National Tide 1980.

"The tide of commodity economy has swept through every corner of society with unstoppable momentum. In the vast land of China, there is no room for a peaceful desk. The sacred campus has lost its former elegance, and the peaceful study can no longer comfort the lonely hearts of scholars..."

This is a passage from an article published by scholar Xu Jilin in the magazine Reading, which resonated with the intellectual community at that time - "Commodity Economy and the Survival Crisis of Intellectuals".

Under the onslaught of the torrent of “everyone is superior”, how should intellectuals adjust their survival attitude?

This was the most confusing question in 1988, but it also truly reflected the most controversial social issue at the time.

Yes, in 1988, the wave of business in China was getting higher and higher.

How many people are still content with the status quo?

Going to Shenzhen, venturing into Hainan, taking a leave of absence from work, and starting a company became the most fashionable actions for the brave at that time.

This year, countless government officials and enterprise employees were tempted and determined to go into business.

A license, a briefcase, a phone, and that's a company.

A business card, an account number, and one resale can make a lot of money.

1988 was a year of openness. Merchants, who had been looked down upon since ancient times, became the most glorious symbol of the year. Private enterprises began to emerge quietly. According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, there were 22.5 private enterprises with more than eight employees.

The proportion of state-owned industries dropped from 1978% in 80 to 57.5%.

In the first five months of this year, 700 new companies were added in Beijing, the number of companies in Shanghai surged to 3000, and there were 300 companies gathered in the China World Trade Center in Shenzhen. By the end of this year, there were 47.7 companies in the country.

The number of employees in companies registered with the state industrial and commercial departments reached 4000 million this year, accounting for a quarter of the total number of employees in the country.

In addition, there are countless brokers who are acting as matchmakers everywhere.

People jokingly call this phenomenon: "900 million people have fallen, but 100 million are still looking for it."

At the same time, some gossip and newspaper reports continued to shake the indifferent and peaceful minds of intellectuals.

For example, in the Qianmen area of ​​Beijing, there is an old lady who earns over 10,000 yuan a year by selling roasted sweet potatoes.

In the south of our country, a young woman who graduated from junior high school in Huacheng could not find a job, so she set up a clothing stall. After a few years, she had become a wealthy man. "Ten thousand yuan household" is a fashionable title that most Chinese people envy and admire.

You should know that this year the average monthly income of mental workers in the capital city is only 1 yuan, and the average monthly income of manual workers is yuan.

Ten thousand yuan is the total of their five years' salary.

Thus, a large number of popular slangs about business began to emerge.

What is this, "The vendors get rich, while the office workers suffer."

There is also something like "Setting up a small stall is better than being a county magistrate. Once the horn sounds, you don't need to be a high-ranking official. The whole family runs a business, and they are like ***."

A new "study is useless theory" is brewing in society.

This year, Beijing recruited graduate students of the class of 89, with a planned enrollment of 8600, but the number of applicants was less than 6000, and there was an inverted relationship between registration and enrollment, making this the year with the lowest proportion of graduating students applying for graduate studies.

What does this mean?

This shows that college students’ career choices have tended towards quick success and instant benefits, and students can no longer sit quietly in their studies.

If we look at it from today's perspective, in the wave of "everyone doing business", the challenge of commodity economy to intellectuals is undoubtedly an extremely difficult psychological labor for the intellectual group.

But then again, in this age when business elites are admired and envied by countless people, in this age when being in the business world is a source of pride, although many people have finally become the envied "rich" people through fighting in the business world, there are also many people who have been choked by the sea water.

Some people failed, some escaped death, and some turned back.

If we only emphasize one aspect, it would be subjective.

As the old saying goes, don't just look at the thief eating meat, there's also a time when the thief gets beaten.

It takes three years to become a skilled craftsman, but it takes ten years to become a businessman.

Shopping malls are not all about flowers, high spirits, feasting and revelry.

There are also traps, betrayals, conspiracies, natural disasters and man-made calamities, and there are risks at any time that can make people lose everything.

People who are not smart enough, have weak skills, and have poor mental quality cannot play this high-end and exciting game.

Take Nian Jing and Jiang Hao for example.

Although they went into business early, they were considered the first group of people in the Republic to become rich.

Moreover, they have connections, backgrounds, funds, and information channels, and they can both think and calculate.

They have far more convenient conditions and insurance than most ordinary people who plunge into the business world with nothing.

But the problem is that they are a generation that grew up under the planned economic system and are naturally unfamiliar with the laws of market economy.

In particular, they lack common sense in economics and do not understand the laws of the market economy in a free environment, and the high, low, weak and strong development cycles of economic development.

It is obvious that speculation in an unfair special market environment has been their long-term source of profits.

The only way they know how to make money is to rely on certain relationships and cheat with red seals to get supplies.

So when the market environment undergoes a dramatic change, becomes truly free, and develops according to economic regulations.

Those who are used to relying on relationships and connections to solve market problems, if they continue to do business the old way, it is inevitable that problems will arise, and they may even suffer a major setback.

When businessmen who truly understand the laws of the market encounter such a buying spree, they will sell off their stocks while tightening their bottom line, narrowing their battle lines, and preparing to deal with the coming economic downturn.

Because they know that when the economy reaches its peak, the trough is about to come.

Unfortunately, whether it was Nian Jing or Jiang Hao, they only knew which government office gate in the capital faced which direction, how to entertain, how to give gifts, how to flatter, how to build relationships, how to indulge in sensual pleasures to maintain the atmosphere, and how to use the elders at home to bully others. They were taking a completely different path.

This may have doomed them from the very beginning to never achieve great success.

Especially since they have been doing so well recently, they just made a good deal and made a huge profit from Ning Weimin.

This further enhances their self-confidence, making them think they can do anything, and thus they are more likely to fail.

So, on a whim, he invested all his savings into reselling VCRs.

And they should never, ever, be greedy.

After getting this batch of goods, he didn't sell any of them and put them all in the warehouse. He had to wait until the price of VCRs rose to six thousand before selling them, thus making half of the profit in one fell swoop.

Originally, they still had a chance to sell this batch of goods at the end of August, and probably could have made a lot of money.

But no one of them could have expected the outcome, simply because their expectations for profits were too high.

What they finally got after waiting was not a glorious victory that would earn them a fortune, but a storm that soaked them thoroughly.

…………

To be honest, as soon as September came, Nian Jing felt something was wrong.

It was not for any other reason, but because in the first few days, he received countless calls asking for goods and inquiring about prices, but suddenly there was no movement in the past few days.

This made him feel as if he was isolated from the world, as if he had been forgotten by others. He didn't know why, but he felt indescribably awkward and uneasy.

So his first reaction was to go find Jiang Hao and discuss the matter.

But who would have thought that Jiang Hao's condition was even more abnormal and he was more anxious than him.

As soon as he arrived at Jiang Hao's company and pushed open the door of the manager's office, he saw Jiang Hao with his sleeves rolled up, a cigarette in his mouth, holding the phone and talking frantically while pretending to be calm.

"This is imported from Japan. Many companies wanted it, but I was reluctant to give it to them. Of course, we are old friends, so I agree to give it to you. I bought the goods for 3,800 yuan, plus the warehouse management fee, I will give you 3,900 yuan. How about that? I won't make a penny from you. Do you still need to consider this matter? Okay, okay, I'll wait for your reply..."

The information in this phone call made Nian Jing stunned. Jiang Hao was actually selling the goods at a loss!

He couldn't wait for Jiang Hao, who was acting pretentiously, to hang up the phone, so he couldn't help but ask anxiously.

"Hey, are you talking about the batch of VCRs we have? The purchase price was 4,000. Are you selling them at such a low price? You are crazy!"

"You think I want to? I'm just forced to do so."

Jiang Hao smiled helplessly, "You heard it just now, didn't you? I offered 3,900 yuan but no one wanted it. Oh! It's a waste of money. I regret it. We should have sold it at the end of last month. We were too greedy."

"Oh, that's not right. When I came here just now, I passed by the store and saw that the VCR was selling for more than 5,000 yuan each."

“Anyone want to buy it?”

"I didn't notice that, but there are quite a few on the shelves."

"Well, that means that five thousand yuan has reached the ceiling. It is beyond people's purchasing power. Just wait and see. In a few days, prices will all come down. Even the shops are no exception."

"Well, I think it won't drop too fast."

"Now in Beijing, all the electrical appliance stores, big and small, have a stock of goods like ours, at least hundreds of thousands of video recorders. If you don't sell them, you won't even be able to recover your costs."

"Oh, what should I do then?"

"What should I do? If I continue to look for a buyer, I will lose the idea of ​​making money. I have to sell it quickly. It would be great if I can recover most of the cost now. Be prepared to lose money."

Jiang Hao’s words really scared Nian Jing.

You know, this batch of goods came from Fujian. Even if the purchase cost is not counted, the transportation fee is not a small amount.

If he really did what Jiang Hao said, he would have to pay 200 yuan for each machine. He has 250 machines under his name.

Could it be that fifty thousand yuan just evaporated like that?

Of course he was unwilling to do so.

However, Jiang Hao saw through his stinginess, and his subsequent words finally convinced him.

"Don't be stupid. Don't forget that we threw the car into the sea in Hainan. If we hadn't sunk the car into the sea, we would have been in jail now. You are still here today? The same goes for the money we lost today. We can't be so stubborn that we won't sell it at a loss. The goods are dead. Only by selling them can we have money in our hands, and then we can do other business and lay eggs. Even if we sell them at a high price, we can still hope to make it back from other businesses. The most important thing in doing business is to have funds. If you have goods but can't sell them, it's like throwing money into the sea."

That's right, these goods need to be sold quickly.

Otherwise, these things would be like holding a red-hot coin in his hand, which would burn his hands.

After Jiang Hao's reminder, Nian Jing couldn't help but recall a more tragic experience a few years ago.

For this reason, he had to admit that Jiang Hao was indeed very clear-sighted and seemed to be more savvy in business than him.

So after I got back, I thought about it for almost the entire night, and the next day, I finally made up my mind to sell the goods in tears.

But the problem is that overcoming one's own psychological barriers is one thing. Wanting to sell is one thing, but whether one can find buyers and whether one can sell the goods is another.

It would be good if they had to pay some money, but in fact no one cares at all.

Three days passed, five days passed, eight days passed again...

Except for Hardeman, who was often taken care of by him in business and bought five VCRs from him for 4,000 yuan because of their friendship, he never sold any more.

In order to sell goods, Nian Jing even spent two thousand yuan to place an advertisement in the middle column of the Beijing Evening News.

But no one came to buy goods. Occasionally, one or two people called, and some complained that the location was not suitable or the price was not right.

Without waiting for Nianjing to lower the price, the other party hung up the phone early.

It’s urgent!

Who wouldn’t be anxious?

Nian Jing has used up all the working capital he had. The day when the credit union would collect interest is approaching, and there is also rent, water, electricity, various operating costs, and the money needed to pay employees' salaries next month.

Adding all these together, Nian Jing is under a lot of pressure.

I was so anxious that I broke out in cold sweats and was like an ant on a hot pan, running around in circles.

What else can we do except run around in circles?

To be honest, at this time, Nian Jing really wanted to find someone he could trust to talk to, and he really hoped that his wife Jiang Hui could give him some comfort and tenderness.

But the problem is that because of this incident, the couple had several quarrels and disagreements. He can't tell anyone about it now, not even his wife, otherwise it would prove that Jiang Hui is right and he is wrong.

He is a grown man, but from now on he will have to be a head shorter than his wife and be laughed at by her. How can he bear this?

So, just swallow your anger and bear it.

Out of the need for a man's self-esteem, Nian Jing decided to bite his teeth off and not let Jiang Hui know about it.

But the problem is that sometimes the more people care about something, the more they lose it.

Nian Jing never imagined that economic weakness was nothing, and that the truly shameful and horrible physical weakness would actually happen to him.

Perhaps it was because the business was in trouble, which brought him too much psychological pressure.

Maybe it was because he smoked and drank too much, and was always away from home, running around.

Anyway, when he really should have shown his masculinity in front of his wife, he actually softened.

Although it was just a fleeting thought, at that extremely critical moment, he somehow thought of the boasting he had made.

This immediately created an irreversible force that made him feel weak all over, and his defeat was like a landslide.

At a moment that should have been passionate, hot, and burning like a flame, he brought himself a piece of ice.

This is a sin!

Although his wife did not add fuel to the fire at this time, she just advised him to be patient and wait a little longer...

But after several days of attempts, the final results all pointed to an extremely painful fact - the harder you try, the more you shrink, and it is completely useless.

Although Jiang Hui never complained about this, he saw resentment in her eyes.

He felt ashamed, a kind of shame that he had lost his personality.

He felt cold, having lost his masculine warmth due to the weakness of both spirit and flesh.

Although it was such a hot season, he was still shivering with cold.

He felt lonely, as if he was abandoned by everyone in the wilderness.

Man, who can stand this? (End of this chapter)