Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 46: Guangshi Xing (asking for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets)
After returning to the guesthouse, Wang Jiankun asked his mother to take out the lighters from the luggage bag, 20 each of brass, galvanized and green painted types.

Wang Jiankun opened the outer wrapping paper, took out a brass one and gave it to his uncle, picked up a galvanized one, and demonstrated how to light it to his uncle.

My uncle also tried lighting a fire, sniffed it and asked, "Is this kerosene?"

"Yes, this type of lighter first appeared during World War II, but at that time, flint was used to ignite the fire, and the ignition rate was not very good. It also required a lot of force when using it. Later, a new type of flint was used, which is much more convenient to use and the ignition rate is almost 100%."

After that, Wang Jiankun disassembled the lighter and showed it to his uncle. After taking a look, his uncle found that the key part was the flint that Wang Jiankun mentioned. The spring did not seem complicated to him. It was just that if such a small spring was to be manufactured, special equipment would need to be designed.

"How did you get the flint? It's not imported from abroad, is it?"

"No, this is my secret. Now I can only prevent domestic imitation by controlling this key component. Others can't do it yet."

"Okay, since it's your business secret, I won't ask. Can you tell me about the transaction with Peter?"

"I opened an account at the Hong Kong branch of the Swiss Bank. Peter would first confirm with me the number of lighters to be ordered, and then transfer the payment to my account in Hong Kong. After I checked the payment by phone, I would arrange for the team to pack the goods according to the packaging method agreed with Peter and then send them to his agent in Dexing. The whole transaction would be completed."

After listening to what my uncle said, he paused for a moment and then said, "Jiankun, there may be a few risks here. Let me tell you, and then give you a few suggestions. See if you want to listen."

"Uncle, tell me."

"First of all, your funds are safe. Your account is now in telephone custody. It's okay if you have a small amount of money, but there may be risks if you have a large amount of money."

"I will use the money to buy some electronic products and mechanical equipment, foreign technical information, etc. I won't keep much."

"The second point is that your current transaction with Peter has no legal protection. You did not export the goods abroad through an import and export company, did not pay taxes, and did not exchange foreign exchange for RMB. Currently, all foreign exchange earned from exports must be handed over to the state, and the state will then exchange the corresponding RMB for you."

"I checked the current laws and regulations, and it seems that private companies are not allowed to be established, so I can't pay taxes. The foreign exchange issue will be dealt with later. The current reform has not yet changed this area. I will change it after the corresponding policies are introduced."

“How do you cooperate with your production team?”

"The production team's factory operates independently. I only entrust processing to others. I buy all the raw materials from other individuals, private workshops, and supply and marketing cooperatives, and then hand them over to the team. I pay the processing fee for each product processed by the team."

"It's okay to do this at the beginning, but you have to be prepared. If the country reforms this area and introduces relevant policies, you must make timely remedial measures."

"Okay, I understand, uncle."

"Uncle, I have a friend who is also going to come here to develop business in a while. He also wants to sell goods to foreigners. Can you help me find a foreign businessman?"

"What is your relationship with him? Currently, our import and export company only serves state-owned enterprises and some collective enterprises. We have no precedent of serving private individuals."

"He is my largest distributor at the moment. He is kind and enterprising, and he has helped us a lot. Uncle, I think the private economy will be more vibrant in the future. If you can help him open up export channels, you should also be able to get the attention of the leaders."

"Oh? What do you say?"

"The cheapest domestic wholesale price of my lighter is 11 RMB. If it is exported to foreign countries, such as Southeast Asia, it should be sold for about 7 USD."

"The economy of Southeast Asia has been developing rapidly in recent years. It is no problem for foreign merchants to sell the goods at around US$10. The sales volume should be very good."

"Why do you say that? Ten dollars for a lighter isn't cheap, right?"

"It's not cheap compared to us, but it's still a good deal for them. Their wages and benefits are high. Those places are quite humid, and matches are easily affected by moisture. Lighters are a good substitute."

"Your analysis is correct. I will help contact a few foreign businessmen first. I will give your friend my office phone number and ask him to contact me when he is ready. However, the money must be converted into RMB after passing through our company, so your friend can only get RMB."

"It's better to leave some foreign currency for him. The official exchange rate is very disadvantageous."

"It won't work at first. He already has some problems as a private exporter. If his export volume increases in the future, I can give him some foreign exchange. But it doesn't have to be US dollars. It will most likely be Hong Kong dollars, Japanese yen, etc."

"Okay, can I go call Peter then?"

"Wait here, I'll go to the guesthouse to report to someone, you can call me when I come back." My uncle said and went out.

"Jiankun, why didn't you tell me that Peter transferred the money to your account in Hong Kong? Didn't he pay you in cash before? You can't see or touch it in Hong Kong." The mother said worriedly.

"Mom, don't worry. I called to confirm. And the amount is not very large at the moment. I will also change that money into something useful and bring it back to China."

"Well, be careful and don't trust foreigners too much."

His uncle came over soon and told Wang Jiankun to call Hong Kong.

Wang Jiankun did not call immediately, but asked if he could help him quickly pass customs and receive IBM's new computers, some electronic components, books, etc.

My uncle said it was no problem and that he could ask Peter to deliver the goods to Guangzhou Customs and he could help them pass through the fast lane.

So Wang Jiankun picked up the phone and called Peter.

It was relatively fast to call Hong Kong from here. There was no manual transfer, so it must have been a programmable switch. After a while, Peter's voice was heard.

"This is Peter David from ** Company. Who are you looking for?"

"Hello, I'm Jiankun Wang. Can we talk?"

"Wang, I'm glad to receive your call. Have you arrived in Guangshi?"

"Yes, you said in your telegram that you have bought what I want. Can you deliver it to the Guangzhou Customs?"

"No problem, but you have to pay for the shipping from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. The price in the telegram is only for buying goods to Hong Kong."

"Okay, no problem. Please help arrange the delivery today. It would be best if it can be delivered to Guangzhou Customs tomorrow morning."

"Okay, this place is very close to Guangshi. I'll find a fast cargo ship to deliver it. I want to order another 2 of the green ones, 2 of the silver-white ones, and 2 of the brass ones. How long will it take for them to be delivered to my agent?"

"It depends on how quickly you pay the money, Peter. Once I receive the news that the payment has arrived, I can deliver it to you within 5 days."

"Then I will arrange the transfer today, and you will be able to check it tomorrow morning. Please contact me when you find it tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll arrange the delivery tomorrow after I find out. It's expected to be delivered to Dexing on October 10th."

"OK, bye!"

"Bye-Bye!"

My uncle, mother and sister were listening to Wang Jiankun speaking in fluent English.

My sister was completely confused and just thought the chattering was fun, but my mother and uncle were a little shocked.

Although my uncle taught himself English, he can only be considered a mute English speaker. He has no problem reading English text, but his listening and speaking is very average, and he speaks very slowly and non-standardly.

Although my mother's English was very good back then, it has deteriorated due to not using it for so many years, and I didn't understand most of what I heard just now.

My uncle and mother looked at each other and said, "Jiankun, when your mother praised you earlier, I thought she was being a little too flattering. I didn't expect her to be so modest. Where did you learn to speak such fluent English? It's better than the several college students I've seen who just graduated from prestigious universities and came to the company."

"Uncle, I learned from the announcers of ABC and BBC. I got myself a radio that can listen to foreign broadcasts."

"You are really extraordinary. You are even better than your uncle. You can actually make that kind of shortwave radio by yourself."

"I just liked it, so I went to the Raozhou Library to find some information, and after some research I created it."

"That's not easy. Not only are you good at studying, you're also good at hands-on work, just like your uncle when he was a child."

"Uncle, have you contacted my uncle?"

My uncle looked at my mother and saw her nod, so he said, "Jiankun, I hope you can keep it a secret. Xiangxiang, you can't tell anyone outside."

"I won't say anything nonsense, I keep my mouth shut, uncle!" said my sister.

"Uncle, just tell me. I'm not a child anymore. I can tell the difference between the important and the unimportant." Seeing that both of them had expressed their opinions, the uncle slowly said, "Your uncle went to Burma* and organized a group of armed forces. He is now one of the leaders."

His sister didn't understand what he said, but Wang Jiankun was a little shocked. He had thought that his uncle might be a small leader there, but he didn't expect that he was the leader of an armed organization.

"Is my uncle in charge of that radio station?"

"Yes, he is mainly responsible for the logistics and external communication of the armed organization. Currently, they have occupied a piece of land and discovered several jade mines. Other armed forces in the surrounding area have begun to cause friction in the past two years, hoping to seize that piece of land."

"So is there anything we can do to help him? Is he ready to come back?"

"He is not planning to come back at the moment. He still has some concerns about China. I have just contacted him and I have not thought of a solution yet. I have just found my place in the public sector and I have no idea how to help him even if I want to."

"Then I'll transfer some of the money from Hong Kong to him so he can buy supplies and keep the territory. We'll figure out a solution later."

"Are you sure? They spend a lot of money to buy supplies, and they only have raw jadeite to sell at the moment. You won't get anything in return if you give them money."

"First, I can help my uncle. It is much more convenient to purchase materials with US dollars. Second, I don't need so many US dollars at the moment. My uncle can give me some jadeite raw stones, and I will collect them. In the future, when the domestic economy improves, the price of jadeite should be getting higher and higher."

"Okay then. I'll contact him tonight and ask him to find a way to open an account in a local bank in Hong Kong. You can transfer the money to him then. Ask him to find a way to send the jadeite raw stones to Guangzhou. I'll help clear customs and send them to you."

"Let's keep it in Guangshi. I will open a company here in the future."

"Okay, I'll help you find a house. Tell me what you want."

"Uncle, please help me make the decision. I just want a bigger place. Don't save money for me."

"I didn't expect that our nephew is a local rich man. He even said that there is no need to save money. Juanzi, you gave birth to a good son!"

"Brother, you should also find one quickly and have more children while you are still young. Our family is not prosperous and I don't know how my younger brother is doing over there. Doesn't he want to tell you?"

"He must be having a child. I don't know why he won't elaborate."

"Alas, it's no use if he doesn't come back. Although he has a little power over there, he's always worried about fighting!"

"Everyone has their own destiny. He doesn't want to come back if his heart is still tied. I hope he can be safe and sound. We should help as much as we can."

"Uncle, are you done talking? Didn't you say you would take us out to play?" My sister must be feeling bored, as she couldn't get a word in.

"Okay, okay, let's go out now, go shopping in the mall, buy fun things, and eat delicious food."

My uncle took the three of them out and took a taxi to the department store.

It was almost 4 o'clock, the sun was not so hot, there were more people on the street, and occasionally you could see a few foreigners.

After driving for more than 20 minutes, we arrived at the country's first super shopping mall which had just opened in Yuexiu District.

Wang Jiankun had read in the newspaper that this super mall opened on April 4 this year and was located in the Guangzhou Friendship Store.

After getting off the car, the four of them walked into the mall. There were a lot of people coming in, and my uncle led the way in front.

My uncle pushed a small cart at the entrance and told Wang Jiankun and the other two that there were no counters or sales clerks in this mall. They chose the items they needed from the shelves and put them in the cart. Then they went to the cashier at the exit to pay. There was a computer at the cashier counter for price calculation.

After entering, he found that the mall was not big. Wang Jiankun used his superpowers to calculate that it was less than 300 square meters and there were only a dozen rows of shelves.

The main items sold are food, snacks, seasonings, oil, rice and so on.

Wang Jiankun asked his uncle to take his mother and sister to choose, while he went to observe the electronic equipment.

Wang Jiankun discovered that there were two cameras at both ends of each shelf, connected by wires to a single room.

After observing it for a while, I realized that this was a closed-circuit television used for surveillance, and the captured images could be stored in large tapes.

Wang Jiankun thought that he could use this as a reference to monitor places where he needed to prevent theft, so he projected the entire set of equipment and instructions into his mind.

Wang Jiankun also inspected the computer cash register and found that the chip it used was still the old 4004, not the latest 8008.
Wang Jiankun was also projected into my mind, and I could refer to the principle of his chip and the design of the circuit board.

After observing for a while, I went to find my uncle and others.

At this time, there are already several beautifully packaged products in the shopping cart, including blueberry cookies, Swiss candy, Ancol butter, Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce, Beautiful Golden Beer, canned abalone in clear soup, Nestle coffee, etc.

Wang Jiankun took a look and found that all these things would cost more than 300 foreign exchange coupons, and his uncle's salary probably wasn't that much, so he couldn't let his uncle go bankrupt.

So I went out of the mall and went to the foreign exchange certificate exchange place to exchange US dollars for 2 foreign exchange certificates.

When paying the bill, Wang Jiankun rushed to pay with foreign exchange coupons to prevent his uncle's newly saved money from being spent all at once.

It was not convenient to walk around with such a large bag, so the four of them walked along the street for a while after leaving the mall, found a restaurant, ordered a few dishes and started eating.

After the meal, the lights were already on. My uncle was about to hail a taxi, but my mother suggested that they walk back to see the night view.

At this time, most roads in Guangzhou had street lights, and some restaurants along the river had flashing neon lights.

The evening breeze blew in from the river, blowing away all the summer heat. Many people came out to enjoy the cool air, and there were also many people selling snacks and various small commodities.

Everyone looked around as they walked. Wang Jiankun even learned to bargain with people in Cantonese. When they were almost at the guesthouse, everyone had a lot more things in their hands, such as jeans, electronic watches, tapes, sugar cane, mangoes, etc.

Wang Jiankun could speak Cantonese quite well, and his uncle and mother were full of praise. In less than an hour, he spoke so well at the beginning that even his younger sister found it funny, but he spoke more and more fluently later on.

This was the side of Wang Jiankun's language genius that the two men had witnessed with their own eyes. His uncle loved him even more and suggested that Wang Jiankun come to Guangzhou to study and then study abroad.

Wang Jiankun did not agree, saying that he was not planning to go abroad at the moment and would try going abroad when he was older, as his family still needed his help.

When they arrived at the guesthouse, my uncle asked the three of them to rest early, as they must be very tired after sitting in the car for such a long time, and he would take them for morning tea the next morning.

Before leaving, Wang Jiankun and his mother asked him to take the lighters away, some as samples to show to foreign customers, and some as gifts to his superiors and colleagues.

This time I came here to arrange accommodation, and also to help with customs clearance and buying tickets, etc., which will definitely require a lot of connections and favors. These lighters can be considered as presentable and relatively practical gifts.

The uncle did not refuse. He knew that these were gifts from his sister and nephew, so he packed the gifts in a cloth bag and carried it on his back.

Tell the three of them not to run around at night. Although the security in the area is okay, you still have to be prepared for any eventuality. If there is any problem, you can find the leader of the guesthouse. He has given instructions.

After seeing their uncle off, the three of them still couldn't sleep, so they took out the things they bought and looked at them. The younger sister was greedy, so she picked up the sugarcane and started eating it first.

After eating a large piece of sugarcane, she took a large green mango and asked Wang Jiankun to help peel it. Seeing that she looked like she couldn't sleep without tasting it tonight, she had to go to the service desk to borrow a fruit knife to peel it.

After peeling the mango, we divided it into three pieces and each of us ate one piece. The mango had a strange sweetness.

After my sister finished eating, she wanted to eat more, but my mother stopped her, saying that if she ate too much, she would have a stomachache at night and might not be able to get out of bed the next day. So she let her stay in the room alone to recuperate and did not take her out.

Only after hearing what her mother said did she calm down. Wang Jiankun took out an electronic watch and put it on her, and taught her how to adjust the time.

This kind of electronic watch was bought at a roadside stall. The strap and bezel are made of plastic, and the back panel is made of iron. The stall owner asked for 8 yuan for one and said it was imported from Hong Kong. Wang Jiankun bargained down to 4 yuan, and the stall owner actually agreed readily.

This made Wang Jiankun realize that this product should be very simple to manufacture and the price was high.

There is a button battery inside, a small black and white LCD screen showing the hours, minutes and seconds, a crystal oscillator, two transistors, capacitors, resistors and a chip packaged with black material, all of which are integrated on a small integrated circuit.

Wang Jiankun decided to go back and study whether he could design a similar electronic watch, and then cooperate with others to build a factory, and the sales should be very good.

Mechanical watches are very expensive nowadays, most of them cost more than 120, and they also require a watch ticket. If you can make it and control the cost, it is possible to sell tens of millions of them.

After playing with the watch for a while, Wang Jiankun went back to his room, washed up and went to bed. After making the phone call the next morning, Wang Jiankun decided to visit the library and some electronics factories.

(End of this chapter)