"You don't smoke either," Wu Di said, watching as he spent a dollar on cigarettes, feeling a pang of regret.
They have rural household registrations and can't afford to smoke. At most, they'll take a couple of puffs of dry tobacco for fun.
Ye Beiping added, "When you do business in the future, no matter who you meet, offering cigarettes is always a safe bet. Later we're going to the popsicle factory, do you know who's the most important person to talk to? Who can wholesale popsicles? Do you know who to contact?"
"I don't know." Both of them shook their heads in confusion.
They've never run a business before, so they really didn't know that.
They don't even know what positions are available in the factory, let alone find the right person.
Ye Beiping sighed and said, "The gatekeepers, no matter which factory, are the ones with the best information. If we can get in touch with the gatekeepers, we can find the most crucial person, understand?"
"Oh~" Hou Baolin drawled, flicked a dollar coin and said, "Beiping, I understand what you mean. It's the same principle as when Ding Hama, who produces food, sometimes invites the brigade leaders or commune leaders to dinner. It's just that we don't need to invite the gatekeepers to dinner. Just give them some cigarettes or alcohol and we can get it done, right?"
"That's right."
Ye Beiping revealed an expression that said, "This kid is teachable."
The three of them walked for nearly half an hour and soon found the popsicle factory in the county town.
Because of their clothing, it was easy for others to tell that they came from the countryside.
This made Wu Di feel a little awkward, as it was his first time visiting the county town.
"Why do they keep staring at us in Beiping?"
Hou Baolin slapped Wu Di's arm in an annoyance and said, "Didn't you see that our clothes are different from theirs? They either wear uniforms, which means they must be factory workers, or they are dressed very cleanly. Our clothes are all dirty, so of course they are different."
"Oh~" Wu Di finally understood why others always stared at him, and even felt a little inferior.
Ye Beiping reached out to Hou Baolin for a cigarette: "Give me a cigarette."
Ye Beiping didn't know the quality of cigarettes from that era, so he could only ask Hou Baolin to buy them on his way.
Taking the cigarette, Ye Beiping glanced at it and frowned: "Albanian cigarettes? What the hell is this?"
Hou Baolin sighed and explained, "Most cigarettes require cigarette coupons, which we don't have."
"I'll go."
Ye Beiping sighed, "How could I forget about this? You need cigarette coupons to buy cigarettes. I should have known to smuggle cigarettes; the profits would have been much greater."
In the 1970s, even towards the end, you needed coupons to buy anything, including cigarettes.
It wasn't until the 1980s that restrictions on some items were gradually lifted, and by the mid-1980s, restrictions were basically lifted on all items.
"Beiping, what smuggled cigarettes?" Hou Baolin asked, scratching his head.
Ye Beiping shook the cigarette in his hand and said, "This is smuggled cigarette. How much?"
"Two mao is already the best cigarette you can get without coupons." Hou Baolin added a special explanation, afraid that Ye Beiping might misunderstand: "I have four more packs here, just in case it's not enough."
"Cough cough!"
Ye Beiping gave Hou Baolin a strange look, and the corner of his lips curled up: "You don't want to try it yourself, do you?"
"Hehe." Hou Baolin was a little embarrassed after being exposed.
Wu Di immediately became unhappy and snatched a packet from Hou Baolin's pocket and stuffed it into his own: "I'll try it when I get back."
Ignoring the two's playful banter, Ye Beiping took the cigarettes, unpacked them, and headed towards the guardhouse of the popsicle factory.
Inside sat a middle-aged man, a cigarette dangling from his lips, reading a newspaper.
"Uncle?" Ye Beiping called out tentatively.
The middle-aged man put down his newspaper, glanced at it, and frowned when he saw it was a young punk. He grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Ye Beiping very considerately offered a cigarette to the middle-aged man first, and said with a smile, "Uncle, I'd like to buy some popsicles, but I don't know who I should contact at the factory?"
"Do you have a letter of introduction? Which organization is it from?" the middle-aged man asked in a bureaucratic tone.
Upon hearing this, Ye Beiping glanced at the cigarettes in his hand and stuffed the entire pack into the window.
"Uncle, if I had a letter of introduction or something, I could just go straight in."
The middle-aged man took the cigarette, glanced at it, and chuckled, "Heh, it's smuggled cigarettes, not cheap at all."
"Hehe, as long as Uncle likes it, it's no problem. I just want some popsicles, could you make an exception?" Ye Beiping had already lowered his stance considerably, hoping the middle-aged man could point him in the right direction.
Sure enough, the middle-aged man put the cigarettes in the drawer, pointed to the popsicle factory and said, "This is a place that does large-scale production, you definitely can't buy just a few."
"Huh?" Ye Beiping appeared somewhat disappointed, but it was within his expectations.
It was originally a trial run, to see if it would work. If going through the popsicle factory worked, then there would be no need to take the expensive goods from those shops and make a profit from the price difference.
The middle-aged man grinned and pointed to the other side of the road, saying, "That shop is owned by a relative of the head of the sales department in our factory. We buy things there for small orders. But the prices will definitely be a bit higher. Young man, if you want to make money, go to that shop."
"Okay, thank you, Uncle."
Having obtained the information he wanted, Ye Beiping gave a greeting and then met up with Hou Baolin and Wu Di.
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