The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 257 US Dollar~
In the director's office of the Cultural Bureau, Director Wang hung up the phone.

"Old Zhou, if you can get 2,000 US dollars, when you come back from abroad after the new year and are willing to be transferred to another unit, you can make some progress." Director Wang said solemnly.

Outsiders don't know the value of two thousand dollars, but the director of the Cultural Bureau knows it. Let alone two thousand dollars, even if there is a hundred dollars, if you are willing to exchange it, there will be people in Shanghai who are willing to take the train to come here.

Zhou Hewang did not say anything immediately. He had to go back and test his nephew's husband's attitude. You know, just these 500 US dollars would cost him most of his family's money. And he couldn't spend this money casually abroad. When he came to report to Director Wang, he must bring some things for him and some colleagues.

Foreign milk powder, clothes, electronic products, and even some stationery are all targets that need to be purchased.

Zhou Hewang's eldest daughter-in-law asked him, her father-in-law, to buy a sweater abroad. If he bought it for the eldest daughter-in-law, wouldn't the other daughter-in-law have to buy one too?

The price of many other things is not worth doubling. Milk powder is not expensive abroad because there are many people raising dairy cows abroad.

In foreign countries, a can of 900 grams of milk powder costs only about three dollars. In China, a bag of 400 grams of milk powder costs more than ten yuan, and that’s made in China.

Nowadays in China, as long as something is imported from abroad, everyone thinks it is good and thinks the high price is justified.

So when Zhou Hewang went abroad to buy a box of milk powder, even if a can of milk powder was sold for thirty yuan, there would still be people rushing to buy it. Therefore, even if the exchange rate was 5 to 1 for US dollars, you could double your money by just bringing something back from abroad.

However, there are restrictions when shopping abroad, and there are rules about how much stuff a person can bring back.

For example, you cannot bring more than two watches or bicycles, and you can only bring one television, refrigerator, VCR, or tape recorder back to China.

The same goes for clothes and food, which are based on a reasonable amount for personal use. You can buy a box of milk powder, which is more than ten cans. The value is only 40 or 50 US dollars, and you will never be allowed to buy more than a box of milk powder.

And the things you bring back are recorded. If you go abroad several times in the same year, you are not allowed to bring some things repeatedly.

For example, if you buy a TV set abroad, and then buy another one the next time you go abroad, you can be considered to be buying it for someone else. This is considered reselling.

This restriction would not be lifted until several years later, when it would be normal to go abroad and buy expensive things for others. At that time, doing business was allowed.

However, such restrictions do not pose any problem for those who organize groups to perform abroad. This time, there are more than fifteen people including accompanying personnel participating in the performance abroad.

As the person in charge, Zhou Hewang asked the girls who participated in the performance to take some things registered under their names when they returned home.

"Director Wang, don't report this money for now. I'll go back and ask first." Zhou Hewang thought for a while before speaking.

Zhou Hewang didn't know whether Jiang Cheng could get so much foreign exchange, but thinking about Jiang Cheng's nonchalant attitude yesterday, he felt that Jiang Cheng should be able to get it.

Even if they couldn't get it, Zhou Dongming and his two nephews took away several hundred yesterday. They took it to show off, and they could collect it later. When they added it up, it would be a lot.

Zhou Hewang reached this level, and if he was promoted to a higher level, his salary would increase significantly, about 200 yuan more a year. And this is just the basic salary, there are also job subsidies and benefits.

Therefore, Zhou Hewang did not plan to report the 500 yuan for the time being. Going abroad to buy 500 yuan more things was a temporary benefit. If this could be upgraded to a higher level, it would be very important for Zhou Hewang, who was about to retire.

When Director Wang heard Zhou Hewang say this, he nodded. It was a pity for him. If he really reported it, he could also ask Zhou Hewang to help him bring some things abroad.

The two chatted for a while, and Zhou Hewang also asked about the ratio given by the superiors. To be honest, Zhou Hewang was also shocked when he heard the ratio given by the leaders.

Jiang Cheng gave him 500 US dollars, saying that it was a ratio of 1:3, which meant 1,500 yuan. This was already double the official amount, and the ratio given by the leader just now was directly 1:5.

At a price of 1:5, Jiang Cheng would have to make 2,000 US dollars, or 10,000 RMB. The profit was 4,000 RMB, which was more than Zhou Hewang's lifetime savings.

In theory, Zhou Hewang can save a few dozen a month with his salary, a few hundred a year, and after working for more than 20 years, it is not difficult to save 4,000. But sometimes, when the family buys something, when the son gets married, when the elderly get sick, when they pass away, when their grandchildren are born, he has to contribute a little. Money is everywhere.

So, even though Zhou Hewang only had more than 50 yuan when he first started working, now as a deputy director he has more than 100 yuan, and his life savings are only more than 3,000 yuan.

But the leader casually took out 10,000 yuan to exchange for US dollars, it was like money was not money, and it was prepared for his children to study abroad.

Zhou Hewang felt that he must have encountered a corrupt leader, but he tried not to speculate or discuss. When he was a section chief, he was not the same. If someone asked him for help, he would help as long as it was not illegal. If someone gave him something, he would accept it.

But Zhou Hewang didn't dare to think too much about the families who had tens of thousands of yuan. Looking at the situation on Director Wang's phone call just now, he felt that ten thousand yuan was not their bottom line.

Since he was not going to report it for the time being, Zhou Hewang planned to go back first. With 500 US dollars beside him, he felt a little flustered. According to the exchange rate of the leader, this was 2,500 yuan.

Jiang Cheng gave Zhou Hewang the money at a ratio of one US dollar to three dollars. Zhou Hewang felt a little guilty, as if he had asked his nephew's husband for a thousand dollars for nothing.

~~
At the factory where Zhou Xingcai worked, he felt as if he had been cheated by his brother-in-law.

When he showed the 100-dollar bill to his coworkers, they were surprised. But when he said that the bill was worth 300 dollars, many coworkers were a little bit unconvinced.

For some people who have just started working, three hundred yuan is enough to live on for a year without eating or drinking. Now, a piece of paper with a hundred yuan written on it is said to be worth three hundred yuan.

Many people who were watching the fun said in front of Zhou Xingcai that they might not even accept it if it was 200 yuan, let alone 300 yuan.

Although many people have heard that foreign currency is valuable, after all, no one has seen anyone collect it, and no one has given foreign currency to others to collect. Can we really believe what we have heard?

His coworker's words made Zhou Xingcai plan to go back to his parents' house in the afternoon and return the hundred dollars to his brother-in-law. In fact, he saw his uncle asking for five hundred dollars, and thought it was a bit of a bargain, so he also asked for one hundred dollars.

But now that he thinks about it, he just heard that someone accepted foreign currency, but he didn't know who to go to and change it into cash. Three hundred yuan to one hundred yuan, Zhou Xingcai and his wife are both employees, but it would take more than half a year for them to save three hundred yuan after deducting expenses.

So Zhou Xingcai still planned to ask his brother-in-law to return the US dollars, especially when he remembered what his brother-in-law said. He said that he took these foreign currencies, including island currency and British pounds, but didn't sell them because he was busy with work. Now that he thinks about it, it doesn't seem right. The US dollars can really be sold for four or five dollars in the market. There are 800 US dollars in his brother-in-law Jiang Cheng's bag. One more dollar would be a year's salary for him and his wife Xie Xiuyun.

No matter how busy he was, he would not want to give up such a large amount of money. So the more Zhou Xing thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He felt that he could not sell it for one hundred dollars.

Yesterday, Zhou Xingcai took some after seeing his uncle, aunt, father, and brother taking some. Now that he thinks about it, he was led astray by others.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xingcai became a little absent-minded at work today.

~~
Different people, different circles and different experiences, sometimes they will miss the real opportunity to make a fortune even when it is right in front of them.

Jiang Cheng gave foreign currency to his wife's relatives, not for them to resell. If they really wanted to resell, it was OK, but Jiang Cheng would definitely not give them this exchange rate.

Giving them foreign exchange is mainly to allow them to expand their own network of contacts. Now that they have foreign exchange in hand, as long as they spread the news, the people who come to them will definitely be people who can use it.

Now who can go abroad? Those who study abroad and those who go on business trips. Especially the latter, those who can go abroad for work reasons, if they go to study or study, there is no particularly low level. Just make friends with anyone and you can bring them up.

Today, Jiang Cheng took his daughter and followed his mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to buy New Year's goods. Spring Festival couplets, firecrackers and other things were bought in advance, as well as melon seeds, peanuts and candies for entertaining guests during the New Year.

It was like I was walking around outside for the whole day and eating a lot of delicious food in Nanjing.

Jiang Cheng thought duck oil fried sesame cakes were just so-so, they were just fried with duck oil. Maybe people were still short of oil these days, he saw others eating them with relish.

But the beef potstickers I bought here were pretty good, with a crispy skin and juicy fillings. You could buy five for 1.5 cents, but you had to add one or two grain coupons.

There are also those who sell uncut eggs, which means that the chicken embryo has already formed in the eggshell. For those who have not eaten this kind of thing, don't keep looking at the embryo inside the egg. Just peel the shell and put it in your mouth and chew it.

Anyway, it smelled good, Zhou Lingying ate a few. Jiang Zhaozhao, Jiang Panpan and even Jiang Niannian each took one and ate it. People in this era only care about whether they can eat it or not, and they are not afraid of those who can eat it.

Nanjing wontons are also good, 1.3 yuan a bowl. The wontons are not boiled in water, but in bone soup. The taste is more delicious.

After playing outside for a whole day, on the way back, the third child Jiang Nian Nian could no longer walk and fell asleep in Liu Xiaofang's arms.

The second child, Zhou Panpan, was also tired from playing and asked Jiang Cheng to hold him, and then he also fell asleep.

Jiang Zhaozhao was actually also tired, but there was no place for her, so she could only walk home listlessly.

After returning home, they all fell asleep on the bed. This gave everyone some peace and quiet, otherwise Zhou Lingying would not stop helping her mother cook in the kitchen.

According to my mother-in-law, my granddaughter's personality when she was a child was very similar to Zhou Lingying's, a tomboy and love to make trouble.

We have to prepare a lot of food tonight, because during lunch Zhou Dongming guessed that the person who took Jiang Cheng’s foreign currency yesterday would send the money over this afternoon.

Now they still eat a fixed amount of food. If Zhou Hewang and Zhou Lingying's aunt send money, they will definitely eat before coming back. But when their son and daughter-in-law come, they will definitely not deliberately eat before coming back.

Sure enough, around five o'clock, Zhou Xingcai came with his wife and a son and a daughter. Zhou Xingcai had two children and felt that was enough. The fertility promotion work has been going on for many years, and some people also think that there is no need to keep giving birth.

Liu Xiaofang had guessed long ago that the second son's family would come over for dinner tonight. The second son's wife, Xie Xiuyun, was a nice person, but she was a bit like the people from her mother's family, and she liked to calculate little things.

When Zhou Xingcai and Xie Xiuyun were dating, Xie Xiuyun's parents didn't like Zhou Xingcai at all. They were also considering whether Zhou Xingcai's parents and relatives had the ability to help. Later, they saw that some of Zhou Xingcai's relatives were not bad, and the key was that he had a brother-in-law who drove a car.

Xie Xiuyun was the same, her family's life was not difficult, she and Zhou Xingcai both had jobs, but they were always thinking about who could help them and make them rich.

Zhou Xingcai was coming over today, so Xie Xiuyun would naturally bring her children with her, so that they could eat one meal and save another. And since Zhou Lingying was back, there was no doubt that the food here would be good these days.

To put it nicely, she brought Liu Xiaofang's grandchildren to visit them again.

When this person came over, Xie Xiuyun took the children to help in the kitchen. She was not a bad person, and she was also hardworking, except that she liked to calculate things. Zhou Xingcai went to the living room to find Jiang Chengcheng. He wanted to return the so-called one hundred dollars to Jiang Cheng when no one was watching.

"Jiang Cheng, I'll return the US dollars to you. There's no use for me to hold them except to show off, you see~." Zhou Xingcai said a little embarrassedly. After all, when he followed others to get them yesterday, he was afraid that he would not be able to get them.

"Okay, you can tell Yingying when you need anything in the future."

Jiang Cheng didn't expect that the US dollars would be returned. He didn't say anything, took the US dollars and put it in his bag.

Zhou Xingcai was relieved when he saw Jiang Cheng took back the US dollars, thinking that he hadn't caused anything too embarrassing. He found an excuse to go to the kitchen to help serve the dishes, after all, dinner was about to start.

Not long after that, Zhou Dongming came back first. Zhou Fanyi came back almost at the same time with his three children, two sons and a daughter. Because they were born early, having three children was considered excessive, but they only received some verbal education and were not fined.

When Jiang Cheng gave birth to Jiang Niannian, although family planning was not included in the Constitution, it was already very strict at that time. There have always been punishment standards, and it depends on the mood of the person who punishes. If the attitude is good, the punishment will be less, and if it is not good, the punishment will be more.

Zhou Dongming came here today, and he brought 300 yuan with him. He also wanted Jiang Cheng to help him get some foreign currency, US dollars would be the best, but if there were no US dollars, some island currencies would also be fine.

Zhou Fanyi's father-in-law was the director of the street office seven years ago, and is now a district leader. Yesterday, he received $100, which his wife Hu Xuan took to his father-in-law for advice.

Then he didn't take the US dollars back, and asked Hu Xuan to follow Zhou Fanyi to ask if there were any more.

(End of this chapter)