This was an opportunity to make a fortune, historically known as the "Clivia Incident".
Just like the "Tulip Mania" that is widely known in the Netherlands, Clivia in Changchun, Northeast China, was once speculated to be worth exorbitant prices.
Many people with a keen sense of opportunity quickly seized the business opportunity and stockpiled clivia plants in advance, making a fortune during the years when the "clivia incident" was all the rage.
Later, it was said that a rare clivia plant could fetch 50,000 yuan, or even more than 100,000 yuan!
This price, even in the 21st century, would still seem outrageously high, let alone in a society where the average wage was only 80 or 90 yuan.
In fact, another similar hype event occurred in China at the same time – the Five-Needle Pine Incident!
Also in 1982, in Zhejiang province, there was a frenzy of hype surrounding "five-needle pine bonsai," with a top-quality five-needle pine bonsai selling for more than 20,000 yuan.
Among them, the older and more beautiful specimens fetch several times the price, with the highest selling for hundreds of thousands of yuan!
Later, Li Xiangdong talked to someone about these two similar incidents.
Most people are familiar with the "Clivia incident" in Northeast China, but are quite vague about the "Pine Five-Needle Pine incident" in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with many having never even heard of it.
According to his own analysis, the reason why the Clivia incident spread so widely is likely related to the involvement of the local government.
The Five-Needle Pine Incident is more akin to a method of money laundering in the private sector.
After all, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions were at the forefront of the country's development of the individual and private economy at that time, and even produced the "Eight Kings":
Hu Jinlin, the Hardware King; Cheng Buqing, the Mining Lamp King; Liu Dayuan, the Screw King; Li Fangping, the Contract King; Wang Maiqian, the Secondhand Goods King; Ye Jianhua, the Catalog King; Zheng Xiangqing, the Coil King; and Zheng Yuanzhong, the Electrical Appliance King.
They were among the first in the country to get rich under the market economy system. Some quickly applied to buy land and expand their factories, while others built high-rise buildings and luxury villas.
However, this good fortune did not last long.
In early 1982, the state arrested this group of people who were at the forefront of the market economy on charges of "speculation and profiteering".
In the same year, five-needle pine bonsai were wildly hyped.
Li Xiangdong absolutely refused to believe that there was no causal connection between these events.
To launder the vast wealth that the "Eight Kings" had amassed but dared not show to the public, speculating on and reselling five-needle pine bonsai was the fastest way.
Actually, you don't have to stick to five-needle pine bonsai. Even foxtail grass can drive people crazy if it gets hyped up.
Even today, hyping these things up remains a good way to launder money.
After saying all this, Li Xiangdong feigned modesty and added, "Of course, this is just my personal opinion, not to be taken seriously. Take it as a joke, hahaha~"
However, even with such speculation, cultivating five-needle pine bonsai in advance could allow one to make a profit by taking advantage of the chaos later!
As for Clivia, it can certainly make a fortune from it.
Clivia was originally a wildflower from southern Africa, which was later introduced to Europe and Japan.
In the 1930s, Japan presented Clivia to Puyi, the puppet emperor of Manchukuo. Puyi regarded Clivia as a national treasure and had it carefully cultivated in the garden of the Manchukuo Imperial Palace.
At that time, few people in my country knew about the Clivia, let alone cultivated it.
It wasn't until the mid-1940s that Clivia plants, which had been confined to the palaces of the puppet state of Manchukuo, began to spread to the general public, first becoming popular in the Changchun area and then gradually spreading throughout the country.
Upon hearing Li Xiangdong say that he wanted to grow clivia plants to sell, Li Jinshan squatted on the ground, frowning and muttering to himself, "What's a clivia? I've never seen one before!"
He had seen a pot of Cymbidium goeringii before; it was part of the dowry of the eldest daughter-in-law of the landlord's family.
The orchid is a small pot with slender leaves and tiny black flowers.
The landlord's family treasured it very much, saying that a pot of Cymbidium orchid was worth three taels of gold!
Goodness!
At that time, Li Jinshan thought that if he could grow a few pots of Cymbidium goeringii, his family would become rich.
Unfortunately, he had no chance to even touch this pot of Cymbidium goeringii, let alone try to get something for nothing by trying to propagate orchids from it.
Could it be that the Clivia is a rare flower like the Cymbidium goeringii?
He was worried, and his good brother Guo Haiguang was also squatting next to him, looking worried.
Well, he'd seen pine trees before, but none of them were called five-needle pines!
It's already 1979, and Xiang Dong said he wanted to sell it in 1982. This bonsai isn't like a flower that can be grown in a year or two; bonsai takes a lot of effort!
"Grandpa, Grandpa Guo, is this task quite difficult?"
Li Xiangdong asked the two old men very seriously.
See? The two old men have completely forgotten about the interview; their eyebrows are practically furrowed like earthworms.
Their CPUs must be burning out by now.
"Grandpa, Grandpa Guo, if you cultivate this flower before 1982, I will give you each ten thousand yuan as a salary!"
"What?! Ten thousand yuan!"
Guo Haiguang's eyes widened in disbelief. Good heavens! Was he about to strike it rich?
"You spendthrift! You keep talking about ten thousand yuan, are you out of your mind?!"
Li Jinshan and Guo Haiguang reacted very differently. He was a little furious, thinking about Xiang Dong, who was a real handful!
Ten thousand yuan, how many flowers would you have to sell to earn that?
This lazy brat made that promise so easily!
He, he, he and Lao Guo, although they are good brothers, even good brothers can't compare to being close to one's own grandson!
However, although he thought this way, he couldn't show it too obviously, and he also had to consider his decades-long friendship with Haiguang.
Li Xiangdong said cheerfully, "I plan to run this business for a few years. No matter how much I earn, I'd rather keep less for myself and consider the rest as a way to support my two grandfathers. However, this matter must be kept secret for now! No one can tell!"
Li Jinshan and Guo Haiguang's old eyes were filled with tears. What a filial child!
They realized that Xiang Dong was a kind and righteous child!
Forget selling flowers and bonsai; the child has noticed their loneliness.
The apprentice starved his master to death, and the two felt useless and wanted to try one last time to prove their worth.
Xiang Dong understands them, which is why he came up with this flower and bonsai cultivation project on short notice to appease them.
But the child is so good, how could they bear to torment him?
Moreover, a few years later, Li Xiangdong will have to give each of them 10,000 yuan!
Li Jinshan's rough hands grasped Li Xiangdong's hands. "Erzi, your great-grandfather knows how filial you are. I'm not going to make a fuss anymore, I'm not going to the job interview, and we're not going to grow clivia anymore, okay?"
Guo Haiguang said the same thing, firmly refusing to help Li Xiangdong cultivate the five-needle pine bonsai.
Li Xiangdong was unaware of the extent of their imagination and was speechless for a moment.
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