Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Gazila Nisbek) news: At 16:30 on March 8, 2023, Zilaydibak hummed a song and came off work, leaving the naan store open with the unsold naans.

“Don’t you worry about losing things?” “I’m not worried at all. There was no revenue loss in the past three years!”

The 38-year-old youth who makes naan in Boye Lane, Qingdeli Street, Bole City, northwest China’s Xinjiang, started to earn money effortlessly three years ago.

As soon as Zilaydibak left, Wang Lin, who lives in Beilinharimodun Township, Bole City, hurriedly walked in, packed ten naans, scanned the payment code for 50 yuan and left quickly. Later, a middle-aged woman in a red coat bought four naans, a couple driving a car bought ten naans, and two young girls in fashionable clothes bought two naans... The self-service naan store was constantly visited by people. They invariably used their cell phones to scan the WeChat QR code on the door to pay.

In the afternoon, Zilaydibak’s Naan store goes into self-service sales mode.

“It is necessary to talk about the sleep I had three years ago, my life was changed by that sleep,” Zilaydibak said with a smile.

On an August day in 2019, Zilaydibak and his wife, Baharguli Elimas, came to the store at around 6 a.m. as usual, then they started to knead the dough, and the first batch of naan was baked around 11 a.m. After that, they kept repeating the process of kneading the dough and baking the naan.

After 4 p.m., Baharguli went home to take care of the elderly and children, leaving Zilaydibak in the store.

The weather was hot, and after being busy for most of the day, Zilaydibak had a strong drowsiness. “I just sat in my chair to have a rest, unknowingly fell asleep, and I slept like a baby.” Zilaydibak said.

After some time, Zilaydibak woke up suddenly and found that there were few naans left at the store. “Check your WeChat wallet. How much money did you receive today?” Zilaydibak picked up the phone and hurriedly asked his wife. Once the couple did the math, they found that on that day, they baked more than 200 naans, excluding the unsold ones, the rest were paid.

Zilaydibak immediately enlightened, “In this case, why do I keep staying at the store.”

From that day on, a notice saying “self-service sales” is posted at the entrance of his naan store.

“Every day at 4 p.m. or so, the couple lock the door of the inner room and leave.” Zhu Chunzhi, who runs a tailor store above the naan store, said, “At first, some customers came to my store to inquire, and some simply entrusted me to hand the money over.”

Until now, some elderly not used to using WeChat payment would still give their money to Zhu Chunzhi or to Liu Xiaolong who runs a barber shop next to her. “The presence of a self-service naan store is nice. Although it’s been three years, I’m still touched by everyone’s behavior,” 29-year-old Liu Xiaolong said.

In the evening, a regular customer, Kenjesh Sdihbek, came to the naan store. She didn’t take the naans that were placed at the booth but looked for the key to the inner room. “I was afraid that the naan would be sold out, so I asked them to put the naan in the inner room in advance.” Kenjesh found the key and opened the door, brought out a bag of naan, then scanned the code at the door and paid 50 yuan.

Zilaydibak’s Naan store has been open for 17 years, and his family’s life is getting better and better thanks to his craft. “Now we have three houses, one in the city and two in the countryside, and we have 50,000 yuan in savings every year,” Zilaydibak said.

Now, the couple lives with the elderly and children in a building more than 500 meters away from the naan store. The house was bought in October 2019. It is under the jurisdiction of the Heping Community with his naan store.

“There are more than 1,300 households and 3,000 people living in our community, with residents of several ethnic groups.” Zhu Jiang, deputy secretary of the Heping Community Party Branch, said, “The residents here get along very well, and Zilaydibak’s self-service naan store has increased our mutual trust and respect.”

Over the past three years, the free afternoons have allowed Zilaydibak to realize more of his dreams. “In those years, the naan store took up all my time, but now I have time to farm and raise cattle in the countryside, and this year I also have enrolled for my driver’s license test and am preparing for subject one,” Zilaydibak said happily.