The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era

Shen Baolan began to tease, "Mom, guess how much I earned?"

Ma Sufen took a look at the mixed hair coupons and coins in the cloth bag and estimated, "Did you make about three yuan?"

"After deducting the cost, I earned five yuan and thirty-five cents today."

Shen Baolan carefully went through the accounts with Ma Sufen.

All forty wholesale popsicles were sold. Accounting for the ones that broke and melted, a total of thirty-five were sold, making three cents each, and after covering the losses, she earned a total of seventy cents.

She made two cents profit on each soda, selling a total of twenty-five bottles and earning fifty cents.

All the other earnings came from selling cold water.

One bucket of boiled water, with added colorant and sweetener, cost less than fifty cents, and with nearly a hundred cups sold, the clear profit was four yuan and fifteen cents.

Shen Baolan was so excited that her face glowed with delight, "Mom, you have no idea how much money selling cold water can make. We absolutely cannot let anyone in the family compound know about this, or they’ll all start selling cold water and we won’t make any money."

Ma Sufen was also astounded by the profit from selling cold water, and her mind buzzed with calculations.