Chapter 1485 Peng, the Pink-Collar Worker
"Wow, smells good!"

Li Kuiyong sipped his mutton soup with relish and asked, "Finally, you have time to talk to us. Brother Yan, how's it going in Guangzhou?"

"It's definitely better than here. There are so many high-rise buildings, and people here look rich. It's much wealthier than here. It's also lively during the Canton Fair. You can see foreigners every few steps, and they all speak in their own language."

Wang Yan said, "You don't need to be envious. When it's time to deliver the goods, you can come with me. Let's go to Hong Kong Island and broaden our horizons."

"Brother Yan, do you think we could go?" Zhong Yuemin said with a smirk.

"Don't let me see that. Isn't the director of the county's educated youth office your dad's old subordinate? Talk to him and ask him to arrange for you two to be in the delivery team. There will be at least a dozen or twenty people, and you and Zheng Tong can both go."

"We can go, but can we go to Hong Kong Island?"

“It depends on whether you want to go or not,” Wang Yan said with a smile. “Smuggling is also an option. I heard from Peng Yunliang that many people have smuggled themselves over there and paid some money to get them visas. Of course, if you don’t come back after you go, the county officials will be the ones who suffer.”

"Of course I'll come back," Zheng Tong said. "No matter how good things are outside, nothing beats home."

Zhong Yuemin nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, we two brothers just want to go out and broaden our horizons. If we can make some money while we're at it, that would be even better. Brother Yan, you agreed so readily, you must be after money, right?"

Wang Yan laughed heartily: "Didn't Peng Sheng already say that he wanted me to go over and give him some advice? What advice did he give me? Making money, of course. Now that we're in capitalist territory, how can we not engage in some capitalism? We have to undermine the capitalist system to subsidize the development of our socialism."

Li Kuiyong then became worried: "Brother Yan, we have to be careful about this. I heard that after we drove out Chiang Kai-shek, many of his remaining troops retreated to Hong Kong Island. It's a chaotic place there, with guns and cannons. It's not easy to do anything there."

“Hey, Kuiyong is right, Brother Yan,” Zhong Yuemin chimed in. “I know about this. I heard they’re involved in organized crime over there.”

Wang Yan sipped his mutton soup and said, "I ask you, how many years has it been since the founding of this country?"

"It's exactly twenty-one years, and National Day just passed a few days ago." Zheng Tong seemed to be good at math.

"How old are those defeated soldiers from back then now?"

“Even the youngest would be in their thirties, and most would be in their forties or fifties. These guys keep their word.” Zhong Yuemin let out a long “oh” and said knowingly, “What you mean is that these defeated soldiers have been bullying unarmed people all day long over there, enjoying themselves in capitalist territory, and have long lost their heroic spirit.”

"What kind of heroism is this? They're just a bunch of defeated soldiers, and they dare to call themselves heroes?"

Wang Yan said casually, "When we get there, if you're not afraid of dying, then come with me. If you are, then stay there and have some fun for a few days. Once I've found some money, I'll let you all enjoy yourselves. I heard from Peng Sheng that there are brothels over there. I'll arrange that for you."

“Brother Yan, I have to criticize you. How could you corrupt revolutionary youth? None of us three are like that, are we, Kui Yong?”

Li Kuiyong nodded firmly: "Brother Yan is just joking. He just likes to tease us."

"Really?" Tian Fang glared at Wang Yan. "It doesn't seem like a joke to me."

Qin Ling chimed in, "I don't think so either. Their eyes light up as soon as they hear about visiting brothels."

Wang Yan laughed heartily and began to eat and drink on his own, ignoring the minor conflict between the two couples.

What Wang Yan is doing these days isn't a secret, except for the local villagers. The reason this group of people knew was because Li Kuiyong revealed it. He's dating Tian Fang, and when they're together, he keeps calling her "Brother Yan" and saying all sorts of things. Tian Fang was already incredibly curious, so naturally she asked.

The two were having an affair, secretly hugging and kissing, and Li Kuiyong naturally revealed everything, which Tian Fang found out about...

Wang Yan took some time to write a report on the Canton Fair and his findings, and mailed it to Beijing.

In fact, the branch office here acted even faster than him. When they received the foreign businessman, a reporter from the daily newspaper accompanied them and recorded the entire process. Before the foreign businessman even left, a written report had already been submitted.

However, generally speaking, articles about Linxian and Wang Yan's report published in the Daily News are usually released together, as it provides a multi-faceted perspective, and reading them together is more beneficial. For such a significant event, there's no doubt that Wang Yan will present a report.

People across the country, including leading cadres, love reading Wang Yan's reports. Besides the inexplicable sense of satisfaction from reading them, they also appreciate how well Wang Yan writes them.

The descriptions of local customs and traditions are captivating, the underlying ideas are thought-provoking, and the development paths and choices offer insights that can be easily understood, providing valuable lessons.

Otherwise, a report filled with flowery language and full of praise would never get published in a daily newspaper, because there is no shortage of articles praising the government.

On the contrary, reports like Wang Yan's are more original.

Wang Yan also diligently kept in touch with Zhou Xiaobai, and their letters were full of sentimental love between young men and women, with Zhou Xiaobai's longing bursting forth in the letters.

Besides corresponding with Zhou Xiaobai, Zhou's father also occasionally wrote to Wang Yan, in which he encouraged Wang Yan to do his job in a down-to-earth manner.

Although this prospective son-in-law is a troublemaker and incredibly audacious, Zhou's father, mother, and Zhou Xiaobai's other siblings all have a very high opinion of Wang Yan.

Besides encouragement, Zhou's father would also occasionally have Wang Yan do some calligraphy and painting to depict the spirit of the people of northern Shaanxi who fought against nature and struggled hard.

Wang Yan took some time to paint the Long March he had previously conceived, a painting that was twenty-five meters long—quite extravagant. The entire painting was drawn from right to left, connecting major events and supplemented with poems by his teachers.

It began with the Autumn Harvest Uprising.

The army was called the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, its banner bearing the sickle and hammer. They wouldn't linger in the Lushan area, but would advance straight towards Hunan. Landlords oppressed them relentlessly, and the peasants were filled with hatred. At harvest time, the evening clouds were heavy with sorrow, and then, with a thunderclap, an uprising broke out.

The final conclusion was a self-defense counterattack against India, and the poem reads, "We must sweep away all harmful insects, leaving no enemy!"

The poem that brings the whole thing to a close is "Qinyuanchun: Snow," which concludes the poem with the line, "To see who are the great figures of today."

The entire painting depicts armed struggle from beginning to end, with a predominantly crimson tone. The calligraphy used for the poem is Wang Yan's own style, though it generally begins with regular script and ends with his own interpretation of Mao Zedong's style, thus showcasing the teacher's journey in calligraphy.

This painting was completed during a break from working on export orders; Wang Yan spent more than half a year on it. During that time, he became widely known.

The first person to find out was Secretary Zhang, who would often come to inspect the furniture factory that Wang Yan was loyal to. He saw some of Wang Yan's paintings in his office and was amazed when he heard about Wang Yan's ideas!

Then the news was reported to the county. After the county officials came and saw it, they were speechless, but the complex look in their eyes when they looked at Wang Yan conveyed the feeling that 'you really know how to create auspicious omens.' After that, the county officials went to the city, where there were famous calligraphers and painters. After seeing it, they were impressed and asked Wang Yan for advice on various techniques.

After it was completed, both Qin Province and Yan City made copies, and then sent the original to the capital. It is said that they were very satisfied with the level of the calligraphy and painting, as well as the indomitable fighting spirit conveyed by the calligraphy and painting.

Finally, this painting was placed on the wall of Hall 118 of the Great Hall of the People...

In the past six months, there have only been a few letters exchanged between Wang Yan and Zhou Xiaobai.

After another expansion of production, the two foreign trade orders were fulfilled quickly. Under heavy pressure, the apprentices who had already shown promise progressed even faster, which greatly reduced Wang Yan's workload.

In June of the following year, as summer arrived, Linxian County became busy.

Thousands of pieces of furniture were loaded onto a special train dispatched by the railway system and transported to Lianyungang, which was then headed directly to Osaka, Japan, where they would eventually land.

Several thousand other pieces of furniture were sent directly to Hong Kong Island and delivered to Peng Yunliang.

Wang Yan, along with Li Kuiyong, Zhong Yuemin, Zheng Tong, and twenty others, escorted the furniture all the way. Peng Yunliang wrote to say that the twenty people would have no problem getting to Hong Kong Island, so everyone was very happy.

They were there to handle after-sales issues. After all, with such a long distance of transportation, some damage was inevitable upon arrival. Wang Yan needed to bring people there to repair it.

“This train ride is really uncomfortable,” Zhong Yuemin complained.

No wonder he said it was uncomfortable. They were sleeping in the cargo compartment, using the bedding they had brought.

That's secondary. The main issue is that the train doesn't stop much along the way. Aside from refilling water or coal, or making temporary stops for maintenance, it only stops when it picks up goods from other places on its southward journey.

The rest of the time was filled with loud clattering and rattling. The carriage was also very stuffy, and the food was poor, consisting of dry rations and pickled vegetables all day long. The experience was extremely unpleasant.

But no matter what, the train still arrived at the fishing village, where the goods were unloaded and loaded onto trucks.

It was at this moment that Peng Yunliang appeared before Wang Yan with his men.

"Wang Sheng, it's been more than half a year since I last saw you. I really miss you."

"Peng Sheng still looks so healthy."

“I’m so happy that it’s you, Wang Sheng,” Peng Yunliang said, offering Wang Yan a cigarette. “I saw your painting in the newspaper. I heard it’s hanging in the Great Hall of the People? That’s impressive.”

"What's even more impressive are our heroes. What I drew is what they actually did with their blood," Wang Yan said meaningfully.

“What Mr. Wang says is true. Mr. Wang has a high level of ideological awareness. No wonder he was able to publish a series of reports in the Daily News.” Peng Yunliang nodded repeatedly and then said, “Mr. Wang, let’s go first. The furniture will be transported over later. I’ll trouble you to bring people to handle it then.”

“No problem.” Wang Yan nodded with a smile, and led his group across the border to Hong Kong Island with Peng Yunliang.

The final destination was a pink-collar worker's house in the New Territories. This revealed Peng Yunliang's identity as a young man from the Peng family, a pink-collar worker's family.

"Wang Sheng, what do you think of this side?" Peng Yunliang asked as he strolled along with Wang Yan.

Zhong Yuemin interjected first: "Isn't it said that there's money here? But it doesn't look that great to me."

Peng Yunliang wasn't surprised. He explained, "We're in the suburbs. If you go further south, that's the central part of Hong Kong Island, full of skyscrapers and lots of people. I'll take you there another day, and you'll see."

"No need for that, we can go by ourselves later. We're all grown up, we won't get lost." Wang Yan said, looking at the pink-collar housing estate with his hands behind his back. "You still need to develop."

"Wang Sheng has many ideas. We invited you here today because we want him to give us some pointers."

Peng Yunliang never intended to ask Wang Yan for advice on selling furniture. He figured the furniture was fine just sitting there, and with a little promotion, anyone who wanted to buy it would buy it. What more advice did he need?

Having read all of Wang Yan's reports and visited Linxian County to investigate, he realized that Wang Yan was simply incredible. He had managed to create such a positive situation on such barren land.

This is still capitalist land, where the Peng family can make all the decisions. In the New Territories, they have people, land, and guns, making it much easier for them to do things.

If Wang Yan could come up with a feasible idea, wouldn't the Peng family take off? He himself would have more say within the family and be able to mobilize more resources.

Even if it's not possible, Wang Yan and his group of twenty-one people coming wouldn't cost much to treat them well. Besides, they were going to do some carpentry work anyway, so Peng Yunliang was guaranteed to make a profit.

After a moment's thought, Wang Yan said, "Development, in the final analysis, boils down to two things: first, to get more people busy, and second, to sell what people have made through their busy work. Once the market is expanded, everyone will have work and money to spend. Then you can open other business venues and get people to spend money, which creates a virtuous cycle that snowballs and grows bigger and bigger."

"What Wang Sheng said was simple, direct, and insightful. What we're really struggling with right now is how to keep more people busy."

What kinds of factories do you own?

Peng Yunliang listed them off like a treasure trove: "Water plant, slaughterhouse, plastics, shoes and clothing, cement... In short, we have everything for food, clothing, housing and transportation, but we just can't do any of them well. We can barely support our people."

In their large family structure, the patriarch has to take care of everything. If they're struggling to make ends meet, they need relief; if they're in trouble, they need help; and if they get into trouble by getting involved in organized crime, the family has to protect them.

Of course, they also wielded considerable power, truly acting as local tyrants, their word was law. Even foreigners couldn't enforce the law here; that's how domineering they were.

Wang Yan said with a smile, "Then find a way to make money, and then use the money you make to develop all the land here, so that all your people can live in good houses. Once the construction starts, this place will naturally become more popular, and the economy will improve."

“Wang Sheng is right, but the question is, what are some ways to make money?” Peng Yunliang asked sincerely.

Li Kuiyong, Zhong Yuemin, and the others all looked at Wang Yan. They knew that Brother Yan was the most resourceful...

I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the kind readers who have given me generous support through tips, monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and those who have been reading quietly!

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