National Tide 1980

On this day, on his way home, Ning Weimin was repeatedly despised by others for the first time.

Because he took too many copper pieces, weighing about fifty kilograms, and they were all put in his torn sack.

Even before he got in the car, he had already stuffed his dirty work clothes, broken straw hat, ripped cotton shoes, and two-pronged hook into a large canvas bag.

He also washed his face with water from the military kettle.

Others can still tell his true identity.

Especially when taking the Dalu bus, the conductor saw Ning Weimin carrying a heavy sack on the bus.

The sack made a jingling noise as soon as it was placed in the car, and I almost felt sick on the spot.

That is to say, they are concerned that Ning Weimin is a young man.

And seeing that he took the initiative to show his monthly ticket and bought an extra ticket for his sack, the conductor didn't kick him out.

As for the passengers in the car, they all avoided Ning Weimin like flies.

If not for anything else, the smell of the garbage dump coming from his sack was quite obvious.

Let's put it this way, compared to the cynical Ah Fei with long hair, wearing toad glasses in the documentary "The Ride" released this year. Ning Weimin, who had been trying his best to stay out of the way, seemed to be even more annoying.

Almost everyone is thinking, why do you take the bus when you can pick up rags?

Or take the Da Yi Road that runs through Chang'an Avenue?

Does your description look good?

Why don't you save yourself some money by holding on to your legs?

Isn’t this intentional to cause trouble for everyone?

However, Ning Weimin himself did not show the slightest dissatisfaction about this, nor did he bother to taste the glares from others.

Because first of all, bus conductors are absolutely not to be messed with these days.

They have low income and no sense of service.

I have to ride on the bus every day, and there is no fun in my life. The only fun in my life is bickering with passengers.

Don't look at them, they always announce their station name in a sleepy tone with something in their mouth, which makes people uncomfortable to listen.

But if anyone dares to show any signs of provocation, they will choke you with words that are several times clearer than what they reported.

You must not talk back at this time.

Once you talk back, they will have baskets and baskets of words waiting for you, and their training will be like a torrential rain.

It will keep pouring on you until you are completely soaked and you will run away in despair.

Once, Ning Weimin just boldly asked how many stops there were until such-and-such station.

This made the conductor angry and immediately rolled his eyes.

"Are you deaf or hard-of-hearing? Didn't you hear me when I announced your stop? The next stop is, get up quickly. Is that seat so comfortable?"

A lesson learned from the past, why should he go out of his way to get into trouble instead of suffering this immediate loss?

As for the second thing, even though the conductor was so awesome, other passengers despised him so much.

But Ning Weimin really didn't care.

Because self-esteem and self-confidence come from oneself, the mute feels beautiful when he eats wontons.

Even though he is a rag picker, he still dares to make a wild statement here.

No one in this car has money in his pocket that is worth more than his sack.

That’s more than fifty kilograms of copper, and more than 80% of it is purple. How much does it cost?

So on the way from Jianguo Road to Wangfujing, Ning Weimin couldn't even calculate his own profits, so there was no time for leisure.

His face was facing out the window, looking at the beautiful scenery on the street, and all he was thinking about was how much he earned today.

Well, the ones I picked up myself could have been sold for about eighteen or nineteen.

But after such a move, he changed it to copper, and the price difference was only six yuan more.

And then there was the forty kilograms of copper that I picked up. If I removed the few bits of brass from it, I could probably earn another forty yuan.

According to this rough calculation, I have already earned more than 60 yuan.

Holy shit, this day is as good as three days on weekdays.

No, no, no...it's still too simple to calculate this way.

Because the most brilliant thing I did today was the idea of ​​buying a watch that came out of nowhere.

"General," that old boy must have never imagined that there is a place like a trust store in the city that specializes in selling second-hand goods on consignment.

Not only are the watches there cheap, but they also don’t require tickets.

Well, I remember that after the Chinese New Year, I followed Old Man Kang to the store to see his old friend.

There, an 80% new Huhai brand watch is quite suitable. It seems to only cost 82 yuan.

I want to take it to a watch repair shop to tidy it up and do some "tiger work". I will issue a new one to the "general" tomorrow.

This is equivalent to an additional thirty-eight yuan of profit.

After doing this calculation, I can actually earn less than 100 yuan this day.

Haha, I am indeed a gifted genius, who in the world can compete with me?

Just like that, I was having fun. I didn't pay attention, I got angry, and I was really happy.

The sound of "pop" was particularly clear.

It is inevitable that he will attract more contempt for him...

But to be honest, I really can't blame Ning Weimin for being so arrogant, blame him for being so ugly, blame him for being so ignorant.

The main reason is that he was so miserable during the period of his return, and he just had to endure the humiliation and bear the burden and move forward.

To be honest, the most money in his pocket was the last time he sold blood to save lives in the hospital.

As a result, the 60 yuan was returned to the hospital without even covering my body.

To replenish the body afterward, it was just eggs, brown sugar, and millet porridge, nothing fishy.

It was like confinement, and it was shared equally with Old Man Kang.

He usually eats three meals a day, and his stomach has long been in disarray.

It was only when we actually arrived at the eastern suburbs garbage dump ten days ago that our living standards improved slightly.

But he still didn't have any money in his hand.

Because he had his own purpose in making money. When he had money, the only thing he cared about was going to the post office and spending all the money he could spend on buying baby monkey tickets.

After working for ten days and buying every day, I saved up twelve full-page tickets.

Because of this, Old Man Kang got very angry and said that he was mentally ill and wasted all his money on things that he could not afford to eat and drink.

No way, after all, we are from two generations. This old man also has limited thinking and does not agree with the investment concept of stamps.

So speaking of it, those happy days of drinking Moutai, taking saunas, playing mahjong, and ordering lobsters in his previous life are already too far away from him.

It's like a hundred years of memory, almost faded to the point of disappearing completely.

Now, when he sees a plate of braised pork, he can't wait to die, which is so pitiful.

Besides, how valuable is one hundred yuan these days?

At this time, the average monthly living expenses per person in Beijing was only about ten yuan.

A monthly salary of several dozen yuan for an adult can basically support a family of three.

Even after 2010, a professor from Beijing Normal University made an assessment of the value of the “10,000-yuan household” that emerged in the 1980s, and published an authoritative academic research report on this.

The professor believes that with the erosion of inflation in the past thirty years, 10,000 yuan back then is basically equivalent to "2.55 million" today!

If measured by this standard, one hundred yuan in 1980 would be at least equivalent to twenty-five thousand five thousand today, and maybe even more.

If you can earn this amount in one day, no one will be happy, right?

The most important thing is that money is still secondary, and the sense of accomplishment is more important.

You know, this is the first time in Ning Weimin's life that he has successfully turned his intelligence into cash income.

The excitement, confidence, excitement, and satisfaction this business brought him completely dispelled his discomfort with this era.

It was no less than the joy he felt when he mastered the art of scratching and stamping canceled tickets and modifying them into new ones in his previous life, and successfully sold them for the first time.

To put it bluntly, my emotions have been suppressed for too long. It is rare to see some sunshine, so it will naturally shine brightly.

As a sultry person who has little to do with high-end fun.

He was able to restrain himself and didn't twist his butt and shout "oh, yeah", which was already very low-key.

…………

It's easy to go out, but hard to go back.

Ning Weimin's process of entering the house was a bit long-winded, because he had a lot to do.

The first thing, of course, is to carry a heavy sack to the scrap collection station of the material recycling company to sell copper.

Ever since he went to the Dongjiao Garbage Dump, Ning Weimin's usual destination has actually been the Baiziwan Collection Station.

For no other reason than that, although I don’t want to be “hacked” by the Eastern Suburbs Scrap Depot, I still have to be as close as possible for convenience.

But today, he changed his previous routine and went out of his way to take the bus back to the scrap yard at the front door to take action.

Just because this is the home court, he knows the rules of the people inside and won't treat him badly.

Sure enough, in the days when he was selling waste paper, I met "Big Lao Liu" who was very clever.

After checking the quality with a magnet and putting the items on the scale, I happily paid them the exact amount according to the portion and specifications.

Although I am quite amazed at the number and weight of the copper pieces,

But "Big Old Liu" didn't bother asking where these things came from.

After all, the things are not new, and they are too messy. You can tell at a glance that there is no problem with the source.

In this way, one hundred and ninety-three and four yuan was successfully handed over to Ning Weimin, which was really worthy of his sweaty head.

The second thing to do next is, of course, to get a watch for the "general" and buy things for the blind people.

The Qianmen Trust Store is on the west side of Qianmen Street, next to the bicycle shop.

To Ning Weimin's surprise, the 82-yuan Huhai brand watch was no longer in the store and had been sold.

The only suitable item on the counter is a 70% new peacock produced in Dandong.

The price is even lower, only seventy.

Although it looks obviously much older and has a lot of scratches on the surface, it doesn't matter.

As long as there's nothing wrong with the movement, it's fine.

Ning Weimin bought it confidently.

According to the plan, as soon as he left the trust store, he turned and entered the Hendry Watch Store, which is still called "Morning Bell".

Then I spent five yuan to choose a brand new watch cover, and spent another two yuan on polishing and cleaning fees.

Within about forty minutes, the watchmaker took action to make the watch look brand new.

The craftsmanship of famous store chefs is not something to boast about.

As long as the back cover is not opened, no one can tell that this watch is old.

It's more than enough to pass the "general" level.

Of course, Ning Weimin did not waste any time during this waiting process.

First, I went to grocery stores and department stores to buy other things that blind people wanted.

I also bought some food for myself and Old Man Kang.

Finally, I crossed the street and went to the post office.

Before closing, I bought seventeen full-page monkey tickets in one go, and then came back to pick up the watch.

After all these things were done, it came out at six o'clock in the evening.

Going home at this time will truly be a perfect ending.

No need to ask, when I look at Ning Weimin now, the joy on his face comes from his heart.

Although I was hungry and exhausted, I was also relaxed and happy.