Oubei No. 1 Middle School, Office 104—this was the office of Zhan Feng, the Homeroom Teacher of Fang Bai's Repeater Class.
There were four english teachers in this office: Chen Qiao, Zhan Feng, Luo Xiaoyun, and another male teacher.
The three female teachers were all around thirty years old, married with children.
On Saturday mornings, the repeating students had classes for half a day, while the afternoon was off. Students were not as intensely competitive as they would be in later generations, without even a weekend to themselves.
The teachers were off work as well. The three female teachers planned to meet in the office at three in the afternoon, then go together to the Oubei Bus Station to look at color TVs.
If the color TVs had not sold out and they found suitable ones, they planned to buy one each.
Where else could they find color TVs this cheap?
Women naturally loved shopping, and female teachers in the 1990s were no exception.
At two in the afternoon, the three teachers had already arrived at the office. However, they had not set out yet and were instead grading student assignments.
At three in the afternoon, the three left the school. Before long, they reached the area near the bus station and noticed a stall in the distance, with more than a hundred people gathered around it.
Some passersby took one look and left, some stayed to watch for a while longer, and some were genuinely drawn in, their desire to buy stirred up.
The three quickened their pace and followed the crowd toward the stall.
"Wow, there are still so many people today! That's the stall selling TVs," Chen Qiao said excitedly.
"Yes, it's so lively."
"Lots of people are looking, but few are buying. Even discounted TVs aren't cheap."
While they were still dozens of meters away from the stall, they heard the catchy loudspeaker announcement: "Don't miss it as you pass by..."
Chen Qiao could not help laughing as she asked the two colleagues beside her,
"Who recorded that voice? It sounds so interesting."
After Zhan Feng listened to the loudspeaker announcement once, it began repeating again. It was clearly playing on a loop.
Still, she had to admit that the lines were arranged quite well and rolled smoothly off the tongue.
However, after hearing it a second time, she felt a little puzzled.
"Eh, why does this voice sound somewhat familiar? I just can't remember who it belongs to."
"Teacher Zhan, now that you mention it, I also think the voice sounds familiar. It sounds a lot like your student, Fang Bai."
Prompted by her colleague, Zhan Feng recalled Fang Bai's voice.
Sure enough, it really did sound like him.
She remembered Fang Bai giving speeches from the podium—passionate, bold, inspiring, with a magnetic voice.
This sales pitch was just as passionate and magnetic, but it carried an extra bewitching quality that made it strangely addictive.
She felt that Fang Bai could probably even perform crosstalk.
No, he definitely could!
"He said he could get a discounted price. It seems Fang Bai recorded the advertisement for the stall owner and has some sort of arrangement with them."
"That's entirely possible. We'll know once we ask."
The three chatted as they walked and soon reached the stall.
Chen Qiao took the lead in squeezing into the crowd. Only then did they see that the stall displayed TV sets of all different models.
In the middle of the stall, a large-screen TV was being demonstrated, its picture clear and its colors vivid.
Quite a few customers were carefully examining the TVs' picture quality and features, occasionally speaking with the staff.
Although the TVs were extremely cheap, there were still more people watching than asking questions. The crowd had mainly gathered because of the large color TV in the center of the stall, as well as the addictive broadcast lines.
The three observed for a while first, listening to how the staff introduced the products.
Of the three, only Chen Qiao and Zhan Feng intended to buy TVs. Both had set their sights on 14-inch color TVs. They had already discussed it with their families the night before and had deliberately brought money to buy color TVs that morning.
Not long after, a 21-inch color TV was sold for 1,100 yuan. The customer who bought it happily carried the TV away and hailed a vehicle by the roadside to take it home.
Seeing that customer casually take out more than a thousand yuan, the spectators were full of envy.
Of course, they envied the stall owner even more.
The stall owner carried a large backpack. After counting the money, he stuffed it into the bag. Judging by how swollen it was, there had to be quite a lot of money inside.
According to the sales staff, sixty-five TVs had been put on sale today, and thirty had already been sold. The remaining thirty-five would soon be snatched up, so anyone who wanted one should hurry. If they did not have enough money, they could wait for the third sale the day after tomorrow, though there might not be as many units as today.
Chen Qiao took a liking to a 14-inch Panasonic color TV priced at 368 yuan. Curious, she asked a salesperson whether the price could be lowered further.
The sales staff said that the more than one hundred TVs already sold had all been at a fixed price, and this was already the lowest possible price.
Chen Qiao asked one of the sales staff, "We're teachers at Oubei No. 1 Middle School. Our student Fang Bai told us we could get a discount. Is that true?"
After saying that, she felt slightly embarrassed. If it was false, that would be terribly awkward.
But she was benefiting from Zhan Feng's connection, so it was better for her to ask herself.
"Oh, is that so? May I ask your name, Teacher?" Li Meng, one of the sales staff, asked. Fang Bai had already instructed them about this matter, except that they could not mention he was the stall owner.
"My name is Chen Qiao, and this colleague beside me is Zhan Feng. She also wants to buy a 14-inch color TV."
"Please wait a moment. I'll confirm it with our boss."
A moment later, Li Meng replied to Chen Qiao, "Hello. Our boss said that, in gratitude for the hard work Oubei's teachers put into educating students, Teacher Chen can receive a 10% discount, while Teacher Zhan can receive a 20% discount."
Chen Qiao, Zhan Feng, and the third teacher exchanged smiles upon hearing this. It was true after all—Fang Bai had not fooled them!
All at once, they greatly admired Fang Bai and felt grateful to him.
With a 10% discount, buying a 368-yuan color TV would save 36.8 yuan. That was no small amount.
And Zhan Feng would save 73.6 yuan in one go.
Although Chen Qiao envied Zhan Feng, there was nothing she could do. Fang Bai was Zhan Feng's student, and Fang Bai had secured the discount for them. Chen Qiao was merely benefiting from it.
The two did not hesitate for long. They each picked out a 14-inch color TV, checked that the TVs had no problems, and readily paid the money.
Although teachers did not earn high salaries, they also did not have many major expenses. Their families had some savings, so spending two or three hundred yuan on a color TV was not a problem.
After receiving the color TVs, Zhan Feng and Chen Qiao were overjoyed. They had bought color TVs worth more than a thousand yuan for only two or three hundred yuan. Their families would definitely be happy when they brought them home.
At four in the afternoon, Fang Bai was tired from studying. He went downstairs to check on everyone's repair work, gave a few pointers, then went to the stall to see how sales were doing. He was somewhat worried that another customer dispute like the previous one might happen again.
Just as he expected, sales were still booming.
With nothing else to do, he helped sell TVs for half an hour. Then his mother pushed him back, saying he did not need to help anymore and should go back to studying. It did not matter how smooth-tongued he was at selling TVs.
Fang Bai felt that if his mother helped collect money, his father would have an easier time. There were plenty of staff at the scene anyway, so he truly was not needed. He turned and returned to the rental home to review his lessons.
What he did not notice was that a classmate had come over to join the excitement and watch the TVs being sold. The classmate happened to see Fang Bai selling TVs and was greatly shocked. This guy usually skips class and came here to work?
What puzzled him was that Fang Bai seemed very familiar with both the staff and the boss.
It seemed this guy had been working here for a long time and had gotten along very well with them.
So that was why he was such a good speaker during his speech—it turned out he usually helped people sell things.
No wonder he was so glib.
Heh, he had originally thought Fang Bai had connections with the Principal.
But in the end, Fang Bai must have lied to get leave slips so he could come out and work. He was no different from those street thugs.
What this classmate did not know was that if he had gone closer to Fang Bai, he might have heard how Fang Bai greeted the boss, and such a huge misunderstanding would never have formed.
However, afraid that Fang Bai would recognize him, he deliberately avoided Fang Bai's gaze. The scene was crowded and noisy, and Fang Bai truly did not notice him.
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