Yiping was not polite, and bought it and accepted it. 'Uncle, you spent so much money, aren't you afraid that your future sister-in-law will be angry?'
Mei Yiliang shook his hand and said loudly, 'How could that be?'
He added a little later, 'I went shopping with her, thinking that you should study hard and write more good articles.'
'Haha, no wonder, I heard that your auntie's family runs a furniture factory?'
'Keep your voice down, what auntie.' Mei Yiliang was afraid that if Mei Jianzhong heard it, he would definitely keep asking questions.
'It's not like we run a factory, her father was a master at the original city furniture factory, and after he retired, he rented a place on the street and opened a workshop, there weren't many people in total.'
'Oh,' Feng Yiping felt a bit more confident. At this time, an old employee of a state-owned enterprise who had the courage to do this must have some ideas. He would not necessarily be constrained by issues such as family background and household registration. At the very least, the future father-in-law would not be too difficult to convince.
'So what does the factory mainly do now?' Feng Yiping asked.
'We do everything. The master is good at his trade and does a good job. We do all the work for regular customers and the new customers they introduce to us. We make whatever they want,' said Mei Yiliang.
'How's business?'
'It's OK. We have work every day anyway. The styles are similar to those of the big factories, and the materials are the same. Our products are of good quality and inexpensive. There are still quite a few people who come to buy on the recommendation of regular customers.'
Feng Yiping understood. It was probably due to the scale or manpower issues that the furniture factory actually produced according to orders, so there was no talk of sales, and it was estimated that it had not done much to develop business. To put it bluntly, it was the same as the village carpenter, except that the village carpenter only earned wages and the materials for the furniture were provided by the host family, while the furniture factory provided both labour and materials.
His core competitive advantage should be the excellent level of his brother-in-law's craftsmanship, affordable prices, and a model that is equivalent to custom-made.
At this time, when buying home appliances, everyone wants to buy imported ones, such as some RB brands in particular.
However, in the furniture industry, there are no well-known brands in the market. Apart from comparing prices in the market, buyers also trust the word-of-mouth recommendations from relatives and friends. Therefore, Xiao Wei Shifu's factory is still doing well, but if it doesn't change and doesn't think long-term, its future will be worrying.
Last year, after Comrade Xiaoping's southern tour, a large number of people went into business. According to statistics, 120,000 public employees resigned and went into business, and 10 million others invested in the commercial sector in various ways! For a time, companies in all walks of life sprang up like mushrooms after rain. The immediate reaction was that the prices of various raw materials on the market rose sharply.
The furniture industry is also a very promising industry that can be classified as a necessity. Even in the most frugal of households, you can't do without furniture, but you can do without home appliances. We have a population of over one billion, just think of the demand!
And the furniture export market is also huge. Later, many furniture factories in coastal provinces that specialised in exports had annual sales of tens of millions of yuan, which was not difficult to achieve.
The furniture market has a large capacity, but the entry barrier is not high. There are not many requirements for factories and equipment. There are many ways to do it, depending on how much money you have. I'm sure many people have also set their sights on this market.
I believe that competition in this industry will become fierce from now on. For a factory like Master Xiaolei's, if things continue as they are, it seems quite difficult to remain as carefree as they are now.
Feng Yiping is also familiar with the furniture industry. He has been to several furniture factories before. This is not the key point, but the key point is that he remembers many styles of furniture.
Before he confirmed his relationship with Zhang Yan, Feng Yiping lived in a rented house with several colleagues. They were all happy bachelors, and everyone was happy and lively together.
After two colleagues got girlfriends and moved in, for some reason, there were more conflicts.
So after Feng Yiping and Zhang Yan got together, he simply didn't want to share a flat with anyone. Not only was it inconvenient, it was also prone to conflict.
Those days were sweet but miserable. Needless to say, they were sweet, but miserable because they were always moving. In the worst year, he and Zhang Yan were forced to move three times, from the east to the west, from the west to the south, and then from the south to the north.
So if Feng Yiping really has a fixation on something, it's houses. This is why, once Feng Yiping arrived in Guangzhou, he bought two houses. While there was certainly an element of property speculation involved, it was also related to his obsession.
During the years when he was forced to move around a lot, Feng Yiping's focus on the internet was no longer on looking at beautiful women, the military or entertainment gossip, but on reading posts on various forums about people renovating their houses.
Watching others renovate a new or old house, a big or small house, into a warm and comfortable home with different styles after months of hard work and effort, he would involuntarily salivate.
These forums, of course, are also full of discussions about all kinds of furniture. Zhang Yan also did a lot of research, both on the computer and in notebooks, and it was very comprehensive. Although the two of them didn't even have one square metre of their own house at the time, they could be considered authentic folk experts when it came to decoration and furniture.
Feng Yiping can say with certainty that Zhang Yan's preparations for their wedding were less than one-fifth of the preparations for the decoration of their future house.
They discussed everything and nothing, what style the future decoration should be, what furniture they envisaged for their home, and what styles they would be. They even updated their plan once a quarter in line with the most popular styles of the time.
These preparations were indeed used when they decorated and furnished their first house, but when decorating the house they bought later, the two of them were very casual, probably because they had spent too much passion and attachment on the first house.
However, especially those classic furniture styles are undoubtedly a great treasure to have now.
But at the moment, Feng Yiping doesn't want to tell his brother-in-law about this. No matter how smart you are, your current identity is just a child in junior high school. It's irrelevant. If you know about an industry that you've never been exposed to before, and you can even design furniture, aren't you just asking for trouble? Age is always a disadvantage!
As I said before, Feng Yiping doesn't want to attract attention, and there's really no way around it. He has to make people think he's smart and has some connection to talent, but he must never let people think he's a demon.
So, even if he wants to talk about these things, the timing is very important, and it's not the time to do it yet.
On the third day of the Chinese New Year, it was inevitable that Feng Yiping was invited to dinner by several families. Together with some guests he didn't know very well, he went from one house to the next. He didn't get to eat much, but the warm hospitality was very touching.
Early on the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, Feng Yiping went to his family's house with seven cousins, Rongrong and Ruirui from his eldest uncle's family, Chengcheng and Qingqing from his second uncle's family, Yangyang and Yunyun from his third uncle's family, and Dongdong.
Along the way, Feng Yiping was the undisputed king of the children.
Rongrong from his eldest uncle's family, Chengcheng from his second uncle's family, Yangyang from his third uncle's family, and himself could take care of themselves, but they were all carrying New Year's gifts and couldn't look after the other siblings. Feng Yiping had to look after the rest.
Rui Rui is the youngest and has to be held a lot of the time. As usual, it's not a matter of scarcity, but of uneven distribution. Dongdong, the most spoiled child in the third uncle's family, is already over four years old and can walk completely on his own. After walking for a while, he slows down, saying, 'I'm so tired!' and clamoring for Feng Yiping to carry him.
Carrying a child on a mountain path is hard work, and Feng Yiping's current thin frame has limited endurance. Taking turns to carry the two little ones, they could only walk for a while before resting.
Rongrong and the other two also shared the things they were carrying with Qingqing and Yunyun, taking turns to help Feng Yiping for a while. In this way, the eight of them, with the exception of Rui Rui and Dongdong, all arrived at Fengjiazhuang out of breath.
Seeing them, Wenhua ran like the wind to Feng Yiping's house to report the news. Feng Zhenchang was waiting at the door with a long string of firecrackers, and as soon as they appeared, he lit them with a cigarette in his hand.
Mei Qiuping came up to them and took Ruirui from Feng Yiping's hands. 'Ruirui, do you miss your aunt?'
Ruirui said in a baby voice, 'Yes, auntie. Happy New Year.'
Mei Qiuping pressed her face against his little face, "Ruirui is really good and sensible.'
Feng Zhenchang took the gifts they were holding, and Yangyang said while covering his ears, "Uncle, you let off all the firecrackers, do you have any left for us to play with?'
Feng Zhenchang took out a box of small firecrackers from his pocket, 'Is that enough? If not, there are more at home.'
'That's enough, let's go play first.' They weren't in a hurry to go inside, and took Chengcheng and Dongdong with them to set off the firecrackers.
Lunch was lively and enjoyable. At their aunt and uncle's house, they were very informal. The three girls were a little more reserved, but the remaining four boys really fought over the food they liked, so the table became a battlefield.
Fortunately, Feng Yiping and the others were there to keep an eye on things, so the table didn't get overturned.
After lunch, Yangyang and Chengcheng went off to play with Wenhuawenhui, Rongrong and Yunyun took a nap with Dongdong and Qingqing, and Ruiru was held by Feng Yiping.
After Mei Qiuping had finished washing the dishes and tidied up, she took Ruiru, who had fallen asleep, from Feng Yiping. Feng Zhanchang took a sip of strong tea and asked Mei Qiuping, 'How much are they giving each?'
It turned out that they were in a generous mood and were prepared to give their nephew a New Year's gift.
'I think three yuan,' said Mei Qiuping.
'Three yuan doesn't look good, how about five yuan?' Feng Zhanchang said.
'Five yuan?' Mei Qiuping's voice rose, 'When Yiping went down there, did they give him a penny? Usually, five yuan is enough for a gift!'
'Keep your voice down, you'll wake up Ruirui.' Feng Yiping's head ached when he encountered such problems. Mei Qiuping really valued money above life, and in most cases Feng Zhenchang was the same, but Feng Zhenchang also loved to save face, especially now that he had some means, so conflicts seemed inevitable.
Fortunately, what Feng Yiping said now still carried some weight with his parents. 'It's better to listen to Dad, just five yuan, which adds up to just a little more than ten yuan.'
'Alright, alright, since you two are rich and I'm the poor one who's always saving.' Although Mei Qiuping was still reluctant, she didn't argue anymore. After all, it was for her brother's children, and giving them more money would certainly make her look good.
When she handed out the money to her nephews in the afternoon, there was no trace of any grudges on her face. 'Hide it all yourselves, don't let your parents know, or they'll confiscate it.'
The nephews were all very happy. Their grandmother's family never gave this much on average, and Rongrong was the most sensible one, refusing several times.
Mei Qiuping was not worried at all that her brothers would not know about the favour. She expected the seven little ones to keep it a secret, but that was an impossible task.
At a little after three o'clock, Feng Zhenchang and Feng Yiping took the seven little ones home. As for letting the seven little ones stay overnight, that was not even considered, as the three of them definitely would not be able to handle it.
On the way back, they had even more things to carry. Fortunately, they had received their New Year's money, and even Dongdong was much more obedient. With Feng Zhenchang's help, they got home faster than when they had arrived.
When they reached the top of the last hill, they happened to meet Feng Yiping's eldest uncle, who came to pick them up.
On the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, the number of people paying New Year's visits dwindled. Gradually, people started going back to work.
The sixth day of the Chinese New Year is a bit busier, as most people who have gone to work away from home will do so on the sixth or eighth day of the Chinese New Year. So, many families will set off firecrackers. Mothers in particular will always follow their children who are going to work away from home, giving them advice and seeing them off to the back of the hill, until they can no longer see them over the hill.
The fathers' emotions are not as outwardly displayed. Usually, after setting off the firecrackers, they silently carry their children's luggage to the bus stop, then find a place to smoke in silence.
After another day of fun, it's the eighth day of the lunar year, the day school starts, and it's that time again.