The Spring Festival of 1994 was another gathering day for the Six Gentlemen of the year.
Wu Qian walked out of the kitchen, glancing here and there, with a look of envy and jealousy on her face.
"If you ask me, Chun Yan'er is still the best. About seven years ago, when we were still crowded under the same roof with my father-in-law and mother-in-law, they lived in a two-bedroom apartment assigned by the work unit. Now that I no longer work at the Women's Federation, the house is even bigger. , three-bedroom, my God, three-bedroom, their whole family can’t live in it.”
Sun Ganchao's house is a two-story building. After Sun Xiaoning moved out, it became even more spacious. In addition, when Ding Jianye helped them build a second floor in 1979, he also repaired the old house on the first floor. Therefore, the Sun family's living conditions The film in Guangzhou is very good, but Xiao Guoqing, Wu Qian and their son Dagang live in Zheng Juan's house in Taiping Hutong, which was left by the old lady. It is naturally the best condition among the six gentlemen. Poor.
Qiao Chunyan didn't say anything, and Cao Debao, who had a drunk face like a monkey's ass, spoke: "Wu Qian, I heard that you are now the foreman of Longyue Hotel, and your salary has also been increased. I think the conditions in Taiping Hutong are not good, so I want to rent a house." Isn’t it over?”
"Oh, our eldest brother didn't go to college, so why don't we save some money for our son? There will be a lot of trouble in marrying a wife and finding a job in the future. I don't want him to be stuck in a poor place like Guangzidiao like us. Chun Yan'er, Debao, you don't know, now the girls from these ten miles and eight villages don't even see each other once they hear that the person they are dating is just a blind date, why do you think I was so obsessed with marrying here in the first place?"
These words made Xiao Guoqing annoyed, and he slapped the table: "Wu Qian, are you looking for trouble? What's wrong with Guangzi Film? Zhou Bingyi is from Guangzi Film, right? Now we are the deputy mayor of Jichun City, Zhou Rong, our Guangzi Film Funny, right? A professor from Jichun University, the kind who can teach graduate students, and Xiao Ning, who is now the chief accountant of Huaneng Automobile Factory, and Chun Yan'er..."
"Me? What can I do?" Qiao Chunyan interrupted Xiao Guoqing's compliment: "I am the manager of the Provence Baths, and I am also a deputy."
"You don't care who he is, he's a deputy. As long as he can live in a good house and have money every month." Sun Qianchao said.
Qiao Chunyan didn't answer any more, although she and Cao Debao knew very well that if the bath manager hadn't known that Zhou Bingyi, who had just been transferred to the deputy mayor of Jichun City, was her godbrother, they would never have lived in such a house.
"By the way, I went to Mrs. Qu's house years ago." Cao Debao burped and continued: "As you know, since Chun Yaner became the deputy general manager of the Provence Baths, she would ask me to go there every year before the Spring Festival. I gave Mrs. Qu two bath tickets. After all, washing at home is not as comfortable as taking a bath in the bath. Someone also gave me a back rub and pedicure. Afterwards, I had a cup of tea and some fruit. How comfortable it was. But that’s not the point. I, I saw a rare item at the old lady’s house.”
He kept silent until Tang Xiangyang asked about the rare object.
"Old Mrs. Qu told me that that thing is called a VCD. It's connected to the TV. Oh, it's just a small round disc. Once you insert it, you can watch movies on the TV. She also said that as long as there is a way to get it, CD, you can watch any movie you want, such as "Tang Bo Hu Spots the Fragrance of Autumn", "Once Upon a Time", "Police Story"... What is this called? This is called freedom of film. There is no need to watch programs on the TV. Preview, I can wait for hours for a good movie.”
Tang Xiangyang said: "Isn't this a video recorder?"
Cao Debao waved his hand: "The picture and sound of the VCD, a movie is only two discs the size of a palm, and the video recorder cannot compare. I asked Mrs. Qu where she could buy this and how much it cost, and she told me that I couldn't buy it anywhere. It’s not on the market yet. A friend in Shenzhen brought it to her to try. But it’s coming soon. It can be available in the market in as little as two months or as much as half a year. On the way back, I thought, this thing is It will definitely become popular in the future, can we take advantage of it and do some profitable business?"
Xiao Guoqing said: "What kind of profitable business?"
"Think about it, new gadgets in the electronic market are generally very expensive, and we definitely can't afford the machine, but the disc is just a thin piece, and the cost will definitely not be high. As long as we can get started as soon as possible and get a batch of film sources, we can go there If the rich people in Beijing collapse, they will definitely make a fortune. After I bought out my seniority and left the soy sauce factory two years ago, I have been lying at home until now. This old woman keeps saying day by day that I am not doing my job properly. In this case, why don't I make some achievements to show her? National Day, catch up, do you want to work with me? "
The two people did not dare to express their opinions because Wu Qian and Yu Hong kept winking from the side.
The two of them work at the Longyue Hotel. Although the nature of the position is not very respectable, they make a lot of money, which is no less than those who work in government agencies. They are now the workshop directors of the wood processing factory. The National Day is to guard the As a section chief, the work is not tiring and the money is generous, so there is absolutely no reason to bother with him.
"Tch, coward."
Cao Debao curled his lips, feeling that they were too short-sighted.
"Look, as long as I seize this opportunity to make money, I will definitely be able to surpass Zhou Bingkun, and won't I be able to get a contractor for the soy sauce factory? Look at what he can do, and the old lady Naqu, partiality, just partiality. Hey By the way, I met Xiao Zhang from the koji-making workshop of the soy sauce factory on Chunhui Road two days ago. He told me that Hong Kong businessman Li Xianrong has not made much money since he contracted the factory for two years. He is just trying to make ends meet. Maintain, in this case, we still need to discuss the factory restructuring with the city, saying that Shandong did this two years ago. You can’t make money from contracting operations, but you can make money by buying the soy sauce factory? That What did Hong Kong businessman Li Xianrong think? He must have been fooled by Zhou Bingkun, but hey, he succeeded in getting a piece of money at a time. If you want me, I will do the same."
Yes, the three crutches and the two crutches were turned on Zhou Bingkun again. This happens every year.
Sun Qunchao didn't want to turn the dinner party into a denunciation meeting, so he quickly changed the topic: "By the way, there is something I forgot to tell you. Xiaoning's factory has reached a cooperation agreement with the city, and the bus company will purchase a batch of Huaneng brand Medium-sized buses are put on various bus routes, including Route 6, Route 73 and Route 128 that pass through our optical lettering."
Wu Qian said: "That means that the buses we take to work in the future will all be produced by Xiaoning's factory?"
Sun Qianchao corrected himself: "What Xiao Ning's factory is? It's the factory where Xiao Ning works."
Wu Qian waved her hand: "Hi, almost, almost."
Sun Qianchao continued to show off his promising sister: "She also said that this is nothing, and we will all drive cars produced by their factory in the future."
Now even Qiao Chunyan couldn't sit still. She pointed at her face and said, "We? Drive a car? Don't be ridiculous."
In the current market situation, a car costs more than ten or two hundred yuan, and this money can be used to buy commercial housing. Let alone having no money, she would not buy that even if she had money.
Sun Qianchao said: "This was said by the leader of Xiaoning's factory."
Cao Debao said: "It's all lies. Is that car affordable for everyone? But just wait. When I make a lot of money, I will buy one for you."
Qiao Chunyan kicked him from below, as if she thought he didn't know his last name after three cups of cat pee.
"The director of Huaneng...is his name Dong Zhao? I heard someone said that behind him is the Shencheng Group. Maybe...this is not an empty talk." Tang Xiangyang looked at the empty plate and said: "Zhou Bingyi was transferred back to Ji Chun as his successor. The first job the deputy mayor did was to quell the incident where the employees of the Jichun Chemical Plant went to the city to complain because they could not get their wages. At that time, he assured the workers that the problem of poor management of the chemical plant would be properly handled. As a As someone who has worked in Jichun Chemical Plant, I know very well how difficult it is to do this well. It is said that Zhou Bingyi asked his grandfather to sue his grandmother and met with many bosses, but everyone left after learning about the situation in the chemical plant, and no one was willing to do so. Let’s sit down and have a good talk. However, a man came from Shenzhen a few years ago. His name was Peng Xinsheng, the vice president of Luo Group. He was very interested in Jichun Chemical Plant. He even met Zhou Bingyi and talked for several hours. If you leave a message before leaving, you will submit the acquisition intention to the board of directors for approval. You must know that Luo Group is also a very powerful private enterprise in the south. As long as the board of directors votes to pass it, Jichun Chemical Plant will not be 100% saved. At least there is a lot of hope. Yes, after learning the news, I called my lawyer friend in Shenzhen and asked him to help investigate the situation of Luo Group to determine whether they had enough qualifications to take over the chemical plant. Guess what happened? This The largest shareholder of the Luo Group’s board of directors is Shencheng Group.”
Qiao Chunyan said: "So, this Shencheng Group has invested a lot in Jichun."
Tang Xiangyang didn't know what he was thinking of, and he couldn't laugh or cry.
"My friend, speaking of Shencheng Group, is full of resentment, but it is true that the regulations of this company are quite strange. Rather than being unkind, it is better to say...retaliation?"
Sun Qianchao, Xiao Guoqing and others told him that they were confused.
"what does it mean?"
"My friend graduated from Tsinghua University. He submitted his resume to Shencheng Group several times but was rejected by HR. He couldn't understand why he couldn't compete with those with worse conditions than him because he was in the right major, had rich experience, and didn't have high requirements. Later, he invited the HR manager to dinner and got him drunk before he learned about an unspoken rule that made him very angry - companies under the Shencheng Group are not allowed to hire Tsinghua University graduates. It is said that this was the death of the group president. Order. Tsinghua University, the top university in the country, who among the students who graduated from there is not the pride of heaven, but is treated like this? Do you think it’s ridiculous or not?”
Several people looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
Yes, this seems interesting to outsiders, but for those Tsinghua University graduates, they are very angry, but you have no choice. After all, they are private companies, and it is others’ freedom to set recruitment conditions.
…
The Spring Festival of 1994 passed like this.
Sun Qianchao, Xiao Guoqing, Tang Xiangyang, Wu Qian and others are devoted to their work and life day after day. They are either thinking about making more money to save their sons' tuition fees, or they are keeping a close eye on the door. The workers are not allowed to take the wood out of the factory, or they take the unused toiletries from the hotel rooms to the market to earn pocket money.
Cao Debao has been waiting for the time to come.
Sure enough, half a year later, Fucheng VCD advertisements appeared on various CCTV channels and began to bombard viewers with information.
As autumn turned to winter, Cao Debao went to Beijing and asked around people in Xinjie Accent City. He found that VCD was already widely known, but because the machine was too expensive, the price of several thousand yuan was not affordable for ordinary people, so he could only Go to a rich relative or friend to check it out.
After getting first-hand information, he returned to the Northeast, took out the pension he received from the bank when he bought out the soy sauce factory, and prepared to go south to hunt for gold. For this reason, he even had a fight with Qiao Chunyan. But he won in the end and arrived in Shenzhen in early December with the money. When he first learned that Zhou Bingkun had founded Jishantang, he went to the sales department to do business in order to prove that he was good enough. He also met many bosses from the south. He has a knack for dealing with people, and after a lot of back-and-forth, he actually found a black businessman who switched from producing laser discs to VCD discs, and purchased a batch of pirated movies and karaoke discs.
With the current production technology, how much does it cost to make a VCD disc? 15 yuan! Two pieces are only 30 yuan. How much can they be sold for if they are moved to Guangzhou? 90-100 yuan, how about moving it to Beijing? More expensive! It can reach 150-180 yuan.
In this way, Cao Debao went north with a sack of VCD discs on his back and earned nearly 10,000 yuan in one trip.
He thought his spring had come, so he didn't even go home for the Spring Festival. He traveled around in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Beijing, earning almost 100,000 yuan in four or five months.
What was the concept of 100,000 yuan at the time?
In 1995, the commercial housing in Jichun City was only more than 1,700 square meters per square meter. With this money, you could buy a small two-bedroom apartment.
After another two months, the market started to get worse. In the past, I could earn 100 yuan by selling two discs to Beijing. There were more people in this business, and the profit dropped to 20 or 30 yuan. The big and small packages were not even half as much as before. So Cao Debao, who felt that the situation had changed, returned to Jichun and took out part of the money to take out a loan to buy a house. As for the remaining 30,000 yuan... he took it to Guangzhou.
The profits from VCD discs are very low, but after working continuously for more than half a year, he got a lot of first-hand information, such as those who recycle second-hand CD players, remove the casing, install a decoder board, and then put a new casing on them to pretend to be new. For business, this thing is what is called a no-name machine on the market. It has poor compatibility and poor error correction capabilities. However, compared with those imported machines and domestic machines of big brands, the profit is high. The cost is less than 300, and one can be sold. One thousand seventy-eight.
Unlike the purchase channels for pirated VCD discs, it is more difficult to get brand-name players, but he was lucky. Through a middleman, he met a fellow from Jichun who did this, and he also got a clue that fellow Jichun was not only an assembly black man, The owner of the workshop is also the deputy section chief of the production department of Fucheng Electric Company, the founding manufacturer that promoted VCD to the market.
As for the origin of Fucheng Electric Co., Ltd., it is said that it is a subsidiary of Tiancheng Electronics, which is a sub-group of Shencheng Group.
The deputy chief of the production department of a subsidiary of Shenzhen Group established a black assembly workshop... This relationship chain is really complicated.
"By the way, Section Chief Hou, I still don't know where you are from Jichun?"
Cao Debao looked at the man walking in front, who was seven or eight years younger than him, and asked, maybe it's because there are fewer people in the Northeast of Shenzhen and fewer people in Jichun. The two of them have met a few times, and Section Chief Hou said He regarded him as a good friend and invited him to his home. In order to be able to cooperate with him for a long time and obtain goods at low prices, he would certainly not be disrespectful to him. So the two of them settled the transportation matter and came to the community where Mr. Hou lived.
"I'm from Taiping County."
"Oh, Taiping County."
Cao Debao knew that Taiping County was the northernmost county under the jurisdiction of Jichun City and was rich in coal resources.
"Chief Hou, how long have you been in Shenzhen?"
"It's been almost ten years." Hou Xiangqian said with much emotion: "After I graduated from technical secondary school, I just caught up with the wave of educated youth returning home. The streets gave priority to veterans, demobilized cadres, and educated youth returning to the city. This delay lasted for several years. Years later, I couldn’t wait any longer, so I left a letter at home and came south. I worked in Guangzhou for two years, then came to Shenzhen and joined Tiancheng Electronics Factory. At that time, its main products were circuit boards and small transformers. , relays, clustered circuits and other electronic components later developed into recorders, telephones, electronic watches, radios, stereos, etc. Now, computer motherboards, professional sound cards, VCDs, car radios, audio amplifiers, mouse keyboards, arcade boards, Scanners, small appliances... Anyway, we will make whatever is popular in the market, and Tiancheng has developed from a large factory into a technology park with several subsidiaries."
While the other party was holding the key to open the door, Cao Debao asked again: "Chief Hou, most of the best-selling VCD brands on the market now are foreign brands such as Pioneer, Samsung, and Sony. Some people say that the advertisement of Fucheng VCD on CCTV last year became popular. Fucheng VCD didn't make much money by selling these brands. Is this true...?"
He believed that the reason why Hou Xiangqian came out to assemble and sell off-brand machines as the deputy section chief of the production department of Fucheng Electrical Appliance Factory was probably because the factory was not profitable.
"Who did you listen to?"
Hou Xiangqian scoffed at his statement.
Just as Cao Debao was about to inquire further, the door opened, and Hou Xiangqian's wife came out to welcome him. She greeted him with a smile and said hello.
"It's really disturbing."
He handed over the gift in his hand.
Hou Xiangqian let him sit on the sofa in the living room, and then told his wife to get some food and drinks, and get the Beida Cang wine he brought back from the Northeast during the Chinese New Year.
"No need to go to so much trouble, just make a plate of peanuts and stir-fry vegetables."
Cao Debao said politely and turned to look at the furnishings in the living room. He had already looked past the photo frame on the wall, but he looked back without knowing what he found. After finishing, he walked straight closer and looked at the photo posted in the upper right corner of the photo frame with a solemn expression.
"Chief Hou..."
"What's wrong?"
"The people in this photo."
"Oh, on the day the Futian Electrical Appliance Factory was completed, the vice president of the group came down for inspection. Xiao Zhang from the office took some photos. I saw this one was good, so I kept it."
In the photo, Hou Xiangqian is smiling and introducing the operation status of the production line to the man in his forties across from him.
For Cao Debao, what matters is not things, but people.
"what is his name?"
"Zhou Bingkun."
Zhou Bingkun?
After hearing these three words, Cao Debao's face turned very ugly.
"How old?"
"I'm in my early forties, about the same as you."
"Where are you from?"
"I heard that they are from the Northeast... Sigh... Or I would say that they are very irritating. The gap is too big."
Hou Xiangqian had a sigh on his face, as if he regretted that the status gap between him and that person was too big. If we were closer, we might be able to establish friendship or something.
Cao Debao didn't hear the second half of the sentence, and muttered the words "Zhou Bingkun" and "Northeasterner" in his mouth.
He made nearly 200,000 yuan in this year. He thought that if Zhou Bingkun returned to the Northeast during the New Year, he would be ashamed of that guy who always showed off his behavior and seemed like everyone owed him something.
I didn't expect it... I didn't expect this guy to hide so well. If he hadn't come to Shenzhen and happened to meet Hou Xiangqian, a fellow countryman, I don't know how long he would have been kept in the dark.
Zhou Bingkun is the vice president of Shencheng Group. What about him? Two hundred thousand? He has one hundred and two hundred thousand, which is nothing compared to him.
The deputy section chief of the production department of Futian Electrical Appliances Factory, a subsidiary of Tiancheng Electronics, a subsidiary of Shencheng Group, has a sideline workshop that is the basis for making money. How far down is this?
To be precise, he relied on scraps from the Shencheng Group to complete his biggest pursuit in life - a house. However, it was impossible to compare with Zhou Bingkun.
"Brother Cao? Brother Cao? What's wrong with you?"
Hou Qianqian wanted to slap him awake, but before his hand touched Cao Debao's shoulder, he fell to the ground with a thud.
…
Three days later.
Northeast, Jichun.
Tang Xiangyang walked into the office from outside. He looked a little absent-minded. He didn't even hear the new girl say hello to him.
"Xiangyang, Xiangyang? Tang Xiangyang!"
It wasn't until his fellow engineer shouted his name that he realized what he was doing and snorted.
"Are you OK?"
"It's okay, I'm fine."
He is indeed fine. The one who is in trouble is Cao Debao. Yesterday, Qiao Chunyan received a call from Shenzhen, saying that Cao Debao was hospitalized with a minor cerebral hemorrhage and asked her to come over quickly. Because they didn’t know the specific situation, everyone was very anxious. He was wondering how much help he could get. I was a bit busy, so I borrowed a car from the office to take me to the train station.
"By the way, someone called just now, looking for you."
"Looking for me? Who?"
"The call came from Beijing. He said his name was Lu Chuan."
