Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 204 Coal Rush (Jinghua Hongzhuang +4)

Chen Xiao's father works at the Liaodong Provincial Post and Telecommunications Administration, at the deputy division level, which is considered a mid-level cadre. The provincial bureau and the Northeast Bureau are two names for the same staff, and below them are the post and telecommunications bureaus at the city and county levels. The office is located on Shifu Road.

Chen Peng works at the Fengtian City Post and Telecommunications Bureau on Zhongshan Road. He's just a low-level employee, but with his father protecting him, although he's not as carefree as Chen Hui, he's still much more powerful than the average employee. At least he doesn't have to do fieldwork, and his working hours are more flexible. Otherwise, he wouldn't have time to do business.

At this time, Fengtian North Station was not yet completed and put into use. The original old North Station had ceased operation, while the new post and telecommunications building was already under construction in the area near the North Station.

The car turned a corner, dropped Chen Peng off at Zhongshan Road, and then drove toward Erma Road.

When we arrived at Guanyuan, San Yazi wasn't there. Erjie was busy there, wearing her usual dark blue work coat.

"Second sister, are you always so busy?" Xiao Wei greeted his second sister as soon as he entered the house.

Second Sister turned around and saw it was Xiao Wei and the others. She smiled and said, "We're not busy, are we? This is our livelihood. What are you doing? What's up? Look for San Ya Zi, he didn't come today."

Xiao Wei said, "Second Sister, Third Brother is supposed to send us some equipment in a few days, and we just bought some home appliances. We wanted him to take them all over with him in one truck. They'll be here soon, and I've asked them to deliver them directly to you. What do you think?"

The second sister smoothed her hair, looked around, and said, "Is it too much? Do you think my room can hold it all?"

Xiao Wei glanced around the room and said, "This room is in bad shape. There's a lot of stuff like a TV, refrigerator, washing machine, and electric fan. We'll have to put them in the storeroom over there."

My second sister raised her eyebrows and said, "Wow, this is a huge shopping spree! They're rich! What are we going to do? The warehouse's on the second floor, how are we going to get it up there?"

Xiao Wei said, "Where did you put all your equipment? I see this place is full of additives."

The second sister said, "The machine is owned by the third brother in partnership with someone else. It's located in the 13th Weihe area. By the way, why don't you just take it there directly? It'll save you the trouble. Ask him if it's from the 13th Weihe area or the northbound area. He also has a warehouse in the northbound area. Ask him which side the machine will be shipped from."

Then let's just use the store's phone to make the pager call.

The pager rang immediately after Xiao Wei hung up. He answered, but it wasn't Han San; it was someone ordering goods. After three or four more calls in a row ordering goods, Han San finally called back.

"Third Brother, it's me, Zhang Wei. Um, I bought some TVs, refrigerators, and stuff. I was wondering if you could take them to Longcheng before you deliver the equipment, is that alright?"

"I need to ask. Never mind, just bring it over. If not, I'll get a bigger car. Where are your things now?"

Xiao Wei said, "I asked them to send it directly to Er Ma Lu. My second sister said she had to ask you where to take it, but I didn't know either."

Han San laughed on the phone and said, "Bring Shisanwei over. I'm here discussing some things. We're planning to set up another place in the market to install this pastry machine. Come over here. It's the third shop on the right when you get to the main gate. I'll be here. If I'm not here, just wait for me for a while."

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "Okay, I'll come over in a bit."

After hanging up the phone, he turned to Chen Hui and Xia Maosheng and asked, "What do we do? Should we just wait here?"

Chen Xiao said, "Call Gang Ge and ask if the car is about to leave. If it is, you can only wait here. If it hasn't left yet, tell him to go directly to Shisanwei."

After waiting for her second sister to answer two more calls, she called Gangzi. They were loading the truck and hadn't left yet. She quickly explained the situation and told them to go directly to the main entrance of the Shisanwei Cookware Market. Gangzi agreed and hung up.

Xiao Wei and his friends greeted their second sister, left their newly acquired pager numbers, got into the car, and headed towards Shisanwei.

Once in the car, Xiaowei shook his head and said, "Well, it looks like we won't be able to go to that plastic products place today either. Who knows how late we'll be up."

Chen Xiao glanced at his watch and said, "It should work. It's only noon. Let's go over there and have lunch, then leave as soon as the TV and stuff arrive. Why are you still unloading the truck?"

Xiao Wei rubbed his stomach and said, "Oh right, I still need to eat. I forgot. Now that you mention it, I feel hungry."

Chen Hui said, "It's the middle of the day, shouldn't we treat Han San and the others to lunch? And what about Gang Ge's car? What about it?"

Chen Xiao said, "Don't worry about Gang Ge's side. He must have been hired. Why bother with him? As for Han San's side, it's hard to say. Oh well, why think about it so much? We'll talk about it when we meet."

Xia Maosheng said, "Do you think they can still make a profit buying these things today at such a low price?"

Chen Xiao said, "Of course we have to make money. If we don't add any, we'll lose money, right? It's just that we didn't make that much. We made about three or four thousand yuan from Sanhao Street. I don't know much about Gang Ge's side, but normally we should make at least a thousand yuan. What's wrong?"

Xia Maosheng said, "Right now I've been thinking about how much money a shopping mall can make selling a TV. Damn, now that you mention it, they're really ripping people off. They make more than half of the profit. Ordinary people really have a tough life."

Chen Xiao said, "You can't calculate it like that. Land, labor, wear and tear, taxes, water and electricity fees—aren't these costs? Especially for state-owned shopping malls, the expenses can scare you to death. If they didn't make money from these, they would have gone bankrupt long ago. They have to support hundreds of people."

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "Yes, that makes sense. Just like our restaurant, if you calculate costs like that, it's even more outrageous, haha."

Chen Xiao said, "There are many additional costs associated with getting something from the factory to your home. Things used to be cheaper, but back then, what could you buy? If it was a little far away, you couldn't get it. Why? If something sold for fifty elsewhere, you had to sell it for one hundred and twenty here, or you'd lose money. Now it's so much better, you can buy anything. It's normal for things to be a little more expensive. Besides, nobody's forcing you to buy something at knifepoint. Everyone needs it."

Xiao Wei said, "Back in my area, the cooperative used to sell a lot of things at a loss. There were government subsidies back then, so no one lost money. Now that the market is open and the subsidies are gone, wouldn't it be foolish to continue doing that? Who will support all those people?"

Xia Maosheng chuckled and said, "That's true, it makes me feel much better."

As they were talking, the car passed through a residential area filled with four- or five-story red brick tenement buildings. On both sides of the road stood about a dozen men and women, each holding a shovel, standing about four or five meters apart, seemingly welcoming the passing cars. Xiao Wei asked, "What are they doing? Clearing snow?"

Chen Hui said, "Never seen this before? Shoveling snow my ass, this is people scrambling for coal, waiting for the coal trucks. Look, look, the coal trucks are here."

Before the words were even finished, a blue truck pulled out from the side road, its bed loaded with sharp coal. The people standing on both sides of the road stared at the coal truck as if they had received a command, raising their shovels in unison. However, because the truck had turned out from the side road, it had to go around at least half of the people waiting on the roadside. The truck driver seemed quite experienced, stepping on the gas and speeding forward. The people passing by frantically shoveled their shovels into the coal in the truck bed, shoveling out a pile that scattered on the road.

Those who hadn't managed to grab anything stood there with shovels, watching the coal trucks and cursing.

Each person had a shovel, and by the time the coal trucks passed this section, at least half a ton of coal would be shoveled off.

(End of this chapter)