Beijing. The Li Family Courtyard!
In the west wing, a small round table held a few appetizers to accompany the drinks, along with two bottles of Moutai and several small shot glasses.
Li Yi, Jiang Longcheng, and Ye Jianhua sat around the round table, raising their glasses frequently.
Of course, given Li Yi’s drinking capacity, he certainly wouldn’t dare keep up with his two brothers-in-law like this, so raising his glass was merely a gesture.
The reason they had the time to get together today was mainly because Li Yi had finally wrapped up his work at the TV factory. Until he received a response from higher-ups, he wouldn’t need to get involved with the factory again.
After all, the district authorities had only tasked him with reviving the TV factory and resolving the immediate crisis; whether the factory would remain successful for long or eventually go under was not something Li Yi needed to worry about right now.
Plus, since it happened to be his day off, he called both Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua to invite them over for a visit and a chat.
With his older cousin and second cousin paying a visit, Jiang Xue naturally wanted to treat them well. She immediately whipped up a few small dishes and opened two bottles of fine wine.
However, Li Yi knew Jiang Longcheng’s temperament—after a few hundred sips of liquor, his true colors would show. To avoid scaring Yun Jin and Yun Rui when the guy started “talking big,” Li Yi didn’t let the two of them into the main hall; instead, he arranged for them to drink in the side room.
After all, they were all family; there was no need to distinguish between the main hall and the side room.
After a few cups of wine, Jiang Longcheng—who was already quite talkative—let loose completely. He boasted to Ye Jianhua, who was sitting next to him: “Jianhua, you have no idea just how impressive our National Cotton Mill No. 2 is right now. We sold over ten million yuan worth of goods yesterday, with a net profit of several million. With a profit margin like that, who in the whole country can compare?”
Ye Jianhua smiled and said, “I’ve heard about it. Your State Cotton Mill No. 2 is definitely the most dazzling star enterprise in Beijing right now. So many people are scrambling to get a job there!”
“Hahaha, you bet! I heard that one of our factory’s quotas is selling for yuan now!”
“? That expensive? Doesn’t that mean we’ve been working for nothing for years?”
Honestly, Li Yi was stunned when he heard that.
After all, starting wages at the factory aren’t exactly high—general workers make just over thirty yuan a month. That yuan is equivalent to working for free for over three years.
Jiang Longcheng smiled and said, “It won’t take several years—two years at most!”
“Two years?”
“Right. At our factory, a Level 2 worker makes yuan a month, and a Level 3 worker makes yuan. But since production is pretty busy right now, we have to work overtime almost every day, and the factory pays us for all that overtime.”
Jiang Longcheng continued, “So, generally speaking, the average wage for a regular worker at our Second Cotton Mill is around 100 yuan. That’s enough to match the salary of a mid-level manager at other factories!”
“Plus, our factory is doing well, so we get a decent bonus at the end of the year—at least seven or eight hundred yuan a year. Spending a few hundred yuan to buy a factory admission quota is definitely a good deal!”
Ye Jianhua said enviously, “Then you’ll be able to make a pretty penny just by reselling factory admission quotas!”
This sort of thing was all too common these days; many factory leaders were lining their pockets through such means.
“It’s all about hiring anyway—whoever we hire is fine, as long as the new employees aren’t idiots or disabled.”
Jiang Longcheng glanced at Li Yi, then said with a wry smile, “I’d love to, but my old man won’t let me. If I dared to do that, he’d break my legs, and besides…”
“And what?”
“And my brother-in-law wouldn’t let me either!” Jiang Longcheng said.
Ye Jianhua looked at Li Yi and said, “Brother-in-law, reselling admission quotas isn’t a big deal in our circle. There’s no need to…”
Before Ye Jianhua could finish, Li Yi cut him off: “Perhaps in your eyes, this isn’t a big deal. Compared to crimes like embezzlement, bribery, or misappropriation of collective assets, reselling a few factory admission quotas really isn’t a big deal!”
“But you should understand the saying that a thousand-mile dyke can be breached by a single ant hole. Once you open the floodgates on certain matters, there’s no turning back—especially for those of you within the system. Once you reach out that hand, there’s no turning back!”
Jiang Longcheng hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, brother-in-law. The Jiang and Ye families wouldn’t stoop to doing something like this just for money!”
“That’s right. If we dared to do something like that, we’d never get past our old man at home!” Ye Jianhua added.
Li Yi nodded. “Hmm, I do trust the upbringing of the Jiang and Ye families. But I also know you two have a habit of spending money without counting the cost. Even though your salaries aren’t low, I imagine you’re still living hand-to-mouth, aren’t you?”
Jiang Longcheng sighed and said, “You’re absolutely right. Before I got married, I didn’t really think much of it—if I ran out of money, I could just ask my parents for some. But ever since I got married, I’ve felt too embarrassed to ask them for anything.”
“Plus, Xinyao’s pregnant and needs extra nutrition, and we’ve got to help my two younger brothers-in-law get married. Lately, I haven’t even been able to bring myself to drink Moutai at home!”
Ye Jianhua immediately chimed in, “That’s nothing compared to me. Look at me—as soon as my monthly paycheck comes in, I have to hand it over to Xiaoying. I don’t even dare order meat at the office cafeteria. Sometimes I really miss the days before I was married!”
Listening to these two men competing to see who had it worse, Li Yi couldn’t help but smile.
“Alright, I called you guys over today just to talk about making some money!”
Hearing this, Jiang Longcheng’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, “Bro-in-law, are you planning to help us make some money?”
“Exactly. I can’t just sit back and watch one of you too scared to drink and the other too stingy to eat meat!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“I knew you were a true brother to us. Spit it out—how are you going to help us make money?” Jiang Longcheng asked.
Li Yi replied, “Right now, I have two ideas. Take a look and see what you think!”
“What ideas?”
“If we’re just starting small, I can help you two open a franchise of a barbecue and hot pot restaurant. It won’t make you rich, but making two or three thousand yuan a month shouldn’t be a problem!”
Li Yi had already begun preparing to open branches of the hot pot and barbecue restaurant. The first two locations had already been leased and were currently under renovation; they were expected to open in about another two weeks.
He planned to have his third older sister, Li Na, and Liu San’er serve as managers for these two branches, with the staff consisting of the young men his brother-in-law had brought over from Qin Province.
If Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua were willing, Li Yi could set up a shop for each of them as well. He wouldn’t dare claim they’d make a fortune, but it would certainly be more than enough to supplement their household income.
But Li Yi’s words left Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua speechless. Was making two or three thousand yuan a month really just “pocket change”?
Consider their current situation: even someone like Jiang Longcheng, a big factory director, only makes yuan a month.
As for Ye Jianhua, he earned even less—only yuan a month.
If they could earn two or three thousand yuan a month, that would be dozens of times their current salaries.
After a long moment, Jiang Longcheng finally asked, “Brother-in-law, are you saying there are even faster ways to make money?”
“Yes. If you guys think running a store is too slow, there really is a business that makes money even faster!” Li Yi said.
“What kind of business?”
“Hosting trade shows!” Li Yi said, making a startling suggestion.
“Trade shows?”
Ye Jianhua frowned and said, “Aren’t those just for clearing out unsold inventory? Can you really make money from that?”
In those days, when the planned economy dominated, the production and distribution of goods across the country were subject to strict, centralized allocation, and private trade was prohibited.
Trade fairs were a loophole opened up for the market economy in the early days of reform and opening-up, intended to break the “ration-based supply system” by inviting consumers to visit and make purchases, thereby balancing supply and demand.
In reality, they were mostly used by certain organizations to clear out surplus inventory!
For instance, in the short span of just one year—from [Month] [Year] to [Month] [Year]—Beijing hosted no fewer than five “Clearance Sales for Surplus Inventory.” These events spanned every sector, from the Foreign Trade Bureau to the Grain Bureau, covering everything from transistor radios to grains and cereals.
Li Yi smiled and said, “Those are other people’s fairs. We’re not doing that kind of thing—we’re going high-end!”
“Will it really make money?” Jiang Longcheng asked earnestly.
“Absolutely!” Li Yi replied without hesitation.
“Since you say it’ll make money, let’s do it!” Jiang Longcheng said.
Ye Jianhua immediately asked, “What do we need to do?”
“You’ll need to contact the exhibition halls and merchants, but not right now. I’ll get back to you with the details once I’ve finalized the plan!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, we’ll wait for your good news!”
“Alright, let’s have a drink first!”
“Drinks…”
………