Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 3: Mousetrap Bamboo Tube
"Okay, I have a saw at home. Wait until I learn how to use it." Although Zhao Liming was not sure what he was going to do, he still agreed.

After a while, the two of them prepared the tools for felling.

In the dormitories, many walls and furniture are made of old wooden boards, and basically every household has some tools for handling wooden boards.

Soon, the two arrived at the back mountain.

Among the various construction waste all over the mountain, the two soon found piles of bamboo.

"What are you going to do with so many broken bamboos? They can't be sold for money, otherwise it wouldn't be our turn." Zhao Liming asked in confusion.

Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Broken bamboo is worthless, but we can make it into something valuable."

"Valuable things?" Zhao Liming was a little curious.

Yang Wendong opened his hands and said, "You saw this long bamboo first, and I will make some small things. When I make them, you will know what they are for."

After measuring the dimensions, Zhao Liming started to work, and Yang Wendong also started doing his own thing.

About 10 minutes later, everyone finished their work. Yang Wendong picked up the axe again, made two holes on the surface of the bamboo, and then stuffed the bamboo strips he had cut into them. He used a rope he got from Su Yiyi to connect everything together.

"What is this? For catching mice?" Zhao Liming guessed after seeing the finished product and looking at the switch.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes, this is a bamboo tube for catching mice. In the inland areas where there are a lot of bamboos, this is how mice are caught.

All you need to do is put some food inside the bamboo tube. When the mouse goes in, it will trigger the mechanism and get stuck in the bamboo strips, unable to move. Eventually, it will die from being squeezed and unable to breathe.”

"Is it so amazing?" This was the first time Zhao Liming saw this kind of structure.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Of course, but we have to go back and try it in the evening."

"Yeah." Zhao Liming nodded and asked, "Are you planning to sell this to make money?"

Yang Wendong said: "Yes, the rat infestation in Hong Kong is quite serious right now. As long as we can prove that this thing can catch rats, someone will definitely buy it."

Zhao Liming asked again: "Is this bamboo tube very good at catching mice?"

"Not very strong." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Not bad, not bad either."

"Ah?" Zhao Liming was a little puzzled and asked, "Then how do we sell it?"

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "What methods are available on the market to kill mice?"

Zhao Liming thought for a moment and said, "There are rat poison, rat cages or mouse traps. I don't really care about the rest."

"Well, these are basically the mainstream ones." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "But these three have their own shortcomings:

Mousetraps can easily hurt people or other animals, not to mention rat poison, which can kill people if they accidentally eat a little bit.

Mouse traps are good things, and they are efficient in catching mice, but they are too expensive, costing four or five yuan each."

"So, this bamboo mousetrap of yours is cheap?" Zhao Liming was also very smart and he understood it quickly.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes, it is cheap. There are plenty of raw materials here, endless."

Bamboo has special uses in Hong Kong.

In the construction industry, in many parts of the world, steel pipes are used as scaffolding, but in Hong Kong, only bamboo can be used.

Since Hong Kong does not have a local steel industry and needs to import steel pipes, the price of steel pipes is too expensive. Also, because it is close to the sea, steel pipes are prone to rust.

Bamboo itself has a service life. After being used in the construction industry for a few years and losing its strength, it is naturally thrown away. However, there is no problem in using it as a mousetrap.

Similarly, because iron is expensive, mousetraps and mousetraps are also very expensive.

"That's true. We can't use up all the bamboo even if we die." Zhao Liming also said with a smile. Yang Wendong said: "So as long as it is cheap enough and can really catch mice, someone should buy it."

Zhao Liming asked again: "But who should we sell it to? The people in the dormitory probably won't buy it. They can make it themselves."

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "Of course not. Would you spend money to catch mice? What if you catch them? There are mice everywhere in the dormitory, and you can't catch them all.

If they are to be sold, they will naturally be sold to families with normal houses. They have some money, and their homes are sealed, so there are not many rats. If they are caught, they will probably be gone, or at least there will be fewer rats.”

After hearing this, Zhao Liming immediately frowned and asked, "So are you planning to go to a stall to sell it?"

"Yes, that's the only way." Yang Wendong nodded.

Walking on the street stalls is similar to the children in later Republic of China TV dramas who walk around with baskets hanging on their bodies and sell things.

But in reality, many adults also sell things in this way, at most they use a shoulder pole because they cannot afford the stall fee.

Zhao Liming said worriedly: "It's not easy to run a street stall."

"Life is never easy." Yang Wendong said calmly, "Let's see if we can catch the mouse first, and then think about the future."

In today's Hong Kong, social management can be described as "extremely dark". People who work as small workers or run small businesses are all bullied in various ways without exception.
After returning home, Yang Wendong told Su Yiyi the function of the mousetrap in his hand. Then, he found some chicken soup from lunch, mixed it with a little rice porridge, and put it into the tail of the mousetrap.

It was night again, and Guo Xiuyun returned home exhausted.

"Mom? How do you feel?" Su Yiyi said worriedly. No one slept last night, but today during the day, she was the only one who needed to go to work.

Aunt Guo smiled and said, "It's okay. I took a break at noon."

Su Yiyi also quickly brought up the prepared food. When Guo Xiuyun saw the chicken, she said, "Didn't I tell you to give it to Dongzi?"

"I'm full." Yang Wendong said, and then quickly changed the subject and asked, "Aunt Guo, I made a mouse catcher."

Then he took out his products and expressed his ideas.

Guo Xiuyun took a look at the mousetrap, then thought for a moment and said, "It would be good to start a small business. It's hard to even have enough food and clothing just by working for others.

However, it is actually more difficult to run a small business. Yiyi's father had tried it before and suffered a great loss. Later, he could only work at the dock."

"Okay, I understand." Yang Wendong nodded. This is true in any era. Running a small business is actually much more tiring than working in an office, and it also involves risks.

Today, Hong Kong, without legal control, will only become darker.

Later, Guo Xiuyun was persuaded by Yang Wendong and ate all the remaining chicken nuggets.

After all the hard work, everyone was very sleepy. After placing the mousetrap, the three of them returned to their own wooden houses and went to bed early.

Although he was woken up by the cold several times in the middle of the night, it was still the best night of sleep Yang Wendong had ever had.

The next day, Yang Wendong was woken up by Su Yiyi: "Brother Dong, we caught a mouse."

……

PS: Please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.

Friends who haven’t invested yet should hurry up, as there will be some returns later.

I have actually checked the price of mousetraps, which are generally 3 to 5 yuan. The prices in Hong Kong in the 50s were very high, and a simple iron product could be equivalent to a few days' salary for a poor person (containers were not popular at that time, and the transportation cost of imported goods was very high).

You can refer to the slums in Mumbai, India today (it will only get worse). Ordinary people work hard every day but still cannot get enough to eat, and many people even don’t have jobs.

Most of the information about Hong Kong in the 50s on Baidu is about Hong Kong Island, because the slums are not worthy of being photographed...

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(End of this chapter)