The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 256: One Chief and Five Vice-Chiefs

It’s past five o’clock and everyone who wanted to eat here today has arrived.

If all the adults and children were to sit at the table, there wouldn’t be enough space for them at both tables.

Those who came were considered very close relatives, and there was no distinction between guests and non-guests. All women who came had to go to the kitchen to help.

In this era, even for dual-income families, it is not difficult to have enough food. But if you want to eat well, you have to go to restaurants from time to time to improve your diet.

Everyone in the kitchen praised the ingredients Jiang Cheng prepared.

In the living room, Jiang Cheng was chatting with his father-in-law, Zhou Lingying's uncle and uncle-in-law. In fact, according to seniority and age, Jiang Cheng should be chatting with Zhou Lingying's brother.

Now when I chat with them, we are also talking about Zhou Hewang's trip abroad after the New Year. This is the first time to go abroad, and you have to be responsible, and Zhou Hewang takes it very seriously.

In addition to the dancers, there are also translators and one or two accompanying personnel. When you are abroad, you can also take photos and go shopping. However, apart from accommodation, food and drink, the entire team only has 3,000 US dollars for the activity.

The dancers were all young girls, so I only needed to give them 100 yuan each. The other people, including Zhou Hewang, only needed about 200 yuan each. Of the 3,000 yuan, I also had to buy some souvenirs for some colleagues in the unit.

While everyone was chatting and discussing what foreign countries were like, Jiang Zhaozhao started to act naughty under the watchful eyes of her father Jiang Cheng.

"Dad, I want to buy some fireworks and play with my brother and younger brother." Jiang Zhaozhao said to Jiang Cheng as he brought Jiang Panpan to his side.

"Dad doesn't have any change. Go ask your mom for help to buy fireworks." Jiang Cheng responded.

"You have~, you have change, Dad is lying." Jiang Zhaozhao said as she was about to rummage through Jiang Cheng's bag.

Sometimes, for convenience, Jiang Cheng would not take out a lot of money when doing business with others. Especially at the Lichuan County Reclamation Farm, there was a lot of cash transactions.

Before, I always had to pretend to go to a car to get money, but later I just got a bag like a briefcase of this era and carried it with me.

"Zhao Zhao, come here to grandpa. Grandpa has some change." Zhou Dongming greeted Jiang Zhaozhao warmly and put his hand into his shirt pocket, as if he really wanted to take out money for Jiang Zhaozhao.

"I don't want grandpa's money, I want dad's." Jiang Zhaozhao said.

"I just want dad's money." Jiang Panpan added.

"I really don't have any change. This is 10,000 yuan. One yuan is enough to buy fireworks." Jiang Cheng opened his briefcase, took out a ten-thousand-yuan island currency, and jokingly said to his daughter.

When Jiang Cheng took out the money, Jiang Zhaozhao and Jiang Panpan really didn't know what foreign money was. But Zhou Lingying, a high school student, had already taught them some simple arithmetic, one was six and the other was four.

At least he could count the zeros on the money clearly, and Jiang Zhaozhao could understand that it was indeed ten thousand yuan.

The current exchange rate between the island nation's currency and the RMB is 100:0.71, so ten thousand yuan is seventy-one yuan.

The money is not much, but it is foreign exchange. According to the real proportion, it is impossible to get it.

Nanjing is not far from Shanghai, where foreign exchange is very popular. The US dollar and the island country's currency are very popular currencies in China. There are also people in Nanjing who need it. The domestic opening-up has just started, and many people want to borrow money to go abroad, and there are also students who want to study abroad.

Zhou Hewang is the deputy director of the Cultural Bureau. If Jiang Cheng has enough foreign exchange to ask him to do favors, it is not impossible for him to become a regular employee before retirement.

When Zhou Dongming and Zhou Lingying's brother-in-law saw the foreign money, no matter which country it was from, his first thought was "Jiang Cheng actually has foreign exchange."

Just when they were shocked to see a 10,000 yuan island currency note, Jiang Cheng took out a few 100-dollar US dollar notes and showed them to his daughters, saying that he really had no change and asked them to ask their mother for it.

Zhou Hewang watched Jiang Cheng take out a large amount of US dollars from his bag, and his eyelids twitched unnaturally several times.

"Okay, my sister and I will ask mom for money to buy fireworks." Seeing that his father 'really' had no change, Jiang Zhaozhao pulled Jiang Panpan to leave.

"You can ask grandpa to give it to you. Grandpa is not a stranger. You can take his money. But if you want to buy fireworks, you have to wait until after dinner." Jiang Cheng said to his daughter who was about to leave.

His goal had been achieved, which was better than deliberately taking out foreign currency and asking Zhou Hewang if he wanted it. If he didn't need it, he wouldn't ask for it now that he saw Zhou Hewang had foreign currency.

When Jiang Cheng asked this, Zhou Dongming happily gave each of his two granddaughters one dollar. One dollar can buy a lot of fireworks these days.

In this era, people who were a little older liked to play with a kind of firecrackers called "Ertijiao". The gunpowder was divided into two layers, and one layer was lit first, which made a noise, then rushed into the air and exploded. A bundle of "Ertijiao" cost only one or two cents.

There are also sky rockets, which cost a few cents each, and fairy wands, which also cost a dime or two to buy a bundle.

So if you give Jiang Zhaozhao and Jiang Panpan one dollar each, they can buy a lot of fireworks.

"Jiang Cheng, can you get foreign exchange?" Zhou Hewang sat for a while and couldn't help asking.

Zhou Hewang started working at the beginning of the liberation, and he was also an educated man with a good salary. Over the past few decades, he has saved a lot of money for retirement.

I had finally decided to go abroad, and I didn't have much in mind. I had 200 US dollars for my trip, so I thought I could just buy some small things. But by chance, my niece's husband actually had quite a bit of foreign currency.

"I often do transportation in Guangzhou, which is very close to Hong Kong. The currency in Hong Kong is freely convertible. I know a few people in Guangzhou who do this. They say that they can make a lot of money in foreign exchange. I originally wanted to do it too, and I exchanged a lot at a low price. But I drive every day and don't have time to contact people to deal with this." Jiang Cheng said.

Jiang Cheng's words were half true and half false. He did know some scalpers who were privately trading RMB and Hong Kong dollars to make some profit from the difference.

The RMB has no status in the international arena now, and the official domestic exchange rate is only for inflows and not outflows. That is, foreign exchange can be brought in at a rate of 1:1.5 to the US dollar, but once it comes in, it cannot be exchanged back.

According to the current official exchange rate, five Hong Kong dollars can be exchanged for one RMB, which means one hundred Hong Kong dollars can be exchanged for twenty RMB.

But in fact, in the hands of scalpers in Hong Kong, two Hong Kong dollars can be exchanged for one RMB.

According to historical development, China will first implement two exchange rate policies. After all, in order to attract investment, the international market does not recognize the value of the current domestic currency ratio. This means that the domestic currency system is not linked to the international market.

In a year, China will implement trade foreign exchange and non-trade foreign exchange. That is, doing business overseas will be considered as trade. The exchange rate is 1 US dollar to 2.8 RMB. This 2.8 is close to the real value, and the value has shrunk by half.

Now the black market scalpers are trading foreign exchange for about 4-5 dollars per US dollar, and after deducting the scalpers' earnings, the ratio is very close to 2.8 dollars.

Jiang Cheng asked Fang Li to help him organize people to collect RMB in Hong Kong. There were still many people smuggling there. Some people brought money with them, but they could only exchange it for Hong Kong currency at a cheaper price.

Fang Li was asked to receive RMB because Jiang Cheng would come to the mainland to invest sooner or later, and would need a lot of cash by then. It was better to get RMB at a ratio of 2:1 than to go to the official ratio of 5:1.

Jiang Cheng said this, and both his father-in-law and his son-in-law were tempted. They had not planned to deal in foreign exchange. But those who could get foreign exchange these days were really amazing.

If Jiang Cheng could help them get some foreign exchange, they would spread the word and guarantee that many people would come.

Even if Zhou Dongming only had a hundred US dollars in his hand, there would be many people who would ask him to exchange it through various connections.

Zhou Hewang was thinking about how to ask his nephew's husband to buy some foreign currency. He had a lot of savings, so he exchanged some foreign currency from Jiang Cheng and asked his leader if he needed help to bring anything. At this time, Zhou Xingcai came into the room and called everyone to prepare for dinner.

As for the issue of foreign exchange, Zhou Hewang could only wait until dinner time and then bring it up while drinking.

The dinner was lively, with men at one table and women with children at another.

At the dinner table, Zhou Hewang still asked Jiang Cheng if he could exchange some US dollars for him. After hearing this at the dinner table, everyone else knew that Jiang Cheng could get foreign exchange.

Then after the meal, Jiang Cheng's briefcase filled with foreign exchange was empty. Not only did Zhou Hewang ask for 500 US dollars in foreign exchange, but Zhou Lingying's two brothers also asked for 100 US dollars each.

Zhou Lingying's brother-in-law took the 10,000 island currency, and even her father-in-law Zhou Dongming got one to show off at work tomorrow.

Jiang Cheng gave it to everyone at a ratio of 1:3. The official 1:1.5 definitely wouldn't work. The black market was already four or five yuan, and you had to rely on luck to get foreign money.

Jiang Cheng has not received a penny of the foreign currency he got. No one would carry hundreds or even thousands of dollars on them. They all owed Jiang Cheng money, so they would send it over tomorrow.

On the second day, those who had taken foreign currency from Jiang Cheng put it on their bodies and took it to work.

Zhou Hewang was going to use it when he went abroad. Now the inspection for going abroad is very strict, and everything you carry with you must be reported. Individuals are allowed to take a certain amount of foreign currency abroad, but they also have to report it first.

So Zhou Hewang had to tell his boss about the $500 he got from Jiang Cheng first. He had to register with the company before he could take the money abroad.

"Director Wang, I'm going to lead a team abroad next month, and I need to trouble you with something. I got some US dollars, and I want to go abroad to see if I can buy something. Please help me with the registration."

"Old Zhou, how did you get here?"

Director Wang of the Cultural Bureau was shocked and said that in his impression, Zhou Hewang was a real man who could take this step. If he had connections, he might have been promoted long ago.

Even though there is only one step between a deputy director and a director, think about what everyone has experienced over the past decade.

In order to avoid going to the countryside, many units used various methods to place many people in the positions, and most of them were people with connections and backgrounds, plus some nepotism.

Now, the situation in the Cultural Bureau is that there is a director and five deputy directors under him. Each deputy director is responsible for a different direction.

Zhou Hewang climbed up slowly based on his qualifications and abilities, so with so many deputy directors in the unit, he was chosen to lead the team abroad.

But Director Wang didn't expect that Zhou Hewang could get a few hundred-dollar bills today. If Zhou Hewang had this ability earlier and could get some US dollars, Director Wang could have established a relationship with some of the people above.

If Zhou Hewang really had connections with the people above, even if he couldn't become the director of the Cultural Bureau, after all, a unit can only have one top leader, let alone five deputy directors. It's normal for some units to have eight.

But if you have connections, you can be transferred to other units and become a cadre with real power.

"A relative of mine can get foreign currency. He has connections in Hong Kong. In addition to US dollars, he can also get the island's currency, British pounds and so on." Zhou Hewang said.

"Relatives, are they reliable?" Director Wang asked more deeply.

Zhou Hewang was silent for a while, then chose to confess and said, "My nephew's husband is a very steady person."

Director Wang nodded and picked up the US dollars that Zhou Hewang had placed on the table in an envelope. He carefully examined each one, and could feel the texture by touching it, but he still had to take a closer look.

Director Wang could see that Zhou Hewang understood what he meant by culture, and his answer was also very sensible, proving that Zhou Hewang still wanted to make further progress sooner.

In fact, according to Zhou Hewang's current situation, he will definitely be promoted to the position of deputy director until his retirement. If he does not retire, he will not have the opportunity to be promoted to the next level.

But now that he has foreign exchange at hand, Director Wang knows that some leaders are eager to exchange domestic money into foreign currency and then go abroad.

You have to know that some scalpers offer more than four dollars for US dollars, and they will definitely sell it for a higher price.

Now the key is Zhou Hewang's connections and how much foreign currency he can get. Only when the amount is large will it be valued by some people. As for why those leaders want you to get more foreign currency, it is not their business.

But as long as he maintains good relationships, Zhou Hewang can move up a step at this age, and he can get a higher job evaluation when he retires.

When they retire, unless they have been punished, they will be demoted to a lower level. Of course, this only applies to lower-level employees, and senior leaders are not subject to this rule.

In fact, whether you are promoted one level or two levels, the retirement salary is higher. Once you retire, you will be forgotten. But everyone will retire one day, so some grievances in the workplace will no longer be targeted after someone retires.

Director Wang confirmed again that Zhou Hewang could really get the foreign exchange, then picked up the office phone and started making a call.

Zhou and Wang helped to establish connections, and they also had to remember Director Wang's favor. Moreover, as the director of the Cultural Bureau, for some reason, many leaders thought that their department could get foreign exchange, and many people entrusted them with such things.

This may be because some overseas studies and performances are under the responsibility of the Cultural Bureau, which often gives their units some foreign exchange as activity funds. This has also led many units to believe that they can send people abroad and get some foreign exchange.

(End of this chapter)