Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 880 Mink

Everyone laughed and booed him. Xiao Hong said, "Hurry up, hurry up! Is it a bribe? Expose it right now, expose it to his face!"

Li Xing took the bowl of rice from the waiter and said, "This isn't lying, is it? Didn't we already discuss the job transfer before?"

Xiao Hong said, "Hasn't it been adjusted yet?"

Xiao Wei said, "This is a bit difficult. There's no shortage of people here right now, and besides, I don't have enough influence. Ugh, it's a bit of a dilemma."

Liu Huasheng said, "Tiezi, we can't back down. We have to be firm about this. How about you treat them to this meal and let them see?"

Li Xing, with food in his mouth, glanced at the table and said to Liu Huasheng, "Do you think I can afford this?" He then turned to the waiter and asked, "How much does this table cost?"

The waiter glanced at Xiaowei and Chen Hui, and said with a smile, "It'll be a little over three thousand if you don't count the drinks."

Li Xing was taken aback: "How about counting it as wine?"

The waiter laughed, covered his mouth, and said, "Ten thousand zero points."

Li Xing looked bewildered, blinked, and said to Xiao Hong, "Go ahead and expose them. I'll admit it. Your family is too corrupt. I feel that money is more important than saving face."

Zhang Fu's chopsticks clattered onto the table, bounced, and rolled off. The waiter immediately brought a new pair and placed them in front of him. "Second Brother, this table...this table costs tens of thousands?"

Xiao Wei said, "The wine is expensive; we wouldn't have this much if we didn't drink champagne."

Zhang Fu glanced slowly at the dishes and wine on the table, then turned to the waiter and said, "Come on, fill my glass."

Xia Maosheng asked Li Xing, "What are you thinking?"

Li Xing finished his second bowl of rice, put it down, picked up his wine cup, and said, "Go, why not? I can't bear to be seen by anyone!"

Xia Maosheng tilted his head and glanced at Li Xing a few times, then said, "It's alright, not too bad. Let me tell you, Wei Yun is like a little sister to us. Take this seriously, or you won't be able to be friends with her anymore. Think it over."

Everyone raised their glasses in a toast, and that concluded the meal. The waiter cleared the table and served everyone fresh tea.

Zhang Fu watched longingly as the waiter took away the half-full bottle of champagne. He wanted to say he would leave it but couldn't bring himself to say it. He licked his lips and rubbed his pants.

Xiao Wei patted Zhang Fu on the shoulder and said, "Have some tea to help with your digestion. Keep up the good work, and you'll have these things anytime in the future."

Xia Maosheng said to the waiter, "Do you have any utensils? I'd like some soup to take away, do you have any?"

The waiter nodded and said, "Yes, I'll go prepare it for you."

Xiao Wei said, "Let's get two portions. Are you just getting one for your wife? Let my mother-in-law keep an eye on it, okay?"

Xia Maosheng laughed and said, "Isn't it you and Xiao Hong who are here? Why would I show off?"

After drinking tea and chatting for a while, the waiter prepared the soup, and everyone got up to go to Zhongjie Street.

Milia was seeing the guest off at the door when Wei Yun got up. The girl was embarrassed.

……

At this time, Zhongjie was still called Shenhe District Light Industry Trade Wholesale Market. It had a very rustic iron sign with white paint and red lettering, but it was just as lively as it would be in later years, and perhaps even more so.

At this time, there were only a few relatively prosperous places in Fengtian, apart from Wu'ai South Tower, Zhongjie, Taiyuan Street, Beixing, Jiumalu, and Beishi was already dead in name only.

Beishichang was a bustling area in old Fengtian, on par with Tianqiao in Beijing. After liberation, it was once as prosperous as Taiyuan Street and Zhongjie Street. However, in 90, Wang Qiaozhen, a national model worker, a representative of the Municipal People's Congress, and a salesperson of Taipei Department Store, wrote a representative proposal entitled "Transform Beishichang and Erase the Traces of the Old Society".

Subsequently, the large-scale redevelopment of Beishichang (North Market) began with the renovation of the former Yichunwei brothel site in Pingkangli. Following this, several development companies entered the market and began developing the land.

The low-rise houses are gone, replaced by skyscrapers, transforming the old into the new. Sadly, the historically renowned North Market has been turned into a residential area. A farcical urban redevelopment sparked by an ignorant sales clerk has destroyed a once-thriving market.

This is our unique myth. So many renowned buildings and historical sites have vanished. The major opera houses famous throughout the Peking Opera world are gone, and the things that the old people of Fengtian remember are gone. The Shisheng Temple, famous in the Buddhist world, is surrounded by all kinds of modern illegal buildings, and the lamas have to sell wine to make a living. The sound of the imperial temple bell has become a legend.

Even the former site of the CCP Manchurian Provincial Committee was not spared. The North Market once boasted a wealth of historical traces from the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, religious sites, and ethnic minorities; it was a dazzling collection of cultural landscapes, some unique to Fengtian, others among the best in the country. All gone. The North Market, which once covered over 500 acres, now has only 15 acres of wasteland remaining.

Now, Taiyuan Street is just a name. It is indeed luxurious, with rows of modern high-rise buildings and upscale shopping malls, but it has lost its spirit and is no longer the Taiyuan Street we knew. I agree with the saying that Northeasterners have ruined themselves.

I wonder how long, and how much, of those things in our memories will remain. As the saying goes, foreign history stands tall, while our history is imprinted on paper. Or perhaps it's not even on paper, existing only in hazy memories.

The guilty are unaware of their crimes, and the common people are helpless.

……

Men enjoy shopping just as much, but only if they have money in their pockets.

A group of people parked their cars at the entrance of the Northern Trade City and entered the pedestrian street from the Shengjing Hotel side.

This period is the longest day of the year in Liaodong, and it doesn't get dark until after 8:30 pm. So even though it's already past 6 pm, the pedestrian street is still bustling with people.

All shopping malls, private shops, and mobile vendors automatically extended their operating hours to accommodate the short daylight hours of the year.

The main reason is that people at that time were still used to rising with the sun and resting with the sunset, and did not have the flamboyant lifestyle of later generations.

Xiao Hong said to Chen Xiao, "It's getting cold, shall we go buy some mink coats? I don't have any clothes left to wear in winter."

Chen Xiao thought for a moment, then pouted and said, "I don't really like it. What's so pretty about all that fluffy stuff? It's all so flashy. I prefer down jackets; they fit well, make you look smart, and they don't get dirty easily."

Down jackets were already very popular in Northeast China in 92. The styles, designs, and colors weren't much different from today. If there was any difference, the biggest one was that down jackets back then were actually made of down. Reversible jackets had also appeared long ago, perfect for lazy people. If one side got dirty, you could just swap it out and wear it again—one jacket did the work of two.

Wearing fur coats has a longer history in Northeast China. In the 80s, state-owned department stores had fur counters catering to the general public. The prices were generally several hundred yuan, ranging from three or four hundred to seven or eight hundred yuan, and some even cost over a thousand yuan. Although they were not cheap, many people bought them. A dual-income family could save up enough in three or four months. Every winter, you could see people wearing fur coats everywhere, mostly from ordinary families.

By 92, mink coats were also categorized into different grades. The lower grade was called a fur coat, the higher grade was called a fur coat, and the most expensive was called a mink. Some cost tens of thousands of yuan, while others cost only a few thousand yuan.

(End of this chapter)