Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 754 Internal Digestion
Anquan lay on the sofa, a leaf cigarette masquerading as a cigar between his fingers, his eyes filled with a sense of despondency about having no life goals. "I used to think that making money was so hard. When I was in Yunhu, I saved up my salary for several years before I could buy an accordion and finally trick Keying into coming home with me."

But now I've discovered that as long as you find the right method, making money is really easy—so easy that even if I sit at home and do nothing, money keeps flowing in.

After saying that, he tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling, looking as hateful as could be.

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, not even wanting to look at him, and asked while smoking, "What are you doing now?"

With an unwavering expression, he said, "Let's see how much money I've made today."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. After a two-second pause, he said, "Even if you are in charge of this project, does the school allow you to take a cut?"

Ultimately, this project is still a school-owned business. Those involved can make some money along the way, just like how Anquan hitched a ride to Chongming Farm to get goods and then distributed them to others to make money.

Chen Fan didn't quite believe the idea of ​​taking a cut directly from the project.

Judging from how safe he seems, he wouldn't be so arrogant unless he'd made a fortune.

Anquan turned to look at him and chuckled, "It's impossible for me to take a cut. The Work-Study Department only charges two percent of the profit as operating costs and does not charge any other fees. And those two percent all belong to the school. I only have the right to dispose of them and must report all expenses to the school. If there is anything unreasonable, I will be held accountable. So every penny in it has nothing to do with me."

but,……"

He suddenly leaned forward, staring intently at Chen Fan, his eyes full of meaning, "Besides receiving a monthly salary of 30 yuan from the project, don't I have any other way to make money?"
"Before, I could get supplies directly from the farm, but now I can't get them from the factory?"

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow. "Two sets of books? That's risky."

Anquan shook his head slightly and smiled, "Of course we don't do anything risky, and we certainly don't keep two sets of accounts."

He gestured, “For example, the Shanghai Bicycle Factory currently has 500 Phoenix bicycles that were leftover from export orders. They have complete control over the disposal of these leftovers. According to the previous practice, some of the 500 bicycles would be sold internally first, and the rest would be sent to secondhand stores as defective products.”

Now, they have a new option: they'll only send 100 bikes to secondhand stores, and of the remaining 400, 200 will be allocated to our work-study program. But what about the other 200?

Chen Fan's eyes darted around slightly. "Internal digestion?!"

Anquan clapped his hands, grinned, and chuckled softly, "I knew you'd understand!"

Chen Fan flicked off his cigarette ash, touched his head, and chuckled softly, "Connections are resources, you know."

These days, even jobs can be bought and sold openly, let alone "defective products".

Defective products, second-grade products, and unplanned products from factories can all be handled by the factories themselves. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many factory-direct stores. The goods in these stores are these nominally "non-conforming products," which are cheap and don't require invoices.

Back when Chen Fan first went to the prefectural committee, he bought a batch of fabric from the cotton mill's retail store; it was this kind of stuff.

In the past, the bicycle factory could only sell a portion of its defective bicycles internally, while the rest were sent to secondhand stores... But is internal sales really just internal sales?
You know, a bicycle ticket now costs one or two hundred yuan, and in some places it's even more expensive than the bicycle itself. It's not surprising that you can spend four or five hundred yuan on the ticket and the bicycle together.

If someone told you that you could buy a slightly scratched bicycle for only 400 yuan, and you could just bring the money to the bicycle factory to pick it up, with all the paperwork done, would you buy it?

For the bicycle factory, these bikes were originally intended for secondhand stores. According to regulations, products sold to secondhand stores are priced at 30% of the normal factory price. In other words, if a bike's factory price is 150 yuan, then the price of a defective product is only 45 yuan.

Now, if you were a bicycle factory, would you rather "internally consume" the bicycles and sell them for 150, or hand them over to a secondhand store and make a profit of 45?

However, such internal consumption is ultimately too small. A worker is a worker; he can help relatives and friends buy a quota, but he cannot use it for business. Exceeding this limit is speculation and profiteering.

As a result, the factory had no more suitable channels to sell the unsold stock, and was also worried about violating policies, so it could only sell the unsold stock to secondhand stores at low prices.

It was out of necessity.

But now, Anquan has come knocking on our door with a direct sales team of over two thousand people and approval from the local street office.

With the license, you are allowed to supply them with goods at a price of 100 or 200. Which do you choose?
Should I take the bicycle to a secondhand shop and get 45 yuan back, or hand it over to a safe place and get 200 yuan back?

Anyone with a normal sense would know which side to choose.

Security can provide access, and it's also compliant and legal, so those factories naturally hit it off immediately.

A portion of the goods can be sourced outside of the work-study program and consumed internally.

The factory's interior is the interior, but isn't my project team's interior also the interior?!
As long as the allocation quota is set, many people at all levels are willing to cooperate and are not afraid of being investigated.

The reason is very simple: this project team is in the business of selling goods. What's wrong with buying some defective products for friends outside of their normal work?
If you insist on saying it's inappropriate, then wouldn't buying and selling jobs be even more inappropriate?
This is the real way to make money in the security industry. He can earn at least 50 yuan from a bicycle, 10 yuan from a radio, and so on.

Moreover, he doesn't need to do any of these things personally. His subordinates will find the buyers and take them directly to the warehouse to pick up the goods. When it comes time to settle the accounts, he will naturally get a share.

It's like sitting at home picking up money.

If you have friends who are familiar with the situation back then, you should be able to tell at this point.

That's right, this is part of the "dual-track pricing system" that has been in place since 1984.

Some products are included in the planned economy, with prices determined by relevant departments; others are not included in the planned economy, with prices determined by market forces.

Anyone who lived in the 1980s knows that after 1984, you could buy a bicycle at a shopping mall with a bicycle ticket for only 180 yuan. This was a product within the planned economy. You could also buy one without a ticket, but the price would be 580 or 680 yuan. This was a product outside the planned economy.

Oh, this "out-of-plan" refers to the policy-related "out-of-plan" and is part of the dual-track system. It's not the same as the "out-of-plan" products in the factory that I mentioned before.

That refers to a factory producing more products than planned using the same batch of raw materials by improving efficiency and saving raw materials. The excess is also called unplanned products.

It was precisely because of this "unplanned" production efficiency that this practice had existed for decades before the implementation of the dual-track pricing system.

However, there was no clear legal basis before, and the scale was only small-scale, far from being comparable to the situation after the establishment of the dual-track system.

After the implementation of the dual-track system, a single raw material approval document can be worth tens of thousands or even millions of yuan.

That was hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars in the 80s, and all we get in return is a piece of paper? Why?!

It's all about the value difference brought by this piece of paper; it's about how, with this permit, you can get a batch of bicycles from the factory for 100 yuan, even though they cost 500 yuan elsewhere.

Now, safety is all about people who can get the permits!
Of course, bicycle factories don't produce defective bikes every day, and the price difference of a few hundred yuan is definitely not something one person can afford to cover.

But even without bicycles, there are still radios, televisions, watches... You know, this is Shanghai, the most developed city in the country for light industry!
Once he's safely on the table, he can get countless approvals. Even if he can only take a tenth of the share, it'll be enough to make him a fortune. Most importantly, there's absolutely no risk involved.

However, it's not convenient to disclose the details here.

Safety didn't say anything, and Chen Fan didn't ask. The two looked at each other, both knowing what was going on, and burst into laughter. One laughed heartily with his head tilted back, while the other shook his head repeatedly.

After the laughter subsided, Chen Fan thought for a moment and asked, "You now control such a sales network, with more than two thousand people making a living off you. Have you thought about what you'll do after you graduate?"

Hearing this, Anquan stopped laughing and looked worried. "I don't know, I haven't thought about it."

He turned to look at Chen Fan and said with a wry smile, "Our graduating class should be graduating in early 1982. We have less than three years left until graduation. What I'm thinking about is, in these three years…"

Chen Fan waved his hand to interrupt him, "No more than two years, not three. The school won't let you manage this business in your senior year. They will definitely arrange for someone to take over."

He turned to look at the safety net and said, "My advice is that no matter what you do in the future, whether you choose to obey the assignment or something else, don't forget to hold on tight to this net, and don't let it go to waste. This net will be very useful in the future."

Anquan squinted and nodded slowly. After pausing for two seconds, he turned to look at Chen Fan and chuckled, "Don't worry, although I'm not as knowledgeable or experienced as you, I haven't been doing this for nothing these past year or two."

I understand the principle of how to maximize my own interests without harming the collective interest.

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and laughed, "I believe that. After all, Lujiawan is able to guarantee grain production now thanks to the rules you set back then."

Before the development of aquaculture in Lujiawan, Anquan, as the stationed cadre, proposed to link the distribution of fodder to each household with their work points, which in turn came directly from the members' obedience to the labor arrangements.

This prevented members from focusing solely on raising their own livestock and neglecting collective labor.

The more you contribute to the collective, the more work points you receive, and the more fodder and veterinary care you get, leading to higher profits for your own livestock farming, thus creating a virtuous cycle.

Based on this alone, Chen Fan believed that Anquan would not do anything to benefit himself at the expense of the public.

As long as the bottom line is maintained, he won't encounter any major problems.

Not to mention the current safety measures, which involve countless factory workers, and possibly even leaders from the local street office and the city. Those people alone will help nip any bad signs in the bud, making the probability of him getting into trouble virtually zero.

At this moment, Chen Fan was actually quite looking forward to it. Now that he had control over the security of this direct selling network, how far could he ultimately grow?

After chatting for a while, Chen Fan saw Jiang Lili come out of the kitchen carrying a tray, calling out, "Comrades, dinner is ready."

He waved to Anquan, stood up, and said, "Let's eat."

Anquan quickly threw away the tobacco he hadn't finished smoking, rubbed his face, and stood up.

On the other side, Jiang Tiantian and Yu Keying, who were engrossed in their conversation, immediately stood up upon hearing the sound and shouted in unison, "Coming, coming!"

When they reached the dining table, Jiang Tiantian saw that Yu Keying was about to help, so she quickly put her arm around her shoulder, pressed her down into a chair, and said with a smile, "You just finished your postpartum period today, so don't cause any trouble. I'll help."

Yu Keying looked at the two sisters helplessly and said, "What? I've been lying in bed for a month, and now I just want to move around more."

Jiang Lili placed the tray on the table and said with a smile, "Then you can't move around here. You're a guest today, how can you let a guest do the work? You can do your own thing when we visit your home sometime."

Yu Keying immediately turned to look at Anquan, "Did you hear that? Your sister-in-law has spoken, when are you treating us?"

Anquan pulled out a chair and sat down, laughing, "What are you saying? You don't need an invitation! You can come anytime, I promise to be hospitable and attentive..."

She spread her hands and said, "But such delicious food is gone. There's nothing I can do. I don't have your husband's cooking skills."

Yu Keying nodded repeatedly, then let out a long, affected sigh, "I've realized that I'm not as good as Lili, and you're not as good as Xiaofan. The two of us are just there to be there as foils for them."

Chen Fan sat in the main seat, took the wine bottle and glass from Jiang Tiantian, and smiled at Yu Keying, "You can't say that. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. We can't compare our shortcomings with others' strengths..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yu Keying nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, yes, you are better than my husband in dozens of aspects, such as cooking, fishing, hunting, writing, calligraphy, martial arts, medicine, music, and forging. You are also taller, more handsome, and more humorous. There is really nothing to compare."

Anquan stared blankly at his wine glass, stunned for a long time before finally regaining his composure. He forced a smile and said, "Well, I was the one who taught Old Chen his instruments. Back then, he couldn't even play the harmonica, let alone the accordion..."

Yu Keying looked at him with a smile and said, "So you're quite proud that someone who studied for less than two years has surpassed you who studied for twenty years."

Anquan felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She silently snatched the wine bottle from Chen Fan's hand and said, "I'm not worthy of you pouring my wine. I'll pour it for you instead."

Chen Fan looked at him with pity. "Aren't girls from Jiangzhe supposed to be gentle and tender? How did you end up with such a domineering one?"

After safely pouring the wine and putting down the bottle, she turned to look at him and said, "What kind of look is that?"

Chen Fan quickly wiped his face and said seriously, "Your sister-in-law is doing this for your own good. You can't give up on yourself. You should work hard and reach new heights."

Anquan chuckled twice, turned to look at Yu Keying, then at him, and said with a smile, "Don't worry about that. Your sister-in-law only says that about me in front of you. In front of others, she still gives me face."

This time, Yu Keying just smiled and didn't say anything, clearly indicating that Anquan was right.

Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian worked together and quickly served all the dishes, then poured drinks for themselves and Yu Keying.

Chen Fan then raised his glass and said with a smile, "Come on, let's raise a glass together and toast..."

He suddenly stopped, turned to look at Bao An, and asked, "Have you named your daughter yet?"

Anquan looked at Yu Keying, then at him, and smiled, "We've decided on a name. An is An, meaning Anquan (safety), and Ke is Keying (keying)."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow slightly. "This name is not bad. Who came up with it?"

Anquan pointed to his wife, "She got it."

Chen Fan looked as if he had known this all along, "I told you you weren't up to the task."

He then continued, "Wishing my goddaughter An Keke health, peace, happiness, and joy. Cheers!"

The other four raised their glasses together and said, "Cheers!"

(End of this chapter)