Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 753 Direct Selling Network

The guests wanted to eat the dishes Chen Fan made, but he didn't have to make all of them. He only needed to make two main dishes, and Jiang Lili could make the rest.

Jiang Lili went to the kitchen to busy herself, and at this time the living room was divided into two groups. Jiang Tiantian accompanied Yu Keying and sat chatting on the chaise lounge by the French windows.

Chen Fan and An Quan sat on the sofa, chatting casually about all sorts of things.

Anquan lit a cigarette, took a satisfying puff, and then sighed softly, "Ever since Keying got pregnant, I haven't smoked at home. I'm so bored."

Chen Fan crossed his legs, shook them comfortably, and chuckled, "Then you're in for a tough time. Kids can't stand the smell of smoke, or they'll easily get chronic pharyngitis. And since you have a little princess in your family, you'll have to be even more careful about this in the future."

Raising a daughter with abundance doesn't necessarily mean providing a lot of money, but rather ensuring her spiritual well-being, paying attention to the details of life, helping her develop good habits, and cultivating her correct outlook on life, values, and worldview.

In these areas, parents setting a good example is especially important. Anyway, you're going to have a lot of headaches coming up later.

With a long face, Anquan said, "Can't you say something comforting?"

Chen Fan shrugged and said, "Sorry, I'm just being honest."

Anquan couldn't help but roll her eyes, "I hope you have four kids in the future, and you'll worry about four times more than me!"

Chen Fan's hand trembled slightly as he flicked off some cigarette ash. He couldn't help but glance at Jiang Tiantian in the distance, thinking to himself, "Old An probably didn't notice, right?"
However, he remained outwardly calm, saying, "This year, the higher-ups issued a document reiterating that we can only have one child, so having four is impossible. And you, if you want to have a child with the character '好' (good), you'd better hurry up."

Well, I can only have two kids at most, no more than that.

Anquan didn't take it seriously. He thought Chen Fan was really discussing with him how many children they could have, and immediately said, "Although the regulations only allow one child, there are ways. Keying and I are both students now, so there's no issue of punishment from our employers. At most, we'll just have to pay an extra social support fee. As long as we give birth before graduation, it'll be fine."

Seeing that he had a plan in mind, Chen Fan said no more.

Although it has been reiterated that a family can only have one child, the punishment for not complying is still limited to a demerit from the employer and a fine from the family planning office.

After 82, things were different. Violating the policy meant losing your job. Countless people were forced to "go into business." Some of them seized the opportunity of the times and gradually became the first to get rich. It can be said that their mistake was a mistake in itself.

Thinking about getting rich, Chen Fan turned to look at An Quan and asked curiously, "Is your business very big now? Even Lili can't buy a ticket and has to ask you to buy it for her."

Instead of answering his question, An Quan looked at him with a puzzled expression and asked, "This is your movie, how come even you can't get a ticket?"

Chen Fan shrugged and said, "If we really wanted to find someone to ask for them, it wouldn't be difficult to get a few tickets, but there's no need to waste favors on something like this."

As for why there weren't any tickets, well, don't even mention me; even the director of this film had to buy his own tickets. Because a film studio is a film studio, and a movie theater is a movie theater; they're not even part of the same system. There's even a distribution company in between. How can they possibly need movie tickets?

Just as he said, if you really want to ask for it, you can get it, but that would involve giving favors. It's just a few movie tickets, so it's really not necessary.

Actually, the easiest people to get into the movie theater are the ticket sellers, who can directly help relatives and friends reserve movie tickets, making them even more effective than the theater manager; and the ticket inspectors.

If you know the ticket collector and the movie theater isn't packed, just say hello and you can go straight in. The only problem is not having a seat.

After hearing his explanation, Anquan clicked his tongue and sighed, "Even great writers have their limitations." He then said, "The business is still the same, just a little bigger."

You reminded me before that things were going smoothly, so I paid special attention to that. I divided Shanghai's urban area into seven parts (excluding the suburbs), and found an agent for each area. Each of them was responsible for one area, and they got their goods directly from me and settled accounts with me only.

When they got to their area, they used the same method, dividing each region into 7 zones. Each zone was further subdivided into 7 communities based on the density of streets and population, as well as the distribution of commercial and residential areas. Each community retained only 7 people to handle the goods.

This way, from top to bottom, each person in charge has a maximum of seven people assisting them, absolutely guaranteeing that no mistakes will be made.

Chen Fan listened to him speak while silently calculating in his mind. When he finished speaking, he was full of surprise and turned to look at him, "So you can currently command 2,400 people?"

From the agency area to the district, and then to the community, that's three levels, totaling 343 communities. And each community has 7 people, which makes 2,401 people.

"more than."

"There are also the people in charge: 7 general agents, 49 regional agents, and 343 community agents. All together, that's exactly 2,800 people," Anquan chuckled.

Chen Fan's eyes widened. "You're playing this high game, aren't you afraid of getting into trouble?"

Anquan shook his head, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said with a smile, "I'm a very timid person, how could I dare to play such a big game?"

He held up two fingers and laughed, "I wrote a report on this matter, submitted it to the school, and then it was approved after being reviewed and discussed by the school and the city. I wouldn't dare to do this without the approval of higher authorities!"

Chen Fan was even more surprised, looking at him with confusion, and asked, "Can this school be approved?"

Anquan tossed away his cigarette butt, picked up a leaf cigarette that Chen Fan had made himself, smelled it under his nose, and laughed, "Why can't it be approved? Waving a big flag and claiming righteousness, you're the one who taught me that."

Chen Fan immediately became interested, picked up a lighter and lit it for him, "Tell me, what exactly happened?"

Anquan took two puffs, nodded in satisfaction, and was about to show off a bit, but seeing the change in someone's expression, he immediately stopped teasing and coughed twice before saying, "It's very simple. First, you need to know that the school's financial aid is divided into batches and levels!"

Chen Fan nodded slightly, "I know that."

Many people in later generations know that almost every college student in this era was paid to go to school, which is true, but how much they were paid and who they were paid by were matters of great importance.

Those who have the most money are the ones who "take paid leave to study".

For example, regarding safety, if he hadn't resigned from the Yunhu Tax Office, he would still be earning a monthly salary of just over 30 yuan, far exceeding the highest student aid subsidy of 19.5 yuan at the school. In return, he would have to return to his original unit after graduation, which is why he resigned early. After all, every Shanghainese wants to stay in Shanghai, and no one wants to go back to the "countryside".

Below this group are the impoverished students who receive full subsidies at the school.

These days, students from impoverished families are truly impoverished because applicants undergo rigorous screening, including their parents' household registration information, the number of family members, the family's total income in the previous year, per capita income, and so on.

If there are only three people in your family, and both your parents are legitimate cadres or employees, then I'm sorry, you won't get any student aid or even a living allowance.

Even the "tuition fee" that other students receive—the 10 yuan application fee that most universities charge when enrolling—won't be refunded to you. The reason is simple: since both your family members work, you have money!

Slightly better off are students from ordinary urban families, such as families with a large number of members, usually five or six, but only one parent is a full-time employee, while the other is either a temporary worker or simply unemployed, facing financial pressure.

In such cases, a living allowance of about eight or nine yuan will usually be approved, and the tuition fees paid can also be refunded. However, forget about scholarships; those are for students in more difficult circumstances.

These students from the "most disadvantaged" families are the ones who receive full scholarships and living allowances. They are generally from rural families or small counties and towns in certain "high-wage areas".

As is well known, in 55, the higher authorities divided the country into 11 wage zones, with the lowest being Category 1 and the highest being Category 11.

Normally, the lower the salary level, the lower the salary. But at the same time, the natural environment of this place is also the best, the kind where you can harvest a bountiful harvest just by sowing some seeds.

For example, the Taihu Plain, Poyang Lake Plain, Dongting Lake Plain, and Jianghan Plain were among the earliest Class 1 wage zones.

However, in 1963, there was another reform. Given that the wages in the first and second wage zones were too low, these two zones were abolished, leaving only nine zones, with the lowest being the third wage zone.

Yes, the Yunhu area is a Category 3 wage zone, so it's one of the places with the lowest wages in the country.

Similarly, Yuanxi County in "Ordinary World" corresponds to the geographical location of Yanyu Special District. The best conditions there are only Class 7 wage areas, and the highest is Class 10 wage areas, which is only slightly lower than Class 11 in desert areas and border areas.

Those who can receive full scholarships and living allowances are basically people from areas with a salary level of 6 or above.

However, this does not include major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Because the higher authorities gave big cities a boost.

Let's see how many wage categories they are: Beijing is category 6, Shanghai is category 8, and Guangzhou is the most outrageous because it was a "frontier" area at the time, so it was category 10.

But can we say that guys from Guangzhou are poor?!

That place is not only rich in natural resources, but it is also a famous fruit-producing area with two rice harvests a year. It also has abundant water resources, which can support a variety of aquaculture and planting industries. It is even richer than Yunhu!

But they happen to receive the salary of the 10th wage category. For each higher wage category, the salary increases by 3%. It's clearly a good place, yet they receive the same high salary as Yuanxi County, which is outrageous.

In summary, at this point in time, full scholarships are not yet widespread, covering only about 40% of all university students.

We'll have to wait a few more years as higher authorities place greater emphasis on education, gradually increasing investment and expanding coverage until subsidies are available to all university students.

But now, there is an insurmountable gap between the greater desire of students for full subsidies and the limited funds available to schools.

Faced with this gap, the school leaders were frowning and scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to bridge it. Just then, a student named Anquan, who was concerned about the teachers' needs and the students' concerns, appeared with his second version of the work-study program.

Anquan leaned back on the sofa, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking more imposing than someone smoking a cigar. He gestured wildly and said, "Many students have a tough life, especially the 'older' students who are married. Not only do they have to support themselves, but they also have to send money back home to support their families. Of the 19.5 yuan monthly allowance, 10 yuan has to be sent back home. They eat boiled water with mixed grains every day. How can they study properly like this?"

But the school is also in a difficult position. The number of students in each grade is fixed. Once it's full, it's full, and they can't afford to give them any more money.

What should I do?

Don't be afraid! Our revolutionary predecessors taught us that through self-reliance and hard work, we will have bread and milk. If the school doesn't have money, we'll find it outside the school; if the students don't have time, we'll mobilize their families.

So I took out the method you taught me, presented "Das Kapital" to the school leaders, and told them that my plan was absolutely in line with social requirements.

Then, naturally, I took the official approval document stamped by the school and went to the municipal government, the local street office, the Shanghai bicycle factory, the hardware factory, the electronics factory…

"Etc., etc."

Chen Fan interrupted his boasting and asked, puzzled, "Why are you looking for those factories?"

Anquan glanced at him and said matter-of-factly, "Buying goods."

Chen Fan's eyes widened. "Buying goods? You're going to go directly to the factory to buy them?"

Safety nodded. "Mhm."

He then sat up, flicked off his cigarette ash, and looked at Chen Fan with a smile, "You forgot? When you first bought this house and were about to move in, I went with you to 'Huaiguo Old' to buy secondhand goods..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Fan suddenly realized, "You've got your eye on those factories' 'defective products'?!"

Safety extended his right hand and gave a thumbs-up, "Smart."

He took a drag of his cigarette and chuckled, "I have the approval document from the school, as well as letters of introduction from the municipal government and the subdistrict office..."

Chen Fan interrupted him again, "Wait a minute, what's the situation with the municipal government and the subdistrict office? How did you get involved again?"

Anquan shrugged and put on a big shot look, saying, "How many educated youths have returned to Shanghai in the last two years? That's hundreds of thousands of people. Where are we going to find so many jobs to put them up?"

Even though the neighborhood committee mobilized them to be self-reliant and set up many collective enterprises such as match factories and tea stalls, it was still a drop in the bucket.

I took the school's approval document to them and told them that we could organize a group of people to sell goods at street stalls on their own. I would provide the goods, the organizers would be our school's work-study department, and the implementers would be students or their family members. Of course, we could also accept some people recommended by the neighborhood committee.

We use a network to source goods from Chongming Island and factories, then deliver these goods to returning educated youth who need them, enabling them to sell them. This creates a win-win situation for schools, students, neighborhood committees, returning educated youth, factories with defective products, and more.

He spread his hands and said, "Everyone thinks it's a good thing, and as long as there are no more than 7 lower-level agents, it meets Grandpa Ma's requirements, so why not?!"

Chen Fan couldn't help but gasp in astonishment; this was practically a direct sales network!

(End of this chapter)