Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Old Liu naturally knew that Zeng Wangcai had returned. He even knew that Zeng Wangcai had taken action and the problem of Institute 208 would soon be solved.

"Seafood?" Old Man Liu was in better spirits when he saw Zeng Wangcai. "I can't enjoy this, but the vest is nice. Let me see it!"

Zeng Wangcai handed over the vests, two in total, and introduced them: "This one is for you, and this one is for Auntie."

Old man Liu's wife came in with tea and was very happy to see the vest. She praised Wang Chao for his thoughtfulness and observed it carefully.

"The stitches are so fine. Did your dad make them? Great craftsmanship, great craftsmanship..."

"Okay, you arrange the dinner, I'll talk to Wangcai." After his wife left, Old Man Liu asked, "Give this to Uncle Zheng..."

"Don't bother me, old man!" Zeng Wangcai felt that the old man was a good person. He didn't want to add burden to himself, and he also wanted to remind himself not to forget the thread of old man Zheng. "Yes, there is more. I brought it with me. I'm going to say something that may not please you. I am richer than you now."

"I believe this. Show me."

"How can I lie to you? I have it with me..."

Two more vests were sold.

Touching the vest in his hand, Old Man Liu suddenly came to his senses: "No, you have something on your mind. I can't take this vest. If I take it, I'll be fooled."

"Grandpa, what you said makes me sad!" Zeng Wangcai smiled and continued, "I really have something to do..."

Zeng Wangcai is really serious about opening a factory and has been thinking about it these past two days.

Li Fan, director of Institute 208, mentioned this. Zeng Wangcai didn't know whether he had written the materials or not. But even if he had, Zeng Wangcai didn't expect Li Fan to cause any trouble.

Factories and industries are Old Man Liu's one and only territory. As long as Old Man Liu nods and puts in the effort, the matter will be done.

But Zeng Wangcai also knew that it was basically impossible to find Old Man Liu to use the back door, unless what you want to do does not violate the principles and preferably benefits the country.

Originally he hadn't thought of any reason to convince Old Man Liu, but he drank a lot of wine yesterday and woke up at night unable to fall asleep. After thinking about it for half the night, he came up with an idea - export to earn foreign exchange while taking care of the troops.

He doesn't know whether it will work or not, so let's talk about it. Only by talking about it can we know whether it works or not.

"Tell me, what new ideas have you got? Is it related to the vest?" Old man Liu lit a cigarette with a smile.

"You are wise!" Zeng Wangcai ran to Old Man Liu and sat down, "Grandpa, I want to open a garment factory..."

puff!

"Cough cough..."

Old man Liu was choked by the smoke and finally managed to catch his breath: "What are you thinking? Opening a factory? You're making a mistake!"

No one dares to break this rule. No one will dare to do it even in ten years. It will take twenty years.

"What mistakes? You're overthinking it." Zeng Wangcai was prepared. "I'm not talking about opening my own factory. I mean a public-private partnership to open a garment factory that specializes in making high-end clothes."

"We can still talk about public-private partnerships..." Old man Liu didn't understand clothes, so he grabbed the vest and touched it again, "That's it, high-end? How high? Does it raise your blood pressure when you put it on?"

Old Liu is quite funny!

"I won't tell you whether your blood pressure is high or not, but your body temperature will definitely be high when you put it on." Zeng Wangcai stepped forward and put the vest on Old Man Liu. "This is called a down jacket. My father invented it by accident. It's filled with poultry feathers. It's very warm and lighter than cotton..."

Zeng Wangcai taught Old Man Liu about down jackets and let his father be an inventor without any shame.

(Note: After some research, some say that the earliest down jackets were invented by foreigners, and some say that as early as 1925, someone in Hunan used feathers as fillings and even established a company. Let’s not dwell on this here, please forgive me!)

What he meant by high-end is not just the vests from the future, but also the idea of ​​making other clothes in the future, such as bulletproof vests, cut-resistant clothes, etc., a whole industry.

Of course, I can’t tell Old Man Liu about the following things now, so he can only understand the part about down jackets.

"It's really light." Old Man Liu felt the vest again. "Made of feathers? It's a good substitute for a cotton-padded jacket, but you still can't open this factory."

"No, why not? There are obviously good things to replace cotton, why can't it be opened? Cotton is so precious, it can let the people live better, why can't it be opened?"

"You kid are still angry at me?" Old man Liu glared, "What do you want to do? Do your homework first. You have to export the materials you mentioned, do you understand?"

"Ah? Feather export?" Zeng Wangcai pretended to be surprised.

In fact, he knew that this thing was going to be exported. He had seen the movie "Chicken Feathers Flying to the Sky" and had exchanged chicken feathers and duck feathers for the Sugar Gang, and then sold them to purchasing stations, but later they were not allowed to do so.

Of course, individuals are not allowed to do it, but there is definitely no problem if the government does it.

Some people may think that we also had exports in 1961?

Yes, there are, but they are all raw materials such as rare metals, and even grain and oil exports.

That’s right, when even our own families can’t get enough food, we still have to choose to export these things, which shows how valuable foreign exchange is.

"The country is poor!" Old Man Liu said with emotion, "It's not easy to earn some foreign exchange, so... I know you have some ideas, but forget it."

"Forget it, let's think about it. Foreigners want our fur, oh no... feathers. What do they want them for?"

“Make products!”

"Yes, we can also make products. Selling them raw materials will definitely not make as much money as selling them products."

"You talk about lightness, but what is the situation of our country's industry? What can we make that foreigners will like?"

"Old man, you are belittling yourself. We dare not talk about other things, but our ancestors have been tailors for many years. It is not difficult to make clothes. We should make less and better. As long as the products are good, people will definitely buy them."

Zeng Wangcai didn't dare to say this out loud. He was confident that he could make a very warm down jacket, but he wasn't sure whether foreigners would buy it.

The reason is very simple. International affairs are not as simple as buying and selling. There are not many people willing to play with us now.

"Let's try it!" Zeng Wangcai saw that Old Man Liu was excited. "Old man, you know a lot of foreign guests. Why don't you try my vest? Maybe it will work. The Russians... uh, no, Big Brother is so cold over there. Maybe they are willing to buy it, right?"

The Russians are in a honeymoon period with us, which increases the possibility of a successful transaction.

The most important thing is that Zeng Wangcai has confidence in the vest. It was something he bought for his family and friends. Although it is domestically produced, its quality can definitely compete with those international brands that are trying to make money in the future.

"Then let's try?"

"Yes, let's try it!" Zeng Wangcai urged excitedly, "My father has mastered the mature technology of making feather down into inner elixir. As long as there are enough raw materials, we can make good things even if we don't use machines, but only use sewing machines."

These words struck the heart of Old Man Liu again. Machinery was also a pain in his heart. The country was short of machinery now. If he wanted to set up a factory, he would have to purchase machinery, which would be another difficulty. Sewing machines were out of the question.

After agreeing on this, Zeng Wangcai had his meal and left satisfied.

Old man Liu was so excited that he ignored his physical discomfort and began to use his connections to contact his international friends in Beijing that night.

He first called a Russian official: "Hey, Comrade Ivankov, I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow..."