December 25th is already a very special day , and the speech on the radio made it even more special.
Although it is Christmas, Christmas dinner was yesterday. We don’t need to eat special food today. Just follow your own preferences.
For dinner, barbecue was still the main dish, with a little salad and some corn porridge that Strong and his family didn't finish cooking because they had too much food prepared last night. This is a dish that every American family has at Christmas dinner.
Several of the cowboys on the ranch are nearby residents, cowboys from generation to generation. They may have run their own ranches before, but were unlucky and went bankrupt. Several came from South America and also worked in ranch-related jobs before coming to the United States. There are also several Asians, most of whom are Chinese. They have no previous ranch work experience, but they are hardworking and can get started in less than three months.
For cowboys, the ranch provides them with salary, insurance, food and accommodation.
Living is relatively simple. Just build a few wooden villas on the open space of the ranch. Eating is also convenient. There is no need for someone to be responsible for cooking. The ranch only needs to provide ingredients. There are beef and mutton at the ranch. The cowboys also grow some vegetables, side dishes and seasonings themselves. The farm will provide subsidies, and the cowboys can purchase them by themselves. This is not available at other ranches. It is a unique benefit of the Shennong Nanliang system.
The $700 for riding a horse and the $1,500 for flying a helicopter are all after-tax wages, which are considered high wages in the American cowboy industry. Combined with some other benefits, the cowboys live a relatively comfortable life.
There are no dining tables that can accommodate dozens of people at the same time, so everyone is more casual. They put some of their favorite dishes from the big bowl on the table into small bowls, then find a seat and sit together in groups of three or four to chat and drink.
Strong has a young daughter named Angela, who is about the same age as Nan Wuwei, and a son who is now in his thirties and works as an electrical engineer at Westinghouse Electric.
Strong also has a complicated relationship with his wife, Tracy . When she was a teenager, she came to Montana from Seattle for an outing and fell in love with Strong. Then she tasted the forbidden fruit and soon became pregnant with a son.
After giving birth to the child, Tracy did not marry Strong. Instead, she returned to Seattle to continue her studies. Like everyone else, she graduated, found a good job, and lived in a big city. Occasionally, she would fly to Montana to see Strong. The two lived in this vague way. Eight years ago, Tracy became pregnant with Angela again.
He picked up the beer bottle and clinked it with Strong's. "So, why don't you live with Tracy?"
Strong took a sip of wine and said, "I'm not used to life in a big city, and Tracy can't adapt to the countryside. This contradiction between us is irreconcilable, so..."
Strong shrugged.
"I understand." Nan Yi raised the bottle and took another sip of beer. "The beer tastes good, but it's a little bitter for me." Nan Yi was used to drinking industrial water beer, and he was a little uncomfortable with the authentic beer.
"I think it could be a little more bitter, and I'm working on improving the brewing process."
Strong didn't care. He was quite confident in his brewing skills. His family had been brewing their own beer since his grandfather's generation. His father made a lot of money by brewing beer during the Great Depression, but later lost it all on the ranch. Thirty years ago, Strong was still the young master of the ranch.
"Ha, it seems I won't have the blessing to taste your wine again in the future." Nan Yi shrugged, put down the bottle, grabbed the big cherry juice on the table and took a sip.
After dinner, two bonfires were lit in the open space outside the house, and the cowboys began their happy time. Those who knew how to drink still held beer bottles in their hands. Everyone stood in a circle around the bonfire, watching Strong sitting on a tree stump, playing the guitar in his hand, and quietly listening to him singing "Jolene", a song written from a female perspective, in his deep smoky voice.
Strong performed the song very well, removing the aggressive sharpness of the original singer, as if a bystander was telling a lame story about a man cheating on his wife and her partner begging the other person to leave.
After telling the story of the third party's intervention, Strong played "Drink Doch Eine Met" again. The tune was slowed down and the melody sounded more like a South Korean song from decades later. It is said that the two original songs are more than 80% similar. It has to be said that there is such a thing as telepathy in the world.
In front of Strong's excellent performance, Nan Yi, who was eager to try, admitted that his level was not as good as others. He was unwilling to use his financial ability to make the cowboys succumb to capital and give him praise against their will. He could only stand quietly aside as a listener.
As nine o'clock approached, the cowboys left and happy hour ended.
Nan Yi did not return to his room, but went to the ranch's equipment warehouse to get a night vision goggles.
In Montana, there are often incidents of wolf packs attacking ranches at night. In order to hunt wolves, night vision goggles have become standard equipment on ranches, and all ranches with the conditions will have them.
After getting their gear, the group hiked to a small hill southeast of the ranch. The wolves were very alert, and the noise from the car was too loud, which might scare them into canceling their attack plans for tonight.
After half an hour and a distance of 6 kilometers, the group arrived at their destination. After setting up a sniper position on the hill, they entered a long period of silent waiting.
Everything was in complete silence; only the sounds of the wind and birdsong could be heard clearly. One could not speak; even if one lowered one's voice, it could still be heard a kilometer or two away.
Two hours passed in a flash, and Nan Yi did not find any trace of the wolf, but he found three peccaries, two large and one small. This closely related species of wild boar is not very common in Montana, and it does not cause much damage to the ranch. In addition, this creature has scent glands on its body, and it will secrete an extremely smelly liquid when it encounters danger. Ranchers generally do not provoke it, and only professional hunters will treat them as prey.
After watching the peccaries enjoying their family happiness for a while, Nan Yi turned around and searched for traces of the wolves.
Nearly another hour and a half passed, and a wolf finally appeared in Nan Yi's sight. The wolf walked very slowly. It would stop and look around after walking for a while, and then continue to move forward. It only walked less than two hundred meters in seventeen minutes.
If nothing unexpected happens, this is the vanguard of the wolf pack, sent out to run into gunfire. The coyotes of Montana have been fighting with ranchers for nearly two hundred years, and the sound of gunfire has been engraved in their genes. Every year, many people go deep into the jungle to hunt wolves. Whether it is innate or acquired, coyotes will remember the sound of gunfire, and as soon as the gunfire is heard, they will run away as fast as they can.
Nan Yi observed the vanguard for a while, then searched the area behind it. Soon, he found another coyote behind a lump of earth. Its eyes were looking directly in the direction of the hill where Nan Yi and his companions were. Through the night vision goggles, it looked a little dazzling.
Continue to wait. The route of the vanguard is very clear, which is the direction of the cowshed. The route of Wolf No. 2 is also clear. It is responsible for keeping an eye on the vanguard. As long as the vanguard encounters any problem, it will immediately alert the wolves still hiding in the dark.
Coyote packs have always worked as a team, with each wolf doing its own job, and there is no individual wolf heroism.
Still waiting, another half an hour passed, and Nan Yi finally saw the silhouette of the wolf pack, muttering silently: "One, two, five, seven, the one at the back should be the wolf king."
He turned the gun and aimed at the wolf king.
Nan Yi already had an idea. It didn’t matter which end was missed, but the Wolf King must be captured.
Still waiting, the wind was too strong. Nan Yi would only shoot when the wolf king came within 200 meters. The trigger could not be pulled easily. He might only have one chance to fire tonight. If he missed it, he would never know when he would meet the wolf king again.
Perhaps because they hadn't noticed anything, the speed of the vanguard was increasing, the speed of Wolf No. 2 was increasing, the speed of the wolf pack was also increasing, and the distance between the wolf king and the wolf pack was widening.
Through the night vision goggles, Nan Yi could see that the wolf king's left and right ears were asymmetrical, and a piece of the ear tip was missing. Either it was bitten off by an opponent in the Wolf King competition, or it had dodged a hunter's fatal shot.
Nan Yi was excited. The harder the target was, the happier he was. With a group of people guarding him, the Wolf King could only be beaten. Of course, he hoped that the game would be as difficult as possible.
The muzzle of the gun followed the footsteps of the wolf king, and he silently calculated the distance in his mind, and occasionally looked at the position of the wolf pack. Nan Yi knew that according to his rapid shooting level, he had a 90% chance of hitting three of them when the gun sounded, and the rest depended on luck.
"304, 303, 299..."
The Wolf King has entered Nan Yi's shooting range. He is waiting for the Wolf King to stop.
Suddenly, the Wolf King stopped. Nan Yi waited for half a second and pulled the trigger. Then he jumped up and stood up from a sitting position. While standing up, he pulled the bolt and reloaded the bullet.
He aimed at one of the wolves, relying on his feeling and advance time, and pulled the trigger. Bang, the coyote fell down. He pulled the bolt to load the gun and fired again. Another wolf fell down.
When aiming at the fourth coyote, the target's speed had increased, and Nan Yi's chance of hitting the target was less than 60%. However, he still pulled the trigger decisively based on his feeling.
Crash, the coyote fell down!
He reloaded the bullet and aimed at another one. However, Nan Yi did not pull the trigger for a long time. After five or six seconds, he lowered the muzzle of his gun and gave up shooting. He knew in his heart that he was not sure of this shot and he did not want to take chances.
The bullet was ejected from the chamber and the R700 was thrown to the tiger cub. Nan Yi put his left hand on the handle of the Colt Python in the holster on his waist, pressed the non-existent hat on his head with his right hand, and lifted his belt. He took a bullet from the belt and put it in his mouth, with his own BGM in his mind, and walked down the hill with the pace of a western cowboy.
Nan Yi slowly walked to the body of the wolf king, feeling very disappointed. With its earthy gray fur, and except for the missing left ear, pierced right eyeball, and half of its head cut off, it looked no different from other wolves.
Squatting down and lifting the wolf's ears, Nan Yi poked his index finger into the bullet hole in the right eyeball to feel the direction of the trajectory. He was aiming at the left eye, but the bullet shot into the right eye. This was a big error.
After feeling the trajectory, Nan Yi dragged the wolf king to the position before it was shot, adjusted the direction of the wolf's head, looked at the sniper position, and simulated the angle of the bullet's flight in his mind.
After the simulation, Nan Yi felt much more comfortable. It was very likely that when the bullet was about to fly to the destination, the Wolf King turned his head and caught the bullet with his left eye. He was worthy of the more than 200,000 bullets he shot and the slightly dislocated left shoulder blade.
Nan Yi then looked at the other three wolves he had shot. One was shot in the neck, one in the abdomen, and the third was shot in the connection between the right thigh and torso.
After summarizing his shooting experience, Nan Yi personally dug a pit and buried the four wolves, without touching the fangs in their mouths.
…
The next day, Nan Yi and his group vacated the villa and moved to another ranch. They stayed in Montana for a total of four days. During that time, they also participated in the 1992 deer hunting season license lottery. Before the lottery results came out, they returned to New York.
During the period from 1991 to the New Year's Eve of 1992, Nan Yi took his two sons to visit the USS Intrepid, learned some knowledge about aircraft carriers, and then quietly stayed in the study to continue the aircraft carrier model project that had lasted for several years but had not yet been completed.
During this period, he also made a correct assessment of his own efficiency and prepared to delay the delivery of the aircraft carrier to September 2000 so that the gift could be delivered before Nan Wuwei went to college.
On January 9, Nan Yi brought the model-making work to Shanghai.
Then, his efficiency took a nosedive.
Not only did he have to catch up on all the newspapers he had missed reading last year, but starting from the New Year's Day newspaper this year, he had to repeatedly ponder and consider some of the articles in the newspapers, for fear that he had not fully understood their meaning.
On January 10, a speculative ranger team was established in Nanchen Village. Chen Mingdi was appointed as the team leader. Manpower and funds were drawn from various enterprises under Nanchen Village. That afternoon, Chen Mingdi set out with his men to various places to look for indicators and purchase aluminum ingots.
Nan Yi was certain that the price of raw materials was about to rise sharply, and it would be a crazy rise, so he placed his first bet on aluminum ingots.
The reason why it was aluminum ingots was, firstly, he judged that the price of aluminum ingots would rise sharply, and secondly, he planned to reorganize the Bai Ri Fei Sheng Service, Henry Ceramics, and Lang Yuan Xian Pa which were managed by Chen Guowen.
Nan Yi plans to use the Bai Ri Fei Sheng Service Company as the first piece of fat meat to be distributed to the villagers. He intends to remove it from the ranks of the village collective and transfer it to private operation in the village. From the perspective of the village collective, he will achieve common progress between the public and private sectors, and from the perspective of the Nan family, he will cash out the assets and recover part of the investment in Nanchen Village.
The days of sharing hardships have come to an end, and it is hard to predict whether they can fight side by side in the remaining days of sharing happiness. Just as they worried in Wenchangwei, Nanchen Village will also usher in a personnel change in less than ten years. In these ten years, Nan Yi must maintain stability while completing his own withdrawal and supporting Fan Hongdou to take over.
At present, Nan Yi’s plan to let Fan Hongdou serve as the spokesperson for Nan’s (Huaguo) does not need to be changed.
Nan Yi plans to merge the remaining two companies, Henry Ceramics and Langyuan Xianpa, into one group, and then add the environmentally friendly building materials business under the group, but the initial stage will start with the aluminum alloy door and window business.
Last time, I heard Lin Sining say that the real estate company where her husband works has adopted aluminum alloy doors and windows when building houses, and the effect is very good, and the house price is sold at 1,500 yuan per square meter. This reminded Nan Yi that aluminum alloy doors and windows and aluminum alloy anti-theft windows will be hot areas in the next ten years, and it is a good opportunity to step in and make a profit, and invest in the research and development of environmentally friendly materials.
Environmentally friendly materials are ultimately aimed at the European and American markets, and are included in the concrete thinking of the interweaving of the three domestic, foreign, and cross-border industrial structures of Nanchen Village. If some of the post-1970s generation in Nanchen Village can grow up, they should be considered to be sent abroad, and the funds left abroad by Shuangnan Holdings should also be put into operation on their own, and they can no longer continue to serve as a domestic auxiliary.
After arranging the matters in Nanchen Village, Nan Yi was unable to devote his full energy to model making. The New Year was approaching, and he had to stay at home so early this year. He was thinking that he should celebrate the New Year in a slightly more decent way, so packages were sent from all over the place to Shanghai.
SGF sent more than 30 kinds of high-end foreign ingredients; Qiantangsheng and Yu Hui from Changbai Mountain sent a lot of dry goods, and the old boss asked Qiantangsheng to bring two black bear gallbladders and two Ganoderma lucidum; Houji Agriculture sent a page of vegetables with a dish name on A4 paper; Jiangshang Fisheries sent bluefin tuna, yellow croaker, French oysters, Australian oysters, etc.
Wangmu Fruit Industry, Luban Forestry, Kenzhi Group, Baoguo Rice Hub, and Luyu Tea Industry also sent things. Except for some very large items, the others were only one or two pounds or even less. But even so, after all the items were collected, they still occupied the space of three rooms.
The refrigerator couldn't hold too many frozen goods, and Nan Yi was too lazy to buy another freezer. The Fang Mansion already had five refrigerators and three freezers, and it would be inappropriate to add more. He could only order Yan Du to look north and Hao Lu to go south with the prepared gift packages to give out during the New Year.
Nan Yi himself was not idle either. He had to go to many families, including the Chen family, the Lai family, the Zhou Li family, and Deng Jiangnan, in person. In previous years, he was busy until the end of the year, so it was reasonable for him to let Yan Du do it for him. This year he came back early, and it would be a bit negligent if he didn't go there in person.
It's easy to find no excuse. It's easy abroad, but any company in China can find out everything about Nan Yi's whereabouts.
He started on the 12th, visiting two stores a day and having a midnight snack with others at night. In this way, Nan Yi stayed in Beijing for six and a half days.
We arrived in Shencun on the 19th and had lunch at Lai Biao's house. We took the ferry in the afternoon. On the 20th, 21st and 22nd, we had the year-end dinner in Coconut City for three consecutive days. On the 23rd, we stayed overnight at Ruan Mei's place. In the spare time of groaning, crunching, and ahhing, Ruan Mei suddenly asked Nan Yi to accompany her home for dinner.
New Year's Eve is almost here. If we talk about going to her house for dinner at this time, when else can we go? Needless to say, it is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, the day of the Little New Year in the south. It seems that Ruan Mei treats herself as Xier and Nan Yi as Huang Shiren.
Ruan Mei's situation is a bit special. Strictly speaking, Nan Yi and her are married at the behest of their parents. When he and Ruan Mei were together, Ruan's mother had personally given her nod. It's not easy to say that it was a formal marriage, but there was always some implication of entrusting one's life to someone else.
Nan Yi had no choice but to agree and stay in Xiangkeng for a while.
On the morning of the 24th, after having breakfast with Ruan Mei, Nan Yi returned to Fang's Manor.
Fang Mengyin was at home and had not yet gone to work. When she saw Nan Yi come back, she asked him to go to the study to talk.
"Huang Hongzai, the youngest son of the Indonesian Huang family, bought Sapphire from Bo Chupu. Not long ago, he changed the name to Zhongce Industry and invited Li Tongban, Morgan Stanley, and Japan's Itochu Corporation to invest. He visited me and wanted Fang to invest as well."
Fang Mengyin stopped here and waited for Nan Yi to ask questions.
"Is the Huang family the one that started out making edible oil?" Nan Yi asked.
"Yes, it's the Huang family."
"Oh, I've heard the name Huang Hongzai when I was in Lijiapo, but I'm not too familiar with him. Grandma, tell me about him."
"Okay, I'll tell you." Fang Mengyin responded and continued, "After Huang Hongzai came to see me, I asked my acquaintances about it. Huang Hongzai was very willful when he was young and caused trouble everywhere. In 1960, his father Huang Yicong sent him to Beijing to study at No. 26 Middle School in order to make him learn well."
"Entered No. 26 Middle School in 1960?" Nan Yi confirmed.
No. 26 Middle School was not an ordinary middle school. Especially in the first eight years of the 1960s, children from ordinary courtyards might not be able to squeeze in. At least 70% to 80% of the students were children of high-ranking officials.
Even if you were in the first grade of junior high school in 1960, five years plus three years would mean you wouldn't have enough time to graduate from college, but you would have studied for two or three years. Having the identity of a college student would definitely allow you to join a good unit. Those who didn't go to college should have joined the army early.
Born around 1948, Huang Hongzai was in his prime. Most of his alumni should be in key positions in various units, and his network of contacts in the mainland is impeccable.
"Well, Huang Hongzai studied in China and worked in the countryside. In 1970, when he was 22 years old, he was brought back to Indonesia. He was the youngest son and could only inherit part of the business.
During the time he was involved in the family business, Huang Hongzai gradually developed his own ideas. He no longer wanted to be a businessman like Huang Yicong, but wanted to use his money to buy other people's time and do investment.
Gradually, Huang Hongzai began to implement his own ideas while participating in the family business. Soon after, he discovered business opportunities in American real estate, acquired a building, and sold it the following year, making a profit of 160 million Singapore dollars.
In the 1980s, Lijiaopo was experiencing a period of economic boom. After earning some money, Huang Hongzai quickly turned his attention to the Lijiaopo market and began to purchase and resell properties in Lijiaopo, and soon earned more than 300 million Singapore dollars.
In 1978, 30-year-old Huang Hongzai began to make his mark in Lijiaopo and acquired a small company engaged in the manufacture of washing powder, which was worth S$17 million at the time.
Through continuous acquisitions and transfers, Huang Hongzai increased the capital of this small business to S$1 billion between 1981 and 1991, and the company's business expanded to areas such as mining, plantations, trade, hotels, and real estate investment.
In the past ten years, he has walked a path that other businessmen may not be able to walk in a hundred years. Last year, he set his sights on Xiangkeng. What do you think he wants to do here?"
Nan Yi said thoughtfully: "Since he is dealing with capital, he probably uses Xiangkeng as a springboard to enter the mainland. Huang Hongzai has a lot of connections in the mainland. He should be roughly aware of the policy direction of the mainland this year. The basic line will be in place for a hundred years and cannot be shaken. Once he said this, it basically determined that at least in the next twenty years, the mainland will focus on economic construction.
The definitions of joint-stock companies and limited liability companies have been clarified once again. There will definitely be a large number of people going into business again. This time will be different from the previous ones. Most of the people who went into business in 1979 could not survive and were forced to do so.
The group born in 1984 were impulsive. When the situation was unclear, they plunged into the business world with their passion. Some of them were relatively successful, but most of them were wearing the hat of state-owned and collective enterprises. Looking at the situation this year, most of them are thinking about taking off the hat. The hat has already been put on, and it is not so easy to take it off. It is really hard to say what their future will be.
Let’s not even talk about the unsuccessful ones. The better ones have become small traders, while the unsuccessful ones have disappeared long ago. From a probability perspective, only a few in ten thousand can be considered successful.
In the next seven years, those who followed the wind and went into business one after another would be better off. Most people had already thought about what kind of business they wanted to start when they jumped into the sea. They would ask themselves what they could do and what the difference was. At present, this group has the highest success rate.
Looking at this year, the policy has become very clear, and the legal status of private enterprises has been completely clarified. There is no need to be sneaky and affiliated as before to start a business, and you can register a company openly.
Faced with this situation, those cadres who have long had the idea of ​​going into business, but are mature and prudent and still working in various units are now going to take action, either by resigning or taking a leave of absence without pay. The fields these people will enter are mostly related to their previous jobs.
Those who come out of the Tourism Bureau can open a hotel; editors-in-chief and reporters of newspapers and magazines can do information-related business, or they can fill in some gaps. Compared with ordinary people, editors and reporters of economic newspapers have much better sources of information, and they can definitely find a field where there is no competition in the mainland;
For example, the auction house is still a blank in the mainland, but the Chinese are not completely ignorant of it. Trust shops can become auction houses with slight changes, and so on.
In a word, those who will go into business this year will be the people with the clearest minds and the deepest understanding of enterprises in the mainland. They will have similar characteristics: they have worked in government departments and have deep government relations. At the same time, they have a certain knowledge base and forward-looking predictive capabilities.
Facing them, those who went into business before did not have much competitiveness. This year’s batch can be called the 92 generation.
If we include those who have already started in the past one or two years and those who will start in the next one or two years, I believe that the 92 generation will create an industry that does not exist in the mainland at present and quickly become the leader. "
Fang Mengyin smiled faintly, "92 sects, which sect do you belong to?"
“In the business world, only politics is indestructible. Once Xueshan appears, who can compete with him? Nan Yi, the third-generation lay guest official of the Xueshan Sect and the imperially awarded ninth-grade white gloves, pays his respects to you.” Nan Yi bowed and joked.
"You, you." Fang Mengyin nodded at Nan Yi and shook her head, "I'm talking to you seriously, don't mess around."
"Okay, okay." Nan Yi laughed and waved his hands. "Stop making trouble, stop making trouble. If you want to know what kind of faction I am, I am from overseas. I don't have to do anything, and I can't even spend all the millions of pocket money my grandma gives me every month."
"Little bookkeeper, you are making fun of me again." Fang Mengyin was about to hit him, but Nan Yi made a dodging motion. Fang Mengyin immediately withdrew her hand and smiled dotingly, "You, you, hurry up and bring my great-granddaughter back to me. She is almost four years old, right?"
"Soon, you'll be four years old at the end of the month. I'll arrange for Ruojin to live in Xiangkeng for a while after the New Year, so she can stay with you here."
"Okay, okay." Fang Mengyin nodded with satisfaction, and then brought the topic back to the main business, "So what is your opinion on Zhongce Industrial, should you invest or not?"
"If Huang Hongzai's business talent is indeed true, coupled with his connections in the mainland, it is still worth investing. Please wait, I will have someone check the situation."