I'm back in 1990

Chapter 107: The Zhang Family Celebrates the New Year

On the morning of February 6, downstairs at the Wenyuan rental house, Huang Xiaochuan was busy tying three boxes of JP18 to the back of his bicycle.

After securing the items, Huang Xiaochuan shook them vigorously. Only when he was sure they were firmly bound did he feel relieved enough to ride his bike towards Engineer Lu. It was quite a long ride, but just thinking about those bundles of blue banknotes made Huang Xiaochuan feel no fatigue at all.

After setting up his bicycle and paying the parking fee, Huang Xiaochuan carried three boxes of JP18 bicycles into the market.

However, he was cautious and didn't go to the market. Instead, he went to the warehouse first, put the three boxes of JP18 there, and went to the market empty-handed.

Upon entering, Huang Xiaochuan immediately exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

There were too many people in the market. The already narrow passageways were packed with people, bustling and noisy, making it difficult to move.

It was incredibly noisy and chaotic. The stamp dealers were spitting everywhere, constantly buying and selling. Some didn't even have time to count their money; they just measured the thickness of the banknotes with a ruler to estimate how much they were worth. It had gotten to this crazy.

Huang Xiaochuan couldn't help but exclaim in his heart, "They've gone mad! They've all gone mad!"

Huang Xiaochuan pushed his way through the crowd and began to inquire about the situation.

I quickly learned from several stamp dealers that JP18 is now selling for 33 yuan a piece, mainly because its print run has been revealed to be only 630,000. In today's world where stamp print runs are often in the tens of millions, this small print run makes it a true treasure!

Because JP stamps were not included in stamp catalogs, the public knew nothing about their print runs. But today's newspaper published the print runs of all JP stamps issued before 1990. This was incredible! It was like cold water being poured into a hot oil pan—it exploded! It became a huge hit!

Huang Xiaochuan was also dumbfounded. He originally thought that the price of JP stamps would rise to more than forty yuan a piece based on his memories from his previous life. Who would have thought that the stamp market would start with such a bombshell? It seems that more than forty yuan is not its peak. He can't see through it either.

However, the plan remains unchanged: we still need to gradually sell off these pornographic films. Money is only truly ours when it's in our pockets. As for how much it can appreciate, let it be. We must understand that greed is our greatest enemy.

Huang Xiaochuan also inquired about the market for low-quality miniature sheets. Compared to JP sheets, low-quality miniature sheets were not particularly impressive. Even so, the panda miniature sheets he bought for 2 yuan each have now increased in price seven or eight times, and are now around 15 or 16 yuan each.

However, Huang Xiaochuan doesn't plan to sell these miniature sheets for the time being. Right now, he has the most JP stamps, and he will try to sell some of them before he returns to Suzhou.

The rest will be decided after the new year depending on the situation.

Huang Xiaochuan would never hold onto his stamps just because prices keep rising. He had already decided to sell them all when the price reached half of his expected price, but he would keep a few sheets of the 80 Monkey stamps.

By February 10th, Huang Xiaochuan had sold a total of 2 boxes of JP films, earning a total of RB735000, with an average price of 35 yuan per JP film.

He deposited most of the money into the bank in batches, and then opened an account at the stock exchange, preparing to enter the stock market after the New Year.

Then he contacted Ge Changli. By the end of the year, Ge Changli was so busy with work that he had no time to visit the stamp market, so Huang Xiaochuan's call was definitely good news for him.

The two chatted on the phone for more than ten minutes. Huang Xiaochuan told Ge Changli about the current situation of the stamp market and the hot market for JP stamps. This made Ge Changli very excited. He planned to take some time in the next few days to go to the stamp market and sell the JP stamps he had. He had spent all the money in his house on stamps. With the New Year approaching, this money would be just enough for him to have a good New Year.

Early in the morning of February 11, Huang Xiaochuan turned off the water and electricity, closed the windows and locked the door, and took a taxi back to Suzhou with a large pile of gifts he had bought the day before.

After the Lunar New Year, everything goes up in price, and taxi fares naturally increased as well. Just for one trip, Huang Xiaochuan paid 180 yuan, which is equivalent to a month's salary for an ordinary worker. No wonder some people were optimistic about the taxi industry back then, such as that big shot surnamed Liu.

After getting into the car, Huang Xiaochuan, whose wallet was bulging, started thinking again. He was thinking about getting a driver's license. These days, driver's licenses are not cheap. Huang Xiaochuan had already inquired and found out that it costs seven thousand yuan to learn to get a B license and six thousand yuan to learn to get a C license.

Huang Xiaochuan had made up his mind. A C license would be enough. He already had the driving skills, so he would register, get used to it for a few days, spend some extra money to try to take the test as soon as possible, and plan to get his driver's license within a month.

Don't ask why it takes so long. You should know that driving school nowadays takes more than three months to learn, unlike the crash courses in later years where you can get your driver's license in about a month.

When Huang Xiaochuan arrived at his maternal grandmother's house, Lao Huang and Zeng Lijuan had not yet arrived.

The aunt and grandmother showed no interest whatsoever in the bags and packages Huang Xiaochuan brought back. Instead, they eagerly asked, "Did you get a picture of your girlfriend?"

Having already prepared himself, Huang Xiaochuan showed them Yu Xiang's photo, which delighted the two of them. Huang Xiaochuan couldn't understand why his grandmother and aunt were so happy that he had just found a girlfriend.

Hearing the commotion outside, the eldest sister Zeng Hong and the second sister Zeng Xia also came out of their room. Upon seeing Huang Xiaochuan, they were about to tease him. Knowing that his two sisters liked to play pranks, Huang Xiaochuan quickly took out the gifts he had brought for them and escaped a disaster.

Seeing her mother and grandmother looking at the photos with beaming smiles, Zeng Xia, oblivious to the situation, insisted on joining in to see what was going on.

To his surprise, his own mother coldly rebuked him: "Stay away from me! How dare you even look here? Your younger brother already has a girlfriend! Look at yourself, how old are you? Didn't you say you were going to bring me a son-in-law? Where is he?"

Then, seeing Zeng Hong gloating, her aunt didn't let her off the hook: "What are you laughing at? You're the eldest, you should set an example. You can't find a three-legged toad, can you not find a two-legged man either?"

The eldest sister, Zeng Hong, immediately fell silent. She glared at Huang Xiaochuan resentfully and stormed back to her room. Zeng Xia also quickly slipped away. Her mother's aura was too intimidating; she couldn't get close and had to stay far away.

Huang Xiaochuan was completely caught in the crossfire. He was just looking for a girlfriend, why did these two older sisters hate him so much?

Huang Xiaochuan hugged his grandmother and asked, "Grandma, do you like the granddaughter-in-law I found for you?"

Grandma patted Huang Xiaochuan's hand happily: "Little monkey, you have good taste! This girl is clever."

My aunt agreed with my grandmother's opinion: "This girl is not only beautiful, but also has a scholarly air about her; she looks like a learned person."

What Huang Xiaochuan didn't know was that his maternal grandmother and aunt had been looking forward to his return for a long time. Last month, after Huang Xiaochuan told his uncle that he had a girlfriend, his uncle immediately told his maternal grandmother and aunt about it.

The two were overjoyed. The child they had raised since he was a baby now had a girlfriend. While they were amazed at how fast time had flown by, they were also very gratified that Huang Xiaochuan was sensible, filial, and well-mannered.

Huang Xiaochuan suddenly became a good child in their eyes, a positive role model among the children in the family. In contrast, they were angry at Zeng Hong and Zeng Xia, those two good-for-nothings.

Meanwhile, the two sisters were in their room plotting a prank on Huang Xiaochuan. Zeng Xia had completely forgotten that before the Mid-Autumn Festival, she had shamelessly offered to introduce Huang Xiaochuan to a girlfriend to relieve the pressure from her parents urging him to get married.

The Chanel perfume I just got doesn't smell good anymore, all because of that brat.

Zeng Jiahua didn't come back at noon. Huang Xiaochuan asked his aunt and found out that the factory was busy with production and he usually didn't come back for lunch. The food in the factory canteen was just as good as at home, and he ate in the canteen with the workers.

Because they were having a family reunion dinner that evening, lunch was relatively simple. After lunch, Huang Xiaochuan rode his bike to the flange factory. He could tell that his two older sisters were not looking at him with any kindness during the meal.

If I stay at home, they'll definitely cause me a lot of trouble. I can't afford to mess with them, so I'd rather avoid them.

When they arrived at the factory, the canteen was open for lunch. The workers split into two shifts to eat in the canteen. Huang Xiaochuan saw his uncle Zeng Jiahua and went over to call him.

"Uncle!"

Upon seeing Huang Xiaochuan, Zeng Jiahua asked, "When did you get back? Have you eaten?"

"I arrived around 10 a.m., after I had eaten."

"Then come sit in my office for a while, I'm going to have some food first."

Huang Xiaochuan went to his uncle's office as if he knew the way well. It was still the same as before. It seemed that his uncle had not had time to renovate his office.

There were newspapers on the newspaper rack, and Huang Xiaochuan sat down to read them.