Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 387 Book Lovers from Hong Kong
Seeing that Er Maitai's idea was going astray, Lin Chaoyang had to give him a hand.

Shenzhen is now a big construction site. Tens of thousands of migrant workers gather here every year, and Hong Kong businessmen also pour in continuously.

Among the real estate projects developed in the past two years, a considerable portion of the houses were bought by speculators from Hong Kong who were attracted by the future development potential of Shenzhen.

In a stage where the population is expanding rapidly, the supply of commercial housing is insufficient, and the economy is developing rapidly, soaring housing prices are an inevitable result.

Ermaitai wants to save enough money before buying a house. Lin Chaoyang can say responsibly that as long as he holds on to this idea, he will probably never be able to buy a house in Shenzhen in this lifetime.

Seeing that he was a little unconvinced, Lin Chaoyang asked back: "Didn't it increase?"

After being asked by Lin Chaoyang, Er Maitai was not sure anymore, and he looked at Luo Huifang.

Luo Huifang's eyes were hesitant. People at that time were not very sensitive to housing prices. She thought about it carefully and said, "I don't know either, but it seems that the newly opened properties are more expensive than before."

"It is inevitable that housing prices will rise. Now you either have to quickly earn enough money to buy a house, or you can just jump on board and buy a random house first."

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Er Maitai said worriedly: "But the money we have now is not enough!"

Lin Chaoyang wanted to lend Ermaitai some money, but he knew that it was better to teach a man how to fish than to give him a fish, so he said, "Du Feng asked you to do business before, why didn't you go?"

Er Maitai said honestly: "My brain is not suitable for doing business. I can make mistakes even in accounting, so I definitely can't do business."

Lin Chaoyang originally wanted to persuade Er Maitai, but after thinking about it carefully, he decided to forget it. Er Maitai's personality was indeed not suitable for doing business, so he should stop trying to trick him.

"Then don't even think about buying a building. Buy a bungalow, preferably one with a yard."

Before Ermaitai could figure out what he meant, Luo Huifang responded first, "Wait for the tax to be collected?"

Nowadays, the word "demolition" has not been invented in China, but a word with a similar meaning has appeared, that is, "expropriation".

The SZ municipal government began to expropriate farmers' land in 1980, starting the non-agriculturalization process and expropriating land from entire villages in Luohu and other areas at a price of 3000 yuan per mu.

Therefore, Shenzhen people are not unfamiliar with "expropriation", and many Shenzhen people are now looking forward to the government's expropriation coming to them.

After all, who doesn’t have land these days? 3000 yuan per mu. Once the money is collected, the whole village will become a millionaire.

“Almost. Looking at the development history of foreign metropolises, land acquisition is the biggest benefit for indigenous residents during urban development, and Shenzhen is no exception.”

Luo Huifang said in embarrassment: "But everyone in Luohu is waiting for the expropriation, who is willing to sell their house?"

Lin Chaoyang said casually: "Then buy it farther away. With the speed of Shenzhen's development, it doesn't matter if you buy it farther away."

After saying these words, Lin Chaoyang no longer talked about the issue of the house. It was true that he and Er Maitai were childhood friends, but it was impossible for him to consider everything for him.

I'll give him a few pointers, but it's up to him whether to listen or not.

In the following time, Lin Chaoyang and Er Maitai talked about their lives and some interesting things from their childhood.

When they had almost finished eating, Lin Chaoyang secretly went to pay the bill.

Ermaitai realized it belatedly and said very embarrassedly: "You finally came to Shenzhen, how can I let you treat me?"

"It doesn't matter who invites." Lin Chaoyang said casually.

After leaving the restaurant, Er Maitai was worried about where to take Lin Chaoyang to play. Although he had been in Shenzhen for several years, he was at construction sites most of the time. When he went out, he just went to the movies and had rarely been to a dance hall.

Luo Huifang suggested, "Let's go to Zhuyuan Hotel, where there are band performances every night."

"This is a good suggestion!" Er Maitai clapped his hands in applause.

In fact, neither of them had ever been to Zhuyuan Hotel, which was the first three-star hotel jointly established by Shenzhen and Hong Kong. They just often heard people talk about the band performances there and were longing to go there.

Lin Chaoyang followed them to Zhuyuan Hotel. There was a real band performance, but one had to pay to enter the hotel.

The three of them ordered a cup of coffee each, which cost 15 yuan in total. Er Maitai frowned as he swallowed his coffee, feeling sorry for his 15 yuan.

You're really asking for trouble!
Fortunately, the band's performance was pretty good. The electronic keyboard, guitar, drum set... the musical instruments on the stage were rare items for ordinary people at that time. The band was composed of staff members of Zhuyuan Hotel, and its members included not only people from the mainland, but also people from Hong Kong.

They played popular songs from Hong Kong, such as "Don't Remember the Old Dreams", "Walking on the Road of Life" and "Goodbye, My Love". The soothing and beautiful love songs intoxicated the audience.

Er Maitai and Luo Huifang held hands, and at this moment he forgot about feeling sorry for the money.

When the performance was over, Luo Huifang was still intoxicated as she recalled the auditory enjoyment she had just experienced.

While they were chatting casually, a musician who had just performed on the stage walked over to Lin Chaoyang's table.

"Is this Mr. Lin?" the visitor asked.

Lin Chaoyang was slightly surprised. He didn't recognize the other person's face and didn't know what kind of relationship he had with him. He replied, "It's me. You are..."

The young man smiled and said, "My name is Chen Zifang. You may not remember me. I am a student at Hong Kong Chinese University. I have visited Yenching University before."

Lin Chaoyang suddenly realized what was going on, and when he looked at the other person again, he felt that he looked somewhat familiar, so he enthusiastically invited Chen Zifang to sit down.

After Chen Zifang sat down, he saw that their table had only ordered a few cups of coffee, so he called the waiter over and ordered some desserts for everyone.

Lin Chaoyang tried to refuse immediately, but Chen Zifang ordered something anyway.

"I didn't expect to meet Mr. Lin in such an occasion today. It's really a wonderful fate."

He and Chen Zifang had no friendship, but it was indeed a fate that they could meet each other again in Shenzhen, thousands of miles away.

After the two chatted for a while, Lin Chaoyang found out that Chen Zifang studied hotel management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and went to work in a hotel after graduation. Last year, he was transferred here by his boss to serve as the manager of the Hong Kong side.

He started to form a band in middle school. After coming to the mainland, his salary was higher than in Hong Kong, but he could not get rid of the loneliness and boredom in life, and it was difficult to communicate with the staff in the mainland. So he thought of forming a band. He brought an electronic keyboard and guitar from Hong Kong, and his boss sponsored instruments such as drums and found musicians, and the team was formed.

After the band was formed, Chen Zifang's life became richer than before. More importantly, he found that the band's performances were very popular with customers in Luohu, so he simply started to perform officially at Zhuyuan Hotel.

Listening to Chen Zifang's story, Lin Chaoyang asked with a smile, "Is this considered a lucky coincidence?"

Chen Zifang also laughed, "It was indeed a blessing in disguise. The reason you came to Shenzhen this time is..."

“Come over and have a workshop on your work.”

Chen Zifang's eyes lit up. "Is it for the work "Crossing Guandong"? "

"Have you heard of it?"

"Not only have I heard of it, I've also read it. It's a great novel!"

"you flatter me."

"No, no, no, I'm not complimenting you. I'm speaking from the heart."

Chen Zifang became excited when talking about "Crossing the Guandong". After he came to the mainland from Hong Kong, his entertainment life suddenly became poor. Apart from playing in a band, his other hobby is reading.

However, he can only read very few works by mainland writers, but he has a special liking for Lin Chaoyang's works.

“I visited Yenching University that year, and after returning to Hong Kong I read your Death of Van Gogh, and was truly astonished.

Who would have thought that a Chinese writer could write such a lifelike character of Van Gogh.

I have been in the mainland for more than a year, and I have read your works countless times, especially the latest ones, your writing is getting better and better!"

Chen Zifang's compliment was not simply a simple compliment, but a genuine liking for Lin Chaoyang, otherwise he would not have come over to say hello and have a passionate conversation with him after spotting Lin Chaoyang on the stage. After all, the two had only met once before.

He chatted with Lin Chaoyang for a while, and realized that he seemed to have neglected the other two guests, so he stopped the topic and said, "I haven't asked Mr. Lin's two friends yet..."

"This is my childhood friend Yang Junda, and this is his girlfriend Luo Huifang. They both work in Luohu."

"Hello, Mr. Yang, and Ms. Luo!"

In response to Chen Zifang's polite greeting, Er Maitai and Luo Huifang responded somewhat stiffly.

"You two are Mr. Lin's friends. If you want to see our band perform, you are welcome to come anytime. Just mention my name next time."

Seeing that Er Maitai and Luo Huifang didn't know how to respond to Chen Zifang's enthusiasm, Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Then I would like to thank you in advance for your hospitality on their behalf."

"You're too kind."

The two of them were chatting leisurely. Er Maitai and Luo Huifang were unable to join in the conversation most of the time and just watched.

Noticing that Luo Huifang's eyes were fixed on the waitresses in uniform who were coming and going, Chen Zifang took the initiative to ask, "Miss Luo, do you need to order something?"

Hearing this, Luo Huifang waved her hands quickly, looking a little embarrassed. "No, no. I...it's just that I heard that the salaries of waiters at Zhuyuan Hotel are very high."

Chen Zifang nodded, "That's true, our hotel is the first hotel in the mainland to fully adopt Hong Kong's employment and salary system.

Besides, there is a real difference in the economic development levels between the two places, so the salary and benefits here are much better.”

Chen Zifang, the Hong Kong manager, earns more than 6 Hong Kong dollars a month, and an ordinary waiter in the hotel earns to Hong Kong dollars a month.

However, the difference is that Chen Zifang received Hong Kong dollars, while the mainland waiters received RMB converted from Hong Kong dollars.

The wages of waiters who can work here are far higher than those of the general working class in Shenzhen today, so many people in Shenzhen flock to this place.

Seeing Luo Huifang looking at the waiters with envy in her eyes, Chen Zifang immediately understood what she was thinking.

He didn't rush to speak, but glanced at Lin Chaoyang, and then asked Luo Huifang kindly: "Is Miss Luo a local of Shenzhen?"

"Yes."

“Speak Hakka or Cantonese?”

“I can speak all of them, but my Hakka is just average.”

Chen Zifang laughed, "It's rare. Most of the waiters in our hotel speak Hakka, and very few speak Cantonese. It's always easy to have problems when dealing with guests from Hong Kong."

Hearing that Chen Zifang was extending an olive branch in his words, Luo Huifang was delighted, but she did not say anything. She knew that the reason Chen Zifang said this was definitely because of Lin Chaoyang's face.

At this time, Lin Chaoyang chuckled and said, "Afang's factory is in a recession right now. It would be great if Zhuyuan Hotel could offer her a job."

Chen Zifang laughed heartily, "What our Zhuyuan Hotel lacks is talents like Miss Luo."

The two of them easily agreed on Luo Huifang's job, which made her overjoyed and happy, and she kept thanking them.

Er Maitai, who was watching the whole process, was a little overwhelmed. He didn't expect that his girlfriend's job would be solved like this, and she got a job at Zhuyuan Hotel, a good company that others would try their best to get in.

A few people were chatting when for some reason the guest room upstairs suddenly became noisy.

After some inquiries, I found out that just now, the Chinese delegation that went to Los Angeles, the United States to participate in the Olympic Games won its first gold medal, which is also the first Olympic gold medal won in the history of New China.

Many guests staying in the hotel were shouting excitedly, and even the waiters could hardly contain their excitement.

That night, everyone remembered the name of an athlete - Xu Haifeng.

(End of this chapter)