The day after the exam, Chen Xia went to the home appliance counter of the largest department store in the provincial capital alone. Now that there were more people at home, there were more things to do, and Chen Xia wanted to buy some home appliances to take back.
"Comrade, I want to buy two color TV sets."
"No."
"Then give me two refrigerators."
"No."
"Is there a washing machine?"
"No."
Chen Xia was furious: "Fuck, you have nothing, why are you opening a department store?"
The salesperson also spoke in a sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes and saying:
"Oh, we can't open a department store anymore. You're so rich and capable, why don't you go to the Friendship Store? When you have the ability, you can buy anything with foreign exchange coupons. Why bother coming to us to make trouble?"
"you……"
"What are you talking about? Stop pretending to be a capitalist and go somewhere cooler. You're just looking for trouble."
Chen Xia was furious. Hadn't they learned about the importance of serving the people and the importance of the customer? How could the salesperson be even more aggressive than the customer?
Come on, it’s just the Friendship Store, it’s just foreign exchange coupons, I have plenty of US dollars, let’s go now.
The so-called "Friendship Stores" are a special product of a special era. They are only available in big cities and are all state-owned stores.
In the 1960s and 1970s, it only served foreigners and diplomats. Later, with the beginning of reform and opening up, more and more overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan returned home, and gradually it developed to the point where Chinese people with foreign exchange coupons could also enter and purchase goods.
Of course, this Chinese is not an ordinary Chinese. He may not be rich, but he is definitely "expensive". Those who can get foreign exchange coupons for consumption are almost all second-generation Chinese.
At that time, the Friendship Store sold all the most popular items in the country, such as home appliances, food, handicrafts, and even antiques. You would be given an invoice and could take the items out of the country.
At the same time, some foreign imported goods are also sold. Due to the exclusive monopoly, the prices are very high, and often only foreigners and domestic "rich people" can afford them.
The key point is that you don’t need a ticket to buy things in the Friendship Store. This is very important. Circle it because it will be tested in history class.
Chen Xia angrily called a tricycle, "Master, go to the Friendship Store."
When the tricycle driver heard about going to the Friendship Store, he turned around and looked at Chen Xia. "Young man, Lin'an is not called the Friendship Store, it's called the Overseas Chinese Store. Ordinary people can't go in. You need foreign exchange coupons to buy anything."
Chen Xia was stunned when he heard this, thinking that he almost forgot that the Friendship Store cannot directly purchase goods with US dollars, and needs to go to the bank to exchange them first.
But if we use the official exchange rate to exchange, it would be a huge loss. The exchange rate set by the state in 1981 was 1 US dollar to 1.8 RMB.
It is probably because the exchange rate is too unfair and no one is willing to exchange currency, so a "floating exchange rate" is adopted. When settling the currency, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for about 2.7 RMB.
However, for knowledgeable citizens, the exchange rate is still too low, so they usually choose to trade on the black market, where they can get more.
However, at that time, the black market basically exchanged RMB for US dollars. No one was willing to exchange US dollars for RMB or foreign exchange coupons, so the exchange rate of US dollars on the black market had been given a sky-high price.
Back on the tricycle.
Chen Xia glanced at the tricycle driver, thinking that this kind of person who often travels around the country must have a purpose for asking this question, so he asked tentatively, "Master, do you have a way to get foreign exchange certificates?"
The tricycle driver looked around and replied quietly, "My cousin can get it."
Well, Chen Xia was very happy to meet a scalper. The scalper's service attitude is much better than that of the salesperson in the department store. He would rather spend more time and energy than to be ignored by those department store salespersons.
"Okay, then go find your cousin."
At this time, the tricycle driver's cousin was squatting not far from the Lin'an Overseas Chinese Store, watching the people coming and going vigilantly.
People who work in this industry must have a good eye and be able to tell which are the real customers and which are the decoy police. Otherwise, if they are caught, it will be no joke and they will be sent to labor camp.
At this time, he saw his cousin coming over on a tricycle, winking at him along the way. He immediately understood that this was another customer, so he quickly dodged into an alley, and the tricycle followed in.
"Huzi, this young comrade wants to buy some foreign exchange certificates."
The scalper, named Hu Zi, asked with a smile, "I wonder if this young comrade plans to trade in US dollars, Hong Kong dollars, or RMB?"
Chen Xia asked curiously, "Is there any difference?"
"Well, if we're trading in RMB, we usually exchange 3 RMB for 1 RMB of foreign exchange certificates. If we're trading in US dollars, we exchange 1 US dollar for 5 RMB of foreign exchange certificates."
Chen Xia was confused. "I say, this price isn't right. Why is it so much more expensive when using RMB, but so much cheaper when using USD?"
"Hey, young man, you might not know this, but more and more people are going abroad to study. Their families exchange their money for US dollars before they leave, so the US dollar is in short supply and its price has gone up. As you know, we make a profit from the price difference."
Chen Xia was not polite. "Then I'll use US dollars. I'll exchange it for 2,000 US dollars in foreign exchange certificates. Do you have any?"
In this era of scarce foreign exchange, if you want to exchange US dollars, you need to spend at least 5 yuan and at most 10 yuan to exchange for 1 US dollar.
On the other hand, 2,000 US dollars would be equivalent to 10,000 or 20,000 RMB on the black market, but in this era, a person with a monthly income of 10,000 yuan would be in the newspapers.
Even though Hu Zi was knowledgeable and experienced, he was still shocked when he heard the number. "Yes, yes, but you have to wait a moment. We need a few brothers to gather together."
Half an hour later, the transaction was completed and Chen Xia received 10,000 yuan worth of foreign exchange coupons. The scalper could make a fortune by selling the 2,000 US dollars to people who urgently needed to go abroad.
There aren't many Chinese people who can come up with so many dollars at once these days. Several scalpers now see Chen Xia as if he's a human money-printing machine.
"Hey young man, do you have any US dollars? We can negotiate the price."
Chen Xia's eyes rolled. "I don't have US dollars, but I can get food. Does the big brother behind you have the ability to buy it?"
He still has 200,000 kilograms of rice on hand. He originally planned to go to Nanyun Province to exchange it for jadeite, but in the end he didn't sell even a single grain of rice.
Those who dared to be foreign exchange scalpers in 1981 were definitely not simple people. They all had connections, so Chen Xia wanted to try whether he could ship some rice.
Hu Zi was obviously a little shocked, but his good mental state made him calm down immediately. "I wonder how much rice this young comrade has and what is the price?"
"I have plenty of grain, but I'm afraid you won't be able to eat it all. We can negotiate the price. 700 yuan per ton. I have 100 tons of it, all high-quality local rice. Of course, the more you want, the lower the price will be."
After a few scalpers discussed it, Hu Zi apologized and ran out again, apparently reporting his request to the boss behind the scenes.
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