Chapter 9: Business Opportunities from Newspapers in This Era
Yin Mingzhu was nowhere to be seen throughout the entire wedding ceremony.
It was as if she had been forgotten.
But in the afternoon, after all the guests had been sent off and the leftover food distributed to relatives, friends, and neighbors, the Yin family couldn't forget her. Along with Lu Yang and Yin Mingyue, the newlywed couple, the four of them boarded the four-wheeled tractor used to transport timber for the factory.
With a series of "putt-putt-putt" sounds,
the large, smoke-belching vehicle drove out of the small courtyard. It bounced along the dirt road, kicking up dust under the bright sun, like a cloud-obscuring sandstorm chasing after them. It wasn't until they reached the paved road leading to the County that the Teacher's Wife, Lu Yang, and little sister Yin Mingyue, whose bodies felt like they were falling apart from the bumps, could finally breathe a sigh of relief and put their hearts, which had almost leaped out of their throats, back in place, as if they had come back to life.
Ma Xiulan, the Teacher's Wife, even reminded Lu Yang to be careful of the bag in his arms, so he wouldn't spill those big ten-yuan notes.
This money had only been withdrawn this morning and had to be deposited back in the afternoon; otherwise, if it stayed at home, they probably wouldn't sleep well at night.
Of course, rushing to the County like this wasn't just to deposit money; it was also to send off Yin Mingzhu.
Although Zhao County was a small County,
it was fortunate that, as one of the few coal-producing regions in the south, it had already been connected by railway as early as 1960.
Although it was only a branch line,
getting to the Capital, Beijing, still required two or three train transfers, but it was much better than other more remote mountainous counties.
Yin Mingzhu ignored her family's dissuasion and insisted on going to Beijing today. Last night, the Master and Teacher's Wife also tried to persuade her, but she said she didn't want to see anyone pointing fingers at her at Lu Yang and little sister Yin Mingyue's wedding, nor did she want to cause a more chaotic situation at the wedding because of her.
She packed her things early in the morning, and while it was still dim, she had her Father send her to the County first.
Turning back,
after finishing the wedding of their younger daughter and son-in-law, they remembered that their elder daughter was waiting alone and forlorn in the County's waiting room. How could Yin Laohan and his wife bear it? They also recalled that there was still plenty of time before the train's official departure, as the time stamped on the ticket was almost 6:30 PM. So, they quickly called their younger daughter and son-in-law, and the family hurried to the County. No matter what, they had to go see her off; otherwise, it wouldn't seem like a family.
Putt-putt-putt...
They arrived.
Lu Yang flipped himself down from the back of the tractor's carriage, patted the dust off his bottom, and then turned around to carefully help his somewhat pale-faced newlywed wife, Yin Mingyue, and the Teacher's Wife, both get off the vehicle.
"Come, wife, hold my hand. This place is a bit chaotic; don't get lost later."
In the 1980s, long-distance travel relied entirely on these green-skinned trains.
Although Zhao County was a small place,
it had a population of several hundred thousand, and with several surrounding counties having poor transportation, wanting to travel far meant either trekking through mountains and rivers to the City or utilizing the slightly closer Zhao County train station. This made the station appear bustling and prosperous, with people coming and going, except that their clothing was slightly simple.
It was impossible to tell that this was just a small County in a remote area of Xiangxi Southwest in the 1980s.
However, precisely because of this, the most chaotic and disorderly place in all of Zhao County was the train station right before them.
He had just gotten off the car.
He had been standing here for less than two minutes.
Lu Yang was already very certain that his eyes had just spotted two or more pickpocketing incidents, all occurring when travelers were completely unprepared, their bags slashed, and items taken. The suspects quickly blended into the crowd, and by the time the travelers reacted, their bags had already been cut open.
By this time, shouting "Thief! Catch the thief!" was too late; the thief had long gone, vanished into the crowd.
And this was just the train station; once on the train, the number of pickpockets along the way was even greater.
In short, to avoid being stolen from, one could only rely on heightened vigilance. Travelers should ideally not sleep, especially not travel alone, otherwise there would be no one to watch their luggage if they got tired.
Saying all this,
Lu Yang couldn't understand.
Who on earth gave that foolish woman Yin Mingzhu the courage to dare to board a train to Beijing alone, without even letting her family see her off?
Until, after stepping into the waiting room with red tiles and white walls,
the slogans on the opposite wall immediately caught his eye: "Don't cling to trains, don't crawl under cars, walk a few more steps around the station," "Forbidden to race trains across tracks, no blocking, smashing, or stealing from trains," "Watch your luggage, beware of pickpockets." These words, painted with large red oil paint, were very characteristic of the era.
Lu Yang also saw.
Upon entering the train station waiting room, the area closest to the large window on the far right was where luggage was checked and tobacco and alcohol were sold. On the side facing the travelers, the bottom part was sectioned off with wooden boards, on top of which was piled a stack of newspapers, snacks, and small children's toys from the coast, for travelers to choose from. At this time, the saleswoman would often say, "If you're not buying, don't touch, you bumpkin; if you ruin it, you can't afford to pay."
And these words were often directed at old farmers, who were typically dressed simply, perhaps on their first long journey, and curious about everything, wanting to touch things.
Lu Yang walked over and casually picked up two newspapers, one a recent issue of Xiangxiang Daily and one Baoqing Daily, one from the Province and one from the City. They contained the news of the era that he urgently needed to understand.
He didn't have time to read them carefully,
but he was certain they were what he wanted.
Lu Yang then cheerfully pulled out a dime from his pocket and handed it to the saleswoman who was about to roll her eyes.
In this era, both large and small newspapers cost five cents each; two together totaled exactly a dime, no change needed.
Lu Yang was happy.
Yin Mingyue was also happy, standing on tiptoe and looking at Lu Yang with adoration as he walked with his head down, engrossed in reading the newspaper.
Yin Laohan, walking ahead, was only looking around, searching for his daughter Yin Mingzhu's waiting spot.
And Ma Xiulan, the Teacher's Wife, who was a step behind him, had already noticed the movements of the young couple behind them and couldn't help but curl her lips: "Acting, always acting. Still thinking about it at a time like this?"
She must have misunderstood.
She thought Lu Yang had specifically bought newspapers to pretend to be cultured, hoping to attract her attention once he found her elder daughter.
This immediately caused her existing impression of Lu Yang to worsen by several points.
This son-in-law was becoming less and less satisfactory to her.
Finally, the Father-in-law found Yin Mingzhu.
He motioned for everyone to quickly go over.
Lu Yang also finally found two pieces of news in the newspaper he was holding that were extremely useful to him right now.
One of them
came from Xiangxiang Daily: The front-page headline announced the progress of the State Council's issuance of 250 billion national treasury bonds in various cities and counties of Xiang Province.
The second one
came from Baoqing Daily: At the very bottom of the second page, in the most inconspicuous spot, only the size of a tofu square, under the tide of the times, sharing the dividends of reform and opening up, the Zhao County Government vigorously broke the boat and resolutely implemented centralized management of small commodities. Now, a number of small commodity wholesale and retail stalls are being introduced in the first phase. Interested parties please contact landline number: 07--2768.