Chapter 194: J-5
Luo Yang returned to Yanjing on the last day of the holiday. He had been away for nearly half a month. As April passed, May came, the first year of the 1980s, and June was the time for the final exams.
During the days he was away, business in Dazhalan was still booming, and Luo Yang had made arrangements before he left, so everything was in order and nothing went wrong.
Now, the whole Yanjing City, or including Shanghai, and the two cities in the north and south, the craze caused by the TV series "The Man from Atlantis" has spread from the city to all directions. Although a lot of time has passed, this craze has not subsided but has become more and more intense.
In addition to the popular clothes, microphones and electronic watches, there is a new thing that is popular on the market, that is the tape recorder from Japan.
What is the most fashionable thing for young men and women now? They wear brightly colored floral shirts, bell-bottom pants or jeans, pointed leather shoes that must be polished to a shine, genuine microphone glasses with English labels on their noses, electronic watches on their wrists, and tape recorders that play the music of Feng Feifei and Long Piaopiao. Of course, these tape recorders and cassettes could not be bought from stores. Except for a small number of people who have connections and got them from the south, the rest were brought in by families with overseas connections.
The best tape recorder must have four speakers, that is, four high-power speakers on the outside, up, down, left and right. Later, it gradually developed to six speakers, eight speakers, and even ten speakers... Anyway, young people of that era believed that the more speakers, the more stylish they were. They walked around the streets with tape recorders playing music so loud that they could be heard clearly from three miles away. This was the most unique scenery in the 1980s.
The retail business in Dashilan has been shrinking, so Luo Yang has now turned mainly to wholesale. This has not reduced his overall profits. On the contrary, as wholesale channels have continued to open up, Luo Yang's shipment volume and speed have continued to increase.
The clothing business is still the same, with supply exceeding demand, and the mirror business is also good. However, the sales method of electronic watches has been changed based on Song Yuanchao's suggestion. Luo Yang has basically given up the market for the lowest quality electronic watches and switched to specializing in the sale of mid- to high-end electronic watches (quartz watches).
Compared with inferior electronic watches, mid-to-high-end electronic watches (quartz watches) have higher profits. Mid-to-high-end watches with a purchase price of around 50 yuan (Luo Yang's purchase price) can be sold at 150 or even over 200 yuan. Moreover, compared with inferior electronic watches, the demand for high-end watches is gradually increasing. From the profit perspective, Luo Yang decisively gave up the idea of selling in large quantities and going low-end, and instead specialized in selling mid-to-high-end watches. The actual situation also opened up new situations for his business channels.
Everything was going smoothly in business. Although there were competitors in the market, Luo Yang could not take over such a large market by himself. Moreover, he had already seized the initiative and the store in Dazhalan had long been famous, so he had no worries about lack of business.
Let’s not talk about business for now, let’s talk about school.
Zhao Minglei made a big fool of himself at the co-election meeting. It was said that the "oil leakage" did not stop until the afternoon of the third day after he was hospitalized. The hospital couldn't find any problem after checking it over and over again. The final conclusion was the same as before. As for why he recovered, the hospital only said that he had been hospitalized for three days and used so many medicines. It was normal for him to recover. If he didn't recover, it would be abnormal.
This reason was very powerful and sounded reasonable. Zhao Minglei was discharged from the hospital, but he did not return to school immediately after being discharged. Instead, he rested at home for a few more days.
It was already a week after the incident when he returned to school. He thought the turmoil caused by the previous incident in the school could be settled, but Zhao Minglei did not expect that from the moment he stepped into the school gate, countless strange looks came from all directions, and he seemed to vaguely hear many classmates discussing him.
"Is this Senior Zhao?"
"Yes, this is Zhao Minglei from the Student Union. He is quite famous now."
"I heard someone gave him a nickname."
"Nickname? What nickname? I've never heard of it."
"I'm telling you, don't tell anyone else. His nickname is now J-5."
"J-5? What does this mean? Why don't I understand?"
"Are you stupid? You don't understand this? What is the J-5? It's a jet fighter! He was actually jetting on the stage that day. Do you understand?"
"Hahaha, I see, I see. This nickname is really appropriate. J-5? Damn it, who is so talented!"
Several students were whispering and laughing. Although their voices were not loud, Zhao Minglei, who was not far away, could hear them clearly.
J-5? my country's first generation jet fighter actually gave it this nickname, which made Zhao Minglei's face turn pale.
He suppressed his anger and wanted to turn around and debate with the bastards who were talking about him. He had made a fool of himself that day, but it was not to the point of "spraying". That bastard gave him such a nickname? This was simply intolerable!
However, reason prevailed in the end, and Zhao Minglei had to hold back his anger, because he knew that debating would be useless in this situation, and would only make the matter worse. By that time, he would probably be forever attached to the nickname "J-5".
On the way to the classroom, Zhao Minglei felt that everyone was looking at him strangely, even the teacher standing at the podium during class. Everyone's gazes made Zhao Minglei feel extremely uncomfortable, as if he was stripped naked for the whole world to admire.
After a whole day of studying, Zhao Minglei really couldn't stand this feeling. When the bell rang for the end of class, a classmate found Zhao Minglei who was about to leave. When the other party blocked his way and called out his name, the thread that had been stretched in Zhao Minglei's heart for a whole day suddenly broke, and he erupted like a volcano and lost control in an instant.
"You're mocking me too? Ah! Do you think I'm embarrassing? Are you going to laugh at me? Go ahead, it's okay, just laugh as much as you want! Laugh! Hahaha! Isn't it embarrassing? So what? I'm a man, why should I be afraid of being embarrassed? What do I have to be afraid of!"
Zhao Minglei's expression was ferocious, as if he had turned into a mad dog, and he yelled at a thin classmate: "J-5, right? Hahaha, you are really talented! That's right, I am the J-5, so what? What's wrong with the J-5? It is the glory of our country! Most people are not qualified to give it this nickname!"
"Classmate Zhao...Classmate Zhao, I...I...just..." The poor classmate was the classmate's study committee member. As a classmate, he was just concerned about Zhao Minglei. Because Zhao Minglei had been in the hospital for so many days and could not attend classes, he just wanted to lend his notes to Zhao Minglei.
"You... what do you mean? Are you trying to make fun of me?" Zhao Minglei's face turned red and his eyes looked like he wanted to eat someone.
"Zhao Minglei, what do you mean? The class committee member is afraid that you will fall behind in your studies, so they kindly lend you the notes. It's fine if you don't appreciate it, but why do you lose your temper and swear at others?" Several classmates at the side couldn't stand it anymore and stood up to speak for the study committee member.
It was then that Zhao Minglei noticed that the study committee member standing in front of him was holding a thick notebook. In an instant, Zhao Minglei's face turned from red to white, and then turned blue. He was extremely embarrassed. If there was a crack on the ground, he would have wanted to crawl into it.
"No need..." If he stayed any longer, he would probably become the target of public criticism. Zhao Minglei said this with a sullen face, and walked away, bypassing the bewildered study committee member.
When he left the classroom, several classmates indignantly said behind him: "What kind of person is this guy! He takes our kindness for granted, and he is a member of the Student Union, but he is just like this? No wonder he was given a nickname. In my opinion, he deserves the nickname! He deserves it!"
Walking out of the classroom, Zhao Minglei walked quickly, as if he had forgotten those words and could not hear them.
When he arrived at the student union office, Zhao Minglei opened the door of his office directly, walked in and closed the door. Only then did he feel as if all his energy had been drained away at once.
Sitting on the sofa, Zhao Minglei lit up a cigarette and smoked it fiercely. After a few puffs, he had the cigarette butt. When he felt it was too hot, he threw the butt into the ashtray, then lit another cigarette with a match and continued smoking.
He smoked the second cigarette much more slowly. Perhaps it was the effect of nicotine, Zhao Minglei's mind became much clearer, and the irritability and anger in his heart were gradually suppressed.
In fact, before returning to school, Zhao Minglei was prepared for everything he would face, but he underestimated the impact of that incident on the entire school. Although it had been a while since the incident, when he appeared on campus again, Zhao Minglei still did not expect that he would face such strong pressure.
It's true that good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels far and wide. I accidentally made a fool of myself and ended up like this. Thinking of this, Zhao Minglei covered his head in pain and wished he could turn back time. If he had known that I would be like that, he would never have gone on this stage.
Until now, Zhao Minglei has been wondering what exactly happened. Although the hospital has already made a diagnosis and Zhao Minglei has carefully thought about it and did not find any abnormalities before the incident, he doesn't know why Zhao Minglei always feels that his embarrassment is related to Song Yuanchao.
This idea came to him when he woke up from the hospital. Perhaps it was because Zhao Minglei intended to give Song Yuanchao a laxative. When the incident happened this time, Zhao Minglei's first thought was that Song Yuanchao did it, and his purpose was to take revenge on him.
So in the hospital, Zhao Minglei asked the doctor if his condition was caused by laxatives, but the doctor told him that it was definitely not a problem caused by the drugs. Although the doctor came to this conclusion, Zhao Minglei always felt that something was wrong and always believed that this matter must be related to Song Yuanchao.
Especially when he recalled that Song Yuanchao appeared at the scene that day and even brought a camera with him, Zhao Minglei felt that it was all too much of a coincidence.
"No! Camera! Camera!"
Suddenly, Zhao Minglei stood up. He suddenly remembered that Song Yuanchao was taking pictures below that day. Song Yuanchao had a grudge against him and it was very likely that he would take pictures when he saw him making a fool of himself. If this photo was really taken and then circulated, the nickname of J-5 would definitely be in his mind forever.
Thinking of this, Zhao Minglei could no longer sit still and hurried to the door. He wanted to find someone to ask about this. If there were really photos, no one should be leaked. Who would have thought that when Zhao Minglei just opened the door and was about to go out, he almost bumped into a person who was about to look up and knock on the door. After finally stopping, Zhao Minglei took a closer look and it turned out to be him.
