Siheyuan: Living in the People's Community, with a Heart for the Red Star

I left the savings book space to my colleagues and went home. I don’t need to come here anymore. Retirement is great! Since I enjoy the highest level of retirement, I get a monthly pension of 50 yuan and other benefits of 31 yuan after conversion into money. I actually get about 60 yuan (the rest are various bills and coupons).

You have to know that it was 1960, and the basic guaranteed consumption in Kyoto was only 5 or 6 yuan per month, and a formal worker was about 30 yuan per month. It was already a great thing that Lao Yang could get 60 yuan per month without working. If he had not made outstanding contributions to the country, he would not have been able to apply for it.

We are now in the period of three years of disaster after the Great Leap Forward, when we broke with the Soviet Union and began to repay our debts. Any good things are used to repay the debts first. It is difficult for ordinary people to get food. All wild animals and wild animals have been eaten to extinction, and wild vegetables and fruits have disappeared.

In any era, the most hardworking people are the common people, and the most contented and grateful are also the common people. Since the higher-ups can't take care of it, I will help from the people. What I can't accept the most is: those saintly bitches who can't even get enough food themselves and still give things to others.

After returning to the courtyard, he found a pen and paper and drew a simple blueprint based on the structure of the furnace he imagined. He planned to rent a piece of land near Liulitun tomorrow to build a furnace to absorb energy. After collecting the blueprint, Lao Yang began to absorb heat again. Late at night, Lao Yang was ready to go to bed. He took out the pistol and a box of medals from under the bed and put them into the space. He also put some cash receipts and hidden bullets at home into the space. After thinking it over carefully, he found that there was nothing to put away, so Lao Yang went to sleep.

The next morning, I got up early to exercise, had breakfast, and then took the bus directly to Liulitun.

It has been a month since Lao Yang came to Siheyuan. He has not contacted other people in Siheyuan, nor has he tried to understand their situation, because there is no need. To put it bluntly, these things in Siheyuan are just some trivial matters, not worth Lao Yang's effort. Lao Yang has a more ambitious goal in mind, and trivial matters are his invisible shackles, so he avoids them whenever possible.

Liulitun was the place where bricks and tiles were fired for Beijing in the old days. After an hour's drive, we arrived at Liulitun. The area around Liulitun has not been developed yet. It is a pristine place with only Liulitun Village and several nearby villages. From a distance, we can see several large kilns, with tall chimneys emitting black smoke, and piles of bricks and tiles being placed or taken away near the kilns.

We found the head of Liulitun Village, who was in his fifties and very energetic, with sharp eyes. Lao Yang expressed his desire to rent a piece of land to build a small workshop or rent an existing workshop to make some porcelain. The head of the village had no way to meet Lao Yang's request, because now the workshops and kilns have been nationalized or jointly operated by the public and private sectors, and private workshops are not allowed to be established, nor are new kilns. Kilns and workshops are not allowed to be rented out.

If you cannot build or rent a workshop, there is no excuse to buy large quantities of coal. Individuals are not allowed to buy and sell large quantities of coal. If you want to absorb a large amount of energy, you will use up a large amount of coal. If you do not use it for normal purposes, you will face accountability and punishment. The key is that there is no purchasing channel.

It seems that the method I had imagined is not feasible. It is only possible to build a factory in a remote area where border control is relatively loose. However, coal and iron are now important controlled materials. Their mining and sales are planned, and the output is limited. There is no target for you at all.

Now you can consider working in power plants, kiln factories, and hot steel mills, where you will be exposed to large amounts of heat. However, this is not safe. Once you absorb too much heat and fail to achieve your goals, they will definitely hold you accountable and look for the cause, and this is not a long-term solution.

It seems that the only way is to go abroad or find a way to be self-reliant in remote areas. The overall situation in China is like this. Everything is planned economy. There is a way to find a way no matter how much it costs. This will be difficult to operate. Unless you find a coal mine, dig it yourself, and burn it yourself, this is simply unrealistic.

After returning to the courtyard, Lao Yang thought about it and finally decided to change his identity and go abroad to develop first, and then come back to help the country's construction after development. He did what he said without delay. That night, he climbed over the wall and left the courtyard. He came to the outer wall behind the Huode Zhenjun Temple near Shichahai and dug out a small package. There were two identity certificates that Lao Yang used before, one for Li Dazhuang from Chengde and the other for Zhang Jiangong from Wuhan. He put the two identity certificates into the space. He climbed over the wall and entered the Zhenjun Temple. He dug out two large yellow croakers and three small yellow croakers under the floor tiles in the west wing. After cleaning up the scene, he returned to the courtyard.

Lao Yang planned to take a boat from Tianjin to Hong Kong using Li Dazhuang's identity. Hong Kong was in a period of chaos, so it would not be too conspicuous to improve strength and develop power there. As a foreign concession in China, Hong Kong was a place where all kinds of materials could be purchased, including most of the world's goods, and no one cared what you did, so it was very suitable for early development.

Lao Yang reorganized his belongings and put the important items into the space. He had 4500 yuan in cash, 5000 yuan in the passbook, and a lot of other bills. He was going to go to the ghost market to exchange the money for hard currency such as gold, and tomorrow he would also take out the money in the passbook and exchange it for gold.

At about 3 a.m., Lao Yang climbed over the wall again and came to the ghost market near Dongzhimen. He covered most of his face with a big fur hat and walked around the ghost market. There were not many people, and they were just antiques, calligraphy and paintings. On the north side of the ghost market, there were a few thugs who managed the ghost market, and there were a few people squatting not far away. These people were the subordinates of the managers, and they were responsible for selling and collecting some bills and rare items. So if you want to quickly exchange gold, you still need to find these people. They have backgrounds, strong strength, and can handle large quantities of items.

Lao Yang walked over there. Just as he approached, a tall man spotted Lao Yang, stood up and walked towards Lao Yang, and whispered to Lao Yang: "What's up, man? What's the matter?"

Old Yang didn't waste any words and said directly: "Who should I go to for some hard goods now?"

The tall man motioned for Lao Yang to wait a moment. He walked back and tapped a man on the shoulder. The man walked towards Lao Yang and whispered to him, "Hey man, everyone calls me Qiangzi. Do you want to buy or sell?"

"Buy, what's the price?"

Qiangzi replied: "The big one is 2200, the small one is 220, we have plenty of stock, how much do you want?"

The prices at the ghost market are indeed higher than the regular prices, but about 10% is still acceptable.

"I want two big ones." He counted out the money and handed it to the other party. The other party didn't waste any words. After counting, he took out two large yellow croakers from his waist and handed them to him. After weighing them in his hand and confirming that they were real, he put them in his arms and left.

I found a ticket seller at the entrance of the ghost market and exchanged all the tickets I had for 55 yuan. I turned around and left the ghost market. After I found no one following me, I went back to rest.