Chapter 134 Thought Liberation
Monday was November 19, 1979, and the Qiu father and daughter settled down in the small side courtyard.
They bought vegetables every day and cooked their own meals in the small kitchen. Most people certainly can't afford to eat out every day.
Anyway, it's very convenient to buy vegetables and eggs, so they just get wholesale prices from Lin Yan. Teacher Qiu's meager supply of grain and oil was left at home for his mother to eat.
The father and daughter occasionally wanted to eat meat, and they only needed to share some with Sister Cui. The father and daughter bought two or three taels of meat at a time, and they could eat very well.
Sister Cui knew that they were from a travel agency, and she was happy to share it with them at the original price. After all, their small restaurant, oh, now called a private restaurant. In the future, there will be opportunities to take over the business of tourists brought by travel agencies.
People will want to eat at century-old restaurants in the capital, but they may also want to taste home-cooked food. The key is to have someone to guide them.
Fang Mingche's family of three rarely use the kitchen, and they only boil three eggs in the morning, one for each person. The rest, even cooking various soups, was done by Cui's wife. The kitchen was usually used by the father and daughter of the Qiu family.
Fang Mingche had no choice. He could not provide better accommodation for the father and daughter. It was too tiring to go back and forth every day, so he had to let them live in the empty small room of his house for a while. Everything in the room was moved to the corner of the big room or kitchen as much as possible.
Lingzi and Xiao Hu came early in the morning to take English lessons with Qiu Jie. Teacher Qiu taught one to three.
Fang Mingche and Teacher Gao could only participate in the class during the breaks. Old Cheng and Xiao Xu who wanted to do part-time jobs also rode their bikes back with Fang Mingche. They went back to school after class in the evening.
Teacher Qiu broke the teaching routine and taught practical English.
Wang Dexian came over after work these days, bringing advertising brochures and large posters to show Fang Mingche. The two of them, together with Teacher Gao, discussed it again. They made the final preparations for the opening of the business.
Wang Dexian also attended a few evening English classes.
Fang Mingche asked someone to connect a 100-watt headlight to the courtyard, and then put thick cloth on all sides to block the wind.
That night, everyone took a break between classes and went to the toilet one after another. Aunt Yuan came over.
Aunt Yuan would definitely not care about learning English. I heard that they were going to open a travel agency to earn foreign exchange for the country, and the street office was also happy to see it happen.
Everyone now has a strong sense of collective honor and knows that this is something the country urgently needs. In addition, if we talk about employment, there are actually only three people on the list: driver Xiao Hu, tour guide Sister Qiu, and clerk Lingzi. The others are all employed or college students.
So at first Fang Mingche was really a little puzzled about what Aunt Yuan was doing.
As for the vegetable business, Aunt Yuan has always turned a blind eye and pretended not to know about it. She can't block the financial path of several young people in the slum. Blocking someone's financial path is like killing their parents! People always have to eat. Without a stable income, this will force people to make mistakes. There will be endless troubles!
Fang Mingche looked at Aunt Yuan suspiciously, and reflected in his heart that he didn't seem to have done anything too out of the ordinary recently.
Aunt Yuan said: "Xiao Fang, don't look at me like that. It's as if I came here to pick a fight with you. If you want to blame someone, you should blame yourself. If you didn't fool around here for four months, how could I keep an eye on you every day? I came here today to inform the three families in your small courtyard that one person from each family should go to sweep the snow early tomorrow morning. It snowed these two days, and the road is not easy to walk on. The road section assigned to our street is... Tomorrow at a certain time, come out with a big broom, and everyone will take turns. This way, everyone can go to work on time."
The road must be swept so that bicycles and people can move. Fang Mingche suddenly realized, "Oh, okay."
This job is hard, and it must be cleaned before everyone goes to work or school. Everyone will go to sweep in different areas.
He said, "Aunt Yuan, there are still many young people in the street who haven't found a job. Why don't you ask everyone's opinions and see if everyone is willing to pay some money to ask these people to be responsible for cleaning every day. If most people are willing, you can report it to the higher-ups. In this way, both parties will benefit. Those who don't want to pay can just do the work."
Grandpa Gu stood under the eaves and agreed, "I also think Xiaofang's idea is good."
Aunt Yuan said, "Okay, then I'll ask every household tomorrow. But you still have to come out to sweep the snow tomorrow morning."
"Okay."
At six o'clock the next morning, Fang Mingche had to leave the warm bed. A Yan is a pregnant woman, and Yan Yan is just a little over three years old. For their family of three, he must be the only one who can go.
He walked out of the room and stomped his feet, and Sister Qiu next to him also came out from the kitchen. Both of them wore Lei Feng hats, leaving only their eyes exposed. They wore gloves on their hands and held a big broom.
Sister Qiu said, "Do you want to wait for Gu Zhiguang?"
Before she finished speaking, the light in Gu Zhiguang's room came on.
Fang Mingche said, "Then let's wait for him."
Sister Qiu said, "It's only a few days before the store opens. Are you nervous?"
"How can I not be nervous? The car rental fee of 4,500 yuan for half a year has to be paid in one lump sum. 25 yuan a day! Add in other expenses, even if we are a makeshift team, the monthly cost will be more than 1,000 yuan. If there is no business, I will still have to bear the debt. Everything depends on how many customers we can attract to the Capital Airport in two days."
Gu Zhiguang also dressed up quickly and came out. "Sorry, the first alarm clock didn't wake me up."
Fang Mingche said, "Let's go. I hope Aunt Yuan will have good news soon."
Otherwise, it's a bit too much to get up so early every few days to sweep the snow.
Gu Zhiguang said, "The main reason is that we used to take turns sweeping. Aunt Yuan and the others didn't expect that there would be 400,000 more educated youth returning to the city this year. We can arrange special people to sweep."
In fact, the usual sweeping is done by cleaners. But when it snowed, the workload increased all of a sudden. The cleaners alone could not clean the road in time, so every household had to send one person.
They arrived at the designated section and started working with others. Some took shovels, and some took brooms.
The person designated as the team leader said, "Everyone hurry up, the sooner we finish cleaning, the sooner we can go home. We still have to go to work and school!"
After sweeping for a while, Fang Mingche felt hot all over. Fortunately, the three of them were either young people who returned to the village or educated youth who went to the countryside. They had all worked and suffered. As for the others, there were no lazy people nowadays. They still managed to get it done before the peak of everyone's visits.
When Fang Mingche came back by bike in the afternoon, Aunt Yuan announced: Those who are willing to work should work, and those who are willing to pay should pay. Anyway, the educated youth who returned to the city and couldn't find a job were willing to do this temporary job. No matter how hard it is, it is better than doing nothing.
Fang Mingche expressed his opinion yesterday, and Aunt Yuan directly included them in the ranks of those who are willing to pay. If every household contributes, then the money will not be much for each household. Sister Qiu also gritted her teeth and contributed!
Three generations of their family now live on the 3 yuan training fee of Teacher Qiu a day. But this money is not small. Moreover, she will soon be able to earn the tour guide fee.
Fang Mingche must have not forgotten to make a big promise for her that she can get a commission as a tour guide. If the business is good, maybe within a year, they and their daughter can buy one or two houses nearby. If they rent, it will be faster. In this way, they don't have to squeeze into this house with a construction area of more than 30 square meters with the Fang family of three.
As for the father and son of the Gu family, they must have paid money to save trouble. Grandpa Gu collected dozens of rent a month. Gu Zhiguang was a university librarian and also taught a basic course. His income was not bad at the time. The father and son still couldn't spend more than a hundred a month.
Fang Mingche paid the fee and said, "Great, I can sleep well tomorrow."
Aunt Yuan registered them, and these three households paid.
"We couldn't do this before, and I didn't think of it for a while."
After liberation, it was a mass production movement, and everyone participated. At the beginning of repairing the reservoir, everyone was a volunteer. At that time, the people of the whole country were united. In the first few years after liberation, everyone worked as volunteers to repair more than 80,000 reservoirs. Bring your own dry food!
At that time, when the Ming Thirteen Tombs Reservoir was repaired, everyone was very active and proactive. Even Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou went to volunteer after work.
Fang Mingche nodded and said, "Yes, at that time, everyone was united. The will of the state and the people were highly unified. But it is still the same now! Reform and opening up is also a high degree of unity between the will of the state and the people. Everyone has only one goal: to make money and stop being poor! Of course, the first priority is to give people jobs. The country is thinking of all the ways it can think of now!"
Aunt Yuan thought for a while, "You are right
." After asking every household for their opinions, most people were willing to pay the money. People without jobs were also willing to work hard to earn the money. She reported the situation to the higher authorities and got approval immediately. It really wasn't like this before. This is how specific problems are analyzed and solved.
After dealing with this matter, Fang Mingche started to get busy with business at the Capital Airport. On Saturday, November 24, Wang Dexian drove a 13-seat, 95% new business car over.
Fang Mingche gave him 1,500 yuan. In this way, the Wang family's capital was paid, and the travel agency's car rental fee for the first six months was also paid. Teacher Gao did the accounting, remembering everything clearly, and then asked the parties to sign.
They opened a few days in advance. However, the car rental period was still calculated from December 1st to give face to the Wang family.
Wang Dexian said: "Xiao Hu, you and Sister Qiu will go to the Capital Airport to solicit customers early tomorrow morning. Xiao Hu will drive the car. Lingzi, you will go with me to the Friendship Hotel and Capital Hotel to meet people. From now on, you will deal with the hotel staff. There will be more phone calls, but you can get to know each other in person."
Lingzi nodded quickly, "Okay."
She was not only responsible for answering the phone, but also for booking hotels for tourists, tickets to other places, etc. She was the only staff member in the office at present. She sat in the office at her own home.
Fang Mingche had painted a big pie for her, that she would become bigger in the future and have a special big office. He promoted her to be the director of the office, and she would have soldiers under her.
Teacher Qiu said, "I will go with you to pick up foreign tourists tomorrow. If there are not enough seats when I come back, I will take the bus to transfer back."
Foreign tourists certainly don't want to see overloaded and crowded phenomena.
Wang Dexian said, "Teacher Qiu, I will also drive there. You can come back with me when the time comes."
Nowadays, there is no direct bus, and it is very troublesome to transfer.
"Good!"
Lin Yan exhaled, "I hope to have a good start tomorrow!"
There is no direct flight route between China and the United States. The first batch of people who went abroad at public expense in December last year transferred in Paris, France.
The direct route between China and France started relatively early. In 1966, Shanghai and Paris could have direct flights. France established diplomatic relations with us when General Charles de Gaulle was still alive. In 1974, direct flights were opened between the capital and Paris.
Nowadays, flights to China from the United States or other European countries all transit through France. Tomorrow, a flight from Paris to the capital will arrive.
Fang Mingche's travel agency is really a makeshift team. It is impossible to contact people before they get on the plane in France. Everything depends on picking them up at the airport tomorrow.
Fang Mingche said, "Okay, Xiao Hu, you get familiar with this car. Let's go to the airport now and run back and forth, so that it will be more convenient to estimate the time tomorrow."
Thirteen seats, all the people from the travel agency went. Yanyan, Xiao Xie and Lingzi's mother also had a seat as family members.
There were two empty seats when they set off. Fang Mingche saw Aunt Yuan and stuck his head out to say hello, "Aunt Yuan, let's go for a ride at the airport. Do you want to come along?"
Aunt Yuan is a current manager, and she can pinch their pulse better than the county magistrate.
The old lady was happy when she heard it, "Will you come back after you go?"
"Yes, at most we'll just take a look at the airport."
Aunt Yuan got in the car and followed them. Anyway, it was just a ride, and they were all familiar with each other. There was one seat left, so Wang Dexian's mother got on. The car, including the driver, had 13 people, and it was packed and headed for the Capital Airport.
Many people had never been here, and they didn't have the opportunity to deal with airplanes. Only county and regiment level officials and above could get a letter of introduction to buy air tickets. It was quite fresh for a while.
After looking around, Wang Dexian's mother said, "Hey, I heard there is a mural of naked women on the seventh floor of the Capital Airport. Let's go and take a look!"
She was an artist in the art troupe, and her thoughts were more open than those of ordinary people.
Aunt Yuan said, "I've heard about it too. Let's go and take a look. Comrade Xiaoping ordered it to be preserved."
Fang Mingche smiled. The three naked Dai women bathing in the mural "Water Splashing Festival" at the Capital Airport were very famous.
The mural was only unveiled a few months ago. In order to pass the review, the painter Yuan Yunsheng drew an extra line on the draft, so that it looked like the people were wearing skirts. When the mural was completed, he secretly removed the line. By the time it was discovered, it was too late to correct it.
This incident caused a great uproar in the whole country. Under social pressure, the relevant departments asked Yuan Yunsheng to modify the mural, "at least let the women wear shorts." But Yuan Yunsheng refused to modify it. Fortunately, the chief designer said that this was a normal artistic expression, and it was finally preserved.
The newspapers at that time reported it, and even published the painting.
Later, when Huo Yingdong was interviewed, he said that at that time, even he was a little hesitant about investing in the mainland, fearing that the policy would change suddenly.
Therefore, every time he arrived at the Capital Airport, he would go to see if the naked woman mural was still there. If it was, it meant that the mainland's policy had not changed. This naked woman mural has become one of the artistic symbols of China's reform and opening up.
Everyone in the travel agency ran to the seventh floor where the large mural was displayed with laughter.
After seeing it, Xiao Hu whispered, "There's nothing in this painting." It's just three backs.
Wang Dexian laughed, "What else do you want to see? This has caused a great uproar across the country."
Lingzi was also embarrassed while watching. On the contrary, Wang Dexian's mother and Aunt Yuan watched it openly.
Fang Mingche's family of three, Teacher Gao and Xiao Xie, and the father and daughter of the Qiu family were also watching.
Yanyan asked, "Why are they bathing outside?"
Fang Mingche said, "It's the ethnic culture of ethnic minorities. This was painted by the painter after he went to Yunnan for field research last year."
Lin Yan smiled, "This painter is so brave! However, it really has a sense of liberating the mind to put it like this."
Fang Mingche nodded. Two years later, in the 1980s, people's minds were actually quite open.
As a result, they became conservative again. The key parts of these three naked women were artificially covered with veils for a long time until the Asian Games in 1990, when the veils were removed. As a result, due to the long-term covering, the shades of the covered parts are somewhat different, which is particularly prominent!
Therefore, these years should be very suitable for the development of foreign travel agencies. He must seize the time to make money and strive for a higher social status!
When driving here, Xiao Hu looked at the time, and now it is natural to count the time when driving back. He drove directly to the Friendship Hotel to park, and then Wang Dexian took Lingzi out of the car and went in. Everyone else was waiting in the car.
Aunt Yuan said, "Xiao Fang, you guys seem to be doing things in a very orderly manner. I hope your business will flourish and you can earn more foreign exchange for the country."
With the protection of earning foreign exchange, she no longer had to pretend she didn't know.
Fang Mingche said, "We will definitely work hard. This way the country can earn more foreign exchange, and everyone in our travel agency can get rid of poverty and become rich."
Aunt Yuan nodded, "You're right. Now is the same as it was a few years after liberation, with everyone working together."
"Yes, some details don't affect the overall situation."
Aunt Yuan glanced at Teacher Qiu and nodded. She didn't mind having such a person living in the compound she was in charge of. After all, he was still a staff member of Beijing Normal University.
Teacher Qiu avoided Aunt Yuan and some people wearing red armbands reflexively.
If Fang Mingche hadn't paid him a real salary and given his daughter this job opportunity, he really wouldn't have the courage to come out of the boiler room.
Fortunately, when he moved here, Uncle Gu was the first to greet him warmly. Others were also quite nice to him. The people in the compound were quite friendly. Especially Lingzi's family, they would bring whatever delicious food they made to them.
Fang Mingche told him that the social atmosphere has been getting better and better. Those activists in the past have become low-key and honest.
He also hopes that this job will allow his family to live a good life.
(End of this chapter)
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