Return To 1977 Chapter 76: Created by the times
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After listening to everything his mother said, Hong Yanwu didn't say anything for a long time.
Firstly, he didn't expect that his father had suffered so many crimes and grievances, and secondly, the price of that thing called "Suppressing the Tiger and the Dragon" was really astonishing.
Five thousand yuan!
What is that concept in this era when most people live on dead wages?
At that time, the average monthly living expenses for urban residents was only about 10 yuan, and an adult's monthly salary could basically support a family of three.
The salary of the two great men who just passed away was set at the third level of national administration, which was only 404.8 yuan. The salary standard at the military region level in the army is 360 yuan. The highest level 1 salary standard for police workers in Beijing is 130 yuan. Among the working class, the highest salary for Grade 8 electricians, who are the best at the job, is 103.35 yuan.
Also, in 1977, my country's GDP per capita was US$186. According to the country's official foreign exchange exchange rate at that time, 1 US dollar was exchanged for 1.4962 yuan.
This means that these 5,000 yuan is equivalent to US$3,341.8 in that year. It is the total wealth created by 18 Chinese people in one year, which can ensure that ordinary people will have no worries about food and drink for decades. And with this money, even if the country's top leader didn't have food or drink, he would have to work for two years.
Even after 2010, there was a professor from Beijing Normal University who specifically evaluated the value of the "10,000-yuan households" that emerged in the 1980s and published an authoritative academic research report on this. The professor believed that With the erosion of inflation in the past thirty years, 10,000 yuan back then is basically equivalent to "2.55 million" today!
If measured by this standard, the value of 5,000 yuan in the 1970s is at least equivalent to 1.5 million yuan today, which is definitely a terrifying sky-high price!
So even Hong Yanwu, who once had a net worth of hundreds of millions, would inevitably look uncertain and in disbelief when he heard this.
After hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but express his doubts to Wang Yunlin.
"Mom, didn't you say that Shou Jingfang has a grudge against his father? And what is 'Zuhulong'? I have never heard of it! You said that he is not lying and adding insult to injury. Are you taking this opportunity to blackmail us?"
Unexpectedly, although Wang Yunlin could not explain why, she had no doubts about Shou Jingfang's medical skills and character.
She even told her son that if she had to choose between the hospital and Shou Jingfang, both Hong Lucheng and she would unquestionably choose to believe in Shou Jingfang. Only Shou Jingfang said that Hong Yanwu's father's illness could be cured, so there was a glimmer of hope.
As for the grievances back then, it was not because there was any fundamental conflict between Shou Jingfang and Hong Lucheng, but because of the times and the changes in the world.
Immediately afterwards, Wang Yunlin introduced the relationship between Shou Jingfang and the Hong family in detail to Hong Yanwu.
Wang Yunlin had told Hong Yanwu before that Shou Jingfang was a descendant of the Shou family in Taiyuan Hospital. The Hong and Shou families have been dealing with each other since their ancestors jointly founded the "Yanshou Hall", and their cooperation is close and harmonious.
What Wang Yunlin has not yet mentioned is that as the relationship between the Hong and Shou families has deepened from generation to generation, in the generation of Shou Jingfang and Hong Lucheng, the two people not only made good friends, but also grew up playing together. . Moreover, the Hong and Shou families have an additional level of in-law relationship.
Hong Lucheng's mother is actually the aunt of the Shou family, so in theory, the two have a cousin relationship. If Hong Yanwu saw Shou Jingfang, he would really call him cousin.
In addition, the Shou family has always been interested in getting closer. Shou Jingfang's father, Shou Yaoyu, even thought about marrying Shou Jingfang's sister Shou Silan to Hong Lucheng, but later Hong Lucheng She fell in love with Wang Yunlin at first sight, and this marriage, which had been mentioned many times verbally between the two families, did not happen.
As for Shou Jingfang’s medical skills, they naturally come from his family studies. Under the loving teaching of his father, he mastered many secret recipes of Qing Gongshou Pharmacy and Nei Pharmacy.
And he has been very talented in medical studies since he was a child. He has been able to memorize "Song of Soup" and "Ode to the Properties of Medicine" since he was four years old. He can prescribe prescriptions at the age of eight. At the age of fourteen, he saved an emergency patient lying on the street with only a silver needle.
This made his father often show off to the outside world, saying that his son was a rare medical wizard in a century. Occasionally, when I was drunk, I even said in private, "If my son hadn't been young, I'd probably have to replace him with one of the four famous doctors in Beijing."
Such drunken words may be a bit exaggerated, but Shou Jingfang does have real talent and knowledge. His superb medical skills are well-known in the capital.
Because he likes to think about difficult and complicated diseases the most, and he especially likes to see diseases that cannot be cured by famous doctors. And over time, it was indeed cured a lot. So much so that many patients in the capital came to see him at the last minute in order to get a chance to survive.
In fact, this is precisely the smartest thing about Shou Jingfang.
Generally, this kind of patient has basically reached the point where it is time to prepare for the funeral, and the dead horse is treated as a living horse doctor. If the patient is cured, he will be "rejuvenated" and "brought back to life". If he is not cured, he will be "dead or alive" and "unable to recover". The patient's family members are only grateful and definitely not looking for blame.
As a result, there were a lot of plaques on the Shou family back then. It is no exaggeration to say that the plaques of the Shou family occupy two entire large rooms. Only the large plaques of "Miaoshou Rejuvenation" and "Qihuang Sage", if lined up one after another, would be three blocks longer than the alley where the Shou family lives. go.
Although these plaques cannot be eaten or drunk, from a certain perspective, they have a miraculous effect, that is, they increase Shou Jingfang's medical fees.
Don't look at the fact that the four famous doctors in the capital charge 80 yuan for a consultation, but the price in exchange for longevity and respect is in gold bars. In addition, all the prescriptions he prescribed required getting the medicine from "Yanshou Hall", so in fact, Shou Jingfang was probably the number one doctor in the capital.
Thinking now that the four famous doctors have passed away, if there is anyone in the world who can cure Hong Lucheng, who is seriously ill and blind, it is probably Shou Jingfang.
But since there is such a good doctor, why not ask for it earlier?
To be honest, Hong Lucheng and Shou Jingfang have not been in contact with each other for nearly 20 years, and they broke off their relationship out of anger. The reason for this is quite helpless.
In 1955, as soon as the Hong family's catering store completed the joint venture, a district cadre in charge of the pharmaceutical industry came to Hong Lucheng for help.
I learned that this cadre had a big problem with the Shou family because of the Yanshou Tang joint venture, so he came to him as a lobbyist. So Hong Lucheng took a mission to Shou's house to persuade Shou Jingfang.
Unexpectedly, after entering the door, as soon as Hong Lucheng proposed his intention to come, his cousin, who had always been very respectful to him, actually fell out with him for the first time. implicitly provocative). Not only did they sarcastically reprimand him for being "too lenient", but they also sarcastically belittled him for being "too enlightened". Naturally, the conversation couldn't continue.
A few days later, Hong Lucheng came to visit again. He originally planned to have a calm talk with Shou Jingfang in order to help him understand the situation and avoid him suffering a loss. But this time Shou Jingfang completely turned against him. In order to save his ancestral business, he not only threw the tea cup with an angry look, but also drove Hong Lucheng out of the house with a blushing face.
Afterwards, he scolded him, "I can't help you selling your ancestors of the Hong family, but the Shou family doesn't sell their ancestors." With one sentence, Hong Lucheng was embarrassed.
After that, Hong Lucheng, who had already experienced the pain and knew the stakes involved, thought about it, but finally couldn't bear to sit back and watch his cousin make mistakes. After hesitating for a while, he went to the door of Shou's house again. Unexpectedly But he encountered General Tie guarding the door.
Since then, Shou Jingfang seemed to have disappeared out of thin air. He was not only found at home and in the store, but also at the homes of relatives and friends near and far, but he was never seen again.
Hong Lucheng naturally understood in his heart that Shou Jingfang was planning to hide away from people. When the higher-ups announced that they would no longer cooperate, he might be able to find people again.
Such a delay lasted until 1956.
Since the cadre was burdened with joint tasks, he was really helpless. Shou Jingfang’s move made him completely cornered. He actually wanted to ask an acquaintance in the public security agency for help in order to “escape with money, Shou Jingfang was wanted on the charge of "arrears of wages" and used this to force him out.
After Hong Lucheng learned about it, he was afraid that the lie would eventually become true so that Shou Jing would not cause another big disaster, so he had no choice but to make suggestions for the cadres. He proposed that since Shou Jingfang would not show up, it would be better to take the shares of the Hong family into a joint venture and then wait for the district to send people to take over the store. Even if Shou Jingfang wanted to object, it was too late.
This trick really worked. On the third day after the district took over the store, Shou Jingfang appeared in the old store "Yanshoutang" in Chongwenmen.
Hong Lucheng rushed there as soon as he got the letter, but when he arrived, the new official manager was already having a heated argument with Shou Jingfang.
After Hong Lucheng asked, he learned that Shou Jingfang had come from nowhere, covered in dust and mud on his head. As soon as he entered the store, he loudly scolded the clerk and not only stopped the clerks from moving things. , and stubbornly wanted to drive away all the new personnel sent by the government.
The manager came forward to appease him, but all explanations were of no use. He complained in his dissatisfaction, which roughly meant that even the four major pharmacies in the capital have completed public-private partnerships, and your "Yanshoutang" should also ask these pharmacies. Study actively and strive for progress.
Unexpectedly, Shou Jingfang responded with a sneer unceremoniously.
"The four major drug stores? Then you go and ask them, are they capable of doing my 'Yanshoutang' business? Do you want me to learn from them? That's not the whole thing. I think you are the one who doesn't understand. The whole thing."
This biting sarcasm immediately made all the old clerks laugh. The manager was probably a layman. Although his face was red and his ears were red, he didn't understand why.
The clerk then explained to the manager.
It turns out that Ginseng Rongzhuang refers to a business that is supported by strong capital and long-term reputation and can buy and sell high-end medicinal materials such as ginseng, deer antlers, and musk.
In the medicine shop, it is recognized that Shenrongzhuang is one level higher than other medicine shops that only deal in pills, ointments and decoctions. And in the entire capital, except for "Yanshou Tang" and "Qingren Tang", there is no other drugstore that can carry the Ginseng Rongzhuang brand. Even the "Qirentang" of Yue's family, which has become the mayor of the capital, is just an ordinary pharmacy.
After figuring out the key points, the manager was angered by Shou Jingfang's arrogance and immediately seized on the topic and said that he was "engaging in a monopoly operation." The verbal conflict between the two became more and more intense, and finally they came to blows. If Hong Lucheng hadn't arrived in time, he might have actually taken action.
However, Hong Lucheng's appearance also seemed quite embarrassing. Because he knew very well that he was already on the opposite side of Shou Jingfang. And Shou Jingfang would not listen to his advice at all.
Sure enough, Shou Jingfang's attitude towards Hong Lucheng was extremely cold, not only turning a blind eye to him, but also turning a deaf ear to his words. Then, he simply walked out of the street, sat down on the steps of the door, and blocked the door to prevent anyone from entering or leaving.
This really made the manager anxious. He jumped to call for help and wanted to force the cheating Shou Jingfang away.
Hong Lucheng knew Shou Jingfang's stubbornness and was afraid that the conflict would really intensify and not end well. In desperation, he had no other choice but to take action in person on behalf of the manager. He called on a few familiar associates to force Shou Jingfang back home, and locked him in his room for three days to "quench his anger."
After three days, as soon as Shou Jingfang was released, he ran to the "Yanshou Hall" again. But now the dust has settled, all handover procedures for the store have been successfully completed, and even the signboard of "Yanshoutang" has been replaced by "People's Pharmacy".
Shou Jingfang could only hold the old plaque that he had forcibly retrieved, and said in tears to Hong Lucheng, who was chasing after him, "I knew it would have happened sooner or later! If you are not afraid of thieves stealing, you are afraid that thieves will miss you... Go ahead. Go ahead! This is the result you want, right?”
Hong Lucheng felt guilty, knowing that he had hurt Shou Jingfang deeply. And he had experienced this feeling so deeply that he was speechless.
In this way, a huge emotional rift appeared between their cousins, and they have not seen each other since. Even during the three-year (natural) disaster, Hong Lucheng asked his wife Wang Yunlin to visit Shou's family with food bought at a high price in an attempt to ease the relationship, but the trip was in vain.
Shou Jingfang also confiscated the gift. He only asked Wang Yunlin to bring back a harsh message, "Even if the Shou family starves to death, they will not be able to reach the door of your Hong family."
After that, it will be "remembering the bitter and remembering the sweet" and the "ten-year movement". Hong Lucheng was too busy taking care of himself, and because the status of both families was too "high", he was afraid that if he went to the Shou family and was charged with "private conspiracy", no one would be able to escape. As a result, the thought of settling the old feud gradually faded away, and I never bothered him again.
Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin never thought that one day they would meet Shou Jingfang in this life. Unexpectedly, this time Wang Yunlin went without any trouble at all and actually invited Shou Jingfang.