Chapter 17

By the time He Yuzhu opened his eyes, it was already 7:40 a. m. He Yuzhu saw the time and realized he was late; he hurriedly put on his clothes, washed his face, brushed his teeth quickly, and ran toward Yagangchang, barely making it in time.

Last night, the five of them—master and four disciples—drank five bottles of white liquor. If it were the He Yuzhu of his previous life, one bottle of white liquor would not have affected him like this, but Comrade He Yuzhu's current body has not yet undergone the trial of alcohol.

So after downing a catty of liquor, it was a miracle that last night he could see Wang Youde and the others to the door and then turn back; on the way running here, He Yuzhu silently swore to himself that he must buy a bicycle, he must.

Entering the factory area, He Yuzhu relaxed and sauntered to the canteen, where he saw three people already cleaning up; this put He Yuzhu at ease again. He found the tea jar that He Daqing used to use in the cupboard, poured himself a cup of water, and then looked at today's menu.

He Yuzhu had just picked up today's menu when he saw that it had been changed to three dishes, two of them meat. "Xiao Zhang, why are there three dishes today?"

Oh, Master, you left early yesterday, Director Liu came over and gave the instructions, saying that starting today we will work overtime in the factory. Isn't it just a few months until New Year? The factory means to increase production and strive to finish all orders by year-end.

Do we have to work overtime every night, Xiao Zhang?

Yes, Master, starting today we have to work overtime every night. I heard they've also arranged shifts, two shifts in total, and the factory workers have to work until midnight. Director Liu said the evening menu was delivered this morning.

Seeing this, He Yuzhu couldn't help but feel annoyed—just arrived and already have to work overtime; he'll just take it one step at a time.

After Xiao Zhang and the three others finished cleaning, they began assigning the three people to chop vegetables and prepare ingredients. Hardly had they started when Director Liu came over with today's menu, saying, "Zhuzi, come take a look at this—this is tonight's menu; don't make too much, there are over five hundred people on the night shift now."

He Yuzhu took the menu and glanced at it: "Director Liu, rest assured I'll definitely complete the task."

All right, you go ahead and get busy; I still have to go to the first canteen.

"Director Liu, take your time," He Yuzhu called out and summoned the three over, saying, "Don't say I'm not giving you three a chance—today at noon each of you will stir-fry a pot of dish, I'll watch you stir-fry; whoever does well tonight will make dinner."

"Looks good, Master," Xiao Zhang said excitedly.

"Let's get to the cutting board!"

After He Yuzhu finished stir-frying the two meat dishes, he assigned each of the three people a portion of shredded potatoes to stir-fry. After tasting, he felt they did okay, so he assigned each of them to stir-fry one dish for tonight. After lunch, He Yuzhu made a quick work arrangement and then left the Yagangchang.

Returning to the Courtyard House, He Yuzhu wrapped the radio in a bundle, carried the bundle, and headed to the trust shop at the vegetable market.

Arriving at the trust shop, he found Zhao Huamin, handed over the bundle, and said, "Brother Zhao, take a look—what is this?"

Zhao Huamin opened the bundle and saw it was a radio: "Wow, Zhuzi, you really fixed it! Nice work, kid." He said this while turning on the radio to test the sound.

"Don't worry, Brother Zhao, I've been listening to it at home for two days with no problems." He handed Zhao Huamin a cigarette to light up, then said, "You see, Brother Zhao, this set must be at least eighty percent new, and it's a Philips brand—what do you think it's worth?"

"Didn't we agree on sixty yuan last time?"

"That won't do, Brother Zhao—this is a Philips set, a big brand; you have to give at least sixty‑five. What do you think?"

Zhao Huamin thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, since I find you pleasing to the eye, next time you have something of this quality, just bring it straight to me."

"No problem, Brother Zhao—you're like a real brother to me; next time I have something, I'll definitely give it to you and nobody else."

"Fine, wait here a moment while I go get the money," said Zhao Huamin, hugging the radio as he headed to the Back Courtyard.

Normally, Zhao Huamin should have made out the invoice and He Yuzhu would go to the Back Courtyard to collect the money, but He Yuzhu couldn't be bothered to quibble over the petty details—after all, his cost plus the diode amounted to only seventeen yuan, and he had just sold it for sixty‑five, making a profit of forty‑eight; even when eating meat, one should let others have the soup.

After Zhao Huamin left, He Yuzhu walked alone through the radio section, examining each set one by one. A homemade‑cased radio caught his eye—"This must be a crystal set, right?" he thought, picking it up for a closer look.

In his previous life, when he had dealt with repairing radios, crystal sets were already obsolete, so he only knew about them in passing and had never paid them much attention.

The detector component of a crystal set is made directly from a natural mineral—usually a pyrite crystal.

When in use, a metal probe must touch a pin‑point spot on the mineral to receive radio waves; in short, a crystal set is the simplest kind of radio.

However, crystal sets have many drawbacks: an ordinary set can receive only one station, a slightly better one maybe two or three, and sets that can pull in three stations are extremely rare; moreover, you must wear headphones with a crystal set, otherwise you hear nothing.

But the advantages of crystal sets are their low cost and simple design—most importantly, they need no batteries, and their radio reception is actually high; because they require an antenna and a ground wire, their signal in remote mountain areas is absolutely far better than that of ordinary radios.

But if you say it's cheap, the main expense is the mineral itself; nowadays there are no instruments to test the mineral, so you can only try each piece individually—if you're lucky, a single piece will work, but if you're unlucky, who knows?

That's also why few people build crystal sets; seeing one here today is already surprising. Zhao Huamin came back with the money, saw He Yuzhu holding a crystal set, and took another look: "What, you're still interested in crystal sets? This is a consignment item placed by a student from the Electronics Department of Huaxia University—this set can only receive one station. If it could pick up two or three, I'd buy it myself; even though you need headphones, it's dirt cheap."

"Brother Zhao, how much are you asking for this crystal set?"

"Thirty yuan—how about that, cheap enough? If it could pick up two stations, it could sell for fifty."

"And if it could pick up three stations, how much could you sell it for, Brother Zhao?"

"I've never seen a three‑station set, but if you had one I'd pay seventy; if you really have one, just send the seventy over—how is it, Zhuzi, you actually have one?"

He Yuzhu scratched his head and said, "No way, Brother Zhao—you're overestimating me; I was just asking."

In his previous life, the books that He Xu brought He Yuzhu included several on crystal sets; He Yuzhu had himself built a few battery‑free crystal sets back then, though he used transistors, and they worked fairly well—the best one could even play aloud and pick up four stations.

"Here, take your sixty‑five yuan—count it carefully, don't come up short; once you're out the door, I won't accept any complaints."

He Yuzhu took the money without counting, shoved it into his pack, and said, "What's there to count? Don't you trust me, Brother Zhao? Alright, you go ahead and get busy—I'll be on my way."

"All right, come again if you've got something good, Zhuzi," He Yuzhu waved his hand and said, "No problem, see you later, Brother Zhao."

In the alley beside the trust shop, He Yuzhu pulled out the money and, going "pah", began counting the bills one by one!!!