Chapter 6: It's a waste of time if I don't sell monkey tickets
The food in the cafeteria of District Committee D School is good, but it’s a pity that it costs a lot of food coupons.
Lin Weimin thought so while chewing the steamed bun in his hand.
After a year in the countryside, the sense of crisis about food had penetrated into his bones. He had only eaten a few meals of rice and flour in the countryside in a year, and when he suddenly had a meal of all fine grains, he actually felt a little guilty.
Damn it, what a bastard!
Lin Weimin cursed himself.
I used to worry about it when I couldn’t eat it, and now that I can eat it, I start to worry about it again.
He concluded that it was because they had no money!
The cafeteria was bustling with people not only from the Literature Institute but also from the staff, cadres and those who came for further studies at D School.
Lin Weimin ate all the food in the aluminum lunch box and almost licked the plate. When he went to wash the lunch box, he saw a middle-aged man who looked like a cadre pouring the leftovers into the slop bucket next to the sink. He frowned.
The rich have wine and meat, but the poor freeze to death on the streets.
In the 1980s, most farmers in the country had just enough to eat, but some people were already pursuing a higher level than just having enough food.
After finishing their meal, some students wandered around D School in groups of three or four, while others returned to the dormitory.
Lin Weimin turned into a hangout in the dormitory, chatting with people everywhere, and didn't come back until after seven in the evening.
There was no movement in the dormitory at this time. Jiao Yundian was writing at his desk, Guo Yudao was reading a book, and Huang Zonghan was nowhere to be seen just like him.
Seeing the two uncles in their forties and fifties working so diligently, Lin Weimin couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, but this feeling was fleeting.
People are different. Like most of the students in the institute, the two uncles have official status. Jiao Yundian is a cadre of the Xishan County Cultural Bureau, Guo Yudao is a member of the cultural center's creative team, and Huang Zonghan, who was wandering outside, also started out as an editor.
These people have suffered in the past, but now they are living a pretty good life.
Some people are considered cadres, and some may not even be considered officials, but at least they all make a living by writing. Not only do they have salaries and royalties, but they also receive subsidies from government agencies. Compared with theirs, Lin Weimin's current conditions are not a bit worse.
After traveling through time for a year, he has already let it go. It doesn't matter whether one travels through time or not. It is the times that make heroes, not heroes that make the times.
In the rural areas of Heilongjiang Province at that time, even if you had great abilities, it would be difficult to display them.
I have finally managed to get out of this corner, so the right thing to do is to study how to improve my living conditions.
Lin Weimin felt his pocket. Of the 280 yuan, 120 yuan was the royalties he earned from writing novels, and the remaining 160 yuan was the money he saved from his four years in the countryside.
It took four years to save up only 160 yuan. It is so sad and makes people cry when they hear it.
With this amount of money, you can't buy many editions of the "Gengshen Monkey Stamps" that were just issued this year.
The hobby of stamp collecting started to emerge in China in the 1950s. When the Gengshen Monkey Stamp was issued, it did not attract the attention of many domestic stamp collectors.
It was not until news came out that the postal department was planning to issue a set of the twelve zodiac stamps that the Gengshen Monkey Stamp became popular in the philatelic market.
After all, there are twelve stamps of the twelve zodiac animals, and a set of zodiac monkey stamps is produced every twelve years. Just hearing the name makes it very collectible.
In the following years, because many people did not realize the value of this monkey stamp when it was issued and directly used it to mail letters, the number of Gengshen Monkey Stamps in existence was much less than that of other zodiac stamps, and its value has remained high.
At its most expensive, the market price of a single monkey stamp was as high as 16,000 yuan.
For those who traveled back to the 1980s, it would be a shame if they didn’t buy a few versions of monkey stamps.
Lin Weimin made up his mind to go out for a walk tomorrow and first go to the post office to buy some monkey stamps.
Although it will take many years for this thing to be sold at a sky-high price, it has been appreciating in value after all, so it is a guarantee.
No words were spoken that night.
After breakfast the next morning, Lin Weimin asked for the opinions of several uncles in the dormitory. They wanted to go to Tiananmen Square and it would take at least half a day to go there and back. Lin Weimin thought it was a good idea and let the uncles move freely. He also asked Qu Xiaowei, who was from Yanjing, to go with them.
"Where is the most lively place in Yanjing right now?" Lin Weimin asked.
"Xidan, please."
"Then let's go to Xidan."
His main purpose of going out today was to familiarize himself with the environment in Yanjing City and look for business opportunities to make a fortune. As for buying monkey stamps, that was just a half-hearted effort.
There are fewer buses these days and the intervals between departures are very long, so the two of them decided to leave early.
When the bus passed the intersection of Dongdan and Chang'an Avenue, bicycles came and went on the street, and the prototype of the bicycle army in a few years was almost there.
The cheapest bicycle now seems to cost 120 yuan, and you need a bicycle ticket. I must get one when I have more money. Otherwise, I have to take the bus everywhere and wait for a long time. It's too inconvenient, Lin Weimin thought to himself.
In the 1920s and 1930s, shopping malls had already appeared on Xidan Street. In the following years, shopping malls such as Fude, Yide, Huide, Houde, Fushou and Temporary Shopping Mall appeared. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was a public-private partnership and became the Xidan Shopping Mall known to the people of Yanjing.
When he arrived at the Xidan Shopping Mall, Lin Weimin just looked but did not buy anything, and walked around the counters one by one.
Qu Xiaowei was puzzled, "Weimin, didn't you say you wanted to buy something?"
"I'm here to see what's going on. We'll go out and buy something later."
The two of them walked around the mall. The salesperson's attitude was pretty good. Lin Weimin just asked questions and didn't buy anything, but he didn't get any cold stares. Well, the quality of the salesperson was much better than that of the county town.
After shopping for about an hour, Lin Weimin had a general understanding of the prices here, so he pulled Qu Xiaowei out of the mall and asked him where the post office was. Qu Xiaowei took Lin Weimin to the nearest post office.
"Comrade, do you have the Gengshen Monkey Stamps that were just issued this year?"
“It’s sold out.”
"Ah, nothing?"
"Yeah, did you look at anything else?"
"No, thank you."
Lin Weimin walked out of the post office disappointed and looked up at the sky.
This shouldn’t be the case. Is this thing so popular now?
"Weimin, do you want to buy the Gengshen Monkey Stamp?" Qu Xiaowei asked.
"Yeah." Lin Weimin responded depressedly.
"They all have quotas at their post office. Maybe other post offices have some too?"
Lin Weimin thought about it and it made sense. The circulation of the 1980 edition Monkey Stamps was relatively large, and it was impossible that they would be out of stock within less than a year of their release.
Qu Xiaowei took him to another post office, and this time they finally got it. There weren't many, just one edition, and some scattered pieces left.
Lin Weimin bought a whole set of monkey stamps, the face value of which was eight cents. There were eighty monkey stamps in a set, and he bought them for six yuan and forty cents, so he spent a total of nine yuan.
"Weimin, can you use all these stamps you bought?" Qu Xiaowei was puzzled.
"Who buys a whole sheet of stamps? I collect stamps."
"Stamp collecting?"
Qu Xiaowei took a look at Lin Weimin's tattered clothes and expressed deep doubt.
Lin Weimin said to him in a tone that sounded like a charlatan: "Brother Xin, if you have money, buy some too."
Qu Xiaowei curled his lips, "Why would I buy that thing? Can I buy a few books with that money?"
Lin Weimin did not try to persuade him any further, as he just wanted to see his grandson's tearful and regretful expression in a few years.
(End of this chapter)
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