My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 80 Microscope and TDK
The jeans they got from the first blind box boosted the four of them's confidence, and Lin Ying, full of enthusiasm, continued to open the second one.

When the second blind box was opened, it was filled with jeans just like the first one, and even the brand was the same.

Seeing this, the four looked at each other in bewilderment. Could it be that all ten items were jeans? Jeans were nice, but they still hoped for something better. If the other items were all the same, wouldn't there be no surprise?
When they opened the third box, it no longer contained jeans, but black and navy blue flared pants. The fabric felt very nice, and the style was novel. At this point, the other three couldn't resist any longer. Before Lin Ying could continue opening the boxes, they took out their keys from their pockets and eagerly helped open the remaining items.

"I'm wearing a shirt...!"

"This box of mine is still filled with bell-bottoms..."

"Holy crap! I... I have a whole suitcase full of sunglasses!"

Zhou Jiye suddenly exclaimed, attracting everyone's attention. Everyone quickly craned their necks to look at Zhou Jiye as he pulled out a pair of sunglasses in a plastic bag from the box he had just opened.

"Mikejing! Hahaha! I'm rich! I'm rich!" Old Wen was stunned at first, then he danced around excitedly.

Isn't that the same pair of sunglasses that McHarris wore? The dark brown lenses and gold-plated metal frames gleamed alluringly under the lights.

Without saying a word, Lao Wen reached into the box and took out another pair. He examined them closely, liking them more and more with each look. He then tore open the outer plastic bag, put the glasses on, struck a pose, and asked them if he looked handsome.

"Awesome! Absolutely awesome!"

The three clapped and laughed, saying this but secretly they were overjoyed.

Old Wen looked ordinary, with a rather long and thin face. His sunglasses were so big that they covered half of his face. The curved sunglasses made him look like a fly or a big toad. To make matters worse, there was a colorful English label on the lenses, making it look awkward no matter how you looked at it.

“Dr. Elizabeth, hello, I am Harris, McHarris, I come from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, it is a great honor to meet you…”

Old Wen swaggered around the warehouse a few times, then turned to Lin Ying and started reciting lines from a TV drama in an awkward, translator's tone. His strange manner caused everyone to burst into laughter, especially Lin Ying, who almost laughed until her stomach hurt.

The four laughed and joked for a while before remembering to count how many sunglasses were in the box. They quickly gathered around the box and started counting them one by one.

After counting for a while, it was confirmed that there were 231 pairs of sunglasses of various styles in this shipment. All of these glasses were sealed in plastic sleeves, and the gaps in the boxes were stuffed with newspaper. Five of the glasses were probably damaged during transportation, some with broken stems and some with crushed lenses, while the rest were intact.

These microphone-style sunglasses are definitely a trendy new item, and they're all the rage right now. But you can't find them on the market at all; all you can find are the old-fashioned sunglasses.

After removing the damaged ones, the remaining 226 pairs of sunglasses are hot commodities, easily selling for 10 to 15 yuan per pair. If sold at 15 yuan each, this batch of sunglasses alone would recoup Zhou Jiye and his team's entire trip to Lingnan.

After a quick calculation of the value of the glasses, all four men beamed with joy. Their previous worries had vanished; the goods they had already opened far exceeded their costs, resulting in a substantial profit. And let's not forget, there were still four items left to open.

At this moment, in high spirits, Lao Wen didn't care whether his luck at cards had been bad these past few days. He couldn't wait to get started on the next item.

The box was quickly opened, and when he saw what was inside, he was stunned and subconsciously rubbed his eyes.

"Brother Wen, what's in this box?"

"I don't know, you guys come and see for yourselves." Old Wen looked miserable and wanted to slap himself. He knew he had bad luck these past few days, but he still insisted on opening blind boxes. Now look what happened, he couldn't understand what he got at all. Did he just open a bunch of junk?
Xu Guoqing was stunned when he came over; he couldn't figure out what was inside either. He reached out and took one out, examining it closely. It was a plastic box, slightly smaller than his palm, with a transparent exterior. Inside was a dark, plastic object, sealed with several pieces of red and white paper.

"What is this? I've never seen it before!" Xu Guoqing was very puzzled.

At this moment, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying immediately recognized what it was. They were first surprised, then delighted. They quickly stepped forward to take the thing from Xu Guoqing's hand and examined it closely. They soon confirmed that it was a cassette tape.

Yes, it's a cassette tape, and a TDK cassette tape at that. It looks like a blank tape.

"Magnetic tape? What's a magnetic tape used for?" Old Wen asked, puzzled.

"This is great stuff!" Zhou Jiye exclaimed excitedly. "Cassette tapes are for listening to music, of course!" "Listen to music? You mean this thing is like a record?"

“That’s right!” Zhou Jiye nodded: “This thing is for listening to music, just like records, but records require a record player, while this is a cassette tape, so it’s played on a cassette player…”

"Cassette player? What is that?" Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen were completely baffled. Zhou Jiye gestured for a long time but still couldn't make them understand. However, this was normal. Although this thing already existed in China, the number of people who owned it was very small, and it was practically unseen outside of China.

"A cassette player is a tape recorder, a new gadget that came in from outside. These cassette tapes are used to record and play music in the cassette player." Lin Ying explained from the side, and Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen finally understood a little.

"Is this something good?" Old Wen asked.

“It’s definitely a good thing. We can’t produce this in China right now; it’s only available abroad.”

“But even if something is good, it’s useless if nobody uses it! Besides, who would we sell it to? We don’t even know how much it would sell for.” Old Wen suddenly said this, leaving Zhou Jiye, who had just been excited, speechless.

Old Wen was right. This thing was good, but not many people knew about it, and cassette tapes needed to be used with a tape recorder; without a recorder, the tape was just a decoration. It was only early 1980, and tape recorders were still very rare; there were hardly any owners. Besides, they really didn't know how much or how much these tapes cost!
"Let's count them first. As long as they're good stuff, we won't have trouble selling them. We can sell them slowly later," Xu Guoqing said after thinking for a moment. His words were agreed upon by everyone. Then the four of them took out the cassette tapes from the box one by one to count them. When they got to the bottom, Lin Ying's eyes lit up instantly, and she couldn't help but gasp softly.

"what happened?"

Lin Ying didn't say anything, but quickly pulled out more than a dozen tapes from below that were completely different from the tapes pressed on top. These tapes were no longer in single packaging, but had outer packaging with bright color photos. Half of them were Teresa Teng's tapes, a few were Fong Fei-fei's tapes, and two were Liu Wen-cheng's tapes. These tapes were all unopened and the packaging was sealed properly. She didn't know why they were hidden in the bottom layer.

"Teresa Teng? Fong Fei-fei? Liu Wen-cheng!"

Zhou Jiye's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Although he lived in the 21st century, two of these superstars from his era had long since passed away, and the other had retired for many years. But that didn't mean Zhou Jiye was unaware of their existence.

For a time, especially after the "washed-up singer" meme became popular, Zhou Jiye paid attention to those singers who were once very popular. Moreover, these three were so famous in the music scene that almost everyone knew them, and even Zhou Jiye had heard their songs.

At that time, whether it was Teresa Teng, Fong Fei-fei, or Liu Wen-cheng, they were at the height of their fame. The cassette tapes that Lin Ying pulled out from underneath were all their classic songs. How could Zhou Jiye not be surprised when he saw them?

"Who are these people?" Xu Guoqing asked curiously.

"They're all singers; these cassette tapes contain their songs."

"Singers? I don't know them." Old Wen wondered. He had heard of Yu Shuzhen, Guo Lanying, and Zhu Fengbo, but only in radio broadcasts. As for the famous Su Xiaoming, the one who sang "Night at the Military Port," she was still relatively unknown. Her hit song would not be released until this autumn. As for Teresa Teng, Feng Feifei, and Liu Wenzheng, he had never heard of them.

"How could you possibly know them?" Zhou Jiye joked with a laugh. "They're not from this side; they're on the other side."

"Holy crap!" Old Wen was startled. A singer from the other side of the strait? This is a hot potato! It would be terrible if someone saw it.

"Xiao Ling, how do you know all this?" Xu Guoqing asked, puzzled.

Zhou Jiye was stunned. Oh no, he had accidentally let something slip.

At this moment, Lin Ying explained from the side: "The landlord's family is from a very prominent background. During the Spring Festival, some overseas relatives came to visit, and I heard them mention it a few times while I was with the guests."

"Oh, I see..." Xu Guoqing didn't think too much about it, nor would he consider other possibilities. Moreover, he knew that Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying were living in a foreign alley. Fang Manxia's social status was indeed not low. In addition, since the end of last year, there had been an increase in overseas Chinese visiting relatives. In the past, having overseas connections was not a good thing, but with the change of policies, having overseas connections has now become highly sought after. Some things are unheard of for ordinary people, but are commonplace for these people from abroad.

"Let's leave these for now and not take them out to avoid any trouble. As for the blank tapes, I'll find some time to go to the Overseas Chinese Store and see if they have similar products and prices before deciding whether they can be sold." Xu Guoqing was quick-witted. Teresa Teng's tapes were a bit too hot to handle. The four of them could handle them without much problem, but it was hard to say if they were to circulate outside.

As for the other blank TDK tapes, he didn't know how they were sold or at what prices. However, he had an idea: to go to the Overseas Chinese Store, which sells imported goods, and perhaps they had blank tapes for sale there. He could check the prices there before making a decision.

The suggestion was accepted by everyone, and it was decided to set the box of tapes aside for now. After the contents were counted, the box contained 340 blank tapes, plus ten original tapes from Teresa Teng and others. The box was resealed and deliberately placed aside.

(End of this chapter)