Chapter 36

The result disappointed Jian Li. They still didn’t have a plasma TV.

Jian Feng spent 1,800 yuan on a 21-inch Changhong color TV.

Jian Li was astonished. “Dad, does Mom know you’re spending this much money?”

1,800 yuan!

Jian Feng smiled. “What, you’re not happy about the color TV?”

Jian Li was of course happy, but not as excited as she would have been before.

She had seen it all before and wasn’t as thrilled about color TVs this time.

Although this one was probably the first in their building.

At this time, everyone still watched black-and-white TVs, and the year before, a popular three-color film was being sold for 5 yuan each. You could stick it on your TV screen, and many people in the neighborhood had bought it.

Jian Li’s family had one too, a clear plastic sheet with colored paint in red, yellow, and blue, creating a gradient from top to bottom, stuck on the TV screen. It had nothing to do with a real color TV.

Jian Feng, in a good mood, tied the box for the TV to the front and took his daughter in the backseat. He started humming a tune.

Spending money was certainly painful, especially since this color TV had already taken up half of the family’s income for the month.

Wang Mengmei’s business was doing better than expected, bringing in at least 2,000 yuan a month. With Jian Feng’s 1,000 yuan income and little expenses, the family could make 3,000 yuan a month.

Jian Feng felt that spending 1,800 yuan on a color TV wasn’t a loss.

Especially since they were both getting busier, and Jian Li was often home alone.

Jian Feng thought that besides Xia Liu, Jian Li didn’t seem to have many friends and wasn’t like other kids who played outside.

At least with this color TV, Jian Li could make more friends.

They lived on the ground floor, so as long as Jian Li was willing, any child in the building could come over to watch TV. This way, she’d have more friends.

Jian Feng had good intentions, but he didn’t know that Jian Li was deep in thought in the backseat.

Having lived two lives, Jian Li felt that her parents’ spending habits were problematic.

Color TVs were expensive now. Just earlier in the department store, the Changhong model was already the cheapest, while the more expensive ones from Toshiba or Sony cost 5,000 to 7,000 yuan.

That could pay for a down payment on a house!

Jian Li thought that at this point, it wasn’t worth buying anything, and it would be better to buy a house instead!

She said to Jian Feng, “Dad, why don’t we take out a loan to buy a house next year?”

Her remark nearly made Jian Feng stop the car abruptly.

“You’re really thinking too much, buying a house? Your mom and I will handle it. No need for a loan, we don’t know anyone.”

Jian Li held her head in her hands. This was the problem with collective living.

Whenever Jian Feng mentioned doing something, his first reaction was to think about whether he knew someone.

If he needed a loan, he thought he’d need to know someone at the bank to get it.

Jian Li said, “Why can’t we just ask about it? We could mortgage this house.”

Jian Feng was helpless. “You’re really full of ideas.”

Jian Li stuck out her tongue and kept asking Jian Feng to look into it.

Whether it worked or not, at least it would plant the seed in her dad’s mind. Who knew if it might be useful later?

Jian Feng had no choice but to patiently explain to his daughter.

“Forget the loan. I know you’ve read a lot, and probably saw people in big cities taking loans to buy homes, so now you have this idea. But that’s not possible here. Think about it—how many commercial housing projects do we have here?”

Jian Li was stunned. She had never thought about it that way.

Taocheng was the provincial capital, and she had subconsciously brought in the real estate market from her previous life. In reality, more than half of Taocheng’s GDP was still supported by local state-owned enterprises.

State-owned enterprises provided welfare housing. Just two years ago, the local railway department had distributed housing.

Housing was tight, and everyone knew that houses in big cities were expensive. But what did that have to do with Taocheng?

Everyone worked for the state-owned enterprises and just waited for the company to allocate housing.

If you wanted to buy a house, there were only about ten new housing projects in the city. Some had elevators, some had ten floors, and they were planning to build a foreign trade building soon.

But none of these were relevant to ordinary people. Not to mention the prices, many of these houses had been sold out before the official launch.

Jian Li murmured, “I forgot.”

Real estate market reform happened in 1998. That year, a large number of state-owned enterprise workers were laid off, welfare housing was abolished, and home prices started rising year by year.

Jian Li sighed, “So when can we have a new house?”

Jian Feng couldn’t understand why his daughter was so obsessed with a new house. “Do you really want a new house that badly?”

Jian Li replied, “Yes, I want a new house.”

Jian Feng stopped the car. “Okay, next year, Dad will try harder. We’ll try to get you a new house, Xiao Li.”

Although the new house wasn’t a reality yet, the new color TV was something everyone could see.

As soon as Jian Feng brought the color TV into the house, someone came over with cigarettes and started chatting, asking how much the TV had cost.

Jian Feng laughed it off. “It was the cheapest, just over 1,000 yuan.”

“That’s not expensive. Hurry up and plug in the wires to see if it works.”

“Alright!”

Jian Feng and the neighbors were laughing and hooking up the antenna outside, plugging in the wires.

The house was crowded with people, all waiting to watch the color TV.

The TV was replaying The Legend of White Snake and Zhao Yazhi, wearing a white veil, was spinning in circles. The kids immediately couldn’t take their eyes off the screen, all staring at the TV.

“This color TV really is different, people just look more natural on it.”

“Zhao Yazhi acts well, and her singing is beautiful too.”

“Feng, you must have made quite a bit this year, right?”

Jian Feng modestly replied, “It’s all thanks to Wang Mei. She’s been working from dawn till dusk, earning all the hard-earned money.”

The adults chatted while occasionally making small talk with the bystanders.

Jian Feng was surrounded in the crowd, and many people were handing him cigarettes.

Jian Li was also surrounded, but the difference was that she was surrounded by children.

The father and daughter, separated by the crowd, both sympathized with each other.

By the time dinner was ready, the crowd dispersed.

Jian Li watched her father put away the old black-and-white TV.

The new TV was bought, and the old one was tucked away to gather dust.

Wang Mengmei, after finishing her chores, came home and looked at the new color TV, thoroughly satisfied.

“Aren’t you going to invite Wang Liming and the others for dinner? Why don’t you ask them over tomorrow?”

Wang Mengmei was reluctant to invite people to her restaurant. After running the place for a while, her biggest frustration wasn’t anything else but familiar customers who ran up tabs. When close friends like Wang Liming’s wife, Xue Fang, and daughter came, she habitually charged only cost prices. But when it came to others, she wasn’t pleased, especially with Zhao Xiaopeng.

In the first month after opening, Zhao Xiaopeng came twice, and each time he insisted on running a tab.

Wang Mengmei gave him face and didn’t embarrass him in front of his guests.

But by the third time, she had had enough.

She cooked the dishes and called Ni Hao to collect the payment.

Ni Hao, not knowing Zhao Xiaopeng, naturally collected the money as it should be.

In the end, Zhao Xiaopeng had to pay.

Later, Zhao Xiaopeng came two more times, but Wang Mengmei kept the same approach, and gradually, Zhao Xiaopeng stopped coming.

Thinking about these things annoyed Wang Mengmei, so she decided not to invite these people to eat at her place.

“I’ll prepare the food in advance. If you want to drink a little at home, that’s fine. Jian Li will be with me at the shop tonight.”

She didn’t want these people drinking too much and making a scene, frightening her daughter.

Jian Feng replied, “Okay.”

That night, Wang Liming, Zhao Xiaopeng, and Xu Jianguo all came, but Liu Xiangdong didn’t show up.

Jian Feng didn’t ask about Liu Xiangdong’s absence and directly invited the others to sit down.

Wang Mengmei had made them hot clay pot dishes, fried lotus root strips, crispy pork, and a big pig’s trotter.

Zhao Xiaopeng walked in and immediately saw Jian Feng’s new color TV, and he felt a bit uneasy.

Xu Jianguo remained quiet, while Wang Liming and Jian Feng had a lively conversation. Zhao Xiaopeng occasionally interjected and tried to subtly ask how Jian Feng was doing now, but Jian Feng deflected the questions with a gentle but firm response. After a while, Zhao Xiaopeng remained silent, drank a few more sips of alcohol, and said he would leave.

As soon as he left, Xu Jianguo said he was going too.

Wang Liming stayed behind, and while the two were still by the hot pot, Wang Liming stopped drinking and added noodles to the pot.

“Feng, I really didn’t expect the changes this year.”

Jian Feng no longer tried to hide anything in front of Wang Liming.

“I didn’t expect it either.”

Last year, the five of them had been laughing and drinking together during the New Year, but this year, it felt like there was a distance between them.

Jian Feng sighed and said with a wry smile, “I’ve lived for over thirty years, and it feels like this year is the first time I really understand things.”

He had always been oblivious, unable to see the bigger picture.

Wang Liming poured him a drink, and they officially started discussing work over the past year.

Wang Liming spoke about the difficulties there: “Fighting for territory, conflicts, people refusing to move during demolitions—trouble all year long.”

It’s not easy to make a living outside. Enduring hardships and facing injustices was a common occurrence.

Wang Liming calmly recounted a stubborn person during a demolition who demanded millions. The demolition boss just smiled without saying a word and let the old man shout insults at him. A few days later, the old man’s only son had accumulated a gambling debt in Macau.

Coincidentally, the amount was exactly what the old man had demanded.

The signed IOU was in the boss’s hand. The boss lightly told the old man, “If you don’t move, fine. Stay in Macau. If you do, I’ll give you 100,000 on top of the IOU.”

Wang Liming continued, “That person moved out that same night.”

Once the old man moved, his subcontractors quickly moved in machines and people. Within a month, the foundation was laid, and they began building high-rise buildings.

Wang Liming said, “People aren’t stupid. They know where the money is, and they aren’t blind. But so what?”

He took a sip of wine. “You still have to be lucky.”

Jian Feng patted his shoulder. “You’ve had too much to drink.”

Wang Liming’s eyes were a bit unfocused, but he was clearly still conscious.

He put down his glass and said, “Feng, if I had your integrity, that would be great.”

In such an environment, it’s easy to develop a different understanding of right and wrong, wealth and poverty. Wang Liming admitted he had wavered.

“It’s just about flattering, right? I can do that too!”

To make money, one always has to lose something.

After a few times hanging out with the subcontractor, Wang Liming now held the title of “Project Deputy Manager” with a salary in the thousands.

But when he thought about it, every day he was either drinking or washing feet with others. Watching those people, whose bellies were full of money, talk nonsense, still having to agree with everything they said.

Sometimes, it’s just this realistic. When you want a project, the key lies in just a few people. No matter the method, as long as you can make them happy, many things come down to what they say.

For that one sentence, you have to act humble. No matter how angry you are, you can only go back and curse.

What Wang Liming found ridiculous was that, even when acting humble, he was still acting as the “grandson.” The construction boss had to smile at the employer, and the employer had to smile at the bigger boss.

“I really envy you, Brother Feng.”

Wang Liming closed his eyes as if he had drunk too much and was out of it.