"Dunzi, go and bring my father's pimple." In a yard outside Yantai County, a middle-aged man with a little gray hair straightened his waist and pounded his over-stretched lumbar muscles with his right hand, and said a little tired.

Soon, a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old jumped out of the house. He took a cake with his left hand and held a tool box with his right hand, which contained many metal tools including pliers, files, and wrenches. Perhaps these tools were too heavy, and the young man couldn't hold it in one hand, so the tool box was heavily slapped to the ground.

The middle-aged man immediately glared at him with a stern look and said, "Dunzi, these tools are not cheap. They are the things your father has to eat. If they break it, who will support you?"

After saying that, the middle-aged man brought the tool box over steadily, then opened the lid and checked it carefully. Fortunately, these tools are of high quality. They are alloy tools produced locally on the East Coast, which are completely different from Black Squash. Back then, he spent a lot of energy to buy a set in a hardware store in Yantai through an acquaintance. He has been using it for several years and has been treasured.

"Dunzi, bring me a bench and sit down, and polish those parts." The middle-aged man took out a file from the toolbox and began to polish the piles of parts in front of him skillfully. At the same time, he did not forget to instruct his children to work: "You are different from your elder brother. He can study and calculate. Now he is a public person and can eat imperial grain. If you are a naughty person and cannot read books, you can only do this craft work with your father. It is a bit hard, but if you have a good meal, don't stand there, work!"

Dunzi sat down helplessly, picked up a black aquatic file, and absent-mindedly raised the parts. These parts were the products of a nearby small factory specializing in the production of steam pump parts. They supply the water conservancy departments, canals and port departments of various townships all year round so that they can repair the numerous types of water pumps.

This factory has several old-fashioned machine tools that were eliminated from the East Coast, steam-powered. When the boss built the factory, he not only bought the machine tools, but also asked someone to find a 100-horsepower second-hand steam engine in the local area, and hired relevant technicians to help him with technical transformation with high salaries, so that the steam engine can power several machine tools.

To be honest, the funds spent on hiring someone to provide technical services are actually not much cheaper than buying a second-hand mobile bed. Fortunately, there are several other bosses who also open factories to help him share the costs. They also need local technicians to help them solve some technical problems in steam power and use and maintenance, so the costs (travel expenses, labor expenses, etc.) can be minimized. From this we can also see that because of the technical backwardness of the Far East, there is a huge technical service market, and the total amount is definitely not small. Therefore, although the Far East has exported a large number of specialty goods to the local area in recent years, and there is a huge trade surplus, but in terms of technical services, it is a big deficit, which is determined by the technical level of the two places, which is a bit similar to the later Qing Dynasty hiring foreign personnel to provide technical services with high salaries.

However, using locally eliminated second-hand equipment does not mean that you can reach the local craft production level. This is determined by the quality of workers and has nothing to do with anything else. Unfortunately, in places like Yantai, where there are not many traditional industrial production traditions, there are too few qualified industrial workers, and it is not enough. In addition, a series of problems in management, quality control, quality inspection and other aspects ultimately lead to unstable product processing levels. For example, the parts that the father and son are hand-polished in front of you are unqualified products returned by Jiaolai Xinhe Port Bureau. The factory owner has no choice but to spend an extra amount of money to ask someone to process them again, otherwise it will be wasted.

The father and son were doing boring polishing work silently, and used tools to measure them from time to time. To be honest, the measurement tools were not cheap, because the Hei Shui area could not be produced by itself, so they could only be imported from the east coast. If this father had not joined the army and had a generous bonus when he was young, God knew how long he would have to save to buy these practical tools.

Time flies and it is time for lunch. The father and son clean up a little, then sit at the dining table and wait for the hostess to bring the lunch one by one. The content of the lunch well reflects the living standards of the middle class in Yantai. Large pieces of baked noodles, a little bit of meat and vegetables, and fish soup stewed in the pot, which is very good.

The flour is basically produced in Denglaiban. Laiyang and Pingduzhou are now important grain-producing areas. The East Coast farmers who have used the fine varieties cultivated by Dabo Botanical Garden and rented a large number of agricultural machinery are really incomparable to the past. And you have to admit that during the 50 years that the East Coast people ruled Denglai, they spent a lot of money to build complete farmland water conservancy facilities, which made the grain output reach a very high level. In addition, a large amount of farmland has been newly opened in Jiaodong (this is also due to the improvement of infrastructure), and the impact of imported food from North Korea, the grain price level in the entire Denglai Development Team has stabilized at a very suitable level. Ordinary working people can eat enough food no matter what.

The source of meat and fish depends on overseas, of course, not local, but without industrialized large-scale breeding, it is definitely not enough to meet the increasing demands of the people of Denglai. Therefore, fish from black water, cattle and sheep from Manchu and Mongolia are very important. In addition, some fruits and vegetables imported from North Korea, Japan and even the Qing Dynasty are almost all alive. The living standards of the middle class are even better than those of the small landlords in the Qing Dynasty and North Korea. After all, those people still have to work in the fields and will not eat any meat saved often.

The cooking uses coal ball stoves. Because the vegetation covers in the Denglai area is not dense, and another batch of damaged was destroyed in the Jiaodong area. Therefore, the government is still very strict in protecting the remaining forests and prohibiting people from cutting down. In order to provide fuel for cooking, they have established a honeycomb coal factory in almost every county, specializing in selling coal balls. Therefore, now the residents of Denglai city mainly use coal balls to cook and boil water, which is not much more expensive than buying firewood. In rural areas, there are very few people using honeycomb coal. They mainly use harvested crop straw as fuel and do not spend extra money to buy honeycomb coal. Of course, there are also a small number of wealthy farmers who like to use honeycomb coal to show their identity, but this is another matter.

After lunch, Dunzi and his father almost had no rest, they immediately went to work. Their house was on the edge of a street, and people and vehicles passed by from time to time outside, but it did not affect the two people who were working in the yard at all. During this period, the two took out a bag of tobacco and took a few mouthfuls to relieve their fatigue, which was also a unique symbol of enjoyment for the middle class: tobacco, wine and sugary drinks.

At around 5:00 pm, a group of children aged about ten got off school in groups. There was only one elementary school in the county town and school was over 5:00 pm, so the group of children walked about half an hour before they got here. There were government-run street car companies in Yantai County and the suburbs, but there were almost no students taking them because this was unnecessary expense for parents. However, this does not mean that the street car companies have a poor business. In fact, there are still many adults taking them because it is convenient.

Dunzi and his son worked so hard that night fell before they took a break. After eating a pretty good dinner, they did not rush to rest, but moved the things to the door and continued to process parts with a gas light that had just lit up on the street.

Gas lamps are installed by the East Coast Gas Company and are municipal engineering projects and are paid by the Yantai County Government. Ordinary residents can also apply to install gas lamps at home, but that requires an additional fee, and not many people are willing to. People from the East Coast Gas Company have tried their best to promote it, but except for some government officials and businessmen who are willing to install gas lamps at their homes to improve the quality of life, most people do not recognize it. Like the skilled middle class like the Dunzi Family, there is no choice to install it. This is not only a matter of money, but also a matter of consumption concepts. In this regard, there are still certain differences between the Far East and the local area.

But it is gratifying that as time goes by, the number of gas lamps will be installed will increase. This can be seen from the statistics of the Yantai Branch of the East Coast Gas Company. Although the speed is still a little slower, this is a good trend, isn’t it?

"Dad, do you think if the court starts a war with the Tartars in the west again, can we still do this business?" As the day's work approached, Dunzi, who was smoking, suddenly asked.

My father was stunned when asked and said in a slightly hesitant tone: "Maybe. But who likes to fight? It costs money and dies."

He had long passed that passionate age, and his former ambition had been wiped out by the daily life of food, rice, oil and salt. The only thing he cares about now is probably how much money he can earn tomorrow and whether the family spends enough. Two sons, two daughters, grandchildren, etc., the whole family spends a lot.

Although hospitals and schools are set up in the county town, they all cost money and are not cheap, especially the cost of going to middle school. So he is now particularly concerned about economic development. Yantai and nearby Fushan, Ninghai and other places, there are quite a few companies that produce parts to the Qing Dynasty, and he often takes orders from there. If a war with the Qing Dynasty and exports are blocked, his small business will plummet, which is unacceptable. Therefore, unlike those soldiers who are eager to make a fortune in war, he really does not want to start a war, and does not want at all.

Nowadays, you can often eat meat, drink wine, smoke cigarettes, and there are many products on the market. Clothes sewn with sewing machines are very cheap. Even fashionable goods with zippers are not affordable. If you go out, you can take a street car, a train, a boat, and you can go to the hospital when you are sick. If your children are used to such good days, he really doesn't want to return to the poor life of nothing. But many of his current businesses are related to the Qing Dynasty. Once a war breaks out and the business is cut off, he has to fight with others for limited opportunities, and his income will definitely be worse than before.
Chapter completed!