Brilliant Years 1991

Chapter 41 When can I call you Mr. Kun?

After sitting in the store for more than an hour, it was already past five o'clock. More lights were even turned on in the store. People who had been sitting around in the afternoon began to leave one after another, and more customers came for dinner. Everyone stood up and left, and Cao Yukun naturally stood up with everyone else.

Unexpectedly, Hu Zihong saw it, chased after him, and asked, "Aren't you having dinner here?"

Everyone looked at Cao Yukun with amusement.

In recent times, because Cao Yukun often comes to this store, he has become more and more familiar with not only everyone, but also the proprietress. In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see the proprietress's attitude.

It's not even in private anymore. Even in person, people keep making jokes about it.

It is said that the boss lady is going to hire a boss.

Cao Yukun is certainly not blind or stupid, "I want to change my taste and eat something else."

However, her eyes were eager, "What do you want to eat? Let's go together?"

Upon hearing this, the people at the same table stood up and immediately started to make a fuss again, "Madam boss, I'll go with you!" Hu Zihong turned around and scolded with a smile, "Go home and eat your wife's fried pork with bamboo shoots!"

So everyone laughed.

But they were very tactful and said goodbye with a smile and walked away.

Cao Yukun also smiled, waved goodbye to everyone, and agreed to meet again tomorrow. Then he turned around, met Hu Zihong's gaze, and said, "Okay! Huaiyang cuisine?"

"Huaiyang cuisine is delicious. I want to eat Huaiyang cuisine too!"

"Don't you need to look at the store?"

"If the boss can't even leave for a meal, why would I hire so many people?"

"Haha, all right, let's go!"

"Wait, I'll get an umbrella, the rain hasn't stopped yet!"

…………

The night is cold and the rain is drizzling.

The rain on the ground was charming with all kinds of freshly lit neon lights, which blended into a ball and made it impossible to distinguish the words and shadows.

Holding umbrellas, the two found a Huaiyang restaurant on the same street and took a seat by the window. Through the glass window grilles that read "Various stir-fried dishes, air conditioning on", they watched the pedestrians holding umbrellas and hurrying on their way, while being watched by others, chatting while waiting for their food.

The store said they had top-quality rice wine, so I ordered a two-pound bottle.

This is even better, we can eat and chat at the same time.

It turns out that she is from Huizhou.

She said that their place was poor, with green mountains and clear water, but it was also poor and bad, but the locals were willing to support their children to go to school, but only for boys. She herself dropped out of school before graduating from junior high school, and her parents wanted her to get married early, but she was not happy. The locals had the custom of going out to be apprentices at the age of thirteen or fourteen, because of the Huizhou merchants! So she made up her mind to go to Yangcheng to seek refuge with an aunt far away. That year was 1984, and she was only sixteen years old.

But her aunt didn't work. She only let her stay at home for three days before kicking her out.

So she found a job for herself and worked as a waitress and dishwasher in a Cantonese restaurant in Yangcheng for one year and seven months. In the end, she only received four months' salary and then ran away.

The first time she went to Shenzhen, she couldn't go in because she didn't have a border pass.

After returning to Guangzhou, she went to work in the clothing wholesale market and worked there for another four months. Then she went to Shenzhen for the second time. This time she had learned her lesson. Without a border pass, she followed others and waited for the people in front to cut open the barbed wire in the middle of the night, and then she followed them in. This time she got in, but couldn't find a job, so she did odd jobs for others. She said that there were privately-run small hotels everywhere in Shenzhen, and the locals, including the former fishermen and villagers, all ran small hotels.

Later, by chance, she eavesdropped on a customer's phone call and learned that he was secretly carrying electronic watches to the mainland, so she suddenly realized that she had found the right way.

She soon became a backpacker too.

She didn't know where the watches came from, or whether they had passed customs, and she didn't care. She only knew that when she got the goods from Shenzhen, one electronic watch cost six yuan, but she had to buy a package of them for at least five hundred yuan. Once these electronic watches were shipped back to the mainland and sold to those electronics malls, the wholesale price was fifteen yuan per piece! At first, she had no money, so she helped others carry them. She helped others carry a bag of barbed wire and was paid twenty yuan. She set out at night and had to sneak back through the barbed wire that night. If she was caught, she would be imprisoned for six months to a year.

She did this for three months.

Fortunately, I was never caught once.

Later, she finally saved up 1987 yuan and started her own business. She said that she took her first delivery on June 6, 13, which was before her th birthday!
At first, she only dared to go to Guangzhou, then she began to go back to her hometown in Anhui Province, and then she dared to go anywhere in the country. She said that she was incredibly brave at that time, but she was never caught once.

In this way, I saved some money without any trouble.

The year before last, in 1990, she had diarrhea and was late for work. Then she saw with her own eyes the flashing police lights parked at the entrance of the alley of the black market where she usually got goods. Afterwards, she hid in the dark and saw with her own eyes a group of people being escorted out by the police in big hats and stuffed into a police car. In her own words, she didn't know what happened at that moment, she suddenly woke up, and suddenly knew what fear meant.

In the autumn of that year, she bought this shop in Shanghai and opened the "Ah Hong Tea Restaurant".

Fortunately, she didn’t make a fortune, but she ran the store in an orderly manner, and could sleep at night without worrying about the alarm bells that might go off at any time. In her words, “I feel like I’ve become a human being again!”

"And after I finished the renovation, I went back to Guangzhou and poached the chef from that restaurant! That restaurant relied on the chef's skills, but they only paid him 300 yuan a month. I doubled his salary to 600 yuan a month and poached him! His name is Abao, the fat guy who cooks for my restaurant now!"

As she said this, her face was filled with a smile that had never been seen before.

Even Cao Yukun could feel the pleasure of revenge in her heart!

But the fact is...the things she said are still illegal until now.

If they were not stories but real experiences.

However, Cao Yukun responded, "My experience is nothing special! I beat someone up for a girl and almost went to jail. Later, because of my face, I was rescued and wanted to be his son-in-law. But the girl looked down on me and just wanted to deceive her father temporarily, so I worked hard and came to Shanghai Beach!"

The atmosphere was originally very harmonious and joyful, and Cao Yukun's confession was not false.

However, after hearing this, she seemed to suddenly understand something. For a few seconds, her expression was a little unnatural and disappointed. So after that, she no longer asked about Cao Yukun's story.

Cao Yukun did not give any further explanation.

After dinner, they were tipsy from the alcohol. They held the umbrella side by side and walked back through the puddles, talking and laughing all the way. When they reached the door of Ah Hong Tea Restaurant, Cao Yukun folded up the umbrella and wanted to return it to her. She pushed it back, saying in a drunken and innocent way, "Want to get wet in the rain again? Return it tomorrow!"

After she finished talking about entering the store, she turned back and said suddenly, "Some people are beginning to doubt your ability. It's time to show off your skills!"

Cao Yukun was stunned for a moment and couldn't help laughing.

She smiled and asked again: "When can I call you Mr. Kun?"

Cao Yukun thought about it and replied with a smile: "Soon."

So she nodded with satisfaction and said, "You still owe me a story, make up a good one for me!"

Cao Yukun laughed out loud.

…………

Holding an umbrella, he walked back slowly. Finally, Cao Yukun took out a half-opened cigarette, tore it open, pinched out one, lit it on the street on a rainy night, and took a deep puff.

He walked slowly to a public telephone about a hundred meters away from the small hotel. He smoked a cigarette, paced back and forth, and occasionally raised his hand to check the time - it was exactly eight o'clock, and the public phone suddenly rang.

He took a deep breath, went over to pick it up, and said, "Hello?"

Huang Jiaying's voice came from the other end of the line. "My dad said he has approved it. Ask your financial officer to bring the seal to sign the contract tomorrow, and the money can be transferred on the same day."

Cao Yukun nodded silently, a sincere smile slowly and gradually appeared on his face, but he just said lightly, "Thank you!"

(End of this chapter)