Chapter 147: Buying a Camera Almost Made a Difficult Problem
The Peking Department Store is a national face. It not only has many domestic customers, but also many foreign friends who often come to visit.
Therefore, there are all kinds of goods on the containers, which absolutely reflects the image of our country as a great country with vast territory, abundant resources and rich production.
For example, bed sheets of various brands, colors and patterns are all lined up, which has a great visual impact at first glance. This is also one of the counters with the most customers.
What shocked Lin Sanqi the most was the enamel washbasin counter. An entire wall was hung with washbasins, and all of them were facing inside out. The display was very spectacular and convenient for customers to choose.
Lin Sanqi was like a "foreign tourist" who visited each counter and found everything new to him.
The female sales clerks behind the counter were so beautiful that each one was more beautiful than the other, and their attitudes were more friendly than the other. They did not have the biting coldness of the sister from the supply and marketing cooperative. Both their appearance and temperament were comparable to the flight attendants of later generations.
Lin Sanqi thought, being a department store manager must be very "happy"...
There was no camera on the first floor, so Lin Sanqi asked around and went to the second floor.
There is an appliance area on the second floor, which has the most customers. It is so crowded that you can hardly squeeze in. And judging from the accents around, many of them are from other places, and they make up the majority.
"Hey, this is the refrigerator. How impressive would it be to have it at home?"
"What's the use of a refrigerator? It's just for eating cold food. See? That's a TV. With this thing, you don't have to go to the cinema anymore. You can watch movies at home every day." (China's first Beijing TV station was established in 1958)
"Although the TV is nice, it costs over 800 yuan. Who the hell can afford it? I'm just dreaming of buying a radio."
Lin Sanqi understood from the outside why there were so many people. It turned out that they were all here to see the rare things. If they couldn't afford to buy them, why not just enjoy the sight?
The Lin family already had a radio, but Lin Sanqi had no interest in these backward and primitive home appliances. He ran directly to the camera counter and then scratched his head.
There were only three cameras on the counter, making it look very deserted.
Judging from the appearance of these cameras, they are not good products. The workmanship seems to be rather rough, which makes Lin Sanqi not very satisfied.
The salesperson at the camera counter was a middle-aged man. He smiled and asked:
"Comrade, do you need to buy a camera?"
Lin Sanqi also smiled and nodded: "Yes, I want to buy a camera for business trips. By the way, comrade, what models are these cameras? How much do they cost?"
The middle-aged salesperson was very graceful. He first spread a velvet cloth on the glass counter, then took out three cameras and began to introduce them as if they were treasures:
Seeing someone buying a camera, the camera counter was suddenly surrounded by customers. Lin Sanqi quickly tightened the money in his pocket for fear that some Buddhist monk would touch it.
"This vertical camera is called the Xingfu 120 camera, made in Tianjin. It doesn't have two coated lenses, just a simple lens structure. But it's cheap, only 29 yuan."
There are two big words "Happiness" on the camera, but Lin Sanqi is not very satisfied with it. It is obviously a cheap copycat product. How can the photos it takes be good?
A man in his 30s who was watching the fun nearby reminded:
"Comrade, this camera is an imitation of the German ALTISSA camera. It uses 129 film and is now outdated. If you like something better, the Huashan 135 camera next to it is a good imitation of the Soviet-made Smina camera."
Lin Sanqi gave the other person a thumbs up. It turned out that there were camera enthusiasts in this era.
But he wanted to remind him: A DSLR camera can make you poor for three generations, and photography can ruin your life. Don't go down this path of no return.
The middle-aged salesperson was probably too bored standing at the counter, and seeing that everyone was interested, he gave full play to his Peking Kanye style and started talking a lot:
"This comrade is right. The Huashan camera was produced by the Northwest Optical Instrument Factory last year. But what everyone doesn't know is that there are two other manufacturers in Chongqing who also imitated this camera: the Chongqing Changjiang Electric Factory and the Chongqing Musical Instrument Factory.
Both of these knockoff cameras are called "Changjiang" and have the same functions as the Huashan. They use a three-element, three-group 40/4.5 Kirk lens, a mature optical design. Therefore, they are more expensive than the Xingfu brand camera, at 80 yuan each.
Lin Sanqi was not very satisfied with this camera, and his eyes were already looking at the third camera.
The appearance of this camera looks more fashionable, and it has more parts. With the word "Shanghai" on the body, it feels more Western.
As a man, first of all, you are obsessed with looks.
"Comrade, how about this Shanghai camera?"
The middle-aged salesperson laughed:
"Comrade, you have a good eye. This Shanghai 58-2 is a replica of a Leica camera, using the most advanced Tessar lens. It costs 217 yuan, several times more than the Xingfu and Changjiang cameras. Do you think this camera can be bad?"
When they heard the price, the people watching nearby exclaimed.
If a Tianjin Xingfu camera is only 29 yuan, you can still afford it if you save money for a year or two, but this Shanghai camera is really out of your reach.
Only those who buy it can afford it if it is purchased by the company or if their parents have climbed a snow-capped mountain.
Of course, this does not include Lin Sanqi. He is not short of money. He prepared 10,000 yuan in cash before going to Yushu, but he only spent a few hundred yuan there.
As a "ten thousand yuan household", Lin Sanqi has reached the point where he doesn't even look at the price tags when buying things in this era, and he has a very nouveau riche mentality.
Although the camera from 1959 was good, for a time traveler like Lin Sanqi who had experienced the digital age of the future, this camera was not only primitive and produced poor pictures, but the most important thing was that it was too complicated to operate.
Thinking of this, Lin Sanqi asked curiously:
"You just said that Shanghai cameras are imitations of Leica? Do we have Leica cameras for sale in our department store?"
Before the salesperson could answer, someone in the crowd shouted:
"Those are all capitalist things. How can department stores in our country sell capitalist products?"
"That's right, let's support domestic products."
The salesperson smiled helplessly:
"Yes, we should support domestic products now. Besides, the country is already in such a difficult situation, we can't spend precious foreign exchange to import these useless things."
Lin Sanqi understood. With no foreign exchange left, how could they import? Even if they had money to import, they would definitely import grain.
At this moment, the 30-year-old man reminded:
"Young comrade, if you're really interested in videography, you can go to a trust store. But they only sell second-hand goods, and the quality varies."
Lin Sanqi's eyes lit up and he thought, that's right, trust stores have everything, and he doesn't mind second-hand goods.
"Trust Shop, ha, that's a good idea, why don't I go there now..."
Before Lin Sanqi finished speaking, a middle-aged man in the crowd said with a serious face:
"Comrade, your thinking is unacceptable. Imperialism has ravaged our country for years, slaughtering tens of millions of our compatriots, and to this day, its desire to destroy us remains undying. How can you harbor such a worshipful and fawning mindset? If you don't support domestic products, and he doesn't support them, how can our national industry develop?"
"That's right, young comrade, there's something wrong with your ideological awareness!"
"Which unit are you from? You should write a letter to criticize them!"
"Our country's stores don't sell it anymore, but you still insist on buying it? Do you like foreign things so much?"
Lin Sanqi's face changed. He didn't expect that buying a camera would be taken out of proportion.
The key is that he feels guilty. His identity is already sensitive. If he is accused of collaborating with foreign countries, there will be problems when investigating.
Besides, he bought a camera just for fun, and it has nothing to do with "traffic monetization". There is no need to offend the public for this matter.
There are too many nosy gentlemen in Beijing. When they say they will report something, they really will. They are not just talking.
A man who knows how to do things is a hero. Lin Sanqi decisively decided to give in:
"Oh, I was wrong, I was wrong. After everyone's criticism and education, I have realized the problem with my thinking. I must reflect on myself and correct myself. Please give me another chance. I will buy a camera made in our country right now."
The little prince still had the basic skills he needed to review the school, and his review was very well-organized.
When the onlookers saw how the young man listened to the advice, they were all very proud and applauded:
"Well, you are a good comrade if you can admit your mistakes and correct them!"
"Remember, we Chinese only buy our own products!"
Lin Sanqi also took the opportunity to raise his fist and shouted: "Chinese people do not fight Chinese people. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong and Macao are one family."
Lin Sanqi's slogan confused everyone. They had seen people who could talk nonsense, but they had never seen anyone who could talk nonsense as well as him.
Amidst the chatter of the crowd, Lin Sanqi decisively asked for a "Shanghai brand" camera:
"Comrade, I want this camera. Give me another 50..."
Lin Sanqi looked at the group of nosy uncles from the capital next to him, and was afraid that if he bought too much film, there would be another criticism meeting on the spot. If he wanted more film, it seemed that he would have to make a few more trips to other stores.
So I quickly changed my words and said, "Give me five more rolls of film."
In fact, the salesperson was a little shocked at the financial resources of this young man. He thought that this guy must be from some big family and he must not offend him, so his attitude became a little better.
After taking out the camera and film, he began to patiently teach Lin Sanqi how to install it, how to use it, what precautions to take, etc.
This teaching took half a day.
It was already noon when Lin Sanqi came out of the department store.
Lin Sanqi didn't want to go back to the office to eat coarse grain steamed buns and boiled cabbage in salt water, so he planned to have lunch at Zhengyangmen and buy some Angong Niuhuang Pills by the way.
Just when Lin Sanqi was letting himself go, the application for the urgent need to purchase medicinal materials in the South China region had been submitted to Section Chief Kong Shuihu.
When Section Chief Kong received the dispatch report from Deputy Section Chief Wu, he didn't take it seriously. It was only when he saw the word "urgent" written in the upper right corner of the application that he knew this matter could not be delayed.
(End of this chapter)
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