Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

The man stared intently at the money in his hand, never expecting that Wang An would actually give it to him so readily.

Ignoring their surprise, Wang An then addressed them:
"If you ask me, you guys should stop doing this job of smashing bars. To be honest, with your skills, I'm ashamed for you."

After Wang An finished speaking, seeing that Wang Li and Mu Xueli had already fastened the carriage panels, he called out to the two of them:

"Fifth Brother, Xue Li is gone."

The three men climbed into the cab of the Liberation truck, drove off in a flash, leaving no trace of their departure.

As the Liberation truck drove away, one of the men who had helped Wang An load the timber onto the truck, a particularly wise-looking young man, said:

“I think this kid is right. We really can’t do this job anymore. Not only do we not make any money, but we also have to live in fear every day. What if we run into someone even more vicious than this kid and they shoot us in the thigh one by one? Then our lives would be ruined!”

As he spoke, the young man glanced at the boy who had been shot in the leg.

This group of people were actually villagers from the surrounding area. Most of them were incited by the boy who had been shot, and in a moment of impulsiveness, they started robbing people.

Little did they know that highway robbery was far more dangerous than hunting in the mountains.

There's no way around it; living is hard enough these days, and making money is even harder.

So if you encounter robbers, and your strength allows, wouldn't you fight back with your life on the line?
As soon as the kid finished speaking, it immediately garnered a lot of responses.

So, these people ignored the man who had been shot in the thigh and all disappeared into the woods.

Only two people helped the man who had been shot in the leg up and carried him away into the distance.

If Wang An had been there, he probably wouldn't have imagined that just because of one sentence from him, this group of robbers would break up.

Despite this little incident, Wang An and his two companions were not affected at all. They returned to the car and continued eating snacks like baked fruit and biscuits.

After eating biscuits, they ate sunflower seeds, then broad beans, and when they were thirsty, they drank soda. Occasionally, they would light up a cigarette. In short, before arriving in Harbin, Wang An and his two companions' mouths were basically never idle.

And so, at around 1 p.m., the Liberation truck finally entered the city of Harbin.

It was only a little over 500 li, or 250 kilometers, but even with people resting and the vehicle not stopping, it still took more than 4 hours to travel. This shows how difficult it was to go out in those days.

After entering the city, Wang An took over the steering wheel.

The main problem was that there were just too many people and cars in the city, and Wang An felt that the two of them weren't very confident driving.

They drove straight to the vicinity of the department store, parked the car in a place where it wouldn't get in the way, and then walked directly into the department store.

Because of the moving issues, appliances such as refrigerators, color TVs, and washing machines were all placed on the first floor. The three of them had a clear goal and went straight to the area where the TV was located.

It has to be said that the department stores in Harbin have a really complete selection of TV brands and models, such as Peony, Great Wall, Kunlun, Swan, Mudanjiang, Flying Deer, Fengtian, Plum Blossom, and so on. It's a dazzling array.

9-inch, 12-inch, 14-inch, 17-inch – every size is available.

However, the largest color TV produced in China at that time was only 14 inches, so if Wang An and his two friends wanted to buy a 21-inch TV, they could only buy an imported one.

Wang An remembers that it was around 87 or 86 that Huaxia started producing color TVs of 21 inches and above.

Upon arriving at the television section, although there were several salespeople, the area was already quite crowded, almost to the point of being packed with people.

This shows just how good the living conditions must have been for the people of Harbin at that time, that they would queue up to buy such an expensive item as a television. Of course, it's also possible that it was because the New Year was approaching, and people wanted to watch television during the holiday, so they rushed to buy televisions at this time.

Actually, it wasn't just the TV area that had a lot of people; there were even more people in other areas.

Upon seeing this large group of people, Wang An couldn't help but complain to Wang Li and Mu Xueli:

"Look at all these old folks, when will we ever be able to buy a TV? We might as well wait until after the New Year."

Wang Li and Mu Xueli were also sweating profusely, but they clearly disagreed with Wang An's words.

Amidst the chaos of the crowd, someone shouted:

"Line up, line up! Anyone who doesn't line up, get the hell out of here!"

Looking back, I saw the security personnel from the department store.

At this time, the security personnel in the department store, although they were not good in terms of quality and education, had a lot of power. They could handle anything that happened inside and around the mall.

Furthermore, if they encounter petty theft, they don't even need to notify Jingcha; they can handle it themselves directly.

And so, with the security guards shouting, people lined up in several orderly queues.

Wang An, being quite cunning, seized the opportunity to move to the middle position, leaving Wang Li and Mu Xueli dumbfounded.

Surprisingly, once everyone started queuing, the process actually sped up considerably.

About half an hour later, it was Wang An's turn. Wang An directly said to the sales clerk:
"Four 21-inch SN color TVs without tickets."

Upon hearing this, the sales clerk was stunned. She even stopped writing the order, looked up, and stared at Wang An with a surprised expression.

From Wang An's perspective, he could only see the top of the salesperson's head, but when the salesperson looked up, Wang An was actually quite surprised.

Yes, the saleswoman is a woman, probably only in her early twenties, and she's incredibly beautiful.

With big eyes, double eyelids, an oval face, a pert nose, and cherry lips, her whole face looks so fresh and refined, so pure and natural, giving people a feeling of first love.

If Wang An were to give his opinion, this woman would be only slightly worse than Sun Nian.

I have to admit, there are so many beautiful women in Heilongjiang Province!
Seeing the woman looking at him, Wang An repeated himself:
"No tickets required, 4 units of 21-inch SN color TVs."

The woman couldn't help but be surprised; four SN color TVs, each 21 inches in size, were worth nearly 10,000 yuan in total.

In this era, even in an international metropolis like Harbin, there are probably not many people who can afford to spend 1 yuan. As for those who can afford to spend 1 yuan to buy a color TV, they are probably even rarer.

Of course, this refers to people queuing at the counter to buy TVs, not those who use connections to buy TVs through back channels.

After Wang An finished speaking, the woman hurriedly nodded and buried her head in writing on the form.

What surprised Wang An was that he saw her little ears turn red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

I don't know why! (End of Chapter)