Chapter 10: Borrowing Books

After wiping the table, An Yu went into the kitchen to tidy up; there was no one else in the small teahouse.

Tang Wen turned toward the counter, saw Guo Panpan with her head once again hidden behind a novel, and walked over.

Guo Panpan's attention wasn't actually on the book; she immediately put it down and said:

"You want to buy snacks again?"

Tang Wen quickly shook his head; more than half of what he bought last time was still left.

Thanks to the pitiful food industry of this era, snack varieties were truly pitifully scarce; aside from instant noodles and sugary biscuits, there was really nothing passable.

Worse still, technology and harsh additives weren't as advanced as they would be later; the quality of saccharin and additives was very poor, and eating them was awful.

Among drinks, cola was still somewhat satisfactory, but other sodas were really nothing special; after drinking fruit juice, your tongue could even change color.

In later generations, people jokingly called it "tech food," but at least there was a safety baseline; now, with food factories... one should just thank heaven and earth if the workers didn't defecate in the production workshop.

After eating snacks from this era a few times, Tang Wen lost interest; being bored to death all day in Dawan Village, he had now set his sights on the novel in Guo Panpan's hands.

There was a bookstore in the town, but the variety was truly lacking; even picture books came out with double images, and books of better quality could only be bought in the city.

The novel Guo Panpan was reading now was basically one she had brought back while studying in the city.

"Sister Panpan, can you sell me a few novels? They can't be bought in the town."

Guo Panpan had already finished the college entrance exam and was a year older than Tang Wen.

As a post-00s generation, Tang Wen hadn't read much of Cha Leung-yung's books, but now even if given a Chinese textbook, he could read it with great interest.

"What do you want to read? I'll lend it to you."

Guo Panpan didn't intend to take his money; seeing this, Tang Wen didn't decline either:

"Just give me something you don't read often; I just want to pass the time."

"Wait a moment."

Guo Panpan, wearing sandals, ran into the room behind; not a moment later, she came out carrying several books whose covers were already dusty.

Tang Wen glanced at the cover and let out a soft "Eh."

"Space Odyssey 2001?"

Damn, science fiction.

Shouldn't one be reading Wang Xiaobo's banned books or Mo Yan and Yu Hua in the 90s, or perhaps Auntie Qiong Yao's romance novels?

Although the Space Odyssey series was from the late 60s, it was solid hard science fiction; even Big Liu, who wrote The Three-Body Problem, claimed, "All my creations are merely clumsy imitations of Space Odyssey," which is enough to show its status in the field of science fiction.

This book was written by a former British aerospace engineer; his imagination was unparalleled, and he won many international awards, but now domestic translations should be very rare, and no one should be reading it anyway.

Seeing Tang Wen staring blankly at the cover, Guo Panpan said with an expression of expectedness:

"This is a complete set of 'Space Odyssey,' science fiction; have you read it?"

Tang Wen nodded subconsciously:

"I've read The Three-Body Problem, Wandering... ah no, I haven't read it."

He almost let it slip.

The science fiction Tang Wen had read the most was Big Liu's books, but now the latter should still be at the Niangzi Pass Hydropower Station thinking about how to slack off, and it would be several more years before he started publishing novels.

Taking the Space Odyssey series Guo Panpan handed him, Tang Wen suddenly felt the world was strange.

A girl in the 90s who liked reading science fiction might just be a first-generation internet user...

"Thanks, I'll take this one."

"Don't break it; I had my teacher buy this from Xiangjiang; it can't be bought on the mainland."

Tang Wen flipped through a few pages; indeed, it was in traditional characters.

"No problem; I'll return it to you after I finish reading."

Only after saying this did he suddenly remember something and asked Guo Panpan:

"Where's your dad? Why haven't I seen Uncle Guo Chenliang these past few days?"

"He was here this morning; now he's who knows where looking for some drinking buddies again."

Guo Panpan frowned when mentioning her father, clearly unwilling to talk much about him.

Tang Wen was actually a bit surprised; according to Guo Liangchen's personality, he would definitely come find him to chat, and it was rare for him not to show up.

He didn't think too much about it and sat back down at the table with the book.

Not long after, Wu Lao Er returned with paper and pen, then wrote out a crude consignment contract, purchasing twenty-five horsepower tractors from Tang Wen at a price of 6,000 yuan; in the entire Echeng, only he could sell them.

In this era, there were no standard contract templates; this contract was actually full of loopholes, and whether it had legal binding force was uncertain.

After all, strictly speaking, Gaijin Shipyard wasn't even a business entity, and this transaction didn't pay taxes; compliance depended purely on mutual trust.

But in the countryside, anything written in black and white on white paper had to be honored; otherwise, people would point fingers at your back, and you'd never be able to make a living again.

The handwritten contract was copied onto carbon paper to make a duplicate; both parties signed and pressed their fingerprints, and it was considered effective.

After receiving the contract, Wu Lao Er was extremely excited:

"Brother Tang, Dawan Town is too small; I'll go to the city tomorrow to sell there. You prepare ten units first, then expand outward.

By the way, how much stock does that Gaijin factory have left?"

"Stock... there are still a few hundred units?"

Producing low-grade goods for eight silver coins was no difficulty at all; Tang Wen spoke vaguely and casually gave a number.

"A few hundred units?"

Wu Lao Er cried out in shock.

What kind of factory has hundreds of units in stock? Is this even a bankrupt factory?

He thought there were at most a few dozen units; the nearby townships could easily absorb them.

A quantity of several hundred units, and they were high-horsepower diesel engines; indeed, only Echeng could absorb them all, and it would take some effort.

But thinking of the purchase price of only 6,000 yuan, he perked up again; his surprise immediately turned into excitement.

"I knew little Brother Tang had the ability; truly, a tiger father does not have a dog son, hahaha..."

"Here's the plan: I'll gather the money tomorrow, then go to the city to sell them. You just sit back and wait to collect the cash!"

Though confident they would sell quickly, sixty thousand yuan for ten diesel engines was an astronomical sum for Wu Lao Er, nearly his entire fortune, and this was only after pooling today's large income.

Having spoken, he hurried away, his steps almost floating.

Just as Wu Lao Er stepped out of the shop door, the village head appeared again, this time with a middle-aged man.

"Come, come, come, Township Head Yang, this is our village's Little Tang, Old Tang's son."

The Township Head wore thick black-rimmed glasses; he was not young and had already gone bald, with only the hair on the sides combed back, looking more like a teacher.

Chen Yonggui warmly invited him to sit, then said to Tang Wen:

"This is our Township Head, Yang Tai. He used to be the principal of the village primary school back when your father hadn't moved here yet."

After sitting down, Yang Tai sized up Tang Wen and spoke with a smile:

"Little Tang is very young. I saw you selling diesel engines a few days ago. I heard you want to start a small boatyard?"

Tang Wen nodded, not expecting the Township Head to have seen him:

"Yes, I plan to add some new equipment so the boatyard can build steel boats of several dozen tons.

It's too rudimentary now; we can't do anything with it."

"Several dozen tons is no small feat. Push a bit harder to reach a hundred tons, and you can sail into the open sea!"

Yang Tai did not look down on Tang Wen's words; any fishing boat over twenty tons that could be built counted as a proper boatyard, and all necessary facilities must be in place.

Moreover, steel boats were not cheap. Nowadays, let alone steel boats, many people couldn't even afford fishing boats and still used cement boats!

A fully loaded steel boat of several dozen tons cost at least a little over one hundred thousand yuan.