Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 30 Inspection
1981年8月20日，农历7月21日
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The sky was slightly bright, and the morning breeze after the beginning of autumn was very cool.

Grandpa and the propaganda cadre were already wearing long sleeves, and a group of five of them were waiting for the bus at the intersection of the brigade.

Wang Jiankun's motorcycle was parked on the side of the road, with the neodymium element he was going to take to make the generator in a small wooden box on it.

2 lighters were also packed into boxes and placed on the roadside, waiting to be loaded and taken away by a truck that arrived.

After a while, Hu Xiyang's truck arrived. It found a spacious place forward, turned around and came to the side of the wooden box to make it easier to load the goods.

Everyone helped load several boxes into the car. Grandpa, father and two team cadres took Hu Xiyang's truck directly to Raozhou Guesthouse.

Wang Jiankun rode a motorcycle to Dexing Copper Mine first. He wanted to contact people to buy cables, and he also planned to buy more rare earth ores, refine them, and ship them back home for storage.

This time Wang Jiankun decided to go to the cable factory again. The American Peter should still be there. He would give him a gold-plated lighter and let him see if there was a market for lighters with brass and galvanized shells in the United States. If he could sell them abroad through his connections, he could earn foreign exchange.

At 8: in the morning, Wang Jiankun arrived at the gate of the cable factory, handed the guard a pack of cigarettes, and said he was looking for Peter, a consultant from the United States.

The guard remembered him and knew that this guy could talk to foreigners, so he let him in and told him where Peter worked.

I followed the guard's instructions to find Peter's office, knocked on the door, and heard Peter's voice inviting me in.

Peter saw Wang Jiankun coming, stood up from his chair, shook hands with Wang Jiankun and asked: "Wang, nice to meet you, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Foreigners always speak directly. I originally wanted to exchange pleasantries, but now I'd better be more direct, Wang Jiankun thought.

He took out a silver-shell, gold-inlaid lighter and gave it to Peter. It was a replica of the ZIPPO in a magazine, but it had been improved upon by Tomoko, making it look elegant and luxurious.

"I want to ask you to help me buy some more cables, and also to see if there is a market for lighters in the United States."

Peter took the lighter and lit it. The sound was clear and the flame was steady. The galvanized parts inside flashed brightly under the fire and light.

After admiring it for a while, he put away the lighter and said, "For God's sake, of course it's fine. We can ask the translator for help later. It would be better if you also gave him a lighter, not such a good one."

Wang Jiankun took out another brass one and asked, "Is this okay?"

"Of course. How many grades do you have? Show me. And how much do they cost?"

Wang Jiankun then took out two types of materials, one made of green-painted gray iron and one made of galvanized steel, and said, "There are currently three styles. If you ship in bulk, the brass one is $30 each, the silver-white one is $20 each, and the green one is $11 each."

"It's a bit expensive. It might not sell well."

"Isn't the average monthly salary in the United States about $1? The cheapest wholesale price is only $11, and it's not too expensive to ship it to the United States for $20 to $30. And one can be used for a long time and is of good quality."

"If it's cheaper, I'll take some to the U.S. next month."

"Name your price. There are almost no lighters in the world that can make such good quality and at such a low price. Even those made in Japan are more expensive than mine."

"If you can give me a 6% discount on all three of them based on your price, I think they will be easy to sell."

"8% off. If you buy 500 of each type of product, I can offer an 8% discount."

"7% off, how about I take 1 of each?"

"make a deal."

The two men shook hands and reached the first foreign trade agreement for lighters.

Next, the two communicated in detail about the delivery time, delivery location and payment method.

Peter requested that the goods be delivered to the cable factory on September 9, and packed into three wooden boxes, with 10 units packed in small wooden boxes and stacked. He also drew a schematic diagram, requiring that lighters not be pre-installed with kerosene.

He can pay a 1% deposit of US$4270 to Wang Jiankun today, and pay the rest after the goods are delivered and inspected.

After writing the discussed matters into a contract, the two people signed two copies, one in Chinese and the other in English.

Then Peter took out 4270 US dollars and gave it to Wang Jiankun. Wang Jiankun had never seen this kind of green banknote before, but he thought he would not prepare counterfeit money in advance, so he counted the amount and put it away after making sure it was correct.

Peter said that before coming to China he had found out that checks and credit cards were not accepted here, so he prepared cash and planned to bring back some Chinese specialties.

Wang Jiankun asked him how to transport so many lighters back.

He said that he would put it in the cargo hold of the plane and check it back. Now that the China-US route has been opened, there are fewer people riding on it. Most of the time, the plane is not full and the cargo hold is very empty. As for the customs clearance procedures, he can handle it.

Wang Jiankun knew all about this, and considering that he said he brought money to buy Chinese specialties, he knew that he should be an international trader who took advantage of the job opportunity to bring goods.

Wang Jiankun and Peter left each other their mailing addresses and agreed to write to each other every month. If Peter needed to buy a lighter, he could send a telegram to the address left by Wang Jiankun.

After talking about these, Peter took him to find a translator, who agreed without hesitation to Peter's request to help buy cables, not to mention that Wang Jiankun also gave him a bright yellow lighter.

He took the two of them to the Supply and Marketing Department, and after completing the procedures and getting the approval slip, Wang Jiankun rode his motorcycle to the rare earth mine.

Following the same approach as last time, we bought a mine that can extract 3 tons of useful elements, and provided a one-stop service for transportation, refining and hiding.

After that, I rode my motorcycle to Raozhou and came back to the city tomorrow to pack it up.

When they arrived at Raozhou Guesthouse, they found that they had already booked rooms. Wang Jiankun shared a room with his father and grandfather, and the other three shared a room.

More and more people were checking into the guesthouse. After listening to a sentence or two of their conversations, I discovered that some of them were actually waiting here for wholesale lighters.

Wang Jiankun was very happy about this discovery. He had just completed a foreign trade order in the morning, and now someone came waiting for wholesale. It seemed that lighters were very popular. He would go down to Cheng Yong and have a good chat with him.

Because it was not yet 11 o'clock, Wang Jiankun asked his grandfather and the two cadres to rest first, and he and his father took the goods to deliver them to others.

When I arrived at Cheng Yong's place, I saw several people waiting in the store. They all looked forward to seeing the truck coming.

Wang Jiankun got out of the car and let his father and Hu Xiyang unload the goods. He started chatting with Cheng Yong first.

Cheng Yong said that these were all people waiting for lighters, and they were all customers with large wholesale quantities. He also asked how many Wang Jiankun brought this time.

Wang Jiankun said: "This time there are 2, 1600 green ones, 200 brass ones and 100 galvanized ones."

"It's okay, it should be enough for a few days. I should be able to bring more next time, right?"

"Sure. Seeing how frequently I request goods, the factory there is willing to pay a deposit in advance, so they are already expanding their production capacity."

"Come inside to settle the bill, and let Cheng Xing count it."

The two went into the house to settle the bill. The total payment this time was 27600 yuan, 27 big steps and half a step of change.

Seeing the amount of payment for goods getting bigger and bigger, Wang Jiankun was a little worried. It was very inconvenient to deposit and withdraw money now, and it was very conspicuous to deposit so much money. It would also be easy to get damp and moldy if kept at home. He had to think of a solution.

Perhaps exchanging it for gold is a solution. Gold is small in size, and this large bag would weigh less than 1 kilogram if exchanged for gold. It does not take up space when stored and will not get damp or moldy. In the future, the gold can also be converted into cash at any time.

When I go to a big city in the future, I can deposit some cash in the bank.

Cheng Yong then took out a mahjong mat and gave it to Wang Jiankun, and also gave a brief explanation of the production method.

The key steps are to carbonize it and cook it with mugwort juice to achieve the turmeric yellow color. Of course, you can also try other recipes to create different colors.

Cheng Yong also said that if the product was successful, he could send some to him to try wholesale.

Wang Jiankun said it was too late this year as it was already the beginning of autumn and the factory might not be built until the end of the year. A batch might be made and sold in late spring next year.

After saying this, Wang Jiankun followed the truck back.

He did not go to talk to the wholesalers recruited by Cheng Yong, even though several of them tried to wink at him.

Because Cheng Yong can still take up the production capacity now, when the production capacity increases in the future, if there are big traders from other provinces who can purchase goods in large quantities, he can cooperate with them.

We had lunch at a newly opened small restaurant next to the guesthouse. The owner was from the suburbs of Raozhou. He was a very good cook and the food was very affordable.

The people working in the restaurant were all his family members. During the conversation, I learned that he often helped to prepare banquets in the commune, but he could not make much money in a year. He was a fellow villager and it was difficult to ask for a high price, otherwise others would not invite him. Seeing that young people in the commune were running to the city to make money, he brought his family and rented a house from relatives in the city to open a restaurant.

When he said this, his face was full of pride and he was happy with his vision and choice.

I now work more in a month than I earned in the past year. Although I am busy every day, I am willing to do this kind of work.

My grandfather and the propaganda officer asked him what to do with the fields in his hometown now that his family had left. How would he distribute food if he didn't work and didn't get work points?

The boss said that he no longer relies on food distribution from the team. If he did rely on the little food distributed, it would be enough for the whole family to feed. Where would he get the food to open a restaurant?

Buying negotiated grain means spending a little more money, but as long as business is good, that little cost is nothing.

He also said that since last year many people in the team no longer helped the team. Those who had connections went to the city or several coastal cities. They went home for the New Year with big bags and dressed much better. So it was no longer possible to stick to the team's little piece of land and they had to go out and try their luck.

The shop owner's words silenced my grandfather and the two team leaders.

After dinner, Wang Jiankun took four people to the department store on a rickshaw.

After getting off the bus, Wang Jiankun said that those riding tricycles were all rural people from the suburbs. They could earn about 2 yuan a day, and those who were diligent could even earn more than 3 yuan.

Several team cadres were envious of those who could make money everywhere, but when they thought that the team now had a project that could make a lot of money, they didn't feel so bad.

In the department store, the dazzling array of goods and the bustling flow of people shocked my grandfather and the two team leaders. My father had been there twice so he was relatively calm.

Everyone who goes in carries a small bag, and those who come out usually come out with a bulging bag.

Wang Jiankun paid for Shanghai brand watches for his grandfather and father, and then bought razors and several sets of blades for each of them.

If others want to buy something, let them buy it themselves. They are here to broaden their horizons.

After shopping for a while, Wang Jiankun asked his father and Hu Xiyang to take him to buy generators and accessories.

We agreed to meet at 5pm and have lunch at the same restaurant we had lunch at.

Wang Jiankun returned to the guesthouse, rode his motorcycle to the scrap yard, and this had become where he purchased his goods, Wang Jiankun thought.

In the future, I will consider opening a waste recycling station in the county town, where I can use my superpowers to turn copper, iron, paper and wood into treasures.

When they arrived at the scrap yard, they found the person in charge, who was already familiar with them. Wang Jiankun was asked to go find the things he wanted to buy first, and then he would ask him to weigh them when he was done.

He began to select the scrap iron and copper materials he needed with familiarity, and as usual, he collected some precious metals to turn the scrap iron into pure carbon steel.

This is considered a good thing, otherwise the steel mills would have to sort the steel after receiving it, and the unsorted steel could only be used to make ordinary iron.

After selecting and weighing, Wang Jiankun hired five carts to help transport the materials to the Xinjiang River. He also carried 5 kilograms of copper on his motorcycle.

After asking the cart drivers to unload the goods to the river, Wang Jiankun used his super powers to build a super generator.

The size and appearance of this generator are similar to the previous scrap product. Wang Jiankun also made the exterior look old and said it was dismantled from an old hydropower station. He sold it cheaply to a middleman. Wang Jiankun just happened to have some connections and came across such a generator.

The generator was packed in a wooden box and camouflaged with weeds and bushes.

Other elements such as chromium, tungsten, nickel, etc. were packed and taken back to the guesthouse.

We also synthesized 2000 pieces of glass and 1 ton of gray iron plates, which are also placed here. I will bring Hu Xiyang and his father to load them onto the truck tomorrow.

After gathering in the evening, we went to a local restaurant for dinner.

The five of them ordered six dishes and a soup, and also took two bottles of white wine. As usual, Wang Jiankun didn't drink, so the four of them each got half a pound.

According to the boss, this wine was produced by their Shishi Commune winery. It is brewed with pure grains and tastes very good. The four of them tasted it and felt that it was similar to that of Tsinghua Winery. It seems that the brewing process is the same.

After eating, the few people did not go back immediately. Instead, they talked about what they saw and heard in the afternoon in the store. Wang Jiankun talked to the boss about the situation in Shishi Commune and planned to take his grandfather and others to see what changes had taken place in the commune close to the city tomorrow.

The boss said that because many people in the commune went out to work, the people left behind could not finish the farm work, so some teams bought tractors, and some production teams also bought rice transplanters. They not only used them in their own teams, but also helped other teams to transplant rice.

This is more efficient, and if there is too much grain to eat, it will be sold to the city. That is why grain stores have negotiable prices and grain and vegetables can also be bought at some markets.

He also said that several teams had brought in some hybrid rice this year. I went back to the fields not long ago and saw that it was indeed growing well. If the yield after harvesting in a month is more than the original rice seeds, then the entire commune may plant this hybrid rice.

When my grandfather and his friends heard about this kind of rice that could increase production, they all asked where they could get it.

The boss said he didn't know either, but I could go to the teams that had the goods and ask, and they should be able to find out where to buy it.

They chatted until after 9 o'clock before going back to wash and rest. Wang Jiankun told Hu Xiyang that they would go to the Xinjiang River early the next morning to load the goods onto the truck and then go to Shishi Township to take a look.

It's on the way back, and you don't have to take a detour, just stay for an hour or two.

The next day, the three of them went to load the goods first, then returned to the guesthouse and ate noodles together at a breakfast stall nearby, and then walked towards Shishi Commune.

When the car arrived at the commune office, my grandfather took out the letter of introduction and found the commune secretary, expressing his desire to bring people to visit the reform achievements of Shishi Commune and his hope to visit the winery and the place where hybrid rice was grown.

The commune secretary was also very happy that people from other communes came to visit, which showed that his commune was quite famous outside, which was also a considerable political achievement.

The commune secretary personally took my grandfather and others to visit the winery, and also called the captain of the brigade that grew hybrid rice to bring people on a tour.

When the commune secretary saw that my grandfather and his entourage had a truck and a motorcycle, and that the truck was loaded with wooden boxes, he looked at them with a higher regard, knowing that they were not there to ask for money, but were really here to visit and learn advanced reform experiences.

So we called the propaganda officer and two office cadres to accompany us on the tour.

The secretary told everyone that he had taken the opportunity of surplus grain to build this winery based on actual conditions.

The surplus grain of several nearby communes could only be sold cheaply to the winery in his commune. The profit earned by the winery was much better than simply selling grain, and the winery also helped him to open up sales channels and so on.

Wang Jiankun had a good impression of this secretary, who he believed was a capable official and might be promoted to a higher position in the future.

After visiting the winery, a brigade secretary came on his bike and took my grandfather and his party to the place where hybrid rice was planted. My grandfather and the team cadres went down to the fields to take a closer look.

The rice is about to produce ears. Each cluster of rice has more than 20 ears. Compared with the ones grown at home, if each ear is full, the yield per acre of land will increase by about 30%.

Grandpa asked the team leader where to buy rice seeds and what to pay attention to when planting them.

The team leader did not hide it and said that this was a state-sponsored promotion, and that rice seeds and planting techniques had been provided cheaply in recent years. You can go to the Hongdu Agricultural Bureau to apply for reservation of rice seeds. As long as you have a letter of introduction from the commune and specify how many acres you want to plant, they will generally provide the corresponding rice seeds.

He applied because there was a student from an agricultural university in his team who knew the news, so he applied with the idea of ​​giving it a try.

I planted it for the first time last year and the yield per mu was more than 800 kilograms. This year I also bought fertilizers according to the experts' advice, and the yield per mu should be 1000 kilograms.

When my grandfather and his friends heard that there were so many, they were very surprised. The best field in the team only produced more than 600 kilograms, but this kind of field could produce 1000 kilograms. They were all tempted and asked the team leader if he could give them the contact information for the application. They also planned to plant this kind of field next year.

Without saying a word, the captain wrote down the phone number and mailing address of the Hongdu Agricultural Bureau to my grandfather.

Then we talked about the situation in the team. It was similar to what the restaurant owner said. Many young people went to the city to look for opportunities. The team bought a tractor and hired a rice transplanter to plant rice.

A lot of vegetables and fruits are grown on the dry land, and every day team members pick vegetables and sell them in the city early in the morning.

After saying goodbye to the hospitable captain, the group got on the car and headed for Dexing Copper Mine.

When passing Dexing, Wang Jiankun had already shipped boxes of goods to the guesthouse in advance. After loading them onto Hu Xiyang's truck, he rushed home.

After arriving home, Wang Jiankun directed the unloading. The boxes of generators and accessories were transported directly to the hydropower station, while the others were first transported home.

I told Hu Xiyang that I have to go to Dexing Copper Mine again tomorrow to install cables, so I'd better go early in the morning and come back in the afternoon.

Hu Xiyang agreed. Now he is responsible for his own profits and losses, and he cannot rest as long as there is work.

For book lovers who care about books, following the books is the best support for the works.
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(End of this chapter)