The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 136 A Bountiful Harvest: Special Badges and Red Coral
The first snow of 1978 was short-lived; when Qian Jin got up, he found that the snow had already stopped.

He put on his cotton-padded coat and hat, and together with Zhang Aijun, they went to Jiagang in the dark.

The nights in Port Ajall are more lively than in the city. In the beam of light from the distant lighthouse, figures can be seen hurrying by from time to time.

The black market in the general merchandise area has opened, and men and women are like a group of demons crawling ashore from the seabed, densely packed together.

Qian Jin tightened his collar, his cotton shoes crunching through the icy seawater, and carried a bag of good goods into the water.

The tide, carrying a chill, crashed against the breakwater. Flashlights shone from a warehouse, and several men, after observing Qian Jin's attire, waved him over, indicating that he could enter the black market.

In the black market section of Jiagang, Qian Jin bypassed the stacks of frozen cargo containers and entered the rare goods section, where a wide-open space suddenly appeared before him.

More than thirty masked men, their faces covered by scarves or neck warmers, moved about the stalls with flashlights, their beams sweeping over rare and unusual items.
The electric fan from Southeast Asia was spotless, and watches of various brands, both new and old, were neatly arranged in a square formation in the wooden crate. The antenna of the Japanese Sanyo radio stood out like a spider's leg.

The vendor, dressed in a cotton-padded coat, squatted behind a gasoline drum. When someone passed by, he would open his coat to reveal a cassette tape released in Taiwan.

"Newly arrived seafood!" A bearded man kicked aside a wooden crate at his feet, revealing bundles of gleaming fabric. "This stuff came from a tailor shop on Hong Kong Island. You know what a suit is? This is all top-quality fabric for making suits!"

An old man wearing a dog-skin hat went even further, pulling up his sleeve to reveal five brand-new watches hanging on his arm.

Qian Jin strolled around and spotted an old sea lion wearing a sailor's hat at the corner of the warehouse.

A complete set of coral jewelry was laid out on a red silk cloth in front of the man.

The beautifully designed necklaces, earrings, hairpins and other jewelry gleamed blood-red under the flashlight beam, with the red beads embedded in the necklace pendants as large as buttons.

Qian Jin's eyes widened immediately.

In this era, there was no technology to fake red coral, so this was—

"Comrade, deep-sea red coral?"

The old sea dog glanced at him lazily without saying a word.

Good things will always sell.

Someone whispered to him, "Ten watches! Seagull, Dongfeng, you name it!"

Red coral has been a top-grade gemstone since ancient times.

Faced with the price quote, the old sea lion didn't even raise his shiny eyelids: "What would I need so many watches for? I want the real good stuff!"

Qian Jin went up and said, "I have money and remittance certificates from overseas Chinese."

The old sea lion finally raised its head: "Inspect the goods!"

Qian Jin took out a wallet from his bag and handed it to the other person. When Lao Haigou opened it, he saw brand new Great Unity notes and various denominations of remittance certificates.

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, like a train whistle: "Okay!"

"Five hundred dollars plus an equivalent amount of remittance certificates."

Qian Jin sneered, snatched back his wallet, and left: "Do you think this is a feudal society or the Republic of China era? I admit that red coral jewelry is very precious, but its preciousness is limited now."

Old Sea Dog remained calm and didn't try to stop Qian Jin; the two then competed in composure.

In the end, the old sea lion lacked the willpower to control himself.

Because money and remittance certificates are hard currency, while jewelry is beautiful but cannot be eaten.

Qian Jin strode away without looking back, until finally Old Sea Dog's voice rang out behind him: "Brother, you're asking for the moon, so at least give me a price."

“Two hundred dollars will be matched with an equivalent amount of remittance certificates!” Qian Jin said firmly.

The two sides began to bargain.

The final amount was 280 yuan plus an equivalent amount of remittance certificates.

Qian Jin decisively bought the set of red coral jewelry, something that in ancient times could only be accessed by women from noble families.

Red coral is such a rare natural gemstone that its harvesting has been banned in many countries in the 21st century.

He probably doesn't plan to sell this set of jewelry to the online store.

Although he is short of money and wants to change to a big gold chest, red coral is very rare now, and red coral made into jewelry is extremely rare.

He wanted to leave it for Wei Qinghuan to wear on formal occasions in the future.

After tidying up the red coral, he prepared to continue shopping, but a woman came over and stopped him.

The woman's clothing suggested she wasn't a local, as she was wearing a down jacket that wasn't yet available in China.

She also wore two gold pendants on her ears, something Qian Jin hadn't found in Haibin City either.

The woman and her entourage stopped him and showed him a glass box.

Inside lay a string of pigeon blood red coral beads, each bead about the size of a longan seed.

The deep red color shone beautifully in the moonlight, like chicken blood glowing.

The woman said bluntly, "It's an old rip-off from Sulawesi, from a shipwreck that happened during Zheng He's voyages."

Qian Jin, puzzled, asked, "Who are you?"

The woman smiled and said, "I am a Malaysian Chinese who came back to visit my family. My family is too poor, and I want to help them, but I don't have enough money to take with me, so I have to exchange my treasures for cash."

Five thousand yuan!

Qian Jin shook his head: "I don't have that much money."

He became alert.

If the woman is an overseas Chinese, then there's definitely something wrong with this.

There is currently no such thing in the domestic luxury goods market, so he was able to find a bargain on red coral jewelry.

But it's not like that abroad. A string of red coral jewelry like this would probably sell for ten times the price overseas right now!
The woman sighed, "I thought I'd run into a tycoon."

She didn't press Qian Jin for an answer, and packed up the box to leave.

Qian Jin then asked suspiciously, "Why don't you sell it in your country? Jewelry like this would easily sell for 50,000 in your country!"

The woman chuckled, "My goodness, I don't know whether to say you're knowledgeable or inexperienced."

“You know the situation in Malaysia, but you don’t know much. How could this possibly be worth 50,000 RMB? 10,000 is more like it.”

Qian Jin was tempted.

If this item sells for 10,000 in Malaysia, then it's understandable that it would sell for 5,000 when you come to visit relatives in China.

He estimated the size of the red coral necklace and decided to take the risk: "Wait for me a moment, I'll get an expert to take a look. If there's nothing wrong with this red coral, I can give you five thousand yuan."

The woman readily agreed.

Qian Jin pretended to go find someone but secretly took out the second small box. The jewelry was small and could fit in the second small box.

He called Zhang Aijun over, and they whispered something to each other. When no one was looking, he secretly slipped some jewelry into the gold box.

Listed in the online store.

Priced at 1.6 million!

Qian Jin decisively removed the "Five-Strike Unity" item from the online store.

He gave the money to the woman and took the jewelry back.

I learned a lot today!

The woman handed the money to the man accompanying her, who randomly pulled out a few bills, shone a flashlight on them, looked at them, and nodded to her.

The two parties reached a deal.

Continue wandering around, continue to broaden your horizons.

Last time he came to the black market in Jiagang to fish, so he didn't have a chance to explore properly. After exploring it today, he discovered that there are so many good things here:

Soviet military radios flashed green light, Japanese and Korean semiconductors were piled up, and bell-bottoms and jeans from the harbor hung like human skin on the barbed wire.

A vendor in a Zhongshan suit hawked foreign products in the soft Wu dialect, while an inspector wearing a red armband squatted in a corner counting money.

He saw a place selling televisions.

expensive.

A 12-inch secondhand TV can sell for 400 yuan. If it's a top brand like Jinling, Hongxing, or Shoudu, it's even more expensive, costing up to 500 yuan.

The cheaper option was a 9-inch TV, but Qian Jin looked at it and saw that it was similar to a foldable screen phone, and he didn't even have the desire to glance at it.

As he turned around, he bumped into a lame old man selling badges. His military green satchel gleamed with an unusual gold-red light—these were specially made glow-in-the-dark badges from 1967, with real gold leaf mixed into the lead glass.

Qian Jin asked with interest, "How do I exchange the glow-in-the-dark badge?"

The lame old man calmly held up one finger: "A watch or a hundred catties of grain coupons plus fifty catties of meat coupons."

Qian Jin was stunned on the spot: "Are you asking for money or for someone's life?"

The lame old man said, "You asking about glow-in-the-dark badges means you know your stuff. A few years ago, only the children of high-ranking officials and leaders could wear them. If you wear one when you go on a blind date, the girl will be willing to give you her dowry to marry you."

Qian Jin said, "You're right, that's why badges were worthless a few years ago. Now they're worthless."

The lame old man showed him: "All the goods here are good stuff, worthless? The common goods you have are just worthless."

As he spoke, he pulled out the largest badge in his bag, bigger than a person's palm:

"This is a limited edition commemorative medal specially minted for the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1969. The total number was strictly controlled to within 1,000. Look at its solemnity and prestige. Do you know who was eligible to wear it at that time? Only the 1,000 people who attended the Ninth National Congress were qualified!"

"Take a look at this." He took out a badge with a portrait of the leader on top and a ship below, but the words on the badge were in Japanese.

"This badge was meticulously crafted by the Tokyo Oriental Shipping Company of the Japanese. Made of aluminum alloy, it is not only of excellent quality but also uniquely designed. It was produced to commemorate the friendly relations between China and Japan."

"Do you know who wears this? It was a gift for the staff of our country's embassy in Greece!" He continued, showing off a special badge, which was supported by a finger-sized model airplane.

"This has a very impressive history. You might think it looks rough, but let me tell you, it was designed and produced by Factory 112, which was responsible for aircraft production at the time, after the successful maiden flight of the J-5 fighter jet in 56."

"It's made of aluminum, so it's very light, but the aluminum it uses is from the same batch as the aluminum used in the J-5 fighter jet!"

Qian Jin was persuaded: "Then give me a fair price, and I'll exchange all these valuable badges you have for them."

The lame old man said, "The badges I have are all precious."

He came to exchange something with a satchel, which probably contained forty or fifty badges.

Qian Jin said, "If you're honest, ask for something. Otherwise, forget it and you can take your time exchanging it."

The lame old man hesitated, then asked, "What do you have in your hand?"

Qian Jin said, "It's all hard currency: watches, pens, foreign exchange certificates, grain coupons, meat coupons, coal coupons, oil coupons, and so on."

The lame old man thought for a moment and said, "If you buy it all, then I'll ask for a watch and a ticket."

"I don't want much, just ten watches, five hundred yuan in foreign exchange certificates, or five hundred jin of grain coupons and two hundred jin of meat coupons!"

Qian Jin was speechless: "This isn't even an extra charge."

The lame old man exclaimed anxiously, "These badges are really valuable. I've been collecting them since 55. If it weren't for the special nature of my work, I would never have been able to collect so many badges!"

Qian Jin asked him, "What do you do for a living?"

The lame old man said warily, "Are you some greenhorn? Is this the kind of talk you should be having in the black market?"

Qian Jin tried to bargain with the old man, but the old man was very stubborn and refused to budge on the price.

The horizon is about to turn a pale white.

Many stalls began to pack up. Qian Jin didn't want to waste time, so he gave out twelve watches, four hundred jin of provincial grain coupons, and one hundred jin of provincial meat coupons.

The old man handed him the badge, and Qian Jin wanted to take his bag with him, but the old man wouldn't give it to him.

Their main principle is to avoid losing even the slightest bit of money.

After exchanging the badges, he showed off his stock and began exchanging them for food coupons, meat coupons, and other supplies.

With time running out, he had no choice but to lower the price, which successfully allowed him to sell off his remaining inventory.

As the port authority's grand morning bell rang six times, the inspection team's motorboats began patrolling the port.

Qian Jin immediately retreated.

Zhang Aijun brought up the rear to check if anyone was following him.

It's alright. Although he had a lot of goods to trade today, he kept a low profile by trading one-on-one at the beginning, so no one paid attention to him.

Qian Jin went home to catch up on sleep first, and then waited to go to work to get his car.

Today is Sunday, and he's going to the countryside. He's already come up with a reason: to go to the commune's blacksmith shop again to pick up a batch of carts.

This way he can continue to use official vehicles for private purposes.

As the sun rises at eight or nine o'clock, he sleeps until eight or nine o'clock, then wakes up, locks the door, and begins to tally up the day's harvest.

The biggest gain was naturally the red coral jewelry, with the large necklace being the most expensive; I could sell it for 160 million in the mall.

A complete set of red coral jewelry is worth about the same, and could sell for 142 million.

Qian Jin was reluctant to sell these two valuable items, so he kept them inside along with the old ginseng.

He submitted the badges to the online store, and the prices listed caught his eye.

The lame old man wasn't trying to scam him; the badges he introduced were all reasonably priced.
The most expensive item is the J-5 commemorative medal, which the online store quoted at 85,000 yuan.

The nine limited edition commemorative medals cost 40,000, while the "Little Japanese Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman" commemorative medal cost 28,000.

The glow-in-the-dark commemorative medal, which he had high hopes for, was disappointing and was only worth two thousand yuan.

The other forty-eight commemorative medals, some expensive and some cheap, sold for a total of 116,800 yuan.

In addition, he received a wooden cigarette box during a business transaction, which gave him a great surprise.

This is a product from the Republic of China era; it's a cigarette box for the Zhongshan brand. It's not big, and can only hold ten cigarettes.

Then there are Sun Yat-sen's portraits on both sides, one of which is a bronze portrait, and the other has two wooden portraits. The bottom right corner has the words "Made by Li Zu".

Qian Jin didn't know who Li Zu was, but anyway, the cigarette box sold for 80,000 yuan, almost the same price as the J-5 commemorative medal.

After several successful investments, his savings were approaching a million again.

It's not easy to make money like it was in the 1970s these days, but making money from online stores is really easy!
Wei Qinghuan made him sweet potato noodles after he got up, with a poached egg underneath.

The sweet potato noodles I'm using now are different from those in the mall; they're not sweet at all, and the noodles made from them are dry and tasteless.

Qian Jin decided to buy seeds for the Liu family production team in the future. The mobile canteen would then purchase the new varieties of agricultural products, which would surely have a good market.

After kissing Wei Qinghuan for a while, he wiped his mouth and went downstairs to get his car.

The company driver has already delivered the vehicle; this time it's an old GAZ-69 truck.

Qian Jin didn't let Zhang Aijun come with him; he brought Huang Chui instead.

If something unexpected happens, let Huang Chui go first. Whether he can beat the opponent is another matter, but at least it will buy him time to drive away.

In fact, he was no longer in a problem protecting himself. There were five pistols in the store, and he took one out and tucked it into his waistband after leaving the city.

If he encounters robbers again, he doesn't care about this or that, he'll just pull out his gun and shoot.

After killing him, they'd bury him somewhere. By the time someone discovered the body, it would probably be several snowfalls later, and the tire tracks would be gone. With the police's current capabilities, they wouldn't be able to solve the case.

When he reached the wilderness, he began purchasing agricultural products from the mall again.

This time, instead of buying rice and flour, we bought soybeans. We spent two hours buying soybeans, filling half the train car.

This further solidified his ambition to build a large golden chest.

The box isn't big enough, which is affecting his performance. We need at least a box with a side length of one meter.

The chimney of the commune's blacksmith shop spewed coal smoke from the roof, and the north wind swept up the black smoke, turning the surrounding tree branches and slogans into gray butterflies.

Old Dog's hammer was striking the quenched plowshare, and sparks flew onto Cai Laoliu's patched-up cotton trousers, burning a new hole.

"Damn it!" Cai Laoliu grabbed the fire tongs to hit him, when he heard a car rumbling towards them.

A thought struck him, and he went out to see what was happening.

Sure enough, Qian Jin arrived in his car.

Fourteen sturdy handcarts lined up in the corner, their handles still wrapped with red ribbons, varying in height and each with its own unique style.

Qian Jin jumped out of the car, and Lao Gou rushed out to greet him: "Hey, the leader is here again? Fourteen cars this time, what do you think?"

This is business.

Qian Jin verified that the car was in good condition, then took out two packs of cigarettes and tossed them to them: "Try these, they haven't been on the market yet."

This is his haul from the black market today: a new Peony cigarette, with the word "prototype" stamped on the pack.

The blacksmiths came up with smiles and handed out cigarettes, while a group of commune members who had been warming themselves and bragging in the shop drooled with envy.

A seasoned smoker shamelessly came up to them and said, "Let us have a taste of this special supply of cigarettes."

Qian Jin explained, "It's not a special-supply cigarette, it's just a new product, and it's estimated to be on the market in a while."

“We can’t afford it even if it goes public.” The man laughed as he replied, “Cigarettes with filters are for government officials.”

Chen Jingdi's older brother, Chen Yulou, was also there. Qian Jin handed him a package: "Your brother asked me to bring this to you. It contains the welfare benefits his company gave out last month."

Upon opening the package, one finds sausages wrapped in newspaper, along with grain coupons, meat coupons, and cloth coupons.

Chen Yulou was overjoyed: "Great! The benefits at your supply and marketing cooperative are really good. Even someone who repairs doors and windows at the guesthouse has all these things?"

The commune members gathered around to watch.

I looked at the plump, white sausage with envy.

Yellow Hammer jumped off the car, stretched, and relieved himself. His yellow fur was shiny and his four paws were much larger than before.

Seeing this, the commune members sighed, "That's why the older generation always says, even a dog is better off being born in the city!"

Qian Jin handed Huang Laotie a small wallet: "This is a thank-you gift from our company for building this car for you."

Huang Laotie waved his hand: "Your unit has spoken to the commune leaders, and they gave us extra work points."

Qian Jin knew about this. If it weren't for the funding from his work unit to send iron and rubber wheels, where would the blacksmith shop get the materials?

But he still shook his head: "I don't care about that. I'm giving this to you on behalf of my company, so just accept it."

Old Huang opened his wallet to look.

It was full of tickets and vouchers.

He took out a meat coupon and held it up to the sunlight: "Goodness, five catties of pork coupon! Enough to buy Sixth Girl a piece of cotton cloth and new clothes for the New Year!"

It's almost the twelfth lunar month, and every household in the countryside is short of tickets. Sending money in to give out tickets is like sending charcoal in snowy weather.

The blacksmith shop was even more lively. Amid the whistling sound of the bellows, commune members came up to look at the coupons. They counted the industrial coupons with their chapped hands and marveled when they saw the red stamp that read "For Special Use in 1978".

In the commune, the coupons for this year haven't been issued yet, and they don't know how they're going to celebrate the New Year.

(End of this chapter)