Reborn in the red age

On the weekend, Hu Jiabao had nothing to do, so she dragged Li Qingfeng to go shopping with her.

Li Qingfeng, who didn't want to go out and just wanted to stay at home, couldn't stand Hu Jiabao's nagging, so he nodded in agreement helplessly. He left the two children to Cai Genhua, and the couple went out shopping together.

Standing at the entrance of Xiushui Street, Hu Jiabao pointed at a white foreigner who was surrounded by several people in the distance, and said to Li Qingfeng with a smile: "Since this year, more and more foreigners have come to Xiushui Street. You can see foreigners everywhere."

"Last year, Beijing hosted the Asian Games. Naturally, some foreigners would want to visit China. What's there to be curious about?" Li Qingfeng just glanced at the group of people and immediately looked away.

I have seen a lot of foreigners. When I was in America, there were blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigners everywhere around me.

Qingfeng Li didn't think it was a big deal to see foreigners in the country.

After listening to Li Qingfeng's explanation, Hu Jiabao looked at him with disdain and patted Li Qingfeng's slightly bulging belly: "What? What does this have to do with the Asian Games? I told you to go out more often when you have nothing to do, but you insisted on lying at home. Apart from gaining weight, you don't pay attention to the changes in the city at all. You are still doing business, but you don't pay attention to the outside world at all."

"My husband, you, is always paying attention to international events. He can make a business worth hundreds of millions of dollars just by talking. Why should I care about such a trivial matter as these foreigners coming to Beijing?" Li Qingfeng pouted and retorted unconvincedly.

"You have so many reasons. I am too lazy to tell you. I will go and see what those international traders are selling over there."

Pulling Hu Jiabao who was about to go over there, Li Qingfeng asked curiously, "Wait? International trader? What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what it says. Look at those foreigners over there, are they setting up stalls to do business? They are all from Eastern Europe or Big Brother. They bring some famous brands from their countries to sell, and by the way, they buy clothes from our country to sell back there." Hu Jiabao nodded over there, indicating that Li Qingfeng should look for himself.

Hearing what Hu Jiabao said, Li Qingfeng took a serious look and saw that the white man surrounded by several people seemed to be setting up a stall to sell things.

Now Li Qingfeng became interested and pulled Hu Jiabao over there to see what was going on.

It is common these days for Chinese people to go abroad to set up stalls and do business as traders, but this is the first time that Li Qingfeng, who seldom goes shopping, has seen a white person coming to China to do business as a trader.

As soon as he approached, Qingfeng Li heard half-baked Mandarin mixed with hawking.

“Adidas, an international brand”

"In America, rich people wear"

Looking at the white foreigners who were enthusiastically recommending their products, Li Qingfeng didn't understand for a moment where these people came from and why they came to set up stalls in Xiushui Street.

"Qingfeng, I think those sneakers are nice. Let's buy a pair and wear them when we go downstairs for a run."

Squeezing to the front row of stalls, Hu Jiabao looked around at the other stalls and saw a pair of Nike sneakers that he wanted to buy.

Li Qingfeng curled his lips after taking a look at the sneakers Hu Jiabao was pointing at. The style of this thing was quite old, dating back more than ten years. Nowadays, in foreign countries, not everyone would be willing to buy it for ten dollars.

Li Qingfeng bought this pair of sneakers when he was studying in the United States.

When it came to buying things, Hu Jiabao had no intention of asking for Li Qingfeng's opinion. He just squatted down, picked up the Nike shoes he liked, and began to examine them.

When the white female vendor saw Hu Jiabao wearing high-end shoes, she immediately abandoned the customer she was serving and enthusiastically introduced her shoes to Hu Jiabao: "Lady, NIKE, America brand, high-end, famous brand"

"Well, I know. How much is it?" After checking that the goods were OK, Hu Jiabao asked the boss for the price.

"Four Hundred and Eight"

"How many?"

Upon hearing the price, before Hu Jiabao could say anything, Li Qingfeng, who was acting as a transparent man next to him, could no longer sit still and exclaimed.

The female boss gestured five with one hand and three with the other, and fluently said the price of the shoes: "Four hundred and eighty"

In 1991, a pair of sneakers cost yuan, which was considered expensive even by someone as wealthy as Li Qingfeng.

Taking the sneakers from Hu Jiabao, Li Qingfeng shook his head: "Four hundred and eighty, is this thing made of gold? There is no such price in the world."

“I don’t understand.” As Qingfeng Li spoke so fast and long, the foreigner couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, but he still gestured with his hands: “Four hundred and eighty RMB, NIKE, a famous brand from America, high-end.”

"Come on, it's a famous brand, but this style was released more than ten years ago. It only sold for twenty or thirty dollars back then. I wouldn't say anything if you sold it for two or three hundred, but four hundred and eighty is a bit expensive. You're really ripping me off."

Li Qingfeng shook his head, thinking that this pair of shoes was not worth four hundred and eighty yuan. These foreigners were too damn cruel.

Domestic traders who go to Eastern Europe to do business are not so ruthless. They can make several times the profit.

The white vendor didn't understand what Qingfeng Li said and didn't respond at all. He just kept saying things like "530" and "famous brand".

"Okay, it's expensive, but we don't have them in our country." Hu Jiabao pulled the corner of Li Qingfeng's clothes, then smiled and said to the white boss in English: "Madam, we want this pair of shoes. Are your sizes European?"

"I don't understand, I don't understand, I'm Bulgarian"

The white boss is from Eastern Europe, and English is not the mainstream foreign language there, so they cannot communicate in English. Hu Jiabao can only communicate with the boss by gestures and guessing.

After some difficult communication, Hu Jiabao paid four hundred and eighty yuan to buy the Nike shoes, which in Li Qingfeng's opinion were not worth that much money at all.

"I just told you that these shoes are not worth that much money, but you still spent money to buy them. Aren't you being taken advantage of?"

Li Qingfeng, who was carrying a pair of Nike shoes, kept mumbling to Hu Jiabao while shopping.

Hu Jiabao rolled his eyes at Li Qingfeng and said unhappily, "How long has it been since you bought clothes for yourself? Do you think the clothes you're wearing are cheap? It's normal for a pair of Nike shoes to cost four or five hundred yuan. The short-sleeved shirts that Wen Hui gave you in the summer cost six or seven hundred yuan each in her store. Every piece of clothing in your closet is more expensive than these shoes."

"No, what? Just that tattered T-shirt? Six or seven hundred?"

It had been a long time since he had gone out to buy clothes in person, so when he heard the current prices of clothes, Li Qingfeng was a little shocked.

Hu Jiabao nodded and said as a matter of course: "Yes, there is nothing to be surprised about. People are like this now. They are willing to spend money on clothes. They would rather spend several months' salary to buy ridiculously expensive clothes than to buy cheap domestic clothes. Look at the young people on the street, how many of them wear cheap clothes?"

As he spoke, Hu Jiabao glanced around and nodded at a young man in his twenties who was passing by: "Look, this is a pair of Tai Wang sabers. They cost more than a thousand yuan each, which is more expensive than the clothes you usually wear."

During the following shopping trip, Qingfeng Li began to pay attention to the clothes worn by passers-by on the street.

Sure enough, what Hu Jiabao said was true. Young people are willing to spend money on clothes. There are few cheap ones. The worst one is an "Erie jacket" that costs three or four hundred yuan. After observing the street, Li Qingfeng was secretly shocked. He was really suppressed for too long. After 30 years of "dedicating to the country" and 13 years of "struggling for oneself", the Chinese people were defeated by the temptation of international brands.

With a monthly salary of two hundred yuan, he would rather go without food or drink for a few months and buy himself a set of ridiculously expensive brand-name clothes.

After buying a few sets of autumn clothes for their two children at Xiushui Street, the couple drove away carrying their bags.

When passing by Xidan, Hu Jiabao turned the car into Ma Wenhui's store, intending to buy two more pieces of clothing for himself there.

Standing at the door of Ma Wenhui's store, Li Qingfeng said speechlessly: "Why didn't you buy it at Xiushui Street? Why did you have to turn to Ma Wenhui's store?"

"The clothes outside are so expensive, and the styles are not as nice as those in Wenhui's store. Can't I just come to Wenhui's store to get the clothes I buy outside?" Hu Jiabao locked the car door and walked into Ma Wenhui's clothing store in a cool manner.

Zhang Yapeng went on a business trip to Japan to recruit people, and Ma Wenhui took advantage of the opportunity to join a purchasing group to travel to Japan.

Ma Wenhui was not in the country at the time, but their store manager was very familiar with Hu Jiabao. She greeted Hu Jiabao with a smile, let her choose whatever she wanted, and then continued to serve the customers nearby.

"Does this dress look good on me?"

“It looks good, it looks good”

"What about this one? How about I wear it?"

“It looks good, it looks good”

After changing several clothes, he got the same answer all the time. Hu Jiabao rolled his eyes at Li Qingfeng: "It's better to bring Chuyi with you when shopping. Chuyi can express his own opinions. What about you? Apart from looking good, there is no other word for you."

"What's the point of saying so many words? In the final analysis, it all means good-looking," Li Qingfeng shrugged and said with a grin.

"Alas, without Wenhui, I don't even have a friend to go shopping with."

"Why not? Where are your classmates and colleagues? Why don't you ask them to go shopping?"

Hu Jiabao rolled his eyes again: "You are stupid, they all get a fixed salary, so little money every month, and they have families to support, how can I go shopping with them?"

"That makes sense. I didn't think it through." Li Qingfeng nodded in understanding, and then said seriously: "You continue to change. When you change into new clothes, I will definitely rack my brains to say all the words of praise to you."

"Forget it, your compliments are meaningless, I'd better just look in the mirror myself."

"No, how can it be boring?"

Hu Jiabao ignored him, picked up a new piece of clothing, and went back to the changing room.

While Hu Jiabao went inside to change clothes, Li Qingfeng wandered around the store casually, occasionally checking the price tags.

It has to be said that Ma Wenhui was very successful in building a brand according to the ideas originally provided by Li Qingfeng.

The clothes can be sold at a high price and are also recognized by the people.

The only drawback is that Ma Wenhui's brand focuses on women's clothing, and now the main consumers of high-end clothing are men. Women who are willing to spend one or two thousand yuan to buy a short-sleeved shirt are a minority.
The consumption power rankings of women, children, the elderly, dogs and men compiled by later consumerists are a joke these days.

Before the bootlicker economy began, men were the absolute main force in the consumer market.

Since Lemon Company suspended its domestic operations, Huaxin was now producing low-end chips, and Li Qingfeng was too lazy to go there. For the next period of time, Li Qingfeng began an idle vacation life.

Every day, I either pick up my children from school or drive around the streets of Beijing to learn about the daily changes in Beijing.

I would go to the Lemon Company's domestic office every now and then to learn about the news from Hong Kong and to remotely control the company's headquarters. My life was very leisurely.

In December, half a month before the red flag was about to land, Zhang Yapeng and Ma Wenhui returned from abroad. Li Qingfeng and his wife drove to the Sijiucheng Airport to greet them.

When seeing Zhang Yapeng and the others coming out, Li Qingfeng took the lead and shook Zhang Yapeng's right hand enthusiastically: "Thank you for your hard work. You've been away for two or three months. It's really hard for you. I've booked a place at Donglaishun today. I'll make up for it later."

"Donglaishun is great. I've been craving that for a long time. You don't know, the food those foreigners cook is really awful. Wenhui has been complaining to me, saying that if she had known that she would have to eat these things, she wouldn't have gone abroad with them."

It was Zhang Yapeng's first time going abroad, and he hadn't had a proper Chinese meal for two or three months. When he heard the word "shabu-shabu mutton", he couldn't help swallowing.

"Haha, it's just like when I first went abroad. Don't worry, I've already prepared it. There's plenty of mutton tonight." Li Qingfeng looked at Ma Wenhui again and said with a smile, "Since the food outside is so bad, why don't you come back first? Why did you stay abroad for so long?"

"That means you've never been to America and Europe. It's so hard to go abroad, how can you not go and take a look?" Ma Wenhui, who was whispering with Hu Jiabao arm in arm, heard Li Qingfeng's question, turned around and said with a smile.

"Haha, then why are you complaining about the bad food?"

"The food is really bad. Those foreigners are..."

Zhang Yapeng looked at the big boss who came to greet him and the engineers he poached, and suddenly changed the subject, leaving the engineers aside, and started chatting with his wife about European and American food in front of everyone.

I was completely dumbfounded. Did the boss forget the purpose of picking me up at the airport?

With a slight cough, Zhang Yapeng interrupted the conversation between the two about food, and then he took Li Qingfeng aside to introduce the engineers recruited from abroad.

"Teacher Li, these are the engine design team hired by Nissan Motor Company of Japan. This is the team leader, Nimura Tokuo, and these are..."

"This is Mr. Smith and his two colleagues from Rover Motor Company in England."

"This is from the French Citroën Automobile Company"

Li Qingfeng would shake hands with every person Zhang Yapeng introduced to him, and the more he heard about the other person's background, the more surprised he felt.

Old Zhang is really good. This trip abroad was not in vain. He actually recruited quite a few engineers from so many international companies.

I don't know how Lao Zhang fooled people, but he is really a talented person (End of this chapter)