The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 215 Smuggled Watches

When I asked for leave from the company, I received last month's salary and benefits.

The salary is a little lower than when I was working at the transport station, mainly because there is no transportation within the city at the transport station. There is no such thing as rest days, so holidays are considered overtime.

In the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, there are holidays and holidays when you don't go out. The subsidies and wages are definitely worse than those at the transport station. But the welfare can make up for it. Jiang Cheng doesn't know what other employees get, but he always gets cigarette and alcohol tickets, at least they are mid-range.

The issuance of cigarette and alcohol tickets may be related to the fact that drivers need them when they are out and about. Especially alcohol tickets, three were issued at once, two more than last time. And the weather is cold, if you are in the north, you really can't do without alcohol.

The cab of a car is not very airtight, and there is no heating or insulation equipment inside. Especially when the car breaks down on the road, if you don't drink a little alcohol, your legs may tremble from the cold when you get out of the car.

But Jiang Cheng would not be short of wine. If he bought wine in Xiangjiang, he did not need a wine ticket. Moreover, he had cooperated with the rice wine factory in Shaoxing before. It would be no problem to get some things to exchange for a few large jars of Huadiao wine next time.

After a day of rest at home, Jiang Cheng told Zhou Lingying about his visit to Zhang Yan's home. He also gave Zhou Lingying the letter written by Zhang Yan's family and the notes of things received, and of course the dough figurine that Zhang Yan's sister asked him to pass on.

As for other places, I can only wait and see next time when I have the chance.

Zhou Lingying also talked about Jiang Changhe. He came to the city a few days ago, and that was the last time he went to the hospital for treatment.

The doctor at the hospital said that there was no problem and that he was recovering well. But there were some things that could not be guaranteed 100%, so he was told to move around more and not do heavy work for the time being. It would be safer to wait until next year before going to work in the fields.

No matter what, at least starting next year Jiang Changhe will not be a burden, and the family will have an extra worker. Jiang Cheng will only need to help out his nephews and nieces in the future.

As for my parents, I can just ask Zhou Lingying to send some gifts to show my filial piety during the New Year and other festivals. My younger sister Jiang Yan will also take care of them from time to time.

The next day, Jiang Cheng went to work and selected the list for Guangzhou. Then he arrived at the reclamation farm in the evening. Director Hou had already prepared everything and gave Jiang Cheng a list.

The current trading volume is not a small amount, and the goods are stored outside the reclamation site. If they need to be weighed on site during transactions, it will be very troublesome.

They could only pay according to the quantity on the list, and Director Hou was also worried that the goods would be damaged on the way. He told Jiang Cheng that many things were damaged because they were overpaid.

The sweet potatoes that Jiang Cheng wanted lost moisture during transportation, which made it difficult for Jiang Cheng to be the "middleman". A hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes were packed with at least 110 kilograms.

Because pigs need to be slaughtered properly, it is difficult to calculate their weights specifically. This creates a trust issue, and Director Hou also negated some of the weight.

In fact, one can roughly estimate how much a pig weighs and how much meat it produces. Jiang Cheng naturally believes that there will be no problem with the slaughtered pig, at least there will be no problem with Director Hou.

The key point is that Jiang Cheng really can't supervise the slaughtering of pigs every time. In the future, when the cooperation volume is large, if Jiang Cheng and Director Hou don't supervise, there may be those slaughterers who secretly take half a pound or a pound of pigs back to their families to eat.

But this is very common in China. Drivers transport some fruits, such as peaches, plums and oranges in season. It is impossible to seal them all well, so many of them are directly loaded into one truck. Drivers take whatever they want to eat on the road without any scruples.

Now it is October, and there are a lot of fruits to be transported in the south. In addition to being shipped to nearby cities, there are also many canning factories that need fruits.

This small amount of stealing and eating cannot be stopped at all. If Jiang Cheng has no space and cannot get supplies, he can only say that his moral bottom line is not high.

After staying at the reclamation farm for one night, Jiang Cheng set out very early the next day. He had the key to the warehouse, and since he got up early, no one would check how the things in the warehouse disappeared.

Another two days passed. Jiang Cheng first loaded half a truck of tea and a lot of hardware tools, such as wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, etc. at the Guangzhou Port.

In the 1980s and 1990s, many families liked to keep a set of repair tools at home, such as pliers, hammers, saws, etc., for repairing household items. But in the 1960s and 1970s, hardware tools had to be purchased with tickets.

Therefore, it is normal for things like wrenches and screwdrivers to appear in domestic sales when foreign trade is converted. If they are the kind that can be purchased without tickets, even if the order is cancelled for some reason, they are generally consumed locally and it is impossible to arrange for a car to take them away.

The goods were loaded that day, and Jiang Cheng arrived at the BF unit in the evening. This time Jiang Cheng was not so reckless, and drove the car with eggs and a slaughtered pig directly to the unit. Some of the things that were "found" and "picked up" were stored here. In fact, the more ordinary and low-end things were, the easier they were to handle. On the contrary, the good things could not be invoiced, so they were placed in the warehouse waiting for some higher-level departments to take them away for free.

Jiang Cheng is just a driver in China, and there are many things he cannot use, but he can use them in Hong Kong.

Many things were brought from Hong Kong with the intention of selling them at high prices. Jiang Cheng took them back to Hong Kong for use, which seemed to be a loss. But here, many things could not be processed at all.

"Comrade Jiang Cheng, I have been looking forward to seeing you here for so long."

"Captain Zhang, you can't say that. You are a soldier, and I am just an ordinary citizen."

In the army lounge, Jiang Cheng waited for a while before he met Captain Zhang. After they met, Captain Zhang made Jiang Cheng laugh with just one sentence.

The phrase "looking forward to the stars and the moon" originally meant that the common people were looking forward to the People's Liberation Army coming to rescue them. Later, after liberation, this phrase was used to describe the people in poor areas who were looking forward to some good leaders and cadres who served the people.

But one thing is true, this sentence means to hope for rescue. Jiang Cheng not only brought eggs this time, but also brought a pig.

They were willing to exchange this pig with Jiang Cheng for a cart of fish.

As the team leader, Zhang Jincai sometimes has to lead by example when he goes on patrol. Today, he led his men on patrol after dinner, but was called back halfway. When he heard that it was Jiang Cheng who came and there was a slaughtered pig in the car, he was still patrolling.

When he returned to the army, he saw Jiang Cheng's Liberation truck and a pig in the back compartment. He wanted to bite the pig's ear right there and then.

There was no need to weigh them, he arranged for someone to take the eggs and pigs to the kitchen first. He also told people to cut off the pig ears and cook them. He would also set an example by patrolling in the evening, and he would take a few bites of the pig ears while strolling.

The army was poor and could not possibly give money to Jiang Cheng. Even if they had money, the army would not spend money to buy eggs and meat to satisfy everyone's appetite.

Anyway, they were exchanging things with Jiang Cheng, so there was no point in weighing them. The things they gave Jiang Cheng were roughly estimated, so there was no need to be so precise.

"It's this late, have you eaten?" Captain Zhang asked.

We have cooperated twice, so there is no need to be too polite. It is not too early or too late at this time. If Jiang Cheng has not eaten, let the cook arrange for him to have a simple meal.

In the army, simple food means simple food. Although Captain Zhang hopes that Jiang Cheng will bring good food every day, he will not give him special treatment because of this.

Extravagance and waste are strictly prohibited in the army, and even Zhang Jincai himself sets an example.

"No, I'm just afraid of arriving late and disturbing your rest, so I didn't even have time to eat on the way. And I can have a free meal here, and I can use the national food coupons to eat here." Jiang Cheng said with a smile.

"After all, you are from the army, and you are just like those local drivers who will take advantage of others." Captain Zhang responded with a smile when he saw Jiang Cheng being so frank.

After asking Jiang Cheng if he wanted to eat rice or something else, Jiang Cheng ordered a large bowl of noodles. The troops also cooked supper for the patrol officers at night, and they could have some extra fish and shrimp.

However, before eating, Jiang Cheng planned to complete the transaction first and asked for the watch for the first time.

Jiang Cheng saw a lot of smuggled imported watches in the warehouse last time, but he didn't dare to wear this watch, nor did he dare to let his family members wear it.

The reason was simple, those watches were brands like Rolex and Omega. If he, a driver, was seen wearing such watches, he would have no way to get away with it if he reported it.

Now Jiang Cheng wanted the watch, so he wanted to take it to Hong Kong and exchange it for money at the pawnshop. As for other things, the pawnshop would not accept them because the cash is too slow.

(End of this chapter)