1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 558 Driving a Mercedes
Since the reform and opening up, the lives of ordinary people have gradually improved from being able to tighten their belts to being able to eat their fill, but still not being able to afford soft drinks.

In Beijing, children usually drink plain boiled water, while adults brew a pot of "gao mo" (a type of Chinese liquor).

In summer, to prevent heatstroke, mung bean soup is the main homemade cold drink. Those who know how to make it will also make plum juice. Although plum juice is a traditional cold drink in Beijing, not every household knows how to make it.

In later generations, when people mention the sodas of the past, they all say Arctic Ocean soda, but actually, "salt soda" is more famous than Arctic Ocean soda.

Salted soda is not a brand; it's a common name for a homemade cold drink.

Because companies were poor at the time and didn't have money to buy cold drinks for their employees, they would add salt, sugar, mostly saccharin, fruit flavoring, and sometimes coloring to water, chill it, and give it to the employees to drink.

Because the cost is very low, you can drink as much as you want.

Back then, many people would fill their lunchboxes with salted soda to take home for their children after work. It's likely that very few people born in this era didn't drink salted soda as children.

Another one that gets the most attention is the Arctic Ocean.

A bottle costs 35 cents, and you get a 20-cent refund for an empty bottle, so it's actually 15 cents a bottle.

Back in the 1950s and 60s, Arctic Ocean soda was considered a luxury, because 15 cents could buy enough vegetables for a family to have a meal. So, people would only splurge on a bottle of Arctic Ocean soda occasionally.

However, by the 1970s and 80s, Arctic Ocean soda had become a popular beverage, especially after the emergence of individual businesses, there were many vendors selling chilled Arctic Ocean soda on the streets in the summer.

A whole block of artificial ice, with two rows of soda bottles stacked on top. Each soda bottle has a groove on its bottom. The soda vendor often uses his hand to run his hand along the bottle from top to bottom to make it rotate and freeze evenly. The movement is like playing the piano from low to high notes, which is very elegant.

The 80s can be said to be the heyday of Beibingyang soda. In the summer, the tricycles picking up goods from the Shazikou soda factory outside Yongdingmen in Beijing could stretch for two miles.

In addition, there is Jianlibao, "Space Age Fruit Juice" which is the "designated beverage of NASA", and Nestlé coffee which is "delicious". There is also the most commonly used instant malted milk powder.

As for bottled water, there's a story I have to tell here:

In 71, the Chinese table tennis team visited the United States, an event known as "Ping-Pong Diplomacy." Upon returning to China, Zhuang Zedong, a table tennis player at the time, gave a report stating:
First, when we went to the United States, the Chinese team was always escorted by police cars, no matter where they went. You can see how bad the traffic is in the United States.
Second, Americans even bottle their drinking water and sell it for money; that shows the extent of exploitation.

At the time, I wrote this to use these two details to illustrate the corruption of the United States.

Although this statement sounds ridiculous to later generations, that was how Zhuang Zedong understood it at the time.

In short, mineral water was not very common in China before, but it wasn't nonexistent. Before 77, the only bottled water in China was Laoshan mineral water, which came in small bottles and had a slightly astringent taste, so very few people bought it.

There's also "When you drink water, remember its source, like Kesai mineral water," Kesai natural mineral water, a famous mineral water brand in Beijing at that time.

Which adult or child hasn't drunk it?
Beijing Guoan fans have a special fondness for Kesai mineral water because Cao Xiandong is the brand ambassador for the mineral water.

In addition, the outer packaging of the water bottle states that Kesai mineral water is taken from a depth of 2070 meters underground in the rock strata. According to relevant experts, the water is over 10,000 years old and contains metasilicic acid, strontium, and lithium bicarbonate sulfuric acid - sodium calcium type mineral water.

Well, at first glance, one might assume the water is taken from the foot of some mountain in the Western Hills. In fact, Kosei mineral water is located between the South Second Ring Road and the South Third Ring Road. It was originally a tertiary industry of the Yongdingmen Grain Depot under the Grain Bureau, and later it supported half of the mineral water market in Beijing.

In short, mineral water didn't become more common until the 80s.

In the 90s, bottled water was almost as common as tap water.

However, at this time of year, bottled water is still a relative luxury, so the show "Stories from the Editorial Department" featured a mineral water jug, which immediately attracted the audience's attention, not to mention that a short video was even made about it.
Late at night, a dark figure appeared behind the door of the editorial department. He looked around, then pushed open the door and nimbly slipped inside. It was none other than Li Dongbao, who had a round head and a sly look.

Li Dongbao stared intently at the mineral water bottle on the table, his Adam's apple bobbing. He strode towards the bottle, picked it up, and before he could even feel happy, the lights in the editorial office came on.

Liu Bei, playing Ge Ling, was standing in a corner of the editorial department. She chuckled and then walked straight towards the mineral water bottle, picked it up, and tried to snatch it from Li Dongbao's hand.

Li Dongbao refused, clenching his fist, intending to settle the matter with a game of rock-paper-scissors between him and Ge Ling.

Ge Ling immediately understood, extended her scissors, and won Li Dongbao's paper.

Li Dongbao put down the mineral water bottle dejectedly.

Ge Ling happily picked up the mineral water bottle, leaving Li Dongbao with only a wicked smile.

Li Dongbao watched Ge Ling leave with the mineral water bottle, his face full of surprise. "Why did she lose?"

Then a shot of a mineral water bottle pops up, with a line of large characters written on the spout: "Because I'm missing."

This short video has deepened the audience's impression of the Bailong mineral water kettle, leaving them wondering what this thing is.

I soon learned from television that this mineral water jug ​​combines sterilization, purification, magnetization, and mineralization functions.

Tap water goes in, and mineral water comes out.

Yes, in the editorial department, whether it's Li Dongbao or Ge Ling, they all fight over it every day.

"Wow, this stuff is great! Just pour tap water in and it turns into bottled water. That's much more economical than buying bottled water!"

"You actually believe those ridiculous things on TV? 298 yuan is enough to buy pork for half a year!"

"What do you know? Humans can filter tap water clearer than mineral water. Besides, the scale in our factory's boiler room is so thick it could be used as chalk. How did Old Liu get kidney stones? It's because the water is too hard! The newspapers say that drinking that kind of water all the time is unhealthy. You have to drink mineral water to live a long and healthy life."

"Exactly, times have changed. Can our material life still be the same as before? We have to keep moving forward. In the past, would you believe that refrigerators and washing machines were high-tech? We have to accept new things."

"."

The short film about the "Bailong Mineral Water Kettle" immediately attracted the attention of viewers when it was broadcast on television.

After the news spread on TV for a few days, by the weekend, Wangfujing Department Store was like a pot of dumplings boiling over.

The iron railings in the appliance section were slammed and clanged loudly.

Dozens of hands reached over the heads of the people in front of them, aiming straight at the blue and white barrel-shaped objects in the counter.

"Did you see the rebroadcast of 'The Editorial Department' last night? Li Dongbao stole this! Ge Ling even said it was good!"

"Give it to me! Give it to me first!"

A burly man in overalls leaned half his body against the counter, spitting on the sales clerk's face. "Is this the same one Li Dongbao used in 'Stories from the Editorial Department' yesterday? 298, right? Here you go!" He tossed out a few crumpled banknotes, still smelling of machine oil.

On the side of the counter, Professor Sun, wearing an overcoat, had his gold-rimmed glasses askew from being jostled, and he was desperately protecting the mineral water bottle he had just grabbed, while his wife shielded him from the impact with her body.

"I want one more!"

"Want more? One for each person, no, one for the whole family. Please understand, give others a chance to buy."

"Exactly!" The real madness erupted at the cashier.

More than twenty people twisted together like a pretzel, and the money counting machine was so hot it was smoking.

Yes, there are already some banknote printing machines now, and fluorescent anti-counterfeiting technology has also been developed. After all, economic activities have become more frequent, and these things have emerged and been put into use in all sectors of society.

"Keep the change from three hundred!"

"Invoice! Issue the invoice quickly!"

Banknotes rained down on the cashier like snowflakes.

A cashier girl suddenly burst into tears.

what happened?
The money counting machine jammed, and the overloaded motor emitted a burnt smell.

"Change the machine! Hurry up!" The young man in the leather jacket kicked the counter in his haste.

"Queue up! Take your number!"

Salesperson Xiao Li's voice was hoarse.

The last three Bailong mineral water kettles in my hands are like hot potatoes.

Suddenly, a chubby hand slipped through the crowd and swiftly pressed down on a teapot: "I've ordered this! I already paid!"

"fart!"

The old woman in the blue cotton shirt behind her got angry and grabbed the wool roll with her withered hand, "I've been queuing since before dawn! You cut in line and ruined your hand!"

The crowd immediately erupted in uproar.

In the scuffle, someone's aluminum lunchbox clattered to the ground, and the smell of pickled cabbage mixed with the stench of sweat filled the air.

The counter suddenly emitted a tooth-grinding groan as spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly across the tempered glass surface.

"Wow!"

The entire glass panel shattered into millions of fragments, which rained down on the display stand.

"They've gone mad! They've all gone mad!"

Security guard Lao Chen had never seen anything like it before, and he waved his rubber baton in vain.

The flow of people was unstoppable. Countless hands reached through the gap in the broken counter to frantically grab the sample bottles. In the chaos, a bottle lid was torn off, and the filter cartridge rolled to the feet of the crowd.

The frenzy at Wangfujing spread like wildfire.

It is said that late that night, the cleaners swept up thirty-six shoes and a half-broken necklace from the ruins of the counter.

On that day, the Beijing Evening News featured a front-page article titled "Wangfujing Counters Packed for a Single 'Teapot'":
At 9:15 AM, a loud bang erupted in the appliance section on the third floor of Wangfujing Department Store! The tempered glass display case shattered under the crush of the surging crowd. The focus of the buying frenzy was the same model of the Bailong mineral water kettle that Li Dongbao stole in the hit TV series "Stories from the Editorial Department." Security guard Lao Chen's rubber baton was broken into three pieces: "It's insane! Everyone's gone mad! People are using the freight elevator to climb through the windows to buy the kettles!" The department store manager revealed to this newspaper that 1876 Bailong mineral water kettles were sold that day.
In Shanghai, the situation was even more outrageous. The Huangpu Daily reported that a Bailong salesman scooped up water from the Huangpu River in public, poured it into a mineral water jug, and clear spring water flowed out! An elderly gentleman in a Zhongshan suit grabbed the cup, drank it heartily, and exclaimed, "Sweet! Sweeter than the deep well water at Jing'an Temple!"

In short, this buying frenzy triggered by the TV series was dubbed by the media as "China's first entertainment marketing earthquake."

An advertisement embedded in television broadcasts has generated thousands of reports nationwide.

Bailong's explosive popularity caught the market off guard.

Because apart from Bailong, no other factory produces mineral water jugs.

This market demand was created by Sun Yingui of Bailong, so Bailong quickly dominated the entire mineral water bottle market.

Bailong's outstanding sales performance has attracted the envy of countless other manufacturers. Some admire it, some are jealous, and some are envious.

Who is the most envious?

Meanwhile, Dai Jun was filled with deep regret over "Dai Laoli Toilet Cleaner".

Because of his busy work schedule, he didn't watch "Stories from the Editorial Department" right away. Instead, when he got home, he saw his family laughing at the plot on TV, so he watched it with them for a while and found it really funny. Only when he asked did he find out that it was called "Stories from the Editorial Department".

Dai Jun certainly remembered.

I was even planning to invest back then.

Unfortunately, Jiang Xian asked for an exorbitant price, which angered the people who were "contracting toilet cleaner" to the point that they cursed that this was a terrible TV series and how could it cost so much money!
But judging from the results, the TV seems to be pretty good.

In the following days, even without Dai Jun paying special attention, he noticed that many people were talking about the TV series "Stories from the Editorial Department," and the discussion surrounding it had reached its peak.

Unexpectedly, the TV series became so popular. Dai Jun felt a little regretful, but he didn't think too much about it because he didn't think that even if the TV series advertised for him, it would have any effect.

He was still trying to comfort himself when a solid slap came flying down his face.

The "Bailong Mineral Water Kettle" promoted by the TV show "Stories from the Editorial Department" became an instant hit.

How popular is it?

When Dai Jun returned home that day, he found that his wife had brought home a mineral water bottle from somewhere. The instruction manual even had a picture of Ge You and Liu Bei holding the bottle in the small theater of "The Editorial Department".

The products were all sold to his own home. Dai Jun was a businessman, so how could he not understand how much profit he had made from this?

He clearly remembered that he had never even heard of a mineral water jug ​​before the airing of "Stories from the Editorial Department".

But just because it was featured on the TV show "Stories from the Editorial Department", it sold like this!
They were all figures in Beijing's business world. Through introductions from several friends, Dai Jun quickly learned about the inside story of the investment in "Bailong" and "Stories from the Editorial Department". It was said that Sun Yingui, the general manager of "Bailong", was quite generous. He and Jiang Xian sat in his beat-up van, and when Jiang Xian asked for 300,000 yuan, Sun Yingui took it out without even blinking.

Nowadays, everyone in Beijing who does business admires Dai Jun's courage. Who wouldn't hesitate for a long time if they had to invest 300,000 yuan?
But Dai Jun handed it over without saying a word, showing his utmost trust in "Stories from the Editorial Department" and Jiang Xian.

Now that they've made money, I heard they just bought a Mercedes. Who can say anything about that? If they were given that choice, would they dare to make it?
The others were fine, but Dai Jun was the one who felt the most involved, because not only did he lack Sun Yingui's boldness, he also complained that Jiang Xian was asking for too much and called the show a terrible one.

Looking back now, if he had agreed back then, he would be sitting in a Mercedes right now.

The more Dai Jun thought about it, the more painful it became for him.

(End of this chapter)