Chapter 57
Televisions are a rare commodity in Ning County. It is considered a good thing if one family in an alley can afford one. Whenever there is a wonderful evening party or a popular TV series, neighbors will bring their own small stools and go to the house with a television to watch together.
The atmosphere of collective viewing was very strong. Everyone enjoyed the show while communicating and discussing, which was full of joy and warmth.
In Su Miao's opinion, today's TV screens are small and of poor quality, which is far from what they will be in a decade or so. But for people of that era, this was already a very luxurious form of entertainment.
As long as there are pictures on TV, no matter what the content is, it will make people unable to take their eyes off. Su Miao recalled the financial reports he had read before:
In 1980, my country built its first color TV production line.
In 1985, a large number of domestic brands emerged, such as Panda, Venus, Peony, Feiyue, etc.
In 1987, my country became the world's largest television producer.
Seeing his father reluctant to take his eyes off her, Su Miao said, "Dad, why don't we buy a TV too?"
"Really? I...are we buying it too?"
Su Yuanzheng said with surprise that although his family now has money in their pockets, he still maintains a simple lifestyle and does not spend money lavishly on himself.
But it was different towards his daughter. In order to make up for the guilt he had felt over the past decade, he insisted on raising his daughter in wealth. He fully supported his daughter in everything she wanted to do and bought her the best food, clothing and other daily necessities in the county.
It was for this reason that Su Miao took the initiative to ask for a TV. If she didn't ask, her father would not be willing to buy it no matter how much he wanted it.
Su Miao nodded. "Mom took the radio away. We don't have any entertainment equipment at home. Just reading is boring. Let's buy a TV and go back to watch the evening show TV series. We haven't seen the recording of the New Year's Eve party the day before yesterday. I also want to know what I look like on TV."
"Okay, okay! Then we'll buy one too!"
When the salesperson heard that they also wanted to buy a TV, he was overjoyed and kept praising Su Yuanzheng for loving his daughter. He took the father and daughter to go shopping.
"Look, comrade! Black and white, color, small, big. Tell me what you want first, and I'll recommend it to you."
"Miao Miao?" Su Yuanzheng looked at his daughter, asking for her opinion.
Su Miao said, "You'll use the TV for a long time if you buy it. You'll watch it every day, so it's better to buy a large, colorful one. It's better for your eyes."
The salesman's smile deepened. "Comrade, do you have any supply coupons?"
Su Yuanzheng was stunned: "Ah, no, don't you use the coupons?"
"It's like this. Black and white TVs are in high production now, so coupons are no longer needed. But color TVs are still hard to come by, so you have to use coupons to buy them. And not just color TVs, but if you want to buy refrigerators and washing machines later, you'll also need coupons."
Su Yuanzheng said disappointedly: "Oh, so that's the case. Then we can only buy black and white."
Su Miao's eyes turned, and he said to the salesperson, "Uncle, it's not easy for us to come here, and we don't know where to get tickets. Can you give us some pointers?"
The salesperson looked at Su Miao with great interest, thinking that this little girl was very perceptive.
Then he pulled the father and daughter to a corner and whispered, "If you really want to buy it, I have coupons here. They're 100 yuan each. It's definitely expensive, but if you buy this coupon, you can pick it up today. The others will have to wait in line for a few days."
When Su Miao was studying at Yongcheng No. 1 Middle School in his previous life, there was a classmate whose father made a fortune by reselling electrical appliance supply coupons. One coupon cost 90 yuan, and it was safer to buy from a salesperson in the mall than from a scalper outside. It was only 10 yuan more and not expensive.
She raised an eyebrow at her father. "See? I knew he had connections," she said decisively, "Buy it!"
"Okay! You guys go ahead and choose a TV. You can use the coupons only if you like one. As for brands, we have domestic brands like Venus, Panda, and Triumph, as well as Japanese imports like Sharp and Hitachi. The best-selling one right now is actually the 17-inch Panda black-and-white TV, but if you want a color TV, I still recommend the imported ones."
Su Yuanzheng frowned and said to Su Miao, "Don't want Japanese ones, let's get domestic ones!"
Finally, they chose a 17-inch Panda color TV, which cost 1,689 yuan, twice as expensive as the 14-inch black and white TV at 500 yuan.
The father and daughter went to pay the money. Su Yuanzheng opened his coat and took out a thick stack of money from the bag inside. It was more than a thousand yuan.
While waiting for the ticket to be issued, he whispered to his daughter, "Luckily I listened to you and brought two thousand yuan, otherwise I wouldn't be able to buy a TV."
Su Miao nodded. Currently, cross-regional remittances mainly rely on the manual "interbank system", and universal deposit and withdrawal has not yet been realized, so it is impossible to deposit and withdraw money in different places.
Many businessmen have to be careful when carrying large amounts of cash, and money loss and theft are very common, so Su Yuanzheng cannot leave his shoulder bag this time.
After receiving the delivery note and invoice, the salesperson took them to the warehouse at the back of the first floor to pick up the goods.
"Brother, look, this is the TV, this is the matching antenna, and the instruction manual. Everything is here. Let's put it together and turn it on. If everything is fine, you can take it away."
The front of the TV casing is silver-gray and the back is black. There is no remote control. There are two adjustment buttons in a row on the left, which can be turned to change the channel and volume.
Su Miao asked curiously, "Uncle, I saw that other people's antennas looked like big pot covers, why doesn't this one have one?"
"Oh! That one you're talking about! That one is for signal enhancement. You have to buy it separately. I suggest you buy it back in the county. Otherwise, it will be difficult to bring back. If your signal is good, you may not need it."
After buying the color TV, Su Miao went to the side to look at the shiny refrigerators. Compared with color TVs, there were relatively fewer people buying refrigerators because few people had used them, so they had no idea what they were like.
But Su Miao knew that it could play a big role in preserving the freshness of food, and it was also necessary for families like theirs that run a catering business.
"Miao Miao, do you want a refrigerator? I don't have enough money this time. I'll buy it when I get some money back."
Su Yuanzheng saw that his daughter was very interested in the refrigerator and felt a little annoyed. He thought he shouldn't have bought the TV first. He should have bought what his daughter wanted most first.
Su Miao shook his head. "Don't buy them yet, Dad. You forgot, we're coming to Yongcheng in less than half a year. If we buy so many appliances and leave them unused at home, they'll break. It's also troublesome to transport them here. It's better to buy them when we get here."
Su Yuanzheng was finally satisfied after buying the color TV. He carried it back to the guesthouse with a proud and confident look. Many people looked at him with envy on the way, which made him stand up straighter.
They will be going out tonight and tomorrow morning, so it is not safe to keep such valuables in the room, so they have to entrust them to the guesthouse for 50 cents a day, and put them in a special small room, and they can pick them up when they want to go back.
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