Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 761 Selling Swimming Rings
Cai Guoqiang led Wang Jianguo and his group out the door, and after walking a short distance, they arrived at the entrance of Xin'an Restaurant.

Upon seeing the brightly lit and impressive Xin'an Restaurant, Wang Jianguo gasped and immediately grabbed Cai Guoqiang's arm, whispering, "Guoqiang, we can just grab something to eat; there's no need to go to such a nice hotel."

Cai Guoqiang laughed heartily, patted his arm, and said with a smile, "Today is your first day here, so it's only right that we have a welcome dinner. I can't afford to treat you every day, so just this one meal is fine, listen to me."

After saying that, she grabbed his arm and led him inside, saying, "Xin'an Restaurant is one of the top restaurants in Shenzhen. Along with Shenzhen Theater and the soon-to-be-completed Overseas Chinese Building, it is known as one of the 'Three Great Buildings of the Border City,' and is one of Shenzhen's landmarks."

When friends and I meet up, we usually arrange to meet near the theater or a restaurant.

Wang Jianguo looked at the imposing four-story building and then at the surrounding street scene, and couldn't help but say, "I didn't expect that a border town would be no worse than my hometown county town."

(This is the Shizijie Street in Shenzhen in 1983. These are mostly old buildings, with high-rise buildings under construction in the distance.)

Cai Guoqiang laughed and stepped into the restaurant. He then said with a smile, "Don't you even look at where this place is? It's right across from Hong Kong. If the environment is too bad, wouldn't that be embarrassing for us mainland comrades?"

He waved to a familiar waiter, then led his group straight inside and chose a large round table to sit down.

Wang Jianguo and his group of nine, plus himself, made a total of ten people, who sat at a large round table.

At this moment, the waiter came over, politely took out a pack of cigarettes and distributed them around, then smiled at Cai Guoqiang and said, "Qiangzi, your comrade-in-arms?"

Cai Guoqiang sat in the main seat, with one hand on Wang Jianguo's shoulder, and laughed, "Of course, we're friends who've been through thick and thin together, especially this Brother Guo. He's incredibly skilled, so sharp. If he hadn't kicked me and dodged a bullet, I would have been dead on the spot."

Wang Jianguo blinked. "Is that so?"
However, it's hard to say. The battlefield is incredibly chaotic. He has saved many comrades and has been saved by others. Wearing this uniform means you are a brother who can entrust your life to someone else, not to mention that you have actually fought alongside each other in the same trench.

Whether it's true or not, I'll treat it as a real virginity.

Upon hearing this, the waiter's attitude changed, and he immediately said, "Then I'll bring you a grouper, it's on me."

Cai Guoqiang immediately put on a grin, cupped his hands, and said, "Thank you, Brother Hao."

He didn't even need to order; the waiter immediately wrote down the menu, saying, "I'll ask your dad to reimburse this table. Serve the food right away."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

Cai Guoqiang lit a cigarette and smiled at Wang Jianguo, "Don't let this small border town fool you. This restaurant isn't very big, but it's always packed with customers. Do you know who cut the ribbon when it opened?"

Wang Jianguo shook his head and, being very polite, asked, "Who is it?"

Cai Guoqiang looked proud and laughed heartily, "Marshal Ye!"

Wang Jianguo's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

Cai Guoqiang said, "The first group of distinguished guests we hosted that day were actors from the Guangxi Drama Troupe. Newspapers in Hong Kong and Macau reported on it, and we immediately gained fame. Many Hong Kong celebrities came here to dine, especially people from the arts and culture circles, who came here frequently at that time."

He shook his head and sighed, “It’s a pity that they haven’t come much since the strong winds started blowing. Although the higher-ups held a meeting at the end of last year to talk about reform and opening up, not many celebrities came. Only some people who ran away back then came back to visit, feeling anxious.”

He suddenly looked around, pointed to two tables not far away, and said, "Look, there are people at those two tables who came from Hong Kong. You can tell by their clothes."

Wang Jianguo and the others immediately looked in the direction he was pointing, and comparing them with the people at the table, it was indeed quite obvious.

A few of them were clearly locals; although their clothes were fairly formal, they couldn't compare to the others at the table.

Cai Guoqiang, smoking a cigarette, said softly, "The wages here are about 2 or 30 yuan. Do you know how much they are over there?"

Without needing Wang Jianguo's straight man, he held up one finger and said seriously, "100 times."

Wang Jianguo gasped, "Two or three thousand a month?"

Cai Guoqiang pursed his lips, nodded slightly, then suddenly smiled and said, "But that's the salary of a white-collar worker, oh, it's equivalent to the salary of an administrative cadre here. For ordinary workers, it's about 1000 yuan, that's about the same price."

At this point, Wang Jianjun, who had been silent all along, couldn't hold back any longer. Ignoring his older brother's instructions, he asked curiously, "Brother Qiang, since the salary over there is so high, why don't you go there?"

Wang Jianguo's face immediately darkened, and he said in a deep voice, "Don't say another word."

Cai Guoqiang didn't mind his recklessness and waved his hand with a smile, "Brother Guo, it's nothing, why get angry?"

He paused for a moment, then said to Wang Jianjun, "That's a good question. If the wages are so high over there, why are so many of us still not going?"

As he spoke, he pointed to the two tables of people from before and said softly, "Actually, some of them are from the past. They are just families in our area that are relatively poor, or they have made mistakes."

Like that group of people at that table, their family used to be a landlord family. Life was tough over a decade ago. They had no choice but to move to the other side of the street to survive; my dad even gave them the directions.”

Then he pointed to another table, "Although there was nothing wrong with the people at that table, their families were large and their work points weren't enough to eat, so the elders divided the family property among them. Those who were already married stayed, and all the family's money was given to the unmarried fifth and youngest sons. They also lent them a lot of money before sending them to the other side."

At this point, Cai Guoqiang took a puff of his cigarette and said softly, "Don't think that money is easy to make over there. If you want to make money, you first need to find a formal job. There are countless companies of all sizes over there, but they can be roughly divided into three categories."

The first type is companies run by foreigners. These companies offer the best benefits and are mainly located in Hong Kong Island, but most of their employees are also foreigners…

Hearing this, Wang Jianjun couldn't help but ask again, "Brother Qiang, what's a 'foreigner'?"

Wang Jianguo glared at him fiercely, but seeing his younger brother lower his head, he could only shake his head helplessly.

Cai Guoqiang patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "Gui Lao means foreigner. We usually call foreigners 'Gui Lao' here. That's what we called them back when we were fighting the British in Sanyuanli."

Wang Jianjun immediately nodded and smiled, "Thank you for your guidance, Brother Qiang."

Cai Guoqiang smiled and pointed at him, "You're too kind. I like you very much. You're a very clever guy, or as you would say in your area, you're very quick-witted."

Wang Jianjun grinned and said, "Thank you for the praise, Brother Qiang."

Cai Guoqiang burst into laughter and patted Wang Jianguo on the shoulder forcefully, saying, "Your younger brother is quite good; he'll definitely amount to something in the future."

Wang Jianguo shook his head helplessly, "It's good enough if they don't cause me any trouble."

Cai Guo-Qiang said, "Young people should be more active; it's better than being lifeless."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Following up from what I was saying, the first type is companies owned by foreigners. Hong Kong is still largely controlled by the British, so this type of company is the largest. The second type is companies owned by wealthy businessmen, like the Li family, the Guo family, and the Zheng family. These are all large capitalists with substantial capital, and their companies offer good benefits."

The third category consists of other factories and trading companies of varying sizes; this category is a mixed bag, with both good and bad players.

Tossing away his cigarette butt, Cai Guoqiang picked up the tea Li Nan had poured for him, took a sip, looked at them, and smiled, "What kind of company do you think you could get into if you went to Hong Kong?"

Wang Jianguo's eyes darted around slightly as he looked at him and said, "The third category?"

Cai Guoqiang grinned and said, "Not bad. I knew you couldn't get into the first or second categories. These companies not only look at education—even a clerk there has to be at least a college degree—but they also look at your background."

Companies owned by foreigners prioritize hiring foreigners, while companies owned by Chaoshan business owners primarily hire Chaoshan people. The same applies to chambers of commerce from Fujian, Guangdong, and other regions.

He paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "But you can't get into the third category either!"

Wang Jianguo's expression changed. "Even small factories can't get in?"

Cai Guoqiang pursed his lips and shook his head. He looked around at the crowd staring intently at him and said in a deep voice, "As I just said, over the past twenty years, millions of mainlanders have gone to Hong Kong. Before that, there were also 100,000 members of the Kuomintang and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the civil war. The vast majority of them stayed in Hong Kong."

In addition, there were tens of thousands of defeated Southern Yue people.

These people are mainly concentrated in several impoverished areas of Hong Kong, living in makeshift shacks made of wooden planks, eating only plain rice and pickled vegetables, and earning just enough for tomorrow's food each day. They live hand to mouth, their livelihood entirely dependent on their work.

He turned to look at Wang Jianguo and said seriously, “When you go over there, you have no background, no relatives, no acquaintances, and you look like you just came from the battlefield. Which factory would dare to hire you?”

Forget about finding a job, just looking at renting a place, how many landlords would dare to rent their houses to you?
In Hong Kong, money is the most important thing no matter where you go. Even the cheapest cage home in Sham Shui Po, which is less than 5 square meters and has two bunk beds, costs at least HK$100 a month.

Without money, you can't find a place to stay, and you won't have food to eat.

He took out another cigarette, lit it, slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, looked at the silent crowd, and said softly, "When others come to us, we tell them that there is money in Hong Kong, several thousand dollars a month, and that going there is like going to heaven. In reality, we just want to make some money off them."

If Hong Kong were really that great, everyone here would have fled long ago. Why would we stay here and help them get there? That's just crazy!

He turned to look at Wang Jianguo, whose face was pale, sighed, and said, "When you get there, there are always more than a dozen people vying for the dishwasher job in any restaurant. Some only ask for 10 or 5 yuan a day, and some don't even ask for money, just for a meal."

The construction site did need strong laborers, but the site had long been monopolized by the local gangs. Even the porters at the docks had been handed over to their fellow villagers by those big businessmen.

In order to defend or seize territory, even if you are an innocent person who sells your labor and earns your money through hard work, you still have to fight with people carrying knives and sticks. Otherwise, if you want to sell your labor, no one will hire you.

In the end,..."

At this point, Cai Guoqiang took a long drag of his cigarette, looked at Wang Jianguo who was deep in thought, and said, "They're all out fighting with people, killing and injuring them. How far away are we from the day when they're carrying knives and guns, settling scores for others, and raiding gold shops?"

He flicked his cigarette ash, turned his head to stare at the ashtray, suddenly smiled, and said, "Those who can fight their way out from among millions of poor people are either intellectuals who are already educated and capable, or, in Hong Kong slang, 'brains,' or desperate criminals who risk their lives."

About three or four years ago, a group of people made a name for themselves in Hong Kong. They all swam there wearing swimming rings, so they were called "Big Circle Boys" by the Hong Kong people. They were mostly from mainland China.

At this point, Cai Guo-Qiang took a deep breath, turned to look at everyone, and asked with a smile, "Are you intellectuals?"

The crowd looked at each other, then fell silent.

If they were intellectuals, they wouldn't be here. Wearing cadre uniforms, with pens in their pockets, earning a meager salary of a few dozen yuan a month—that's the life of an intellectual.

Cai Guoqiang stared at Wang Jianguo again, "Or do you want to be a 'Big Circle Boy'?"

Wang Jianguo was suddenly agitated. He quickly finished half a cigarette and then drank the tea in one gulp.

After a moment, he put down his teacup, turned to look at Cai Guoqiang, forced a smile, and said, "There's always a way out when you reach the mountain, but if you don't, you can only wait to die."

Then, pointing to Li Nan, he said, "His mother is sick and needs surgery, which requires 500 yuan. I helped him find seventeen comrades to raise the 500 yuan."

This is just one person; what if there's a second one? Where are we going to find another 500 yuan?

He let out a long breath and said, "The situation is different where we are. Even if you don't have any extra income, you can still earn several hundred yuan a year by working the land honestly. We are not like that. We work until we die and still don't have enough to eat. Every year we owe the production team several tens of yuan for grain."

After pausing for several seconds, he finally finished speaking: "If we don't find a way out, we'll only face death."

Cai Guoqiang took a deep breath and patted his shoulder. "Brother Guo, your kick saved my life. I really didn't want to see you go down this path. This path could very well be a path of no return."

Wang Jianguo lowered his head, hesitated for two seconds, and then looked at him and said, "Guoqiang, I want to ask you for a favor."

Cai Guoqiang smiled and waved his hand, "Don't ask, just tell me, and I'll definitely do it for you."

Wang Jianguo smiled, looked around at everyone, and then said to him, "I want to leave you an address. If we make money over there, we'll send it to you, and you can help us split the money equally and send it to the people at that address."

Cai Guoqiang rolled his eyes slightly and nodded gently. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it. At the same time, you should also write a letter to our company commander and tell him about this. One person's personal matter is the public good."

Wang Jianguo smiled but didn't say anything.

Without him saying anything, he would arrange one or two "supervisors," and the reason he entrusted this matter to Cai Guoqiang was simply because he was a "local bigwig," making it easier for him to get things done.

At this moment, Cai Guoqiang suddenly changed the subject and said with a smile, "Hey, do you know how much a tire costs here?"

Everyone was momentarily stunned, wondering why he suddenly said this.

Cai Guoqiang laughed and said, "There's something very special about Guangdong, unlike anywhere else in the country. Here, you need a letter of proof from your employer to buy swimming rings or tires; otherwise, you can't buy them. Even people who swim regularly will be subject to inspection."

So here, tires and swimming rings are ten times, even dozens of times, more expensive than elsewhere.

He turned to look at Wang Jianguo and laughed, "Why don't you guys stay and help me sell swimming rings? That's where the real money is!"

Wang Jianguo was stunned and didn't know how to respond.

Just then, a group of people walked into the restaurant and were being led by the manager to a private room when a voice suddenly rang out, "Hey, Wang Jianguo, Li Nan? What are you doing here? Oh, isn't this Qiangzai? Are you treating?"

(End of this chapter)