Chapter 4
The man who had been so careless suddenly became serious, and it was really oppressive.
The term "escape to Hong Kong" was born in a special era. Due to the economic gap between the inland and the port city, it is not uncommon for people to secretly swim there over the years.
Those who are lucky will make a career or live a stable life; those who are unlucky will drown and be buried in the sea.
Chen Lanjun was not surprised to hear this word. What surprised her was why Zhao Hong's first reaction when he saw her was to worry that she was going to escape to Hong Kong.
She looked at Zhao Hong openly and said, "I have thought about it, but it is not necessary now."
For a long time, this problem remained difficult to solve, but after the reform and opening up, this term gradually faded into history.
Ultimately, the economic base determines the superstructure.
And now, it is 1979.
Zhao Hong was a smart man. He understood her hidden meaning in a second and chuckled, "It seems that you are very optimistic about the current situation."
"Don't you think so?"
Zhao Hong raised his eyebrows: "Who knows? Anyway, the wind blows this way and that, who knows when it will change direction again."
Chen Lanjun nodded as if she understood something. Yes, for Zhao Hong and most young people of his generation, this kind of skeptical and indifferent attitude seems more normal.
As I was talking, I suddenly heard a female voice behind me.
"Hiro, who are you talking to?"
Chen Lanjun tilted her head and saw a middle-aged woman in white shirt and blue pants, who looked very energetic.
It was Aunt Dan – Chen Mudan.
Chen Lanjun greeted her with a smile: "Aunt Dan, I'm Lanjun."
Mudan Shen looked her up and down, and said with a smile: “You have grown so big, come in quickly. Ah Hong, you too, my sister is a distinguished guest, let people stand at the door to get some fresh air.”
Shen Mudan works in the street office. She has a great voice, loud and crisp. Just listening to her voice makes people feel very enthusiastic.
She led Chen Lanjun upstairs in a hurry, to a small room on the second floor, and opened the door with her key.
The layout is one living room and one bedroom, and there is a bed in the living room, which is obviously where Zhao Hong sleeps.
The house is small and has a lot of furniture, so it seems a bit cramped, but it is very clean and there is even a white cloth on the dining table.
"Alan, please sit down."
Shen Mudan brought a cup of herbal tea to Chen Lanjun: “It must be hard to come here, take a good rest for two days and relax.”
Then, she gave Zhao Hong another task: "Here, take the money and tickets and go to the grocery store to buy some meat and vegetables."
Chen Lanjun said hurriedly: "No, no, don't bother."
"Yes!" Shen Mudan said with a smile, "This is your first time coming to my house, and as an aunt I have to entertain you well. I want face, so please fulfill my wish."
Zhao Hong ran there and ran back.
"There wasn't much meat or vegetables left, and there was a little boiled chicken left, so I bought it all."
"Okay, wipe your sweat with water, wash your hands, and eat."
Today's meal is just in time for the Chinese New Year.
Shen Mudan picked up the only chicken wing and put it into Chen Lanjun's bowl. Chen Lanjun naturally refused. The two sides staged a shoving and blocking game, and finally the chicken wing fell into Chen Lanjun's bowl.
We chatted while eating.
Hearing that Chen Lanjun failed the exam, Shen Mudan comforted her, “It’s okay, it’s hard to pass the exam. I have a classmate in my unit, and her daughter also took the exam twice. She passed this year. You can definitely pass it if you repeat a year.”
She paused and said, "Are you having trouble with tuition and living expenses? Tell your aunt how much you are short, and I'll see if I can help you make up the difference."
Chen Lanjun put down her chopsticks and said seriously, "Aunt, I came here to see if I can earn this money myself."
There was silence in the small living room.
Shen Mudan and Zhao Hong looked at each other, and the atmosphere was a little subtle.
Zhao Hong asked: "Here?"
"make money?"
Chen Lanjun nodded affirmatively.
Zhao Hong laughed and slapped the table: "Okay, then... I'll help the boss!"
“Don’t get crazy,” Shen Mudan glared at him, “Listen to what Alan has to say.”
Chen Lanjun said, "I heard that individuals are allowed to run businesses here and give them back to □□. Auntie, is that true?"
Shen Mudan thought about it and suddenly realized: “You mean ‘street boy’?”
She said hesitantly, "But selling things on the street is not very decent, and..."
"It doesn't matter," Chen Lanjun gently said to her, "As long as you can earn money properly, it's fine. You can make a living based on your own ability."
Chen Mudan didn't want to offend the little girl, but she didn't think much of it. Street boys were tired and had to run around outside, and what if the policy changed? She had experienced many movements and always felt that it was not appropriate.
Zhao Hong was very interested and asked, "So what are you going to do?"
Chen Lanjun said: "Selling breakfast."
On the train to the city, she thought about what kind of business she should start. It would probably not be very effective to form a team to sell big bowls of tea like the educated youth in Yanjing. After all, there is no market as big as Yanjing, and it is difficult to make a penny or two.
What she needed was a business with low barriers to entry, low investment costs, and quick profits. In this way, the experience of running an electronics factory before her rebirth would be completely useless. The world's first personal computer was not born until 1981, which was two years away from now.
As for other industries...selling clothes and the like, Chen Lanjun has no chance.
After the elimination process, there are only a few industries left. Street food stalls meet the requirements.
However, we are now in the era of coupons. You need coupons to buy meat, oil, and milk... Not only do you need coupons, but the amount of food you can buy is limited per person. More complex food requires more ingredients, and it takes a lot of time just to collect various food coupons. There is also the risk of out-of-stock, so cooking lunch and dinner is also ruled out.
Then let's do breakfast. It's definitely hard work, but you can definitely make money. Another advantage of selling breakfast is that it's easy to replicate the sales model, and then more educated youth can be fooled in, just like the charity breakfast stalls on the street later, it's easy to form a scale effect.
Chen Lanjun briefly talked about the benefits of selling breakfast at a stall: "How about it, Brother Hong, come and try it with me."
Zhao Hong said: "I think you have been planning to trick me into joining your gang."
"Let's make money together." Chen Lanjun smiled.
“Sure, I’ll play with you for a while.” Zhao Hong readily agreed, and glanced at Shen Mudan again, “Mom, what do you think?”
Shen Mudan smiled and shook her head: "I, what can I say. If you want to try it, go ahead and try it. Practice is the only criterion for testing truth, and let's see."
So that was settled.
Chen Mudan found an acquaintance to help with the registration. Zhao Hong collected the idle bills at home and from his friends and went to buy raw materials.
Chen Lanjun ran around the nearby area and finally decided to set up a stall on the roadside in front of a primary school.
The menu has been decided, there are two items for now, porridge and vegetarian rice rolls. The ingredients are all rice, which is easy to prepare. There is not much oil in it, and it is easy to wash the dishes, which is a great advantage at a time when plastic bowls are not popular.
There is no technical requirement for making porridge. Chen Mudan borrowed a huge tea bucket from somewhere, which is just right for porridge. Rice rolls are a little more complicated. Ask the rice shop to grind the rice slurry, scoop two spoonfuls, pour it on a large bamboo dustpan, and steam it in a pot. After steaming, scrape each layer, pour some light soy sauce on it, and it's ready to eat.
In theory, freshly steamed rice rolls taste better. But Chen Lanjun decided on the principle of "small profits but quick turnover" from the beginning. She was too lazy to push a cart with a stove, so she simply referred to the "foam box rice rolls" that became popular later. She stacked the steamed rice rolls in a box and covered them with a thick quilt, making it look like she was selling popsicles.
Since we have to catch up with the breakfast sales, getting up in the middle of the night is a basic requirement.
Chen Lanjun was afraid of upsetting her neighbors, so she asked Shen Mudan to lead her to deliver rice noodle rolls door to door, firstly to do a favor, and secondly to advertise.
The family downstairs was named Gao. Mr. Gao used to work in the same unit as Shen Mudan. They had some disagreements in the past. After eating the rice noodle rolls, he asked sarcastically, "Has your child become a street boy? If it were you, you could ask someone to find a temporary worker for Ah Hong to do the job."
After hearing this, Chen Lanjun was about to refute, but was held down by Shen Mudan.
Shen Mudan just chuckled and led Chen Lanjun away.
When she got home, Shen Mudan turned to Chen Lanjun and said, “You can’t get along with this kind of person. Whether it’s good or not is your own business.”
"He said Brother Hong."
"I know." Chen Mudan said, "Auntie appreciates your kindness. You see, Ah Hong has something to do these two days, and he looks happier. Well, it's also my fault that I couldn't get him a job."
Chen Lanjun held her hand and said, "It's not bad at all. We will get better and better."
“Yes, it’s getting better.”
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