Reborn in 1966

Chapter 451 Thoughts

Wherever she went, Pei-Yin would record her observations and thoughts. Later, a classmate working at a magazine wanted to commission some travel articles. Hearing that Pei-Yin had traveled to many places, the classmate contacted her. Pei-Yin immediately took out her notebook. Upon seeing it, the classmate immediately created a column for Pei-Yin. Thus, university teacher Shen Pei-Yin became a full-time travel columnist. Her fluent and beautifully written short essays helped many people who rarely left home learn about some lesser-known tourist attractions. Later, someone compiled and published Pei-Yin's articles. What were originally published as essays became travel guides, and Shen Pei-Yin became a well-known and beautiful writer. All of this was something that Pei-Yin and Du Ming-Jun had never expected.

They traveled and admired the sights along the way. By the time they reached the provincial capital, Pei Yin's notebook was already filled with writing, and she had used up several rolls of film. Pei Yin couldn't wait to take the film to the photo studio for developing. These photos were precious snapshots of her first trip with Du Mingjun.

Du Kunpeng warmly welcomed his youngest son and daughter-in-law. Even Ningning, Du Qianqian's daughter, was excited to hear that her aunt was coming, because she was finally going to eat something delicious. Du Qianqian, hearing her son's grumbling, felt quite conflicted. She used to think that as long as the food was cooked, it didn't matter how it was eaten. When she was a child, although her mother took care of the household chores, Sun Yuelan was the director of academic affairs at Xiping No. 1 Middle School and was very busy. Most of the time, the family would get their meals from the school cafeteria and eat at home. At most, they would buy some ready-made food on holidays. Later, Du Qianqian went to the countryside, where conditions were even more difficult. People often didn't have enough to eat, so there was no opportunity to learn how to cook. Later, when conditions improved, Du Qianqian was always busy with school, work, and having a housekeeper to help with cooking, so she never learned to cook again. Now, after hearing her son's words, Du Qianqian felt that she should learn to cook, at least to make her son think, "Oh, what does my mom cook? This is my favorite dish. Eating this reminds me of my mom."

The provincial capital is a city steeped in history, having served as the capital for several dynasties and leaving behind a rich legacy that evokes a profound sense of history. Pei Yin and Du Mingjun would get up early every day to prepare breakfast for their families. After breakfast, they would explore every corner of the city, searching for historical sites, taking photos and writing down their observations. After several days, they had packed a large bag of materials. To make things more visually appealing, Du Mingjun helped Pei Yin order a large kraft paper notebook. She pasted photos on it and then glued her notes underneath. Du Kunpeng happened to see this and thought the two children were truly thoughtful. Looking at the photos and Pei Yin's descriptions, he thought that compiling a brochure of local attractions into a book would be a great way to promote the city, whether to foreign companies visiting the area or to other organizations.

After Du Kunpeng shared his ideas with the two people, Pei Yin couldn't help but admire Du Kunpeng's vision. Nowadays, people don't value publicity as much as they did decades ago, when advertising bombarded them with marketing tactics. However, it was because of those advertisements that Pei Yin learned about many tourist attractions in prefecture-level or county-level cities that she didn't know before. It was also because of this kind of advertising-style marketing that the consumption pattern of tourism among the general public was initiated.

Pei Yin said, "Dad, we've only strolled around this city, and there are already so many attractions that make us want to linger. What about the whole province? This province, whether then or now, is a relatively prosperous place with beautiful natural scenery and many cultural attractions. Do you think we should select more to make a brochure together? People have different tastes. If they don't like this, they might like that. As long as out-of-towners come, let them find the places they want to visit and see what they want. Wouldn't they spend some money there? Even if they don't stay overnight, they still need to eat, right? And even if they don't eat, every place has its own local delicacies. Wouldn't they want to try them? With that, how could we not keep their money?"

Du Kunpeng listened and felt that although Pei Yin's words were a bit vulgar, they were all true. Now everyone is advocating to revitalize the economy. What is the economy? To put it simply, isn't it just money? As long as money flows quickly, why worry about the economy not improving?

Du Kunpeng is a man of action and boldness. He combined his own ideas with Pei Yin's ideas in his mind, then went to his study to write a plan. After writing it, he revised it several times. The next day, he went to find his partner, Lao Zhou.

After listening to Du Kunpeng's idea and looking at the plan, Lao Zhou seemed to have a sudden epiphany. He added a few of his own ideas, and the two of them convened a democratic meeting with a few other people. Then the propaganda department began to take action. When the autumn wind began to blow, Pei Yin received a selection album from the province. The picture quality was excellent, the production was exquisite, and it even included several famous local historical legends, which raised the readability of the propaganda album to a higher level and caused quite a stir. Of course, that's a story for later.

During the few days that Pei Yin and Du Mingjun stayed at the Du family's house, they went in and out together, which made many people envious, including Zhou Qiang.

Because of a misunderstanding before the Lunar New Year, Zhou Qiang became acquainted with the eldest sister of the Du family. This young man had spent two years abroad and returned to China with the airs of a playboy, working only sporadically. Later, he started a small company with one of his childhood friends. When Old Zhou found out, he repeatedly forbade Zhou Qiang from doing anything under his name. Although Zhou Qiang was somewhat womanizing, he was a man with good judgment. The small company happened to be in good business at the right time and was doing quite well. Although some people in the industry looked down on Zhou Qiang's character, they had to admire that this guy was indeed quite capable.

After getting to know Du's youngest daughter-in-law, Zhou Qiang felt that no other woman could catch his eye. Hearing that Du's youngest son and daughter-in-law had come together, he decided to take the opportunity to visit Du's family. Seeing Du Mingjun's appearance and recalling his heroic deeds, he felt that only someone like him could be worthy of a remarkable woman like Pei Yin. After Pei Yin recounted her encounter with Zhou Qiang, it would be a lie to say that Du Mingjun wasn't angry. He was away from home, yet someone was bullying his wife. However, he also thought that Zhou Qiang not only didn't gain any advantage but was also beaten up twice, which made him quite pitiful. After being dragged to dinner by Zhou Qiang, and with Zhou Qiang's deliberate efforts to befriend him, they got along quite well.

The woman who was with Zhou Qiang at the department store last time was his childhood sweetheart. The two came from similar backgrounds. When Zhou Qiang was a teenager, he returned from the countryside with his grandmother and was bullied because of his rural background. It was always that little girl who helped him get back at her. As they grew up, Zhou Qiang always treated her well. However, this girl was really arrogant. When she was young, her arrogance could be considered cute, but when she became arrogant as an adult, it was no longer cute. It was because of this girl that Old Zhou tried everything he could, even using a favor he owed someone during the war, to send his son abroad. Who knew that after seeing Zhou Qiang go abroad, the girl cried and made a scene at home for a few days and then went abroad as well. The girl's grandfather was a well-known capitalist in the area back then, and her father was sent by the academy. The family was not short of money at all. In the past two years, as long as you had money, you could go abroad. It was just that it was not easy to get into a school. The girl's family had connections, and they managed to get her into the same school as Zhou Qiang.

Zhou Qiang went abroad for two years, barely managed to get a diploma, and then came back. Zhou Qiang felt that he was already old enough, and that going to school was something for children. It was really inappropriate for him to stay in school at his late twenties. After returning, his father arranged a job for him. Although Zhou Qiang hadn't learned much in his major while abroad, he had broadened his horizons a lot. He secretly started a company with one of his childhood friends, and sure enough, after more than half a year of hard work, they made quite a lot of money.

Last time, that girl came back to China for the Chinese New Year and dragged Zhou Qiang shopping for clothes. That girl was arrogant and couldn't stand seeing others who looked better than her. She wanted to vent her anger, but instead, she made Zhou Qiang lose face. Zhou Qiang went home and ignored her. After realizing who she had offended, she went abroad. Zhou Qiang breathed a sigh of relief. This girl was arrogant and had been blinded by the outside world after going abroad. Her reputation wasn't very good. He used to think that as long as the two of them were happy together, that would be fine. Who knew that abroad, Zhou Qiang would see the girl's true colors. After Zhou Qiang told Du Mingjun and Pei Yin about it, Pei Yin and Du Mingjun looked at each other. In the end, Pei Yin managed to utter the awkward and dry phrase, "There are plenty of fish in the sea, why be hung up on just one?"

Zhou Qiang, being a local bigwig, took the two of them to several surrounding counties and cities for about ten days. When Pei Yin wanted to return to Shenjia Village, she didn't bother Du Kunpeng this time. Zhou Qiang's company had just bought an SUV, supposedly imported from abroad, and he took the two of them directly back to Shenjia Village. Du Kunpeng didn't say anything about the friendship between his youngest son and Zhou's youngest son. The children were all grown up and knew who to associate with and who not to associate with. Although he didn't think the Zhou family's children were good kids, the fact that his youngest son and daughter-in-law went around with him meant that the children did have some good qualities, so he didn't say anything.

The new car was really comfortable to drive. Pei Yin and Zhou Qiang took turns driving, and after more than four hours they arrived at Nanlingqian, south of Shenjia Village. Turning around from this ridge, they would reach Shenjia Village.