Chapter 36
The result disappointed Jian Li. There was no plasma TV yet.
Jian Feng spent 1,800 yuan to buy a 21-inch Changhong color TV.
Jian Li was shocked: "Dad, does my mom know that you spend so much money?"
Eighteen hundred!
Jian Feng smiled and said, "Why, you're not happy about buying a color TV?"
Of course Jian Li was happy, but not that happy.
She has seen everything and is not as excited about color TV as she was in her previous life.
Although this color TV should be the first one in their building.
Nowadays everyone watches black and white TVs. Two years ago, a kind of three-color film was sold everywhere. It cost five yuan a piece. You could buy it and stick it on the TV screen. It was very popular in the compound and many families bought it.
Jian Li also has one at home. It is a transparent plastic plate with a layer of colored pigment on top. The three colors of red, yellow and blue gradually change from top to bottom. It is pasted on the TV and has nothing to do with color TV.
Jian Feng was in a good mood. He tied the box containing the color TV in the front seat, took his daughter to the back seat, and started humming a little tune.
It must be painful to spend money, especially since this color TV already takes up half of the family's monthly income.
Wang Mengmei's business is better than expected, and he earns at least 2,000 yuan a month. He has basically no expenses on his 1,000 yuan a month, and his whole family can earn 3,000 yuan a month.
Jian Feng felt that it was not a bad idea to spend 1,800 yuan to buy a color TV.
Especially since the two of them were getting busier and busier, Jian Li was often alone at home.
Jian Feng felt that his daughter didn't seem to have many friends besides Xia Liu, and he didn't see her running around outside like other children.
Once I buy this color TV, at least my daughter will be able to make friends.
His family lives on the first floor. As long as Jane Li is willing, any child in the building can come to his house to watch TV, which will also allow his daughter to have more friends.
Jian Feng had a good idea, but he didn't know that Jian Li had already fallen into deep thought in the back seat.
After living for two lifetimes, Jian Li feels that her parents' consumption concept is problematic.
Color TVs are expensive nowadays. Just now in the department store, this Changhong model is already the cheapest. The more expensive ones include Toshiba and Sony, which are either 5,000 to 6,000 or 7,000 to 8,000 yuan.
This is enough to pay the down payment on a house!
Jian Li felt that it was not worth buying anything at this time, it would be better to buy a house!
She said this to Jian Feng: "Dad, why don't we take out a loan to buy a house next year?"
If your words don't shock people, you will never stop talking.
Jian Li's words frightened Jian Feng so much that he couldn't stop the car.
"You are such a naive person. I and your mother are here to buy a house. Why would you want a loan? We don't even know each other."
Jian Li held her head and said, this is the disadvantage of today's collective life.
Whenever Jian Feng mentioned he wanted to get something done, his first reaction was to think about whether he knew anyone there.
If he wants to get a loan, he always thinks he has to know someone in the bank.
Jian Li: "Can't we just go and ask? We have to mortgage our current house."
Jian Feng was helpless: "What he said is what he meant."
Jian Li stuck out her tongue and pestered Jian Feng to ask.
Regardless of whether it succeeds or not, at least her father has this thing in mind. Leaving a seed behind, who knows if it will be useful in the future.
Jian Feng had no choice but to patiently explain to his daughter.
"What's the matter with loans? I know you read a lot of books. You must have seen that people in big cities can get loans to buy houses, so you have wild ideas. But it's definitely not possible here. Without saying anything else, go out and take a look. How many commercial housing projects do we have here?"
Jian Li was stunned. She really had never thought about it.
Taocheng is the provincial capital, so it was natural that it was involved in the real estate market around 2000. In fact, more than half of Taocheng's GDP is still supported by local state-owned enterprises.
All state-owned units have housing distribution as welfare. Not to mention the distant past, just two years ago, the local railway department in Taocheng distributed housing.
Housing is tight, and we have all heard that houses in big cities are expensive. But what does this have to do with Taocheng?
We all have jobs, so we just need to wait for the job to assign us housing.
You said you want to buy a house, but there are only about ten new buildings in Taocheng. Some buildings have elevators, some have ten floors, and some are going to build a foreign trade building to attract investment.
But these have little to do with ordinary people. Not to mention the price, many of these houses are sold out before they are put on the market.
Jian Li murmured to herself: "I forgot everything."
The real estate industry was fully market-oriented in 1998. In that year and the year before, a large number of state-owned enterprise workers were laid off, welfare housing was officially cancelled, and house prices began to rise year by year.
Jian Li thought about it and could only sigh: "When can we have a new house?"
Jian Feng couldn't understand his daughter's obsession with the house: "Do you really want a new house?"
Jian Li: "Yes, I want a new house."
Jian Feng stopped the car and said, "Okay, next year Dad will work harder and try to get our Xiaoli to live in a new house as soon as possible."
The new house has not been decided yet, but the new color TV is visible to everyone.
As soon as Jian Feng brought the color TV into the house, someone came to talk to him and asked him enviously how much the color TV cost.
Jian Feng laughed it off and said, "The cheapest one I bought was over a thousand."
"It's not expensive. Plug it in quickly and see if it works."
"Why!"
Jian Feng and his neighbors chatted and laughed as they took the antenna outside and plugged it in.
The room was crowded with people, all waiting to watch the color TV.
The TV was rerunning The Legend of the White Snake. Zhao Yazhi was spinning around in a white veil, and all the children were immediately unable to take their eyes off her and stared at the TV.
"This color TV is different. People just watch it naturally."
"Zhao Yazhi acted well and sang beautifully."
"Feng, you guys made a lot this year, right?"
Jian Feng said modestly: "Isn't this all thanks to Xiaomei? She works from morning till night and earns all her money through hard work."
The adults were chatting idly on the side, and from time to time there were lively conversations.
Jian Feng was surrounded by a crowd, and many people passed him cigarettes.
Jian Li was also surrounded in the middle, but the difference was that there were only children on her side.
There was a person between the father and daughter, so they felt a little sympathy for each other.
It wasn't until lunchtime that people started to leave.
Jian Li watched her father put away the black and white TV.
After buying a new TV, the old one can only be put away to collect dust.
After finishing her work, Wang Mengmei returned home and took a look at the new color TV. She was extremely satisfied.
"Aren't you going to invite Wang Liming and the others to dinner? Invite them to your house tomorrow."
Wang Mengmei was reluctant to invite people to her shop. After running the shop for such a long time, her biggest annoyance was not anything else, but the acquaintances who put money on the bill. When good friends came, such as Wang Liming's wife Xue Fang and her daughter, she would habitually charge the cost. But when it came to the other few, she was not happy, and the one that bothered her the most was Zhao Xiaopeng.
In the first month after she opened the store, Zhao Xiaopeng went there twice, and both times he said the account was hung.
Wang Mengmei insisted on giving him face and didn't embarrass him in front of the guests he invited.
But by the third time, Wang Mengmei stopped doing it.
She cooked the food and went out directly, asking Ni Hao to collect the money.
Ni Hao didn't know Zhao Xiaopeng, so naturally he had to do as he pleased.
Zhao Xiaopeng had no choice but to pay in the end.
Later, Zhao Xiaopeng went there twice more, and Wang Mengmei still did the same thing. Gradually, Zhao Xiaopeng stopped going there.
Wang Mengmei felt annoyed when she thought about these things, so she simply decided not to invite them to eat in her restaurant.
"I'll prepare the food for you in advance. You can have a couple of drinks at home. Jian Li will be with me in the store tonight."
This will prevent these people from getting drunk and going crazy, and scaring my daughter.
Jian Feng: “Okay.”
That night, Wang Liming, Zhao Xiaopeng and Xu Jianguo all came, but Liu Xiangdong did not.
Liu Xiangdong didn't come, so Jian Feng didn't even ask and just asked the others to sit down.
Wang Mengmei made them hot casserole, fried lotus strips, crispy pork in a bowl, and a large pig's trotter.
As soon as Zhao Xiaopeng entered the house, he saw the big color TV in Jian Feng's house, and he suddenly felt uncomfortable.
Xu Jianguo was still as sullen as ever. Among the four people, Wang Liming and Jian Feng were chatting animatedly. Zhao Xiaopeng occasionally interrupted and always tried to ask Jian Feng indirectly how he was doing. Jian Feng rejected his questions a few times with neither soft nor hard answers. Later, he stopped talking, drank a few sips of wine, and said he would go back first.
As soon as he left, Xu Jianguo also said he wanted to leave.
Wang Liming fell behind at the end, eating from the hot pot with Jian Feng. He stopped drinking and put a handful of noodles in the pot.
"Brother Feng, I really didn't expect you guys to have changed so much in this year."
In front of Wang Liming, Jian Feng no longer had to hide his feelings.
"I didn't expect that."
Last year during the Chinese New Year, five of us were drinking and laughing, but this year it seemed like there was a layer of distance between us.
Jian Feng smiled bitterly and said, "I've lived for more than 30 years, and it seems that this year I finally understand a little bit."
I used to be like a blind person, I couldn’t see anything.
Wang Liming filled his glass with wine, and the two of them started talking about their work this year.
Wang Liming talked about the difficulties there: "People are fighting for land, causing trouble, and people refuse to move when their houses are demolished. There are troubles all year round."
Is it really that easy to work hard outside? It is common to suffer hardships and grievances.
Wang Liming calmly talked about a stubborn household over there. The owner of the demolition site demanded tens of millions of dollars. The boss just smiled and said nothing, letting the old man of the household jump up and down and point at his nose and curse. A few days later, the old man's only son owed gambling debts in Macau.
Not more, not less, exactly the number he wanted.
The boss held the pledged IOU in his hand and said to the old man that if he didn't want to move, he could stay in Macau. If he did, he would give him another 100,000 yuan in addition to the IOU.
Wang Liming said calmly: "The man moved out that night."
The old man moved out, and the small contractor he worked for called in the machines and people that night. Dust flew everywhere, and in less than a month, the foundation was laid and the high-rise building began to be built.
Wang Liming: "People are not fools. They are not blind to anything that can make money. But so what?"
He took a sip of wine and said, "It's a fate that must come true."
Jian Feng patted his shoulder: "You've drunk too much."
Wang Liming's eyes were a little vague, but he was obviously sober.
He put down the wine glass in his hand and said, "Brother Feng, I wish I had a heart as righteous as yours."
In that environment, people can easily have a different understanding of good and evil, poverty and wealth. Wang Liming admitted that he was indeed shaken.
Isn't it just flattery? It's not like he doesn't know how to do it!
To make money, one must lose something.
After following the contractor to entertainment venues several times, Wang Liming is now a "deputy project manager" with a salary of several thousand yuan.
But after all, he either accompanies me to drink or wash my feet every day. Seeing those fat and bloated people talking nonsense, they have to agree with them.
Sometimes it is just so realistic. If you want to get a project, the key people are just a few. No matter what method you use, as long as you can make them happy, many things can be solved with just a few words from them.
For this sentence, you have to act like a grandson. No matter how angry you are, you can only go back and curse.
What Wang Liming finds funny is that even if he plays the role of a grandson, he is still a grandson for his grandson. The contractor has to smile to the boss, and the boss has to smile to the bigger boss.
"I really envy you, Brother Feng."
Wang Liming closed his eyes, as if he had drunk too much.
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