The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 106 Principal Qian Concentrates Resources on Major Tasks (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Icicles clung to the eaves and cast-iron fence of the warehouse, and Qian Jin turned up the collar of his military overcoat and pulled it into the port area.

The first snow of this winter fell earlier than usual.

The fine snowflakes felt like sandpaper scraping against my face; the winter of 1977 was much colder than the winter of 2027.

The workers put on cotton overalls, each with a faded blue collar and patches on the front, sleeves, and back.

"Are you new here?" A chapped finger suddenly appeared and pointed at him.

Qian Jin looked up and saw an old porter with a face covered in grease and a dignified air. His bamboo safety helmet was covered in ice crystals, and half of his faded "Labor is Glorious" armband was sticking out of his sleeve.

He was somewhat surprised and pointed to himself, asking, "Huh? Me?"

The old worker nodded: "Yes, you."

Qian Jin laughed and said, "I'm not new here."

"How many years have you been working here?" the old worker asked him.

Qian Jin told the truth: "Well, the old comrade has a sharp eye, I'm the new guy."

The old worker laughed: "I noticed it a long time ago; only new recruits don't have cotton-padded work clothes."

"Alright, come with me to the drinks area, I have something urgent to do."

"It suddenly snowed today, and some beer and soda need to be delivered to the warehouse as soon as possible. Otherwise, if the roads become difficult to travel on due to the snow, these glass bottles are likely to be dropped and damaged during transport."

Qian Jin was stopped at the bicycle shed, so he had no choice but to set up his bicycle and follow the old worker.

"Comrade, which team are you from?"

The old worker said, "I'm from Yu Shuigen's team. This job isn't exclusive to our team."

"But today is an emergency mission, and every team has an obligation to help, don't you think?"

That's not actually the case.

Qian Jin already knew that the porters were usually too busy and tired, so each team was very good at being cunning.

If it's your job, you should let others do it as much as possible; if it's someone else's job, you definitely shouldn't do it yourself.

But he had just dealt a heavy blow to the foreigners yesterday and then taught that smuggler Jia Youcheng a lesson, so he was in a very good mood.

Since a colleague asked him for help, he decided to lend a hand.

The beverage area is frequently damaged, causing water to constantly accumulate on the floor.

It's fine when it's hot, but now that the weather is cold and the ground is covered with layers of ice, it's easy for porters to slip and fall, leading to accidents.

This makes even fewer teams willing to work in the beverage area, resulting in wasted effort!
There are very few workers at this time.

Qian Jin looked around and found an iron bar, which he wrapped around his shoe several times.

This is similar to putting snow chains on wheels, which greatly increases friction.

The veteran worker, seeing this, exclaimed "Huh?" and asked, "New guy, what are you doing?"

Qian Jin explained, "I've been wearing these shoes for quite a while now, and the soles are worn down, making them very slippery, so I added some friction to them."

"Do you know that football players wear cleats when playing on the grass? These are the cleats we use at Laoban!"

The old worker smiled: "Oh, I see. Well, it seems you're quite an educated young man. You're taking the college entrance exam soon. Which university are you planning to apply to?"

Qian Jin waved his hand: "I'm not going to university. I'm going to dedicate my life to serving the supply and marketing system!"

He said it casually, but it came from the bottom of his heart, which is why it sounded so serious.

The old worker stared at him with a strange look.

Qian Jin noticed and asked, "What's wrong?"

The old worker hurriedly turned his head and said, "It's nothing, it's nothing. Um, new guy, do you have a relative in a leadership position in our company?"

Qian Jin laughed loudly: "Are you kidding me? What kind of relative sends their young man to Jiagang to work as a porter?"

"Besides, if I had a relative in a leadership position, do you think you could boss me around?"

The old worker laughed too: "Yes, that makes sense."

Qian Jin put on arm sleeves from his pocket and then took out two cotton masks.

He put one on himself and gave one to the old worker: "Here, old comrade, wearing this will keep you warm."

The old worker examined the new mask closely, turning it over and over: "Where did this come from? The stitching is really good; it's a good product."

Qian Jin's secret passage is definitely full of good stuff. This is a retro cotton mask he bought in the mall, which costs two yuan each.

He couldn't say that aloud, so he just smiled and said, "My wife sewed it. What do you think? Great craftsmanship, right?"

"Your wife is very capable; she must work at the state-owned cotton mill." Another old worker came over to take a look, praising the stitches.

Qian Jin is now a wealthy man and very generous; he gave away another face mask.

The old worker looked at him and nodded repeatedly.

What are you showing off in the secret passage? I'm not your grandson, what's with that smug look on your face?
Cases of orange soda were unloaded from the ship by the stevedores, and Qian Jin started pushing them with a small cart.

He pushed the cart and realized that the tires also needed anti-slip treatment, so he found some hemp rope and tied the cart tires up.

The other veteran workers were amazed when they saw it: "We've been working for so many years, how come we never had such a thought?"

The wheels of the other small carts were also tied with hemp rope or straw rope.

The shoes have iron bars to prevent slipping, and the cart has hemp rope to prevent slipping, making it much safer to work.

Moving things is a tedious physical job that requires strength and skill but not much thought.

Qian Jin then recalled the events of the previous night and checked whether there had been any mistakes.

He came up with the idea on a whim to scam the foreigners with fake antiques. These white devils were too wicked, treating the port workers like fools, so he had no choice but to take action.

At first, his idea was simple: buy a batch of fake antiques, take photos, send the photos to foreigners, and trade directly with them, swindling as much as he could, mainly to vent his anger.

But this presents a major problem.

Foreigners wouldn't trust a stranger like him, as this would lead to suspicion about the cultural relics and antiques he possessed.

Just then, Qiu Dayong mentioned Jia Youcheng to him, and also mentioned that Jia Youcheng's smuggling business was related to foreigners.

Qian Jin immediately realized that Jia Youcheng must be connected with the foreign devils who were running the ghost market.

At the same time, he discovered that Jia Youcheng was born in the Republic of China era and always boasted about his experiences in the underworld during his youth.

So Qian Jin devised a plan.

He first disguised himself as a figure from the martial arts world, the most suitable being the Mountain-Moving Taoist from "Ghost Blows Out the Light".

Because these people are both江湖人士 (jianghu figures, people from the martial arts world) and have a direct connection with antiques and cultural relics.

In addition, "Ghost Blows Out the Light" is very popular, and there are many related products in the store. He can use related props to cover up his naivety and reduce the difficulty of playing a martial arts expert.

He then exhausted all his classical Chinese skills and wrote a very formal letter to Jia Youcheng, which tricked Jia Youcheng into meeting him.

After that, all he needed to do was fool Jia Youcheng; the job of fooling the foreigners became Jia Youcheng's responsibility.

With his indistinguishable antique replicas, lifelike pistols and lighters, and gold bars that were indistinguishable from genuine artifacts, he successfully fooled Jia Youcheng.

In order to earn a high commission, Jia Youcheng indeed helped him contact foreigners like Price, who were eager to buy cultural relics and antiques.

The foreigners trust Jia Youcheng, and his imitations of antiques are so realistic that they don't have the ability to authenticate them. So if they don't make a mistake, who will?
Qian Jin exchanged cultural relics and antiques for RMB, foreign exchange certificates, and pistol ammunition from the foreigners, and the plan was roughly completed.

But at this point, he still had to give Jia Youcheng 30% of the profits.

How could Qian Jin possibly give him any real money?

So he took advantage of Jia Youcheng's enthusiasm for gold and devised a new plan to offset profits with gold discounts.

Jia Youcheng was greedy and did not doubt his identity: after all, the foreigners had seen the cultural relics and antiques he brought and bought them all, which was enough to prove that his items and identity were legitimate.

Ironically, this situation created a flawed yet ingenious closed loop between the two groups:
In the eyes of the foreigners, these cultural relics and antiques belonged to Jia Youcheng's friends and were trustworthy.

In Jia Youcheng's eyes, it was the foreigners who authenticated the cultural relics and antiques as genuine, which is why they paid for them.

Thus, Jia Youcheng did not suspect Qian Jin's identity. When Qian Jin said that he had a lot of gold that he could sell to him at a low discount, he unsurprisingly went back to get the money himself.

Previously, when Qian Jin received the money and foreign exchange certificates, he had already put them all on the online store.

Meanwhile, he bought some ghost money at the mall, stuffed it into his bag, and threw it outside, deliberately letting others monitor him, which greatly reduced outsiders' suspicion of him.

After Jia Youcheng left, he put away the gold box in the shadows and left as well.

With this, the plan was completely completed.

But it wasn't perfectly completed.

The plan was perfect because he used fake gold to exchange for the 6500 yuan that Jia Youcheng went back to collect.

But Qian Jin warned himself not to be too greedy.

If Jia Youcheng hadn't been greedy, his plan would never have succeeded.

He also worried that his greed would cause the plan to fail.
Given Jia Youcheng's suspicious and cautious nature, once he brings the money back and sees the gold he provided, he will probably verify its authenticity on the spot.

At that time, Qian Jin wanted to leave but couldn't.

There was a specific reason why Jia Youcheng didn't check the authenticity of the gold when they were in the air-raid shelter.

Firstly, because the incident happened so suddenly, he was stunned by Qian Jin and hadn't recovered yet.

Secondly, because Qian Jin held the initiative, he only gave him the opportunity to handle the gold but not the opportunity to check its authenticity, and then threw it into the sea.

If the transaction involves gold, Jia Youcheng would inevitably verify its authenticity.

Qian Jin barely managed to overcome his greed for the last 6500 yuan and knew when to stop, which allowed him to safely return home.

In addition, the harvest from this trip was quite considerable.

I received a total of 24,000 yuan in RMB:
Nine thousand yuan was accumulated and exchanged by the foreigners and earned from running the ghost market, while fifteen thousand yuan was provided by Jia Youcheng.

There was also a box of foreign exchange certificates.

Qian Jin had no idea where the foreigners got so many foreign exchange certificates.

But he checked it when he got home last night.

is the real thing.

The foreign exchange certificates in the box came from several provinces and cities, and their quality indicated they were definitely not counterfeit.

As the old saying goes, "A horse won't get fat without night grass, and a person won't get rich without windfall gains." Qian Jin's actions last night proved this saying true.

In addition, he also earned five pistols, ten magazines, and two hundred rounds of ammunition.

He became rich overnight in 77.

What pleased him most was that he left almost no trace of himself in the whole affair.

He dealt with the leather hood, beard, and wig last night; the Mountain Moving Taoist no longer exists in the world.

The only trace of this remains on Qiu Dayong.

Jia Youcheng could only investigate Qiu Dayong, the messenger.

However, Qian Jin had made preparations in advance, and he instructed Qiu Dayong to pretend to know nothing when asked.

At that point, Jia Youcheng will be helpless.

After all, he was a smuggler, not a law enforcement officer.

He didn't dare to cause trouble for Qiu Dayong openly, but privately his influence was not as great as Qiu Dayong's.

In short, Qian Jin felt that the plan was perfect from its formulation to its execution.

Feeling quite pleased with himself, he worked with the other veteran workers to deliver all the soft drinks and beer into the warehouse.

During this time, more and more veteran workers joined the team, and Qian Jin noticed that they all wore armbands that said "Labor is glorious".

But he couldn't recall when the Municipal Supply and Marketing Cooperative had such a team of porters in Jiagang.

A question flashed through my mind as snowflakes continued to fall.

Qian Jin shook his clothes and shouted to the old worker, "Old comrade, the temporary task is done, I have to go back to my regular tasks."

The old worker smiled and waved at him, saying, "Comrade Qian Jin, if my guess is correct, then I congratulate you in advance."

The other older workers who participated in the moving work also smiled at him.

This baffled him.

What do you mean?
Why are you congratulating yourself? What are you congratulating yourself on?
He went to the office shed, full of doubts.

Before he even entered the shed, he heard laughter coming from inside. He pushed open the door and was greeted by the heat of more than a dozen people.

Tea leaves floated on the surface of the enamel mug, and the workers were happily drinking tea.

Seeing him enter, Hu Shunzi said, "I thought you were being lazy and not coming because of the snow today."

Qian Jin said, "Of course I have to come. I'm not late yet. I was just helping out at the drinks section."

The workers saw his almost frozen sideburns, something they were all too familiar with.

Working so hard in this freezing weather, the sweat didn't even have time to freeze at my temples.

Old Guai reached into his back and touched him, then said in shock, "Can you even work in this weather? You really went to work?"

Qian Jin nodded and explained, "When I arrived, an old worker stopped me and said there was a surprise mission in the beverage area, so I was busy for a while."

"By the way, Uncle Guai, you haven't gotten your watch back yet, but..."

“We definitely won’t get it back.” Wang Datou, wearing a sheepskin coat, added a piece of charcoal to the brazier, sparks crackling as he spoke. “The Jia Youcheng you’re looking for is in the hospital; they say he’s dying.”

At this moment, Qian Jin tried to get others to associate him with Jia Youcheng, so he remained silent.

But others started discussing this topic enthusiastically:
"That old bastard schemed and schemed, and ended up in the hospital. I heard he had heart problems. He schemed too much, and it put too much pressure on his heart."

"How come I heard that he got into trouble while winter swimming in the middle of the night?"

"He suddenly fell ill. I have a friend who works in the port authority's cleaning team. He said that Sanzi (a nickname for a traitor) vomited blood..."

A coughing sound came from the corner.

It is said that Er Biao, who has relatives at the company headquarters, picked up a thermos and filled it with water:

“Let me tell you, the three traitors have nothing to do with us. We don’t need to care whether they live or die. What we should care about is—Song Hongbing is in trouble.”

Several people immediately moved closer.

Li Chenggong said, "Isn't this inevitable? The American passenger and cargo ships run a black market, and in the end, they only caught him..."

"That's not it! You're just a new recruit, what do you know?" Er Biao sneered at him.

Several people nodded:

"This is not a big deal. Nobody acknowledges the existence of the ghost market. Song Hongbing neither bought nor sold anything, so his work unit won't do anything to him."

"He has connections, otherwise how do you think a lazy bum like him could have become the captain of our Jiagang?"

"The ghost market has opened again. If the higher-ups want to investigate this matter thoroughly, will it still be able to open?"

Hu Shunzi kicked Er Biao: "What exactly happened? Stop rambling and get straight to the point."

Er Biao winked mysteriously: "He got into trouble because he embezzled funds from the warehousing and transportation department. Do you remember that day he said he lost his camera?"

"That camera must have some kind of backstory. Hehe, Song Hongbing really did lose that camera, so he has to pay for it. But he lost his mind and actually tried to steal from the public account..."

A strong wind arose, and the snow particles were suddenly blown into a chaotic mess.

Hu Shunzi's feelings were also complicated: "So he's finished?"

“We’re absolutely doomed!” Er Biao pointed to the office wall.

Next to the banner, a newly posted official document was titled "Notice on Launching a Campaign Against Capitalist Corruption."

Wang Datou squinted and took a sip of tea, saying, "If the higher-ups want to investigate our Captain Song, he's definitely finished."

“We all know what kind of person he is. Over the years, how much money has he skimmed from us and how many gifts has he taken from us? If you want him to do something for you, you can forget about getting it done without him kicking you out of your bones.”

"Furthermore, he often takes advantage of others. I heard that his house, his parents' house, his younger siblings' house, and his brothers' houses are all crammed full!"

Old Guai looked at Hu Shunzi.

Uncharacteristically, Hu Shunzi didn't say a word and just kept smoking his cigarette.

Li Chenggong noticed this too, and asked dumbfoundedly, "Foreman Hu, what's wrong with you? Did you embezzle money too?"

Hu Shunzi: "Huh? What—embezzling your mother's money!"

The cigarette butt flew past.

Li Chenggong said, feeling wronged, "Then why were you scared after hearing this news?"

"I'm afraid of your mother!" Hu Shunzi cursed irritably. "I'm the one who's calculating my chances of getting promoted to the position of battalion commander!"

Everyone remained silent, responding with smiles.

Qian Jin knew immediately upon seeing this that he had no chance of rising to power.

His subordinates didn't even flatter him.

From this we can see that…

It snowed all morning.

Unable to work, some workers simply went home, and Qian Jin also left early. He had intended to go back and review last night's profits, but was told there was something going on in the study room:
There's a shortage of toilets!

Hundreds of young people gathered in the study room, which was essentially a collection of hundreds of food buckets, water buckets, and excrement-producing machines.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with Qian Jin. The students preparing for the exam don't need him to support them. They eat and use the toilet at home. Most people only need to have a bowel movement once in the morning and once in the evening.

But urinating is not an option.

In particular, to prevent a recurrence of hypoglycemic coma, Qian Jin started adding glucose to the bucket.

These days, ordinary people are short of sugar at home!

Glucose was added to the hot water in the thermos, which drove the test takers crazy. They would drink the sweet water whenever they had a spare moment.

Now that's where the problem lies.

You need to urinate if you drink too much water.

Unfortunately, this study room was converted from a warehouse, and there are no residential communities nearby, which means there are no public toilets.

They have to run a mile to use the toilet.

Normally it's fine; young people can treat it as a form of exercise in their spare time. But now that it's snowing, it's very inconvenient to run that far to the toilet.

Upon hearing the news, Qian Jin went there. It was still snowing, and the smell of urine lingered in several deserted spots on the street corner.

"Thank goodness it's winter. If it were summer, it would be a real problem. The smell of urine would attract farmers from twenty miles away," said Xiang Dong, a member of the assault team, helplessly.

Another assault team member, Cai Zhenguo, pointed to the ice at the base of the wall and said, "This is urine ice, it must be about three fingers thick, right?"

It goes without saying who peed it.

Half a sheet of draft paper for "Analytic Geometry" was frozen inside a layer of ice.

Qian Jin looked at the footprints in the snow.

So many boys urinate here that they've practically walked the Long March route.

"Chief Qian, what should we do about this?" Xiang Dong asked. "Residents have complained to the neighborhood committee, and Director Wei urgently asked me to find you to resolve this matter."

"She said it's not a problem if someone urinates, but she's worried that someone might defecate around here at night!"

Qian Jin kicked the wall with his shoe: "What else can we do? Fix it!"

"If we have to repair the toilets, we can just dig through the frozen ground. We have to make sure the classrooms have proper outhouses!"

The two commandos accompanying him were completely dumbfounded: "Huh?"

"Chief Qian, we not only need to clean the toilets, but this time we also need to build a new one?"

Qian Jin said, "Do you know what the students inside call me?"

"Principal! Principal Qian!"

“I’m not the principal, but everyone respects me and has given me this nickname, so I have to live up to the meaning of the nickname!”

He went directly to Wei Xiangmi.

The female director has now shifted her main focus to the neighborhood committee; she no longer goes to the housing management office unless there is a special meeting.

The neighborhood committee is indeed quite busy in winter, distributing coal and winter vegetables, organizing snow removal and disaster relief, and handling several major tasks.

Having finally found some free time, Wei Xiangmi brewed a cup of tea and listened to music in her office.

Qian Jin knocked on the door, and Wei Xiangmi hurriedly turned off the tape recorder.

Seeing that it was Qian Jin coming in, she proactively made him a cup of tea: "Is it cold? Have you gone to check on your precious study room?"

Qian Jin nodded and handed her a cassette tape: "I've watched it. We need to fix the toilet."

Wei Xiangmi was surprised at first glance: "Oh, is that the decadent music from over there? Where are you coming from?"

Qian Jin said, "A few days ago, some foreigners set up a ghost market in Jiagang. I found some treasures there."

"Director Wei, you like listening to music, so I brought some over for you."

Wei Xiangmi suddenly realized: "A ghost market run by foreigners on a ship? I've heard of it."

Then she laughed again: "You want me to approve the toilet repairs, right? You're trying to bribe me because you're afraid I won't approve it?"

Qian Jin waved his hand: "We're like brothers, fighting side by side. Do I really need to bribe you to fix a toilet for the examinees in the neighborhood?"

Wei Xiangmi said, "That's right, I should be the one bribing you. Your labor commando team will have to work hard."

The study task force classroom on Taishan Road is famous throughout the southern part of the city. Many children of leaders and cadres take classes here, and its reputation has even reached the ears of city leaders.

In reality, it was Qian Jin who initiated this matter, but at the street level and in the eyes of public leaders, the credit belonged to Wei Xiangmi, the newly appointed director of the neighborhood committee.

Therefore, it is now up to Taishan Road to set up the study room.

When Wei Xiangmi learned that Qian Jin was willing to lead the team to repair the toilets, she convened an emergency meeting with the neighborhood committee cadres.

These days, building a new public toilet on the street is not something that one or two people can decide.

Wei Xiangmi chaired the meeting.

Qian Jin took out sheets of paper copied from the back of his exercise books. Each sheet was covered with dense red handprints, and the title of all the sheets was a line of large, bold characters that seemed to penetrate the paper:

We earnestly request the street leaders to approve the implementation of practical measures for the descendants of revolutionaries.

The neighborhood committee should naturally pay for the construction of public toilets.

The accountant was in a dilemma: "Director Wei, Chief Qian, it's almost the end of the year, and we've almost spent our annual budget. Where would we find the money to repair the public toilets?"

“Especially when Zhang Hongbo was in office, he squandered a lot of money. I guess we won’t get any New Year’s Day benefits.”

Qian Jin is now incredibly wealthy and powerful.

He put a bunch of ten-yuan bills on his online store.

He then stood up and said, "Distinguished leaders and comrades, I hereby pledge my loyalty."

"The toilets in the study room do not use any of the street's financial resources; they were raised entirely by me, two part-time teachers, and six hundred students!"

"We believe in taking responsibility ourselves, pooling our wisdom and efforts, and are confident and capable of completing the fundraising!"

The accountant was speechless: "If that's the case, then I agree to build a public toilet for young people."

To avoid being misunderstood by Qian Jin as being against him, the female accountant even offered an embarrassed explanation:
"Actually, my cousin studies there. If we need to raise funds, I'm willing to donate two yuan!"

The other leaders had nothing to say and all expressed their willingness to donate.

Because they all benefited!
No one could have imagined that the humble Taishan Road Study Room would grow to this size.

It can be said that this has become a vanity project for Taishan Road, and the staff of the neighborhood committee all feel proud of it.

The propaganda officer even declared that they would go all out: "If we're going to build one, let's build one with biogas!"

He straightened the bronze badge on his chest that read "Model Student in Studying Mao's Selected Works," and took out a clipping from the Dazhong Daily from his notebook:

"Workers in Shanghai use biogas for lighting and cooking, so why can't our neighborhood build a public toilet that can use biogas? We need to make use of waste, and we need to save all our resources to support socialist construction!"

Wei Xiangmi laughed: "Director Cao, building a biogas digester is a technical job, not that simple. I personally can't do it."

"If you can do it, if you can produce biogas, then I will definitely apply for the honor of being a flag bearer of the new socialist Long March in the city."

Cao, the clerk, fell silent.

The others burst into laughter.

Wei Xiangmi picked up her teacup, took a sip of water, and said:

"In that case, let's approve the contents of the approval document."

"Commander Qian has already consulted experts, and it will take at least two thousand red bricks, ten bags of cement, and six meters of cast iron pipe—these are the combat supplies that need to be temporarily allocated from the militia training ground!"

Qian Jin then took out another piece of paper and passed it around for everyone to read.

This is a design drawing provided on short notice by an engineering exam candidate:

On the open space to the east of the study room, a simple toilet with a septic tank was built using red bricks.

The roof was covered with sails for warmth, and windows were opened in the walls for ventilation. The women's toilet had fifteen stalls, while the men's toilet had five stalls and two urinals.

The proposal was successfully passed.

The project was urgent, so the labor task force stopped all other work and started building toilets.

In the afternoon, anonymous donations began to be made in the classroom.

Qian Jin donated two months' salary, while Wei Qinghuan and Wei Xiongtu each donated one month's salary!
In addition, the People's Mobile Canteen made a large donation in the name of a small group.

One hundred yuan!

So, thousands of yuan were in place that same day.

In reality, half of the money came from Qian Jin. Wei Xiongtu and Wei Qinghuan didn't have any money at all; it was all his money that allowed them to gain fame and reputation.

Wei Qinghuan was still working at the night school and was unaware of this. When Wei Xiongtu found out, he felt embarrassed to ask for the money himself.

Qian Jin patted him on the shoulder: "Save your money for your sister's dowry. I'll pay for it. Just don't tell anyone."

"The main reason I'm issuing this in both your names is because of the ownership of room 204."

“After all, you are not registered residents of Taishan Road Subdistrict. You have to give something in order for the residents of the subdistrict to accept that it is reasonable for you to live in room 204.”

The house was Wei Xiongtu's Achilles' heel.

204 is his home, a home where he has already felt warmth, a home he must protect.

He then gratefully said, "That's all thanks to you. You've done so much."

Qian Jin was actually quite embarrassed.

It's only natural that he would do all this, because he's already made the study room his bread and butter!

That warehouse was built to a very good standard, and it had plenty of space.

So he had planned it out long ago: once the students preparing for the exams went to university, he would take over the warehouse and use it as an office under the name of the People's Mobile Canteen.

In the future, with the reform of state-owned enterprises, the mobile canteens for the people will eventually become their enterprises.

At that time, he wanted to acquire the warehouse as well.

Once the coastal city begins its real estate development, the value of this warehouse will be in the hundreds of millions!

That afternoon, while it was still snowing, a bustling activity was underway on the east side of the study room.

Sparks flew from the pickaxe handles, hoes, and shovels gnawing at the frozen soil, startling several rats out of the sewer.

Liu Dazhuang spat into his palm, swung the pickaxe in a full moon motion, and the tiger's mouth cracked and bled!
"This ground is harder than steel plates!" Xu Weidong said, a cigarette butt dangling from his mouth, the ash falling into the shallow pit he had just dug.

He worked the night shift last night and was dragged out of bed by Qian Jin at noon.

Some educated youth who had been sent to rural farms in Northeast China came to help.

Dry firewood was scattered on the ground and lit.

The bright red flames licked the ice, and the melting snow mixed with ash seeped into the ground.

Many people gathered around the fire to keep warm.

The young people's faces were flushed red by the flames, and they were full of hope for the future.

When the red bricks were being unloaded, even the female students came to help.

They used work gloves to cushion the bricks, forming two long lines in the snow.

The 'Haiyao 1977' stamp on the brick is blurry, but when it falls to the ground, it turns bright red, like a row of cinnabar stamps on the snow.

This was an unprecedented collective labor effort.

Qiu Dayong also rushed over when he learned that a public toilet was to be built for the study room.

Among them were skilled craftsmen who used chalk lines to plan on-site and also provided suggestions based on the geology:
"The foundation doesn't need to be dug that deep. Building a toilet isn't like building a skyscraper. You want to dig a foot and a half down? In this weather, it would take two days just to dig the foundation!"

A candidate with knowledge of civil engineering debated: "The soil in the coastal area is too soft, especially after vernalization. If the foundation is insufficient, there will definitely be settlement problems!"

The educated youth who were moving the goods said, "It's fine, the soil is soft, but underneath it's all layers of rocks..."

Qian Jin made the decision: "Special measures are needed for special times. The toilet needs to be put into use as soon as possible. There's no need to go through all that trouble. Just dig down half a foot."

The cast iron pipe was brought over and connected to the street's sewage pipe, but it turned out to be too short.

Seeing this, Qiu Dayong waved his hand and led several burly porters and educated youth to the air-raid shelter where they had lived before.

The air-raid shelter contains drainage pipes left over from a special period, which are longer and thicker.

However, this doesn't fit the diameter of the cast iron pipe.

Qiu Dayong, a man of action, picked up a trowel and scraped off the ice block at the pipe opening: "No problem, comrades, don't look so gloomy, we'll fix it!"

He drew a funnel-shaped connector diagram on the snow and explained it to Qian Jin and the other people in charge.

Workers from a machinery factory, who were preparing for the exam, came to investigate. They were experts and quickly solved the problem of casting and assembling the connector.

Some workers preparing for exams went to their factories to dig out scrap iron sheets, while others brought in unused iron pipes from their homes. The machinery factory gave them special treatment, and by dusk they finally managed to weld out an irregularly shaped adapter.

Traditional Chinese culture has always emphasized that having many people makes things easier.

This is the truth.

Several of the test takers were former educated youth who had learned bricklaying and worked as masons during their time in the countryside, and their skills are proving useful today.

Under their leadership, the red bricks and cement were quickly combined, and red walls grew from the foundation at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It was already dark, and Qian Jin thought he would do it the next day.

But the snow stopped in the evening, and the young people worked with great enthusiasm and energy.

They wanted the toilet to be completed and put into use as soon as possible so they could focus entirely on preparing for the exam.

So they refused Qian Jin's suggestion to rest, drank a bowl of hot water, and continued working.

One group of young people got tired, and another group of young people took their place.

Despite being students, they all possess skillful hands for getting things done.

At that moment, Qian Jin suddenly understood part of the meaning behind the great man's instructions:

It was very necessary for educated youth to go to the countryside to receive re-education from poor and lower-middle peasants!

The youth of this era have had a tough time and have suffered a lot, but they have indeed become very strong!
They possess both knowledge and practical skills.

If a world war of annihilation were to break out.

This group of people has the ability to create a new world!
The north wind whipped up the snow on the ground and blew it into people's collars.

After getting off work, Wang Dong, Zhou Yaozu, and others learned of the new task of the labor commando team and rushed to work without even having time to eat.

The incandescent bulb was pulled out.

Once the main structure of the public toilet was completed, some young people, disregarding their frozen fingers, immediately went up to apply mortar, smoothing it out evenly.

Qian Jin advised, "Just take a look and that's enough, comrades. We're building a toilet, not an auditorium!"

The young man laughed and said, "When I first came to the countryside, my group of people weren't used to using dry toilets, so the production team specially built us toilets with squatting pits."

"Our production team leader was a respectable man. He insisted that the toilets be built beautifully because he believed that no matter how the world changes, people should always have a respectable place to defecate!"

The mortar froze rapidly.

Next, you can write on it.

This is when Wei Xiongtu makes his appearance.

Qian Jin took out a bottle of red paint and handed him a large calligraphy brush. He grabbed the brush with one hand and wrote the character "toilet" on the wall.

The last stroke wasn't stopped, and the red paint flowed down the brick seams, looking like a bloody gash on the cold winter floor.

Declare war on winter!
A traumatic winter!

Conquer the winter!

All that's left is the finishing touches.

In just 12 hours, a toilet appeared out of thin air!

Qian Jin brought over the liquor last, and the young people brought enamel mugs and teacups to drink water, so they also brought liquor cups.

Each person takes a small sip of baijiu.

The snow stopped, and the dark clouds dispersed.

The bright moonlight shone down again.

Qian Jin raised the bottle and said, "Comrades and students, do you see that?"

"As long as you are the moon, the dark clouds cannot obscure you forever! As long as you have light, you will eventually shine it all over the earth!"

"I wish you all the best in your university life. Cheers, everyone!"

Instantly, shouts of "Cheers!" echoed across the rooftop, causing the snow to swirl.

Many people held hands tightly with their friends.

They were guarding a toilet that was destined to be despised in the future, but they saw it as an ivory tower.

Wei Qinghuan leaned against the telephone pole alone, quietly watching Qian Jin.

She thought she would never forget such a figure for the rest of her life.

(End of this chapter)