Chapter 165 Electronic Watch
After returning to the alley and parking the car on the side of the road, Gu Jie and Song Yuan said hello to them and said they wanted to go back to their homes first.
Song Yuanchao did not try to keep him. After all, Gu Jie had been away for half a year. It was only natural for him to go back to Shanghai to see his parents and family first. They would meet in the next few days anyway, and there was no rush since he was tired from the journey. So he asked Gu Jie to go back early and make an appointment to meet the next day or the day after tomorrow.
Carrying his luggage, Gu Jie waved goodbye to Song Yuanchao and Qin Zhengguo, and strode towards his home. After Gu Jie left, Song Yuanchao and Qin Zhengguo took out the remaining bags, locked the car door, and walked into the alley.
"Morning, Aunt Chen. Have you eaten yet?"
"Uncle Liu, are you going out for a walk? Come on, have a cigarette. This is the foreign cigarette I brought from Guangzhou. Try it and see how it tastes."
"Grandma Tang, did you just come back from shopping? What did you buy today? Wow, this fish is really good. Your little grandson is in for a treat today, hahahaha..."
Qin Zhengguo had not lived in the alley for a long time, but he was a very outgoing person. In a short period of time, he even got to know more people in the alley than Song Yuanchao, who had lived there for many years.
As he walked in, Qin Zhengguo greeted the neighbors enthusiastically, stopping to say a few words of greeting, or handing over a cigarette and chatting. When he saw children, he took out a few candies from his pocket to amuse them. No one knew how this guy managed to stuff all these things into his pocket.
When they arrived at Zhang's mother's house, Qin Zhengguo was even more enthusiastic. He held Zhang's mother's hand and talked to her for a long time. He also took out a gift from his bag that he had brought for them.
It was only a few dozen meters from the entrance of the alley to the home, but it took Song Yuanchao and Qin Zhengguo more than half an hour to walk this short distance of a few minutes. After entering Building 23, Qin Zhengguo once again distributed the gifts to the neighbors on the first floor, and then went upstairs with Song Yuanchao.
"Zhengguo!" Hearing the noise downstairs, Ying Caixia opened the door of the three-story pavilion and was walking downstairs. Before she reached the second floor, she saw Song Yuanchao and Qin Zhengguo coming up.
Seeing Qin Zhengguo, Ying Caixia was overjoyed and hurried over.
"Sister Caixia, do you miss your brother after not seeing him for so many days? Come on, for the sake of our pure revolutionary friendship, let's have a warm hug between comrades!" Seeing Ying Caixia, Qin Zhengguo happily opened his arms and walked towards her, deliberately taking advantage of her.
"Go to hell, who is your sister! What's the matter? Are you planning to act like a hooligan with me?" Ying Caixia puffed out her chest and instead of avoiding him, she walked towards him, looking at Qin Zhengguo with a half-smile in her eyes.
Qin Zhengguo put down his hands with a wry smile. He really didn't dare to hug Ying Caixia. It was just a joke.
But who would have thought that when Qin Zhengguo just put his hands down and was about to say a few words to smooth things over, an unexpected scene happened. Ying Caixia stepped forward and opened her arms to hug Qin Zhengguo tightly. Although the hug was very short and the two separated as soon as they touched, this moment made Qin Zhengguo stunned.
"pink clouds……"
"Long time no see, Zhengguo. I'm glad to see you." Ying Caixia seemed a little embarrassed by her behavior just now. She subconsciously raised her hand to stroke the short hair beside her ear, but soon returned to normal.
But from her eyes, you can see that she is really happy. When she was in the northwest, Song Yuanchao, Qin Zhengguo, Lin Yan, and Ying Caixia were the best friends. How could she not be happy to see her good friends again today? It's a pity that Lin Yan is not here. It would be great if she was here!
Seeing this scene reminded Song Yuanchao of his days in the northwest, and a smile appeared on his lips.
Speaking of which, Qin Zhengguo and Ying Caixia have always had a very good relationship, and sometimes Song Yuanchao even suspected that they were dating.
Unfortunately, Song Yuanchao and Lin Yan secretly asked Qin Zhengguo and Ying Caixia respectively, and their answers were all negative. It seemed that in their eyes, the other party was just a good friend with whom they could confide and joke, but the kind of emotion that could not reach that of lovers.
In the words of later generations, the relationship between Qin Zhengguo and Ying Caixia can be said to be more than friends but less than lovers. Perhaps it was Qin Zhengguo's personality, or Ying Caixia's reserve, that created this delicate relationship between them.
"Come inside first, don't stand outside chatting." Song Yuanchao gave an appropriate reminder from the side. Qin Zhengguo came back to his senses and nodded with a chuckle, while Ying Caixia's face flushed slightly. Song Yuanchao pretended not to see it, and directly took out the key, opened the door and invited them in.
After putting down the luggage and pouring them two glasses of water, everyone sat down.
"I haven't seen you for a year, Zhengguo. You have changed a lot. If I hadn't seen you and Yuan Chao together, I would have hardly recognized you walking on the street dressed like this." After taking a sip of water, Ying Caixia looked at Qin Zhengguo and smiled.
"How is it? This one is pretty good, isn't it?" Hearing Ying Caixia say this, Qin Zhengguo's personality of liking to show off suddenly erupted. He stood up and pretended to turn around in front of Ying Caixia. Then he put one hand on his waist, lifted the left side of his coat, and leaned forward with his right hand. He said in a thick northwestern dialect: "Ahem, comrades, everyone, please be quiet. Today... on behalf of the Revolutionary Committee and the production brigade, I bring my most sincere greetings to the educated youth comrades who are struggling on the front line of production...!"
After saying that, Qin Zhengguo laughed and asked Song Yuanchao and the others if they looked like the senior cadres of the Revolutionary Committee back then. Seeing him acting funny, Song Yuanchao and Ying Caixia also laughed. Not to mention that his style and tone were exactly the same.
After having fun for a while, Qin Zhengguo suddenly remembered something, walked aside to look for it in the luggage, and then came back with the small bag.
"I brought some good stuff for you, Caixia. I didn't know you were here too. Some of these things may be useful to you, so I'll give some to you." As he spoke, Qin Zhengguo opened his bag and took things out. In a blink of an eye, a large pile of odds and ends were piled on the table.
"Some are specialties of Guangzhou, and others are obtained from Hong Kong through connections. They are great for personal use or as gifts. Yuan Chao, these are for you and Lin Yan. Caixia, these are for you." Qin Zhengguo spoke as he divided the things, and soon divided them into two piles.
Upon closer inspection, I saw that the items given to me were four calculators, four electronic watches, two packs of Liangyou cigarettes, and some special small gifts from Guangzhou.
Forget about the cigarettes. Song Yuanchao was not very interested in mixed foreign cigarettes. He gave one pack each to Zhang Jianguo and Director Ma. As for himself, he was more accustomed to smoking domestic cigarettes. However, several calculators and electronic watches caught his attention.
I picked up the calculator and took a look. It was a Casio calculator, not for engineering calculations, but with simple functions. However, for the current domestic situation, it was already a very advanced thing.
As for the four electronic watches, two of them were also Casio, but Song Yuanchao couldn't recognize the brand of the remaining two. He probably thought they were unknown brands from Hong Kong.
After trying them, the calculator and electronic watch looked good. Even the two unknown brand LCD electronic watches were relatively easy to use. After putting them down, Song Yuanchao asked about the prices of these things and nodded slightly.
Calculators are more expensive, costing more than 40 yuan each, while electronic watches are cheaper, with a Casio one costing 32 yuan and a Xiangjiang brand one costing 15 yuan.
"I seem to have heard that there are cheaper electronic watches in the south?" Song Yuanchao asked.
"Yes, but not this kind. It's produced by a small manufacturer in Hong Kong, and the price is indeed cheap..." As he said that, Qin Zhengguo suddenly remembered something, stood up and rummaged through the luggage again. After rummaging for a long time, he took out a bag of things from the corner of a bag.
"Look, this is it." Qin Zhengguo said as he put the thing on the table.
"These watches are very beautiful. The colorful ones are much more beautiful than the ones you just took out. You are so nice, Qin Zhengguo. Instead of giving us good things, you give us these broken things?" Ying Caixia, who was standing by, was immediately attracted when she saw the several new electronic watches that Qin Zhengguo brought out. In her opinion, these colorful watches were much more beautiful than the ones Qin Zhengguo gave her just now.
"Caixia, you don't understand. These are the good watches. As for these, haha." Qin Zhengguo pointed at the electronic watch he took out first, and then took out an electronic watch from the bag that Caixia thought was beautiful.
"Look, don't blink!" Qin Zhengguo waved the watch in front of them, and then slapped the table with one hand. Of course, he didn't slap the table directly with the surface, but with the watch in his hand. He slapped it twice and then spread his hand.
When Qin Zhengguo spread out his palm, Ying Caixia exclaimed. The electronic watch that looked so beautiful just now had its surface peeled off, revealing the white plastic core inside. Although the electronic numbers on it were still jumping, it looked as ugly as it could be.
"How could this happen?" Ying Caixia asked in surprise.
"It's a simple truth. Cheap goods are not good." Qin Zhengguo threw the broken watch on the table and said disdainfully, "This kind of watch is produced by a small factory in Hong Kong. The price of the goods in Hong Kong is less than two yuan. The ones I brought to you are genuine goods. Even one of these watches produced in Hong Kong costs seven or eight yuan more than this one . How can the goods be the same?"
Qin Zhengguo was right. It is not a problem if you don't know the goods, but it is a problem if you compare the goods. If you ask what was the most popular thing in the 1980s, electronic watches were one of them.
In his previous life, Song Yuanchao had gotten an electronic watch that Qin Zhengguo had just demonstrated. This watch cost Song Yuanchao ten yuan at the time. When he got it, the color and shape of the watch were good, and it looked very beautiful on his wrist. Song Yuanchao happily paid the money and rode home happily.
But who would have thought that after parking the car at home, Song Yuanchao deliberately raised his wrist to pretend to check the time, in fact, he wanted to show off his newly bought electronic watch. But he never expected that when he raised his wrist, Song Yuanchao was stunned immediately, because the electronic watch on his hand, which seemed to be very good, had no surface, revealing a bare white plastic core, which made Song Yuanchao dumbfounded.
At first Song Yuanchao thought he was seeing things and rubbed his eyes in shock.
But after taking off the watch and looking at it from all angles for a long time, I finally figured out what was going on. It turns out that this kind of electronic watch is the worst industrial product. The core part of the entire watch is a cheap plastic core plus a battery.
This plastic core is a large-scale industrial product with a very low price and a short service life. As for the seemingly shiny surface shell, it is all pressed plastic shell, and then coated with a layer of metal-like color.
The assembly of the plastic core and the shell is not made by any tricks (tenons), but is directly glued together. What's worse is that the glue used is of poor quality, and there are only a few places to stick it, so it is not firm at all. It is fine if it is not bumped in the package, but once you wear it on your hand and exercise a few times, it will be ruined. The glue will fall off and the surface shell will be separated from the plastic core. God knows when it will fall off.
