Chapter 10 How to get the first pot of gold
On the first weekend after school started, Shirakawa Kaede once again came to the group residence in Arakawa District.
Today he made an appointment with Kashiwagi and others to go and see the home appliance recycling point mentioned last time.
It just so happens that I haven't seen Toratarou for a week, and I don't know how he's doing.
In 1978, RB implemented a six-day work week, with only one day off per week, Sunday.
It has no impact on college students like Baichuan Feng, who can even spare two or three days a week.
But salaried workers had to work much harder. The real two-day weekend system did not become popular until 1980, when some RB companies gradually began to implement it.
After knocking on the iron door with most of its green paint peeling off, Baichuan Feng waited for a long time before a belated response came faintly from inside the door.
With a creak, the person who opened the door was Kotaro, who looked sleepy.
"Xiao Feng!" Kotaro rubbed his eyes and saw the figure outside the door clearly, and shouted in surprise. "That's great, if I didn't know where you live, I would have gone to look for you."
After saying that, Kotaro put his arm around Shirakawa Kaede's shoulders, and his big white teeth sparkled in the dark room when he smiled.
"Koutaro, you weren't this passionate when you beat me up before."
This guy has only not been seen for a week, so why is he so enthusiastic? Baichuan Feng is a little confused.
"Hehe," Kotaro rubbed his nose a little embarrassedly, "I was ignorant before, you can't blame me."
"Hey, what are you doing? Did you take the wrong medicine?"
Baichuan Feng wondered, could it be that this guy had a change of heart and was truly repenting for his previous "sinful life"?
Shirakawa Kaede really wanted to say something about Kotaro's weird behavior.
I still like your rebellious look, please recover.
As soon as he entered the house, Shirakawa Feng .
He turned his head and sniffed at Kotaro's side, "You're not going to drink, are you?"
"Uh" Kotaro hesitated for a moment, and used his thumb and index finger to form a universe between his fingers, "a little bit".
Baichuan Feng looked at the densely packed empty cans, and there were really only a few of them.
"You are still underage, drink less. Don't be like Uncle Maruyama."
After hearing Shirakawa Kaede's advice, Kotaro lowered his head in guilt and embarrassment.
The uncle Maruyama that Shirakawa Kaede mentioned is Torataro's father . He is a well-known drunkard in Odeka Village, and his ultimate goal in life is to drink.
Neither his frail wife nor his young son could stop his desire for wine.
Seeing so many empty bottles on the table and there being no Aunt Miki to restrain him in Tokyo, Shirakawa Kaede was worried that the unrestrained Kotaro would become another Maruyama.
"Don't worry, I drank all that. Kotaro didn't drink a single can. Besides, as an Akita person, how can I not drink? I'll be blamed by my ancestors if I do."
Baimu scratched his scalp, and his messy hair was no less messy than a chicken coop.
He yawned and asked Baichuan Feng to sit down. "Xiao Feng, how are you doing in school? Are you not being bullied?"
In his impression, the frail Shirakawa Kaede has always been a member of the vulnerable group in Odeka Village. If it weren't for Kotaro's protection, he would have suffered a lot of bullying.
Baichuan Feng casually placed the snacks he brought on the table and said, "No, my classmates are all very friendly."
He didn't explain to Kashiwagi that college and Xiaolu were different, and of course he didn't tell him about his two weird roommates.
"That's good." Baimu lit a cigarette, and wisps of green smoke rose from the orange-red spark. "Study hard, and your future will be different." Baimu sighed, and the smoke became more and more steaming.
"Yeah," Shirakawa Feng nodded, but Kotaro, who was sitting next to him, said nothing.
"Oh, by the way. You came here today to check out the home appliance department, right?"
Kashiwagi and his friends like to call the home appliance recycling point a home appliance field, just like those shopping supermarkets. If you need any appliance, you can go there and buy it for free.
"Yes, I was thinking about finding something to do in my free time. Uncle Kashiwagi, you know I like to tinker with these electrical appliances, maybe I can earn some pocket money."
The last time he heard Kashiwagi mention his experience of buying electrical appliances, Shirakawa Feng had some vague ideas in his mind.
Now, unlike in later times, people in Japan have to pay extra money to dispose of household appliances.
The government has minimal control over this aspect, and as the economy develops, the replacement of electronic products is accelerating.
As a result, the middle class has no psychological burden in replacing these machines, and a large amount of electrical waste is piled up at fixed points, with no one paying attention to it.
Baichuan Feng's idea is very simple, that is to pick up garbage. Some very good electrical appliances are thrown into the garbage dump because of some minor problems.
In his opinion, it was a waste of resources. With his talent, he could tinker with it and restore it to its original state.
Then these intact electrical appliances can be exchanged for money. As for where to exchange, of course, it is a second-hand store.
Second-hand stores were really developed by the Japanese after the bubble burst. Before the bubble, everyone was spending money and buying things all over the world. A large number of luxury goods entered middle-class families.
After the bubble, the economy went into recession and many people lost their jobs. The luxury items they had bought before were no longer useful, so they were exchanged for cash.
Since then, second-hand stores have sprung up all over RB, and later even attracted a large number of overseas tourists, forming a unique second-hand culture.
At this moment, RB's economy is expanding and taking off, but that doesn't mean there is no market for second-hand stores.
After all, there are always poor people in every era, and the rich are a minority after all. Now, most of RB's second-hand stores are concentrated in big cities like Tokyo, and not many people are doing it.
Shirakawa Kaede plans to repair the electrical appliances that are in good condition and then sell them at a second-hand electrical appliance store.
Although the price is basically not high, and it is also very different from the brand new price of the goods, this is a zero-cost business after all, and whatever is sold is pure profit.
Such a second-hand market can be regarded as a blue ocean for Shirakawa Feng.
In fact, the most profitable way to collect garbage is to collect it yourself, repair it yourself, and sell it yourself. But now he is penniless and has no capital at all. Not to mention the series of harsh procedures for opening a store.
The government has strict auditing standards for second-hand stores, and the goods in the store must be genuine. Selling fake goods in RB is illegal, and if you are caught, it is far from a simple matter of paying three times the price.
Besides, Baichuan Feng had no intention of tinkering with second-hand goods for the rest of his life. All this was just to earn the first pot of gold for his career.
You can only make a few bucks from selling second-hand goods, and even the profits accumulated over decades of work are just small change in the eyes of capitalists.
Kashiwagi is well aware of Shirakawa Kaede's love of tinkering with electrical appliances, and he is indeed quite capable at it.
As for earning some pocket money, he didn't care at all. That thing is everywhere, how can you make money? If it really can make money, why would no one care about it?
Just treat it as this kid's hobby. Thinking of this, Kashiwagi ate a few bites of the snacks that Shirakawa Kaede brought, and then packed up to take him to the home appliance store to have a look and see if he could buy anything. It seemed that the family was still lacking a microwave oven.
