Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 950 Export Garden
Monday, April 7th.

After a day's work, He Qingsheng, along with Tan Yong, Xu Qizhen, and several other leaders of the Writers' Association, returned to the Wenyi New Village in the company's minibus.

After the car entered the residential area, everyone else gradually dispersed, leaving only the three of them sitting at the very back. They didn't get out of the car until they reached He Qingsheng's house.

The three lived in the front and back houses, and the house in the far corner was Chen Fan's home. Back then, people in the workplace jokingly called them the "Four Giants".

Unfortunately, Vice Chairman Chen was not very sociable and often skipped work to go out and do nothing, while the "three giants" were always together.

After getting off the bus, Tan Yong greeted Xu Qizhen, then slipped through the gap between the houses, climbed a flight of steps, and arrived home.

He Qingsheng was a bit older and had suffered a lot in the past. Although the car ride was short, he felt a little stiff, so he picked up his briefcase and stood by the roadside to stretch his muscles.

After making a few movements, he was about to enter the yard when he suddenly noticed that the front door of Chen Fan's house next door was wide open.
He immediately stopped pushing the door open, moved a few steps to the side, bent down to look, and was about to call out when he suddenly heard the sound of a car approaching from behind.

Looking back, he saw Chen Fan's GAZ-69 jeep slowly approaching him, which startled him so much that he took several steps back.

Chen Fan parked the car steadily at the gate of the yard, stuck his head out of the car window, and smiled at him, "Uncle He, you're so kind as to open the gate for me, thank you."

He Qingsheng instantly became furious and embarrassed, "Don't you know that I'm an old man with clumsy legs and feet? You still tried to bump into me. Don't you have any conscience?"

Chen Fan leaned against the car window, looking completely innocent, and said, "Didn't you take several steps back? I thought you were making way. Well, let's finish this good deed and help open the gate."

Just as He Qingsheng was about to speak, he suddenly sniffed, glanced at Chen Fan's open gate, his eyes darted around, and then coughed twice, "It's just opening the gate, can't we just talk it out properly?"

He then helped push open the one-meter-high wooden gate.

Chen Fan, looking down at him, took in his expression without saying a word, and drove the car in with a hearty laugh.

After he parked his car and got out, he looked back and, sure enough, He Qingsheng had already swaggered in.

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Judging from your appearance, you haven't come inside yet, have you? Why don't you tell your aunt first? You'll have dinner at my house."

"Right."

He Qingsheng nodded in realization, then shouted at the top of his lungs, "Guying, don't keep me for dinner, I'll eat at Xiao Chen's."

"I know, Little Chen's wife already said so, so I didn't keep you any."

Before she arrived, her voice preceded her. After she finished speaking, a thin old lady came out, wearing an apron around her neck and holding a rag in her hand. She looked at Chen Fan with a kind face and said loudly, "Thank you for your help. Every time he comes back, he comes to your house to freeload. He doesn't act like an outsider at all."

Chen Fan immediately smiled politely, "Uncle He is no outsider, there's no need to be so polite."

After a pause, she added, "Why don't you come and eat with us, Auntie? It'll be more lively that way."

The old lady quickly waved her hand, "No need, no need, you eat yours. I've already prepared dinner. Besides, there are still children at home, so it's not appropriate for me to go over."

After saying that, he waved and greeted everyone before turning and going inside.

Chen Fan chuckled at He Qingsheng, "Uncle He, please."

He Qingsheng didn't stand on ceremony. He coughed lightly, picked up his briefcase, and walked into the house with his head held high and chest out.

Today, Jiang Lili is cooking at home. Under her husband's unreserved guidance, she has now mastered about 80% of his culinary skills, making her even slightly better than a chef at a state banquet. Whenever she's around, she's usually the one cooking.

Even Zhou Yali, who has a discerning palate, wouldn't nitpick.

Jiang Lili was the head chef, and Zhou Yali assisted her. ...One was responsible for cooking, and the other for eating; they worked together seamlessly.

So when Chen Fan returned and he and He Qingsheng got ready to drink, she had already burped several times and firmly declined He Qingsheng's invitation, choosing to stay in the kitchen with Jiang Lili for a private meal.

Jiang Lili eats her meals, including fruit afterward; it's all prepared separately.

On the daybed, the two sat facing each other. He Qingsheng raised his wine glass and clinked it with Chen Fan's. He took a sip of wine, ate a bite of food, and then breathed a sigh of relief. "It's all thanks to you. You provide plenty of wine and meat. My son has wasted my quota, or he's feeding it to his grandson. It's not even enough for me."

Chen Fan put down his wine glass, picked up a piece of fish, and casually said, "Brother He works at the post office, so he must have pretty good benefits, right?"

He Qingsheng shook his head. "The ordinary welfare is certainly not bad, and ordinary families can't compare. But Class A cigarettes and alcohol are rare items. When you go to the department store to buy them, you need coupons and you have to register your work unit. He has to make friends with people at all levels. His fingers are looser than a winnowing basket. He can easily get them away. My quota is not enough for him to produce them."

Chen Fan blinked and looked at him. "But I noticed there's a lot of cigarettes and alcohol in your office."

Upon hearing this, He Qingsheng became furious and glared at him, saying, "These are all unit quotas, specifically for work expenses. Only you, kid, don't follow the rules and carry them out by the box. Try that on someone else, and I'll break their legs!"

Chen Fan immediately shrank back and chuckled awkwardly, "It can't be that bad, can it?"

It's been a long time since I've gone to He Qingsheng's office to take advantage of him, and I actually miss it a bit.

He Qingsheng sighed and said, "How could it not be? There are limits to the production of Grade A cigarettes and alcohol. Why are they Grade A? Because they can be exported to earn foreign exchange! You know how tight foreign exchange is right now, so even though the production of Grade A cigarettes and alcohol has increased a lot in recent years, the quotas haven't really increased much. I heard that some local governments have even cut them down quite a bit, all to make way for earning foreign exchange."

"You're the only one who's brought a lot of benefits to the company, making everyone involved very happy. Otherwise, you'd see if anyone would have reported you behind your back."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan immediately fell silent.

Anyway, ever since he got through to Hideo Takahashi and was able to earn foreign exchange, he used remittance certificates to buy things, but starting this year he switched to foreign exchange certificates.

As for tickets and ration coupons, they're actually quite unfamiliar to me.

That's true. Good things are always in high demand, otherwise they wouldn't be considered good things.

He Qingsheng took another sip of authentic Fenjiu liquor and asked, "When did you get back? Have you finished things in Shenzhen?"

Chen Fan: "It's temporarily over. I finished the groundbreaking ceremony for the hotel yesterday and headed back early this morning."

He shook his head as he spoke, "It's a pity that Shenzhen doesn't have an airport, otherwise I could have arrived in the provincial capital this morning."

He Qingsheng chuckled, "It's no use if you come in the morning. I won't be home, so you won't get any good food and drinks."

Chen Fan: ...?
He Qingsheng asked curiously, "Hey, what's that big hotel your uncle built in Shenzhen like? Is it as good as those high-end hotels over there?"

While eating and drinking, Chen Fan said, "I don't even know which hotel you're talking about, so how can we compare them? But generally speaking, a new hotel of the same standard will definitely have an advantage over an older one. Not to mention this Pengcheng Hotel, which is designed according to the highest international hotel industry standards. Once completed, it will most likely become a landmark building, and might even become a scenic spot in Shenzhen."

Upon hearing this, He Qingsheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "You must be joking. A hotel can be a tourist attraction? That's ridiculous."

Chen Fan hummed twice, looked at him and smiled, "It's not necessarily true. After this hotel is completed, it will be open to the public, and anyone can go in to visit and spend money. Do you think it will attract a huge crowd?"

He Qingsheng was slightly taken aback. "Fully open? Oh, that's actually quite possible."

Given how much ordinary people love to watch a spectacle, if such a hotel were to open in the provincial capital, most of the city's residents would flock there to see it.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "What a pity, what a pity."

Chen Fan glanced at him. "What's a pity?"

He Qingsheng said, "It's a pity it's not in the provincial capital. Otherwise, when you're shooting landscape films, you could include this as a tourist attraction, letting foreigners see that we also have high-end hotels here. Wouldn't that be great?!"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's okay. It doesn't matter if we don't have one now. As long as we focus on developing the economy, the provincial capital will definitely have five-star hotels in a few years."

A hint of longing flashed in He Qingsheng's eyes. "I hope so."

Then he looked at Chen Fan and asked, "Did you go to Jiang University or Jiang Film Studio just now?"

Chen Fan: "I went to all of them. First, I went to Jiang University, met with my professor, and filled out a doctoral admission registration form..."

He sighed softly, "I finally finished my master's degree, and in two months I'll have to start my doctoral studies. When will this ever end?"

Upon hearing this, He Qingsheng's face darkened, and he really didn't want to talk to him anymore.

The first batch of newly recruited graduate students haven't even graduated with their master's degrees yet, and you've already graduated a year ahead of schedule and become the first doctoral student after the resumption of graduate education. Are you still asking when this will end?

What's there to brag about?

Well, to be honest, if it were me, it would be something to brag about.

Thinking of this, He Qingsheng became even angrier.

He immediately changed the subject, "When will the work at Jiangying Studio be finished? Let me tell you, many places have already sent over the shooting scripts you need, and the local area has also gathered a batch of film, just waiting for you to go and shoot. Don't keep everyone waiting too long."

Chen Fan looked up at him, "Which places?"

He Qingsheng thought for a moment and said, "There are quite a few, Shanghai, Wuxi, Suzhou,..."

Chen Fan waved his hand dismissively, "Where are the documents? I'll have someone fetch them."

He Qingsheng put down his chopsticks. "Alright, I'll have someone bring it over. Just wait."

He stood up and said, "Can I borrow your phone?"

He then walked to the study with his hands behind his back, muttering to himself, "He really has the life of a master, a lowly official who dares to order around high-ranking officials."

Chen Fan chuckled and remained silent. When he returned after making the call, another round of toasts ensued.

Less than half an hour later, He Qingsheng's secretary came over with a cardboard box, politely declined Chen Fan's invitation to drink, but did not refuse the two packs of American cigarettes offered to him, and left happily with the cigarettes in hand.

By this time, they had almost finished eating, so Chen Fan asked Jiang Lili to clean up the mess while he squatted in front of the cardboard box and opened the documents.

He Qingsheng walked over, sat down on a chair next to him, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, and looked at him, asking, "Aren't you supposed to be busy with the film's post-production? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Without looking up, Chen Fan said, "I want to verify something."

As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled out a thick booklet from the box, with the words "Suzhou" printed on the cover.

He glanced at the table of contents, then flipped through the contents, and put the documents back in less than two minutes.

He Qingsheng looked at him and asked, "You've already verified it?"

Chen Fan exhaled a long breath, got up and sat down in a chair, took out a cigarette and handed one over, then lit one for himself and exhaled a puff of smoke.

After pausing for two seconds, he said, "Suzhou has 158 kilometers of Yangtze River shoreline, which flows directly through Shazhou County (Zhangjiagang), Changshu County and Taicang. Although the urban area of ​​Suzhou is not close to the Yangtze River, given Suzhou's historical status, it is definitely one of the important places that cannot be bypassed when filming the Yangtze River."

He Qingsheng nodded, then looked at him and asked, "And then?"

Chen Fan smiled and looked at him, saying, "A major event happened in Suzhou this year. Have you heard about it?"

He Qingsheng shook his head blankly. "I haven't heard anything. What happened?"

Chen Fan exhaled and laughed, "To be precise, it should be that at the end of last year, a 'Suzhou Garden' was exported to the United States, and then construction began in January of this year. After four and a half months, it was officially completed in May and opened to the American public."

Upon hearing this, He Qingsheng frowned and muttered, "I feel like I've seen this somewhere before?"

After a while, he suddenly turned to look at Chen Fan, “Xinhua Daily, didn’t you read about it in Xinhua Daily? The name is ‘Mingxuan’, and the recipient is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It’s said that they collected several sets of antique furniture and needed a suitable exhibition hall to display them, which is why ‘Mingxuan’ came about?”

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and gave him a thumbs up. "Not bad, Uncle He. You're still going strong for your age. Your memory is still pretty good."

He Qingsheng snorted twice, "I'm just getting old, not stupid. It was just something that was reported two months ago, and it caused a little discussion at work back then."

Many people are saying they never imagined that gardens could be exported and generate foreign exchange.

He paused for a moment, then shook his head. "But let me tell you, this kind of money can only be made in Suzhou. You really can't make it anywhere else. I remember reading in the newspaper that there were more than 70,000 components in total, each of which was numbered and the quality was repeatedly checked. Any component with even the slightest flaw had to be reworked immediately."

To install these components, Suzhou even selected twenty-seven highly skilled personnel to travel to the United States; it truly took considerable effort.

(List of workers going to the United States)
After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Chen Fan and asked with a puzzled expression, "Hey, why did you suddenly bring this up?"

Chen Fan pointed to the documents lying in the box, pursed his lips, and said, "Mingxuan caused quite a stir in the United States. Such good material, but they didn't put it in. What do you think is wrong?"

(End of this chapter)