Chapter 33 Ideological Integration
When Wu Peng arrived in Shenzhen, he realized that the world had truly changed. He saw banners proclaiming "time is money" and witnessed the allure of money. All that talk of three generations of poor peasants, of impeccable revolutionary credentials, of the poorer the better—ha, oh dear.
Because of his shabby clothes, the hotel receptionist kept rolling her eyes at him.
That evening, Yang Liu dragged him to a nightclub to broaden his horizons, but because of his shabby appearance, the security guards stopped him from entering. However, when he pulled out a wad of cash, he was immediately welcomed in with a smile.
Seriously, they actually dared to so blatantly discriminate against poor and lower-middle peasants! If this happened in the old days, they would have been criticized and denounced. This is definitely a problem with their ideological awareness. Wu Peng was so angry he almost laughed, wondering if he should report them for daring to look down on the poor!
But those around him who witnessed this didn't see anything wrong with the security guard at all; instead, they all covered their mouths and laughed at him. Wu Peng felt like a country bumpkin, unable to connect with these people's thinking.
Entering the dance hall was truly an eye-opening experience. Not only were the women dressed indecently, but they were also hugging and swaying.
With its drinks, food, and beautiful women, Wu Peng felt the allure of money. Here, it seemed that money could buy anything.
This was Yang Liu's second visit, but he was still shocked. Shenzhen was changing too fast. New high-rises, new factories, everyone rushing around, even this dance hall was bigger. And it was even more... deserted.
Although he brought Wu Peng with him, he was just as shocked as Wu Peng. Meeting Wu Peng's strange gaze, he couldn't help but explain with his fingers, "I wasn't like this last time I came. Really, I just came to listen to the songs, and they were sung so well. There was nothing like this at all."
As he spoke, Yang Liu's eyes drifted to a slick-back-haired man in a nearby booth, wearing a floral shirt, smoking a cigarette, and kissing one beautiful woman on each side. He was so envious. He swallowed hard, feeling himself getting an erection. He wondered how much that would cost.
Wu Peng tapped him on the back of the head, signaling him to look away and not embarrass himself.
"What a fake foreigner! He has a Chinese face, but he keeps throwing in some foreign words," Wu Peng muttered to himself.
The two found a corner to sit down, and a waiter immediately came over and handed them the drinks menu with both hands.
It has a drinks menu and prices, as well as a song request menu and prices. Surprisingly, it's in both Chinese and English.
"Brother, don't look at this, it's a scam." He had seen this lousy list last time he came, and he made an excuse to pee and slipped away. Sure enough, Wu Peng stared wide-eyed just like he had last time, his eyeballs almost popping out.
Wu Peng looked at the bill, then at Yang Liu. No wonder this kid covered his eyes and didn't dare to look at the bill. A Coke was six yuan, a juice was eight yuan, a beer was eight yuan, and a glass of liquor was twenty yuan. Why didn't he just rob someone?
Wu Peng confirmed repeatedly, "Is it that kind of small cup?"
The young and pretty waitress smiled and nodded, "Yes, sir." She then glanced at Wu Peng every now and then.
Wu Peng felt uneasy under their gaze, as if the place was burning his backside. He was a man of pride and couldn't bring himself to fake a trip to the bathroom, especially with Yang Liu present. If it were just him, he would definitely have to make a hasty escape. With Yang Liu there, if he did, the kid would surely tell everyone about it when he got back.
"Give me a Coke."
Wu Peng saved his face and his seat with six yuan. As soon as the cola arrived, Wu Peng took a sip before Yang Liu snatched it away.
"This six-yuan Coke is really different, it tastes good."
I wonder if that fake foreigner's drink was any good.
Wu Peng: "How about you order a drink?"
Yang Liu shrank back and remained silent. Twenty yuan, are you kidding me?
The two felt they shouldn't waste the money, so they lingered at the dance troupe until midnight. Some danced for them, and others requested songs for them to listen to for free. Wu Peng lit a cigarette, and imitating the slick-haired boss, relaxed back in his chair, listening to yet another decadent song begin, feeling that the six yuan he spent was worthwhile. He even learned to casually say "it's just a drizzle."
The next day, Wu Peng bought a set of clothes to match the locals' style, along with leather shoes and sunglasses.
Yang Liu glanced sideways. This wasn't dressed like the locals; it was dressed like the rich people here! Now that the two of them were standing together, he was definitely the underling—no, not even an underling, he was a servant, while Wu Peng was his young master!
"What are you looking at? Let's go to the Electronics Building." He wanted to go inside that tall building when he passed by it yesterday.
The two walked around for a while, and Wu Peng's eyes fell on the digital watch.
This thing is lightweight, small, and easy to carry. After asking around, everyone thought he was being ripped off. This watch normally sells for only fifteen outside, but he wanted to buy it wholesale—doesn't he understand? He asked for two hundred yuan at once, and they only gave him ten yuan. Wu Peng felt it wasn't worth it. He wasn't sure if he could sell them all, or how long it would take; the costs were too high and the risks too great.
So Wu Peng took Yang Liu to visit nearby factories. Since this stuff is so common here, there must be factories here. Finding the source would definitely be cheaper than the wholesale price in the electronics building.
Instead of finding a factory, they found a workshop that assembles electronic watches.
I ran into the slick-haired guy from yesterday's nightclub, who was surrounded by women and throwing money around.
Big Back Hair was from the port city. After contacting a distant cousin, he spent a little money to set up a small workshop assembling electronic watches. Labor was incredibly cheap here. He shipped chips, screens, and batteries over and assembled them here, saving a lot on costs. These things weren't worth much to him; even if things went wrong and he lost money, he wouldn't care.
"You want two hundred, not two thousand, are you kidding me? You think eight yuan is too expensive?" The slick-haired man spoke in broken Mandarin, his tone rising steadily.
“Beijing, I’m from Beijing. Do you know how big Beijing is? It’s right under the emperor’s nose, the capital of the country. Not only are there a lot of people, but they’re all very rich. If this sells well in Beijing, it could fetch more than two thousand, maybe even twenty thousand.”
With his slicked-back hair and dead fish eyes, this kid's really good at bragging. Does he not know how poor the mainland is? I heard they can't even afford to eat, they even gnaw on tree bark.
"Anyway, you're definitely not the only manufacturer of electronic watches around here. I'll look around some more; maybe I can find something cheaper." Thinking back to how much money the slick-haired guy was throwing around last night, Wu Peng figured that this lecherous scoundrel must be making huge profits. He wouldn't dare spend so much if he didn't earn a penny less—a complete sucker. But he never expected that this sucker would be anything but a sucker when it came to business. No wonder he could earn enough to throw money around in nightclubs.
Seeing Wu Peng about to leave, the man with the slicked-back hair finally spoke up, "If you want something ready-made, this is the price you'll get. Besides, I have orders with delivery dates, so I can't sell you many. How about this, let's make friends. I have a batch of components that I'll sell to you cheaply. You can hire someone to assemble them yourself, which will definitely be cheaper than getting the finished product."
Wu Peng hesitated for a moment, "Are those parts okay? Are you sure you can assemble a watch that's of good quality?"
"I'm an honest person, I'm very honest. I'm here, the workshop is here, you can come to me anytime if you have any problems."
"How much?"
"Six yuan. Six yuan a set, that's my bottom line. If it works out, we'll consider it friendship; if not, that's fine too." The slick-haired guy did the math and realized that selling parts wasn't much less profitable than wholesaling finished products. He could also pack up and sell all the old parts that were left over from various orders that had accumulated in the warehouse.
Six yuan is what I expected. Wu Peng thought that the labor cost for assembling this should be at most 50 cents per unit, right? No, no, no, looking at the speed at which the workers assembled it, 50 cents per unit is too much. I need to lower the price further.
The price was agreed upon, but it wasn't a finished product, so Wu Peng was worried and discussed with the slicked-back-haired guy how to assemble the watch.
"No problem. I'll have my cousin teach you. It's very simple."
After learning how to assemble watches, Wu Peng picked a few parts from each of the several large bags and assembled them on the spot. After confirming that there were no problems, he asked the guy with the slicked-back hair to bring over a few sets of assembly tools. He then negotiated the price down to five yuan and eighty cents and directly ordered a thousand sets of parts.
"Mr. Wu is both cautious and decisive. You'll have to come and patronize my business often in the future."
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