Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 436 Direct Purchase
"interview?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at the safety.

Chen Fan frowned slightly, then asked, "What kind of interview?"

Do people still have interviews these days?
Whether it's getting a job in a factory, joining the army, or going to university, isn't it just a matter of transferring your personnel file? Why would you need an interview?

Anquan pulled out a chair, sat down, and grinned, saying, "Of course, it's the college entrance exam interview."

He then pointed to Huang Ying and Liu Dan, "Didn't you apply for foreign trade and journalism majors? Any major related to foreign languages ​​requires a foreign language teacher to conduct an interview to see if you have a certain level of foreign language proficiency."

Chen Fan sat down as well, glanced at the two girls who looked completely bewildered, then looked at An Quan, and asked, "I can understand foreign trade majors; aside from trade-related knowledge, it's practically half a foreign language major. But why does journalism major need an interview?"

"I asked the same question to the school board members when I heard the news," Anquan chuckled.

He tapped his fingers twice on the table, thanked Huang Li for pouring him the wine, and turned to continue, “On the surface, news has nothing to do with foreign languages, but don’t forget that news agencies also have correspondents stationed abroad. Even if they are not sent abroad, they can still be responsible for translating foreign news articles.”

If Xiaodan hadn't applied for the English subject, that would be understandable. But since she took the English supplementary test, it's perfectly reasonable that they included her in the English interview list.

Chen Fan nodded in realization; it was enough to understand the reason.

His understanding of the college entrance examination came almost entirely from his memories of reading period novels before he traveled back in time, but none of the novels he read mentioned that the college entrance examination also included an interview.

Even when they went to the prefectural committee last time, Sister Zuo and Jiang Lili didn't mention this matter, so they probably didn't know either.

No problem, we'll deal with whatever comes our way. It's just an interview.

He turned to look at Huang Ying and Liu Dan, and said with a smile, "Your English scores are not bad, and your spoken English is also very good. Just go ahead and take the test with confidence, it's not a big deal."

Seeing Chen Fan's confident demeanor, the two girls felt relieved and nodded in unison, "Understood."

Chen Fan then looked at the security area, "Time and place?"

Anquan picked up his glass and took a sip. "From tomorrow until January 2nd, the Admissions Office of the Prefectural Party Committee's Education Department."

He paused for a moment, then smiled at Chen Fan and said, "The commune's school district committee member said that two admissions officers from Peking University and the University of Foreign Trade came to the prefectural committee in person to interview them. Otherwise, students applying for English majors are usually required to go to the provincial capital's admissions office for an interview. This shows how much the school values ​​them."

Chen Fan frowned, squinting as he pondered.

When An Quan saw his expression, he was slightly taken aback. "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

After a moment of contemplation, Chen Fan slowly shook his head, then looked at Huang Ying and Liu Dan, and smiled, "It's nothing. Even if there really is a problem, it's a good thing."

He then waved his hand, "Never mind, let's not talk about this now. I'll take them to the prefectural committee tomorrow and they'll know."

After saying that, he picked up his glass and said, "Come on, bottoms up."

He then drank it all in one gulp.

Anquan glanced at the yellow wine in his glass, then at the white wine in his own, and fell into deep thought.

It's fortunate that we arrived safely today just in time for lunch; otherwise, Huang Ying and the others wouldn't have sat down at the table together. Since that's the case, the six girls had no choice but to finish their meal quickly, then tidy up the table and give it to the two of them.

Watching the girls quickly tidy up the already neat table and retreat to the kitchen, Anquan couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "You live such a life! You have someone to serve you meals, someone to wash your clothes, someone to clean your house, and someone to do all the miscellaneous chores for you. Even landlords and rich people don't have it as comfortable as you."

Chen Fan rolled his eyes. "If you had said this two years ago, I would have strongly suspected that you were trying to harm me."

Anquan chuckled, "Two years ago, I wouldn't have said that either."

He swirled the remaining wine in his glass, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp. His smile held a hint of emotion. "These past few days, running around the prefectural committee and the county seat, I've finally come to understand. Times have really changed. There are things we didn't dare to say before, we dare to say now. There are things we didn't dare to do before, we dare to do now."

Chen Fan blinked. "What made you feel this way?"

Anquan shook his head and laughed, "It's just finding a feed mill for the team. In the past, the reports, reviews, and all sorts of procedures would have been a nightmare. Guess what happened this time?"

Chen Fan picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, shook his head, and said, "I can't guess."

Anquan laughed, "I went to the commune first. The commune said they wanted to buy the machines quickly and suggested I go directly to the county's Commerce Bureau. I went to the county, and the Commerce Bureau said they could go through the proper procedures, but recommended I go directly to the Prefectural Committee's Machinery Factory. Just over a year ago, our Yunhu Machinery Factory also manufactured feed mills and officially took on the production tasks assigned by the Ministry of Commerce. They said that if I went through the proper procedures, it would be a government-to-government transaction, with a fixed price and a waiting list."

Putting aside the production tasks assigned by higher authorities, the Yunhu area alone has more than a dozen districts and counties, more than 100 communes, and hundreds of production teams. Feed mills are not expensive, and many production teams or communes with the means want to buy them. If they go through the official channels and wait in line, it is estimated that they will have to wait several years to get one.

"It's different if you go directly to a machinery factory. As long as you can build connections with them and are willing to pay a premium, you can buy a feed mill very quickly."

After saying that, he smiled at Chen Fan and said, "Even machinery factories have unplanned production capacity; they can manage that part themselves. Tell me, would anyone have dared to do something like that a few years ago?!"

Chen Fan pursed his lips, held up his wine glass, and smiled, "Let's drink, let's drink."

Many people in later generations believed that the changes only began at the end of 78, but that is not the case.

During the period from the end of that period to 79, many places in the countryside were already stirring with restlessness.

The poorer a place is, the more people will seek new paths and break through limitations. This is the principle behind "extreme poverty breeds change".

Although Yunhu is not a poor place, and can even be considered a wealthy place, it doesn't mean that nothing has changed.

Poverty can change, but wealthy places also have more talented people. Some astute business leaders have already begun to look for opportunities in the gradually loosening regulations.

However, such people are extremely rare, and those who can safely navigate the next decade or so without any mishaps are even fewer, having been sifted through by the tides of time.

It seems that the leaders of Yunhu Machinery Factory are this type of people.

Chen Fan snapped out of his thoughts and looked at An Quan, asking, "So now there's progress on the feed mill, right at Yunhu Machinery Factory?"

Anquan nodded and said seriously, "I haven't told Secretary Yang about this yet. I just heard about the interviews from the school district committee, so I came to find you first to discuss it with you."

He paused for a moment, leaned forward slightly, and said softly, "Under normal circumstances, the price of a feed machine is around 4500 yuan. After I received the news from the county commerce bureau, I immediately went to the machinery factory and found their sales department."

Unfortunately, I didn't meet their section chief. I only met with a salesman, gave him two packs of cigarettes, and mentioned Lujiawan and your name before I finally got the price for the private sale from him.

He held up one hand and then gestured with his other hand.

Chen Fan's eyes darted around slightly. "5500?"

Safety nodded slightly, "One price, no negotiation!"

Chen Fan wiped his face, pondered for two seconds, and said, "I think it's okay."

It's only 1000 yuan more expensive. As long as the feed mill is up and running, it won't be long before we make it back. Otherwise, if we have to wait in line, who knows how long we'll have to wait.

Why did some villages organize a few blacksmiths to make a fortune by hand-hammering wrenches and pliers to sell at the beginning of the reform and opening up?
The reason is that my country's current industrial production capacity is too low, and many industrial products have been in short supply for a long time.

The reason why hardware stores always have a sufficient supply of industrial products is that industrial products are linked to industrial coupons, so many people who want to buy them have no way to buy them without industrial coupons.

The fact that small workshops didn't need industrial coupons immediately released a huge consumer market. In the early 80s, it was truly a seller's market. As long as you could produce industrial goods and sell them without industrial coupons, whether it was needles and thread or instruments and tools, you wouldn't have to worry about selling them.

If this applies to small things, it goes without saying that it applies to "large machines" like feed mills.

Seeing that Chen Fan agreed, Anquan nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go find Secretary Yang later and see how to proceed."

He's used to going through procedures and submitting reports to buy things, but now that he has to buy goods from factories privately, he needs to figure out the ins and outs and be careful not to cause any trouble.

……

Early the next morning, Chen Fan took Huang Ying and Liu Dan to the prefectural committee.

The small yacht splashed a wave, slowly accelerated, and arrived at Yunhu Passenger Terminal in less than an hour.

When they arrived at the Education Department, the staff had just started their shift.

(End of this chapter)