When Li Da arrived at the scene, he saw An Yinong sitting on the stage, but he was not alone. There was also Xie Jiu next to him. They had lowered their heads and were talking.
“There are many things that can be bought, some disposable medical devices, capsules and the like, which can all be bought domestically at a much cheaper price. We mentioned it and ordered what we need.” Xie Jiu told him about the transaction.
An Yinong nodded as he tapped the pen on the table. The country had not yet entered the stage of economic take-off and needed foreign exchange. He had no other way to help, but some of the things the publishing house needed could be purchased domestically, right?
Compared to the gifts that came with paper and magazines, etc., the things they made were better and the price was not expensive.
In that case……
An Yinong suddenly remembered that his eldest aunt had complained about the price increase of black truffles during the Chinese New Year, and his second aunt had complained about the poor quality of satin lining for jewelry and the high price of pearls. So why not buy them from China?
Yunnan had natural black truffles, and another place had high-quality silk. He didn’t know if the pearl oyster farming industry in China had started yet, but the freshwater pearls were really beautiful and cheap. He thought a lot, even about the backwardness of his country and the technology blockade. For a moment, he wished he had super powers so that he could copy all the technologies and send them to him. But this was obviously unrealistic, but it was possible to provide some breeding techniques.
“So why not learn some breeding techniques? It’s something that can be done along the way.” He suddenly thought, “I wonder if I can ask my scumbag dad to help.”
As a result, An Yinong had been talking to Xie Jiu about the deal for a long time. Offstage, Li Da had gained some fame from “Master Teacher”, so he played the second male lead again, but he was not very happy and looked distraught while watching the stage.
However, not long after he returned to the dormitory, Sister Jin sent him a greeting card. On the card was a sketch of a cartoon man, smiling and making a “Yeah” gesture: How awesome!
Li Da couldn’t help laughing.
An Yinong and Xie Jiu set off on National Day. His family was worried and arranged two bodyguards for him. They were going to go back to China by train. At the train station he saw the red banners hanging up to celebrate National Day. He squinted his eyes and looked at the banners and pictures with a smile on his face.
Xie Jiu who was in the same car had been staring at his smiling face. When An Yinong was drawing “Monster City”, he created a powerful wandering hunter, who was used to express his homesickness – ‘My home is the country of dragons. One day, I will go home.’
So he applied for the foreign business quota for the mainland this time. Because the situation in the mainland had been more complicated in the past two years, foreign businessmen still had to make reports and shout slogans, and there were many types of goods. Xie Jiu had not participated in any transactions for two years.
This time he went to the mainland again, and people on both sides were a little nervous. Xie Jiu’s business was also affected to some extent, but he did not say anything about it. He just smiled and looked at An Yinong: “The conditions in China are not as good as those in Hong Kong City. You will need to adapt after you arrive.”
“I’m sure I’ll adapt quickly.”
After changing two vehicles and passing through several ports, they finally arrived at the designated trading point, Guangdong Province.
The conditions in the country at that time were indeed not very good, but the food, clothing, housing and transportation provided to these “foreign businessmen” were basically good, the service staff were polite and enthusiastic, and they spoke a familiar language, so An Yinong had no difficulty adapting.
It was said that these things were provided by the government at public expense, but now they are free, of course the price was not high. An Yinong asked the chef to cook a table of delicious food, which cost no more than ten Hong Kong dollars.
“Uncle Jiu, this egg yolk crystal meat roll is so delicious.” An Yinong was like a child. He wanted to take pictures of and taste everything he saw.
Xie Jiu opened his mouth and bit off the cut crystal meat. This dish was said to be one of the master chef’s specialties. The flat bean skin was rolled with flattened salted egg yolks, crystal meat strips and celery, and then soaked in egg liquid before being fried in a pan.
“How is it? Is it delicious?” An Yinong looked at him expectantly. The crystal meat was fat strips that were marinated in sugar and then steamed. However, when it was made in this way, it tasted crispy and sweet when bitten, and the salted egg yolk neutralized the flavor, so it was not greasy at all. Apart from the high calories, there were no disadvantages.
“Delicious.” Xie Jiu, who didn’t really like celery in noodles, only tasted the softness and sweetness of the noodles.
After coming here, An Yinong was very happy. Seeing him like this, Xie Jiu felt that everything was not in vain. He even thought that if An Yinong liked this so much, it was not impossible to continue the business. He provided the patent, and the mainland provided the labor and materials, which could reduce the cost of that special medicine.
Although his interests were damaged on the surface, he indirectly established a good relationship with a huge market. In the long run, it was more beneficial than harmful.
An Yinong did not stay in the hotel all the time. The foreign businessmen were divided into different hotels, with guests from America and Europe in one hotel, guests from Hong Kong and Macao in another, and guests from Japan in another. But they came early and the foreign businessmen had not arrived yet.
The stock exchange was still open, probably still being set up, so An Yinong went shopping with the help of the guide. Xie Jiu was not here, he had his own things to do. So now it was An Yinong and two bodyguards who were here. Dressed in suits and ties, they attracted a lot of attention. Even though they all spoke Cantonese, others still looked at them as if they were monkeys.
An Yinong walked around and bought a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts. He just looked at the rest. He asked the guide to help him contact the person in charge of the transaction here. He wanted to customize some things. If the quality of the fruit could be guaranteed, then maybe long-term cooperation could be established.
For the motherland at this time, foreign exchange was nothing more than meat. So he wanted to customize something and possibly cooperate for a long time, and the person in charge actually came. An official, without any arrogance of being an official, smiled and his eyes were sincere.
Since they were all his own people, An Yinong didn’t beat around the bush and directly told them his plan. He had a publishing house in Gangcheng, so he needed customized paper for magazines, single volumes and hardcover editions. In addition, he wanted to order a batch of toys, mainly made of glass, plastic and cloth, and provide samples, hoping to ship them within a month. If the quality was good, he would order a batch every month.
The person in charge looked at the sample he provided and said there was no problem at all.
An Yinong offered a price at 70% off the purchase price, which surprised the person in charge. Because domestic labor and materials were cheap, he would accept the order even if it was reduced to 80% or even 10%.
“I hope to save a little money, but not too much, so that my compatriots can earn more.”
Then, without waiting for the person in charge to respond, he asked a bodyguard to take out a box and opened it, revealing piles of printed materials and films: “I don’t understand those high-tech things, but I know that some things sold as luxury goods abroad are actually available in our country, and we don’t pay enough attention to them. So I prepared these, I don’t know if they are useful.”
“I know that pearls have been cultivated in China. This is the pearl cultivation technology of Japan, and there are also video materials that can be used as a reference. This is the cultivation data of black truffle, also known as the pig mushroom…”
Compared with other things, these things were not technically difficult and were very suitable for the country at this time. Of course, they were not collected by An Yinong alone, he did not have such great energy.
This was what he collected through He Chengjue. His scumbag father had a wide network of contacts and had friends in all kinds of industries. These were not high-tech, and there were mature industries abroad. If one wanted, they can still get them.
His luggage was checked on the train. The inspector was puzzled when he saw the labels “Pearl Farming”, “Mushroom Cultivation”, “Matsutake Cultivation” and “Sturgeon Farming”.
The man was curious: “What do you bring these documents for?”
“If the mainland can grow and raise these in large quantities, won’t I be able to buy it at a low price in the future? It can reduce a lot of costs.” An Yinong said naively.
Perhaps they were too excited, so the man let them go without further inspection. There was also a book of his own works on this side, which was about the uses of rare metals, animals and plants, the technical support and protection of traditional handicrafts and medicines, etc. He wrote whatever he thought of, and finally copied it twice before he finished this book.
It was risky to do so, and there was a high chance that it would not be taken seriously, but he did it anyway. A person really only knew the value of something after he loses it. An Yinong has never loved a country so sincerely.
An Yinong not only provided the technology, he also placed an order: “In fact, if this condition is met, I can take some black truffles, also known as pig mushrooms, with me when I leave. I will take as many as I can, no matter how many, I will pay this price.”
The person in charge was shocked when he saw the price list: Was this thing made of gold? Why was it so expensive?
In fact, the price given by An Yinong was already very low. After An Yinong left, the person in charge asked his subordinates to open a box of agricultural product breeding and planting information. There was nothing special about it, but considering his identity as a member of the He family, it was hard not to think too much.
“Is this a signal of goodwill from the He family in Hong Kong?”
“Let’s wait and see. If they really want to cooperate, then of course the more friends the better.”
After coming to this conclusion, the person in charge laughed and said, “In fact, we should thank him. I never thought that some of our country’s agricultural products can be sold at a high price after being packaged.
“I have already notified the Yunnan Provincial Government to expedite the shipment of this black truffle. The first batch will be given to the comrades who come to Hong Kong City. If it really sells well, our exchanges will have one more product next year.”
“Not only that,” another official flipped through the other books, “I think we can try other things, too. Look at this matsutake mushroom and sturgeon. The technical requirements are not high. This comrade is very careful. He put a price list and product pricing standards in the beginning of each book, for fear that we would sell it at a low price.”
Everyone laughed. An Yinong’s way of doing things seemed a bit simple and crude to them, but because of this, they could see the sincerity of the young man.
“If there is anything valuable this time, it is the entire pharmaceutical production line that Mr. Xie sent. It is all brand new equipment. With this, we can produce several kinds of medicines for the people to use and also sell them abroad.”
“Yes,” the other man raised his glasses, “When I first met Mr. Xie, I thought he was just a businessman who only cared about profit. I didn’t expect that I was biased. These ‘medicines’ are needed by our country. Is he taking any risks by sending this advanced production line here?”
The person in charge raised his head and asked, “Mr. Xie, do you have any requests?”
“He didn’t say that. But Mr. Xie said that he has a friend who misses his hometown in the mainland all the time. He and his friend hope that their hometown will be well.”
After sending the box of things out, An Yinong felt like a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He took his camera and traveled around accompanied by a guide. In fact, there were restrictions on what foreign businessmen could do, but they were given many preferential treatments here, so An Yinong could also go outside the trading area.
At that time, the country was still very poor. The roads were crowded with cars, but more people were walking on foot. They were wearing bright clothes, and An Yinong saw mainly blue, gray and green. But their smiles were bright, their eyes were firm, and they had a simple beauty.
“Is it different from the port city?” The guide couldn’t help asking when he saw that he was looking at it with great interest.
“They are different.” An Yinong nodded, “They each have their own advantages. Our country is getting better and better.”
The guide couldn’t help laughing. This guy from the port city was different from the foreign businessmen in the past. His eyes didn’t show any resistance to “backwardness and dirtiness”. Instead, there was a kind of intimacy and liking for it.
“By the way, brother, what about the trade? Do you have any well-forged cold weapons to sell? I mean, there’s a great swordsmith in Longquan, and I want to buy one for my family. The price is negotiable.”
The guide was stunned for a moment: “Can I ask?”
“Okay, then in addition to this well-forged cold weapon, I think the jade from Yunnan Province is also very famous. You see, when I go out, I have to bring something back for my family.”
Guide: …
More than ten days later, the trading hall opened, and after the opening ceremony, the trading ceremony began. There were really a lot of people. It was said that there were businessmen from dozens of countries. An Yinong even saw an Indian wearing a turban.
Xie Jiu, who had not been seen for many days, appeared again. He said that he had bought everything he needed, so he accompanied An Yinong in the trading hall.
The products on display in the trading hall this year had a kind of ugly and cute rustic taste, but the food were really good. Not to mention the good quality, the price was very affordable, and wholesale and retail were allowed.
“The color of this silk scarf really doesn’t conform to today’s aesthetics. It’s an outdated color combination.” Several businessmen from Japan stood at a booth selling silk scarves.
“These scarves are very nice.” An Yinong walked over and turned to speak to Xie Jiu in English.
Xie Jiuyi raised his eyebrows. An Yinong never liked to use English… He seemed to understand An Yinong’s intention, so he pretended to be a translator and translated the words into fluent Mandarin.
“What beautiful colors, ‘stealing blue (light lapis lazuli color)’, ‘stone green’ (malachite green)’, ‘autumn fragrance color’ (the golden color of the mountains and forests under the autumn sun)’ and ‘frost color’ (the white of the winter sky)’, is this color combination from “A Thousand Rivers and Mountains”?
“Whether it was paired with classical or Western clothing, it was very colorful. It is worthy of being a royal color combination that has been passed down for thousands of years. It is really high-end.”
After praising the products, he placed an order. It wasn’t much, just over a hundred items, but as long as there were orders, the receptionist’s face was full of smiles.
The businessman from Japan who wanted to buy the scarf but deliberately belittled it to get a lower price looked embarrassed, not knowing whether to leave or not.
“And this one, ‘Ying Ying (fresh pink)’, ‘Shui Hong (pink with an orange tint)’, ‘Su Mei (bean paste color with a pink tint)’, mixed with a little bit of ‘Jade Color (very elegant light green)’, it has a very early spring feel, and it was one of the color combinations that the Twelve Singles liked when they were in the Cherry Blossom Country Heian-kyo.
“An unmarried girl would look very beautiful with a scarf of this color. I’ll also need a hundred of these.”
Xie Jiu didn’t understand what An Yinong said, so he just translated it diligently. However, these were just ordinary beautiful silk scarves, but after he explained it, they seemed to have a special flavor.
Did people who engaged in art have such a beautiful world in their eyes that others cannot capture?
WhiteMoon x BlackSun 