Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 25 Go to Raozhou Again
1981年8月12日，农历7月13日
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The beginning of autumn has passed and the morning breeze in the mountains is cool.

Wang Jiankun set out on his bike after breakfast, bringing 1 flints and springs and 120 spray-painted lighters that he had assembled yesterday to the mountain where the cotton and kerosene were stored.

Using his superpowers, Wang Jiankun quickly produced 1 iron-gray lighters. Although they were not painted, he tried his best to make the surface smoother, and then displayed "made-in-China" in raised fonts.

After finishing all this, Wang Jiankun packed 1000 iron-gray lighters, 120 spray-painted lighters, 100 galvanized lighters and 100 brass lighters into boxes and placed them on the roadside.

The day before yesterday, it was agreed that he would come here early in the morning to help transport them to Raozhou, because Wang Jiankun calculated that so many lighters would weigh about 300 kilograms and have a volume of 3 cubic meters.

Not long after, Hu Xiyang drove a truck over. Wang Jiankun stopped him on the roadside and helped him load the boxes into the truck.

Hu Xiyang found it strange that they were waiting halfway on the road instead of at the entrance of the village. Wang Jiankun said that it was because he had just started selling and didn't want too many people in the team to know about it, and he would not do that in the future.

It was almost 11 o'clock when they arrived in Raozhou. Wang Jiankun still stayed in the guesthouse. After checking in, Wang Jiankun and Hu Xiyang transported the lighter to Cheng Xing's store.

When I got here, I saw a lighter sales point next to the shoe store, with a sign for wholesale and retail lighters.

Cheng Xing saw a truck parked in front of him. He walked out of the store and saw Wang Jiankun getting off the truck. He knew that the truck was transporting lighters.

So he called his cousin Cheng Yong out.

At this time, Cheng Yong came out of the store with sleepy eyes. When he saw Wang Jiankun, he stretched out his hands and shook hands with Wang Jiankun.

Wang Jiankun was caught off guard and had no idea what was going on.

Cheng Yong held Wang Jiankun's hand and said, "Brother, it's a good thing you came today, otherwise my lighter wholesale would be out of stock."

"Oh, it seems that lighters are very popular. I brought 120 extra spray-painted ones this time. Can you eat them all?"

"No problem, I'll pay you after we move the goods."

The four of them quickly unloaded the lighter from the car. Wang Jiankun asked Hu Xiyang to go to the guesthouse to rest and have dinner with him later.

Hu Xiyang knew that he was going to settle the money, and he couldn't say anything, so he nodded and drove back.

After opening the box and checking the lighters, the two Cheng brothers were quite satisfied. The quality was no different from the imported ones, except that the green and gray shells felt a little worse.

100个黄铜的和100个镀锌的零售价1万，批发价就按照5折算就是5千块。

铁灰色的说好了批发价10块1个就是1万元，绿漆的11块1个就是1320块。

The total cost of the four types is 16320 yuan.

Cheng Yong took out 10 bundles of Big Unity notes with a maximum face value of 16 yuan from the house, and then took some loose change to make up 320 yuan and gave it to Wang Jiankun.

Wang Jiankun used his superpowers to count them and then took out a few stacks to make a show.

After counting, Wang Jiankun said it was no problem and put the money into the luggage bag. There was a thin iron box in the bag, and Wang's 16 stacks of thousands of bills were sealed in the thin iron box.

At this time, Cheng Yong proposed to treat Wang Jiankun to a meal and asked Wang Jiankun to call the driver as well. Wang Jiankun thought about it and agreed.

After going back to put the luggage down, he called Hu Xiyang and went to a restaurant with some exquisite decoration together with the Cheng brothers.

Cheng Yong said that the chef of this restaurant opened the restaurant after retiring from the district government canteen, and the food is very good.

Wang Jiankun didn’t know what to eat or drink, as long as the taste was salty and spicy from Jiangxi Province.

As they ate and chatted, Cheng Xing said that shoes were not selling very well here right now. They couldn't make any money if they were too cheap, and there weren't that many rich people buying the more expensive ones.

Cheng Yong also stated that if the wholesale situation of lighters could be stabilized or even increased, the two of them would stop running the shoe store and open a lighter wholesale and retail store instead.

There are many traders transferring at Raozhou Railway Station every day. We can ask a few of our brothers to put up advertisements at the railway station. Those with small quantities can directly purchase goods there, while those who need long-term cooperation and large quantities can be led to our store here.

Wang Jiankun thought this method was good, and said that he could place orders based on the sales here. In the initial stage, an average of about 3000 units could be supplied per week. If the quantity increased, he could learn from a master and open his own assembly plant, buying parts from Zhejiang Province for assembly.

Cheng Yong said that 3 per week should be enough in the initial stage. If the amount is increased, it will be too inconvenient without a phone line.

Wang Jiankun said that it would be okay to send a telegram. Someone from their production team would go to the commune every day and could go to the post office to see if there were any telegrams. Wang Jiankun would call to communicate on the same day or the next day after receiving the telegram.

Besides, I will go to the county town to study when school starts next month. When the time comes, I can send a telegram to the county town and they will call back on the same day.

Then Wang Jiankun asked Hu Xiyang if he could come to Raozhou every week to help deliver the goods.
Hu Xiyang said it should be possible before the end of September, but it might be difficult after that because he would usually be busy hauling coal and cement to the cement factory at that time and would be on the road almost every day.

Cheng Yong replied, "If you can't hire a car, I should be able to hire a truck to transport the goods by using my connections."

Cheng Xing said, "Brother Wang, you should have enough money to buy a truck in a month, right?"

"You can't buy one even if you have money. Now you have to be a government official to buy a car."

"How about buying a used one? A friend of mine works in a regional transport team and has a batch of trucks that are going to be scrapped and replaced with new ones. If you want, I can ask my friend to reserve one for you and then you can send someone to learn how to drive it."

"Is there such a good thing? Of course I want it, but doesn't it mean that you have to study for two years to get a driver's license? Otherwise, you won't get a driver's license."

"It takes two years to get a license, but learning to drive can be done in 10 days or half a month if you are fast. As long as you are smart, you can drive smoothly."

"It will be troublesome if you can't repair the car! It will be troublesome to move if it breaks down on the road."

Cheng Yong said, "There are always more solutions than problems. When the time comes, your car will run back and forth from Raozhou to your production team. The route is fixed. You can bring an extra person on the car. If it breaks down, send someone to ride a bicycle to a larger place to find a post office and call me. I can then ask someone to help repair it."

Wang Jiankun thought about it and realized that this was a good idea. Cheng Yong was smart, and he could use his superpowers to reinforce and repair the vulnerable parts of the car. He would ask his father to find him every month when he passed by the county town, and he would check it out.

That’s right, Wang Jiankun planned to let his father learn to drive, and his mother would be responsible for production at home, while his father would be responsible for transportation, so as to keep the secret to the greatest extent possible.

So Wang Jiankun asked Cheng Xing to pay attention to when would be the best time to study if possible and how much tuition he should prepare.

Cheng Xing said that he would go to ask his friend in the afternoon. He also sells lighters wholesale here, so there should be news soon.

After discussing this matter, Wang Jiankun asked Cheng Yong to talk about his experiences in coastal cities.

During the conversation, Wang Jiankun learned that there is a kind of mahjong mat in Guangzhou. It is made of bamboo. Bamboo pieces the size of mahjong tiles are strung together with nylon rope to make a bed the size of a bed. It is very cool to sleep on the bed.

Wang Jiankun asked Cheng Yong if he could get a bamboo mat. He wanted to study whether it could be made, because every production team in their area had a bamboo mountain, and maybe the bamboo mats they made in the future could be sold to major coastal cities in the south.

Cheng Yong said it was no problem. He had the contact information of several dealers in the south and would ask them to help find the number later. When the time came, Wang Jiankun would come and pick it up.

The meal lasted more than two hours, and Wang Jiankun heard a lot of things, which helped a lot in broadening his horizons. Unexpectedly, he would have the opportunity to visit Nanfang Guang City before long.

There his horizons were greatly broadened, which had a great impact on his future development.

In the afternoon, Wang Jiankun asked Hu Xiyang to rest or walk around the city and go back early tomorrow morning. Wang Jiankun rode his bicycle along the Xinjiang River towards Qianshan, where there were also lead and zinc mines. Wang Jiankun planned to go there to see and buy some refined ones to take away.

He walked and asked along the way and finally found a mining factory. Unexpectedly, the security guard was very rude and looked down on him even though he had the letter of introduction from the rural supply and marketing cooperative, and refused to open the door for him.

There was no other choice, Wang Jiankun wandered around to see if he could find an ore dump that his super powers could reach. After a round of searching he didn't find one, so he had no choice but to return home and go to Dexing to buy zinc tomorrow.

After returning to the city, I went shopping in the department store and bought some snacks and clothes. Autumn is here, so I bought a long-sleeved jacket for each of my family members.

Wang Jiankun also bought a radio, but he didn't plan to buy a TV as it was too eye-catching. He decided to encourage everyone to buy one after everyone in the village became rich.

The radio is a relatively large one with a long antenna, and the small one can't receive many stations in the mountainous area.

I originally wanted to buy an electric fan, but then I thought that my family wouldn’t need it for many days this year, so I could buy it next year.

Then he went to a repair shop and bought three second-hand bicycles. Wang Jiankun used his superpowers to transform one of the bicycles into the appearance of a women's bicycle he saw in a department store. In this way, he fulfilled his promise to his sister. Otherwise, she would have scolded him to death when he returned home.

After returning to the guesthouse, Hu Xiyang said that Cheng Xing had just come to see you and asked you to go to his shop.

Wang Jiankun put his things down and went to Cheng Xing, who told Wang Jiankun that he would come here to learn how to drive around September 9th. His friend would teach him for 5 days and then let him drive for another 10 days. By then, he should have no problem driving.

The car is an old Jiefang truck that has been driven for 15 years. It is the same brand as the one driven by Hu Xiyang, but it is a bit older. The transport team plans to sell it for 4 yuan.

A friend was planning to buy it but was short of money. When he heard that Cheng Xing wanted it, he gave up his spot so that he could save up money and buy it next year.

When the tuition fee comes, just give 500 yuan to his friend, and find a way to get a driver's license. Nowadays, many people learn to drive for a few years before thinking about getting a driver's license. Otherwise, it will take an unknown amount of time to wait for two years of teaching in a driving school. Besides, driver's licenses are rarely checked on the road now.

Wang Jiankun expressed his gratitude after hearing this and told his father about it when he got home.

Wang Jian planned to ask his father to take him along for the next few trips to transport lighters, and let Hu Xiyang teach him the way and some things to pay attention to when traveling long distances.

Then he went to the Xinjiang River to find a place rich in sand, synthesized 5 pieces of glass, packed them in boxes and placed them on the roadside.

I rode my bike back to the guesthouse and asked Hu Xiyang to drive it back.

It was dinner time, and Wang Jiankun invited Hu Xiyang to dinner and ordered some main dishes and a bottle of wine.

During the meal, Wang Jiankun asked Hu Xiyang to teach his father and said he would give him an extra 50 yuan for each trip.

He said it was no problem because he would not have time to help Wang Jiankun transport the goods later and he was not competing with him.

Being able to earn a few hundred extra dollars now is extra income for him. He said he would explain it in detail because we are all fellow villagers.

Wang Jiankun also said that if production increases next year, he might be asked to help with transportation.

Hu Xiyang was even happier and said that he would teach well.

The two of them went to bed early in the evening, and set off early the next morning after eating noodles.

When they arrived at Dexing Copper Mine, he asked Hu Xiyang to find a place to park the car while he went to buy some raw materials. After they were done, he asked him to come over to pick them up.

I rode my bike to find Du Weiqiao at the entrance of the lead-zinc refinery, bought one ton of zinc from him, packed it in a wooden box, and asked him to deliver it to where Hu Xiyang parked his car.

Then I went to the rare earth mine to find the person in charge and bought 10 tons of rare earths, and asked them to deliver it to the same intersection as last time.

When the car drove away and there was no one around, Wang Jiankun sorted the useful elements and extracted them into wooden boxes, and then covered them with a layer of useless soil.

Now Wang Jiankun's super power projection range has expanded to a cube with a side length of 20 meters, and the element extraction ability has also been increased to 2 cubic meters, so the extraction work is more covert.

He rode his bike back and asked Hu Xiyang to load the goods. As for leaving the goods here, Wang Jiankun explained that they were sold privately by someone else and they just delivered them here and left.

After loading the goods, the two drove back, had a simple lunch in the county town, and then drove to Wangjia Production Team.

After arriving, we called family members to help unload the goods. This time, grandpa didn't ask outsiders to ask for help. My father pulled the chicken bus and transported the goods more than ten times before we finished.

When Wang Jiankun got home, he told his father about the box of glass and asked him to bring a reliable person to help deliver the goods and get paid, as he might have to drive a big truck in the future.

The family thought Wang Jiankun was talking nonsense. Where did the big truck come from?
Wang Jiankun said calmly that he would ask his father to go to Raozhou to learn how to drive on the 5th of next month, and bring the car back after half a month of study.

He also told me how to get a driver's license first, how to bring someone with him every time he drove the bike, and how to call Raozhou for help when he encountered a problem.

My father was very happy to hear him say that. It was great to be able to drive a big truck, which was much better than being a manager in the production team.

Grandpa, mother and grandmother were also very happy, because drivers had a higher status than ordinary commune cadres in that era.

My younger sister was jumping up and down anxiously because she saw the different bicycle, which was still tied to the bus.

After Wang Jiankun said this, he discussed the distribution of the bicycles. The two large ones were kept at home for the adults to use, he would ride the one he had just bought, and his sister would ride a women's one.

If my mother is not used to riding a 28-inch bicycle, she can just ride the women's one, but just raise the seat a little.

Wang Jiankun only said that the other boxes were some raw materials and would be unpacked when needed.

After Wang Jiankun finished speaking, the mother told him about the lighter factory. She said that they had assembled 200 and 300 lighters respectively in the past two days. Their proficiency was constantly improving, so the assembly speed was also much faster.

He also said that the process and manpower have been adjusted, and the efficiency should be able to be increased a lot by then.

Wang Jiankun asked his mother to take full responsibility and give the assembly data to the production team accountant. Wang Jiankun would then pay the assembly fee and the cost of purchasing kerosene, cotton and paint once a month.

As for the defective assembled products, they will be put aside and packed separately, and Wang Jiankun will sell them at a low price.

The damaged parts and the raw materials for future stamping are also packed separately and returned to the raw material suppliers for recycling. In fact, Wang Jiankun uses his super powers to recombine them into raw materials.

After saying this, his mother and grandmother went to cook, while Wang Jiankun taught his grandfather, father and sister how to ride a bicycle.

My younger sister learned the fastest. She liked jumping around normally and had a good sense of balance, so she was able to ride slowly under Wang Jiankun's protection before dinner.

My father is still learning and is starting slowly. My grandfather is old and he needs to learn how to hold a bicycle first.

Later, Wang Jiankun asked his grandfather to learn with a women's bicycle first, and then learn to ride a 28-inch bicycle, which would be much faster.

The women's version is lighter and has no crossbar in front, making it easy to get on the bike.

During dinner, grandpa said that the hydropower station could be put into trial operation tomorrow. He checked the cement over the past two days and found that it was completely dry and very solid. He asked Wang Jiankun to go and take a look tomorrow morning.

Wang Jiankun said that of course he had to go, as this was a major event for the Wangjia Production Team to enter electrification, so how could he be absent?

(End of this chapter)