Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

"Let me calculate..." Zhang Dabiao took out a notebook from his pocket and started writing and drawing, which surprised Director Zhao.

Just tell me how much you want for the license of such a small thing. You said the Lou family paid 3 for registration, and we're asking for more than that, at most double that, which is outrageous. Do we even need to calculate it?

Director Zhao assumed Zhang Dabiao was just being overly excited, like a child, and didn't take it too seriously, so he continued drinking his tea.

"The global population is probably around 30 billion now, and even if men make up half, that's 15 billion..."

[What the heck? 15 billion?!]

"Even if we remove one-third from the ban on children smoking, there's still 10 billion left..."

"If we remove one-third of those who are prohibited from smoking by religious rules, that leaves about 6.6 million..."

"If we subtract those who don't smoke at all, say half, then we're left with 3.3 million. Let's just say there are 3 million smokers."

"Everyone needs a lighter, right? Even if each lighter costs $1, that's a $3 million business."

"One-thousandth of a lighter's license fee isn't too high, right? So, let me calculate the total license fee..."

"30 US dollars!"

Director Zhao spat out his tea!

Then he started coughing violently—

The tea leaves are choking me!

Holy crap!

A lighter, such a small thing, and you're charging a licensing fee of 30 US dollars?

Why the hell don't you just rob someone?!

Director Zhao coughed for a full five or six minutes, almost vomiting, before he finally recovered.

"Zhang Dabiao, are you out of your mind?"

"This thing is worth 30? In US dollars?"

"You could weigh me and sell me; see if I'm worth 30!"

Zhang Dabiao felt a little embarrassed and wondered if he had been making assumptions, after all, this was 1960, and the domestic government, or rather the red camp, didn't really care about this kind of thing.

But $30 for a patent license is really not expensive at all.

"Why don't we ask? They're asking for exorbitant prices and we're willing to negotiate. Let's try asking first."

"How about a one-time license of $30 for 20 years, or a licensing fee of one-thousandth of the product's selling price, where you pay the licensing fee based on the quantity produced?"

"Zhang Dabiao, you're making a mistake! You're engaging in capitalist practices..."

"I only offer suggestions. Even if they want to make a deal, they should talk to Lou Bancheng's eldest son. I don't directly participate in the buying and selling..."

Director Zhao was stunned for a long time...

That seems to make sense.

Lou Bancheng is a capitalist by nature. His eldest son is still in Hong Kong. If there is any negotiation, it should be the Japanese negotiating with the people in Hong Kong for authorization.

The deal was struck, and Zhang Dabiao will get a share of the profits because the patent is being handled by Lou Bancheng's eldest son.

So the whole process...

Zhang Dabiao isn't involved? But ultimately, this matter still depends on him, but...

It has nothing to do with the Ministry of Foreign Trade, because the Ministry of Foreign Trade doesn't own the patents. The patents are currently in the hands of the Lou family, and it was the Ministry of Foreign Trade itself that allowed Zhang Dabiao to register them.

Director Zhao was having some trouble figuring it out.

In the end, all I could say was, "I'll report this to my superiors. You'll have to wait for news."

Zhang Dabiao had neither Tatsunosuke's contact information nor the right to directly contact foreign guests given his position, so this matter could only be handled through the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Zhang Dabiao shrugged, resigned to his fate, and prepared to return.

As for the patent licensing fee for the down-pressure spin-dry mop, it wasn't mentioned at all; Zhang Dabiao didn't think it was worth much money.

If they can't stop Tatsunosuke here, Zhang Dabiao plans to get the Lou family to help out and see if anyone in Hong Kong will buy the license. Anyway, they already have the patent, so waiting a few years won't matter; this thing is sure to be a hit.

------------

Life went on as usual. On September 11th, Zhang Dabiao celebrated his birthday, which He Yushui remembered.

He finally turned 17 and reached a height of 178cm, looking tall and strong.

Once you turn 17, you're considered 18 (or 19 by the Chinese age reckoning), and 20 (by the official age reckoning) – that's basically equivalent to being an adult!

Especially that little mustache around his mouth—it's fucking ugly!

But Zhang Dabiao dared not shave with a razor, fearing that the more he shaved, the longer it would grow. He planned to wait until the end of the year, after his "two" bodies had completely merged, before shaving. He thought that once things were stable, it wouldn't be too late.

In the small courtyard, the three women, along with Xu Damao and Liu Guangqi, and Yan Jiecheng, who occasionally came over to help him farm, celebrated Zhang Dabiao's birthday together—actually, they were just there to freeload a meal.

The food problem is becoming increasingly severe, with rations being reduced again, and black market grain prices skyrocketing once more. To put it another way, a worker in a city could probably feed himself by using his entire ration plus his salary to buy cornmeal, but eating meat or achieving a balanced diet would be extremely difficult.

But if there are family members who don't work, or several young children, then they're in trouble.

Besides, which family doesn't have two or three children these days?

Then there are those families that still have rural household registration, like the Jia family...

You can tell the situation from Jia Dongxu's increasingly thin physique.

He supported a family of four on his salary alone, and he also had to deliver grain to Jia Zhangshi every month...

To be honest, Qin Jingru couldn't bear to see it anymore and asked Zhang Dabiao if he could help out a little. Adults could endure hunger, but children couldn't. These expenses could be deducted from Qin Jingru's salary.

Qin Jingru's explanation is that Qin Huairu raised her as both an older sister and a mother when she was little, and Qin Jingru took care of Xiao Dang as a way of repaying her debt. But for some reason, Qin Huairu turned out this way after moving to the city.

Zhang Dabiao hesitated for a moment, but finally sighed. He could help Xiaodang, after all, the baby was innocent. But Qin Jingru had to take Xiaodang in and feed her, feeding her millet porridge, vegetable and lean meat porridge, soft noodles, and occasionally give her some milk tablets to drink.

Xiao Dang is already over a year old and can eat all of these. Qin Jingru is raising her almost like a daughter.

You can eat in the small courtyard, but you can't take it back, and you can't give it to Qin Huairu or Bang Geng. Bang Geng is anxious all day long, but it's no use. He can't even enter the courtyard, and he doesn't dare to.

This is Zhang Dabiao's bottom line.

Qin Huairu and Jia Dongxu tacitly agreed, because they really had no other choice.

Xiao Dang's face visibly became rosy and she gained a lot of weight. The first word she learned was not "mama," but "auntie."

The second word is "Uncle Biao". I don't know if it refers to Uncle Biao or Uncle Biao, but they are similar.

Zhang Dabiao only hoped that when she grew up, she wouldn't follow the same path as a lifelong ingrate.

Everyone ate in the small courtyard. Zhang Dabiao still had plenty to eat and drink, but he could only get some cured meat and fish to add some meat. He would never dare to have pre-made dishes like hot pot, meatballs, roasted chicken, or duck necks served with them during the New Year.

I heard that the harvest was particularly poor this year because of the double harvest season in rural areas.

City dwellers are struggling to afford cornmeal, so imagine what the situation is like in the countryside and villages? Every week, you hear about people looting food in the streets and getting arrested by the police, or about someone collapsing while walking...

Even more serious is the killing of people over a few pounds of cornmeal.

In hospitals, you can only get a bottle of glucose if you've fainted from hunger, been diagnosed, and received special permission.

No matter how hard-hearted people are, upon hearing such news and looking at the food in front of them, they would still feel a little sorry for the situation.

But what can we do?

In the stables and cellars, there was the grain stored by the Youth Mutual Aid Association of the entire courtyard. Hu Zi, Da Tou, Liu Gen, and their families were all large and short of food. Not to mention that Yan Jiecheng often exchanged grain to support his younger siblings and to help Yu Li's family.

Both are difficult.

Last week, even Director Wang came to try and freeload.