The Era of Pagers

Fang Bai quickly finished reading the letter. It mainly described Qin Shuyu's studies, daily life, and amusing incidents at school, while also asking after the recovery of his fingers. Every word revealed how much she missed him.

"Ah, that silly girl."

Fang Bai found some letter paper and wrote back to Qin Shuyu. He wrote fairly quickly and finished in just over half an hour.

The letter mainly covered his recent studies, daily life, and the recovery of his fingers. At the end, he wrote down his new mailing address.

Perhaps because he had experienced too much, he was not very good at writing about romantic feelings. Still, Fang Bai simply and directly told her that he missed her.

They had not seen each other for a long time, and misunderstandings were what he feared most. So Fang Bai wrote rather plainly. If he missed her, he said so, unlike Qin Shuyu, who was more reserved.

He also asked for her exact dormitory address. Fang Bai had never visited Shencheng University of Finance and Economics in his previous life. When he went to see Qin Shuyu after some time, he needed to know where to find her.

There was no landline installed in Qin Shuyu's dormitory, nor was there a nearby phone she could answer. Otherwise, she definitely would have told Fang Bai.

The matter of making money could not be explained clearly in a letter and would only make Qin Shuyu worry. Fang Bai planned to tell her in detail when they met.

By then, Fang Bai would have finished his monthly exam as well. With his grades proving that his studies had not fallen behind, she would not worry too much.

He had also considered installing a landline in the rental house, but installation and wiring would cost several thousand yuan. Since he would move out next year anyway, he gave up on the idea.

It would be different if the house belonged to him, but Fang Bai did not want to spend money buying one for the time being. Self-built houses currently had no property ownership certificates, making such transactions rather risky.

There were no landlines nearby either. Otherwise, he could simply write down someone else's number, and Qin Shuyu could call them and ask Fang Bai to take the call.

Of course, he would have to pay them for taking calls that way, charged by the minute.

After thinking it over, Fang Bai felt that buying a BP Pager would be more convenient. It would make it easier for Qin Shuyu and others to reach him.

BP Pagers had appeared several years ago, but only at the beginning of this year had Paging Stations sprung up everywhere like mushrooms after rain, bringing the paging market into prosperity.

BP Pagers were not cheap either. Fang Bai had asked around recently, and a Motorola pager cost more than three thousand yuan, including the network registration fee but not the service fee.

Clip a pager to your waist and brag everywhere.

That saying was no exaggeration. These days, wearing a pager on your belt was a symbol of being a successful person.

If your pager suddenly went beep-beep in a crowd, everyone would cast envious looks your way.

Who was the coolest guy around? The person with a pager, of course.

"Call me if you need anything" had become the most confident and showy thing to say.

Of course, anyone who owned a Big Brother was on The Boss level, someone ordinary people could only look up to.

Fang Bai had no interest in wearing a pager at his waist, but since he did not have a Big Brother, it was best to buy a pager.

Well, he would go take a look when he had time.

Sigh, communication was such a hassle these days. For now, he could only keep in touch through letters.

Fang Bai was used to the instant communication of later times and found this inefficient way of communicating a little unbearable. Even finding someone was inconvenient.

When calling home from outside, he could only call the Village Chief's house. The Village Chief would then announce over the loudspeaker for whoever it was to come to his house within a certain number of minutes to answer the call.

Some small workshop owners had bought BP Pagers, but he had yet to hear of anyone buying a Big Brother.

After finishing the letter, Fang Bai went downstairs, rode out on his bicycle, and went to mail it.

When he reached the Post Office, he discovered that it had already closed for the day. There was not even anywhere to buy stamps, so he could only mail it tomorrow.

After putting on a stamp, he could just drop it into the letter collection box outside the Post Office.

Fang Bai had no interest in stamp collecting. He had heard that the Monkey stamp issued in 1980 had already risen to more than two hundred yuan apiece. If they had only cost a few yuan each, he might have collected some for fun.

For a businessman, money could only make money when it was in motion. If collecting artwork took several years or more to turn a profit, it would not help with business and would merely tie up operating capital.

When Fang Bai rode back, he saw his parents returning from outside with rice, vegetables, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and kitchen supplies such as pots and bowls. They said that from now on, they would cook dinner themselves, while lunch could still be eaten out since there were more people around at noon.

Fang Bai said, "Mom, as long as you don't find it troublesome."

"What's troublesome about it? Cooking ourselves saves money and gives us peace of mind. You may earn a lot, but every bit we can save counts."

"I heard from your dad that a plate of stir-fried pork costs two yuan at a restaurant. I could buy more than a pound of pork with that, enough for the whole family to eat for two meals." Liu Fengqing chattered as she organized the things they had bought with Fang Bai's father.

Fang Bai smiled, understanding his mother's thinking. Her monthly salary was only fifty yuan. A day's work was not even enough to order one meat dish. She knew how hard it was to earn money.

His father had little standing in the family and had always listened to his mother. He was not particularly capable himself, and now that his son was capable, he listened to his son as well.

But Liu Fengqing thought differently. No matter how capable her son was, there were still some things he had to listen to her about. She was every bit the housewife.

Fang Bai and Younger Sister helped clean the vegetables while listening to their mother complain about vegetable prices at the market and grumble that the butcher had cut her nothing but lean meat, with no fat at all.

Their father heated the newly bought pot over firewood and seasoned it with oil first. His wife had originally wanted to bring pots and bowls from their hometown, but some of the ones at home were old. Now that they had money, they could buy new ones. Besides, if they brought them over, it would be troublesome to have no pots to cook with back in the village, so his wife listened to him and bought new ones.

The family of four chatted about everyday matters, joyful smiles appearing on everyone's faces.

That evening, the family gathered for dinner, talking and laughing.

There were two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup on the table. Fang Bai's recent goal of letting his family eat meat every day had finally been achieved.

After dinner, Younger Sister did not need to return to school. Tomorrow was Saturday, and there were no classes, so she wanted to help the family sell televisions.

Fang Bai returned to his bedroom to review his lessons.

The next day,

At eight in the morning, they opened the shop and got to work.

With another storefront, they had more space. Ten people would come to repair televisions today. Any more than that, and Fang Bai would not be able to keep up.

He could identify problems quickly, but explaining clearly how to fix them took quite a bit of time.

At ten o'clock, Fang Bai rode to the Post Office to mail the letter.

After returning, he discussed today's street stall with his parents.

They had repaired fifteen televisions the afternoon before yesterday and thirty yesterday. Since there were many repairmen working that morning, they estimated they would finish around twenty more.

So, they would have around sixty-five televisions available for sale today.

After the bustling sales scene last time, Fang Bai added two sales staff members and two general helpers. Including his parents and younger sister, there were now eleven people working on site.

Having more people around would ensure that nothing unexpected happened. Spending a little more money did not matter.

At the same time, they added another tricycle.

Fang Bai and his family had done a great deal of work and made quite a few additional investments in preparation for today's sales event.

Fang Bai still set the selling time for after lunch. Few passersby would likely buy televisions in the morning, when people were hurrying around to handle errands, and they were too busy themselves.

That morning, Fang Bai handed his father a note. If any teachers from Oubei No. 1 Middle School came to buy a television and their names were on the note, they could receive a 10 percent discount. Any teachers who had taken care of him could receive a 20 percent discount.

"Dad, I only told them that you know me. I didn't reveal that this stall belongs to our family or that we're father and son. If anyone asks, don't say that I have anything to do with selling these televisions."

Fang Shi did not quite understand. "Why hide it?"

"Dad, we need to keep a low profile. Otherwise, I won't have a peaceful day at school. What if students and teachers all come looking for me to ask for discounted prices? Wouldn't that annoy me to death?"

"Haha, I see. Make money quietly, hehe." Fang Shi grinned foolishly.

Time passed quickly, and everyone had lunch a little after eleven.

After eating, they rested for a while. At twelve o'clock, they officially began moving televisions out to the street stall.

It was Liu Fengqing's first time seeing sales work on such a large scale. She did not understand much about it, so she simply helped wherever she was needed.

Fang Bai went to take a look at the stall, greeted the owner of the small restaurant, handed him a cigarette, and left.

He had already handed the on-site sales work over to his father. His mother was there watching as well, and there were another eight people.

In fact, Fang Bai did not count Younger Sister. She could not help much.

Because Li Meng had performed well and knew how to handle unexpected situations, Fang Bai promoted her to sales team leader and raised her wages.

The day before yesterday, many customers had failed to buy televisions and regretted it. They decided to come today to snap one up.

After customers who had bought televisions carried them home, some friends, relatives, and neighbors learned that they had purchased them at low prices. They were extremely envious and wanted to buy one too.

Over the past two days, many customers had helped Fang Bai promote the cheap televisions, bringing in quite a few potential buyers.

At one in the afternoon, one or two hundred spectators had gathered around the street stall. The sales scene was in full swing, even more popular than the day before yesterday.

Some customers who had failed to buy a television last time simply paid and took one away.

Some customers who had not planned to buy were swept up by the other consumers and made impulsive purchases, as if buying one meant getting a bargain.

Watching her husband busily count and collect money, Liu Fengqing hurried over to help count it. She loved this kind of work more than anything, chanting to herself that they were getting rich, getting rich, until her eyes crinkled with joy.