The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 782 The Migrant Worker's Counterattack (Part 2)
During this time, Li Youcai longed to develop a closer relationship with Tan Wenwen every day, but Tan Wenwen always treated him like a brother.

Li Youcai gradually realized that Tan Wenwen's attitude towards him remained at the level of friendship.

Whenever he tried to take things further, Tan Wenwen would cleverly change the subject.

One day, Li Youcai saw Tan Wenwen walking intimately side by side with a strange boy downstairs at her rented apartment. The two were chatting and laughing, and the boy's hand was naturally on her shoulder.

At that moment, Li Youcai felt as if his heart was being pricked by a needle.

He turned and left, wandering aimlessly through the streets, until he unknowingly arrived at the entrance of the garment factory where Linzi worked.

The factory workers had just finished their night shift and were walking out in twos and threes.

Linzi spotted the distraught Li Youcai at a glance and jogged over, asking, "Brother Youcai, what are you doing here?"

Looking at Linzi's concerned eyes, Li Youcai suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

They found a roadside stall, and Li Youcai poured out all his worries.

Linzi listened quietly, then said softly, "Actually, I've known for a long time that you like Sister Wenwen. But feelings can't be forced..."

However, Li Youcai was not discouraged by this.

He possessed an indomitable tenacity, and even just having lunch with Tan Wenwen every day made him feel content.

This seemingly hopeless unrequited love, on the contrary, fueled Li Youcai's fighting spirit.

He secretly vowed in his heart: he must make a name for himself through his own efforts and one day win her heart openly and honestly.

That December, my second sister, Li Fang, returned to her hometown for a blind date.

After the Spring Festival, Li Fang not only returned to Guangdong Province herself, but also brought her father, Li Shengli, with her.

Li Shengli, who is approaching forty, has limited education, making a living in a foreign land is not easy.

In order to help their father settle down in Form Three, Li Youcai and his sister scraped together 4500 yuan to buy a "Yanshan" brand electric tricycle so that their father could start a fruit business.

Speaking of the "Yanshan" brand electric vehicle, it is a leader in the industry.

As a leading brand in the electric vehicle industry, it is not only a household name in China, but also exported to dozens of countries overseas.

With its excellent quality and good reputation, it generates more than two billion US dollars in valuable foreign exchange earnings for the country every year.

Li Shengli initially knew nothing about riding an electric tricycle, but in order to make a living, he quickly learned how to push the tricycle around and set up a stall every day.

Li Shengli's pineapple business was doing well, but the strict crackdown by the urban management officers often resulted in him being fined.

Every day after get off work, Li Youcai would help his father pack up his stall. Seeing his father's face red from the cold wind, he felt both heartache and guilt.

To ease his father's burden, he began to study the fruit wholesale business in his spare time, often riding his "Yanshan" brand electric bike to the wholesale market to purchase goods at four in the morning.

By chance, Li Youcai discovered that the profit margin for imported fruits in the market was very large.

He took out all his savings and borrowed some money from his second sister, Li Fang, to start trying to import durians from Thailand.

Initially, due to a lack of experience, the first batch of goods resulted in a loss.

Hard work pays off.

Soon after, Li Shengli and his son Li Youcai finally figured out the business. Their "Shengli Fruit Stall" gradually became well-known in the factory area because of its fresh produce and fair prices.

Unfortunately, his good fortune didn't last long. More and more fruit stalls appeared near Shengli's fruit stand, and with the city management becoming increasingly strict, it became increasingly difficult for Li Shengli to sell his mobile fruit.

Later, Li Shengli, the father, heard from his fellow villagers that the wages for construction sites in Bao County were high, so he simply gave up his fruit business and went to work on the construction site, which finally gave him a stable livelihood.

During their third year of secondary school, Li Youcai and his classmates' factory received fewer and fewer orders, and the boss began to default on wages.

Li Youcai and his fellow workers lost their income, so they banded together to organize a strike and put pressure on the government.

The factory eventually paid off the back wages, but also dismissed Li Youcai and the other leaders.

Thus ended Li Youcai's first factory job in the south. After many twists and turns, he came to Baoxian Special Economic Zone.

Upon arriving in Bao County, Li Youcai and his father, Li Shengli, worked on a construction site in Shekou.

Life on construction sites is monotonous and dull, but the income is not low; it's all about putting in a lot of hard work.

During the day he worked, and at night he would go to the nearby "Nanyou Industrial Zone" with his coworkers to play.

This area is a well-known "rich area" in Bao County Special Zone, where you can often see some well-dressed girls.

Although Li Youcai and his fellow young men wanted to meet one or two girls, they were too self-conscious to take the initiative to talk to them.

It was during his time on the construction site that Li Youcai realized that working was not just about making a living, but also about having higher aspirations for the future.

Therefore, Li Youcai secretly resolved to find a more respectable job and have a career of his own.

Unfortunately, this idea still fell short of reality. After a year, little was left. In the end, Li Youcai returned to Zhongsan and continued to struggle in Dongsheng Town with his father, Li Shengli.

That year, Li Youcai's second sister, Li Fang, was getting married, and he decided to give her a wedding gift. So he took his savings, rode his electric tricycle to the electronics store, and bought a VCD player and a subwoofer as a wedding gift for her.

Unexpectedly, the second sister, Li Fang, and her father, Li Shengli, encountered a scam at the Guangdong Provincial Railway Station on their way back to their hometown.

A conman pretended to be a fellow villager and tricked Li Shengli's father into canceling his ticket and buying a bus ticket instead, thus swindling him out of the entire ticket price.

After learning that they had been scammed, the family was extremely anxious, almost thinking that Li Shengli and Li Fang had met with some misfortune.

During that period, Li Youcai's mother cried every day and even began to prepare for her funeral.

Fortunately, a few days later, Li Fang and Shengli finally returned safely to Suixian County and told them the details of how they were scammed, which finally put their families at ease.

But this incident left Li Youcai deeply unsettled; being away from home was indeed not as simple as he had imagined.

This experience greatly affected Li Youcai's mood when looking for work, and he lost his motivation for a time.

It wasn't until news of Li Shengli and Li Fang arrived that Li Youcai finally mustered the courage to start looking for work again.

However, this time the job search was not as smooth as the last time. Many factories were no longer in a hurry to hire workers due to unstable orders.

For several days, Li Youcai had traveled almost all over the industrial zone, but he kept running into obstacles.

Later, Li Youcai had no choice but to go to the town's job placement agency and spend fifty yuan to register his information.

A few days later, they notified Li Youcai to go to work at a family-run factory, which was how he was able to return to work.

The factory where I recently started working is a small, family-run workshop. It's very small and the management is quite casual.

Li Youcai was assigned to the stamping workshop, but for safety reasons, the factory did not provide any training, not even basic safety knowledge.

Unexpectedly, less than half a month later, Li Youcai's finger was injured by a stamping machine.

The accident came suddenly, and the pain penetrated directly to the bone marrow.

During his recovery, Li Youcai lay helplessly in his rented room, realizing for the first time how difficult life in the south had been.

After his finger recovered, Li Youcai decided to temporarily put aside his work and return to Suixian County to attend his second sister's wedding.

At that time, he had almost run out of savings and was penniless. Although he was disappointed, he still embarked on the road home.

Returning home for the first time in three years, Li Youcai was filled with mixed emotions upon seeing his mother looking much older and his father, Li Shengli, looking exhausted.

After staying for a few days and celebrating the New Year, Li Youcai, who couldn't stay idle, borrowed another 500 yuan from his father for travel expenses and went south to Guangdong Province again, returning to Zhongsan.

This time, Li Shengli chose to seek refuge with Tan Wenwen's younger brother, Tan Xiaodong.

Tan Xiaodong has been doing well in recent years. He works at an air conditioner parts factory in Gangkou Town. Because of Li Youcai's past kindness to him, he helped Li Youcai get a job at the same factory.

In terms of renting a place, Li Youcai and Tan Xiaodong shared an apartment with a fellow villager, and their lives were simple and peaceful.

Several young and beautiful girls lived next door to them. Most of them worked at a KTV in the hotel. He saw them in their rooms during the day, but they disappeared at night. Li Youcai bumped into them a few times, exchanging greetings, but didn't get to know them well.

Although the job doesn't pay much, the salary can increase slightly during peak seasons.

There were many people from Guangxi Province working in the factory, and Li Youcai got along well with them.

In the late 1990s, mobile phones became popular. A young man from Guangdong province in the factory bought a Huawei flip phone with a month's salary. It was the world's first flip phone, and its appearance far surpassed Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola. This attracted a group of people, including Li Youcai, who were extremely curious.

"Huawei" has developed rapidly in recent years. In 98, its annual sales reached 7800 units, ranking among the top three in the world and number one in domestic sales.

Looking at the Huawei phone in his coworker's hand, Li Youcai felt both envious and sentimental.

This domestically produced mobile phone not only has a stylish appearance, but also has an exceptionally good signal, allowing him to truly experience the shock brought by technology for the first time.

After get off work, Li Youcai made a special trip to the mobile phone store in town to feast his eyes. He stood in front of the counter for a long time, reluctant to leave.

The sales staff at the Huawei store enthusiastically introduced him to various models, but the prices, often exceeding two or three thousand yuan, made him hesitate.

What young person wouldn't like such a fashionable electronic product? It's a pity that ordinary working people can't afford it.

Although Li Youcai had saved some money, he never thought of buying such a "luxury" thing.

Air conditioners are seasonal products, with distinct off-seasons and peak seasons for production.

By June or July, the factory enters its off-season, and there is almost no work to do.

Li Youcai and a few friends discussed it and decided to quit their jobs and try their luck in Baoxian Special Economic Zone.

This time, Li Youcai contacted his cousin Li Youli, who had gone south with him years ago. Li Youli had already established himself in the Baoxian Special Zone, so Li Youcai invited him to go with him.

"Liujiazhuang, Nanbao County" has been a place that migrant workers have longed for for many years.

Like the Liujiazhuang High-tech Development Zone in Yanjing, Baoxian Special Economic Zone is full of opportunities for migrant workers, but it is not easy to make a living there.

On his first day in Baoxian Special Zone, Li Youcai personally experienced a cat-and-mouse chase game.

Upon arriving at the industrial zone, I was told that they would check temporary residence permits.

These days, not having a license means you're considered an "unregistered resident." If you get caught, you'll be fined and may even be deported.

That day, Li Youcai and several brothers hid in a big tree and stayed there for several hours before daring to come down.

Life as a migrant worker in Baoxian Special Economic Zone is indeed not easy!
Later, Li Youcai finally found a job. He entered a small electronics factory, which was located next to the large joint venture "Ensmay".

Ensmay is a large joint venture electronics company. Its largest shareholder is the Yanjing Liu's Financial Investment Group, and its second largest shareholder is T Province Micro-Xing.

"Ensmai" has more than 10,000 female workers in Bao County Special Zone, and is a well-known "beauty factory" in the vicinity.

After get off work, Li Youcai and his coworkers would often get together. Occasionally, when they passed by the Ensmay factory, they would jokingly call it "a good place to select concubines".

Back then, Li Youcai was young and ambitious, always believing that as long as he made a name for himself in Bao County, he would definitely be able to change his fate in the future.

However, life is always full of uncertainties. Not long after, the electronics factory went bankrupt, and Li Youcai and his colleagues lost their jobs again.

Because of frequently changing jobs, Li Youcai gradually accumulated some job-hunting experience and also gradually figured out some survival rules.

Compared to Bao County Special Economic Zone and Zhongsan, although Bao County Special Economic Zone offers higher wages and more opportunities, the cost of living is also not low.

Li Youcai ultimately chose to return to Form Three.

In recent years, Li Youcai has experienced unemployment multiple times and often felt lost.

Seeing his fellow workers struggling with job closures and job changes, their lives became increasingly unstable.

Li Youcai began to think that this was not a long-term solution.

Later, he decided to switch careers and go into sales.

Although this was an unknown path, Li Youcai knew in his heart that if he wanted to change the status quo, he had to step out of his comfort zone.

In his first month as a salesperson, Li Youcai visited countless clients, but his sales performance was dismal.

But Li Youcai was not discouraged. He went out on time every day, and with a do-or-die mentality, he continued to learn and summarize his experiences.

After countless setbacks and cold shoulders, Li Youcai finally signed his first order.

At that moment, Li Youcai stood at the entrance of his client's company, almost bursting into tears of joy.

This order, though small, gave Li Youcai tremendous encouragement. It was as if he had seen his own path, and his resolve grew stronger.

Gradually, Li Youcai's sales performance improved, and his income gradually stabilized.

Li Youcai learned how to build relationships with clients and gradually carved out his own niche in the industry.

In the blink of an eye, I have been in Form Three for a year.

The second sister, Li Fang, had already returned to her hometown and started a family. Li Youcai and her father, Li Shengli, had also gradually adapted to life in Guangdong Province.

Over the past two years, with accumulated wealth and expanded network, Li Youcai had the idea of ​​starting his own business.

Seeing that the factory owners' businesses were thriving, and even some of his former coworkers had returned to their hometowns to open small factories after accumulating some capital.

In the year 2000, Li Youcai couldn't resist the urge to try opening his own small workshop.

After returning to Suixian County, Li Youcai partnered with several friends to rent a small factory and start producing hardware accessories.

At first, they didn't have much money, so they had to live frugally and explore their way forward little by little.

In the early stages of starting the business, the factory didn't have many orders, and sometimes there were no orders for several days in a row.

Li Youcai and his team quickly ran into financial difficulties and faced the brink of bankruptcy.

During this period, Li Youcai traveled around tirelessly for the factory, trying his best to persuade old customers to place orders.

Fortunately, the network of contacts he had built up over the years came in handy, and gradually some old customers were willing to patronize his business, which allowed the small factory to barely survive.

Just as Li Youcai was gritting his teeth and persevering, a chance encounter at the end of the year led him to a large order from "Huawei Mobile Company".

This order is almost equal to the total annual revenue of Li Youcai's factory, and winning it would be enough to turn their fortunes around.

However, "Huawei" has stringent requirements, demanding extremely high product precision.

Li Youcai hesitated for a moment, fearing he wouldn't be able to accept the offer.

After much deliberation, he decided to take the gamble.

Li Youcai personally led the workers to work overtime and meticulously completed this batch of orders.

During that period, in order to avoid any mistakes, Li Youcai spent almost every day at the factory, and even slept on the floor in the workshop.

After the products were delivered on schedule, the purchasing department of "Huawei" was very satisfied and immediately renewed the order for the following year.

This success made Li Youcai truly feel the power of perseverance and see the results of his hard work.

With the support of this order, the factory gradually expanded, and Li Youcai gradually built his own management team.

When Li Youcai returned to his hometown for the Spring Festival, the village elders were all impressed with him and even began to ask him to share his "success experience" with the younger generation.

But Li Youcai himself understood that his so-called "success" was nothing more than luck and perseverance after countless failures.

During his years in the south, Li Youcai has seen too many young people who have left their hometowns to work hard in the Pearl River Delta.

Like Li Youcai, they once went south with dreams, and also felt lost due to the disappointment and hardship of their working life.

But some people persevered, started their own families, and lived a stable life, while others chose to leave after countless setbacks.

(End of this chapter)