Chapter 28

The Gao Family

After Gao Anna submitted her materials for the “Advanced Individual” award, she was very happy. Although it was not yet a done deal, the fact that her materials had been sent to the city for evaluation was something to be proud of. She shared this news with her parents.

Mother Gao was delighted to hear this. “This is great news! Tomorrow, I’ll go to your uncle’s house and tell them about it.”

Suddenly, Father Gao exclaimed, “Ah, telling them might not be of much use. I heard there’s a teacher at No. 1 Middle School who is also up for the award, and they’re really outstanding. Reporter Xiao Xia specifically wrote an article about it. Look at how admirable their spirit is… If only Anna had gone to No. 1 Middle School in the first place.”

“Learning from someone so smart and willing to contribute, progress would definitely be fast.”

Father Gao worked at a newspaper, and when reporter Xiao Xia mentioned No. 1 Middle School’s educational aid program, he was deeply impressed by Teacher Su Ye.

Father Gao took out the newspaper and showed it to everyone. “Here, this is the one.”

They huddled together to read the newspaper. After reading the article, the children in the Gao family showed some hesitation. “This teacher seems really responsible, but…”

“Big sister Anna is great too!”

That was an unexpected comment. The person Father Gao had referred to was none other than Su Ye, the teacher who had ruined Gao Anna’s chances, and her “outstanding achievements” had been reported by Gao Anna.

Although Gao Anna didn’t show it on her face, there was a critical tone in her voice. “Dad, I don’t think that’s the case. Being a teacher means you have to be a good teacher. What Su Ye is doing is clearly a capitalist approach!”

“What’s the point of making money with a group of kids? Are students not supposed to study anymore?”

Mother Gao shot a sharp look at her husband. She patted her daughter. “Anna is right! Teachers with a capitalist mindset are no good. Your aunt has always treated you like her own daughter… Tomorrow, you should go and discuss this with your uncle.”

The most successful family among Gao Anna’s relatives was her cousin’s family. From childhood, they had always been the ones to handle all kinds of matters for her, even helping her find a job. When it came to things like awards and recognition, asking them for help was always a reliable choice!

Gao Anna’s uncle, Gao Xiaoyang, was the one who was dazzled by the profits mentioned in the article. This was a huge sum of money.

This program had sponsored over 40 students, and within a month, they had sold over 100 watches. How much money must that have made?

He asked in surprise, “Ah, how did she come up with this idea? She really has a head for business, knowing how to make money without the government getting involved.”

Gao Xiaoyang had previously worked at a chemical plant that specialized in plastic and glass products, which were very popular at the time. Gao Xiaoyang worked in sales and transportation, and his salary was not low because of that.

However, in the 1950s, the factory was reorganized under a public-private partnership, and there was no more profit to be made in the transportation sector. Unable to endure the hard work, Gao Xiaoyang quit his job and stayed at home, idling for years. Even Gao Anna didn’t think much of him.

Gao Xiaoyang folded the newspaper and stuffed it into his pants pocket. He didn’t even eat dinner, grabbed two steamed buns, and ran out of the house.

No. 1 Middle School

Teacher He secretly approached Su Ye. “I think I’ve found out that someone is imitating us by refurbishing watches. They’ve been selling them all over the streets these past few days.”

Teacher He had originally thought that No. 1 Middle School was the only place with this technique, unique to the entire city. But after the newspaper article was published, “imitations” sprang up overnight like bamboo shoots after the rain.

Su Ye didn’t react much, in her mind, she simply thought, “Finally, it’s happening.” People die for money, birds die for food, and while selling watches privately was wrong, selling grain was an illegal act—wasn’t the black market a byproduct of such things?

She had long expected that the market would soon follow suit and try to get a piece of the pie. Fortunately, she had prepared for it.

Su Ye said, “It’s fine, let them do it. It doesn’t bother us. Haven’t we almost collected all the discarded watches? They won’t be able to gather that many… Besides, we won’t be selling watches anymore.”

Saying that, Su Ye casually took a plan from the cabinet and handed it to Teacher He.

“Not sell watches? What then?” Teacher He almost wanted to shake Su Ye awake. His original intent was to have her think of a countermeasure, but he didn’t expect her to give up so easily.

Su Ye replied, “We’ll sell services.”

Teacher He, filled with frustration, couldn’t help but vent. This was something that could earn several hundred yuan a month—how could she just give up like this? Even if they couldn’t get any more broken watches, a mosquito, even if small, is still a piece of meat… Ah?

Teacher He looked at the plan and all his complaints vanished instantly.

“Sell services? Trade-in for new?” The idea hit Teacher He like a depth charge, leaving him speechless.

He read aloud a section from the plan in astonishment: “Use old, broken watches to exchange for a high-quality second-hand watch at No. 1 Middle School, with an additional five yuan refurbishment fee?”

“Broken radios can also be sent to No. 1 Middle School for repair, with pricing based on the degree of damage.”

Su Ye nodded and sipped her tea while patiently waiting for Teacher He to finish reading the plan.

“Trade-in for new” was a concept that appeared later. It’s a promotional strategy where old household appliances can be exchanged for the same type of product at a very low price, with the old appliance acting as a discount coupon.

This strategy arose to address the reluctance of people to replace old products with new ones. It capitalized on the frugal and thrifty nature of the people.

Su Ye used this same principle. She first collected others’ broken watches, refurbished them, and built a reputation. Then, she shifted her focus to old watches—there were many people who owned them. If they could exchange them for a brand-new watch at a minimal price or pay to have their old watch refurbished, why wouldn’t they?

It was far easier to accept than painfully selling off their discarded watches and spending ten yuan to buy a refurbished one.

After reading the plan, Teacher He was thoroughly impressed, but there was one point he couldn’t wrap his head around.

“However… what exactly do you mean by selling services?”

Su Ye was using the break between classes to quickly grade assignments. She tossed the entire plan book to Teacher He to look at, not bothering to explain it.

Su Ye tapped her thumb on the desk, “Guess?”

Teacher He hated playing guessing games like this, it felt like his intelligence had been eaten by a dog.

“Sell services” had always been Su Ye’s idea. She never sold watches. She didn’t own production materials, nor did she produce new products—how could she be selling watches? What they had been selling from the start was services, and that was the essence of the issue.

At this moment, Zhou Yi, who had been listening from the corner, suddenly laughed out loud for the first time in ages.

Zhou Yi shook his head and couldn’t help but remind him, “You really forgot why everyone comes to us to buy watches?”

With this clear reminder, Teacher He still looked confused. Feeling frustrated, Zhou Yi began to wonder if Teacher He had gotten into No. 1 Middle School through connections.

Teacher He actually thought for a moment, “Of course, it’s because our watches are cheap. If they were in a department store, a watch would cost over a hundred yuan. Who could afford that?”

After hearing this, Zhou Yi simply turned his head back to grade the assignments. He muttered, “Silly, some people are just impossible to teach.”

Su Ye smiled and said, “Forget it, let’s not tease Teacher He anymore. Let him focus on his work. I’m afraid if I don’t tell him, he’ll be so anxious that he won’t even want to go to class.”

The teachers around them all burst into laughter.

Su Ye took out a small note and handed it to Teacher He. “This is the real reason why people come to us for watches. Got it?”

Ten yuan may not seem like much compared to a hundred yuan, but if it was used to buy a watch that only lasted a few days before breaking, ten yuan would still be an extravagant price.

When doing this business with the students, Su Ye was most concerned with controlling the product quality. After every watch was repaired, she would test it herself to ensure that every function of the watch worked properly. The students were tired, and so was Su Ye.

During this time, the students had already honed their skills by repairing broken watches, and now they could proudly sell their services and earn some easy money.

Teacher He stared at the note for a while before finally understanding its significance. His eyes suddenly lit up.

Although everyone had a copy of this note, only a few citizens came to the office each month to return their watches, and even fewer had quality issues—because their watches were solid!

Su Ye was the key to this whole thing. No matter how others imitated, they couldn’t replicate No. 1 Middle School’s method, because they didn’t have Su Ye!

Probably, very few people around here could fix a radio by hand, have the courage to offer a “one-month full refund if dissatisfied” guarantee, or be bold enough to advertise in the newspaper.

No wonder Su Ye was so calm. Her confidence came from herself!

Teacher He immediately felt as if he had taken a calming pill, feeling at peace. He returned to his seat and started grading assignments with a smile.

—

A week passed, and Su Ye’s materials for the city’s “Advanced Teacher” qualification passed the initial review, earning her the title of “Advanced Teacher” in the city.

Her achievements coincidentally rode the wave of the national push for resource conservation and waste recycling, making her an ideal example. The Education Committee staff sent her materials to the province, and Su Ye needed to attend the “Model and Advanced Figure” selection meeting in the provincial capital.

When Su Ye heard this news, she was overjoyed, almost losing herself in the excitement.

However, she needed to prepare a draft for her speech.

This was no pressure for Su Ye, it was a piece of cake. In this simple era, things were less fancy than in later years, and teachers, workers, farmers, and others who were selected had not received any speech training. These people, holding their speeches and facing a sea of people, if they could speak without shaking legs or stammering, they were already considered brave.

Su Ye was preparing to revise her materials for submission to the Municipal Education Committee, but when she looked at the honor roll, she saw the name Gao Anna.

When Teacher He saw Gao Anna’s name, he couldn’t help but get angry. His impression of Gao Anna was too vivid.

He angrily said, “A few days ago, I saw Gao Anna’s uncle secretly selling refurbished watches and trying to use our name. Fortunately, I ran into him. I had to give him a stern talking-to before he’d behave.”

And she was even named an outstanding teacher at the municipal level!

Su Ye was furious upon hearing this. She hadn’t had the time to deal with her, but now that she had crossed her path, Su Ye could no longer hold back.

“How could she be named an outstanding teacher? She hasn’t even been on the job for a year, and she gets the award… Unless she made a huge contribution?” Other teachers couldn’t help but ask in curiosity.

Let alone submitting materials for an advanced teacher, even making it through the school’s preliminary selection was probably hard. For example, this year, both Fang Zhou and Liu Qiu didn’t qualify to submit materials. They would need to spend at least five or six years in their positions before standing out.

Was the school that bad? Other teachers couldn’t help but mutter to themselves.

In Su Ye’s impression, Gao Anna either spent weekends fishing or reporting people to the Education Committee.

For such a person to be named an outstanding teacher, the students would probably want to throw their pencil cases at her!