Trains in the early seventies were quite crowded.
Zhang Hongcheng got on the bus in the middle of the night, so his ticket was naturally a standing ticket without a seat number.
He walked through several carriages before finding a seat near the door at the connection between the carriages.
Zhang Hongcheng took out an old newspaper from his bag and put an old piece of clothing under it, then leaned comfortably against the train door and dozed off.
He didn't dare sleep too deeply, mainly because the old envelope was hidden in his underwear pocket.
As for the things in the bag, the most important things were a bottle of chili sauce and six steamed buns he stole from home. As for a few sets of clothes, he didn't care much.
His dispatch documents, letters of introduction, certificates of merit and other items were not with him. They had all been sent to Fatty Hu in another time and space for safekeeping a few days ago.
Zhang Hongcheng was carrying ten Great Unity coupons and ten nationally used [five-jin] food coupons on his body.
He survived the day on six steamed buns with chili sauce.
When he arrived in Xinyang, he got off the bus and bought some steamed buns, and luckily managed to grab a seat.
He didn't pay much attention when his seatmates tried to chat with him.
He was too embarrassed to say that he was going to the Great Northern Wilderness as an educated youth. It was too strange that he didn't even have any luggage.
The ticket given by the Youth League Office was from Taoling to Jixi, but in fact there was no direct train.
This required the educated youth to transfer to other trains in Hebei Province to leave the country.
Anyway, the conductor only recognizes the departure and destination on the ticket, and of course, it must match your letter of introduction.
As long as you don't go off the track, you can get on the train at will with this educated youth ticket.
Zhang Hongcheng did not get off the bus in Hebei Province. He rode all the way to the final destination - Beijing.
How could he not come and take a look when passing through the capital of his motherland?
Beijing Railway Station is crowded with people.
Fortunately, most people in the country dressed similarly, so no one noticed that something was wrong with him.
These days, you need a letter of introduction to travel far, especially to Beijing.
The letter of introduction that Zhang Hongcheng received to be sent to the Northeast could not allow him to enter the capital.
He saw the staff at the station exit meticulously checking everyone's work ID and letter of introduction. Those who did not have any proof were taken away directly to be collected by their units or neighborhood committees.
Zhang Hongcheng turned around and went to the toilet, and took out a letter of introduction with a bright red official seal from an old envelope in the toilet cubicle.
This was prepared for him by Fatty Hu.
The fat man spent a lot of effort to get the letter of introduction to Beijing for this year.
It’s not that Zhang Hongcheng and Fatty don’t want to forge one, but the corresponding paper, ink, and font are difficult to get, so it’s better to just accept one in good condition.
Zhang Hongcheng took the letter of introduction and squeezed over to show it to the staff. In addition, he spoke in almost fluent Beijing dialect, which made people think that he was someone who often came to Beijing.
What the staff hate most is people who like to show off, so they just glance at them and let them go.
The city of Beijing in 1972 was not as gray as later generations described.
What Zhang Hongcheng saw was exactly the opposite: a capital city with vibrant colors.
All I see is red!
Zhang Hongcheng stopped in Beijing and had three main things to do.
The first thing to do is naturally to visit Beijing in 1972;
The second thing is to go to the area around the former site of the Beijing Philatelic Company to find some good stamps;
The last thing I did was to go to Tianqiao Department Store to buy the belongings I was bringing to Northeast China.
With the letter of introduction in hand, Zhang Hongcheng first found a guesthouse to stay in, and then played in Beijing for a day.
It was not until the next day that we found the alley near the philatelic company.
Since a few years ago, the philatelic company suddenly closed down.
But there are still sporadic philatelic enthusiasts exchanging stamps with each other around the philatelic company.
However, such behavior is limited to not involving money or materials.
The stamps they took out were all of suitable themes.
Zhang Hongcheng walked into the alley empty-handed, and those holding stamp albums gave him strange looks.
Firstly, because he was young and unfamiliar, and secondly, few people came here without their stamp albums.
So either Zhang Hongcheng was a young man who came to watch the fun, or he came to buy and sell stamps.
They don't care about the former, but they avoid the latter.
If you get caught buying and selling stamps, it would be considered true speculation.
Seeing everyone's wary eyes, Zhang Hongcheng of course understood what was going on. He took out five stamps of different colors from his schoolbag.
When they saw the stamps in his hand, their expressions relaxed a little and they gathered around him.
"Oh, it's the five-color national emblem stamp from 1951!"
These people were very knowledgeable and recognized the stamps Zhang Hongcheng took out at a glance.
This is a special stamp of the "National Emblem" issued in 1951.
Fatty Hu took back the coins for 3,800 each just to give Zhang Hongcheng some confidence.
This set of stamps was rare in the 1970s. It was not until the 1980s when philately became popular again that philatelists discovered that a considerable number of them were still in existence.
The price of each one is over 3,500 yuan.
In 1972, when philately was suppressed, this complete set of special stamps was quite popular.
"Little comrade, what kind of stamps do you want to exchange?"
Zhang Hongcheng's surroundings immediately started to hear a flurry of questions.
Several stamp albums were handed over attentively.
Zhang Hongcheng took them one by one and flipped through them for a long time, but there were not many that he liked.
It is obvious that no one is a fool, and the things they are willing to exchange are not good stuff.
He simply asked directly.
“Is there a bright red theme?”
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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