Year 1983: I was a carpenter in Northeast China

Through conversation, Xu Bei also learned that the stall owner's name was Chen Jianguo.

He called him "Brother Chen" affectionately, and the other person also called him "Little Brother" in a friendly manner.

Although they had just met, the two acted like old friends, calling each other brothers, when in fact they both knew they were just putting on an act.

The stall was quickly packed up.

Chen Jianguo rode a tricycle, taking Xu Bei away from the bustling market.

The two found a sheltered spot where they could talk easily before they began to haggle.

After some haggling, Xu Bei bought twenty pairs of jeans at a wholesale price of six yuan and fifty cents each.

After counting out the 130 yuan, Chen Jianguo smiled broadly, and Xu Bei also felt it was a good deal.

After all, they should be allowed to earn something, and the information and connections they gain are invaluable.

Moreover, he made his money from businesses with no cost; it was all profit, and this amount of money was only enough to sell a little over 100 stools.

Next, Chen Jianguo led Xu Bei for about ten minutes, then turned into an alley with practiced ease.

Both sides are lined with low, red-brick bungalows.

Xu Bei felt that the provincial capital in the 1980s wasn't all about prosperity. As he was looking around, Chen Jianguo stopped.

"We're here, brother, this is it."

Chen Jianguo stepped forward and knocked on the tightly closed door.

The door opened quickly, and an old man in his fifties poked his head out.

He first glanced at the two people standing outside the door, his gaze lingering on Xu Bei for a few seconds.

Then he smiled at Chen Jianguo and said, "Boss Chen, what brings you here today? Come in and let's talk."

"Boss Zhang, I brought a friend over to take a look." Chen Jianguo smiled and patted Xu Bei on the shoulder. "This is my brother. He wants to get some needles, thread, hair ties, underwear, socks, and the like. Bring out some good stuff for him."

"Of course there's no problem. Your brother is my brother too."

Boss Zhang quickly ushered the two inside and led them directly to a room where goods were stored.

The room wasn't big, but it was filled with all sorts of small general merchandise.

The shelves were packed full, and there were several cardboard boxes piled on the floor. There was an indescribable smell in the air.

Boss Zhang greeted us warmly, "I have everything here: needles and thread, hair ties, underwear and socks, hair clips and hair ties, buttons and zippers, perfumes, clam oil and face cream, as well as lipsticks, eyebrow pencils, mirrors and combs. Brother, take your time looking around. Ask me if you want to know the price."

"Okay, I'll take a look first."

Xu Bei began to examine it carefully.

On the shelf, colorful spools of thread were neatly arranged, along with needles, thimbles, and scissors of various sizes—everything you could need.

The hair accessories and hair ties are even more dazzling, including red velvet hair accessories, plastic hair accessories with sequins, and hair ties of various colors, decorated with small beads and bows.

Underwear and socks were piled in cardboard boxes, including white cotton underwear with small floral patterns, as well as nylon socks and cotton socks, all of which were the most common styles of that era.

As for balm, clam oil, face cream, lipstick, eyebrow pencil, mirror, comb, and hair comb, they were only displayed in a very small shelf area.

After asking around about wholesale prices, Xu Bei quickly started calculating in his mind.

Some items have very low production costs but high demand, especially hair accessories and hair ties, which girls love and can definitely fetch a good price in forest areas.

However, some items are priced high with low profit margins, and few people buy them, so the quantity purchased needs to be carefully considered.

After that, he took a total of more than 270 yuan worth of goods.

While helping to load the goods, Boss Zhang smiled and praised him, "Brother, you have good taste! These are all best-selling items. Especially these sequined hair accessories, they're very popular right now, young girls love them."

Xu Bei was delighted that he had managed to get the goods so smoothly, and said with a smile, "I just picked them by gut feeling, I'll only know if they'll sell well after I get back. I mainly have to thank Brother Chen for bringing me here, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find this place."

Chen Jianguo waved his hand with a smile, "Don't be so polite. Let's stay in touch and be brothers."

Four hundred yuan worth of goods sounds like a lot, but since they were jeans and small general merchandise items that didn't take up much space, Xu Bei took all three large bags with him when he parted ways with Chen Jianguo.

Since the procurement was so quick and smooth, Xu Bei decided to change his original plan and wanted to go back as soon as possible.

After all, his mother and the others were women, and without him as the backbone of the family, it would be difficult to get things done efficiently.

In addition, Xu Dashan and his wife Xu Dahong are also a potential hidden danger that must be guarded against.

However, with so much cargo, after buying return tickets at the train station, I'll definitely need to check it in; otherwise, it would be a huge loss if something went wrong on the train and it got confiscated.

After completing the shipping check, Xu Bei saw that he still had some time, so he went to a restaurant near the train station to have a meal.

Unexpectedly, just as he had devoured half of the braised pork, stir-fried dried tofu, and rice, a dialog box appeared on the transparent panel in his mind.

[With sufficient reputation points, do you wish to activate the fine woodworking automated production line?]

Xu Bei almost choked on his food on the spot.

However, he also knew that his reputation points were almost full, which was just recently.

But no matter how excited and expectant they are, they cannot rashly start a second automated production line without considering the presence of people.

So Xu Bei quickly finished the rest of his food and left the restaurant.

Once he found a safe and secure place, he took a deep breath and silently recited the activation mantra.

Immediately afterwards, lines of information flooded into his mind.

[Unlocking the deep processing industry chain...]

[Successfully unlocked the automated production line for fine woodworking...]

At the same time, two options appeared before his eyes:

Please select one of the following products as the product for the current production line:

Option A: Solid wood square table

Features: Mortise and tenon structure, sturdy and durable, with a grand appearance.

Option B: Portable folding round table

Features: Foldable tabletop, detachable legs, small storage size, and easy to carry.

Xu Bei's gaze lingered on the two options for a moment.

Although the square table looks impressive, in Northeast China at that time, almost every household lived in a single-story house with a kang (heated brick bed), and they usually ate their meals on the kang table.

Even those who live in apartment buildings don't have very large living room spaces.

Folding tables are simply a godsend; when not in use, they can be leaned against the wall and take up virtually no space.

"This thing sells much better than bulky square tables."

Xu Bei murmured a sentence, making a decision in his heart without any hesitation.

[Production line under construction: H-02 portable folding round table automated production line...]

In the holographic projection workshop, a portion of the production line that was originally dark was now illuminated.

Xu Bei quickly chose to start production.

The harvested logs are then conveyed onto the intelligent saw by a conveyor belt.

The machines operated smoothly, cutting, grinding, drilling, and assembling in one go.

Xu Bei quickly retrieved a portable folding round table and brought it into reality, examining every detail with great interest...