The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 289: WTF

In Shenzhen you just need to wear a thicker coat, but in Changcheng it is already winter.

Jiang Cheng returned home, this time bringing a color TV, which caused a sensation among the people in the yard.

Some people in China who are well-off can afford a black-and-white TV, which costs more than 400 yuan, but color TVs are hard to find on the market.

At present, most of the color televisions in China are imported. Jiang Cheng has been in China for many years and has visited Beijing and Shanghai every year, so he is familiar with this.

It’s not that there are no color TVs produced in China now. There are some in Tianjin. But there is no production line. We took other people’s color TVs, disassembled them and learned from them. Then we imported some parts and assembled them ourselves.

We can only say that China has the technology to assemble color TVs, but the production line was introduced from overseas in the previous year, that is, in 1978. Now it has been more than a year, and the production line has not been assembled yet. The color TVs that can be produced are basically imported.

Jiang Cheng didn’t get involved in television in the past few years, mainly because there were not many programs in the country in those years, so he didn’t want to bother.

Even now, at most three TV stations can be received. At 49%, Guangzhou and Shanghai are better, and five TV stations can be received in the urban areas.

In fact, the News Broadcast was only officially launched in the past seven or eight years. Before that, there was only radio, and you could listen to news broadcasts on the radio.

There are no TV dramas in the country now, and the only programs available are some model operas, such as "The Red Lantern", "Sha Jia Bang" and "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy".

There are also singing and dancing programs, sports programs, and of course educational programs, such as an agricultural technology lecture or something, which can make everyone watch with great interest.

Of course, the really popular thing is the movie broadcast. Being able to watch movies on TV is more lively than going to the cinema. Because cinemas are more particular now, you can't talk loudly, couples can't be intimate, and you can't eat or throw garbage at will.

When watching TV in the yard, everyone would gather around a stool and comment on the interesting parts. Grab a handful of peanuts and eat them while watching. The atmosphere was much better than in a movie theater.

Jiang Cheng adjusted the TV antenna. Since he lived in the city, there were only three channels, but the picture was clear.

Zhou Lingying didn't want to charge people to watch TV. She was in charge of foreign exchange for her family. She earned two to three thousand yuan a month, and she kept all the money she earned. Naturally, she looked down on that little money, and it was almost January, winter.

It was cold outside in winter, so it was so comfortable to burn charcoal, warm ourselves by the fire, drink hot water and watch TV at home. It would be lively outside, but Zhou Lingying was pregnant and didn't want to watch from outside.

So Zhou Lingying decided to take it to the yard in the afternoon on weekends when Jiang Juan was on vacation and let everyone see it for free, and usually keep it at home.

For those who have a good relationship with Zhou Lingying, there is naturally no problem in dropping by to watch TV.

With the TV, Jiang Cheng's daughters would sit next to the TV at five o'clock every day.

In this era, there are still many cartoons to watch. For example, "The Story of Avanti" is broadcast every evening, and the Japanese cartoon "The Clever Ikki" is also available.

Jiang Cheng thinks that the current cartoons are much more interesting than those in the future. Among the cartoons in the future, how many domestic ones can be remembered? Even cartoons are not allowed to have violence or ghosts. In the end, the most popular cartoon in China turned out to be Ultraman from the island country.

After December, it will be the 1980s. The child in Zhou Lingying's belly is a post-1980s generation.

This year's Chinese New Year fell on February 16th, and Jiang Cheng brought his sister and brother-in-law back home in early February. After working in Shenzhen for two months, Jiang Cheng paid them more than 1,000 yuan in salary, and also gave other employees some bonuses.

In the 1980s, some business opportunities came to Jiang Cheng. A business opportunity with a return of 100,000 times appeared. He spent less than a dime now and would get a return of 10,000 yuan in the future.

The monkey stamp was issued on February 15 this year. Each stamp costs only eight cents. But in later times, it can be sold for at least 8,000 yuan, and some sets of four stamps can be sold for 15,000 yuan.

But for Jiang Cheng, he just bought it for fun, and he didn't need to be too serious about it. The high value of the monkey stamps was largely due to the small number of issues.

Since there are so few stocks issued, even if Jiang Cheng buys all of them, the value will only be several hundred billion in the future. Moreover, he cannot afford to buy all of them, so he can only do it as he pleases. If he wants to make money, Jiang Cheng will go into real estate. Even if he starts to do real estate in Hong Kong now, he can still make money without any hesitation.

Even though any house in the civilian area of ​​Hong Kong costs 200,000 or 300,000 yuan now, in more than 20 years, it may not be possible to buy one for even 2 or 3 million yuan.

Jiang Cheng is not in the mood to make money or do anything else now. Because Zhou Lingying's belly is very big, according to the time, she will give birth around May.

The key point is that Shen Li in Hong Kong is also due to give birth in May, and Jiang Cheng is really unable to do anything. In Hong Kong, he can only hire a nurse in advance to wait directly at the villa, and he has to accompany Zhou Lingying in person.

~~
April 26, 1980, sunny.

"Sisi, come to daddy."

"Sisi, come to mommy."

The fourth child, Jiang Sisi, is already one and a half years old. She has just learned to walk and is not very stable yet, which is one of the more interesting stages.

Now at home, Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying are clapping their hands, waiting to see who she will approach and let hug. Jiang Cheng already has the second and third children by his side, while the eldest, Jiang Zhaozhao, is in school.

Zhou Lingying was unwilling to accept this. Her own children were all married to Jiang Cheng, not to her as a mother. She felt that she could not compete with Jiang Cheng for the fourth child who had just learned to walk.

"Sister, come to my side." Jiang Panpan said as she stabbed Jiang Cheng in the back while he was squatting.

Jiang Niannian, who is over three years old, is more direct. If she sees the fourth child going to her mother's side, she will pull her over directly.

In the end, Jiang Sisi still stumbled towards Jiang Cheng. When she was about to get close, she started running as soon as she learned to walk, and rushed towards Jiang Cheng at an accelerated speed. If Jiang Cheng avoided her, she would definitely fall to the ground.

Zhou Lingying looked at the fourth child and chose Jiang Cheng, and could only smile helplessly.

"When you grow up, I will marry you off to places far away. You all have no conscience." Zhou Lingying said. After ten months of pregnancy, the babies born will come to steal her men.

"That won't do. My daughter won't marry far away. She has to stay by my side. By the way, Jiang Juan will have her high school entrance exam in two months. Her grades are not bad for getting into high school, but she's not the best in the school. She'll have to work harder to get into college in the future." Jiang Cheng said, hugging the fourth child in his arms and kissing him.

"The house in your hometown has been built, and your sister Jiang Yan also gave your parents a lot of filial piety this year. There are only two acres of land in your hometown, so your sister-in-law doesn't have to earn work points. If Juanzi goes to high school, tell her not to go back to her hometown during the summer vacation and just review her lessons here." Zhou Lingying responded.

"Let's talk about it after she goes to high school. If her grades are not ideal, we can hire a tutor for her during the holidays." Jiang Cheng suggested.

Jiang Juan is just a serious student, willing to study hard, but she is definitely not a top student. Once she gets into high school, her grades will drop if she slacks off. If she wants to go to college, she needs to be more diligent.

All Jiang Cheng meant was that if Jiang Juan was admitted to high school, he would hire a tutor this summer to teach her the first semester knowledge in advance.

With the advance instruction, when she goes to high school, the previous courses will be easier.

As for Jiang Juan's classmate Liu Li, she is actually more talented in studying than Jiang Juan. But her family is not well off. Even if she gets a high school subsidy, the subsidy is only enough for her to live alone, and life will be difficult. Every summer vacation, she has to go to the countryside to catch eels to supplement the family income, so that life at home will be better. So Liu Li plans to take the technical secondary school entrance exam instead of the high school entrance exam.

After passing high school, you have to be able to get into college, and then study for a few more years before you can start working and earning money. If you fail to get into college, there will be no job assignment in high school.

However, even if there is no job assignment for high school graduates, as long as one's academic performance is good and the school recommends one, one can still find a job.

Technical secondary schools do have job assignments, but there are technical options for those who take the exam. Technical secondary school graduates are basically technicians, and their jobs are still quite popular.

There are not many majors in technical secondary schools nowadays, after all, many industries did not exist in this era. The three majors of science are mechanics, electronics and architecture.

There are also agriculture and forestry courses. After studying, you can go into agriculture and forestry. Few people in cities study this, but students from rural areas may choose this course because they have more contact with agriculture and forestry.

The other is medicine, which is still good in this era. China is in the period of opening up, and the medical industry also has great development prospects. But girls who study this basically become nurses. If they enter the industry early, they can become head nurses in the future.

The rest are finance and education, one is for accounting and statistics, and the other is for teaching, but technical secondary school students are teachers, that is, they teach in kindergartens and primary schools.

Liu Li chose to study in a technical secondary school and specifically asked Jiang Cheng what major to choose. Jiang Cheng gave her the opportunity to choose finance. If she chose to study accounting, Jiang Cheng would give her a surprise when she entered the implementation stage in the third year.

If Liu Li chose another major, Jiang Cheng could only say that their fate might have ended there.

"You really care about this niece. Well, these heartless daughters are given to you. I have to go make dinner. Can you get a color TV? My eldest brother's family also wants one, as well as my parents' family." Zhou Lingying said.

Zhou Lingying's eldest brother really asked, but as for Zhou Lingying's parents, she was too embarrassed to say that she wanted to give them a color TV as a gift.

Zhou Lingying helped Jiang Cheng to get foreign exchange for her family, and she had already earned tens of thousands of yuan from the money she put in the box. So she wanted to take care of her parents in private. A TV now costs more than 2,000 yuan, and she wanted to give the money without telling Jiang Cheng.

Zhou Lingying has been with Jiang Cheng for many years, whether it is dealing in foreign exchange or selling fabrics and food in the past. Jiang Cheng has never reconciled any accounts with her. Sometimes when she wants to reconcile with Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng feels annoyed and says that there is no point in reconciling accounts between husband and wife.

So Zhou Lingying felt that Jiang Cheng might not even know how much money was in the box where she kept the money. Even if she took out more than 2,000 yuan, Jiang Cheng would not notice.

"Okay, two color TVs, right? I'll talk to my boss when I go to Shenzhen. It's easy to sell TVs in Hong Kong, so just ask your family to pick them up in two months. We have a 21-inch one at home, and the price is 2,500 yuan. An 18-inch one is only 2,000 yuan. There's also a 14-inch one, which costs 1,700 yuan." Jiang Cheng mentioned the price of the TV.

The prices Jiang Cheng mentioned were all in Hong Kong dollars, but he would definitely accept RMB, and he could make a profit by selling to his brother-in-law. But it would be bad not to make this profit, so as to avoid being targeted later.

A black and white TV in Hong Kong costs about 400 Hong Kong dollars, which is more than 100 RMB at the market exchange rate. But a black and white TV in China costs more than 400, and you need a coupon.

The main reason is that electronic products in Hong Kong are cheap. If you really want to give it to my brother-in-law according to the actual price, you won’t have to sell the TV there later.

Moreover, ordinary people in China simply have no channels to buy color TVs. Even if Jiang Cheng quoted the price in RMB, it would still be considered cheap by others.

This is why many people in Shenzhen wanted to smuggle some electronic products to Hong Kong to sell after China opened up. Electronic watches in Hong Kong are very cheap, and if you bring them back to China to sell, you can make ten times the profit.

Zhou Lingying nodded. Seeing that Jiang Cheng did not suspect that one of the machines was bought by her for her parents, she felt secretly happy but also a little guilty. After all, she had deceived her man.

But Jiang Cheng didn't even have a color TV at his parents' house, so Zhou Lingying was naturally embarrassed to mention this.

In fact, it wasn't that Jiang Cheng didn't want to get a TV for his parents. In the countryside, there were only two TV stations. And Jiang Lin's nephew treated him badly, and he didn't know why.

But if I bought a TV, it would be a bargain for my two nephews, so I didn’t bring a TV to the countryside, and planned to buy one a year or two later.

"Is there anything else? Go make dinner. I'm taking care of our daughter." Jiang Cheng's hand touched Sisi's belly. Her belly felt so good to touch.

"Jiang Cheng, hurry, take me to the hospital. It seems like something's broken down there and the baby's about to be born." Zhou Lingying said anxiously.

Zhou Lingying got up to prepare dinner just now after hearing Jiang Cheng promised to buy two TV sets for her parents' home. But when she stood up, she thought she got up too fast and her feet felt a little numb.

But she found something wrong. Zhou Lingying found herself numb and unable to move. She also became incontinent and defecated while standing.

Zhou Lingying, who had several birth experiences, realized in a few seconds that it was not her urinary incontinence, but her amniotic fluid had suddenly broken and she was about to give birth.

Jiang Cheng, who was a daughter slave just now, immediately took his daughter away from his arms and on his back after hearing what his wife Zhou Lingying said, picked up Zhou Lingying and went out.

"Mrs. Zhang, my wife is about to give birth. Can you help look after my daughter? Juanzi will prepare meals for the child later. You can just help look after her."

As soon as Jiang Cheng went out, he saw Zhang Yang's wife Xiao Li washing vegetables in the yard. Jiang Cheng was holding Zhou Lingying and talking to her at the top of his voice, talking as he walked out.

There are sidecars in the yard, but they require people to sit on them and they shake when they drive. It's OK to take someone to the hospital, but it's not suitable to take a pregnant woman who's about to give birth, because she has to lie down.

"Jiang Cheng, please send your wife to the hospital quickly. I'm here, so don't worry about the child." Xiao Li saw this situation and said with concern.

Jiang Cheng didn't have much time to respond to Xiao Li's words. He almost ran towards the car with Zhou Lingying in his arms.

After putting Zhou Lingying in the back seat to lie down, Jiang Cheng anxiously drove to the hospital.

"Jiang Cheng, don't be so anxious. Usually, after the water breaks, it will take quite some time for the baby to be born. Don't worry."

Zhou Lingying, who was lying in the back seat, was comforting Jiang Cheng at this time. She had several birthing experiences, and although they were all natural births, they took several hours each time.

Moreover, Zhou Lingying felt that she was carrying twins this time, and her belly was so big that it would be very painful to give birth to the babies.

After hearing Zhou Lingying's words, Jiang Cheng's anxious mood eased a little.

Zhou Lingying also adjusted her mentality in the back seat, took a deep breath, and talked and laughed with Jiang Cheng. Although it hurt a lot, she was in good condition.

When they arrived at the hospital, Jiang Cheng felt relieved. The car stopped directly in front of the hospital gate, and Jiang Cheng got out to open the back door.

As soon as he opened the back door, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but exclaim inwardly.

This is what Zhou Lingying said, it won’t happen so quickly, Jiang Cheng ran to the hospital.

(End of this chapter)