Take Arada back to the past

Chapter 819, Committing a Crime

Yang Xiaole looked at the Zhao family but didn't pay them any attention.

It's not because of the compound, but because the TV has already arrived at home, and the industry and commerce bureau usually won't bother with it.

Once the television arrives at your home, it becomes very difficult to explain its origin.

These days, the main thing is to catch thieves and recover stolen goods.

You could say the ticket was bought from someone else.

You could also say you bought a second-hand TV from someone else, or even if it was new, you could say that someone else bought it and didn't want it anymore.

As for money, it's easy to check in rural areas.

But it's really hard to investigate in the city.

After so many years of working, only I know how much money my family has.

The Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Public Security Bureau are currently working together to crack down on smuggled electrical appliances coming from the south.

As the leader of the branch office, he naturally had to get involved.

He even frequently met with his older brother, who worked at the Public Security Bureau, because of this kind of thing.

A color TV appeared in the courtyard, and people were instantly drawn to it.

You should know that, apart from the Yang family, the entire compound was full of such people.

Only Grandpa Wang and Liu Yuanchao's families bought televisions; the others don't have them yet!
Grandpa Wang had a high position at his workplace, while Liu Yuanchao had taken his advice and rented a shop to open a car repair shop.

……

Yang Xiaole naturally came over to join in the fun.

At this moment, Zhao Jianguo had a smug look on his face.

Previously, Zhao Jianguo rented a house while working outside, but the other party built another house next to Zhao's house, and he moved back in.

Since the allowance for private housing construction, many families with multiple children and those about to get married have started building houses.

After all, there were just too many children returning.

The housing allocation process in the city is too slow.

Especially the earthquake shelters built before, whoever built them, they belong to them.

After the earthquake shelters were demolished, people saw others occupying houses and started rebuilding brick and tile houses.

As before, the location of the earthquake shelter will be the address for building the house.

Even in her own home, her mother couldn't help but build a house with these people.

Yang Xiaole's attempts to dissuade him were useless, so he could only let him go and build it.

As a result, conflicts between neighbors began to increase.

There isn't much spare space left in the compound.

The situation where only one person could walk through an old alleyway in later generations had already begun to slowly take shape.

……

Zhao Jianguo felt a surge of pride, basking in the compliments from the people in the compound.

Yang Xiaole handed Grandpa Zhao a cigarette and said softly, "Grandpa Zhao, the city is currently cracking down on a batch of smuggled television sets coming from the south. You'd better be careful!"

He's not the kind of person who gets jealous when others are doing well.

Although each family member has developed some cavities over the years, they have been together for so many years after all.

I should remind you if I can.

After all, no one in the Zhao family is self-employed.

"Hey, Xiao Le, these are all neighbors. You can't just stand to see others doing well!"

Aunt Zhao, who was standing nearby, was displeased upon hearing this.

For so many years, they've been suppressed by the Yang family.

Now that we've finally turned the tables, how could we not be happy!
A big color TV!

Several companies offer this service now.

The black and white TVs in the compound aren't even all there yet!
"That's right! Xiao Le! You're a big boss, but you can't talk like that!"

Zhao Jianguo looked at him smugly and said something.

It wasn't appropriate for others to speak at this time; they could only stand there and watch.

Yang Xiaole took a puff of his cigarette and laughed, "Okay, just pretend I didn't say anything."

Good words can't persuade a damn ghost.

They don't even look at who's in charge of the branch office now.

Their district has solved the most major cases in the entire city.

They don't need to do anything special; they can just drive the company car around the entire jurisdiction and know exactly where large quantities of smuggled goods are hidden.

He has always been supportive of self-employed individuals.

Even when dealing with small-scale resellers, he usually handles them with care.

These goods were all sourced from the southern market.

Basically, they all aim to improve their lives.

However, he usually handles cases involving large electronic devices.

After chatting for a while, the older brother and Qu Ying returned.

They stopped worrying about the color TV and went to a restaurant for dinner.

……

He had already made a reservation at the restaurant in advance.

The whole family passed by in a grand procession.

Xiaoli, on the other hand, went to Xidan Shopping Mall and bought a large cake.

"This cake is so expensive! It costs over forty! This owner is really greedy! That's half a month's salary, and if I hadn't bought it in advance, I wouldn't have been able to get it!"

Xiaoli brought over the cake and complained.

Yang Xiaole touched his nose.

I got scolded.

Because this shop is a cake shop under Huang Xintong's name.

We officially entered Beijing at the beginning of this year.

At first, they only opened a few stores in the special economic zone.

We now have four large cake shops in Beijing.

Now that many people have money, these foreign gadgets have begun to attract the attention of Chinese people, and the business is booming.

Besides cake shops.

KFC has now entered the mainland market, two years earlier than the original American KFC.

They opened a three-story shop on Qianmen Street.

He doesn't even know how much of his business has come from.

He only found out about this cake shop when he went to Hong Kong Island.

I only complained about the cake incident.

The group then started chatting.

Yang Xiaole is currently working at the Industry and Commerce Bureau, while his older brother works at the Public Security Bureau. The two have a lot to talk about.

"Xiao Le, are you all ready for tonight?"

The older brother asked him a question.

Yang Xiaole gave a soft "Mmm": "Ready, you are too."

A major case involving the resale of high-end cigarettes to the south has recently emerged in the city.

The reason is naturally that high-end cigarettes now require coupons. There are many wealthy people in the south now, and cigarettes there do not require coupons, but there are quotas.

Although the credit limit is higher than in other places, there are simply too many wealthy people there.

Therefore, reselling high-priced cigarettes has become a highly profitable business.

This time, it was a joint enforcement action by the Industry and Commerce Bureau and the Public Security Bureau.

I've done this many times before, and it's been very effective.

The elder brother nodded slightly: "Yes, your suggestion is very good. Now that the economy is open, many people have started to have crooked ideas again. We must do a good job of keeping it a secret."

Yang Xiaole smiled and nodded.

"Don't worry, it was my idea!"

The team has already begun to be infiltrated.

Sometimes, tasks are leaked in advance.

So he came up with some ideas to increase the number of people on night duty, so that they could be dispatched at any time.

And it's random.

There wasn't even a chance to get someone to notify them.

There's no particular pattern to it.

For this reason, the eldest brother performed exceptionally well at the branch office.

The older brother smiled upon hearing this, and then they started chatting.

Then Xizi and Qu Ying joined in, and the group chatted about current events and politics.

When the topic of finance came up, Xiaoli chimed in.

The other children were also listening. When they were curious or didn't understand something, they would ask a question from time to time, and no one would mind and would explain it in a simple way.

It can also be considered a form of edification.

……

Mother Wang Qiuju and father Yang Guangzhi were overjoyed.

"She's so old and hasn't even had her birthday yet! And you're spending so much money."

He was still there, habitually complaining.

Seeing this, the eldest sister laughed and said, "What's the big deal? It's not like we celebrate every day. Everyone's busy, and it's rare for us to get together this year."

Seeing this, the mother didn't say anything.

The food was served, and everyone began to eat.

After dinner, we also ate cake.

The cake was huge, but there were also many people, so everyone symbolically took a small piece to try.

I didn't buy more.

The cakes at this time looked somewhat different from those in later generations, but they were still much prettier than the cakes sold in ordinary stores.

More upscale.

After all, cake shops also exist in mainland China.

However, the cake cream is very thick at this point, and the taste is still quite good.

……

It was a rare occasion for the group to get together, and they had a long chat.

From national debt to housing reform.

Several years ago, government bonds, also known as treasury bills, were already being issued.

At that time, the national economy had just recovered, and treasury bonds were being issued frequently. People didn't have much spare cash, and although the interest rates on treasury bonds were relatively high, they were conservative and hesitant to buy them, preferring to keep their money in banks. Many organizations adopted a system of allocating funds based on job rank, with cadres taking the lead and deducting the amount directly from employees' salaries.

Many people in my family have bought them.

This can also be considered as supporting national development.

Treasury bonds can actually make money.

Speaking of this, we must mention "Yang Baiwan," the first person to resell treasury bonds.

He naturally wouldn't get involved in these things anymore.

There's no need for that anymore.

Housing reform, which was piloted in other places a few years ago, has now begun in Beijing as well.

This was an early exploratory model for housing reform.

The current system is the three-thirds system.

This means that individuals bear one-third of the cost, employers are responsible for one-third, and the state is responsible for one-third.

Their workplace is also promoting it, but no one is responding.

People are still thinking about getting housing allocations these days!

Even if they don't own a house, they are willing to rent one because rent is so cheap now.

Prices vary depending on the room type.

On average, it costs 15 cents per square meter.

Each household in the compound has about 40 square meters of living space, and the rent is 72 yuan per year.

Wages have increased over the years, but rents haven't.

But housing prices are not cheap these days.

The prices for each courtyard house are different, and these are all for newly built apartments.

The current price is generally around 350 yuan.

They were talking about the area near their home.

Even if it's only a third of that, it'll still cost close to five thousand yuan.

That's enough for 70 years' worth of rent.

……

"Hey Xiao Le, I have a question for you. Is it still possible to buy a company-provided apartment now?"

Lost in thought, the older sister asked him a question.

Others asked out of curiosity as well.

The mother asked curiously, "Yes, Xiao Le, is this 3-3 system reliable? It's not cheap!"

When encountering something unclear, asking Xiao Le has become a routine.

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiaole looked at her older sister and asked, "Is your school also for sale? How much are the house prices in your area?"

There's always a concept of location.

The eldest sister's family lives outside the Second Ring Road, where prices are much cheaper than in the city center.

Upon hearing this, the older woman nodded and said, "Yes! Not many people in the company are willing to buy, so they started forcing us to buy smaller units. The price is a bit cheaper where we are, 240 yuan per square meter, but if we buy them ourselves, it's only 80 yuan per square meter."

Yang Xiaole smiled upon hearing this: "It's okay, go ahead and buy it. Buy the biggest one you can afford. You see, renting is more cost-effective now, but housing prices will definitely rise in the future."

The previous housing allocation was something that couldn't be changed, and it's impossible to make up for the lost money.

The biggest concern is actually renting a lot of apartments.

If I'm not mistaken, rental prices will increase in three years at most.

The price has increased from 15 cents to over one dollar.

It increased seven or eight times.

Paving the way for commercial housing.

During those two years, privately owned housing prices began to rise, and commercial housing began to be sold in Beijing.

The older woman looked puzzled: "But this is too expensive!"

Yang Xiaole smiled upon hearing this, looked at the others, and said, "Think about it yourselves. Now that we are reforming and opening up, real estate is one of the key areas. In the future, buying and selling houses will become the norm. Think about it, in order to encourage the real estate market, can we not introduce policies?"

Xi Zi, standing next to him, nodded in agreement: "Indeed, this is a path that future economic development may take. As for whether it will be fully liberalized, we cannot guarantee that, but the higher-ups are very determined!"

Everyone was there pondering.

Then there was a lot of discussion about it.

Yang Xiaole listened attentively.

In fact, during this period, leaders are the ones who suffer the most, as they need to take the lead in implementing many things.

It's like forcibly assigning housing quotas, treating it as a task to be completed.

However, they will also be the first to enjoy the benefits in the future.

After chatting with the group for a while, the eldest sister said, "Since you all say so, then Yifan and I will buy it. We'll buy a bigger one so it will be more comfortable to live in."

We are all extraordinary people, and our perspectives are different.

Plus, many people had assigned tasks, so they decided to buy it.

Seeing this, Yang Xiaole laughed and said, "Don't worry, in a few years you won't feel like you've been taken advantage of."

The group then ate and chatted there.

……

After eating, the children wanted to go to KFC.

Even though the mother repeatedly objected because of the exorbitant fee, she couldn't resist the expectant gazes of her children.

The group still went anyway.

A small serving of fries costs 5 yuan, and a hamburger costs 8.5 yuan.

For people of this era, it is still an astronomical price.

Even though the average wage is now around 100 yuan.

As for the 4-yuan-a-cup cola, it was developed by the company itself and is somewhat different from Pepsi, but the difference is not significant.

Vanilla flavored.

The company's cola has now entered the mainland market.

However, the price is too high, and its sales volume cannot compare with local soft drinks.

There's nothing we can do; even though Arctic Ocean soda has gone up in price, it's still only 25 cents a bottle now.

And Coca-Cola is also available locally.

Price is one factor, but distribution channels are the most important.

A KFC meal might cost a lot of money, but the kids were incredibly happy.

These days, being able to eat KFC here is something you can brag about for days.

……

When Yang Xiaole got back in the evening, seeing that it was almost time, he said goodbye to Qu Ying.

"I have law enforcement duties at work today, so I might not be back. I'll go to work first to make some arrangements and then come back."

Such matters naturally do not require their personal intervention.

Qu Ying nodded in agreement, "Okay, I understand. Be careful."

Yang Xiaole left after seeing this.

I went to my workplace to make some temporary arrangements before returning.

……

The next day, Yang Xiaole was at work when she suddenly received a phone call.

"Brother, what's wrong? Didn't last night go smoothly?"

A major case was solved last night.

The people were all taken away by the police.

The older brother's voice came through the phone: "Last night went very smoothly, but Zhao Jianguo was arrested."

These words startled Yang Xiaole.

Coming to his senses, he said, "That guy is really unlucky. I even reminded them yesterday, saying I was envious of how well they were doing!"

He then asked, "What is his involvement? Was he involved in smuggling television sets?"

"No, it's cigarettes. And he was the ringleader."

How much does it cost?

"Mainly Chinese and peony varieties, a total of more than 300, amounting to 13587.5 yuan."

Upon hearing this number, Yang Xiaole shook his head.

According to regulations, sentencing is divided into two levels:
Basic circumstances: Violations of financial, foreign exchange, gold and silver, and industrial and commercial management regulations, if serious, shall be punished with imprisonment of not more than three years or detention, and may be subject to a fine or confiscation of property.

Aggravating circumstances: Engaging in regular business; involving a large sum of money; or being a ringleader of a group. Punishment: imprisonment for not less than three years but not more than ten years, and may include confiscation of property.

Zhao Jianguo is clearly a repeat offender.

Needless to say, ten thousand yuan is already a huge sum.

If we also consider the ringleaders, they would probably be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

You have to understand, what happened two years ago has just passed, and although things are a little better now, they are still very serious.

Zhao Jianguo was lucky.

If this had happened two years ago, he would definitely have been shot.

Then he said, "Is this all you're telling me?"

"Yes, Aunt Zhao found me, crying her eyes out. She insisted that I forgive Zhao Jianguo. How could I possibly break the law when it's such a big deal?"

Yang Xiaole responded with a "hmm".

There was nothing that could be done about it; after all, his position was what it was, and how could he risk his entire life for him?

After all, the news had already spread.

Moreover, the eldest brother was only a deputy.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "There's nothing I can do about this. You'll have to decide for yourself. I can only say I'll give a lenient sentence."

The older brother nodded in response, "I know, I just called to let you know."

"I know this matter is handled by your Public Security Bureau. We are just cooperating with your law enforcement."

Yang Xiaole said something.

The older brother sighed helplessly and said with a smile, "Alright, that's settled then. I'll hang up now."

Then hung up the phone.

Yang Xiaole put down the phone and shook his head.

It seems their family and the Zhao family are incompatible!

This grudge has deepened.

That's just how people are; if you don't help get it done, then you're in the wrong.

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Continue looking at the company's documents.

(End of this chapter)