Nan Yi took a few glances and then withdrew his gaze from "Mars". He raised his hand and shook it. Behind "Science Fiction", a mutilated figure walked towards Nan Yi.
"What time is the ticket?"
"Half past ten."
"Sit down and drink some tea to moisten your throat. Let's go to Hefang Street to eat. The prices here are too expensive."
We had Pianerchuan for dinner and slept in a large bunk bed that cost a few cents a night.
They did not stay in Qiantang for long. The next day, Nan Yi and his companion boarded a bus to Keqiao.
In 1980, Keqiao was not yet a textile town, but an ancient town with a few black-sailed boats parked at the pier of the river and a few ducks playing on the side.
Standing on Taiping Bridge and looking at the boatman wearing a felt hat on the black-sailed boat, Nan Yi seemed to Kong Yiji.
A small boat was parked by the bridge, the cabin filled with fish and shrimps of all sizes. The boatman was holding a scale high in his hand and talking to the woman beside him.
Nan Yi thought, he should be saying: "See, it's one pound and three ounces, and it's sticking up high."
The fish were very fresh, probably freshly caught from the river; quite a few people came to buy them, and there was a group of people gathered behind the woman, waiting to make the deal.
Walking along the bridge, Nan Yi and his two companions passed by five or six red scarves, got off the bridge, and walked into the busiest street in the town.
The street is not very wide, but it is lined with shops, including farm tool stores, supply and marketing cooperatives, post offices, mountain product stores, and taverns.
There were three or four square tables made of solid wood placed at the door of the tavern, all of which were occupied. A woman in a white apron was clearing dishes at a table, which was occupied by only one person.
"Old soldier, can you drink rice wine?"
"Can you come a little bit."
"Then let's go over and sit down. This is the hometown of yellow wine. It's the origin of yellow wine in the world. It would be a shame if we don't drink some when we come here."
Nan Yi sat down first and turned to look at the window sill that served as a display cabinet not far away. Water chestnuts, fennel beans, boiled peanuts, pork head, roast chicken and other side dishes were placed on a tray.
A man who didn't know whether to call him boss or chef looked at Nan Yi with sharp eyes, as if to say, "Hurry up and cut some pork head and roast chicken."
The roast chicken on the tray was still a whole one, and there were no raw cuts on the pork head, so neither of these two items sold at all.
"Comrade, are the pig's head and roast chicken fresh?"
"Fresh, of course it's fresh, just braised today."
"Okay, two cents each for the other dishes, cut up half of the pork head, and a roast chicken."
"Okay, I'll cut it for you right away."
Looking at the joy on the man's face, Nan Yi judged that this tavern was private. If it was public, hehe, it would be up to you to buy it or not.
Each person gets a glass of wine and a large white bowl that is eight-tenths full.
I put it to my lips and took a sip. The taste of alcohol was very strong, not light at all.
Very good, the pub owner doesn't like to learn and hasn't learned how to add water to the wine. He deserves that he will have too many houses to live in in the future and will die with his money not spent.
Pick up a fennel bean, pinch off the outer shell, throw it into your mouth and chew it, then wipe your hand on the hem of your clothes to wipe off the salt grains on your hands.
Perhaps because they were drunk, an old man at the table behind Nan Yi and his friends started singing the Shaoxing opera "Parrot Opera".
Although Nan Yi didn't understand, he still found it quite interesting to listen to.
With a belly full of wine, they filled their stomachs with rice given by the boss. After having enough food and wine, Nan Yi and Zuo Can measured the entire Keqiao Town on foot.
Why did Keqiao become the hometown of light textile?
Why did Yiwu become a small commodity city?
This has to do with policy and is also closely related to local history.
Since ancient times, Keqiao has been the water transportation hub of Jiangnan. The silk from Qiantang must pass through here to be transported to Ningpo Port. There was a silk trading market here hundreds of years ago.
For example, in Yiwu, there were people walking the streets hundreds of years ago, doing the business of exchanging chicken feathers for sugar. The people of Yiwu have been dealing with needles and thread for hundreds of years. In addition, Yiwu is also located at a transportation hub, so it is natural for it to become a small commodity city.
I found a high place and looked out over the entire town, matching the current paddy fields and wastelands with the future buildings in my mind.
When the lights came on, Nan Yi and Zuo Can finally found a guesthouse to stay.
We visited Taizhou and Wenshi in a hurry, spending a lot of time on the high ground by the sea, watching with a telescope the fishing boats coming in and out, going out to sea, approaching the ships anchored at sea, and then transferring goods to each other.
"Are they smuggling?" Zuo Can asked.
"right."
"No one cares?"
"The law doesn't punish everyone, mainly because they are afraid of starvation. There are seven mountains, one river, and two parts of farmland. This place used to be the Jiangnan area that took in 30% to 40% of the taxes in the country... Alas, farming is not enough to fill your stomach."
"Someone is coming this way." Zuo Can said.
"Get out of here. If you get caught, you might be thrown into the sea to feed the fish."
Nan Yi packed up his things and ran towards the foot of the mountain; Zuo Can was not slow either and followed closely behind him.
When they reached a safe place, they slowed down and walked slowly.
"Old soldier, did you see what it was?"
"It's too far to see clearly."
"I can't see clearly , but judging from the outlines, there are clothes, small appliances, and small hardware. The small market we saw in Leqing yesterday sold these things."
The first generation of merchants in Vancouver after the reform and opening up basically have nothing to do with these parallel imported products.
They sell smuggled goods in other places, and when they have accumulated a certain amount of capital, they transform themselves into entrepreneurs who open factories, tear off the smuggling label, and paint the speculation label more glaringly.
The Eighth King must have accumulated some wealth by now.
After leaving Cangnan, Nan Yi and his companion returned to the urban area of ​​Wenzhou.
…
No matter how far you go in the world, the hardest place to go is Wenzhou.
At this time, many passenger terminals are the starting points for Vancouver residents' journeys, especially the Vancouver Anlan Terminal. Every year during the Spring Festival travel rush, there are huge crowds of people. Even if it is not the Spring Festival travel rush now, people are still shoulder to shoulder.
A lot of people!
Surprisingly a lot!
Vancouver is a city where everyone is a businessman.
These people are not good-looking and have little education, but they are surprisingly bold and daring. They have made Vancouver, a poor, small and remote city, infinitely expand in our country's economic map with unquestionable speed and strength.
These people were able to survive and rise from the disadvantage of having no preferential policies, all thanks to their success in the backwater business of the dock.
Most people in Vancouver are humble men who have come into business from the countryside. They have nothing to do with being highly educated or having returned from overseas. The background of most businessmen is portrayed as "farmers" or "small traders".
It is this group of people who, in the tiny city of Vancouver, with the label of "poor resource endowment" and a completely weak position, have created a wealth myth, becoming a paradox in the economic proposition.
Inspired by the times, each of them, with an ignorant attitude, either unconsciously or consciously embarked on the path of individual business owners to accumulate original capital.
This was a reform that should have been carried out from top to bottom, but in Vancouver it spontaneously evolved into an unprecedented bottom-up economic movement composed of countless personal struggles.