mijobooks Chapter 30 Strategizing with Others and with Oneself
Chapter 30 Strategizing with Others and with Oneself
"Okay! You can check if it makes sense to me..."
After giving Hong Ye a satisfactory answer, Chen Tuo continued to reinforce the smokehouse.
He couldn't sleep last night, so he just did whatever came to mind.
As a result, after the smoked meat room was completed, an improvement plan was conceived.
In addition to the smoked meat room, Chen Tuo also wants to build a sauna.
Starting over allowed him to see things in a new light.
Money isn't that important.
Not worth it.
Live a life without regrets.
A perfect life is one where you can indulge in pleasure and still accomplish something.
Therefore, having solved his immediate need for food and clothing, he wanted to enjoy himself first.
In the courtyard of the educated youth settlement, the solid wooden planks that could be used to pave the ground were no smaller than the pile of pine firewood.
This is in the forest area.
This is Songling.
Otherwise, the registered educated youth would certainly not have left such a large pile of wooden planks when they left.
Yesterday I went to the Songling area where the Forestry Bureau is located.
Chen Tuo had also seen the buildings there. Apart from a few two-story brick and concrete buildings, the rest were all identical wooden houses and wooden planks.
According to Wu Laowai, the area surrounding Songling is a large uninhabited area.
The collective housing system under the supply system turned the piles of planks in the educated youth settlements into idle materials that could not be exchanged.
Having the idea of building a sauna, Chen Tuo did not rush to start.
Instead, they went to the educated youth settlement warehouse first.
According to Xiao Kai, there were dozens of skis at the educated youth settlement.
He found only three and a half sets in the warehouse.
The wooden skis not only had cracks, but the taut leather underneath was also almost completely worn down.
Next to the skis, there was a large bundle of long sticks that reached eyebrow level.
Judging from the brand-new marks on the bottom of the stick, something must have been inlaid there before.
After rummaging around, I found a long stick with a broken iron tip still attached to the end.
Without a doubt, these are the traditional ski poles. The missing metal tips must have been replaced.
Chen Tuo had never tried skiing with his feet apart.
However, he had tried snowboarding a few times and had some experience with it.
I pieced together the broken skis; if I connected them with wooden blocks in the middle, I think I could try playing with them.
He searched the entire warehouse but only found a dozen or so crooked nails.
There was hardly any scrap metal in the warehouse, presumably taken by the registered educated youth to exchange for other things.
Go to the market to replace nails, and build a sauna.
His new goal was to replace some sheet metal or similar materials to seal the gaps.
After roughly surveying the usable items, Chen Tuo took a shovel with a leather sheath from the wall.
I took it out and looked at it; it still had foreign characters on it.
Having solved the immediate survival problem, the obstacle-clearing knife became the catalyst.
Chen Tuo only remembered the homework he had done in advance for the winter wilderness survival program.
"The US military's 18-step maneuver is just too long..."
I thought of the small knife that Wu Laowai used to skin and kill fish.
Chen Tuo didn't care whether the obstacle clearing knives on the wall were tools or not, and just took a few of them down.
Chen Tuo, carrying a knife, walked to the gatehouse, where Hong Ye, who had put his overcoat back on, struck him on the head.
"Chen Tuo, that's a pruning axe. Every household has one. You can't trade it for anything."
"Oh...maybe I can even get a small knife in return..."
"Here! These are the cigarettes, alcohol, and tea I bought for you. They can help you find inspiration when you're lacking it."
Hong Ye took out cartons of cigarettes, bottles of liquor, and bags of tea from the inside pocket of his overcoat.
Chen Tuo then realized why she had revealed her red sweater as soon as she entered the room.
Looking at the chubby girl with striking phoenix eyes, he smiled and said:
"Sister Hongye, I can't accept something for nothing..."
Upon hearing this, Hong Ye glared at Chen Tuo with a hint of reproach in her eyes before speaking seriously:
"I'm giving you this gift because I want a favor. I only have one request: could you teach me how to write poetry privately?"
"Oh? One-on-one tutoring? I wonder if Sister Hongye is after fame or profit?"
Hong Ye was cunning, but she was straightforward. Chen Tuo stopped pretending to be confused and asked the fat girl what she wanted.
"My career prospects at work are limited, and my family isn't well-off, so I can only strive for recognition first and then pursue profit. I plan to save some money and head south to do business."
The fame or fortune that Chen Tuo mentioned was not the literal meaning of fame and fortune.
Fame represents one's future, while profit represents money.
Hong Ye could understand, and could even explain going south to do business.
In 1979, this already showed a lot of independent thinking.
The three northeastern provinces of today are not the same as the three northeastern provinces of tomorrow.
This area is both an industrial base and an economically developed region.
Instead of choosing the Northeast, she chose to go south to do business. With that insight alone, this chubby girl is sure to get rich first.
"Sister Hongye, what industry do you plan to go into if you go south to do business?"
"I can cook a lot of dishes, and I'm pretty good at it. I plan to start with a private restaurant. Some provinces in the south allow private restaurants."
Hong Ye's goal is good; he even knows to work his way up from a restaurant to a hotel.
After Chen Tuo nodded in acknowledgment of her insight, he also poured cold water on her enthusiasm.
"Sister Hongye, the cuisine here is mainly Cantonese in the south, and the dishes here in the northeast are mostly wild game. I'm afraid you can't keep this up for more than a few years. Are you just looking to make money, or are you building a career?"
Chen Tuo's questions left him feeling very uneasy.
I couldn't sleep last night, and my idea for "Poet's Bistro," which I'd been thinking about for half the night, was ultimately abandoned.
Hong Ye was not discouraged; instead, her eyes were filled with hope and her attitude was resolute.
"Making money is enough; I'm not ready to build a business yet."
"That makes things simple. You don't need to quit your job and go to the south. You just need to go there once, buy the goods through postal channels, and then sell them in the provincial capital. You can make a lot of money that way."
The business model of the 1980s is something that has been discussed to death in countless entrepreneurs' autobiographies.
Ultimately, it all boils down to being bold enough to make money.
Although he didn't specify what Hong Ye should sell, Chen Tuo had clearly shown her the way.
"Chen Tuo, you know a lot! What does your family do? I heard from Sister Xu that you're from a big city?"
Although Hong Ye wanted Chen Tuo to give her some pointers on how to make money, she suppressed her eagerness and started checking his household registration.
"I think I remember, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is. Actually, I'm more curious than you about where I came from..."
He patted his head and emphasized his amnesia.
The day before yesterday evening, when Hu Yuling was trying to save him, Chu Maolin made it very clear.
The city and address given earlier could not be found, which is why he became an unregistered resident of Songling.
Chen Tuo might prefer to remain out of contact, but who can say for sure what will happen?
Perhaps now they are missing persons or separated families, but in a few years someone will come looking for Songling.
"I'm sorry, I forgot! Could you explain it to me in detail?"
Hong Ye wanted guidance, and Chen Tuo, who didn't want to go through any more trouble, didn't mind her little tricks.
Sometimes, doing good for others is doing good for yourself.
Compared to Wu Laowai, who wanted to trade chickens and rabbits for his ginseng, Hong Ye was clearly more sincere.
"Sure! But I need to go to the market to exchange some things later, so I need to organize my things first."
"I'll help you..."
"No need, can you help me pack my luggage?"
Hong Ye offered to help, but Chen Tuo refused.
The reason was that the miscellaneous fish that Sun Changkui and his men had dug up had already frozen together with the sack.
A sack of miscellaneous fish weighed over a hundred pounds, and Hong Ye could barely lift most of it.
The small crucian carp that Chen Tuo caught last night were left unattended and frozen together in a lump.
There's no need to clean up the small, miscellaneous fish that need to be replaced; just put them directly onto the sled...