Yongjia Middle School, Faculty and Staff Building 2, Unit 1, Room 302.
Chen Xia's family was discussing Fang Bai's college entrance celebration.
Fang Lei asked his wife, "How much should we give as a gift?"
"Five yuan per person.
Your brother's family isn't short on money; giving a red envelope is just a formality. If it weren't for the invitation, out of politeness, I wouldn't even want to go. This whole thing infuriates me. Now, the principal doesn't even look at me favorably, and I lost last semester's bonus.
Hmph, in the end, it's still your sister-in-law's fault for complaining to the principal that I prevented Fang Bai from entering Yongjia Middle School.
Do you think I did anything wrong? He was so far from the score line on his first college entrance exam; it would be a miracle if he could get into college after repeating a year.
Who knew your nephew would be so lucky and even become the top scorer? It's absurd to even think about it, how is that possible?" Chen Xia was full of resentment. She blamed her sister-in-law, and even more so her mother-in-law, and also somewhat hated herself for being so blind back then.
Thinking about how rich others have become while she's been so unlucky, she gets angry just thinking about it.
But she had to admit that Fang Bai was truly capable and full of clever ideas; he actually managed to start a business.
It's just that her nephew held a grudge against her; he didn't even greet her last time they met.
"Sigh, stop rambling. What's the use of talking about this now?" Fang Lei now only wanted to mend the relationship between the two brothers. He was somewhat resentful of his wife, wondering why she had been so heartless back then. They had argued several times over this matter.
Chen Xia scoffed, "Heh, so now you're blaming me, huh? How much better are you? You've always looked down on your brother, and you have no opinion of your own, always listening to your mother's arrangements. Now that the two families are so estranged, your mother bears the greatest responsibility, always stirring up trouble and causing problems."
Fang Lei, who always submitted to adversity and didn't want to admit to the matter, changed the subject: "Let's talk seriously. Is five yuan per person a bit too little?"
"It's not little. It's just a meal at a hotel, anyway. Your brother's family isn't short on money."
"Then you arrange it."
Fang Lei thought for a moment and had no opinion. His wife always made decisions for family matters. At the same time, he felt it didn't matter since his brother's family wasn't short on money.
The two families basically had no interaction. Now that they were rich, they were treating them the same way they had been treated back then.
"You guys go, I'm not going. I have a class reunion today." Fang Hai, who got into Shanghai Industrial University last year, found an excuse not to go, mainly because he wasn't close to his cousin, who was two months younger than him.
One lived in the countryside for a long time, the other in the county town for a long time. They hadn't seen each other twice a year and couldn't play together. What kind of brotherly affection was there?
The two families had many conflicts due to the elders' division of property, and now they didn't want to see others showing off even more.
When he came back for the holidays, he often heard his parents grumbling about his uncle's family, who had suddenly become rich, which he found hard to believe.
If he were to start a business, maybe it would work. He planned to try it after the next semester started.
"If you don't want to go, then don't." Chen Xia doted on her son more. She often talked about her son getting into university in front of students; he had always been her pride.
She had never seen her sister-in-law send any appliances to her family; they didn't even look at them favorably.
Fang Lei heard his son didn't want to go and hesitated, but in the end, he said nothing and left with his wife.
They ran into Principal Luo on the road. Chen Xia enthusiastically greeted him, even emphasizing, "My nephew is the top scorer in the college entrance exam, right? He's holding a celebration banquet and invited us to attend. We're going to drink now."
"Oh, that's really great, huh."
Hearing the principal say it with a smile, Chen Xia felt much better.
The two left the school and took a car, then boarded a boat at Oubei Wharf to cross the river. After walking about a hundred meters, they arrived at the Sheraton Hotel in the city center.
The history of Sheraton can be traced back to 1937. Sheraton Hotel was the first international chain hotel to operate in China, mostly five-star hotels, with a small number of four-star ones.
Liu Fengqing originally wanted to hold it in Oubei, but there were too few hotels there, and their quality was low, simply not enough for dozens of tables. The County Leader also had to attend, so she simply chose a star-rated hotel across the wharf.
In reality, the price of the dishes was only slightly more expensive than ordinary hotels, not too outrageous at all.
Even if they set up dozens of tables, it wouldn't cost them much money; it was just a day's profit from the shopping mall.
Plus, the hotel, seeing the popularity of the top scorer, gave them many discounts.
Therefore, Fang Bai's parents were also very generous and simply booked it grandly.
When Chen Xia and her husband arrived in front of the Sheraton Hotel, they were slightly surprised by the over ten-story-high hotel.
If they hadn't known that their sister-in-law's family was rich and seen the two large banners hanging outside the hotel: "Welcome National College Entrance Examination Top Scorer Fang Bai to host his college entrance celebration at Sheraton Hotel" and "Top Scorer New Dishes Launched," they both would have thought they had come to the wrong place.
What they didn't know was that to run these advertisements, the hotel gave Fang Bai's family a 50% discount on the banquet and also gave them two new dishes, "Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate" and "Successfully Passing the Imperial Examination," named "Top Scorer Dishes," which they planned to promote to other parents hosting college entrance celebrations.
"Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate" naturally had fish, while "Successfully Passing the Imperial Examination" was actually braised pig trotters with soybeans.
At the entrance of the lobby, there was also a large poster stand on the ground, which read, "College Entrance Examination Top Scorer Fang Bai's College Entrance Celebration, please go to the banquet hall on the second floor."
Walking through the revolving glass door and stepping on the marble floor, they were quickly awestruck by what they saw.
The spacious lobby was like a solemn and elegant palace, exuding an atmosphere of nobility and luxury everywhere, showcasing extravagance and prestige.
In the center of the lobby was a spacious and exquisite reception desk, crafted from smooth marble and inlaid with golden borders. Behind the reception desk, a row of neatly dressed staff in noble uniforms smiled, ready to provide attentive service to guests at any time.
"It's truly high-end, grand, and classy! How much would it cost to host a banquet here?" Chen Xia was somewhat surprised; she had thought the hotel for the college entrance celebration was just a small restaurant.
Fang Lei had some experience but had never been to such a place. He also exclaimed, "That depends on what dishes were ordered, but it definitely isn't cheap."
Chen Xia suddenly felt that giving ten yuan as a gift for two people was a bit too little, but after deliberating for a while, she still didn't add more. After all, she felt her sister-in-law's family had money and she was still resentful about past events.
Not only them, but many relatives and friends who hadn't seen much of the world felt very honored to be able to eat at the Sheraton Hotel when they stepped inside.
"Dad, Cousin's family is so generous! It must cost a lot to host a banquet here."
"Didn't you see the Xinghai Electric Appliance Market when we came over? That's their family's. Your cousin's family isn't short on money."
"Then, Dad, how much money does Cousin's family actually have?"
"I don't know, but they're very rich. Kids shouldn't ask about these things. When you see your cousin later, talk to him nicely."
A family of four walked past Chen Xia; they seemed to be Liu Fengqing's maternal relatives, speaking very casually, completely disregarding that this was an occasion where one shouldn't speak loudly.
Chen Xia pretended to be worldly, not looking around, and tried to speak as little as possible, as the more she spoke, the more likely she was to make a fool of herself.
The crowd had never ridden an elevator before, and there was an elevator attendant specifically to open the elevator for them and personally escort them to the second floor.
At this time, it was already past ten in the morning, and Fang Bai and his parents stood at the entrance of the second-floor hall, greeting guests.
"Congratulations, congratulations! Is this A-Bai? It's been so many years. I even held him when he was little. I can't believe he's grown so big."
"Congratulations, A-Bai, the top scorer in the college entrance exam! Your future is limitless!"
"Fang Bai, congratulations! The school is proud of you."
"Manager Fang, I wish you a splendid future and great achievements! Please sign an autograph for my child, to get some of that top scorer luck, haha."
Guests flocked in, offering blessings to Fang Bai's family, and many parents asked Fang Bai for autographs for their children, hoping their own children would study better.
To one side of the entrance, there were two tables specifically for collecting and registering gifts.
People from Wen City give very generously. If it were twenty years later, the normal gift for a college entrance celebration would be 500 yuan and up per person, and for a wedding, 1,000 yuan and up.
Now, in other places, a wedding gift might only be five or ten yuan, and twenty yuan would be considered a lot. College entrance celebration gifts are a bit less.
But in Wen City, giving less than ten yuan for a college entrance celebration is unacceptable; twenty yuan is the starting point.
Now that Fang Bai's family was rich and hosting it at a hotel, guests were giving more, which put considerable pressure on families with poorer economic conditions.
The accountant from Xinghai Shopping Mall was in charge of collecting the money, and another person with good calligraphy was in charge of registration.
Each red envelope had the guest's name written on it. Liu Fengqing had already instructed the accountant this morning to put back exactly how much was inside each red envelope.
If no red envelope was given but other gifts were, then the value would be estimated.
When the guests were almost all there, she would distribute them, which would make everyone happier while eating.
Each red envelope came with a small gift box, and inside the gift box were candies and tea, all placed in a small gift bag.
If they were distributed after the banquet started, some guests would leave as soon as they finished eating.
Chen Xia and her husband greeted their sister-in-law's family, put down the red envelope, and then found a table according to the designated areas: siblings, maternal relatives, teachers, VIPs, etc.
The VIPs were business partners and County Leaders, arranged in private rooms.
Business partners and County Leaders did not have to give red envelopes; their presence alone was considered an honor.
Fang Lei worked at the Family Planning Office in Shangtang Town, Yongjia County, as a mid-level clerk. If he had a strong background back then, he would have gone directly to the County.
When he just walked past the private room, he actually saw that all the County Leaders, including County Chief Gu, were there, drinking tea and chatting in the private room.
This surprised him greatly; he actually managed to invite the County Leaders to attend the banquet.
"Who did you see? What's the big deal!" Chen Xia had just seen her husband freeze for a moment in front of a private room door.
"A few County Leaders, I didn't expect them all to come," Fang Lei said in surprise, lowering his head.
"This..." Chen Xia was stunned for a moment, a bit envious. "Your brother really has a lot of influence."
"The Xinghai Shopping Mall is a big investment, so perhaps the County Leaders attach importance to it," Fang Lei felt like he had missed something again, thinking his brother's family was just rich, but not realizing their relationship with the County was so good.
Thinking about it carefully, he could understand.
He used to think that he hadn't advanced because of his lack of background and inability to speak well, but now he felt his reactions to these matters were a bit slow.
Just like now, if it were someone good at socializing, going up to say hello might have made them familiar, but he just didn't dare. In terms of socializing, he was not as good as his wife.
He used to think his sister-in-law's way of speaking lacked cultural sophistication, but now her way of dealing with people is very polished. It's hard to say, perhaps it's the environment that shapes a person.
The people he used to look down on are now doing better than him, and the more he compares, the greater his sense of loss.
Sometimes, he felt quite sad.
He looked around but didn't see his old man and old lady. It seemed his sister-in-law hadn't informed them, fearing the two elders would cause a scene, as there had been quite a lot of arguments in recent years.
Chen Xia suggested, "I think you should find an opportunity later to greet the County Leaders; it would be good for your future development."
"Forget it, I'm already in my forties or fifties, no more fussing," Fang Lei waved his hand.
"You never make any progress, you have no opinion on anything, it infuriates me."
When Chen Xia heard her husband say this, she really wanted to lose her temper, but she thought about how many years it had been like this, and she had always been the one to make decisions.
While the two were talking, more and more people arrived.
Around 11:30 AM, most of the guests had arrived. Just before the banquet was about to begin, Liu Fengqing went to distribute gift boxes and red envelopes. She held the red envelopes and had a few relatives help carry the gift boxes.
"I forgot to tell everyone, we don't accept red envelopes for this banquet. Your presence here is already a great honor for our family, and it truly brightens our humble home. Therefore, we are returning double the amount of the red envelopes as a token of our apology and thanks to everyone."
Liu Fengqing spoke impeccably, making everyone feel very comfortable.
However, what everyone didn't expect was that the hosts would return double the red envelopes!
This practice was completely unexpected!
Some guests didn't want to accept the red envelopes, but Liu Fengqing persuaded them, "We have already received everyone's good wishes and blessings. Thank you for attending the banquet.
If you don't accept it, how can other relatives and friends feel comfortable accepting theirs?"
"Haha, she really knows how to talk, worthy of being the top scholar's mother."
Guests who had intended to refuse could only smile and accept their red envelopes.
Some new friends whose families were not well-off had even borrowed money for this banquet's gift, and they didn't expect to spend nothing in the end, but instead receive a generous gift. They felt grateful to Fang Bai's family, thinking that they were truly generous, no wonder they could make a fortune in business.
Overall, all the guests were very happy, with only a small portion regretting that their gifts were too small.
The banquet quickly began. Fang Bai never refused a toast, even managing to outdrink many at the tables with the County Leaders and business partners.
Those who had drunk with Fang Bai and knew his alcohol tolerance would not try to persuade him to drink.
Chen Shi said with a chuckle, "If you try to outdrink Fang Bai, aren't you just asking for trouble? This guy can drink more than us old alcoholics."
"Our whole table, we might get drunk, but we still can't outdrink Fang Bai."
Around 2 PM, all good things come to an end, and Fang Bai's admission banquet concluded.
The most satisfied were Fang Bai's parents. Relatives and friends enthusiastically flattered them, making them feel incredibly proud.
On the way home, Chen Xia and her husband kept regretting giving too little as a gift. The four 5-yuan bills in the red envelope felt like a complete mockery of them.
"I should have given more. I regret it so much," Chen Xia kept muttering.
"Didn't I tell you earlier to pack more? You said five yuan per person was enough."
"Then why didn't you put more in yourself? A grown man who can't even make up his own mind."
"..." Fang Lei didn't want to say anything more.
"When Fang Bai gets engaged and married, we'll borrow money to give a much bigger red envelope!" Chen Xia said fiercely. She had missed out on a super big red envelope today.
She saw that the red envelopes given by her sister-in-law's family were very generous; Fang Bai's aunt had given five hundred, and they returned five hundred.
"What if they don't return it?"
"Hmph, I think my sister-in-law doesn't care about this money at all. She's just showing off, like a parvenu. Just you wait and see."
Compared to these red envelopes, Fang Lei felt that his family had missed out on an opportunity for wealth and lost too much.
If his wife hadn't been so greedy when they divided the family property, and if he had stood up and spoken out to concede a little, and the two families hadn't argued, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way today.
Now, trying to cozy up to them, they wouldn't even pay attention to them, just a normal greeting.
...
After the admission banquet, Fang Bai devoted more energy to the trial production of the 6-inch PN600 wedge double-gate valve.
One day later, August 20th.
The molds were finished. After Fang Bai inspected them, he had the master workers make minor adjustments, which concluded the preliminary work.
Next was casting. He inspected three foundries and chose one, ordering twenty pieces each of valve bodies, valve covers, and gate plates, with a total weight of about 1.4 tons, which was about 10% lighter than similar products on the market.
The tax-inclusive price for investment casting was more than three times the steel market price, approximately five thousand yuan per ton, with the steel market price having the greatest impact.
Another three days passed, August 23rd.
Fang Bai received the castings. After inspection, there were no major casting issues. He arranged for a vehicle to transport them back to Jiayu Processing Factory.
Fang Bai couldn't keep up with the subsequent work as he had to rush to school, so he left the remaining tasks to his father-in-law.
Processes like welding, grinding, machining, lapping, assembly, and pressure testing cannot currently be performed by Jiayu Company. They need to acquire relevant equipment and recruit personnel before proceeding.
There's no rush for this gate valve product. Trial production will begin after the new valve factory is built and put into use, which is still a year away.
Fang Bai shifted his focus to professional studies and the design of the ground pump. At the same time, he began preparing for the subscription certificates.
He only remembered it was early January 1992, but not the exact date, so he had to keep an eye on this information at all times.
In other words, it might be in just over four months.
Time passed quickly, especially when he was busy every day.
If Fang Bai wasn't careful, he might miss this opportunity.
Before that, he needed to do a lot of preparatory work. The first step, purchasing a nearby house, had already been planned, but it hadn't been renovated yet. He required the renovation to be completed within two months.
On August 26th, Fang Bai and Qin Shuyu departed for Shanghai.
There was still some time until school started, but there was nothing left for him to do at home.
The renovation company in Shanghai had already called, saying that Qin Shuyu's house had been renovated and asked him to inspect it.
Before departing, Fang Bai once again took three million yuan from home.
His current total wealth was 19.8 million yuan, which already excluded the 2 million yuan given to his father-in-law and approximately 2.53 million yuan in five months of bank interest.
Fang Bai had borrowed a total of 42 million yuan: 22 million yuan from the G Bank branch on Nanxi Road, 10 million yuan from the Yongjia County Rural Bank headquarters, and 10 million yuan from the Yongjia County Zhong Bank headquarters.
The first phase of the shopping mall was budgeted at 25 million yuan, Xinghai Construction Company invested 850,000 yuan, 2 million yuan was spent on the last trip to Shanghai, and the 400 mu of land in Yongjia County required an expenditure of 20 million yuan (fully paid).
There was another large expenditure: 2000 mu of industrial land and 100 mu of commercial land in Sha County, Shanghai, with a total cost including tax of approximately 30 million yuan, but only 1 million yuan had been prepaid.
In reality, Fang Bai had approximately eight million yuan of disposable funds.
He took three million yuan in cash, leaving several million yuan of disposable funds at home.
Additionally, only a portion of the 25 million yuan invested in the shopping mall had been spent.
Currently, the electric appliance market is very popular, with monthly profits exceeding bank interest, like picking up money, so Fang Bai is not worried for now.
After ten months of rebirth, without stock speculation or leverage, starting from scratch, earning twenty million yuan was truly not easy, and could be considered a success.
Now, Fang Bai truly shifted his map to Shanghai.
A new journey officially began.
One update today, a two-in-one. Last day, taking a break. My back aches, and my old ailment has recurred.