Capital city.
After Yao Chunyu arrived in Beijing, she exchanged grain for a lot of gold bars. Unlike the situation in City C, there was a severe shortage of grain here, and there were many rich people, so grain was priced in the market. She easily exchanged a lot of gold bars, and even two courtyard houses.
The "food for housing" thing is actually true! Even Yao Chunyu couldn't help but be moved. People who have experienced the high housing prices in the future have an extraordinary obsession with houses. The housing prices in Beijing are so high that they are enough to crush three generations, but Yao Chunyu only needs to spend a little food to buy it. There are so many houses that she is dazzled by the choices!
Today, a family in Houhai wants to sell their courtyard house in exchange for 100 kilograms of fine grain. After the previous experience of choosing a house and a flower house, Yao Chunyu's enthusiasm for it has faded a lot, not to mention that this house requires 100 kilograms of fine grain. Yao Chunyu frowned, but when she heard that it was a courtyard in Houhai, she still went to take a look.
The location over there is good.
The man who showed her the house was a middle-aged man with high cheekbones and a thin body. He had a sincere and light smile on his face, which was a bit miserable. He said, "This is a courtyard passed down from my ancestors. It is hard to find a more beautiful courtyard than this one, except for the courtyards of the princes and nobles in the Ming and Qing dynasties."
This is a large courtyard with three entrances. The owner of the courtyard was a wealthy businessman in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty. In order to show off his elegance, he invited craftsmen from Suzhou to build the house. The stone tablet at the door was inscribed by a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the imperial examination) of that year. He also dug a pond, built a rockery, and built a fish-watching platform. Yao Chunyu fell in love with this courtyard as soon as he saw it. When he compared it with the two courtyards he had bought before, he felt that they were far inferior to it.
Its current owner is an old man. He said with a long face, "It only costs two hundred kilograms of fine grain."
The middle-aged man was worried that Yao Chunyu didn't want the house anymore, so he shook his head at his father and said, "Dad, where can you ask people to get so much food for you?"
Who can afford two hundred kilograms of fine grain? Wouldn't it scare people away if he asked? He smiled at Yao Chunyu and said, "Don't listen to your father. One hundred kilograms will be enough."
It turned out that the father and son had a disagreement. If they had moved to another courtyard, Yao Chunyu would have left without a second thought. However, she really liked it. This courtyard was so beautiful that she fell in love with it at first sight.
The old man said sullenly, "This is what my grandfather passed down to me. It has nothing to do with you! I won't sell it to you for even a pound! I won't sell it to you!"
The middle-aged man begged, "Dad, please don't make things worse. The child is sick and just wants to eat steamed buns. You said he is about to starve to death. What's the point of guarding this house?"
The old man's flesh was visibly loose, and he took out the title deed in great pain as if cutting flesh. His shaking hands made him look as pale as death.
Yao Chunyu finally smiled and waited for someone to complete the transfer procedures for the house deed so that he could sign and hand over the grain.
At this time, another person whispered in his ear, "Three yuan a pound of food, I'm not cheating you!"
The old man's face full of grief and indignation disappeared, and he snatched the house transfer certificate and said, "I won't sell it, I won't sell it!"
Yao Chunyu really liked this house. She suspected that the two people were raising the price, one playing the villain and the other the hero. One hundred kilograms of fine grain was already a high market price. Who could take out so much grain at once these days? Yao Chunyu only spent fifty kilograms of fine grain on the previous quadrangle.
The smile on her face disappeared completely, and she said to the middle-aged man, "If you are not satisfied with the price, I can discuss it again, but you are really not sincere in selling the house like this. Think it over carefully before coming to me. After all, my time is precious."
The middle-aged man smiled miserably, "Dad, Uncle Li, you've driven away all our customers."
After Yao Chunyu left, the old man's neighbor patted his chest and said, "It's just right that he ran away! There really is food at three yuan a pound. Your son told you that he brought ten pounds of fine grain to you last night. Come on, take these two pounds of food and give it to Honger to nourish his body."
Su Laoqi was skeptical and went to find Li Laoqi's son with a bag of money.
At dusk, he came back with 50 kilograms of food on his back, his face glowing! He gave this to Li Lao's son because he had watched him grow up! Li Xianjin worked at the police station. He was honest and kind. When Su Lao's family was in trouble, he gave them his own food.
The truth is... Yao Chunyu had been worried for a few days, but the family in Houhai who wanted to sell their house never came to see her again. Not only that, the owners of the houses in that area no longer sold their courtyard houses.
Su Lao was chewing sweet corn, lying on the chaise longue with his legs crossed, "Fortunately I didn't sell the house!"
Otherwise, how could we have such comfortable and enjoyable days
Su Lao was not short of money. He earned 150 yuan a month, grain was 3 yuan a pound, pork was 15 yuan a pound, and his monthly salary could buy 40 pounds of fine grain, enough for his family. He heard that this was a production team called "Nicai Village" selling surplus grain outside. In the autumn harvest, they harvested too much grain and could not eat it all, so they asked relatives to help sell the excess grain.
The people in this production team were so kind, everyone was a great benefactor, and they saved their family. Su Lao gnawed the sweet corn, and the satiety brought by the starch made him happy, and the more he ate, the more he wanted. He always hoped that they would strive for more points and strive for a good harvest every year!
…
Su Ye took out the food rations she had saved for herself. Ten thousand kilograms of food just entered the capital, just like small raindrops flowing into the sea, making a sound. She received a return of 43,000 yuan, plus the previous 21,000 yuan, she had a total of 64,000 yuan in hand.
Sixty thousand yuan was a huge sum of money in that era. Su Ye was not sure whether the money was enough to buy an electron microscope, so he risked his life and spent a large sum of money to send a telegram to his student far away in Europe.
That night, Lu Siyuan received a telegram. He jumped up excitedly. The telegram only contained a short paragraph. Su Ye asked about the price of German-made electron microscopes and asked him to help contact the supplier. Britain is not far from Germany and can be reached by train. Lu Siyuan read the note several times, packed his luggage and set out to buy a train ticket to Germany.
"Lu, why are you so excited?" Mark, his roommate, asked Lu Siyuan.
Although Lu Siyuan was a Chinese student and his language skills were poor, he had strong scientific abilities. After only three months of classes, he could freely write four arithmetic operations in assembly language, and the speed of operation was 0.5 seconds faster than the one written by Professor Lucas. Although 0.5 seconds seemed insignificant, Professor Lucas was an authoritative expert in the field of computers, and Lu Siyuan was just an ordinary undergraduate!
In fact, there is a technological blockade against China internationally, so Lu Siyuan’s attempt to buy a microscope is bound to fail. Fortunately, he can exchange technology for other technologies.
Computers in the 1960s were of very low quality, using the most basic machine language and poor hardware, so storage became an urgent problem. Su Ye quickly wrote a set of algorithms to optimize storage and sent it to Lu Siyuan. This time, Su Ye spent nearly a thousand yuan to send the telegram, and it was so painful that she was still bleeding when she thought about it a month later.
Lu Siyuan received Su Ye's telegram that day. After reading the letter, he contacted his professor according to her steps with some doubts and exchanged a set of calculators for a microscope.
This is an extremely advanced n-digit arithmetic storage algorithm. It optimizes data storage by algorithm and increases the storage space of the machine. In other words, it improves the multi-digit operation capability of the machine. Lucas' eyes burned at the short two pages, and he couldn't wait to read the next code.
Lu Siyuan came to see the professor with great courage, but he never expected that the two pages of code sent by Professor Su would be so powerful that Lucas would willingly help him buy a microscope.
At this moment, Lu Siyuan felt a strong sense of pride and admiration. Foreigners looked down on Chinese students, and Lucas was no exception. He was used to looking down on his fellow Chinese people, but he bowed down in this situation.
The mathematics written by Teacher Su was beyond Lu Siyuan's ability to understand, but he secretly copied a copy to study it carefully later.
A month later, Lu Siyuan lived up to everyone's expectations and successfully ordered an electron microscope. Su Ye slowly exchanged the money for pounds on the black market. At that time, the exchange rate between the US dollar and the RMB was 1:2.4, and the exchange rate between the US dollar and the pound was 1:2.8. She squatted on the black market and scraped together 7,500 pounds.
At the same time, Su Ye went to Director Lu to ask for help.
Changyou's profit this year is considerable. In a profitable year, it will have a sum of money available for the infrastructure construction of the oil refinery. If the Changyou Oil Refinery purchases an electron microscope in the name of supporting the "technological development" of the oil refinery, Su Ye can go to the port to pick up the machine with a clear conscience.
"Director Lu, I need your help now."
Su Ye told Director Lu that she was going to buy an electron microscope. Su Ye had already prepared a strategy to convince Director Lu to agree to this. She had to buy the microscope, and Director Lu had to agree to it no matter what.
Unexpectedly, after listening to this, Director Lu thought for a moment and said, "No problem. The machine should be quite large, and it must be transported by car. I will ask Deputy Driver Yang to go with you to the port city to pick up the goods. I just want to meet this teacher Ruan Ruliang."
A microscope is expensive, not to mention that it is the most advanced and high-tech product in Germany. It is obviously not easy for Su Ye to get such a new microscope. He probably couldn't think that this was a machine "obtained" by his son.
He went to Shanggou Village to investigate and found that they really had a sweet potato field. Ruan Ruliang's office was full of experimental equipment. It was not yet the sweet potato harvest season, but the sweet potatoes newly dug out from the field were already two palms big and were placed on Ruan Ruliang's desk. Director Lu thought to himself: This teacher Ruan is really a capable person. If the sweet potatoes in the field were as big as the ones on the table, wouldn't the output have to be quadrupled
He already understood why Su Ye helped him.
Looking at this simple "laboratory", he couldn't help but blurt out: "Teacher Ruan has a hard time. If you have other difficulties, the oil factory can help you."
Ruan Ruliang thanked Director Lu enthusiastically and shook his hand vigorously with both hands: "There are no other difficulties. If this round of sweet potato experiments goes well, we will increase the research on peanuts next year. Thank you Director Lu!"
Su Ye told him that it would be more convenient to conduct research activities in the name of the oil factory at this stage. Ruan Ruliang was an honest man, and since he had borrowed the name of "technical research" from the oil factory, he had to do it in a down-to-earth manner.
Director Lu's face was wrinkled with smile. He didn't expect such a pleasant surprise. Although it was just a casual remark, he inexplicably believed in Ruan Ruliang.
Half a month later, the German-made microscope arrived at Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. Yang Xue's father, the driver, drove Su Ye and two students to Hong Kong. Liu Gang and Li Ming came to move the machine, and Su Ye was happy for the students to see the world.
On the way to the port city, Su Ye opened the backstage of the warehouse and took a look, his throat was pounding with anger.
Damn it, she has an extra 100,000 kilograms of food! Su Ye's brain was a little short of oxygen at this moment. She had never had so much food before, and she couldn't think of how to deal with it for a while.
Sell the food, sell it! Thanks to the wealthy citizens of Beijing, they have a microscope!
…
The car drove for a day and a night, and stopped at a small fishing village called Pengcheng. This backward and poor place, looking across the way is a bustling metropolis. The group took the pass and took a boat to the port city to pick up the goods. After a day of driving and then a cruise ship, Li Ming had become a weakling, vomiting and having diarrhea.
Liu Gang looked at the bustling city with curiosity, and like a country bumpkin who came to the city for the first time, his face was full of shock.
This is very different from the mainland. There are tall buildings, cars, and trams everywhere. There are rows of shops on both sides of the road, one next to the other, and everyone is busy. There are fat people everywhere on the street, unlike the mainland where everyone is pale and thin. People walking between the buildings are neatly dressed and bright. It is exactly the same as what is portrayed in the movie. There is no famine and it is far away from poverty. It is like a desirable world in a dream.
The gap separated by a river is like a land of two people.
Li Ming was vomiting a lot, so Su Ye took them to dinner. Roasted rose-colored Hong Kong-style roast goose, shrimp wonton noodles, fish eggs, and pineapple buns. The exquisite and delicious food made several people stare in amazement and stuff their stomachs frantically. The pineapple buns were sweet and crispy, fragrant, and had a creamy aroma. They had never eaten such delicious bread in their lives.
In the end, Su Ye ordered 20 pineapple buns, which were enough for the two men, one big and two small. They ate until their throats were dry and sore and they were vomiting white urine before they were willing to stop.
The restaurant plays music by the most popular female stars, and the yellowish light quietly shines on the enamelware decorated with flowers in the restaurant, emitting a delicate and charming light. Famous paintings are hung on the snow-white walls, and even the waiters who come and go are sprayed with perfume, leaving a faint fragrance when they pass by.
They were dressed very simply, either in black or grey work clothes. Liu Gang even had patches on his clothes, and his whole body was full of the smell of a country bumpkin. However, after Su Ye ordered food in fluent English and asked the blond waiter to add service, the contemptuous look around him suddenly faded a lot. In the 1960s, people who could speak English were very special, and they were the best in Hong Kong.
Liu Gang and Li Ming felt a sense of admiration. Although they knew that Teacher Su was good at English, it was far less shocking than seeing it with their own eyes.
Before leaving, Su Ye gave the waiter a little tip, and Yang Xue's father almost wanted to persuade her to take the tip back. In the end, the meal cost hundreds of Hong Kong dollars, and the group was in so much pain that they were bleeding.
Su Ye had sent telegrams worth nearly a thousand yuan, and he quickly got used to eating meals that cost hundreds of yuan a meal. Moreover, there were five of them in the group, and their appetite was amazing, so the food tasted very good.
Liu Gang murmured, "This place looks like a palace, so prosperous."
The bright lights make Victoria Harbour look like a bright and beautiful lady, so graceful, young and lively. The colorful neon lights and shining road signs on the road seem to be bright all night long. People here don't care about the electricity bill at all. It's not like in their city, where they have to count the time when turning on the lights. They can only turn them on for two hours at most. If they turn them on for more than that, they will be very worried about the electricity bill.
It was already very late when they finished their meal. The waiters in the restaurant kitchen poured the unfinished food into the sewage bucket, including noodles, steamed buns, meat, and rice. The group was in great pain.
"Teacher Su, I envy them so much... When can we live a wealthy life like them?"
Liu Gang's sigh was also everyone's voice.
Su Ye touched Liu Gang's chest and told him, "Sooner or later our mainland will become like this, and in the future it will even be more prosperous and wealthy than this."
How is that possible? Liu Gang thought, Teacher Su is kidding again. There are countless bicycles on this street, as if everyone has a bicycle, but Shanggou Village can't find a single bicycle even if you search everywhere. Luxury cars can be seen everywhere on this street, and passers-by on the street are wearing decent clothes, but they are struggling in the embarrassment of not being able to cut a new set of clothes for a whole year.
How long will it take? How many years will it take for the mainland to become like this? Yang Xue's father thought silently. He didn't dare to think about it at all.
The poor and desolate Pengcheng on the other side of the strait is a microcosm of China's rural areas. It has been like this for thousands or even hundreds of years. Its changes are so slow that there is no doubt that it will remain like this for decades or hundreds of years to come.
Su Ye smiled without saying anything and patted Liu Gang and Li Ming on the head.
OK.
It is your generation who studied hard and worked hard, creating endless opportunities for China and accumulating huge wealth, so that those who came after you can live a prosperous life. It is you who have experienced hunger in this generation that ensure that future Chinese people will always have enough to eat.
The next morning, they received the microscope. It was indeed a very large machine, so they rented a new boat to transport it to Pengcheng.
After leaving Hong Kong City, Yang Xue's father went to a store he dared not enter and bought a notebook. He smiled and explained to everyone, "It's a rare trip here. If I don't buy something, it will be like I haven't been here. I will tell Xiaoxue and the others about Hong Kong City as soon as I go back."
Yang Xue's father wanted to tell his daughter and son about the impressive fact that Su Ye could speak English. Now his thoughts have changed. In the past, he thought that it was enough for the children to study and he would not force them. After returning home this time, he would tell them to strive for success and study hard.
Only by studying hard and serving the motherland when they grow up can they have the opportunity to live a good life like the people in Gangcheng. Not only that, he himself must continue to study.
Liu Gang and Li Ming's worldview was rapidly rebuilt during this period.
On the way back, they kept thinking about the things in Hong Kong. Liu Gang remembered Teacher Su's words deeply. He believed that as long as their generation worked hard, they would always have the opportunity to live such a good life in the future.
Li Ming kept thinking back to the prosperity of Hong Kong, and then looking at the poverty and backwardness of the mainland, the strong sense of inferiority urged him to work hard. Li Ming finally understood the meaning of what Su Ye once said. She said, study for the rise of China. He didn't understand this sentence before, but now he finally understands it.
To work for the rise of China is to work for the rise of individuals and the next generation. The fate of the country and individuals is linked together and inseparable. If the country is poor, the people will also become insecure and lack confidence.
…
City c.
Director Lu formally donated the electron microscope to X University. He made an agreement with the president of X University that the main right to use the microscope would belong to Changyou Oil Factory, and it could be lent to X University teachers and students outside of laboratory hours.
At the same time, he proposed that the school and his friends establish a joint laboratory to train scientific and technological talents. With this, Ruan Ruliang suddenly had his own formal laboratory. The oil refinery indirectly had its own team of talents.
Su Ye didn't expect that Director Lu was so good at taking advantage of the situation. This move of "giving a peach to another and a plum to another" was just right, allowing all three parties to gain benefits.
She had originally planned to do so, but she didn't have time to discuss it with him. This microscope was not easy to come by. It was exchanged by Su Ye with "technology". If it was exchanged, others would never buy it so easily.
The president of X University was completely confused by Director Lu's move. Although Changyou was just an oil factory, it was indeed rated as a provincial advanced unit, but wouldn't it be too grand to do so? Other provincial-level old factories didn't have such a grand display, but the professors of the school tried their best to get this German-made microscope. For it, Changyou wanted a laboratory... so what
When Ruan Ruliang learned about this, he was stunned for a long time. He rubbed his hands together in excitement and anxiety, and his dark face gradually turned red.
"No, that's not necessary."
Su Ye said with a smile: "That's right, Mr. Ruan, use it well. A good horse deserves a good saddle! Only when the conditions are met can you devote yourself to research."
Please don’t be careless and get ten thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes!
However, Ruan Ruliang, the fake consultant with the title of "Changyou Technical Consultant", was forced to take office. It was the first time for him to use such a good laboratory. He was already nearly 50 years old, and he almost cried when he saw these equipments in action for the first time. Although they were not all brand new, they were hundreds of times better than the obsolete equipment he had picked up.
He cherished this spacious and bright laboratory very much. He was always busy wiping the table with a rag, cutting a layer of plant cells, and never tired of using the most expensive microscope. He was in the laboratory of X University every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and went back to the countryside to lead students to work in the fields on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
…
Shanggou Village.
Liu Gang and Li Ming became "diligent" after returning to Shanggou Village. This diligence was like a sudden enlightenment. The two boys who usually only knew how to eat, drink and do farm work suddenly became interested in studying English.
Although Su Ye has been giving them extra lessons in mathematics, physics and chemistry and encouraging them to take part in next year's college entrance examination, many of them have no intention of pursuing further studies.
On the one hand, a high school diploma is enough, not as good as the best, but more than enough for the worst. They are also considered to be the "cultured" part of the educated youth. On the other hand, it is also good to have lived such a life in Shanggou Village. A group of salted fish suddenly have two more diligent eels, and everyone can't adapt. Especially Li Ming, a salted fish who usually eats, drinks, defecates and urinates first, and exudes a decadent atmosphere.
Lin Yuan glanced at Liu Gang with a look of curiosity. "What on earth did Teacher Su take you to see in Gangcheng? Why do you seem like different people?"
Lin Yuan also had the opportunity to go to Hong Kong City with her, but she was reluctant to leave the little rabbit she raised in the dormitory, so she didn't pester Teacher Su to go with her.
Liu Gang told everyone about his experiences and observations in Gangcheng. He described how wealthy the people in Gangcheng were, how they could turn on the lights at will, throw leftover food into the trash can, and drink milk as if it were boiled water. Everyone couldn't help but squint their eyes, with a look of longing in their eyes.
"They are unwilling to give up. They live a decent life. Look at how you live. Teacher Su is right. The future of the motherland depends on us young people. If you don't work hard, will the next generation of children be hungry like you?"
Liu Gang's words made these educated youth, who were all under the age of 18, fall into deep thought. The more beautiful the port city he described was, the more helpless it was in real life. Why did they study and work? Was it to endure the suffering of famine and let the next generation of children experience the same suffering
Liu Gang suddenly felt sad when he spoke. He glanced over and his eyes were slightly red. His chest was still hot. Li Ming also felt a little hurt when he heard this. His parents often wrote to him about the situation in the city, about the large number of workers being laid off, and many people starving to death on the streets...
That night in Hong Kong, they witnessed the waiter throwing away the leftover steamed buns. At that moment, Yang Xue's father almost went up to pick up the steamed buns, but fortunately he was stopped by Teacher Su. In fact, Liu Gang also had the urge to pick up the steamed buns. If he had not lived a life of no worries about food and drink, he would really pick up the steamed buns.
Yang Xue's father is the deputy director of a large factory. Liu Gang is a high school graduate with a good family background. He knows English, math, physics, chemistry, and is a good cook. They have classmates and teachers who are better than them. They don't think they are worse than the people in Gangcheng, and they are no worse than the "Western powers" praised in newspapers.
They just started too late and stumbled along the way. Li Ming believed what Teacher Su said, that the country would be more prosperous and the people would be more confident in the future, provided that their generation worked hard to build the motherland.