3

On the 14th day of the first month of the lunar calendar in 1984, why bother, why bother, He Wen, Jianguang, and his entourage of five people set foot on this land of Longju, Chen Lingnan, the richest man in Longju in the future, has been in Longju for two years.

If he hadn't broken two fingers with a nylon fishing net when he went to sea, Chen Lingnan might have been a fisherman in the Phoenix city and countryside for the rest of his life. It's quite possible, because it's been the case for generations.

Chen Lingnan's life before he twisted his fingers was not as good as Jian Guangling's. When she was five years old, she caught up with three years of difficult times, and her mother died of edema not long after giving birth to her younger brother Chen Lingbei. When he was thirteen years old and in the fourth grade, his father was caught in a typhoon while going to sea, and the ship was capsized and killed. After his father died, he left behind a second wife and two minor sons. Due to the loss of the breadwinner of the family, Chen Lingnan's education will always stay in the fourth grade of primary school, and his son will inherit his father's business and become a fisherman. At the age of sixteen, he married a wife and had children.

Men who live by the sea start families early. The sea is windy and rough, every time you go to sea is tantamount to a gamble, no one can predict whether to return with a full load or die in the belly of the fisherman, the only thing to do is to marry a wife while you are alive and breed your offspring, so that even if you die, you will not end up in a desperate household. My father had just turned 30 years old when he died, leaving behind two minor sons, Chen Lingnan and Chen Lingbei. Chen Lingnan was 27 years old when he severed his finger, and he was already the father of three children, the eldest was 10 years old and the younger was 3 years old.

The time when he severed his finger was Chen Lingnan's last overseas operation in his life. Because of the bad weather, storms and rains, the fishermen hurriedly collected the nets, but they happened to get a bumper harvest on the Internet, and made mistakes in the chaos, and waited until they pulled thousands of catties of fish onto the boat, Chen Lingnan found that the two fingers of his right index finger and middle finger were missing. After going ashore and recuperating at home for two months, Chen Lingnan had the heart to return to his old business, but the boat boss of the commune didn't want him anymore. It is not difficult to understand that a fisherman with a handicapped hand will certainly not be able to catch up with a fisherman with a sound hand and feet, while a fisherman with a sound hand and foot will do.

In a village where every family goes to sea to fish for their business, Chen Lingnan, who ended his career as a fisherman prematurely, has become an embarrassing existence. At this time, two realities were placed in front of Chen Lingnan, one was that he finally didn't have to worry about living all day long, and the other was how to live.

There are two direct reasons for Chen Lingnan to come to Longju, one is that his younger brother Chen Lingbei quarreled about the separation, which made Chen Lingnan feel cold, and the other is that he fought with his wife Lin Zifang because of the separation of the family, which also made Chen Lingnan disheartened.

Let's talk about the separation from my younger brother Chen Lingbei first. Due to the early death of his parents, Chen Lingnan single-handedly pulled his younger brother up. After graduating from Chen Lingbei Middle School, Chen Lingnan begged his younger brother everywhere in order to prevent him from following in his footsteps, and sent his younger brother to the commune's seafood processing factory as a worker, and later asked him to marry him. As an elder brother, Chen Lingnan can be described as benevolent and righteous. However, less than half a year after the elder brother broke off two fingers, the younger brother quarreled and split up at the instigation of his younger brother and daughter-in-law, which really made Chen Lingnan feel cold.

Let's talk about quarreling with my wife. is the so-called poor couple mourning, Chen Lingnan's wife Lin Zifang felt that she had suffered a big loss because her brother-in-law had a few more fish maw when they split up. The problem is that she feels that she has suffered a loss, but she doesn't come forward to reason with her brother-in-law in person, she only knows that she talks endlessly in front of her husband. Lin Zifang's petty family spirit is not incomprehensible, because when the family was separated, Chen Lingnan was only given a half-tile house, a few broken bowls, more than a dozen catties of rice and a dozen fish maw, and a stepmother who was not related by blood. And the only thing that is valuable is fish maw, and it is indeed a big loss to divide a few less. In addition, the dozens of fish maw were secretly saved by the couple for many years with the production team on their backs, and they were prepared for the bottom of the box for their sons to start a family in the future. In order to preserve these dozens of fish maw for a long time, Lin Zifang wrapped three layers of waste newspaper tightly in and three layers outside. Worried about being discovered by the production team, they didn't dare to hang it out to dry, but hid it in the camphor wood box in the deepest part of the bed. For many years, Lin Zifang had to pout her butt almost every day and lie on the ground to drag the box out from under the bed and count the fish maw inside, and the number was right to sleep peacefully (never missed), which shows that this is almost Lin Zifang's life. This life was taken away by the little uncle at once, and Lin Zifang can imagine how entangled he was in his heart.

However, Chen Lingnan interprets from another angle, even if there are a few more fish maw when the family is divided, the family is just as poor, so a few less will not be poorer. The realm of the husband and wife is not at the same level, and they can't reach a consensus, Chen Lingnan is panicked in his heart, and there is nowhere to vent, and after several times of bickering, he finally couldn't bear to beat his wife. This is the first time in Chen Lingnan's life that he has beaten his wife, and his hands and feet are not serious, so it can be said that he beat Lin Zifang to the point that his nose and face are swollen. Lin Zifang found that her husband was crazy, so she ran back to her mother's house in the town overnight with her youngest son Chen Xiaohu, and when she left, she put down her cruel words and told Chen Lingnan to wait at home. Lin Zifang is a girl in a small town, her father is the head of the breeding pig breeding station in the town, and she is a ruthless person in the local rivers and lakes, and her mother has three wolf-like brothers. Chen Lingnan was a good man who didn't suffer the immediate losses, and escaped from his home overnight and was upside down.

When Chen Lingnan fled, he took away the two most valuable possessions of the family - a "permanent" car given by his wife's mother's family in the year of marriage and the dozen or so fish maw left after separating from his younger brother. Chen Lingnan carried fish maw and pedaled "permanently", ran for two days and two nights, and arrived at Longju 400 kilometers away hungry. This "permanent" car in Longju is Chen Lingnan's substitute car, but also Chen Lingnan's tool to make a living, from 71 years to buy it, to 87 years to be eliminated, fully followed Chen Lingnan for 16 years.

As for why he took away the dozen or so fish maw, it was definitely not a fight with Lin Zifang, it was really a last resort. Chen Lingnan's original plan was to take the dozen or so fish maw to the Seafood Dry Goods Supply and Marketing Cooperatives in the Phoenix City area and sell them for money, because he needed to be entangled when he went out. But I was still reluctant to make a move, because it was too precious, and it took my wife nearly ten years to save it at a huge political risk, and I couldn't explain it to my wife when I sold it in the future. Therefore, more than a dozen fish maw finally followed Chen Lingnan all the way to Longju. Even when he arrived in Longju, even if he was penniless, Chen Lingnan did not sell the fish maw. Until the spring of '86, Chen Lingnan smelled a stench of seafood under the bed, took it out to see, due to improper preservation, and caught up with the rain for several days, the fish maw wrapped in newspaper was damp and rotten, and maggots were born, that is, they could not be sold or eaten. Chen Lingnan looked at the maggots surging on the ground, looked back on the past, hugged his head and cried, and while crying, he considered whether to throw it away or wash it and eat it. Chen Lingnan struggled in his heart for a full day, and finally threw them away.

Due to the haste of leaving home, he did not go through the corresponding travel procedures, and although he successfully wandered to Longju, he failed to enter the factory. In the first two months of his arrival in Longju, Chen Lingnan's experience can be described as "miserable", exposed to the sun and rain, hungry and cold, and his relatives were like lost dogs. What's even more miserable is that after riding a bicycle for two days and two nights in a row, the hemorrhoids that have occurred for many years have been committed again, with extremely itchy and painful pain, and blood in the stool. Because he had no money for treatment, he could only deal with it simply by himself, and he was tortured to death. Many years later, the brilliant Chen Lingnan is willing to ridicule his once depressed past in front of his friends, even at this time, Chen Lingnan tries not to recall the first two months, and is even more shy about being known about that unbearable experience. How to say it, except for the fucking didn't reach out to beg with others, Chen Lingnan at that time was no different from calling Huazi. However, those days did not last forever, and two months later Chen Lingnan found a way to make a living.

Jian Guangling first met Chen Lingnan in the evening of his arrival in Longju, next to a pile of waste products on the edge of a fish pond in the middle of a banana field in Gangfeng Village, Fulongtang Township. At this time, Chen Lingnan was already quite good, with a fixed occupation, a lot of income, and an invisible rich. In fact, in Longju, an emerging city full of opportunities, as long as you have the heart and are willing to work, it is not very difficult to make a fortune, and you can also make a fortune by scavenging. Chen Lingnan is engaged in this profession, although it is not decent, but it can get rich. What especially makes Chen Lingnan satisfied with the status quo is that he does not have to be oppressed by capitalists like a worker in a factory, nor does he have to be afraid of going to sea like he did in his hometown in the past. Moreover, it has been proven that life can indeed change if you are diligent enough.

A year ago, with a little savings, Chen Lingnan expanded his business, not only picking up scrap, but also buying scrap products. Chen Lingnan supported his car, carried an iron hook for work, and roamed the streets and alleys of Fulongtang, near factories and schools, and beside the highway, half collecting and half picking up, rain or shine. At that time, the Chinese people had a weak concept of waste products, and the useless things at home were often thrown away, and even if they were sold, they basically had no bargaining power. Chen Lingnan's favorite waste product is waste paper, especially waste cartons. The carton is neat, easy to bundle, and easy to load. In Longju, a light industrial city with a booming development, waste cartons have never been sold. If you are a little less virtuous, stuff other waste paper into the waste carton, sprinkle some water into it, or mix it with sand, and the profit will be even more considerable. But you can't mix cement, and cement is the most lacking in waste cartons, because cement will harden when it encounters water, and the machine will be damaged during secondary processing.

In the past two years, that "permanent" car has made great contributions to Chen Lingnan's fortune. At that time, many people in Fulongtang had seen such a scene - a skinny guy who wore a tattered vest in spring, summer, autumn and winter, carried two or three hundred pounds or even heavier piles of waste like a hill with a sixty-percent new bicycle, and walked forward at a forty-five degree angle between his body and the ground. The amazing thing is that this guy can still ride and pedal, and he looks like a juggler. What's even worse is the "permanent", many passers-by wait to see it fall apart halfway through, or watch it twist and deform the wheels halfway through. However, everyone was disappointed, and it was extremely loyal, and stood every shift for its master.

Due to the expansion of the scale of the business, a year ago, Chen Lingnan rented two points of wasteland by the pond from the wife of Lin Binghui, the mayor of Fulongtang Town, at a monthly rent of 5 yuan, and built a simple shack with scrap wood, cow felt and iron sheets. From then on, this was his place of refuge and the starting point of his career. In the past two years, Chen Lingnan would send money home on time, but he never went back. It's not that he is afraid of his wife's revenge, there is a fight at the head of the bed and at the end of the bed, Lin Zifang has already forgiven him. Not going home is purely to make more money and then return home.

For two years, Chen Lingnan often had the same dream, dreaming that he was buried by a mountain of waste products. Chen Lingnan, who was buried under the waste mountain, was out of breath, unable to move, and calling for help was to no avail, so he could only wait quietly for death. In the dream, Chen Lingnan felt extremely happy, because he saw mountains of waste paper, scrap iron, scrap copper, scrap aluminum, scrap plastic, and even scrap gold, etc., all of which were wealth. Chen Lingnan was buried by wealth and felt happy to death.

When Jian Guangling met Chen Lingnan by the pond that day, Chen Lingnan was squatting outside the shack under a banana tree dripping with water on his long wet shoulders and wearing a pair of white summer cloth pants. In early spring and February, the weather is still cold, and there is still a drizzle of fog in the sky. The stove made of a few bricks is "crackling" with firewood, and the pot on the stove is a blackened aluminum rectangular lunch box, two chopsticks instead of a spatula, and a four-finger-wide crucian carp is boiling in the pot, and the enticing aroma of soy sauce and shallots wafts in the air.

Seeing this scene, Jian Guangling didn't know whether the wet guy in front of him was called Hanako or a mental patient. Looking at the monster squatting on the ground, Jian Guangyan was even more surprised. Before this, the thinnest person Jian Guangling had ever seen was himself, who was 1.6 meters tall and weighed only a little over 80 pounds, and the dozen or so ribs on his chest were shocking. However, the person in front of him is as good as himself, about 1.7 meters tall, the heavenly court is extremely full, the eye sockets are deep, the cheekbones are provish, the skin and bones are covered in the body, the buttocks are as sharp as an awl, and he is draped with long hair that has not been cut for at least half a year, squatting on the ground looks like a former Qing relict who twisted his braids and lost his hardcore crops during the Republic of China.

Jian Guangling would meet Chen Lingnan on the first day of his arrival in Longju because he could not successfully enter his cousin-in-law Cheng Jiaju's textile factory.

Why bother with this?

Sure enough, when I was in my hometown, why bother to brag about it again. At first, He Ku wrote to his sister He Qi that he wanted to come to Longju, and He Qi did agree. It's just that He Qi thought that his younger brother came alone, but he didn't know that there were five of them at once. He Qi's husband Zheng Jiaju is indeed a Hong Kong native, so he is fake. It is also true that the husband and wife did open a textile factory in Longju. The problem is that Cheng Ka-kui is not a rich Hong Kong man, and the textile factory is not as brilliant as he imagined.

The textile factory is just a simple iron house of about 200 square meters, and there are more than a dozen oil-stained second-hand textile machines in the workshop, and the processed products are only semi-finished products. To put it bluntly, the textile factory is actually just a three-no workshop. The boss Zheng Jiaju is not very old, born in 60, two years younger than his wife He Qi, and the same year as his brother-in-law He Ku, short stature, roe head rat eyes, it is estimated that he can't find a wife in Hong Kong.

Zheng Jiaju is responsible for contacting the business outside, and the so-called contact business is to accompany the big boss to eat, drink and have fun, and when the big boss is happy, the business will be there. He Qi is in charge of management, in fact, there is nothing to manage, there are only about a dozen people in the factory. Workers have enough to eat, and they still have a salary of 50 yuan a month, which is 10 million times stronger than in their hometown, so they naturally rush to work and don't need to manage at all. The proprietress He Qi also works in front of the machine most of the time, cooking for a dozen or so workers part-time, which is actually harder than the workers.

He Qi came to Longju in the seventy-seventh year. He Jimei was seriously ill that year, and his old squad leader in Longju went to visit him in Guazhou, and when he saw his slim niece He Qi, he had the intention of recruiting him as his daughter-in-law, so he brought people back to Longju. The old squad leader was the leader of the Longju Military Sub-district Hospital, and He Qi was assigned a job as a nurse in the Military Sub-district Hospital. But the two young people have no fate, and the son of the old squad leader died on the front line until 79, and he didn't be able to meet his future wife, so Zheng Jiaju was cheaper.

The couple's small business has just started, which has already exhausted everything they have. Now there are five at once, and it really stumps them. It's a lot of extra money, not to mention that you don't need it – first of all, there aren't enough looms. Arrange one or two, then what about the others? Let them go back to their hometown? So who will stay and who will go back to their hometown? After discussion, the couple finally decided to house at most two in their own factory. As for the remaining three, the couple went separately to inquire about the nearby factories to see if there were any factories recruiting workers. I heard, of course, it's the best. I didn't hear it, and I couldn't help them, so I could only let them go back the way they came.

It turned out that Zheng Jiaju had a wide range of roads, and he inquired about it on the same day, and all three of them were the newly opened paint factory of a Hong Kong friend whom Zheng Jiaju knew, which was located on the edge of the pond outside Gangfeng Village, Fulongtang Town. Zheng Jiaju's friend is called Guo Hongsheng. Guo Hongsheng took a fancy to He Ku, He Yusheng and He Wen at first. The paint factory is a high-intensity manual labor, and these three people are already adults, and they are strong and strong, which is just right. Why bother to be thin, Jian Guangyan is short, Guo Hongsheng didn't take a fancy to it. But Zheng Jiaju didn't take a fancy to why bother and Jian Guangyan. Why bother to buy a can of "Jianlibao" for himself as soon as he came to Longju, and drank it all the way from the train station to the factory with the only money left on his body, which left a very bad impression on Zheng Jiaju who came to pick up the station. Jian Guangling, on the other hand, was thin, green-complexed, severely malnourished, and didn't look like a material that could work. Zheng Jiaju and Guo Hongsheng argued for a long time, Zheng Jiaju was able to speak well, leaving his brother-in-law He Ku and He Yusheng, and Guo Hongsheng took in the other three. It was on the way back to the paint factory with Guo Hongsheng that Jian Guangling met Chen Lingnan.

Chen Lingnan noticed Jian Guangling more than a year later. That evening, Chen Lingnan patronized and buried himself in cooking, and the group didn't look up at all when they passed by. For a long time after that, Chen Lingnan didn't notice Jian Guangyan. Although the paint factory located opposite the reservoir was a stone's throw away, Chen Lingnan never went in once because he had no business dealings. Until one morning in the summer of the following year, Jian Guangyan, who smelled of paint, came to Chen Lingnan's stinky scrap station and asked Chen Lingnan if he could accept the raw material barrels.

Of course, Chen Lingnan accepted it, but he was still surprised, because the raw material barrels of the paint factory have always been recycled by the raw material manufacturers, so why would they be sold as scrap this time.

Jian Guangyan said that the raw material factory collected good barrels and could be recycled, while Chen Lingnan collected waste barrels and could only be used as waste products.

Hearing this, Chen Lingnan's heart suddenly cooled. Scrapped barrels of chemical raw materials are also chicken ribs among waste products, not to mention that they can't afford to sell at a price, and they are still dangerous to deal with. Chemical residues undergo a chemical reaction in the barrel to form a combustible gas, which can explode if not properly handled. The "Daffodil" paint factory, which is also located in Fulongtang Town, had an explosion of a raw material barrel last year, cutting off the entire arm of a stupid hat worker in the factory.

Chen Lingnan originally didn't want to take this business, because he really couldn't make two dollars, so there was no need to take risks. But after thinking about it, the first time people came to the door, they still took it, maybe there would be business in the future, so they went to the factory with Jian Guangyan. But this time, Jian Guangyan still didn't leave any impression on Chen Lingnan. In the past few years, Chen Lingnan has been an old man who has read countless people, what impression can a factory worker leave on him!

But soon Chen Lingnan found that he had underestimated Jian Guangling.

That day, Jian Guangyan took Chen Lingnan into the paint factory, let Chen Lingnan take a look at the scrapped iron bucket in the yard, and asked Chen Lingnan to quote the purchase price, but did not let Chen Lingnan take the iron bucket away, but found an excuse to send Chen Lingnan away. The business was not negotiated, and Chen Lingnan did not regret it, and even wished that it would be so. Because it is indeed chicken ribs, dozens of 200-liter tin buckets, not to mention that they can't make a lot of money at a time, and they have to rent a car to carry it, which is basically equivalent to a porter. But three days later, Jian Guangyan came to the door again and asked Chen Lingnan to go to the factory to collect barrels.

Chen Lingnan said that you should find someone else, I will not accept it.

Jian Guangyan said why.

Chen Lingnan said I don't have a car.

Jian Guangyan said that you rent a car.

Chen Lingnan said that there was no money to be made, and renting a car would not be a loss.

Jian Guangyan said you fart.

Chen Lingnan said if you don't believe it, go ask other waste collectors to see if they are willing to accept it.

Jian Guangyan said, "It's so good, you can't take it."

Chen Lingnan said, "Okay, of course I'll take it."

Jian Guangyan said, "Okay, what price do you charge?"

Chen Lingnan said twelve yuan a piece.

Jian Guangyan said that you fart, it's all fourteen.

Chen Lingnan said fourteen is fourteen, how many do you have.

Jian Guangyan said that there are eight, but you have to take away the scrapped barrels together.

Chen Lingnan said that it was completely okay, and I rented a car and went to the factory to pull it.

Jian Guangyan said that eight good barrels were one hundred and twelve, thirty-one scrapped barrels were ninety-three, a total of two hundred and five—you give me the money first.

Chen Lingnan said why.

Jian Guangyan said that I mix good barrels with waste barrels, and you don't have to say anything when you go to the factory, just move them all into the car.

Chen Lingnan is also an old Jianghu, and he understands what is going on when he hears it. The mystery is that Jian Guangyan sells good barrels as scrap, and there is a price difference of eleven yuan in the middle, and the price difference of eight barrels is eighty-eight yuan. If the boss didn't find out, the eighty-eight would have gone into his Jian Guangyan's personal pocket.

4

After entering the factory through the introduction of his cousin-in-law Zheng Jiaju, Jian Guangyan's first predicament was skin allergies. This is the first time most people come into contact with paint, and He Bi and He Wen have not been spared, but the allergy is a little lighter than Jian Guangyan. At first, the skin became extremely dry, and the itching all over the body was unbearable, and the more I scratched, the more itchy I was. Scratched a rash, and then swollen like a steamed bun just out of the cage, burning, painful, unable to sleep, sore throat, loss of appetite, unable to open eyes. This pain lasts for a few days or more than a dozen days or even longer, until the swelling gradually subsides, the dead skin falls off, and finally desensitization is successful, and the phoenix nirvana.

The work in the paint factory is comparable to that of coolies, and the environment is extremely harsh, and the three of them still cherish this job very much. As soon as they arrived in Longju, they successfully entered the factory, which was lucky enough, not to mention that the salary of 60 yuan per month greatly exceeded their expectations. The three of them met a good boss, except for the first month's salary that was not paid as a deposit, and the boss Guo Hongsheng would not maliciously default and deduct every month's salary, and it was very rare for a boss to do this. is not compared with the far away, just compared with Zheng Jiaju, Zheng Jiaju is not bad in nature, positive, diligent and hardworking, but once it comes to the problem of money, there is no human touch, including why bother with his brother-in-law. When he was in his hometown, he naively thought that he would get special care from his brother-in-law when he came to Longju, but he didn't. Zheng Jiaju's salary for him is about the same as that of other workers, only ten yuan more, sixty yuan a month, and the same food and housing.

"You're here to learn things, and you can't just come up and want to get a high salary. I'm going to pay you a high salary at the beginning, and that's a disservice to you. Zheng Jiaju was stingy and eloquent.

In everyone's imagination, it seems that the people who come from Hong Kong are all rich people like Fok Yingdong and Bao Yugang. In fact, except for a very small number of patriots, most of the Hong Kong people who came to invest in the mainland during this period were speculators, and there were not many who were really strong. This is not difficult to understand, because the country has just opened up, the policy is unclear, and the industrial chain is incomplete, so the really powerful boss does not need to take risks. It is often the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises in the low-end manufacturing industry who dare to take risks, attracted by cheap labor and land rents in the mainland. And the most are pure adventurers like Zheng Jiaju and Guo Hongsheng, young and penniless. In Hong Kong, they are actually at the bottom of society, from humble backgrounds, without culture, without a way out, and some have the ambition to get ahead and have a broader vision than mainlanders. At first, they worked with the boss from Hong Kong for a few years, and after accumulating a little capital and a little experience and technology, they set up their own business. Rent a simple workshop, buy some second-hand equipment, hire a few cheap laborers, and become a boss. In this seller-led market-led era, as long as you have the courage to be the boss, you can make a fortune. They are well-dressed, carrying faux leather briefcases on their shoulders, and they seem to be rich people with a lot of money, but in fact, they are shy and bluffing. Experienced people never believe what they say, because they are full of trains. Experienced people can clearly know how many pounds and taels they have by looking at the way they walk. If they walk with their backs hunched and shoulders hunched, looking around as if holding their urine to find a toilet, and at the same time walking in a hurry, they must still be looking for opportunities, and they must not have mixed up yet. Even if you block the car behind, you have to wait for the other party to press the horn for a long time before you slowly give way, and don't forget to turn around and scold before giving way: Lose your mother, go to reincarnation.

Guo Hongsheng belongs to the latter group. Guo Hongsheng is 28 years old, unmarried, and his family is in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, and he had a short experience in the underworld, and only came to the mainland after being expelled from the underworld because of greed for life and fear of death. Last year, he was also a paint ingredient at the "Daffodil" paint factory, and after mastering the paint production process, he borrowed some money from relatives and friends and became his own boss. Jian Guangyan He Wen was the first batch of workers he recruited. The factory conditions are simple, a 100-square-meter tin house workshop, a manpower forklift that often strikes, several tin mixing drums, and more than a dozen kinds of raw materials, which constitute the whole of the factory. Guo Hongsheng is generous and generous, plus he is the first time to be a boss, he has no concept of cost, in addition to not maliciously defaulting on deducting workers' wages, he will also give workers small favors when he is in a good mood on weekdays, which is called "special work allowance". He Wen and Jian Guangyan should be the first mainland workers to get the "special type of work allowance", before and for many years after, all the allowances were only for foreign employees, and the mainland workers would be fired if they thought about it.

Paint production is all done by hand. There is also no division of labor in the positions of the workers, and they are all generalists. Every day's work is Guo Hongsheng's hand-in-hand guidance, three workers mix various chemical raw materials into the mixing drum in proportion, and then use a one-meter-long steel pipe to continuously stir in the barrel until it is stirred well. If carrying raw materials is hard work, mixing raw materials is the coolie of coolies. Due to the different densities and viscosities of various raw materials, mixing them evenly is definitely a test of physical strength and patience, and at the same time, it is necessary to endure various pungent odors, and there can be no pause in between, otherwise it will affect the quality of the paint. Even if three people take turns stirring, and a bucket of raw materials turns into qualified paint, people are basically already sweating and dizzy.

Guo Hongsheng's paint factory has been booming since it opened. Workers work variable hours, based on the number of orders on the previous day. Sometimes I work all morning, sometimes I work late at night, and I leave work when the order is completed. Early the next morning, the first thing I did when I woke up was to load the divided paint onto the manpower three-wheeled flatbed. Guo Hongsheng pulled the paint to the freight company and distributed it to customers everywhere.

Guo Hongsheng has been the boss for less than two months, one morning he pulled a cart of paint out to deliver it, and after going out for less than an hour, he returned to the factory covered in mud, saying that the paint had been robbed.

Guo Hongsheng said that there are so many poor ghosts in your mainland, I have only heard of robbing gold and silver in Hong Kong, but I didn't expect that there are even people robbing paint in your mainland.

Everyone lives a very fulfilling life, because they can no longer be hungry, and they can still eat meat every day, and everyone's wish can be fulfilled on the day they receive their salary from Guo Hongsheng.

After receiving his salary, Jian Guangyan left 20 yuan for himself, and remitted the rest home through the post office for the tuition and miscellaneous expenses and daily expenses of his younger siblings. The same goes for Ho Wen. Why bother to be the youngest son in the family, the burden is light, and all the salary can be left by yourself. But even so, why bother is always the one who is most short of money among the three, because he has three hobbies, eating snacks, drinking "Jianlibao", and dressing up.

After coming to Longju, snacks and "Jianlibao" are indispensable every day. "Arctic Ocean" soda did not enter the southern market, why should you be hooked on "Jianlibao". Why don't you be addicted to anything else, except for "Jianlibao". If there are detailed statistics, why bother is likely to be the person who drinks "Jianlibao" the most in China. From 84 years to 01 years when he immigrated to the United States, he had to drink almost every day, and then he basically didn't drink much water.

Dressing up is why bother's favorite. In order to buy a pair of "crocodile brand" leather shoes, why save money for half a year, but the leather shoes were bought and put on the feet within two months, and the toe of the shoes opened the crocodile mouth. From childhood to adulthood, even if there is a lack of food and clothing, why bother has never forgotten the pursuit of beauty. If he doesn't look pretty before going out, he will become restrained and inferior. is also because I love to dress up, why bother everywhere is a landscape. Another reason why people are concerned about their preference for the color of their clothes, such as red and white. Imagine how eye-catching it was for a tall, thin and handsome boy with sideburns, toad glasses, a red shirt, bell bottoms, and white leather shoes in the early to mid-80s, when blue, black and gray were the dominant colors. For this reason, in the first year of Longju, why bother to have a thunderous nickname on the rivers and lakes - "prostitute guy".

Dressing up is not a hobby for one person, and the same is true for bothering. Why don't you pay attention to the color of your clothes like your younger brother, you only pay attention to fashion. Why bother to worship the Japanese actor Ken Takakura, in order to imitate his idol, he insisted on pestering his sister He Qi to buy him a "Pierre Cardin" windbreaker from Hong Kong, and wore it on his body for a while (it was summer when I bought it, and it was discounted by 998 Hong Kong dollars).

He bothered to come to Longju and soon became one with a group of Jiangxi people. The group of Jiangxi people came from Ganzhou, Jiangxi, and pedaled tricycles in Longju. At this time, all the people who were pedaling three wheels in the dragon were Ganzhou people. The only explanation for this strange phenomenon is that a certain Ganzhou person who did not enter the factory accidentally set foot in this line of work, and accidentally found that this line of work can make a living, so he passed two and two and three among the villagers, and finally formed a monopoly. For example, Hong Kong people are all bosses, people from northern Jiangxi and southern Hubei are all street sellers, people from Phoenix City work as hardware and building materials and contract foremen, and Sichuan people open restaurants and barber shops. If there is a non-countryman in an industry, then this non-countryman is either an absolutely powerful character, or a two-hundred-and-five, but no matter what he is, he will be miserable.

As the so-called like gathers like, he has always been the king of children in his hometown, and soon after he came to Longju, he had a hot fight with the leader of the Ganzhou people, "Teacher Xiong", and soon had a nickname of "Hunan Mule". "Teacher Xiong" is two or three years older than He Ku, and the two are called brothers, and they get together when they have time. "Teacher Xiong" has a name that has exploded - William Xiong. People who don't know this name will subconsciously be in awe of him, because history textbooks tell everyone that anyone named "Charlie", "William", "Henry", "Louis", "Edward" is not a ordinary person.

"Teacher Xiong" is not an ordinary person. "Teacher Xiong" was a mathematics teacher in a township primary school in Ganzhou earlier, and in 79 years, he happened to see the news of Longju's opening up from the newspaper, and immediately smashed the iron rice bowl and ran here, and stood at the top of the food chain as soon as he came. "Teacher Xiong" has delicate facial features, medium height, lean body, loves to use a cone in fights, and has injured many people in Longju over the years, which makes people talk about it, and three years ago he also caught up with Lin Leyi, the niece of Lin Binghui, the mayor of Fulongtang Town, which can be said to be an absolutely powerful character.

The tricycle industry monopolized by "Mr. Xiong" is a lucrative business. In the early 80s, when private cars were still rare, taxis were not yet commonplace, and buses were intermittent, riding a tricycle was often a luxury for Hong Kong bosses to show off their status. The fashionably dressed Hong Kong boss lies on the back seat of the flannel, the tricycle driver in a vest or shirtless sweats in front, the tricycle driver sps down the dusty road, the tricycle driver is happy in his heart, and the capitalist has a light on his face.

The most powerful tricycle pedal under "Teacher Xiong" is a Ganzhou guy named Wen Dongsheng. This guy carried two adult men of standard weight from Fulongtang to Longju City People's Hospital 20 kilometers in only 28 minutes, just like flying, and there was no traffic accident. The reason why this guy fought so hard at that time was because the guest had appendicitis and rushed to the hospital to have his appendix removed. The harvest of that trip was naturally not cheap, and he earned a red 100 yuan Hong Kong bill, which was a sensation.

However, the threshold of the tricycle industry is not low, and not everyone can participate in it. First of all, you have to be from Ganzhou, secondly, you have to have good physical strength, and finally you have to have at least a tricycle. The price of a rickshaw is not cheap at all, and it can cost hundreds of dollars at every turn. Because of this, an interesting phenomenon appeared during this period, that is, usually two or even three Ganzhou people run a tricycle in partnership, and each person takes turns pedaling for a day. Even so, everyone earns a lot. In good times, the income is even hundreds a day, and in bad times, there are twenty or thirty, which is a hundred times stronger than working in a factory. Half of the money earned by the driver every day is handed over to "Teacher Xiong", and the other half goes to himself. However, the coachmen are also reluctant, because "Teacher Xiong" is responsible for protecting their personal and property safety, such as he has to come forward to coordinate in case of disputes, he is responsible for calling back when he is beaten, and he has to bear the food, clothing, housing, transportation and medical expenses during the period when he is injured and sick and has no income, and so on. Without the cover of "Teacher Xiong", you won't be able to do it for long.

At this time, there were nearly 30 coachmen under "Teacher Xiong", and the daily commission was five or six hundred, and even if all expenses were removed, there would be at least four or five hundred, and the monthly income would easily exceed 10,000 yuan. In eighty-four years, the monthly income of tens of thousands is no different from today's monthly income of millions, which can be described as amazing. However, not all of this money went into the pockets of "Teacher Xiong", and part of it was given to his uncle Lin Binghui. Without Lin Binghui's cover, "Teacher Xiong" won't be able to do it for long.

At this time, there were already four up-and-coming rogue forces in Longju. One gang is the Ganzhou gang headed by "Teacher Xiong" Xiong William. The gang is the Hubei gang headed by "glasses" Wu Ruifang, which monopolizes the wholesale of vegetables and fruits in Longju. The gang is a Sichuan gang headed by "Brother Consumption" Li Qianmei, who is engaged in gambling and entertainment. The strongest is the Longju local gang headed by "Sister Man", which monopolizes the river sand mining, sand and gravel transportation and private lending business in Longju.

There is an essential difference between the hooligan brothers at this time and the later hooligan brothers, that is, the first label on their bodies is not hooligans, but businessmen. They are hooligans because of business needs, not because they are aggressive. They generally have a higher level of education and are generally from superior backgrounds. "Teacher Xiong"'s parents are middle and senior leaders of the state-owned cement factory, and "Teacher Xiong" himself graduated from secondary school. "Glasses" Wu Ruifang went to a high school, and worked as an accountant in a state-owned enterprise in his hometown for two years before coming to Longju, and his father was the leader of the state-owned agricultural and sideline products company. "Brother Consumption" Li Ganmei comes from a civil servant family in Chengdu, Sichuan, with the highest education, graduated from Chengdu Higher Normal College, college diploma, worked as a literary editor for a short time, is a literary youth, and is said to have published poetry in magazines. "Sister Man" has the most special background, the nearly forty-year-old "Sister Man", whose real name is Huang Yanni, is an overseas Chinese in Indonesia, and the family returned to the motherland in the sixties. The reason why "Sister Man" is called Sister Man is because her husband Lin Yihui's nickname is "Xiao Man". "Xiaoman" Lin Yihui is a famous patriotic overseas Chinese. "Xiao Man" was a well-known handsome man in Fulongtang, but unfortunately died young, and was shot dead on the spot by the public security armed police during the "Strike Hard" period of '83 because he resisted arrest. After Lin Yihui's death, "Sister Man" inherited her husband's mantle.

He didn't come to Longju soon after he started chasing his girlfriend, he was already twenty-four years old. The girl he pursued was named Yan Ruyu, an office clerk in the textile factory next door. Yan Ruyu went to vocational school, and after graduation, she stood at the counter in a department store in her hometown for two years. Why bother pursuing Yan Ruyu is the idea of her sister He Qi. He Qi also worked in that textile factory after resigning from the Longju Military Sub-district Hospital, and Yan Ruyu was a colleague and fellow countryman. Yan Ruyu is beautiful, slender, and doesn't talk much, she belongs to the kind of girl who is good-looking and smart. What is admirable is Yan Ruyu's business vision, she works in the factory during the day, and at night she partners with a Jiangxi girl in the factory to do business outside, setting up a stall on Fulongtang Street, specializing in selling mosquito nets. Longju is located in the south, the city is backed by mountains and facing the sea, and there are many mosquitoes that can be heard for 12 months of the year. Locals seem to be accustomed to it, but outsiders can't stand it, being bitten by mosquitoes, and they can't live without mosquito nets.

The mosquito nets sold by Yan Ruyu are made in Japan and imported from Hong Kong. This kind of nylon mosquito net is light and breathable, fashionable and beautiful, and very cost-effective. The only flaw is that it is not fireproof, and a large hole comes out of the pop soot on it. Migrant workers often take care of one of these mosquito nets as if they were treasures, and they do not forget to carefully store the packaging bags and film inner bags before use, because even if they don't work in Longju one day, they will definitely have to take them back to their hometown in the countryside. In the country home, it will be a very decent belonging, and the girl will use it as a dowry, and the young man will use it to decorate the marriage bed.

The wage earners of these years are all fetishes, and every time they return to their hometowns during the Spring Festival, they will do their best to take everything they have. Quilts, pillows, mattresses, clothes, pants, shoes and socks, hammers, axes, kitchen knives, toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash cups, soap, soap, laundry detergent, plastic basins, plastic buckets, plastic benches, plastic chairs, and even aluminum stairs, sewers, plastic pipes, etc., all of which add up to more than the wage earners themselves. The thin workers are carrying on their shoulders, like an ant dragging a big steamed bun, staggering and sweating, but everyone's face is full of happiness and splendor, which is really moving.

Due to the huge market, Yan Ruyu's mosquito net business is quite prosperous, with an average of ten and eight nets sold every night, and two people can earn six or seven yuan each, which is much higher than the salary in the factory in a month. In order to pursue Yan Ruyu, at first he followed the two girls out to practice at the stall every night. After a while, Yan Ruyu didn't let him go, because he didn't allow the guests to bargain and always quarreled with the guests.

"Since having you, my business has gone from bad to worse. Yan Ruyu complained in front of He Ku.