I'm back in 1990

Chapter 25: As the tide rises, all boats rise.

Thursday, April 2.

At six o'clock in the morning, Ge Changli arrived at the guesthouse and woke Huang Xiaochuan up. He had taken half a day off from work that morning specifically to take Huang Xiaochuan to the stamp market to broaden his horizons.

He rode his bicycle with Huang Xiaochuan on the back into the alley, which was filled with the atmosphere of old Shanghai life.

The city's residents got up early and started their work. On this rare day off, washing and cleaning were essential. You could see that the alleyways were already covered with clothes, like the flags of all nations in front of the United Nations building.

Some elderly people sat alone or gathered in twos and threes chatting. The elderly sitting alone wore tank tops with the hems rolled up to their chests, revealing their loose-skinned bellies. Listening to the radio, fanning themselves with large palm-leaf fans, and sipping tea, they were incredibly content.

The women gathered around the tap; some were scrubbing toilets, some were carrying buckets to fetch water, and others were washing clothes.

Some people were lighting coal stoves in the alley, causing the entire alley to be shrouded in a thin layer of smoke. People riding bicycles traveled through the narrow alley, leaving behind a trail of "ring ring ring" sounds.

The old lady, having bought her groceries, hurried back home with a basket full of vegetables in her arms. In her hands, she also carried a stainless steel pot with several dents in the bottom, with flatbread and fried dough sticks piled on top of the lid. This was the whole family's breakfast.

The familiar neighbors greeted each other, calling each other names like "Mother Wang," "Uncle Jiang," "Grandma Li," and so on.

The pan-fried bun shop that Ge Changli brought Huang Xiaochuan to was indeed doing very well. At just over six o'clock, there was already a queue of no less than twenty people outside, and the queue was visibly getting longer.

By the time we finished eating the pan-fried buns, it was almost seven o'clock.

After wiping his greasy mouth with a handkerchief, Ge Changli asked Huang Xiaochuan, "Xiaochuan, I wasn't bragging, was I? The pan-fried buns here are pretty good, aren't they?"

Huang Xiaochuan wholeheartedly agreed: "They really are delicious. No wonder so many people come to buy them. How many pan-fried buns do they sell in a day?"

"I don't know, but it looks like selling two or three thousand a day shouldn't be a problem." Ge Changli folded the handkerchief and put it back into his pocket.

He then patted the bicycle seat and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to see what it's like to be an engineer, Mr. Lu."

When the two arrived at Lu Gong Post Market on Jumen Road, it was already 7:20 in the morning. The market was already packed with people, with a thousand or so people crammed into the small market.

Ge Changli was a regular here, and familiar stamp dealers had already greeted him warmly, some even coming over to ask, "Little Ge, do you have anything good to sell today?"

Ge Changli waved his hand: "No, I'm just browsing around today. If I find anything suitable, I'll buy some. Have you received any new items recently?"

The vendor chuckled and said, "I just bought a stamp album yesterday, which contained a few stamps in good condition. If you hadn't come, I was planning to keep them for myself."

Ge Changli became interested: "Then let's take a look at it right away!"

The stamp dealer pulled a stamp album from his large bag and handed it to Ge Changli. Huang Xiaochuan could tell at a glance that this kind of stamp album must have been secretly taken from home by some child to sell for pocket money, so he shook his head with a wry smile.

Ge Changli quickly flipped through the stamp album, only stopping when he saw the few cultural stamps the stamp dealer had mentioned. He then asked the dealer for a magnifying glass and stamp tweezers, carefully using the tweezers to pick out the stamps one by one and examining their condition with the magnifying glass.

After examining all the stamps, Ge Changli asked, "How much in banknotes?"

The mail seller held up one finger: "One cent."

Ge Changli closed the stamp album, his expression displeased, and said, "Help me out, friend, you're asking us for a hundred dollars for these stamps? Do you think we're easy targets?"

The mailman chuckled, "We're friends, how much do you want it for?"

Ge Changli held up his hand without any hesitation: "Fifty yuan, we'll take it all."

The stamp dealer immediately snatched the stamp album from Ge Changli's hand, pretending to put it back, while bluffing, "Oh my! At this price, we're going to lose a fortune; we won't even cover our costs."

Ge Changli didn't tolerate his bad habits and got up to take Huang Xiaochuan away to see other places.

"Xiao Chuan, let's go and check out some other stalls."

Huang Xiaochuan understood immediately and readily agreed, "Okay!"

Seeing that he hadn't managed to intimidate Ge Changli, the postman had no choice but to admit defeat. He stopped Ge Changli, who was about to get up, and said, "Alright, alright, it's business today, so I won't make money off you. Fifty is fine, just consider it a good start."

Ge Changli didn't intend to expose the postal vendor's words. He took out his money, pulled out a light green fifty-yuan bill, and handed it to the vendor: "Here's the bill. In return, you give me a larger mailbag."

The mail seller took the large bill, skillfully rubbed it a few times with his fingers, and then casually stuffed it into the pouch tied around his waist.

"I'll give you a mailbag that can hold the Asian Games souvenir sheets." The mail vendor rummaged through his stall and handed it to Ge Changli after finding it.

Ge Changli put the few banknotes he had bought into the box, casually held them in his hand, and continued shopping with Huang Xiaochuan.

Because Huang Xiaochuan was carrying a bag slung across his shoulder, and the bag was hanging diagonally across his chest, many stamp dealers assumed that Huang Xiaochuan was there to ship goods. Along the way, people kept calling out to him: "Friend, do you have any stamps to sell? Come and take a look."

Huang Xiaochuan smiled and waved his hand, indicating that he was not selling stamps.

Today, the Lugong Stamp Market is mainly an open-air market. Stamp vendors set up their stalls in the locations designated by the market management department. Some large, well-established stamp dealers rent storefronts around the market, where the conditions are much better than those at the street stalls.

However, these large stamp dealers deal in bulk business; they disdain small-scale retail. These dealers do possess a wealth of valuable stamps, which they also collect. Examples include stamps with black inscriptions, stamps depicting a red landscape, blue military stamps, and miniature sheets featuring Mei Lanfang. Of course, they also have complete sheets of the 80 Year of the Monkey stamps.

This is a stamp distribution center in southern China. The 80 Year of the Monkey full sheet stamps, which are rarely seen by ordinary people, are very common here, as long as you can afford the money.

The two browsed around, and in a short time, Ge Changli made four purchases, spending over a hundred yuan on stamps. Most of them were cultural stamps, and some were old commemorative and special stamps.

After strolling around for a while, the two found a tea stall in the market and sat down to have some water and rest.

After sitting down, Ge Changli explained to Huang Xiaochuan, "My wish is to collect all the stamps issued after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Currently, I mainly collect cultural stamps, and I will strive to complete this small goal within two years."

When Huang Xiaochuan heard Ge Changli mention a "small goal," he couldn't help but chuckle. It seemed that a big shot in his previous life had said something like that: a "small goal" represented a hundred million.

Thinking of this, a smile involuntarily appeared on Huang Xiaochuan's face.

Ge Changli was puzzled when he saw Huang Xiaochuan laugh after hearing his words. Before he could ask why, Huang Xiaochuan spoke.

"Old Ge, do you want to get rich?"

Ge Changli was a little confused. What was going on? I told you about my stamp collecting plan, and you're telling me you want to get rich? Is money so easy to come by?

Huang Xiaochuan wanted to bring his friend along to participate in this stamp market boom, but the two would not partner up and would each do their own thing. Huang Xiaochuan was only responsible for informing Ge Changli of some market trends and information, and how to proceed was entirely up to Ge Changli to decide.

Huang Xiaochuan could tell him where there was food, but he would never feed Ge Changli, so as not to cause a rift between the two over money in the future and damage their friendship of two lifetimes.

Seeing that Ge Changli didn't believe him, Huang Xiaochuan said to him, "Old Ge, didn't you tell me a few days ago that the government has allowed private individuals to buy and sell stamps? Look at the people in this market." Huang Xiaochuan even pointed out the scene in the market.

"Simply put, if there's only so much of a product, but many people want to buy it, what kind of phenomenon will this lead to?" Huang Xiaochuan patiently explained to Ge Changli step by step.

Ge Changli wasn't stupid; the answer came out without hesitation: "Raise the price!"

Huang Xiaochuan gave a thumbs up: "That's right, it's a price increase."

But Ge Changli still didn't understand what Huang Xiaochuan meant. Did he mean the stamps were going to go up in price?

Seeing that Ge Changli still looked puzzled, Huang Xiaochuan continued his analysis: "Old Ge, let me give you an example. You know the circulation of the '80 Monkey' coin, right?"

Ge Changli nodded.

Huang Xiaochuan continued, "Back in the 1980s, there were rumors that the original planned issue of the 1980 Year of the Monkey stamps was 8 million, but due to damage to the engraving plates, the actual issue was only over 5 million. Since it was the first time that zodiac stamps were issued, many people didn't know that subsequent zodiac stamps would be issued. This led people to treat it as an ordinary stamp, and it was used extensively for mailing letters, resulting in countless losses due to use. This also led to the surviving number of 1980 Year of the Monkey stamps being much less than the actual issue. Later, as subsequent zodiac stamps were issued, stamp collectors realized that it was a series of stamps, and it would take twelve years to collect them all."

"The 80 Year of the Monkey stamp is the rarest among the stamps, so its price has continued to rise. I just followed you and asked several stamp dealers, and the current price is basically around thirty yuan, while its original face value was eight fen."

At this point, Huang Xiaochuan kept Ge Changli in suspense, looking at him without saying a word, wondering if he could figure something out.

Ge Changli was originally a seasoned stamp collector and a member of the philatelic association. He had a deep understanding of the history of the stamp market, and with the added advantage of his family background, his perspective was different from that of ordinary people.

So, after quickly considering the possibilities, she asked Huang Xiaochuan in surprise, "You mean the price of 80 monkeys will rise again?"

Huang Xiaochuan didn't answer Ge Changli's question directly. Instead, he looked meaningfully at the bustling market and said, "As the tide rises, so does every boat. There are more and more people here."

These words were like a wake-up call; Ge Changli finally understood. However, he was very puzzled by one thing: how did Huang Xiaochuan figure that out?