Chapter 139: Hiring the Projectionist

Right now, the renminbi still holds considerable value—about 2.5 yuan could be exchanged for 1 US dollar.

Of course, you couldn’t get a dollar for 2.5 yuan on the black market. As mentioned earlier, foreign currency was in extreme short supply in China, and it was nearly impossible to acquire foreign currency through official channels.

Put it this way—if you had foreign currency, you could buy goods without ration coupons.

That’s how important foreign exchange was.

Because of this, special vouchers known as “Remittance Coupons” were issued in 1960 and 1982, which only overseas Chinese and their families could use. These were issued by the state to encourage overseas Chinese to bring foreign currency home to their relatives.

Anyone who brought back the equivalent of 100 yuan in foreign currency from abroad could receive a “Remittance Coupon” that entitled them to extra rations: 6 kilograms of grain, 1 kilogram of cooking oil, 1 kilogram of white sugar, 1 kilogram of fresh meat, and 10 feet of cotton cloth.

Basically, foreign currency was like a universal voucher. Things that couldn’t be handled with renminbi often could be solved with foreign currency.

“This invention was worth 550,000 US dollars?” Lu Guofu was stunned.

It was hard not to be shocked.

That’s over a million yuan.

He couldn’t even imagine what kind of money that was.

In this era, being a “ten-thousand-yuan household” was already considered wealthy by most.

Zhou Yimin smiled and said, “The patent for that invention was bought out by a pencil company for $550,000, but its real value is definitely more than that. No businessman would make a losing deal.

Of course, in our country, we don’t go for capitalist nonsense.”

In reality, some inventions look very simple—anyone could understand them at a glance and they seem to have no technical value. But if they’re popular and consumed in high quantities, their value becomes significant.

One such widely known product Zhou Yimin was familiar with—

Sticky notes.

That’s right! Sticky notes were an invention too.

Originally, scientists were trying to develop a highly adhesive glue, but what they ended up with was a low-adhesion weak glue. Just as everyone was feeling disappointed, 3M’s Fry discovered its true value during the experiments. Fry then turned it into a business opportunity that eventually earned billions of dollars.

Reportedly, sticky notes didn’t sell well when they first hit the market. Later, marketers came up with the idea to send them to secretaries at the top 100 companies for trial use. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, creating word-of-mouth buzz and turning the product into a hot seller.

Even into the 21st century, when Zhou Yimin traveled through time, sticky notes remained one of 3M’s enduring bestsellers.

But as of now, sticky notes hadn’t been invented yet, and no patent had been registered. In his previous life, they were invented in 1974.

Naturally, Zhou Yimin wanted to cut in first on this kind of product.

Come on—who couldn’t make that?

It was just a kind of weak glue.

The Lu brothers, Lu Xuezheng and Lu Xueyi, were chatterboxes. Once they latched onto Zhou Yimin, they wouldn’t stop talking.

Lu Guofu already knew Zhou Yimin had come about the movie screening—Wang Weimin had given him a heads-up. So, he had to cut his sons off.

“All right, you two go study. You can talk about inventions later.” After stopping his sons, Lu Guofu turned to Zhou Yimin. “Yimin, you came about the movie screening?”

Zhou Yimin nodded. “Yes, Friday is my grandma’s 60th birthday. She enjoys movies, so I’d like to invite you, Uncle Lu, to screen two films in Zhoujiazhuang.”

“Zhoujiazhuang doesn’t have electricity, does it?” Lu Guofu asked.

“No.”

“Okay! Then I’ll bring the generator over.”

Lu Guofu silently praised Zhou Yimin’s filial piety.

To celebrate his grandmother’s birthday, he specially hired a projectionist to screen movies. How many people could do something like that?

It’s not that others couldn’t afford it, but not many would actually go through the trouble.

“Need a hand?” Zhou Yimin asked.

“If you could help haul the generator, that’d be great,” Lu Guofu replied bluntly.

That equipment was seriously heavy. Having someone help move it would be ideal.

“No problem! Oh, right—these are raisins a friend gave me. Uncle Lu, you and your family can try some.” Only then did Zhou Yimin remember what he was holding and handed it over.

He’d bought the raisins for one yuan the day before.

“Oh? That’s thoughtful. Raisins aren’t common!”

As a projectionist, Lu Guofu considered himself relatively well-informed and had come across a fair share of good things—but raisins were rare. Even candied fruit shops didn’t always have them.

“Whoa! That’s a lot—Yimin, take some back.” Lu Guofu accepted the package, realizing it was around three jin.

That was quite a bit.

“Uncle Lu, we still have some at home.” With that, he took his leave.

After the screenings, he would pay them, of course.

Zhou Yimin had asked around. Hiring a professional chef like Master Quan usually cost around five yuan, never more than ten. Hiring a projectionist was a bit pricier, especially if they had to bring their own generator.

Not to mention machine wear and tear—gasoline cost money too, right?

“Old Lu, these raisins are good. Try a few,” Lu Guofu’s wife said after eating two.

“Mom, let me have some too.”

Lu Guofu: “……”

That’s “some”?

You grabbed a whole handful!

While Lu Guofu was still in a daze, his other son reached in and grabbed a fistful too, stuffing one of his coat pockets full. He planned to take them to school tomorrow so his classmates could try them.

Partly to show off. Okay, mainly to show off.

Not just about the food—but also that they’d seen Senior Zhou Yimin and knew him well.

They couldn’t wait to see their classmates’ envious looks.

The twins were perfectly in sync—snatch and run.

Lu Guofu could only glare at his wife. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

He took a small handful himself, maybe twenty or so, and ate them one at a time. The taste really was nice—sweet and tart, leaning toward sweet.

“These raisins must be pretty expensive. Yimin really put thought into it,” Lu Guofu murmured.

“What a promising young man. Later we should let Xuezheng and Xueyi spend more time with Yimin. Who knows, maybe they’ll…” his wife began.

Lu Guofu rolled his eyes. “Maybe what? Become inventors?

Stop dreaming. They’re not cut out for that, and there’s no need to force it. Once they finish high school, they can learn to run movie screenings with me. At least then they’ll be able to support themselves.”

Who knew his sons better than he did?

They simply didn’t have the brains for that.

Counting on them to invent something? He might as well go all in tonight and try for a new baby.

Not shooting down their dreams in person had already been the extent of his fatherly gentleness.

What Lu Guofu and his wife didn’t know was that their sons were currently bursting with enthusiasm for invention. As soon as they got back to their room, they started brainstorming ideas.

They took Senior Zhou Yimin’s advice and began with everyday household items.

Their “research” (read: wild daydreaming) led them to completely neglect their studies, causing their grades to nosedive later on.

Back at his siheyuan, Zhou Yimin ran into Li Youde and casually mentioned his grandma’s 60th birthday. “Come help out that day.”

“Sure thing! I’ll head over with Dapeng.”

(End of chapter)