The next day, Chen Chen brought breakfast to find Ning Yuan and Ou Minglang early in the morning.
After a quick meal, the three of them took a bus to a small guesthouse to pick up Manhua and Huazi.
The group of five marched in a grand procession toward Gaodi Street.
After getting off the bus, I walked a few dozen meters and arrived at the entrance of Gaodi Street in Yuexiu District.
This street stretches from Beijing Road in the east to Qiyi Road in the west, and is about 600 meters long.
It was only 8:30 in the morning, and the number of people was already several times that of the nearby streets.
Ning Yuan looked around the street with a mixture of curiosity and emotion. The buildings were all old-fashioned Nanyang-style arcade buildings.
Many residents in this area have relatives who went to Southeast Asia to trade goods during the Qing Dynasty, and many of them became wealthy.
It was once the former residence of Xu Baiting, the largest salt merchant in the late Qing Dynasty, and also the place where Xu Guangping, the wife of Lu Xun, spent her childhood.
Before liberation, it was a street that sold goods from Southeast Asia and even Western countries.
Chen Chen felt a little intimidated by the large crowd: "Little...cousin, there are too many people, should we call it a day?"
If something happens, he won't be able to use his skills!
Ning Yuan, however, was not afraid at all. Clutching a burlap sack, she looked around with shining eyes: "What's there to be afraid of? Let's go shopping first!!"
Manhua, carrying an empty burlap sack, looked at the various stalls selling fresh goods on Gaodi Street and was overjoyed.
"Wow, this market is huge! It's much bigger than the one in our county town! Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!"
Most women are also known as shopping addicts!
Seeing the two women charge into the crowd ahead, the three men had no choice but to follow.
Ning Yuan stared wide-eyed, looking around at the surrounding stalls.
I couldn't help but feel a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, mixed feelings).
Not long after the reform and opening up, with the backing of Hong Kong and Macao, Gaodi Street quickly regained its former status and became the first light industrial products market in China.
Although she remembered that Gaodi Street would not receive the official approval until the end of the year.
In fact, this place has long been a market, with individual businesses lining both sides of the street.
It's not just filled with fashionable clothes from Hong Kong or Guangzhou manufacturers that do import and export.
There are also various electronic products, shoes, hats, jewelry, handicrafts, toys, buttons...
Many of these items were things that only Ning Yuan and a few others had never seen before.
A group of country bumpkins, carrying sacks, looked around with great interest.
After walking around for a long time, only about 600 meters, I spent two hours stopping and starting in the crowd.
Despite the freezing weather, Chen Chen was drenched in sweat and was in great discomfort.
But Ning Yuan and Man Hua were in high spirits and showed no signs of fatigue.
"Sister-in-law... is that cousin... alright?" Chen Chen asked with a mournful face.
Ning Yuan turned her head happily: "Okay, I'll go talk to Chen Jiale and his wife in a bit, then we can start buying the goods!"
"What? It hasn't even started yet? I...I...I want to go home!" The tall guy felt like crying.
Even being handsome can be a problem; he's been flirted with and had his chest and buttocks rubbed against by countless middle-aged women who buy and sell goods.
Ning Yuan patted his arm dismissively: "I know you miss your mother, it'll be over soon."
Chen Chen was completely confused: "Mom??"
Ou Minglang and Hua Zi followed the two women like little shadows, equally happy as they looked around curiously.
Ou Minglang was a rich kid working at the grassroots level, while Hua Zi had never seen such a bustling and high-class light industrial market in his life.
Ning Yuan squeezed her way to a covered walkway under the address, looking around to see how to find the person.
A young, self-employed man with a denim jacket and a side-parted hairstyle styled with mousse, who was setting up a stall in front of her, asked with a smile in his Cantonese-accented Mandarin, "Pretty lady, what would you like to buy?"
As soon as Chen Chen saw a young man approaching the woman, he immediately waved his hand and imitated the stall owner's words: "Comrade, we don't want to buy sheep, we're looking for someone."
People from Guangzhou are really strange. They don't address each other as "comrade," but as "little girl," and they always like to imitate sheep bleating!
Ning Yuan's eyes darted around, and she spotted a Sharp 777 tape recorder on the young man's stall.
This tape recorder has two cassette slots, a full-band design, four large magnet bass speakers with grilles, and a gorgeous red and white English label.
There were also seven or eight Sanyo tape recorders and radios underneath.
These are all the most popular electronic products in the world today!
The island nation's national character is shameless and despicable, but it must be said that their economy and semiconductor technology took off in the 1980s and 1990s, which was truly remarkable.
The island nation's people are so rich they almost bought out New York!
Ning Yuan explored these things, feeling quite emotional.
Goods rarely seen even in Shanghai's foreign trade markets are casually displayed on roadside stalls on Gaodi Street! They are all "parallel imports" from Hong Kong!
Hong Kong and Macau are currently experiencing their most prosperous economic period, attracting worldwide attention.
As the gateway to reform and opening up, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, relying on Hong Kong and Macao, were the most fashionable cities in the 1980s and 1990s, making even the bustling metropolis of Shanghai pale in comparison.
"Wow, this pretty girl knows her stuff! These are the latest Japanese tape recorders. Back in mainland China, people still use radios!"
The young man watched Ning Yuan caress his goods. Although his Mandarin had a heavy accent, it was still quite clear.
Unlike the indifferent attitude of the sales staff at state-run stores, he was very enthusiastic.
Even before the reform and opening up, this handsome young man was already making a living in the world; he knew better than anyone not to judge a book by its cover.
Especially Gaodi Street, which was at the forefront of reform and opening up!
Ning Yuan touched the Sharp radio cassette player, commonly known as the "Big 37," and her mind started working. She asked, "How much does this cost?"
At that time, the only one of the four essential wedding items in China was a radio, and they were all brands like Haiyan, Yingchun, and Gongnongbing...
When the brick-sized radios from island nations first entered the Chinese market, many manufacturers lacked the technology to replicate them, and their frequency bands were not as comprehensive as those of the high-end products from those island nations.
Shanghai now has one of the highest average wages in the country.
People there are always willing to spend money to save face and are highly receptive to new things.
"Oh, this one's expensive! A brand new imported Sharp 37 costs 3,500 yuan, but a Sanyo one will be cheaper at 2,700 yuan!" the slick-haired young man said with a smile.
"Ah! Why don't you just rob it?!" Manhua was so shocked that her jaw dropped and the bag fell off!
She had never heard of anything measured in thousands of yuan before!
Ning Yuan frowned: "Handsome guy, you think you can survive for three years without making any money, and then live off it for three years? This isn't a price for doing business sincerely, and this tape recorder isn't brand new either, it's clearly a refurbished second-hand one!"
The slick-haired young man stared wide-eyed, pointing at the tape recorder and saying, "What?! Pretty girl, you can't wrong me like this! Look at the condition of this! There's not a single scratch on the casing. You're saying this is a second-hand item?!"
Ou Minglang, who was listening nearby, sneered: "How can it not be second-hand? This magnetic head of yours has obviously been used; there are markings on it!"
He has a radio cassette player like this at home!
The slick-haired young man was about to say something when suddenly a slipper flew towards the back of his head—
"Smack!" It hit him right on the back of the head!
"Ah Le, you good-for-nothing! You dare to lie to your older sister's benefactor!" Liang Xin's loud voice suddenly rang out from behind the stall.
The slick-haired young man was still rubbing the back of his head when the older woman reached out and twisted his ear.
He cried out in pain, "Big sister, what are you doing? Let go! Don't I have any dignity?!"
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