My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 104 Relocation
"I'm going out for a walk." Xu Guoqing looked around, turned around, and went out the door.

After wandering around the alley and observing the surrounding environment, Xu Guoqing finally felt completely at ease.

This alleyway is a maze of passages, with three exits besides the one they came in through. The shikumen house they were in was located in the most secluded corner on the east side, and another exit was not far away from the back, which was very convenient.

After returning, Xu Guoqing looked at the boxes piled up in the room and pondered for a moment. Lao Wen asked him what he was thinking. Xu Guoqing said, "The warehouse can no longer be used, but it's not appropriate to just give up like this. I'm thinking that we can't just leave. That would only arouse suspicion."

"you mean……?"

"Later, I'll find a few empty boxes, go back again, and pack some junk into the boxes and throw them into the warehouse. That way, even if someone manages to get into the warehouse, we can keep it a secret."

"That's a good idea!" Lin Ying agreed. If they just abandoned the warehouse, it would be like trying to cover up the truth. Following Xu Guoqing's approach would be more appropriate. Moreover, Lin Ying suggested that this wasn't enough. It would be best to show up at the warehouse every day as usual, pretending that nothing was wrong. This way, no matter what happened next, they would have enough room to maneuver.

The four of them quickly came up with a plan, and then instead of unpacking the boxes, they tidied up the cardboard boxes that had been used to load the goods. Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen then rode their tricycle back to the warehouse to make arrangements.

As for Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying, they should go home first. It's already very late, and it's inconvenient to check the goods here in the middle of the night. Besides, there are too many goods to count in a short time. It's not too late to do everything tomorrow.

"Why did you think of asking Uncle for help?" On the way back, Lin Ying couldn't help but ask Zhou Jiye.

"It just popped into my head. I just wanted to give it a try, but I didn't expect Uncle to actually help solve such a big problem." Zhou Jiye chuckled as he answered. He had a sudden inspiration when he talked about it. They didn't know many people in Shanghai. Besides Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen, there were only Fang Manxia and Xie Xiangrong. Xu Guoqing couldn't solve the problem, and they didn't want to bother Fang Manxia. After thinking it over, Zhou Jiye felt that asking Xie Xiangrong for help might be worth a try.

After all, Xie Xiangrong's identity is not ordinary. As a young master from Shanghai, he knows many people, and they are also familiar with Xie Xiangrong. Despite his usual carefree attitude, he is very reliable, and given his personality, he wouldn't care about what they are doing now.

"We really have to thank Uncle Xie this time; he's been a huge help," Lin Ying said gratefully. Without Xie Xiangrong's help, they wouldn't know where to put all this stuff. With the warehouse in such a state, no one could predict what would happen if the goods weren't moved in time.

"I've made up my mind," Zhou Jiye said to Lin Ying. "Once we've sorted through these goods, let's see what's suitable to send to Uncle. What do you think?"

"Absolutely!" Lin Ying nodded with a smile. Although Xie Xiangrong was a generous person who didn't care about such things, they couldn't ignore it. Isn't that how people are? Gratitude and reciprocity go hand in hand. That's how the matter was settled.

After resting for a night, they met up directly at the Shikumen (stone gate) the next day.

Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying arrived first and started sorting out the goods they brought yesterday. They were moving the goods when Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen arrived.

"What's wrong? Why are you like this? You didn't sleep all night, did you?"

Seeing Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen's haggard appearance, Zhou Jiye and the others were startled.

"Don't even mention it, I only slept for less than three hours. I was up until the early hours of the morning last night." Old Wen yawned, while Xu Guoqing puffed on a cigarette. The two of them looked like they had just woken up, with sleep still on their eyes and they hadn't even bothered to wash their faces.

"Why are you so late after you got back?" Lin Ying asked in confusion. Didn't you say last night that you would just put the things in the warehouse?
Old Wen pointed at Xu Guoqing and said that he originally planned to deliver the goods and leave, but when he got to the warehouse, Xu Guoqing suddenly felt that there seemed to be some missing items. After all, they had met many people on the way here on their tricycle yesterday, and everyone saw that the tricycle was full. If suddenly there were only a dozen or so empty boxes left in the warehouse, it would be obvious that the items did not match.

So, in order to avoid suspicion, Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen discussed it and decided to find some things to put in the warehouse. The two of them worked all night and hauled a lot of junk to the warehouse in the middle of the night.

Now, there are joint defense teams patrolling after 10 p.m., so they have to be extra careful when doing this, especially avoiding the patrol teams. As a result, by the time they finish everything, it's almost midnight.

Seeing that it was getting late, they decided not to go home and just spent the night at the warehouse. When they woke up at dawn, they grabbed breakfast at a random food stall and then rode their bikes over, looking like this, of course.

"Why don't you two sleep a little longer?"

"No need, I can't sleep now anyway, let's get to work!" Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen declined Zhou Jiye's offer, took off their coats and started moving the goods. Just like last time, they unpacked the boxes one by one, while Lin Ying took notes with paper and pen and organized the goods.

By the afternoon, all the boxes had been unpacked and the contents had been fully inventoried.

This shipment is similar to the last one, with most of it being clothing, including jeans, flared pants, and shirts. However, there's an additional batch of denim jackets this time. These denim jackets are really well-made and have trendy designs, so they're sure to be popular.

Of the remaining items, there were five boxes of sunglasses (also known as microphones), three boxes of digital watches, one box of perfume samples, and one box of lighters. However, nearly half of the lighters in this box were slightly different from the counterfeit ones from Dublin, Langsheng, and Dunhill last time; most of them were colorful plastic lighters.

These lighters are just like the disposable lighters sold for one yuan in supermarkets in later generations, except that they are more finely made and have an additional gas filling hole at the bottom.

"These lighters look pretty; they should sell well." Old Wen picked one up and played with it with it, clearly enjoying its appearance. Compared to metal lighters, these plastic lighters were small, lightweight, and brightly colored; they were sure to have a market.

Everyone agreed that, after the last sales event, they already knew which products sold well and which didn't.

Needless to say, clothing items are also in high demand. Besides these, micro-mirrors, perfumes, digital watches, and lighters are all sought-after items. However, Lao Wen doesn't know exactly how much a lighter should cost.

"Let's sell them for ten yuan each."

Xu Guoqing made the final decision. He and Zhou Jiye had gone to the market in Yangcheng. This kind of lighter sold for six yuan in Yangcheng, and the wholesale price was about four yuan and fifty cents. Since counterfeit metal lighters sold for twenty yuan, and better ones could sell for forty or fifty yuan, then selling this kind of lighter for ten yuan was not expensive.

Things are valued for their rarity. In later generations, this kind of lighter was worthless. Smokers never even bought one themselves because the shopkeeper would give you one when you bought cigarettes. When you went to a restaurant or a bathhouse for a foot massage, it was just placed there for people to take freely. But now, this thing is far from being commonplace.

Lin Ying also found the calculators she had been longing for, and to her surprise, half of the box contained function calculators. She had already found buyers for these calculators, and she could easily sell them by simply taking them around to universities.

Lin Ying was delighted to see the calculators, but when she saw what was inside the other two boxes, her head started spinning.

Two whole boxes of cassette tapes, heaven knows how there could be so many.

The blank cassette tapes I got last time are still quite a few left over, and now two big boxes of new ones have appeared. When will I ever be able to sell all these tapes?!
What's worse, one of the boxes contained dozens of original cassette tapes, just like the ones from Teresa Teng and Fong Fei-fei last time—cassette tapes from singers from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In addition, Lin Ying also found some tapes from Europe and America, especially a few classic tapes by the Carpenter Brothers and Sisters, which surprised Lin Ying. But what use are tapes if you don't have a tape recorder? You can't listen to them at all.

Not only Lin Ying, but everyone else also noticed this and frowned. These cassette tapes weren't selling well and were moving too slowly. To be honest, they really didn't want them. But there was nothing they could do. That's how it is when you get goods from Ma Village. They don't let you choose what you want. It's take it or leave it. The goods have already been shipped back, so they can only accept it.

"Sell them slowly. As long as they sell, it's not a loss."

Old Wen scratched his head and said, suddenly thinking of Awei's matter. He turned to Xu Guoqing and asked, "Why don't we give some of these tapes to Awei and ask him to find a way to sell them?"

"That's one way, but giving too much isn't good, since he needs to make money too. How about we bundle some jeans and bell-bottoms with cassette tapes based on the quantity? We can reduce the profit margin on the cassette tapes a little, as long as we don't lose money. What do you think?"

“Okay!” Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying nodded in agreement. This way, although it wouldn’t solve all the problems, it would solve nearly half of them. The rest could be sold slowly. Anyway, it’s not that these things can’t be sold, but that they sell slowly. Pairing them with Awei and the others would definitely make money, it just would take a while.

Besides, Lin Ying felt that Awei was not only not at a loss by taking these tapes, but might even have a chance to make more money.

Now that 1980 is almost halfway over, Lin Ying, although experiencing this era for the first time, knows that with the arrival of reform and opening up, society is changing very fast. Perhaps before long, with the introduction of various electrical appliances, tape recorders will become popular. At that time, cassette tapes will go from being unsaleable to becoming hot commodities.

(End of this chapter)