Chapter 96 – Swapping for Old Books

As for the job positions, Zhou Yimin wouldn’t need them, but there were plenty of nephews in the village who did!

Factory Director Yang decided to try doing it in-house first to see if they could develop it themselves. If their own people could pull it off, there would be no need to trouble Zhou Yimin, and they wouldn’t owe anyone a big favor.

Of course, even if they did it themselves, the idea had originally come from Zhou Yimin. That much had to be acknowledged.

So, he pulled together a few of the factory’s most experienced master workers and assembled them to develop a new kind of instant noodles.

After hearing the plan, the master workers looked at each other in confusion.

“Director, are you joking?”

Noodles that didn’t need to be boiled? You could eat them straight up dry or just soak them in hot water for two or three minutes?

They had lived this long and never heard of such a thing.

Wasn’t this just making things hard for them?

Wasn’t this a bit too far-fetched?

“Director, we’ve never even heard of that kind of noodle!” one of the masters couldn’t help saying.

“Yeah! What kind of noodle doesn’t need to be cooked first? Who eats noodles raw?”

Director Yang pressed his hands down to calm the room and said, “Foreigners can make it, so why can’t we?

I’ve even heard people say that our ancestors used to make this kind of noodle. If they could do it back then, are we worse off than them now? If we can’t get it right the first time, then try again and again. I refuse to believe we can’t do it.

Here’s the deal: whoever can create a version of these instant noodles will get a 100 yuan bonus from the factory…”

In the end, Director Yang promised a whole slew of rewards.

With such a big incentive, someone was bound to give it their all!

Regardless of whether they could succeed, the generous rewards were enough to stir excitement in the group. The master workers were already rolling up their sleeves, eager to get started.

The biggest motivator was that the director had said both foreigners and ancient Chinese people had managed to make it. If that was true, how could they be any worse than the people from the past?

If Zhou Yimin knew what they were thinking, he would definitely laugh out loud.

What gave you the confidence to think you’re smarter than the ancients?

Many things were created by the ancients—under primitive productivity levels, no less—that modern people can’t even replicate.

Take the seismoscope or the wooden ox and gliding horse, for example.

When Zhou Yimin got back to the siheyuan, he saw Li Youde collecting textbooks.

Smart guy. He hadn’t handed out cash directly—too easy to get in trouble for that. Instead, he bought popsicles, soda, and other snacks, and let the kids trade in their unwanted textbooks for them.

Popsicles were cheap back then—just one or two cents a piece.

“You collected this many?” Zhou Yimin was surprised.

Didn’t I tell you, ten or so copies of each textbook would be enough?

Li Youde gave a wry smile. “The kids brought them out. I couldn’t just turn them away, could I?”

Well… fair enough. You couldn’t really send them off disappointed. They were just in it for a bite of something tasty—not exactly a high ask.

Zhou Yimin went back to his room and came out with a bag of candy and a bag of sunflower seeds.

He said to Li Youde, “Give each of them a handful of sunflower seeds and two pieces of candy.”

The kids were overjoyed to hear that.

Li Youde flipped through a few more books, mainly checking for missing pages. One had writing in the front but was brand new in the back.

“You didn’t pull out the ones you’re still using right now, did you? That’s not okay. Take them back,” Li Youde snapped, eyes wide.

Kid, are you trying to get me in trouble?

If your parents find out, won’t they come for my head?

Zhou Yimin was speechless. It seemed kids who didn’t like school had always existed, from ancient times to now. Some thought if they sold their textbooks, they could skip class altogether.

It reminded Zhou Yimin of students in the future who, just to avoid doing homework, would toss their notebooks into the stove or deliberately lose them—only to end up in tears when someone “rescued” the books.

This little guy here was doing pretty much the same thing.

“Let’s keep it honest. If you’re still using it, take it back now. If we catch you, no snacks,” Zhou Yimin warned the kids.

A few of them quietly took some books back.

They didn’t dare risk it!

If they got caught and weren’t allowed to trade in any books, they’d be left with nothing—watching others eat while they got nothing. That would be devastating.

Zhou Yimin also ended up with an unexpected bonus.

Besides textbooks, there were study materials and the like. All of these were needed by Zhoujiazhuang’s elementary school. That school was so basic it lacked all kinds of supplies—not just textbooks.

Before long, Li Youde had gathered quite a haul. He moved everything into Dapeng’s room, since Zhou Yimin would be taking them anyway—no need to haul them all the way to the main courtyard.

Then, he grabbed a watermelon from Dapeng’s room.

It was such a huge watermelon that there was no way Li Youde could hide it. Everyone in the courtyard saw him walking by. Especially the kids, who stared wide-eyed.

Zhou Yimin had no choice but to pull out three more, giving one to each courtyard—front, middle, and back.

“Auntie One, Auntie Two, Auntie Three, take one each and share it with the folks in your courtyards. Let everyone have a taste. A friend gave them to me,” Zhou Yimin explained, tossing the word “friend” around easily.

No one in the siheyuan doubted him.

Everyone knew Zhou Yimin had lots of friends—even Director Li from the neighborhood office was a “relative” of his. He had wide connections. Getting a few watermelons wasn’t a big deal.

“Yimin, thank you!” the aunties all chimed in gratefully.

Watermelons were hard to come by, especially ones that big.

Cut into small pieces, there would be enough for the kids and even the adults to have a few bites.

So sweet—just like candy.

“This watermelon grew beautifully. Look how thin the rind is.”

“Yeah! It’s so red and sweet inside. Most people can’t even get watermelons like this. Your friend must be something else.”

…

Zhou Yimin thought to himself: You guys haven’t even seen the real dream watermelons yet—the kind with paper-thin rinds that crack open with a tap of your finger.

He remembered how foreigners who ate Chinese watermelon once questioned whether it had been dosed with saccharin, because their own watermelons weren’t nearly as sweet.

Hilarious. Who’s adding saccharin to watermelons that cost just a few cents per jin? What are you even thinking?

If you want saccharin, go buy some and add it yourself.

Now that he had the old books, Zhou Yimin started thinking about getting some old clothes.

Honestly, for him, old clothes were harder to get than new ones. He might as well just buy a few rolls of fabric from the system store and have them sewn into new outfits.

Children’s clothes didn’t require much fabric anyway.

Old clothes were really hard to come by. People didn’t easily throw them out. “Patch it up and wear it for three more years”—that saying wasn’t just empty talk.

Not like in the future, when people had piles of old clothes and didn’t even know what to do with them.

Some people even donated old clothes, and they ended up in Africa.

In less developed countries, old clothes were in high demand. Even if they cost a bit, they were incredibly affordable for people there.

After thinking it through carefully, Zhou Yimin made up his mind. Might as well just buy a few rolls of fabric and take them back.

(End of Chapter)