Chapter 78

When He Zengguo was about to leave, Lin Qiangsheng handed him a cloth bag. He Zengguo touched it, opened it, and found stacks of banknotes inside!

He Zengguo looked at Lin Qiangsheng in shock and asked, "What are you doing? Why are you giving me so much money? The building materials won't cost this much!"

Lin Qiangsheng patted his arm and said, "This is ten thousand yuan. If you have trouble gathering the building materials, use this money to help out! Bricks can be made, but don't you need to buy cement and other things? You must take it! I'm waiting for your commune to build the factory as soon as possible!"

He Zengguo tried to refuse, "How can the commune take so much money from you now! Take it back!"

Lin Qiangsheng said, "Take it, you might need it! Don't let anyone see it on the street!"

Seeing Lin Qiangsheng's words, He Zengguo looked around hurriedly. Only Lin Xiang was nearby, a few steps away. He said, "How can I explain this to my family? There's too much money!"

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and pushed the bag into He Zengguo's arms, saying, "Just tell them I'm supporting the commune! Also, I think your commune needs to connect to industrial electricity, otherwise it will be troublesome when the hardware factory starts operating."

He Zengguo nodded and said, "I'll remember that."

Lin Qiangsheng and Lin Xiang saw He Zengguo off to the bus. He Zengguo looked at the bag in his hand and then at Lin Qiangsheng, his expression still conflicted.

After the bus left, Lin Xiang turned and asked, "What did you give He Zengguo? Why did he look like that when he left?"

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and said, "I gave him ten thousand yuan, to help him build the factory faster!"

Lin Xiang said, "Oh, so that's it! Hey, how much have you made recently? You can just hand out ten thousand yuan so easily?!"

She looked around and whispered, "Ten thousand yuan is enough for an ordinary worker to earn for many years! You just gave it to him like that? Don't you feel bad about it?!"

Lin Qiangsheng clutched his chest and said painfully, "I feel terrible! It hurts so much!"

Lin Xiang hit him and laughed, "Enough with your act! I know how much the store has sold!"

"Ha ha, sometimes I get scared for you! How did our family end up with such a big capitalist?"

Lin Qiangsheng laughed, "What am I afraid of? If things get bad, I'll run away. I can start over anywhere!" Perhaps after being reborn, his personality had changed, making him bolder without realizing it.

Lin Xiang said, "Shut up! What about our parents? You have to be careful! Lately, I've been feeling uneasy!"

In the last two days before the Spring Festival, the passports for the three members of the Lin family were issued. Then they had to apply for visas. Since this was an official visit, all the procedures were handled by the provincial foreign trade department, making everything much smoother!

The only thing that annoyed Lin Qiangsheng was that the foreign exchange bureau only allowed them to exchange 60 US dollars, which was far from enough!

Many people wanted to buy appliances and other large items while abroad, and a 60 US dollar limit couldn't satisfy their needs!

Therefore, in the days leading up to the Spring Festival, the black market for foreign exchange in the provincial capital flourished. H Province had few people going abroad, so the market for US dollar exchange was very small. This time, with over 20 people going abroad on official business, the market became very active.

Lin Qiangsheng met someone in a small alley near the foreign exchange bureau. This wasn't his first time here, so he skillfully asked, "How much did you bring this time?"

The contact was a middle-aged, chubby man in his early thirties, of medium build. The chubby man said excitedly, "This time, I brought more! 3000 US dollars, how about that?"

Lin Qiangsheng sighed helplessly, thinking the chubby man would say 30,000. Why was he so excited?

He nodded and said, "Alright! How about the current black market rate? Three times the official rate! 13,500 yuan, that's not bad!" In 1979, the official exchange rate was 1.5 yuan to 1 US dollar, and the black market rate was about three times that.

The chubby man blinked his eyes shrewdly and shook his head, saying, "Brother, I have several people who want to exchange with me this time! 13,500 is too little! At least 16,000! 16,000, and I'll exchange with you, how about that?"

Lin Qiangsheng hesitated. This was 2,500 yuan more, and these currency exchangers were really ruthless!

He nodded and said, "Alright! Follow me to get the money!"

The chubby man looked at Lin Qiangsheng suspiciously and asked, "Where are you taking me?"

Lin Qiangsheng said helplessly, "Do you think I'd carry 16,000 yuan in cash around on the street?!"

The chubby man nodded helplessly, hesitating. But thinking that 16,000 was a lot and it was hard to find such a big customer, he nodded silently and followed Lin Qiangsheng out of the alley.

The chubby man got into Lin Qiangsheng's Jeep and looked at him in surprise, asking, "This car is yours?"

Lin Qiangsheng asked, puzzled, "Am I that famous?"

The chubby man laughed, "Brother, don't misunderstand! You're not famous, but your red Jeep is!"

He gave a thumbs up and said, "In the entire Bin City, you have the only red Jeep, and it's so beautiful! It's hard for your car not to be famous!"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said, "Oh, really! I haven't been around for a long time, and I didn't expect there to still be legends about me!"

The chubby man chuckled, "Your words are really funny!"

Lin Qiangsheng glanced at the chubby man, ignoring his sudden profanity. He took out stacks of money from a bag on the back seat, 16 stacks in total.

Putting the money into the chubby man's arms, Lin Qiangsheng said, "Here's 16,000! Now, give me the 3000 US dollars!"

The chubby man held the money in amazement, looking at the stacks of 10-yuan notes and smiled broadly, "Alright!"

He took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Lin Qiangsheng.

Lin Qiangsheng opened it and saw 3000 Franklin notes. He counted them and smiled, "This is better, it saves space!"

The chubby man counted the money again, then took out a cloth bag and put the money inside. He looked up at Lin Qiangsheng and said, "Smooth! Brother, I thank you! My name is Fu Liang! What's your surname?"

Lin Qiangsheng said, "I'm Lin, Lin Qiangsheng. If you have US dollars in the future, remember to find Lin Qiangsheng at the car factory! Everyone in that area knows me."

Fu Liang said in surprise, "So, you really work at the car factory!"

"What's the matter?" Lin Qiangsheng asked.

Fu Liang laughed, "Your red car is too famous! People used to guess that it might belong to someone from the car factory because they saw you driving it to the northwest part of the city."

Lin Qiangsheng smiled, "Alright, just you know. Don't spread it around, I want to keep a low profile."

Fu Liang laughed, "Sure, sure! It's no fun if it's not mysterious!"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded, and Fu Liang got out of the car. Lin Qiangsheng waved to him, started the Jeep, and drove off.

Fu Liang watched the Jeep drive away, holding the cloth bag enviously and muttered, "A car and so much money, how does he do it? Why am I like this?!"

After returning home, Lin Qiangsheng took out the US dollars from the envelope and counted them with the ones he had previously exchanged. He thought to himself, "Only 7000 US dollars, that's too little!"

Lying on the kang, he pondered, "I need to find a way to get more foreign currency! Only then can my plans for going abroad go smoothly!"