Return To 1990

Jiang Xiaoyan’s Inferiority Complex

Lu Feng rushed to the workshop first thing the next morning. There were a lot of people at the door and surrounding with all kinds of cars parked; he was awestruck. The first thing he thought of was that his identity has been exposed, especially regarding his recent indebtedness and deception.

 Zhou Hao stayed up all night with excitement. By five o’clock in the morning, he was squatting at the door. He was afraid of only one thing, that Lu Feng would not accept the food he had recovered.

 “Boss Lu?” Zhou Hao hurriedly stood up seeing Lu Feng, threw his cigarette butt to the ground and rushed over.

 A group of people rushed over as well, surrounding Lu Feng.

 “Boss Lu, can you supply it? Can you give me a cart?”

 “I want to pull two carts, okay? I can’t pull much in a single van.”

 “Boss Lu, I came first!” Several similar voices echoed throughout the crowd.

 The twittering voices confused Lu Feng and made his head twirl. He couldn’t figure out the situation and asked Zhou Hao; “Why are there so many people here? Were the cans you took yesterday all sold out?”

 “It was sold out in just two hours, all turned into grain. They are all in the car.” Zhou Hao said excitedly.

 Two hours?

 Lu Feng felt a tingle in his scalp. He had thought about the great consumption and power dormant in the rural market, but he didn’t expect it to be this huge. He had only one thought left in his mind.

 I’m getting rich!

 “Keep quiet! Take your time and increase production today. In the meantime, everyone can collect fruits from the village and sell them to me.” Lu Feng knew that the fruit in Sun Longbin’s village would definitely not be adequate at this level of popularity.

 A few minutes later, Datou arrived on his rickshaw. He also was shocked to see the number of people there. Ten minutes later, the workers began work and the cans continued to be processed.

 “Datou, notify the glass factory. This time, we will need 20,000 bottles.” Lu Feng ordered and jumped into Zhou Hao’s car. They went straight to the Grain station.

 The head of the station, Wang, agreed. It would be easy to do things from now, and Lu Feng was ecstatic. This car full of grain was sold for 745 dollars and 60 cents.

 On the way back, Lu Feng silently calculated the cost. The net profit should be more than 400 dollars, including two cents a bottle for Zhou Hao’s company.

 One car has a profit of more than 

$400. With the current efficiency, it would be no problem to produce four or five vehicles worth of cans a day, making the profit 2,000 dollars a day. It can reach ten thousand dollars in just five days!

 If they are to expand production and hire more workers, it will not be a problem to become a 10,000 dollars household in no time!

 Back at the workshop, Datou was instructing the workers unloading goods. The filled cans were stacked aside. The whole workshop was in order. Lu Feng wanted to organize them and observe their work but abruptly remembered that he had to accompany Jiang Xiaoyan out to dinner. He had to hand over the job to Datou.

 “Make them pay the deposit before taking the goods, clearly record the names, and don’t mess up the accounts!”

 ” I got it, Brother Feng!” The big head nodded thoughtfully.

 “Datou, work hard. I will not mistreat you. Our future is promising!” Lu Feng patted his shoulder.

 On the way back, Lu Feng was still thinking about hiring a few more workers. With low wages and high profits, he must seize the market; moreover, the canned food is seasonal. After the local fruit ripening season, the Prices will escalate abruptly. 

 10:30 in the morning: Jiang Xiaoyan put on a long skirt and tied her hair. Although she did not wear any makeup, she gave out an indescribable aura of natural beauty.

 Lu Feng opened the door and felt dazed when he saw Jiang Xiaoyan in a long skirt.

 I have to say that she is indeed a beautiful woman. The kind of beauty which renders people unable to remove their eyes with a bit of dressing up.

“Where did you go so early in the morning?” Jiang Xiaoyan asked, looking anxious.

 I can’t imagine the number of people she would have spellbound if the current makeup technology was as good as twenty years later.

 “What are you looking at me for? Where did you go so early in the morning?” Jiang Xiaoyan asked.

 “You are so beautiful.” Lu Feng exclaimed sincerely.

 Jiang Xiaoyan, who had never been complimented so blatantly, blushed with embarrassment. 

 She threw her fist at him and said, “Why is your mouth slippery these days!? The is open, so everyone can hear you.”

 “You’re beautiful, and even if I have to stand on the street and shout with a loudspeaker, I’ll do that.”

 “You are insensitive and shameless!” Jiang Xiaoyan gave him a dark look and said, “Hurry up, you got here in the nick of time.”

 Lu Feng knew that she was a sensitive and very traditional girl, but he did not expect her to have such an over-sensitive demeanor. He smiled and said, “I’ll change my clothes.”

 The weather was hot and not suitable for a suit jacket. Jiang Xiaoyan wore only a white shirt. Looking at the clean shirt on her body, Lu Feng felt that she was really concerned with cleanliness. When she comes back from work every night, she always washes her clothes.

 Walking to the hotel would take much time, which they did not have enough. Lu Feng borrowed a motorcycle from a child downstairs. The three rode the bike straight to the Tianyue Hotel.

 Tianyue Hotel, the only seven-story restaurant in the city, is patronized by local tycoons. I heard that a table worth food costs tens or hundreds of dollars, and the waiters there are gorgeous. There are many rumors about its insides. The decorations are all gilded.

Ordinary people see it only from the outside and walk around it. They can only imagine what is inside!

 Lu Feng parked the bike in the parking and Duo Duo jumped out of the motorcycle momentarily, looking at the high building. She stretched out a finger and counted “one, two, three-“

 “Seven floors, don’t count it!”

 “It’s so tall!” Duo Duo’s eyes were full of tiny stars, and she exclaimed, “Dad, it’s so tall!”

 Only these three words remained in her mouth. The seven-story restaurant had given her countless shocks. Lu Feng turned his head and looked at the restaurant, filled with a variety of emotions in his heart.

 It is now, in the early nineties, that this child looks at a seven-story building, thinking it is so tall. Thirty years later, when a child sees such a seven-story building, he/she will only laugh at the fact that it is too short and old-fashioned.

 Thirty years. This country has changed drastically!

 A few women at the window on the third floor looking down on us, who can come here for dinner, and it is not a regular thing for them. 

 “Jiang Xiaoyan is here. Who is the man next to him? The man in suit and leather shoes!”

 “That’s her man.”

 “He’s a trash man who doesn’t do anything, and he looks like a person today!”

 “Sister, if someone must be brought out, they ought to be cleaned up. Don’t you know, the poor jingle, Lu Feng, doesn’t do anything. She is still out there holding on alone.”

 “So are you.” A woman in her thirties said dejectedly. “Let’s not talk about her having a bad life then; let’s talk about what her man is. When she finally settled down into a relationship, I always thought it would be with someone; you know, different. I can’t afford to have this kind of person in my family.”

 A few people reprimanded one after another. Xiao Li lowered her head and did not speak further. The woman Lan had money in her family, and everyone in the factory flattered her. 

 Xiao Li has a good relationship with Jiang Xiaoyan, so she wanted to show her to the world, but she did not expect to get a lecture from Sister Lan instead.

 The decoration is just like an ordinary hotel, with marble walls and chandeliers, but it did not amount to much for people like Lu Feng, who lived in a five-star hotel every day.

 But Jiang Xiaoyan and Duo Duo were like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden1, staring at decorations with wide eyes; Duo Duo looked curiously at the marble tiles and wanted to reach out and touch them.

 “Don’t touch it. Let’s hurry upstairs.” Jiang Xiaoyan said cautiously.

 “It’s okay. It’s just marble pasted on the wall.” Lu Feng picked up Duo Duo and brought her near the wall in his arms; her hand touched the wall, and the three walked upstairs as Duo Duo slid her hand against the wall. “Smooth!”

 On the third floor stood a woman in her thirties: dressed in expensive, fashionable clothes, with a jewelry necklace around her neck, and an authoritative face. 

 “They’re coming!”

 Seeing the woman, Jiang Xiaoyan unconsciously lowered her body and said nervously, “Hello, Director Wang.”

 Her posture was very low, and the smile on her face froze like a child awkwardly learning to be a truant, which was heartbreaking and pathetic.