Chapter 1784: News and Observations

Ye Yaodong could only think about it. Currently, the most convenient route to the capital is to take a boat to Shanghai first, and then take a train from Shanghai to the capital; this is the safest way.

But the old lady is already 91. Even for an adult, a round trip would leave them wilted, let alone for an elderly person of such advanced age.

If she doesn't exert herself, she might live to 100; if she does, she might just reach her "final year" right then and there.

Lin Xiuqing smiled and said, "When the time comes, we'll go together, take a photo in front of Tiananmen, and bring it back for her to see. That will be enough."

"Hey, speaking of taking photos, we still haven't gone as a group to take a big photo in front of the exhibition hall. We have to take one tomorrow to commemorate our factory's first Canton Fair."

"That's a good idea. When they come back later, we'll knock on their doors and tell them. It's better to go early tomorrow morning when there are fewer people."

"Let's make it the day after tomorrow. They are all queuing for train tickets at night, so they need to rest in the morning."

"Mm."

The two of them turned in early; when away from home, one must conserve energy.

The next morning, when they went to the train station, the windows were already open. Walking from the end of the line toward the front, they were surprised to see their own family members queuing five or six meters from the window.

After asking, they learned that the windows had closed around 10 PM last night. When they arrived, they were quite far back, and only slowly moved to the front later.

Then, at 6 AM, the windows opened for business; it was quite considerate.

The ticket office at the train station nowadays, like most state-run units, has strict working hours.

During late-night hours, the ticket hall would be cleared and the lights turned off, leaving only a few staff members on duty, but no tickets would be sold to the public.

At this time, the social service philosophy focused more on management than service, and the cost and necessity of maintaining the entire ticketing system at night were not high.

Ye Yaodong queued for an hour before it was his turn. Because it was the starting station, there were still plenty of tickets, and they had come to queue in a timely manner. However, they had to present quite a few documents; otherwise, they wouldn't be allowed to buy over a dozen tickets, for fear he was a scalper.

Fortunately, he had brought all his documents, even providing the Canton Fair invitation and work permits together.

They looked them over again and again, asked question after question, and verified the provided documents before finally issuing the tickets.

When Ye Yaodong got the tickets, he let out a sigh of relief. "It really isn't easy. They asked so clearly, I felt like they were going to dig up three generations of my ancestors."

"I also thought they wouldn't let us buy so many tickets, and that we'd have to go find a scalper later."

"Anyway, as long as we bought them, it's fine. Let's go, let's go see the exhibition hall. If there's nothing else, we'll go out for a stroll later and see the famous Thirteen Hongs."

The exhibition hall opened at 7 AM. Today, there were still many people setting up their booths, but compared to the bare-bones look from yesterday, it was already taking shape. Most booths were set up, and one could see what was being sold.

Seeing that someone was guarding their own booth, they felt at ease and wandered around to see what other people's were like and what these exhibition halls were selling.

It would be best to look for other manufacturing enterprises like theirs and see if there were any selling similar products. See their quotes—know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

"There are still some that haven't finished setting up. Shall we come back to take a look before the hall closes this afternoon? I estimate that by then, all the booths should be set up."

Ye Yaodong had also wandered enough, so he nodded. "Then let's go back to the guesthouse, put away the train tickets and documents we just bought, and then we'll go stroll through the Thirteen Hongs."

"Okay." Her tone of voice was clearly excited.

This trip to Guangzhou was aimed at the future of the factory, but it was also a new journey and a new map for them.

Not just Lin Xiuqing, but Ye Yaodong also felt curious about everything he saw.

In his previous life at this time, he was still lying flat at home; where would he have the opportunity to travel everywhere and see the world? He didn't even know what Guangzhou, which everyone said was paved with gold and full of opportunities, looked like.

Now he had the opportunity to travel, but time was limited, and it wasn't the right time, so he couldn't just wander around aimlessly. He had to choose where to go.

He had heard of the Thirteen Hongs on TV in his previous life; it was truly famous.

The couple took a taxi for over half an hour before arriving at the destination.

They even had to ask a passerby to learn that the narrow alleys in front of them, squeezed breathless by shops and stalls, were the Thirteen Hongs.

Men and women carrying large plastic bags, as well as porters carrying snake-skin bags, moved slowly through the narrow streets.

Their ears were filled with various dialects from all over the country, as well as the shouts of the cart pullers.

"Jie jie! Ng goi jie jie!" (Make way! Please make way!)

Man-powered tricycles and homemade small tin carts, fully loaded with goods, struggled to weave through the crowd, and the anxious shouts of the drivers were endless.

Lin Xiuqing looked left and right. "So many people. Even more than the night market near the guesthouse."

Ye Yaodong looked at the man-powered tricycles and small carts; they were all piled with goods packed in black plastic bags.

"If I weren't fishing in my next life, didn't live by the sea, and still lived in this era, we would come to Guangzhou to stock up on goods. We'd definitely get rich."

"Still talking about the next life. We haven't even finished this life, and we haven't spent all our money. Are you willing to go to the next life?"

"Planning ahead. What if there really is a next life?"

"Let's go, let's go in and see. So many people, everyone is carrying a huge bag of goods out. They've come here to stock up."

As soon as the two walked into the alley, they saw clothes racks extending directly from the shops into the center of the street, covered with the most fashionable "Guangzhou goods" of the time.

Looking up, the air was crisscrossed with wires. Vendors used iron hooks to hang bundles of clothes and gave them a hard push—with a "swish," the goods "flew" from the shop to the stall across the street.

Ye Yaodong was quick-witted enough to pull Lin Xiuqing aside; otherwise, she would have been hit by the goods.

Lin Xiuqing was already dumbfounded. "It can be done like this?"

"Be careful."

They hadn't walked a few steps when they saw a large group of people ahead fighting over goods, like a chaotic battle.

Five or six people were pulling and tugging at a bag of goods, and there was even arm-twisting and elbowing. An old lady lay directly on top of the goods.

"I'm sick, I have high blood pressure, I'm sick, I'm seriously ill, don't touch me..."

The surrounding people were hesitant to act rashly for a moment, then could only curse bitterly and give up, going to grab the next bag of goods.

The old lady nimbly climbed up, hugged the goods in her arms, and handed them to a woman beside her. "Go, go, grab the next bag..."

The couple watched, both dumbfounded.

Lin Xiuqing looked at Ye Yaodong in disbelief. "It can even be like this?"

"Awesome!" Ye Yaodong had been baring his teeth from beginning to end; only then did he spit out two words.

"Is it that popular?"

"So that's what 'popular goods' means; it's a verb..."

"So it really is hard to get."

They hadn't finished speaking when a new round of battle started nearby.

Then, people around who didn't know what was going on saw them fighting over goods there, thought that bag was a popular item, and joined in...

Ye Yaodong and Lin Xiuqing quickly moved to the side to avoid being caught in the crossfire, and there were similar battles over goods ahead.

"... Getting goods is really not easy. It all depends on grabbing? And you have to put in the effort and go all out."

"It must be because it's too profitable and too popular, so these people don't even look; they just follow along and grab whatever everyone else is grabbing. If you grab it, you make money. A bundle of goods is a bundle of banknotes."

No wonder there's a jingle: East, West, South, North, and Center, go to Guangdong to get rich.

"Then, when we have the exhibition tomorrow, can we do the same? Will booths with many people asking questions attract more curiosity?"

"That's for sure. It's like someone driving two trucks of watermelons; one truck is surrounded by people, and the other is deserted. Which one would you choose to buy from?"

"Then the place with many customers must have a reason for being patronized..."

Ye Yaodong rubbed his chin. "No place to find shills, otherwise, find a few shills to patronize the booth first to build up popularity?"

"Ah?"

"When the hall opens tomorrow, how about arranging two people to put on an act?"

"How to put on an act?"

"Ask around later to see where they sell wigs. Buy two golden curly wigs; anyway, just showing a back view to people is enough."

Lin Xiuqing: "..."

The more Ye Yaodong thought about it, the more he felt his idea was good. They were the first private enterprise to attend, so they definitely wouldn't have old regular customers. He would build up some popularity for himself first.

"I think it's feasible, and it won't be a waste. Usually, you can wear them, or take them back to give to the young salesgirls."

Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him. "Which salesgirl do you want to give them to?"

"Whatever, whoever wants them can take them."

"Where are wigs sold here?"

"Then let's just stroll around. If they're cheap, carry two bags back to distribute. They all look like women's clothing. Carry a bag of young ones, carry a bag of middle-aged ones. One bag for you to distribute, one bag to take back for my mother to distribute. This souvenir specialty from a long trip is also covered. Saying it's Guangzhou goods also gives face."

"Is it really by the bag? How much for a bag? People don't even need to open it to look, just take it away?"

"It's wholesale, otherwise how could the price be so cheap?"

The two talked as they walked into the alley. Everywhere was a battle for goods; every stall was full of people. The two of them just watched and couldn't bring themselves to act, and didn't know what they were grabbing, so they could only exclaim on the side.

Everywhere rang with the "di-di" sounds of calculators, the "Guangzhou-accented Mandarin" of the hawkers, and the "si-la" sounds of packing; a pull and a stick of tape, and it was a bag of goods.

Not until they were almost out of the end of the alley did they see a slightly deserted shop packing goods, and only then did they curiously go in to ask and pick.

When they came out of the stall, Ye Yaodong also had a bag of goods on his shoulder, and the alley was even more crowded, with a surging tide of people pouring in endlessly.

They had come in the morning, which was still early. By now, it was approaching noon, and there were even more people. It was as if the things were free; they rushed in and grabbed, and they were almost squeezed apart.

Lin Xiuqing held tightly onto Ye Yaodong's hem. "Let's go back, don't stroll anymore, too many people, too crowded."

"Mm, when we get out, we'll find a place to eat. After eating, we'll go back. I've smelled the beef offal long ago."

"Then let's go back immediately after eating." ===== CHAPTER 1785 =====