Brilliant Years 1991

Chapter 30 Boss Cao's Delivery

January 1992, 1, Tuesday, the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

It is the Little New Year in the south.

In Shanghai, at a savings branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Cao Yukun arrived before ten o'clock in the morning. He came in with a box in his arms, but just stood in the corner, with no intention of queuing up to do business.

As it was almost noon, the bank staff stopped handling business and took a break. He also went out with his box, found a place to eat, then went back to his car to sit for a while and smoke a cigarette. When it was almost time, he returned to the savings bank with his box and continued to stand in the corner and observe.

This time, the stock subscription certificates are sold by the ICBC agency in Shanghai.

However, everything happened just as he had predicted the last time he came here, the warrants were unsaleable.

One morning, he stood in the corner and observed for two hours, and only found six people who came to buy stock subscription certificates. Just based on this point, it is no exaggeration to say that the place is deserted.

At the same time, he also observed that almost every clerk was quite enthusiastic about people who came to buy stock subscription certificates - it seemed that there must be some internal promotional tasks.

So, as three o'clock in the afternoon approached and the number of people queuing up at the savings bank to do business became smaller, he finally went over to queue up - and chose the window with the most beautiful clerk.

While waiting in line, I listened to the two people in front of me talking about buying New Year's goods.

At half past three, it was finally his turn.

He put the box on the counter and said with a smile, "Hello, comrade. I want to buy some subscription certificates."

Upon hearing this, the clerk, who already looked a little tired, immediately perked up, looked through the glass window, and then her eyes became even brighter - in fact, Cao Yukun didn't know that this handsome guy who had been standing in the corner of the savings bank this morning had become the subject of heated discussion among the staff during lunch.

Being good-looking, especially in front of strangers, can be really lethal.

"Hello! How many tickets do you want to buy?"

"Uh...I want to buy a whiteboard."

This information was just observed today.

In fact, how could a person who lives with the habits of later generations and has a full set of mobile phones and computers think that he needs to register information one by one when buying stocks?

However, the four hours of observation in the morning and afternoon were not wasted. Cao Yukun soon noticed that some people would specifically ask to buy white boards when they went to the counter to buy stock subscription certificates.

That is, no identity information is registered.

In almost the blink of an eye, Cao Yukun figured out the difference.

Not registering identity information means it is easier to transfer the property!
It saves the trouble of transfer procedures and registration. Whoever holds the subscription certificate owns it!

Moreover, in later generations, we have never heard of anything like being unable to trade or draw lots because of buying a blank slate. Of course, blank slates are more popular - so, blank slates!

"Oh, sure, we can sell whiteboards here too."

That's it.

You can imagine that it’s not selling well!

Although the higher authorities have stipulated that every whiteboard must be registered with identity information, the staff finds registration troublesome, some people buy whiteboards specifically, and the higher authorities have too much pressure on them, so of course some people are willing to sell whiteboards. After that, I guess the law cannot hold everyone responsible.

"That's great!"

With two clicks, Cao Yukun opened the box and turned it in the opposite direction.

"I want to buy 30,000 tickets! They must be consecutive numbers!"

Even without his words, just the box of money was enough to make the girl inside stunned - the clerks in the bank were not someone who had never seen money. However, the stock subscription certificates had been on sale for more than a week. In the first two days, some people did come with large sums of cash to buy them, but in recent days, it has been basically a situation where no stocks can be sold every day. The girl never thought that such a handsome guy would come with a large amount of money, and to buy stock subscription certificates, and he came to her own window!
Her first thought was - it’s rich!
In order to maximize everyone's work enthusiasm, the issuing agency provided ICBC with an incentive of 30 cents for each subscription certificate sold. ICBC decided not to keep a single cent and give it all to the staff!

Thirty thousand tickets - a commission reward of nine thousand yuan!

That’s basically six years’ salary!

Inside the window, the girl stared at the money in the box in surprise for a while, then raised her head, her eyes full of little stars. It seemed that at this moment, she wanted to marry Cao Yukun right away!
The next moment, without paying attention to the other windows turning their chairs and twisting their bodies to look at her, she quickly stood up and said, "Please wait a moment, I will take you to the VIP room!"

…………

Thirty minutes later, the box was still full, so the savings bank provided a large cardboard box, which was half full and weighed nearly 20 kilograms. It contained 30,000 stock subscription certificates, a total of 300 books. The little girl even rushed to help carry the items and sent them out the door.

The front passenger seat was opened, Cao Yukun first threw the box of money into the back seat, then took the cardboard box which felt a bit heavy from the little girl's hand, and put it casually on the seat, clapped his hands, then turned around and said with a smile: "Thank you! You've worked hard!"

But the smile on the girl's face was actually brighter than his.

She bit her lower lip lightly, and after hesitating for less than three seconds, she handed over the note she had prepared secretly before, "My name and phone number are on it."

Ouch...

Thirty years later, there might be other explanations for this practice, but in this era, Cao Yukun knows very well that this is the most straightforward expression of love.

He smiled, took it, looked at it, and shook the note, "Got it!"

Then he closed the door, turned around and walked around to the driver's seat and got in the car.

After the car started, he turned around, stopped again, lowered the window, and waved the note in his hand to the girl who was still standing there, "Goodbye!"

The girl looked embarrassed or happy. She waved her hands at him seriously and shouted, "Call me!"

Cao Yukun smiled but didn't answer. He stepped on the accelerator and drove onto the road.

Looking back, the girl had not returned yet. So, after turning a street, Cao Yukun crumpled up the note in his hand and threw it away.

Turning around again, the subscription certificates in the box were all lying there obediently.

He couldn't help but laugh slowly.

He found a narrow road with little traffic, turned in, got out of the car, carefully sealed the cardboard box, put it in the space between the first and second rows of seats, and made sure it was stable before getting back in the car. He was out of the downtown area of ​​Shanghai before 4:30, and when he got home, it was only 8:30.

The car drove directly into the yard, and he smiled brightly when he got out of the car, "Dad, Mom, I'm back!"

(End of this chapter)