The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 188: Pier Cart Noodles

Ten o'clock at night is already very late in the mainland at that time.

People in rural areas go to bed at seven or eight o'clock, while people in cities go to bed at eight or nine o'clock.

Jiang Cheng took off all his clothes except for his shorts, warmed up at the beach, and started his trip to Hong Kong.

In the darkness of night, Jiang Cheng "surfed" towards the Hong Kong River.

~~
In the early 1960s, wages in Hong Kong were not high, and were about the same as those of workers in the mainland.

Of course, this depends on the exchange rate. The exchange rate of more than 70 incense coins is about 30 yuan.

But the difference is that as long as people here are willing to work and are not afraid of hardship, they can all become coolies, while in the inland rural people can only farm and earn little money.

More than 70 yuan is the salary earned by the lowest level people, while some clerks and other positions here earn more than 100 yuan.

Anyone who has seen the movie knows a plot about the mainlanders who came to Hong Kong in the 1960s. Some people often participated in gang fights, just to show support. Why did they go? Because working for two dollars, fighting for thirty dollars.

Moreover, the lower-class people in Hong Kong don’t have work every day, and many of them work as porters at the docks.

Until now, the average salary is about 700 yuan. But this is per capita. The management has 1500 yuan, and some ordinary clerks have more than 700 yuan. The bottom level still can't earn that much.

However, this is enough to drive many mainlanders crazy. People with a little technical skills can find jobs here easily. The income is at least ten times higher than that in the mainland.

If it is not calculated according to the official exchange rate, someone has calculated that it is eighteen times the salary of workers in the mainland.

Anyone who knows about this era knows that the official exchange rate is actually useless. In 1972, the exchange rate for the US dollar was more than 2 yuan to one dollar, but the channels for ordinary people to exchange dollars for dollars, in some places, the black market has long been 4 or 5 yuan to one dollar.

In the 1980s, when the official exchange rate was more than five yuan to one dollar, there was a wave of people going abroad from Shanghai, and the black market price reached ten yuan to one dollar.

So now in Hong Kong, it is said that one RMB can be exchanged for more than two Hong Kong dollars, but the actual ratio is about 1:1.2.

This ratio can actually be regarded as how much money you earn in Hong Kong, which is almost the same as how much you earn in China.

In the 1980s, there were similar plots in many movies, where many people who returned to the mainland or came from the mainland would find scalpers to exchange their currency, because the official exchange was too unprofitable at that time.

At half past eleven in the evening, Jiang Cheng walked out of a forest.

Although he has the golden finger of space, his way of thinking is still that of an ordinary person, and he does not consider many issues comprehensively.

Jiang Cheng had never been to Hong Kong, and he had no idea what Hong Kong was like in the 1970s. He only knew that he could reach Hong Kong with his spatial ability, but he had no idea where to land or where he would be after landing.

If there weren't bundles of wood in the space, it would have taken Jiang Chengguang a long time to find a shore where he could land. He directly found a reef area, got a lot of wood from the space, and climbed ashore on tiptoe.

But after getting ashore, there was also a small hill. It took more than half an hour to climb over the mountain area before we found a small path.

Crossing the mountains and forests at night, even Jiang Cheng, who was still in good physical condition, looked a little embarrassed at this moment.

Walking along the path, Jiang Cheng soon saw many houses, but they were all wooden houses, in groups of them.

Anyway, at least there are people.

When Jiang Cheng got closer to the wooden house area, he found a small pier not far away, where some fishing boats were docked. At this point, there were still people at the pier.

There were two cart-like stalls on the dock, and there were still people selling things on the dock at this time.

Jiang Cheng wasn't hungry, but it was okay to have a midnight snack at this time. However, he was in Hong Kong now, and he didn't have any Hong Kong currency on him, so he didn't know if he could use the money in China.

When Jiang Cheng walked up to the vendors near the dock, he saw that both stalls were run by a couple.

"Little brother, what do you want?"

"Auntie, you can buy things here with RMB." As Jiang Cheng approached the cart, the auntie who was selling things greeted him warmly. And here, she didn't need to call him "comrade", which made Jiang Cheng feel at home.

As I approached the cart, I could smell a nice aroma. There was a stove in the cart, and on the stove were two pots, with a lot of food cooking in them.

"Little brother, did you just come from over there?" The uncle who was setting up the stall asked immediately after hearing Jiang Cheng's words.

The main thing is that Jiang Cheng is wearing a shirt, pants, a belt, and Jiefang shoes. Although it is not as fashionable as the people in the city of Hong Kong, it at least looks better than the people in the slums here.

But if the relatively wealthy people from the mainland come here, they usually take the boat of the snakehead. When they come, they will also exchange their money with the snakehead for Hong Kong dollars.

However, it is not cost-effective to exchange money for Hong Kong dollars. Many people first try to exchange the money for gold and silver jewelry, and then exchange the gold and silver with the snakeheads.

"Yes, I just arrived here today. Uncle, where is this place and what is it called?" Jiang Cheng admitted.

"This is Tuen Mun Wharf. If you want to sell something in RMB, we will accept it, but the price will be the same as Hong Kong dollars."

The uncle who was setting up the stall said that there was a place nearby that specialized in exchanging Hong Kong dollars, but the exchange rate was very low. They couldn't sell their food for much money, so they naturally didn't want to sell things according to the exchange rate.

Jiang Cheng was happy to hear that they accepted RMB, so he just wanted to try it out.

I asked what it was and found that it was similar to the later boiled food. It mainly sold noodles, and you could add a lot of ingredients.

But as for the ingredients, they should be considered cheap in Hong Kong at that time.

For example, fish balls, also called fish balls, are made from cheap fish meat. Fish is cheap here in Hong Kong, especially near the pier.

There are also pig intestines, pig skin, pig blood, radishes and the like, which are all pig offal. Pig offal is not valuable in Hong Kong these days.

Jiang Cheng ordered a little bit of everything, and he thought it tasted pretty good late at night.

This other cart sells wontons. A bowl of wonton noodles costs fifty cents. The stuffing is not pure pork, but fish or shrimp mixed with pork.

"Uncle, what's the price of pork in Hong Kong now?" Jiang Cheng asked while taking a fish ball in his mouth.

"Pork in Hong Kong is not cheap. It costs four dollars per pound. But when you come to Hong Kong, as long as you are willing to endure hardship, you can still afford pork." The uncle responded with a smile.

The pork in Hong Kong is mainly purchased from the mainland, both live and frozen. This is mainly related to overseas transportation in this era. If it is frozen, the refrigeration cost is very high if it is imported from a long distance. Fresh pork is even more difficult to transport.

The price of pork at 4 yuan per pound is actually about the same according to the domestic calculation. This is still related to the value of currency. On the surface, 4 Hong Kong dollars is actually less than 2 yuan.

Although pork in China is about 70 cents now, it must be purchased with meat coupons. If you buy it on the black market, one pound of meat costs about 1.5 yuan, so the difference is not much from 2 yuan.

But the key point is that it is not calculated that way in reality. Four Hong Kong dollars are now worth at least more than three yuan, which is a high price.

Rice is cheap because it is easy to store and can be imported from all over the country, so the price of rice is about 30 cents.

Jiang Cheng had eaten and had nowhere to go at this time, so he found a corner to sleep for the night. He had no plan for coming to Hong Kong, but his first goal was to make some money, and the fastest way was to go to a pawn shop and sell the small yellow croaker (gold) he bought last time.

However, Jiang Cheng was awakened before he had slept for long.

A boat appeared at the dock, probably a converted fishing boat.

Jiang Cheng was still lying down at first, but he saw a dozen people getting off a small boat, including men, women, young and old. The old here is not too old.

When Jiang Cheng saw the human traffickers from Hong Kong luring people from the mainland, he immediately stood up and went over to see what was going on.

　It is a specialty of Hong Kong. It was originally sold to the poor and the ingredients were cheap. But now it is not cheap in Hong Kong.

　　Jacky Cheung: Eat shit~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)