Return to Singapore 1995

"Commander, what's up?" Li Xiaofan asked curiously.

"Brothers, the day after tomorrow, Sunday, February 12th, is my birthday! Brothers and sisters, work overtime until 5pm on Sunday and then go home. After get off work, I'll treat everyone to a drink at Zui Baxian Seafood Restaurant next door to celebrate my first birthday in Singapore!"

"Okay, Commander Wu is treating, we must come!"

"Thank you, Boss Wu!"

"Xiaofan, you must come too, just work a few hours less this Sunday!"

Li Xiaofan smiled and said, "Well, I must come! Besides, I didn't plan to work overtime this Sunday."

According to Li Xiaofan's plan, on Sunday he would go to the Singapore Institute of Technical Education ITE in Tampines to register for the Singapore National Electronic Engineering Professional Certificate on-the-job course.

Ah TAN, who was standing next to him, came over and said, "Oh Lao Hey, Brother Fan, you are so rich. Don't you plan to do a few more OTs on Sunday?" (Oh Lao Hey, in English, wah lao eh, is spoken by Chinese people in Singapore and Malaysia, a bit like the meaning of "lie down" in mainland China) Ah TAN and Commander Wu work in the electroplating workshop of Ximu Factory, and they have a good relationship. Li Xiaofan smiled and said, "There are too many OTs in life that cannot be completed. I want to relax this Sunday!" OT is the abbreviation of overtime in English. According to Singapore's labor law, the working hours per week are 44 hours, Monday to Friday and half a day on Saturday. The overtime pay is 1.5 times the basic salary on weekdays, 2 times on Sundays and public holidays, and 3 times on major holidays such as the Chinese New Year. Li Xiaofan and other low-level fifth-level operators from mainland China have an hourly wage of about 2.2 Singapore dollars per hour, 44 hours a week, plus subsidies, if they do not work overtime, the basic monthly salary is about 480 Singapore dollars. So the only way for them to make more money is to do overtime and more OT. What's more, the double overtime pay on Sundays, 12 hours of overtime on Sunday, is 53 Singapore dollars, multiplied by the exchange rate of 5.7 at the time, it is 300 yuan, equivalent to half a month's income of an ordinary worker in China. The exchange rate of the Singapore dollar was particularly high that year.

That era was the golden time to work and make money in Singapore. But that era was also an era when the agency fees for overseas labor services were extremely expensive. The general price of overseas labor agencies is between 20,000 and 40,000 yuan. When Li Xiaofan came out last year, he also paid 25,000 yuan in agency fees to the local state-owned foreign labor agency. Their monthly salary in the Singapore factory is 480 Singapore dollars, which is equivalent to 2,740 yuan. That is to say, if you come to Singapore to work and don't work overtime, all the money you earned in the first 10 months will be spent on working for the agency without eating or drinking.

So coming to Singapore to work, without OT and overtime is basically a dead end.

Fortunately, most of the companies that went to the mainland to recruit skilled workers were multinational corporations. At that time, Singapore's electronics industry was developing rapidly, and factories had endless orders. They basically worked at full capacity 24 hours a day throughout the year, so Li Xiaofan and his team also had endless OT!

As they talked, everyone walked into the market and started ordering food.

In Singapore, Orchid Village is close to Changi Airport and the beach, with a pier and seaside park to Pulau Ubin nearby, and beautiful scenery. It is also one of the popular check-in places for people from all over Singapore to relax on weekends. There are a variety of snacks in the market, including Bak Kut Teh, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Xingzhou Fried Rice Noodles, Fish Head Tofu, Malay Fried Noodles, Indian Fried Chicken, etc.

While everyone was sitting at the middle table enjoying the food, Li Xiaofan was staring at the Wan Zi Ticket Shop opposite: February 12 is Commander Wu's birthday...

0212, 0212, 0212, this number, it seems that something happened that day...

He was thinking hard there.

Looking at Commander Wu across from me, smiling adorably after eating delicious Xingzhou fried rice noodles...

Suddenly, I got an idea and remembered it! Commander Wu's birthday 0212 is related to a lottery winning number of that year!

I vaguely remember that in my previous life, on Sunday night, Commander Wu invited everyone to Zui Baxian Seafood Restaurant. When a few of us passed by the lottery shop drunkenly, we saw a group of uncles discussing the lottery numbers that were newly released that evening. The local lottery is usually drawn at 6:30 pm every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

Li Xiaofan vaguely remembered that night when Commander Wu looked at the lottery winning numbers that had just been posted, pretending to beat his chest and stamp his feet and joked: Oh, brothers and sisters, look, today's lottery first prize is 5212! The first 5 is the 5 of this year 1995, and the last 212 is my birthday! Damn, this 5212 is definitely the real lottery number in my life! Hey, brothers and sisters, we missed a chance to make a fortune! If we had known earlier, we would have bought a few hundred bets together, and then we wouldn't have to work hard here! "

...

After everyone finished breakfast and went upstairs to rest, Li Xiaofan pulled behind the team and came to the lottery shop alone.

"Brother, good morning, do you want to buy 4D?" The Singaporean boss of the shop, An Gelin, was very enthusiastic. This is a husband-and-wife shop. In Singapore, uncles are called "Ange", which means uncle in English.

"Well, An Gelin, give me a few Sunday lottery tickets, 100 small bets, number 5212!"

"Wow, so ruthless, all bets on 5212 small? Brother, do you want to consider half big and half small? More chances?" An Gelin reminded.

The prize money of Singapore 4D lottery is divided into first, second and third prizes, shortlisted prizes and consolation prizes. If you buy big, you can win all prizes, and if you buy small, you can only win 1, 2, and 3 prizes, but the prize money is higher than buying big. The same number is 1 Singapore dollar for big and small. For example, if you buy a small of one dollar, and the numbers are in order, then the prize money is generally 2000 times. If they are not in order, then it is a big bet, and 2000 times divided by 12.

"No, I want to bet all small! Come on, An Gelin, give you money, 100 yuan!"

"OK, 5212, small, 100 yuan! I wish you good luck in winning the first prize!"

After An Gelin happily took the two blue 50-yuan notes from Li Xiaofan, he handed the lottery ticket marked [5212, small, $100] to Li Xiaofan.

...

At twelve o'clock in the evening, the second shift's working hours ended.

For employees like Li Xiaofan who continue to work overtime, there is a 20-minute break and meal time in the middle.

When Li Xiaofan and a few others were eating supper with team leader A Biao in the restaurant, A Long, the third shift leader of the test group, came hurriedly and said to A Biao:

"Brother Biao, two people in the electrical test workshop have asked for sick leave tonight. There are a lot of boards tonight and the orders are urgent! I have no choice but to borrow one person from you to help tonight!"

A Biao raised his head slowly: "Brother Long, the people in our finishing workshop can't operate such complex and advanced testing machines as yours. Even if all our team members are lent to you, they can't help!"

"It's okay, it's okay, I will debug the machine, just lend me one person to help me manage the machine and help load and unload the boards!"

The test group is the core department of the entire electrical test workshop and the direct force of the workshop director Lin Qianxue. A Biao can't afford to offend.