The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 11 Looking for the first pot of gold
After seeing Zhang Hongbo off, the group returned to Room 205 in a mighty procession.

The four little ones, like groundhogs that had been hungry for three days, jumped back onto the bench and continued to crunch peanuts.

These are rare five-spice peanuts.

Liu Youniu said that in the countryside, it was a special snack provided by the supply and marketing cooperatives to commune cadres.

Liu Youniu's wife Li Xiaomei was reluctant to eat the peanuts, so she peeled them and wrapped them in a handkerchief, preparing to use them to accompany Liu Youniu's wine and her children's meals.

The adults praised Liu Dajia: "You are as clever as Liu Sijie in the story of Crossing the River Reconnaissance."

Liu Dajia chuckled, "I heard from Brother Qianjin that Director Zhang registered you as a collective household. Since that woman went to the Women's Director, I'll go to the Director!"

"It's not easy to register as a collective household. I have always wanted to register my child's mother, but it's impossible." Liu Youniu said enviously.

Qian Jin explained, "I gave him a gift, a watch. Otherwise, how could Jiaqing be accepted into the street construction team so smoothly?"

Fortunately, he was more careful in the morning.

Zhang Hongbo agreed to let him continue to live there, but he was afraid that he would deny his responsibility later, so he specifically brought up the household registration issue.

There was no other way. Zhang Hongbo saw that he couldn't fool him, so he had to help him register with the street collective household.

Liu Youniu asked: "What kind of watch?"

He wanted to see if his family had the conditions to use backdoor channels to obtain household registration for his wife and children.

Qian Jin had a brochure for the watch with the manufacturer's name on it, but he didn't give it to Zhang Hongbo for fear of being exposed.

This was just the right time to show it to Liu Youniu, but Liu Youniu and others had little knowledge and couldn't see the problem.

really.

The four adults put their heads together to form a chrysanthemum, and were only concerned with looking at the style of the watch.

If a 27-year-old watch can scare Zhang Hongbo, what about four country bumpkins?
Liu Jiaqing said: "My junior high school classmate was the son of the commune secretary. He wore a watch that looked like a Seagull brand, but it was nothing compared to this watch."

Liu Youniu stroked the promotional leaflet and sighed, "Seagull and Plum brand watches are over a hundred yuan now, so yours must be several hundred yuan, right?"

"I knew it was that easy to replace someone else. It's impossible without spending a fortune. You're really cutting your flesh out with this little money!"

Liu Youguang and his father were shocked.

A family in the production team worked hard for a year, but the money they got was not enough to buy even half a watch.

Liu Jiaqing muttered, "I thought it was just a few dozen yuan."

Qian Jin looked at him in surprise.

Your kid is really good at reading watches!

He changed the subject: "Zhang Hongbo said that after registering me as a collective household, I have to join the labor assault team. What kind of work is that?"

Liu Youniu knew all about it: "I was doing semi-voluntary labor for the street, doing odd jobs."

"Clearing drains, delivering coal briquettes, babysitting, catching stray dogs, and even going to the countryside to support agriculture during spring plowing and autumn harvest—it's even worse than being a sent-down youth in the countryside. The work is miscellaneous, and they only get 50 cents a day for living allowance!"

He showed a sympathetic expression as he said this: "It's autumn harvest time now, you have to go to the countryside."

"Harvesting corn and peanuts, then plowing the land and sowing wheat, and even clearing wasteland. Then there's the possibility of building reservoirs and working on rivers—my god, it's so tiring."

Qian Jin put on a fake smile: "I love working!"

"But can production be mechanized? I'm good at operating all kinds of machinery!"

Liu Dajia's question directly destroyed his expectations: "What is mechanized production?"

Qian Jin could only weakly try to open their eyes.

He is familiar with this aspect.

In the past 27 years, mechanized farming and harvesting have basically been achieved in rural areas.

He started with the rotary tiller, and then talked about rice transplanters, seed drills, mulching machines, harvesters, tractors, bulldozers, excavators, etc. He talked about everything.

He described various machines in great detail because he could operate them all.

He is good at driving and likes driving. He learned it from his relatives.

Finally, it was lunchtime and the four adults left on their own accord, leaving Qian Jin and the four little ones alone.

Lunch is easy to solve.

Noodles with luncheon meat.

New ways of making money are difficult to solve.

Qian Jin needs to enlarge the golden box, otherwise he can only buy and sell small items and can't even sell a magazine.

He checked in the mall and found that the complete set of "Red Flag" magazine in 1976 was quite valuable. His full set in this condition could be sold for several hundred yuan.

Cover the boiled cold noodles with a few slices of red luncheon meat.

The four little ones slurped up their food, each of them looking as pretty as a girl on a water bed, with their mouths wide open.

The more money you make, the better.

He didn't have to do anything. After finishing his meal, he just pushed the bowl and chopsticks aside and Liu Eryi took them and left.

Liu Dajia also wanted to find work for himself: "Brother Qianjin, I will clean up for you."

Qian Jin waved his hand: "No need for now. Um, Dajia, I remember you said you had a badge at home? Can you sell it to me?"

Liu Dajia said, "Brother Qianjin, aren't you spitting in my face? You support us brothers, and you're talking about business with those worthless things?"

He ran home with the twins, searched for a long time, and came back with a tin box.

There are badges inside.

Qian Jin secretly took a look at the product on the shopping mall.

Really worthless.

There are a total of twenty-six badges, and the total price offered by the mall is only one hundred and sixty yuan.

Then Qian Jin sold all of it.

He wants to make money, and the four little ones also want to make money.

Liu Dajia insisted on paying money to clean the house, sweeping out the waste and putting it together with the iron boxes of luncheon meat and canned meat that had been left over recently, and then selling them at the recycling station in the afternoon.

The supplies store on Taishan Road was tucked away deep in an alley. Its iron gate stood ajar, its frame adorned with the slogan "Destroy the Four Olds and Establish the Four New" mottled by wind and rain.

Outside the wall, someone was tracing a new slogan: "Turning waste into treasure, supporting national construction."

In order to protect assets, the purchasing station is surrounded by iron fences.

The sharp railings are tilted and piercing the sky, and the rusty grids are covered with lush green ivy. There is a kind of contradictory atmosphere unique to the city between withering and flourishing.

Entering the gate is a chaotic world:

In the open space, broken glass formed a shimmering galaxy on the linoleum. In the corners, there were broken carved wooden windows, rotten benches, and broken tables and chairs leaning against rusty iron.

The plastic model in the corner was pointing wildly with its broken arm, and in the tin house next to it were piles of bound newspapers and magazines.

The four little ones formed a crooked line to form four little black swans.

Qian Jin went over to take a look.

Someone was selling broken kitchen utensils. The inspector in blue sleeves poked the pile of scrap metal with a wooden stick and said:

"The bottom of the aluminum pot has been burned through and turned into a sieve. It can only be considered a third-class product..."

There was nothing to see, he just strolled around the yard.

Wandering around, he finally wandered into the tin house.

The most common items here are newspapers, most of which are still brand new and are usually sent by major organizations.

He wanted to see if there was anything valuable.

Just bend over

A shiny forehead popped out from a tin house.

He is an old man with severe hair loss.

Broken tea leaves like weed stalks floated in the old man's enamel pot. The red words "Labor is Glorious" on the pot had faded to pink and white. "What are you doing—ah!"

He spat out a mouthful of tea leaves.

Qian Jin smiled and asked, "Hello, Master, I'd like to ask if I can buy some old books from you?"

The old man said: "Public property, only bought, not sold!"

Qian Jin wanted to try harder: "It's like this, I need to study..."

The old man was not easy to fool: "Study? Learn a bullshit! I don't know what you guys are planning to do?"

"Last month, that guy from the machinery factory came over here to sell old books, but what happened? He got caught by the municipal management committee, and now I'm in trouble too—ugh! What bad luck!"

Qian Jin was still unwilling to give up.

Sets of old magazines and newspapers were quite valuable in 27 years, and the mall priced them quite high, so it was a stable way to make money.

He called Liu Dajia over and whispered something to him.

Liu Dajia ran out quickly, and when he came back he quickly stuffed a box of Pegasus cigarettes into the old man's hand.

The old man said helplessly: "Please don't hurt me."

"Our leaders just held a meeting and strictly prohibited speculation and profiteering. The focus of our work in the second half of the year is to crack down on capitalist tails!"

"All the paper here has been put into storage. Who dares to sell it outside?"

Liu Dajia understood what was going on.

He asked in confusion, "Brother Qianjin, why are you tinkering with newspapers and other things? They are all junk. People are tinkering with sparkle cigarette and wine labels."

"Especially cigarette labels. I heard some people collect them."

The old man took a sip of tea and smiled, "Hey, young comrade, you're right. Collecting cigarette labels is a hobby for many people."

"There's a comrade named Hua Shouchun in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who published a 'Cigarette Label Catalogue' in 1964. I've received this publication."

This made Qian Jin confused.

In his 27s, he knew about the stamp collecting industry, but he had never heard of anyone collecting cigarette or wine labels. He didn't even know what sparks were.

Liu Dajia knew the ins and outs of this matter.

He said: "Some cigarette labels are valuable. A Daqianmen cigarette label from the 1950s can be exchanged for food coupons."

"Er Yi knows this. He once got cigarette labels from Da Shengchan, Fengshou, and Lao Dao, and exchanged them for broken rice for his family."

"Some liquor labels are also valuable. Old labels of Wuliangye, Fenjiu, and Moutai can be exchanged for grain coupons and meat coupons on the black market."

The old man said, "Yes, that's right, but don't try to get them here."

Qian Jin asked, "Is the discipline at the purchasing station so strict?"

The old man laughed: "What does this have to do with discipline?"

"With such good stuff, can we keep it for you to pick?"

"When the wine bottles and cigarette boxes were delivered, we would first go through them. If there were any that could be exchanged for food or food coupons, we would keep them for ourselves!"

Qian Jin laughed along.

Their junk is worthless.

The four little ones worked for two hours and made a total of fifty-five cents.

Qian Jin took them to the supply and marketing cooperative.

A bottle of orange soda costs ten cents, so five people can each get a bottle of soda, and buy some hard candy for five cents.

No more.

After returning home happily, the four little ones went to taste the delicious soda, while Qian Jin searched for the prices of Lao Huohua cigarette and wine labels.

This search got him excited.

They are still valuable in 27 years and can be sold for money!
The prices vary, but even the cheap ones are only a few dollars.

A few dollars may not be much, but they can add up to a lot.

The main thing is that these three items are very small but the stock is large, which is suitable for selling with the gold box he currently owns, and he can use it as the first pot of gold!
(End of this chapter)