Rebirth: My 80s

Chapter 123 Self-employed First Street

As April approaches, the temperature in Yangcheng has reached 20 degrees Celsius.

Standing on the famous BJ Road pedestrian street, Li Jiankun and the three of them all carried a bag in one hand and a coat in the other.

It's still too hot, and my pants are too thick.

Fortunately, Li Jiankun reminded them early in the morning that they all brought Beijing's early summer clothes.

The first problem now is to find a place to stay.

"Jiankun, where should we stay?"

"We don't have a letter of introduction either."

Li Jiankun said with a smile: "When you get here, you are still afraid that you will have no place to live."

Yangcheng is the only city in this country that has not been closed for thousands of years, including the Qing Dynasty's seclusion period.

Since ancient times, commerce and trade have developed, and there has been an endless stream of foreigners.

Not everyone has a special status, or something like a letter of introduction or a homecoming permit.

Demand determines the market.

The BJ Road Pedestrian Street is connected in all directions and belongs to the place where Yangcheng was first built when the city was founded. Li Jiankun led the two of them to search alleys one by one.

"Look above, there are so many fucking antennas!"

"People here are really so rich that every household has a TV?"

Xiao Wang and Chen Yajun held their heads high, with dense fishbone antennas on their heads, full of technology in their eyes.

"People who can live in this realm must have some money, but the main thing is to be able to collect many units."

Li Jiankun explained casually.

In the late 70s, in inland areas, televisions were still an absolute rarity and were generally only available in public institutions for study purposes.

Although ordinary people are rare, their purchasing demand is not very high.

There are only a few channels, and the news comes from the sky.

But it is different here in Yangcheng. The port city is so close. With the fishbone antenna propped up, you can receive many interesting programs. Some of them will hug and gnaw at the slightest disagreement...

Think about it, how tempting is this?

Saving money to buy a TV has become a top family plan for every family.

Desire determines purchase intention value.

"Jiankun, look, stay here!"

Xiao Wang stretched out his hand and pointed.

Didn't you find it?
At the bottom of a private house, there is a step down, probably to the basement, with a small door and a wooden plaque next to it.

Li Jiankun didn't choose, as long as he could live there, he wanted to live in the Baiyun Hotel, but just having money was really useless.

The three of them walked down the stairs, and there was a counter at the door, with a corridor on the left and right.

The waiter was a fat-faced girl in her twenties who was quite enthusiastic and stood up to greet her.

He started speaking in Mandarin, "A stay for three of us?"

"We don't have a letter of introduction."

Li Jiankun put it bluntly.

"You're not from outside, are you? Do you have anything to prove your identity?"

Visitors from outside must be reported, every day!
The three of them nodded in unison. This was true. In an era without ID cards, no one would forget to bring something to prove their identity when traveling far away.

Membership card, resident card, household registration book, student ID card...

The best thing to use is, of course, a letter of introduction from your employer, introducing you to designated places related to your employer.

Comrades in the same system are like one family.

There happened to be a room for three people, so Li Jiankun paid to open one and charged according to the bed, which was RMB [-] per bed per day.

It's not cheap, but it's very user-friendly.

There is nothing to say about the layout of the room. Three wooden beds are lined up in a row, with yellowed sheets, and a long table with three thermos bottles on it.

The water room and bathroom are shared and located at the end of the corridor.

The three of them quickly changed into summer clothes, feeling much fresher. They had slept well on the train and were not sleepy. They took their money and tickets with them, put their clothes in the room, and locked the door.

Forage to go.

There is so much to eat in Yangcheng. It’s past 11 o’clock in the morning, it’s meal time, and every street is filled with the aroma of food.

When we walked into a larger state-owned restaurant, we all wanted something fresh. Xiao Wang ordered a deluxe rice roll with eggs and shredded pork, Chen Yajun ordered a steamed rice dumpling with preserved meat, and Li Jiankun ordered a claypot rice with beef brisket.No need to arrange it.

That's called authentic.

There are many things about ingenuity and conscience that, despite the development of the times, future generations will not be able to match.

After eating and drinking, Xiao Wang and Chen Yajun both looked at Li Jiankun - how to arrange the activities, they all pointed at him.

As he said, they have a good reputation.

"Let's go, take you to a treasure land."

Li Jiankun stood up, smiled and shouted.

This is not flattering, it is even euphemistic.

At present, there is no place in this country that is more suitable for self-employed people to purchase goods than here.

Small markets like Hanzheng Street, Chenghuang Temple, Qiaotou Town... all have their younger brothers in front of it.

I haven't started tinkering yet.

And it has entered an early stage of development.

This place is Gaudi Street.

Next to the BJ Road Pedestrian Street, you can reach it just around the corner. It starts from BJ Road in the east and ends at Uprising Road in the west. The total length is only 600 meters.

It is, in the true sense, the first street for self-employed people.

The earliest batch of self-employed people in our country were born here. It is said that they all became successful later. Unfortunately, most of them seemed to have immigrated as well.

"Gaudy Street?"

Standing under the archway entering the street, Xiao Wang and Chen Yajun looked strange.

Not that it was strange, but he was very surprised. How did Jiankun know about this small street caught in the busy traffic?
It's really not that conspicuous. It's just a small alley in the capital, barely six or seven meters wide.

"This place is not simple."

Li Jiankun saw their doubts and said with a smile: "Many people only know Lu Xun, but no one pays attention to Lu Xun's wife. As for Mrs. Lu, her name is Xu Guangping. Well, her childhood home is in this street."

"My ancestors were named Xu Baiting, the first salt merchant in the Qing Dynasty. The Xu family was very famous in the south. This street is the birthplace of their family, and there is a well-preserved ancestral hall in it."

Xiao Wang and Chen Yajun suddenly realized that they knew a lot.

For a moment, I actually ignored that this bit of history has nothing to do with the current layout of Gaudi Street.

This is called diversion.

The three of them walked into the archway, and their eyes suddenly opened up.

I saw many simple stalls set up on both sides of the street, using bamboo and iron frames.

On it are placed or hung, many shoes and hats, small department stores, clothes... very trendy clothes.

It is no longer the same black, white, gray and blue, but the colors are so colorful that some girls passing by stopped to look at it and couldn't move their eyes away.

In fact, Xiao Wang and Chen Yajun had already felt that the clothes worn by Yangcheng people looked really good!
It is especially obvious after arriving here.

The pants worn by most people on the street are no longer so baggy and more slim-fitting.

Men wear a drapey short-sleeved shirt with a collar and two buttons underneath.

The girls wore waist-cinching skirts, white with spots, brown with green plaid...

Make them feel like a bastard.

"Brother Kun, there are so many sellers here!"

Chen Yajun finally came to his senses and his expression was filled with excitement. Isn't this a treasure?

The items sold are all things I have never seen in the capital.

If you want to sell this back, can you still make a profit?
"Hey Jiankun, there are so many good products, but why don't many people buy them? Why don't these stall owners shout? We buy in bulk, do they have enough?"

Xiao Wang asked three questions in succession.

Li Jiankun didn't know how to answer, so he raised his feet and said, "Let's go, let's take a walk first."

The current passenger flow on Gaudi Street is indeed not much.

These gadgets sold in the first place are rare in the mainland, but very common in the local area.Secondly, the market was formed not long ago, and it was only after the policy was announced in February. Many foreign merchants did not get the news at all.

If you wait another year or two, this place will explode!

There is a saying later that "if you have not been to Gaudi Street, you have not been to this city"; after entering Gaudi Street, you have to walk "three steps slower".

In the mid-80s, the average daily passenger flow here reached 20!
There is also a theory that new self-employed markets such as Hanzheng Street and Chenghuang Temple are copying the Gaodi Street model.

(End of this chapter)