Mixed in 1980

Chapter 286 Deceiving Zhang Jianjun

"Chen Fan, it's been a long time!"

Seeing Chen Fan holding a child, and not Xu Jinqiu by his side, Zhang Jianjun was stunned. They had been engaged, could it have fallen through?

Hmm... this woman, is she Zhao Yuanyuan?

Xu Jinqiu's girlfriends lived in the courtyard for a while, and many of the young men in the courtyard were envious of them.

Even so, Zhang Jianjun couldn't help but feel envious, thinking to himself, "That bastard is really lucky with women. He had Zhou Xiaoying before, then Xu Jinqiu, and now he has Zhao Yuanyuan."

"Yeah, long time no see."

Chen Fan wiped the sugar stains from his daughter's lips: "You're quitting your job at the Cultural Palace?"

"I quit, it's pointless. A month's salary isn't even as much as I make in a day at a stall. That's why they say if you want to make money, you have to go into business." Zhang Jianjun took out a cigarette and offered one to the vendor.

Chen Fan took the cigarette and handed his daughter to Miss Zhao, saying, "That's for sure. Nine out of ten people are in dire need of help, and the remaining one hundred million are still searching for their lost wages. They can only live a hard life."

Zhang Jianjun lit a cigarette: "Of course! What about you? You still write novels after graduating from university?"

"I write it for fun, but it's mainly for business."

Chen Fan lit a cigarette and took a puff: "I was lucky to be ahead of you. Do you know what was in Bingzi's house back then?"

"What is it?" Zhang Jianjun asked curiously.

"Antiques, a whole bunch of antiques."

Chen Fan took a deep drag on his cigarette: "You wouldn't believe it, the whole room is full of old furniture from the Ming Dynasty, and some of the plates and vases are from the Ming and Qing Dynasty imperial kilns."

Zhang Jianjun opened his mouth wide, not knowing what to say.

Inevitably, a feeling of regret arose. He had the opportunity to buy Li Hongbing's house, but Chen Fan snatched it away.

If I owned the house, would I need to set up a stall now?
Unconsciously, a feeling of hatred arose in my heart.

We hadn't seen each other for so many years, and we had let go of what happened back then, but we were still provoked.

Chen Fan raised the corners of his mouth slightly and continued, "My buddy sold his antiques, used the money to do business, and everything went smoothly. He even has three wives."

Cough! Cough! Cough cough...

Zhang Jianjun was choked by the smoke. His three wives?

Good heavens, could it be Xu Jinqiu, along with her two sisters? Zhao Yuanyuan is right here, so it's probably true.

For a moment, Zhang Jianjun felt a sharp pang of sadness.

He liked Zhou Xiaoying, but nothing came of it. Back in 84, Zhou Xiaoying married the son of a leader at the Cultural Palace.

I'm still single.

"Dude, that's awesome!"

Despite being extremely displeased, Zhang Jianjun didn't show it: "What kind of business are you in now? Looks like you've made a lot of money."

"It's alright, it's passable."

Chen Fan took a drag of his cigarette and gestured for Zhang Jianjun to squat down, saying that standing was tiring: "I'm not bragging, but with my business, I can earn your money for a year from just one deal."

"What kind of business?" Zhang Jianjun asked curiously.

Thinking to himself, he wanted to find out what Chen Fan's methods were like. If it was easy to make money, Chen Fan could do it, and so could he. Maybe he could even marry three wives in the future.

"To do business, you have to keep doing things."

Chen Fan touched his nose and continued, "In China, unless you can get a permit, you can't make big money doing business. If you want to make big money, you have to look overseas."

Pointing north, he said, "The Soviet Union, those Russians!"

"Smuggling?" Zhang Jianjun's eyes widened.

"What smuggling? I'm doing legitimate business. We've resumed economic ties with the Soviet Union. As long as we have the channels, we can do business normally."

At this point, Chen Fan gestured for Zhang Jianjun to come closer and lowered his voice: "Northeast China, Heihe, do you know this place?"

"Never heard of it!" Zhang Jianjun shook his head.

"I'll buy a map later, or ask around and I'll find out that it's just across the river from Blagoveshchensk in the Soviet Union."

Chen Fan took a drag of his cigarette and chuckled, "Now that day trips are available between the two sides and the exit procedures are very simple, many people are going to Heihe on business."

"Official business?" Zhang Jianjun frowned.

"It's called official business, but it's really just about moving supplies. When we go, we bring a few sportswear, jackets, snow boots, makeup boxes and the like."

"These can make money?"

"You don't understand, do you? The Soviet Union's light industry was weak, and it lacked these things. A leather jacket that sells for a little over 100 here can sell for over 1000 there."

Chen Fan lowered his voice further: "But when we go over there, it's not to sell for money, it's to trade for things. We can trade for telescopes, tractors, and cars."

"Really?" Zhang Jianjun asked in surprise.

“The Russians are short of these things. One of my friends brought a truckload of canned goods over and traded them for a big truck. It’s no big deal.”

"Grandma, can you earn ten or twenty thousand yuan for a round trip?"

“These are all small-scale operations on the border. Those who are capable of making big money take the train deep into the Soviet Union, carry their goods across, and sell them all as soon as they get off the train.”

At this point, Chen Fan paused for a moment: "But you really need connections. Each person can only carry 38 kilograms of goods. Either you find someone to help you and go as a group, or you have connections and can charter a train car."

Zhang Jianjun's pupils dilated, a hint of heat flashing within them.

Upon seeing this, Chen Fan stood up and said, "We can talk again another time. I'm going to go shopping. By the way, you can ask around on Yabao Road."

Many people on Yabao Road are in this line of work.

"Alright, we'll talk later." Watching Chen Fan leave, Zhang Jianjun rubbed his hands together: "So there's a way? Chen Fan isn't trying to fool me, is he?"

"Yabao Road, I'll ask around about it later."

As they left, Miss Zhao asked curiously, "Comrade Chen Fan, would you be so kind as to tell Zhang Jianjun about a way to make money?"

She knew all about their past grievances.

Given Chen Fan's stinginess, it would be considered generous of him not to completely ruin Zhang Jianjun's life. Zhang Jianjun had been working honestly before, and Chen Fan just hadn't found an opportunity to do so.

Actually, it wasn't that there wasn't a chance; it was just that Chen Fan didn't plan to take revenge at that time.

In the early days, if we had taken away Zhang Jianjun's job and forced him to go into business, it wouldn't have been harming him, it would have been helping him. It would have been better to let him honestly collect his fixed salary.

Now that Zhang Jianjun has gone into business, an opportunity has arisen: "Not just anyone can do business in the Soviet Union. With Zhang Jianjun's limited abilities, he'll probably just be wasting his time."

Many traders die on the road.

Some were killed by the Russians, and some were killed by themselves; double-crossing was the norm.

Chen Fan deliberately mentioned antiques and his three wives to make Zhang Jianjun jealous, and then offered a way to make money, all to get Zhang Jianjun to try and get involved.

"What if he actually makes a fortune after starting this business?"

"Then I congratulate him!" Chen Fan chuckled.

It's not that I'm underestimating Zhang Jianjun, but he never succeeded in business in his previous life. However, he had a room full of antiques, and he would sell the antiques every time his business failed.

Without those antiques, a single failure could ruin his career.

If Zhang Jianjun is truly capable, he can bring back a large sum of money from the Soviet Union. Chen Fan is also capable of making him experience a dramatic rise and fall, a life full of ups and downs.

Just as I was thinking about something, the little dumpling suddenly pointed ahead and said, "Daddy, something delicious."

"You little snacker!"

After kissing his daughter, Chen Fan walked towards the stall in front of him. The stall was full of dried goods, such as melon seeds, walnuts, raisins, dried sweet potatoes, and persimmon cakes.

"I want this, this, this..."

The little dumpling pointed to each item one by one, almost going through all the categories. Chen Fan said with a bitter face, "Baby, Mommy won't let you eat so many snacks."

"Mommy's naughty, Daddy should buy it..."

Miss Zhao picked up the little dumpling and pointed at the stall: "Boss, give me two pounds of everything, and share it with the neighbor next door later."

"Okay, wait a moment."

The shopkeeper worked quickly, weighing each item one by one, wrapping them in oil paper, folding them up, and tying them with a rope: "Please keep this safe."

After paying, Ms. Zhao handed the items to the bodyguard and continued shopping, buying and eating as she went, having even more fun than her own daughter.

This happens almost every year.

Every year during the Lunar New Year, I act like a child who hasn't grown up, and I want to visit all the markets around Beijing.

Today is only the first day!
The next morning, as Miss Zhao was getting ready to leave, Chen Yi and Xiao Xi blocked her way, each grabbing an arm and trying to get her to come along.

They would follow along every year at this time.

They didn't know when Zhao Yuanyuan started going to the market; she would leave one day and they would follow her the next.

Chen Fan didn't go with her. Going to the market with Miss Zhao was really exhausting; they were practically running non-stop from morning till evening.

I was out all day yesterday, and my legs are still sore today.

Just then, Zhou Wenya called: "Mr. Chen, the delisting process for HK Electric is not going smoothly and is estimated to take about six months."

Delisting is inherently complicated.

Some companies take one or two years to delist, which doesn't surprise Chen Fan: "No rush. The procedures must be legal and compliant, so that no one can find any mistakes."

"Don't worry, the program will definitely not make any mistakes."

On the other end of the phone, Zhou Wenya scratched her head: "The mainland has already proposed negotiations for the Ertan Hydropower Station, and Hong Kong Electric hasn't been delisted yet..."

"With Spark Investment as the main entity, we will negotiate with the mainland, and after HK Electric is delisted, we will restructure the project and transfer it to HK Electric's name."

"Okay, Mr. Chen!" Zhou Wenya breathed a sigh of relief.

We have the money and the project, but what we lack is a partner. Once that's solved, the collaboration will be very simple; the company will just need to provide the funding.

Construction and operation are both handled by mainland authorities.

After discussing the hydroelectric power station, Chen Fan inquired about the acquisition of Piers 1-3 in Kwai Chung Port.

Zhou Wenya couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It's not going smoothly. The price has dropped a bit, but it's still HK$32 billion, which is way over budget."

"Do they really think we're easy targets?"

Chen Fan touched his nose and pondered for a moment: "Tell Yu Jing to offer HK$27 billion directly. If she agrees, we'll sign the contract after the New Year; if she doesn't, we'll abandon the acquisition."

"Boss, are we really giving up?"

Zhou Wenya was well aware of Chen Fan's desire for the port, as the trouble he caused in Hong Kong before was all due to Kwai Chung Port.

They also spared no expense in investing in ports in mainland China.

"If the British don't agree, just give up!"

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes slightly and raised the corners of his mouth: "So that the British don't think we have to acquire it. Let's see who can outlast whom."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Fan added, "Go to Southeast Asia and find a few suitable ports, launch an acquisition, and let the British know that we don't necessarily need Kwai Chung Port."

"As for Kwai Chung Port..."

P.S.: Second update! Only 40 votes left, thanks for your support!
(End of this chapter)