The literary era since 1979

Chapter 24 State Trust Stores
Three days later, early in the morning.

Fangyan put down the script of "The Shepherd" that he had already written and is now waiting for the film studio to come to him during the awards ceremony.

"Iwako! Iwako!"

Suddenly, Fang Hong walked into the room, shouting.

Fang Yan was stunned, "Sister, what are you doing?"

"You must keep this ticket for me."

Fang Hong slapped the bicycle ticket on his desk.

Fangyan shook his head. "Sister, this is a reward from the factory for you as a model worker. How can you give it to me? You should buy yourself a Phoenix brand bike. It will be so cool to ride it in the factory."

"Don't talk nonsense. My home is only a few steps away from the noodle factory. Why should I ride a bike?"

Fang Hong narrowed her eyes, "Besides, Xiaoya and I are used to going home together. What will she do if I ride a bike?"

"That's easy. Just take her back."

Fangyan smiled.

Fang Hong said with a straight face, "You are just joking, right?"

Fang Yan half-jokingly said, "No, sister, have you ever thought about next year's college entrance examination, what if Su Ya passes it?"

"Whether Xiaoya passes the college entrance examination or not has nothing to do with whether you collect the bicycle ticket or not! I told you to take it, so you take it!"

A hint of disappointment flashed across Fang Hong's eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

Fang Yan said: "What about you?"

"Mom has discussed this with me. We have a few industrial coupons at home. We can forget about buying a Phoenix or Forever, but if we ask our neighbors for money, we can still get enough to buy a Jinshi, Hongqi or Wuyang."

Fang Hong felt helpless, relieved, and had mixed feelings.

It’s a unknown brand!
Fangyan raised his eyebrows. In this era when bicycles are the mainstream, brands are usually divided into two categories. One category is Fei Ge, Forever, and Phoenix, and the rest are classified into one category, jokingly called miscellaneous brands.

Even the Red Flag, like the Fei Ge, is produced in the Tianjin factory.

Thinking of this, I refused and said, "Sister, how about this? You buy the Phoenix brand and I buy the Red Flag. Anyway, I am not picky about brands."

"If you don't choose, other girls will choose."

Fang Hong glared at him and said, "Appearance is a person's dignity. With a Phoenix brand, not only will it be convenient for you to go to work, but you will also be respectable in the workplace and when you date in the future, you will also be respectable."

"Sister, this is not necessary."

Fangyan touched his nose.

A popular saying at that time was: Flying pigeons are fast, they last forever, no one loves you on a Red Flag car, but you can fall in love while riding a Phoenix.

When many girls are dating, they will require the boy to ride a Phoenix bicycle. Fei Ge or Yongjiu are just okay.

"I know you feel bad for me, but I also feel bad for you. Stop talking nonsense. If I want you to take it, just take it. If you keep talking..."

Fang Hong raised her hand and threatened, "Be careful or I'll beat you up!"

Sister, you are too nice to me, I am going to beat you up too.

Fangyan was helpless, "Sister, I can find a way to fix my bike myself."

Fang Hong frowned, "You can do it? What's your solution?"

"I'm going to the Trust Shop."

"Trust Store?!"

"Yes, I plan to go over and look for some bicycle parts. If I'm lucky, I might even be able to find a second-hand Phoenix."

"I'll take half a day off and go with you."

…………

In the past, there was a type of store in New Taipei City called "trust store".

In the words of Old Yanjing, it is also called "commissioned firm".

Similar to the pawnshops of the past, when someone wants to sell something they don’t need temporarily, the trust store will purchase it based on the market price and the condition of the item.

There is also consignment agency business, which acts as a matchmaker between the two parties of consignment sales and consignment purchases, and charges a brokerage fee.

Moreover, different places have different business directions.

For example, Dongsi, Caishikou, Tianqiao, and Qianmen mainly buy and sell miscellaneous items, from cameras, handicrafts, watches to clothing, leather shoes, hats, and clothes. Another example is Donghuamen, which mainly buys and sells furniture, tables, chairs, boxes, wardrobes, etc., mainly old items.

As for complete bicycles and spare parts, the first choice is Beixinqiao Trust Store, which is not far from Nanluoguxiang.

"Yanzi, why are you buying cigarettes?"

Fang Hong asked curiously, "Why buy such an expensive one?"

"It may be useful later."

Fangyan bought a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes for 3.40 a box.

The two came to the door of the trust store and looked inside from the outside. There were people everywhere, just like the supermarkets and shopping malls in their previous life.

"Yanzi, how did you know there is such a place?"

"I was just wandering around. This way, sis."

Fangyan walked to the sales department with ease.

Trust stores are generally divided into two parts: the sales department and the purchasing department. The sales department is responsible for display and sales, while the purchasing department is responsible for purchasing and consignment.

Fang Hong followed, just like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

There are radios, clocks, watches, furniture, and even old pianos, organs, and violins.

Although it is second-hand, it does not look old at all. Just like the tables, chairs and cabinets in front of you, the styles are just a bit old and the paint has peeled off.

If you look at it a few more times, you can even find traces of what appear to be house-raid seals left on some things, which have not been torn off completely.

"Hey, Daqianmen, what great cigarettes!"

The old master smiled and put it under his nose and sniffed it.

Fangyan smiled at him, and everything was said without words. Cigarettes these days are divided into three categories: A, B, and C.

Anything over 5 cents is considered Grade A, anything over 3 cents is Grade B, and anything below that is Grade C. The best cigarettes around cents are Badaling from Yanjing and Golden Leaf from Southern Henan...

Fang Hong looked in the direction of the voice and saw him take out two cigarettes from the cigarette box and pass them to the master and the apprentice at the counter.

"Bicycle, huh?"

Seeing how he “respected his elders”, the master instructed his young apprentice, “Xiao Liu, take them to the back to pick them out.”

"Hey, thank you, sir."

Fangyan pulled Fanghong and followed Xiao Liu, who was in a white coat, to the back of the house. They saw shelves on the left wall, with various bicycle parts neatly placed on them.

Directly opposite the rack, there are rows of bicycles.

There is one car each of the following types: National Defense, Red Flag, Hongmian, Wuyang, Baishan, and even the Sea Lion and Feihua produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in varying states of new and old.

"How come there are so many!"

Fang Hong was surprised.

"Some people are short of money and want to exchange for some cash. Some people are married and want to buy Phoenix or Forever bicycles, so they sell their old bicycles to raise money. Some people's bicycles are in a terrible state..."

Xiao Liu did not have the arrogance of a salesperson and introduced the products patiently.

"Sister, what do you think of this place?"

Dialect lowers the voice.

"It's good, but no matter how good it is, it can't be like Feng..."

Before Fang Hong finished speaking, he pointed to the middle of the pile of cars. The logo on the front of the car was clearly a phoenix.

There were also two or three Forever and Fei Ge vehicles on the left and right.

"This Phoenix looks quite new, why hasn't it been sold yet? Is there something wrong with it?" Fangyan walked to a second-hand Phoenix that looked about 70% to 80% new. The paint was scratched and the seat was a little torn and loose.

"The bike bell is broken and can't make a sound. The bike chain is badly worn and keeps falling off." Xiao Liu said truthfully.

"How much does this car cost?" Fangyan asked.

"150 yuan." said Xiao Liu.

"How much!"

Fang Hong was surprised and said, "This is too expensive. A brand new half set of chains is only 155 yuan!"

"This is different. Yours is a Type 12, but this is a Phoenix Type 18. A first-hand one costs more than 170 yuan." Xiao Liu knocked on the car body and said, "Although this is not a first-hand one, look here and here. They are all manganese steel, intact, solid and durable."

Then he introduced: "Look at the handlebars, rims, racks and legs, they are all electroplated, and the paint on the chain box is all covered with soap varnish, which is black, shiny and greasy. My master said that if the paint hadn't fallen off, the bell was broken, the seat was loose, and the chain was always falling off, it would have sold for at least 160."

"Then why don't you just repair and refurbish the bicycles and then sell them at a higher price?"

Fang Hong frowned.

"Sister, they don't make any money by doing this."

Fangyan's mouth corners raised.

"why?"

Fang Hong was puzzled.

“First, renovation and repairs require labor and material costs.”

Fangyan replied: "Secondly, even if it is repaired and refurbished, the price will increase, but if the price increase is too high, it is better to just buy a new one. Just like you said, half a set of chains is only 155."

"Expert, it's exactly the same as what my master said."

Xiao Liu gave him an approving look.

Fangyan looked at the rest of the Phoenixes and also tried second-hand Forever and Fei Ge bicycles, but they were either too broken or too old. In the end, he turned his attention back to the original 18-model 28-inch bicycle.

"Where are the Phoenix accessories?"

"there."

"Comrade, do you have any tools here?"

When Fangyan saw the clearly marked accessories, including chains, bells, seats, etc., he immediately rubbed his hands.

"Yes, yes, you want to repair the car here?"

Xiao Liu was very surprised.

Fang Yan said: "Yes, there are spare parts here. When the time comes, you can buy whatever you want to repair or supplement. It's so convenient."

"Then you have to buy the car first. Once the car is yours, you can do whatever you want with it." Xiao Liu said with principle.

"to make."

Fangyan carefully took out the money.

"Yako, wait a minute."

Fang Hong pulled him aside and whispered, "You really can repair cars. How come I don't remember you can do this? Don't break the car when the time comes, or you'll lose all your royalties."

"Sister, these car just have some minor issues, I'm sure."

Dialect is full of confidence.

Why am I so familiar with trust stores?
In my previous life, I made a lot of money by reselling items on Taobao from trust stores.

For example, these second-hand bicycles, although they are unwanted old goods and have many minor problems, there are very few major problems. As long as they are repaired and maintained well, you can buy them when they are 60% new and sell them when they are 70% to 80% new. You can even just use bicycle parts to build another one.

By going in and out, not only did I not lose money, I actually made a small profit.

"Just give it a try."

Fang Hong saw that she couldn't stop him. "But I remind you, don't take on a job that you don't know how to do. If you really can't do it, there's an old man in our factory who knows how to repair cars. I can ask him for help."

"Got it. I'll go to the counter to pay."

Fangyan picked up the bicycle and walked to the front room with Xiao Liu.

(End of this chapter)