Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 19: Trip to Raozhou

1981年8月1日，农历7月2日
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At daybreak, Wang Jiankun got up and washed.

After eating the breakfast my grandma made early in the morning, I set off with the luggage I had prepared last night.

His family saw him off at the door, telling him to be careful, go early and come back early. His grandmother even cooked six eggs for him to take with him to satisfy his hunger on the road.

Wang Jiankun hurried on his way. It was a summer morning and the breeze was blowing gently. As he passed by a village, he saw smoke rising from the chimneys.

The early rice on the roadside has turned slightly yellow and will be harvested in a few days.

The grain yield per unit area is low now, so almost everyone grows double-season rice.

After harvesting the early rice, the land must be tilled and the late rice must be planted immediately. The brick-making workers in the team are freed up and can do farm work.

If the machines were not used, the kiln factory would have to stop operating.

So now I can continue making bricks and tiles and sell them without interrupting my farm work.

If the production team earns a lot of money at the end of the year, it should be suggested that the team buy tractors and rice transplanters, so that more labor can be freed up from agriculture.

Wang Jiankun was imagining the future as he walked.

It was not yet 7 o'clock when they arrived in Fengshan, and the blacksmith shop was definitely not open yet, so Wang Jiankun went straight to Master Quan's house.

When he arrived at his house, Master Quan had already packed his luggage and was waiting for him.

Seeing Wang Jiankun arrive, he quickly said, "Nephew, have you had breakfast? If not, just have a bite here before leaving."

"Master Quan, I've eaten. Let's leave now. It will be cooler if we leave early."

"Okay, let's go now. This time I went to Raozhou and I went to the commune to get a letter of introduction, otherwise the guesthouse wouldn't let me stay."

Wang Jiankun nodded to show that he understood.

Now if you leave the county town, you really have nowhere to live without a letter of introduction.

All guesthouses require letters of introduction, and it is even more unlikely that a hotel involving foreign affairs will give you a place to stay.

I've heard that there are only a few big coastal cities that have hotels where you can stay as long as you pay.

Master Quan didn't bring much luggage, just some spare clothes, money to buy an electric motor, and two desk clocks.

He carried it on a shoulder pole and prepared to go to Raozhou to see if there was any market for it.

The two had to walk from Fengshan to Qinghua Town, and then take a truck to the county seat.

It hasn't rained recently, and the section from Fengshan to Tuokou is still under construction, so you have to walk on the grass by the side, otherwise your pants and shoes will be covered in dust if you walk in the middle.

This section of road was built very slowly. There was no large machinery and everything was done manually digging and carrying soil. There were only a few pot-camel-powered vehicles for transporting stones.

When passing by the road construction site, Wang Jiankun also met his junior high school classmates Fang Guihua and Hu Chunming.

They both got into high school and were earning some living expenses on this construction site.

Wang Jiankun and Master Quan were just tired from walking and decided to take a break here.

Wang Jiankun then ran over and started chatting with them.

The three of them talked about their recent situation during the one-month vacation. They were surprised to hear that Wang Jiankun had done so many things.

Wang Jiankun asked them how much they could earn in a day on the construction site.

他俩说道：“一天8毛钱，要干满10个小时，妇女1天1块钱，壮劳力一天1块5。”

The two of them have been working at the construction site for 20 days. Because they are too weak to carry anything, they just dig the soil every day.

Wang Jiankun thought it was too hard work and the pay was too little.

He asked Master Quan if his two classmates could go to the blacksmith shop to help with polishing.

The only restricted process now is polishing. After the team used a sawmill, the output of the clock base has increased, and at least 30 units can be supplied a day.

Master Quan agreed when he heard him say this.

So he wrote a note and asked Fang Guihua to take it and go to the blacksmith shop to find his son tomorrow.

The note said that they would be assigned to do the grinding work, and the wage would be 1 yuan a day. They could go to work early and come back late or stay in the blacksmith shop, and in the summer they could bring a straw mat to sleep on the floor.

When they heard that the wage was one yuan, they did manual labor in the house without having to work under the scorching sun, and they were very happy.

He quickly said, "Thank you, Master Quan. We will go there early tomorrow morning."

Master Quan said, "You're welcome. If you want to thank someone, then thank your classmate Wang Jiankun."

The two of them also quickly expressed their gratitude to Wang Jiankun. As young people, they did not have so many worldly wisdoms, and all they could do was say thank you.

Wang Jiankun said, "Why are you so polite? We have been classmates for so many years and will go to the same high school. We should help each other."

After resting for a while, Wang Jiankun and Master Quan got up and continued their journey.

When we arrived at Qinghua Town, we saw a truck parked at the bridge head, with more than half of the people already on it.

The driver saw Master Quan hurrying on the road with his luggage, and asked hurriedly: "Master Quan, are you going to the county again? Would you like to take my car?"

Master Quan said, "Let's go to the county town. Are you leaving now? I still need to catch a bus to the county town. If you don't leave now, I'll go ahead and take a look."

"Let's go, let's go now, get in the car."

After saying this, the driver helped Master Quan pass the luggage.

Wang Jiankun also hurried to get on the car. The carriage was already loaded with a lot of luggage, most of which were poultry and agricultural products. He could not sit down and could only stand holding the railing.

The driver did not lie. After Wang Jiankun and Master Quan got in the car, he started the car and set off.

Because the sun was already very high in the sky, the carriage smelled very bad. If the train didn't leave soon, the passengers would have to get off and take other cars.

On the way, Master Quan told Wang Jiankun about the car and the driver.

It turned out that the driver's name was Hu Xiyang. He was discharged from the army after being wounded on the southern front. He was assigned to drive a car at the town's cement factory because he was a car soldier in the army and could drive a Liberation truck.

I go to the county town every day, once in the morning, noon and evening.

If there is no cargo or the luggage is small, he will take passengers on the road. Passengers pay according to the distance and the amount of luggage, which is considered his extra income.

There was no cargo loaded on this trip, which meant that we were going to the county town to transport goods.

At this time, the road from Tsinghua University to the county town was paved with gravel and there was a road maintenance team, so there were fewer potholes and it took about an hour to reach the county town.

Master Quan gave the driver 5 yuan, and the driver returned 1 yuan, saying that he had less luggage this time and that he was an old customer, so he gave less and hoped that he could take his car often when he went to the county town in the future.

It was past 9 o'clock when they got off the bus. Master Quan took him to the station quickly.

Because there is only one bus to Raozhou at 9: in the morning, if you go too late you may not be able to buy a ticket.

We were quite lucky today as there were still seats available. Master Quan quickly bought the ticket, took his luggage and rushed to the bus to grab a seat after getting the ticket.

When they arrived at the bus, the conductor punched a hole in the ticket and returned it to them after they showed it, telling them to get on the bus quickly as it was about to leave.

After getting on the bus, I chose a seat by the window so that it would be more comfortable to feel the wind while waiting for the bus to start.

Master Quan said it takes more than 5 hours to get to Raozhou, and you will pass through Dexing.

But this bus does not stop in Dexing for a long time. It just passes by Dexing and picks up and drops off passengers at the intersection.

Soon the car started and slowly drove out of the station.

Wang Jiankun and Master Quan began to close their eyes and rest, but they did not dare to fall asleep for fear of three hands.

There are fewer people now and it’s not crowded. Otherwise, you can’t close your eyes when it’s crowded, and you have to concentrate to prevent being robbed.

Because the educated youth have returned to the city, and the reform and opening up has just begun, there are not so many jobs in the city, so there are more pickpockets now.

Wang Jiankun didn't have to worry, but he couldn't sleep in the car. The road to Dexing had not yet been paved with cement, so the bus was still a bit bumpy when driving.

He had no choice but to project the car into his mind and study the bus.

After Zhizi's demonstration and explanation, Wang Jiankun learned that the engine of this car is a 4-stroke 4-cylinder 6.0-liter gasoline engine.

It has about 350 horsepower, the gearbox supports 6-speed shifting, and the steering wheel is mechanically power-assisted, so the steering wheel is very large.

Along the way, Tomoko demonstrated and analyzed the car inside and out to him, marked some unreasonable design and manufacturing areas, and gave optimized designs.

However, Wang Jiankun was not knowledgeable enough and only knew the results but not the reasons behind them.

So he decided to go to the library and buy some books when he arrived in Raozhou.

The bus stopped at some large towns or communities to pick up and drop off passengers, and arrived at Dexing intersection at around 12:.

There are many people getting on and off here, and there are three-wheeled rickshaws soliciting passengers and stalls selling food on the roadside.

Master Quan asked Wang Jiankun to look after the luggage while he got off the car to buy some food.

Master Quan came back soon after getting off the car and bought some buns and sesame cakes.

He gave Wang Jiankun a sesame cake and two steamed buns, and Wang Jiankun also took out three eggs and gave them to Master Quan.

After eating, we took a rest. The road ahead was much better and was paved with asphalt.

At about 3 pm, the car arrived at Raozhou Station, and the two of them got off quickly with their luggage.

On the way, I asked the policeman on duty near the station how to get to the guesthouse.

Unexpectedly, it was quite close to the station. It took about 10 minutes to walk there. Master Quan and Wang Jiankun walked into the guesthouse. The waiter asked them to show their letters of introduction and asked them if they wanted a separate room or a shared room.

Considering that he brought a lot of money, Master Quan asked for a separate room.

There are three beds in the room. Although it is for two people, you have to pay for three people, so the waiter will not arrange for anyone else to stay in it.

They washed up with cold water, changed their clothes, washed them and hung them up, and prepared to go out for a walk.

The guesthouse was on Wusan Avenue, and the two walked along Wusan Avenue.

It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the trees along the road blocked most of the sunlight, so it was not very hot.

On both sides of the road are mainly two-story buildings, interspersed with some single-story tiled houses and thatched houses.

After walking for a while, they found that there were already some shops open on both sides.

Most of the shops are selling clothes, shoes and food.

When we walked to a shoe shop, a young man saw someone coming in and hurried out to greet them.

He asked if there were any styles I liked and what sizes they were, and said that all his shoes were from Guangdong Province, that they were genuine and reasonably priced, and that I could try them on but not buy them.

Wang Jiankun took a fancy to a pair of white Huili shoes with the word Huili written in red on them.

The young man was asked to get a pair of size 39 shoes. Wang Jiankun tried them on and found that they fit his feet well, were more comfortable than cloth shoes, and had elastic soles.

When asked how much a pair of shoes cost, the young man named 30. Wang Jiankun took off his shoes and returned them to the young man, saying that they were too expensive and he could not afford them.

The two then bargained for a while and finally bought it for 15 yuan.

The young man also gave Wang Jiankun a paper bag and asked him to carry it.

Wang Jiankun asked him about the current policies in the city.

The young man said: "The government now allows individuals to apply for business licenses, and the process is simplified for educated youth."

"As long as you can find a business location, you can go and register. After registration, you will be given a license. During this period, you can operate normally without anyone supervising you. After the license is issued, you only need to pay a management fee."

Raozhou is a railway hub with railways connecting to several coastal provinces, so many educated youth carried goods back from the coast to sell.

He and his cousin opened this shoe store together. He was responsible for running the store while his cousin was responsible for purchasing the goods.

Now there are many factories built along the coast, and we can purchase goods from these small private factories.

Sometimes you can buy imported shoes, but they are not easy to sell in Raozhou.

Then Wang Jiankun asked him about the location of the library and the department store, and asked if he knew where to buy electric motors and grinding wheels.

The young man said that he knew the library and department store were both on Fenghuang Avenue, and that they could be reached by walking north and then west from Wusan Avenue, which was not far from here.

But he didn't know if they sold electric motors, so he could go to the department store to see if they had any.

Wang Jiankun thanked him, picked up his shoes and walked towards Fenghuang Avenue with Master Quan.

When he arrived at the library, he saw that the closing time was 5:5. It was already past o'clock, so Wang Jiankun did not go in. He planned to go in again tomorrow.

Continue walking west and you will see a 5-story building with the words "Department Store" written on it. There are people coming and going at the door.

Master Quan and Wang Jiankun hurried inside.

The department store was open until 8: p.m., so while there was still time, the two of them hurried in and looked around the shops one by one, hoping to find one selling electric motors and grinding wheels.

The two of them kept shopping until almost 7 o'clock, when they found the motor on the 5th floor.

This shop was opened by an electric motor factory for display, and it sells electric motors and power tools of dozens of different sizes with different powers and uses.

There are also grinding wheels and assembled grinders, and the grinding wheels can be replaced with different roughness.

It was good that they found it, but it was too late now. The two of them went in, took a look, asked the price, and left.

Wang Jiankun used his superpowers to project all kinds of machines and equipment into his mind, intending to go back and ask Chieko to help analyze and study them.

After leaving the department store, the two hurried back.

There were fewer and fewer people on the avenue. The two of them ate Qianshan fried noodles in a restaurant near the guesthouse and then went back to the guesthouse to rest.

In the evening, Master Quan asked Wang Jiankun what his plans were: should he go back after buying the electric motor tomorrow or go shopping in Raozhou for a while?
Wang Jiankun said that it was not easy to come here, and he planned to take a walk tomorrow and go back the day after tomorrow.

Master Quan said that it was okay, and he would try to sell the clock tomorrow, and it would be great if he could find someone who was willing to sell it wholesale.

So the two reached an agreement that they would go their separate ways tomorrow morning, go back to the restaurant near the guesthouse for lunch, go to the department store to buy a grinder in the afternoon and go to the station to buy tickets for the return trip the day after tomorrow.

A night of silence--
The next morning, they both went about their business.

Master Quan went to privately owned shops to sell table clocks, while Wang Jiankun went to the library.

Since Wang Jiankun didn't need to borrow books, he just went in to take a look, so he didn't need to apply for a library card.

The library has 4 floors, and Wang Jiankun came to the floor where professional books are stored.

After taking a rough look at the categories and seeing the bookshelves storing books on mechanics, electronics, physics, chemistry and biology, Wang Jiankun used his superpowers to project the books into his mind.

He planned to go back and read it slowly, and let Tomoko explain it according to his own learning progress.

Some foreign language books were also found in a corner of this floor, most of them were in English, and a small part was in Russian.

Wang Jiankun also projected it into his mind, so that Chieko could explain it after learning it.

Wang Jiankun does not plan to study other books for the time being, so he did not project them.

His energy is limited at the moment, so he would be lucky if he could learn all these in two years of high school.

So Wang Jiankun left the library and planned to walk around the street.

Before he knew it, he had arrived at a shoe shop. The young man came to the door to greet him when he saw him, and asked him if he wanted to look at some more shoes. A new batch of goods had arrived yesterday, some of which were imported from abroad.

Wang Jiankun was also tired, so he went in to take a look, because he planned to buy a pair of shoes for his sister as well.

The young man introduced himself as Cheng Xing.

Wang Jiankun called him Brother Cheng and said he was going to buy a pair of sandals for his sister, so he looked to see if they had any.

Cheng Xing said: "What a coincidence. A batch of sandals arrived yesterday. They were made in coastal factories and come in several colors."

Pointing to the shoe rack with several layers of shoes, he said, "Here are the sandals. There are also children's sizes. What size do you want?"

"See if there is a size 32."

"Yes, I'll show you. There are blue, pink, red and black."

Wang Jiankun picked up the pink pair and took a look at it. Since it was for a girl, he eliminated blue and black, and the red one was too red and would be eye-catching.

I felt the material and workmanship and found that it was made of plastic, the joints were thickened, and the sole was quite comfortable, so I decided to buy it.

Seeing that he was interested in buying it, Cheng Xing offered 10 yuan, and Wang Jiankun lowered the price to 5 yuan. In the end, they each gave in and the deal was done at 6 yuan.

Wang Jiankun did not leave after buying anything, but started chatting with Cheng Xing.

After they told each other their ages and hometowns, Wang Jiankun learned that Cheng Xing was only 20 years old. He had been an educated youth for a year and then returned to the city. He didn't find a job, so he opened this store with his cousin last year.

His cousin traveled all over the country and visited many places, and also took him to Guangdong Province twice.

This time his cousin brought him a new toy and took it out to show Wang Jiankun.

He rummaged through the drawer and took out a silver object. He pressed the switch with his hand and flames came out of the hole.

Wang Jiankun asked hurriedly: "What is this? It's so convenient to light a fire."

"This is a lighter that burns kerosene. My cousin told me there is a more advanced one with electronic ignition that burns another gas, something like alkane."

"Can you show it to me?"

"Sure, go on."

Cheng Xing handed the lighter to Wang Jiankun and continued, "My cousin told me that lighters are only sold in Friendship Stores in big cities. This one costs more than 200 yuan, and the electronic lighters cost more than 3 yuan."

Wang Jiankun had already projected the lighter into his mind. When he heard Cheng Xing say that the lighter was so expensive, he quickly asked, "It costs so much? Who would buy it?"

"The rich people will buy it, the fishermen along the coast, the cargo transporters, the big bosses who travel back and forth between the south and the north will buy it. They are now rich, and each of them has at least a ten thousand yuan household."

"It's just such a small thing, can't our country make it?"

"My cousin told me that some people in Zhejiang Province have started to imitate it, but the flints and electronic ignition components still have to be imported, and they are very expensive, about 100 to 180 yuan."

Wang Jiankun also thought of copying this lighter, and since someone had already copied it, his copy would not be a big deal.

After using his super powers to study, he discovered that there were two rare elements in flint.

I'll go back and check the physics and chemistry books to see what it is and whether I can find it in Jiang Province.

If you can find it, then making a lighter is not difficult.

The outer shell, windproof cap and push switch are all made of galvanized iron sheets. Kerosene and cotton wicks are not difficult to buy, but the flint is the difficult part.

Foreigners probably know that we can't make this key component, so they sell it at a very high price.

After playing with the lighter for a while and listening to Cheng Xing talk about the scenery of Guangzhou, Wang Jiankun returned to the guesthouse.

He wanted to study how to make lighters and whether he should buy some related equipment in Raozhou.

(End of this chapter)