Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 60 Lighters

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In today's terms, Wang Zhilong was the "Prince of Awkward Silence"; whenever he spoke, the room would fall silent.

Everyone was a bit helpless, unsure how to respond. Besides, they weren't that close to each other, and if they didn't respond, the situation would be quite awkward.

Chen Hui coughed and said to Xiao Wei, "These stalls are all run by laid-off and unemployed people. They just pay a management fee, no taxes or anything, so the prices are definitely cheaper than during the day. But they make a lot of money. Many of them paid for their spots. How could they work if they didn't make enough?"

Xia Maosheng asked, "How did you know?"

Chen Hui pointed to the streetlights overhead and said, "What do I care about these things? Don't they need electricity? There are seats for our bureau right here. If I wanted to come, I would have come long ago."

Xiao Wei glanced at him and said, "Why don't you come? Isn't it good to make money?"

Chen Hui's face twitched and he said, "It's too troublesome. It's tiring and cold. Do you think setting up and closing a stall is so easy? You have to stock up on goods, deal with thugs, and pay tribute to the management. You can't earn much in a month."

Xiao Wei asked, "Whatever we can't earn, it's fine."

Chen Hui scratched his head and said, "Several thousand yuan? If business is good, it can be tens of thousands, but most of the time it's only three or four thousand yuan, which is about the same as what we make when we work."

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "Yes, not much more, only a difference of about a thousand yuan. Just admit you're lazy, why all this fuss?"

Several people laughed, and Xia Maosheng said, "Chen Hui, you're not in the right state of mind. We're still young, and we should take advantage of the opportunities we have. Money is only real money when it's in your own hands. Once you're older, have a family and children, you won't be able to take advantage of the opportunities anymore, and it will be too late to regret it then."

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "Old Xia is right. If you don't earn some money while you're young, what will you rely on when you're old? What if you don't get married? What if you don't raise children? Where will the money come from if you spend it like this? Is your salary enough? If you earn more, you can spend it with a clear conscience."

Chen Hui raised his hands in surrender and said, "Okay, okay, I'll earn it tomorrow, alright? Why are you all so upset with me just for going to the night market?" The group laughed again, turned around to look at the market, and started strolling through it.

"This looks nice, how much is it?" On the other side, Luo Qinghe picked up a lighter from the stall and looked at it. He turned to Li Guangzhao next to him and said, "Isn't this nice? Look, it's windproof. Why don't you get one?" He lit the lighter and showed it to Li Guangzhao.

Li Guangzhao looked at it in Luo Qinghe's hand, shook his head and said, "No, this thing looks nice, but it's useless, and I have to buy it, plus it's quite heavy. I'll just use this one-time thing, it's fine."

Luo Qinghe put down the lighter in his hand and picked up a flip-top lighter, saying, "What about this one? I've seen a lot of bosses use this kind, with a flint. This one burns gasoline, so you don't need to change the gas." He flicked it twice, and the lighter lit up.

Li Guangzhao said, "Come on, burn gasoline? Are you trying to burn your hand? This is kerosene, you know? If you burned gasoline like that, it would have exploded long ago."

Luo Qinghe examined the lighter closely, even smelling it, and asked, "Kernel? Not gasoline? What is kerosene? This smell definitely doesn't seem to be gasoline."

Li Guangzhao asked, "Your family has never used a kerosene stove?"

In the 1970s and 1980s, kerosene stoves were quite popular in cities in Northeast China, and almost every household had one. It consisted of a square metal frame, about 20 centimeters high, with an oil tank underneath and a wick. It needed to be inflated before use. It was quite convenient to use, but the smell was terrible, and you'd get kerosene all over your hands after each use. Sometimes, if not done properly, it would produce a lot of black smoke.

Luo Qinghe put the lighter back on the stall and said, "My family is from the countryside, we have plenty of firewood. What's the point of making that kind of thing? I've heard of it but never seen it." He clapped his hands, and the two of them were about to leave.

"Hey, brother, you're leaving just like that?" The stall owner, a burly man in his thirties, asked Luo Qinghe with his hands outstretched and wide eyes.

Luo Qinghe was taken aback for a moment, then asked, "What's going on? Is something the matter?"

The shopkeeper pointed to the lighter Luo Qinghe had just put down and said, "Forget about the gas one, this oil one won't do. You struck it several times, burned it for ages, used up the flint and wick, look at it yourself, isn't the wick burnt black? How am I supposed to sell it now?"

Qi Guangjun whispered to Xiao Wei, "Look, we can't leave now, we have to buy it."

Xiao Wei glanced at Qi Guangjun, walked over, picked up the lighter that Luo Qinghe had burned, and asked Luo Qinghe, "This one?" Luo Qinghe nodded.

Xiao Wei opened it and took a look. Sure enough, part of the wick was burnt. This kind of lighter burns the wick as soon as it's lit. To be honest, you really can't just try it. It's not like a gas lighter, which burns a little bit of gas and doesn't change the appearance.

In the 90s, there were many styles of lighters on the market, and the quality was actually quite good. Most of them were imitations of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and foreign products from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. They had all sorts of features, such as fingerprint sensors. At that time, brand-name lighters were very expensive, with brands like Peng Zhibao costing several thousand yuan, but these high-quality imitations only cost tens or hundreds of yuan. They were just as good as the Peng Zhibao brands, unlike the generic lighters of later generations that would break after only a few uses.

Xiao Wei hadn't seen many other things since he lived in the countryside, but he had seen quite a few lighters. Xiao Hong's father, Station Chief Wang, used a Zippo, a genuine one from World War II. As for Uncle Xia's family, they had even more good lighters. He had played with all sorts of lighters over the years, including Dupont, Zippo, Cartier, Dunhill, and Pacco. He currently has a Cartier and a Dunhill at home, but they are a bit conspicuous and quite heavy, so he has just kept them at home.

Xiao Wei opened the lid, looked at it, weighed it in his hand, and lit it. He tossed the lighter to Chen Hui, then turned to the shopkeeper and said, "Okay, how much? I'll buy it." Good lighters are heavier because they are usually made of pure steel or pure copper.

The boss glanced at the group of people around Xiao Wei, nodded to himself, and said with a smile, "This one? This is the best one I've got. Well then, buddy, if you're straightforward, I won't say a word. Give me three hundred, and I'll fill it up with oil."

Xiao Wei pointed to another lighter on the stall and asked, "What about this one?" It was an electronic induction ignition lighter, the one that Qi Guangjun was extorted from.

The boss had already spotted Qi Guangjun in the crowd and said, "That one, the two hundred and twenty."

Xiao Wei pointed to a man who had just bought a lighter from this stall not far away and said, "He spent eighty yuan, right?"

The shopkeeper's face stiffened, and he said, "It's different for him to buy that one. Besides, he's an acquaintance of mine. I didn't make any money off him. Will you buy it or not? If you do, this is the price. Pay up."

The market in the early 90s was quite chaotic, with no one regulating it. Sellers could set prices arbitrarily. Those who could bargain would spend less, while those who couldn't would spend more. Goods that cost a few dozen yuan were often put out and then priced at five hundred or even a thousand yuan. It wasn't that the shopkeeper was targeting anyone in particular; it was common for them to take advantage of out-of-towners and force them to buy a few items at inflated prices. Most people who did business outside the area had done a few of these things.