Chapter 19 Jiang Dongliang is here
Song Yuanchao didn't expect Li Daqi to be so fast. Li Daqi, who had just returned that day, came again in the evening and excitedly told Song Yuanchao that he had found the place.
Song Yuanchao asked where it was, and Li Daqi told him that it was near Gundilong where he lived, and if it was convenient, he could take Song Yuanchao to see it now.
When Song Yuanchao heard this, he immediately put on his coat and followed Li Daqi out. The two took the bus and soon arrived at Li Daqi's house. After entering the village in the city, they walked east for a while, then turned two arrived at a residential area.
"This place?" Song Yuanchao looked around. This was clearly an ordinary family in a shantytown. Where was the suitable land that Li Daqi mentioned?
"Don't be impatient, you'll know soon." Li Daqi smiled mysteriously at Song Yuanchao, walked up and knocked on the closed door a few times. After a while, the door opened, and a young man wearing a blue cotton jacket, who seemed to be about their age, walked out.
"Daqi!" The young man greeted Li Daqi with a smile.
"Sanmao, this is my buddy Song Yuanchao. The matter I told you about earlier was his business."
"Hello, hello, Brother Song, right? Gu Jie, you are also an educated youth. You can just call me Sanmao like Daqi."
"Hello." Song Yuanchao stretched out his hand and shook hands with Gu Jie, then asked about finding the warehouse. Gu Jie closed the door first, then asked Song Yuanchao to follow him. The three of them left Gu Jie's house and walked in another direction for a while. A few minutes later, they came to an alley.
Just as Song Yuanchao frowned in confusion, Gu Jie continued to lead them around the wall and came to a low triangular building against the wall.
"My father is in charge of this place, but he seldom comes here. You guys come in first and see if this place is suitable." Gu Jie took out a bunch of keys, found one, and opened a closed iron door. Behind the iron door was a staircase leading down. It was pitch black inside and nothing could be seen clearly.
Gu Jie reached out and pressed a button behind the door, which should have turned on the light switch. The dim light below came on. He walked in front and called Song Yuanchao and Li Daqi to go down together. The three of them went down the stairs and soon arrived at a very open place.
"Is this an air-raid shelter?" Song Yuanchao walked down and stood inside looking around. The place they were in was clearly the entrance hall of an air-raid shelter.
The area of this hall is not small, nearly 300 square meters. There is a passage at each end of the hall. No one knows where these two passages lead to. There are also iron doors outside the passages, which are closed and locked.
"Yes, this is the civil defense of our area." Gu Jie pointed around and said, "My dad said that the underground passages are connected to other civil defense works in the city, but now this place has been basically abandoned. Except for my dad who comes to take a look every six months, no one comes here. How do you think this place is still suitable?"
Song Yuanchao was overjoyed. Perfect! This place couldn't be more suitable!
The place is large and quiet, and more importantly, it has electricity. It is much better than the warehouse Song Yuanchao had planned to find before.
"This place is nice. By the way, Gu Jie, how much would it cost if we rent it?" Song Yuanchao walked around inside and became more and more satisfied the more he looked.
"Brothers, why talk about money? Daqi told me that you and him are close friends, and I am also an educated youth. It's a waste to leave this place empty anyway. If you want to use it, just use it directly. But I have to make it clear that I can't let you use it for a long time."
"How long will it last?"
"Three or four months at most ."
"Thanks, brother." Song Yuanchao felt relieved. This amount of time was enough.
Song Yuanchao looked around the air-raid shelter carefully and asked Gu Jie about the power supply and ventilation conditions in the air-raid shelter. After getting a satisfactory answer, Song Yuanchao felt extremely happy. He touched his pocket, stuffed the remaining half pack of cigarettes directly into Gu Jie's hand, and said thank you repeatedly.
After leaving the air-raid shelter, Gu Jie locked the outer door again and handed the key to Song Yuanchao. Song Yuanchao took it and sent Gu Jie home with Li Daqi, and then the two walked towards the other end of the village in the city.
"Thanks bro, this really helped me a lot."
"We are brothers, so why are you thanking me?" Li Daqi was happy to see that Song Yuanchao's problem was solved.
Patting Li Daqi on the shoulder, Song Yuanchao instructed: "Don't run around these days. I'll take you to do something. Also, call Zhang Bin and Wang Jianjun. Oh, and Gu Jie as well."
"No problem." Li Daqi nodded in agreement, but he was still a little confused. Song Yuanchao borrowed the air-raid shelter and said he wanted to do something. What exactly did he want to do?
Looking at Li Daqi's puzzled expression, Song Yuanchao laughed and told him that it was a good thing and he would know when the time comes.
The next morning, when Song Yuanchao was still having breakfast, he heard a shout from outside: "Number 23! Number 23 Song Yuanchao is calling! Number 23 Song Yuanchao is calling!"
"Here I come! Coming right up!"
Song Yuanchao quickly responded to the people downstairs, shoveled the last mouthful of soaked rice into his mouth, chewed it, put on his clothes, and went downstairs quickly.
He ran to the public telephone room outside the alley and said to the auntie sitting inside and answering the phone, "Auntie, this is Song Yuanchao from No. 23. You just called me."
"Song Yuanchao, number 23? Yes, that's right. Here you go. This is the number that just called." The old lady lowered her head, tore off a piece of paper and handed it to Song Yuanchao. There was a phone number written on it.
After saying thank you, Song Yuanchao took the note, found an empty phone and dialed the number.
In this era, the telephone penetration rate was very low. Except for units, it could be said that very few ordinary families had telephones. Therefore, such public telephone rooms were usually set up in an area on residential streets. These public telephone rooms were manned by two or three aunts or uncles and were equipped with an incoming line and several outgoing telephones, so that everyone could make calls here.
The phone call was charged by time, three minutes was four cents, answering the phone was free. If you went to someone's house to call a pager to pass on a message, the errand fee was five cents.
Today's telephones are still pulse dial phones. To dial a number, you need to use your fingers to press the dial on the phone, which corresponds to digital dialing, so the term dialing comes from this.
Picking up the heavy receiver, Song Yuanchao dialed the number written on the note and the phone was picked up after the ringback tone rang twice.
"Hello, this is Song Yuanchao. Who called me just now?" Song Yuanchao shouted into the phone.
A voice asking "wait a minute" came from the phone, and soon a familiar voice with a slightly changed voice came over: "Brother Song? It's me! I'm Jiang Dongliang, hahahaha."
"Hello, Chief Jiang, have you arrived in Shanghai?"
"Yes, yes, I just arrived. I'm at..." Jiang Dongliang gave an address. Song Yuanchao knew it was near the western suburbs as soon as he heard it. Song Yuanchao told Jiang Dongliang an address on the phone and asked him to meet him there. Jiang Dongliang readily agreed on the phone, and then Song Yuanchao hung up the phone.
He took out a dime and handed it to the aunt, got a dime in change, put the coin into his pocket, and clenched his fists excitedly.
Jiang Dongliang's arrival meant that his plan was basically done. After Song Yuanchao left the public telephone room, he took a car to Li Daqi's house.
"Yuan Chao?" After opening the door, Li Daqi was a little surprised to see that it was Song Yuanchao who came. He didn't expect Song Yuanchao to come so soon.
"Can you find a tricycle or a cart?" Song Yuanchao didn't waste any words and asked directly when they met.
"Yes, I know a family that has a tricycle, which usually carries coal cakes and briquettes."
"Okay, go and help borrow it right away. After you borrow it, come to find me at the intersection of your alley to the north." Song Yuanchao said this and turned to leave. Before Li Daqi could ask Song Yuanchao why he saw him running hurriedly towards the north.
When they arrived at the intersection, Song Yuanchao had just stood there for a while when he heard a loud horn. He looked closely and saw a large Dongfeng car coming in front of him. Jiang Dongliang's head popped out from the co-pilot seat and was waving at Song Yuanchao with a smile.
The Dadongfeng stopped in front of Song Yuanchao, and Jiang Dongliang opened the door and jumped out.
"Brother Song, I was delayed for a while by something at the factory. Am I not too late?"
"Not too late, not too late." Song Yuanchao said with a smile, glancing towards the cab: "It's just Section Chief Jiang and the driver today? Comrade Wei didn't come with you?"
"Xiao Wei didn't come because he had something to do at the factory. By the way, the things are all in the back. Want to go take a look?"
"good!"
Song Yuanchao followed Jiang Dongliang to the rear carriage, where the driver, wearing gauze gloves, had already helped them open the rear compartment door.
In the rear carriage were rolls of tubing, neatly arranged in piles of one color each, 30 rolls in a pile, for a total of 90 rolls in three colors.
Song Yuanchao climbed onto the car and took a closer look. He confirmed that this set of pipes was consistent with the sample he had seen before, and then he smiled with satisfaction.
"The items are correct and the quantity is fine. Chief Jiang, do you have the ticket?" Song Yuanchao asked as he jumped out of the car and patted the dust off his hands.
"I have it. I remember what Brother Song said." Jiang Dongliang took out a ticket from his pocket with a smile. Song Yuanchao took it and looked at it carefully. This ticket was indeed issued by their factory. It had the product name, quantity, price and total amount on it, as well as the invoice date and a stamp.
Song Yuanchao was completely relieved. He took out the money he had prepared from his pocket and said, "Chief Jiang, please count the money."
"We are brothers, what else can I ask for? How can I not trust you, Brother Song?" Jiang Dongliang said with a laugh, but although he said that, his fingers were flying as he took the money, twisting the banknotes. Only after he was sure that the amount was correct did he put the money into his pocket.