Chapter 771: Investing Money
Zhou Huaian pressed the switch and turned the channel dial twice, and a blurry image appeared on the screen.
Zhou Jiaming shouted, "Dad, your family is not clear at all, but Uncle Yiding's family can see it clearly."
"You guys watch, I'm going to adjust the antenna." Zhou Huaian walked to the antenna pole and slowly turned the antenna while looking at the TV screen.
Zhou Jiaming and the others stared at the TV screen intently, "Okay, okay, stop it!"
As soon as Zhou Huaian relaxed, the bamboo pole moved again.
"Oh, Dad, please turn slower. It's blurry again. The one just now was the clearest." Several kids started complaining.
"Don't panic, take your time, your father knows what's going on." The old man pulled a rattan chair and sat in the back seat, holding his pipe.
Zhou's father also brought a chair and sat next to him, rubbing the tobacco leaves while staring at the TV screen.
Mother Zhou didn't even bother washing the dishes. "Chunyan, put them aside for now. We'll go take a look."
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan picked up the child and went to the yard with her.
Zhou Huaian turned back slightly, and the screen suddenly became clear. He saw that adults and children were all staring at the TV screen intently, even watching the central news with great interest.
"Youngest, did your family really buy a TV?" Ma Chunhua asked as she and her three children stood at the gate of the yard.
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "Sister Ma, come in and watch TV."
"Hey, eldest brother, go back and call your old man, and ask him to come to your youngest uncle's house to watch TV." Ma Chunhua excitedly pushed eldest brother Lin and walked in with the two younger ones.
Mother Zhou waved at her enthusiastically, "Chunhua, come in and sit down and watch."
"Okay!" Ma Chunhua entered the yard and sat down next to Zhou's mother, looking at the TV screen with envy, "Oh my, it's almost like watching a movie on the dam. Auntie, you have everything you need, but we haven't even bought a bicycle."
Mother Zhou couldn't hide her pride and said, "I didn't know about your family. If I wanted to buy it, I would have bought it a long time ago."
Ma Chunhua smiled and said, "There are three kids. The eldest will get a dowry, and the second and third will need to build houses and find wives when they grow up. We have to be frugal!"
Zhou's mother said generously: "It's okay, if you want to watch it, just come to the youngest's house."
Ma Chunhua smiled and nodded, "We know your family is generous, so we came here as soon as we heard the news."
After a while, Zhou Huairong's three brothers, Lin Wu and his daughter, and Xu Erchun's family of four also arrived. After exchanging a few words, they sat down and began to watch the film with great interest.
Yang Chunyan handed Jiu'er over to Zhou Huaian, fed the pigs, cleaned the pigsty, and came out, then she heard a majestic and passionate melody coming from the TV: After a hundred years of slumber, the Chinese are gradually waking up, open your eyes, look carefully, who is willing to admit that they are captives, because of cowardice...
It turned out that the Hong Kong drama "Huo Yuanjia" was playing. She walked into the yard and saw that the people watching TV straightened their backs involuntarily and looked at the screen with excitement under the majestic and stirring melody.
Zhou's mother pointed at the male lead excitedly, "Look, he's really good at boxing, much better than his previous tricks."
The old man and Zhou's father also nodded repeatedly, thinking that Zhou Huaian had not lied to them. This was indeed better than the radio, and was almost the same as watching a movie on the dam or Sichuan opera in a theater.
Brother Zhou Jiaming clenched his fists and pounded his legs excitedly, "It looks great, it's really great."
"Yeah, it looks good!" Several other children also nodded excitedly.
After reading it, Yang Chunyan suddenly remembered a joke that was widely circulated in the past, "In 1981, I learned the Mizong Fist, beat Huo Yuanjia to death, and snatched Zhao Qiannan away. When Chen Zhen came to seek revenge, I kicked him down the stairs..."
I vaguely remember that when Zhou Jiaming and his friends were carrying their schoolbags to school every day, they didn’t walk properly, they kicked here and there, and kept making various martial arts sounds with their mouths, Huha! Huha! Oh my… Huhaha…
The eldest sister-in-law said that when the two brothers were eating, they didn't eat the dishes properly. They would spin in the air every time and stretch out their chopsticks while puffing. At night, they would practice somersaults in bed, and even collapsed the wooden bed, which was not very sturdy to begin with.
The couple, unable to bear it any longer, finally picked up yellow broom sticks and beat the two brothers so hard that they crawled all over the bed. Only then did they calm down their crazy pursuit of martial arts.
Zhou Huaian turned around and saw her coming, and pulled the chair over, "This TV is good, come and sit down and watch it for a while."
"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan sat down on the chair, picked up Xiao Jiuer who was reaching out to her, and started watching.
It was past ten o'clock, and seeing that everyone was still watching with great interest, Yang Chunyan held Xiao Jiuer who was sleeping in her arms, said goodbye to Zhou Huaian, and went to wash up and rest.
The next day, more people came to Zhou Huaian's house to watch TV. Everyone waited for the word "Goodbye" to appear on the screen, and then the screen suddenly turned into a field of "snowflakes" before reluctantly dispersing.
As they walked, the three Zhou Jiaming brothers imitated the lines from the TV and sang "A Hundred Years of Sleep" loudly. The excitement was almost the same as that of the movies shown on the village dam.
Zhou Yumei's clothing business was surprisingly booming. After just half a week, she brought a letter asking Zhou Huaian to accompany her to the provincial capital to purchase goods.
Wang Zhen offered to help buy sleeper tickets. The brother and sister thought that they would often go to the provincial capital in the future and could not trouble him often, so they thanked him and bought hard seat tickets to the provincial capital the next day.
This time, sitting in the hard seat carriage, Zhou Huaian finally witnessed the power of pickpockets. After waking up Zhou Yumei, he told her in detail all the scams that Wang Zhen had told him.
If you see a bag on the ground, don't pick it up. Even if someone shouts and says it's your money, don't pick it up. They are all traps. Also, don't pick it up if someone approaches you and says they have cheap stuff to sell.
If you go with him, don't even think about coming back with your money... Zhou Yumei took note of it carefully, but Zhou Huaian was still a little worried. He thought about going back and telling Fang Dongming to go with him next time when he went to purchase goods.
After the brother and sister arrived in the provincial capital, they stayed at the train station until the "ghost market" opened at three o'clock, and then Zhou Huaian took her to the ghost market.
This time they imported goods worth four or five thousand yuan. The brother and sister each carried a large bag, and they also checked a few more bags in the car. They returned to Ning'an early on the third day.
…
In early March, there was news about the hydropower station. This time, the river section below the mountain temple was chosen to take advantage of the water flow difference, with a total investment of over 700,000 yuan to build the hydropower station.
Xu Changqing, the people from the Water Conservancy Bureau and Wang Zhen returned to Funiu from Ning'an. Zhou Huaian's four brothers, Zhou Yiding, Zhou Datian and Secretary Xu all went to the brigade.
After discussion, the share price was set at 100 yuan per share. The villagers were willing to invest, and those who were unwilling were not forced. Xu Changqing even took out 2,000 yuan on the spot and gave it to Secretary Xu, asking him to help invest on the day he raised shares.
Zhou Datian turned on the loudspeaker and called the villagers to the brigade headquarters, and told everyone about the construction of the hydropower station. "One hundred yuan per share, no one is forced to invest, it's voluntary!
But let me make it clear to everyone, everyone in our village knows Xu Changqing, he was the one who helped us get the project, and he also took out 2,000 yuan and asked Secretary Xu to help buy 20 shares. "
The villagers below gathered together to discuss, "Xu Laoer is an official in the county, two thousand yuan is nothing, one hundred yuan per share is so expensive, my family can't afford to buy shares."
"I have money but I won't invest. Electricity is something you can't see or touch. When the time comes, they will say that there is no electricity, and our money will just go to enrich those village leaders."
"You can't say that. We all know the Xu family. When Xu Changqing was in Baima Town, he was very humble. Everyone said he was a good person. I think he can do it. Datian also said just now that those who buy shares will receive dividends every year."
"I think so too, it's just that my family doesn't have much money saved."
"I have to go back and discuss this with my wife."
While everyone was discussing, Zhou Datian and Secretary Xu wrote out the content of the meeting and asked Zhou Huairong and others to post it on the notice wall, which attracted the villagers to crowd in front of the notice wall, with people watching in three layers inside and outside.
As soon as Zhou Huaian got home, Xu Hongbing came over and asked, "Youngest brother, can that hydroelectric power station really make money?"
Zhou Huaian didn't answer, but smiled and asked: "What do you think?"
Xu Hongbing scratched his head. "I think it is indeed much more convenient to use electricity now. You see, lights, televisions, radios, etc. all use electricity. I think I should be able to make money."
Zhou Huaian rolled his eyes at him and said, "You can calculate it yourself, so it's settled!"
Xu Hongbing smiled and came forward, "I want to invest, but I'm afraid it will be like the collective era. If too many people try to make money, then all the money we invested will go down the drain."
Zhou Huaian: "The village said that it is voluntary to invest. I have four brothers and Ding Dingmao also want to invest. You can go back and discuss it with sister-in-law and Aunt Qian."
"My Xiaofang told my mom that if you guys invest, we'll also invest a thousand bucks."
"Okay, then you can invest a thousand dollars."
"Will we post the amount of money we invested? You know, I'm planning to have a second child!"
"No, I'll issue you a receipt and you can get the dividends based on the number of shares you hold."
"That's good. I'll go back and discuss it with them."
As soon as Xu Hongbing left, Li Wu and Xu Erchun also came, also to ask him about investing money in the hydropower station. Zhou Huaian told them the same thing he had just said to Xu Hongbing.
After a while, Ma Chunhua also came and asked about the investment in the hydropower station. Zhou Huaian told her the same thing as before, and Ma Chunhua left hesitantly.
A few days later, the village started to invest money, but Zhou Dachun's family and the Xiong family did not invest, and some timid families did not invest either.
Among the more than 300 households, more than 200 invested money. Except for Zhou Huaian's and a few families, Zhou San's aunt's family invested the most, 5,000 yuan. Xu Hongbing, Li Wu and Xu Erchun all invested 3,000 yuan in the end, and the least invested 500 yuan.
Yang Chunyan went to find Zhao Meina and told her three siblings about the construction of the hydropower station. Zhao Meina asked her to invest all the 2,000 yuan she had in the bank.
Wang Zhen and Zhou Huaian invested 80,000 yuan, Zhou Yiding invested 50,000 yuan, and the brothers Zhou Huairong and Zhou Huaishan hesitated for a long time and only invested 30,000 yuan. Later, when they saw that Zhou Datian, Zhou Huaijun and Secretary Xu all invested 50,000 yuan, they also changed their investment to 50,000 yuan.
Zhou Huaiqing, Xu Laosan and Zhou Huaijun studied management with engineers from the hydropower department, while Ye Laoyao studied accounting.
Wang Zhen used his connections to buy machines, and the Zhou family’s two tractors found work to do. Every day they helped haul bricks, tiles, and cement, and build power stations and staff dormitories.
(End of this chapter)
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