Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 105 Vocational Training Center

Xia Maosheng nodded and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say, Uncle. How much is the management fee? How do I pay it?"

Director Wang smoothed his hair back, thought for a moment, and said, "There's no precedent for this. Well then, the first installment is 2000 yuan, and the processing fee for the permit will be charged as usual, okay? We won't charge you for the site, but you'll have to figure out how to pay for heating yourselves. You don't need to pay any cash; just bring me some coal, okay?"

Xia Maosheng thought for a moment, then nodded and smiled, saying, "Okay, Uncle, whatever you say goes. We're young, and this is our first time working out here, so we'll need your help."

Director Wang laughed a few times and said, "No need to be polite. I have to give your aunt face. I'm afraid she'll scold me at the next meeting. Haha, okay, it's settled then. I'll have someone find a place this afternoon, and you can come and pick up the keys tomorrow morning, okay? Let's chat after everything is tidied up."

Xia Maosheng pulled Xiaowei up, and the two of them stood up. Xia Maosheng said, "Thank you for your help, Uncle. We'll head over now."

Director Wang nodded and said, "Okay, I won't see you off. Take your time."

The two went out and downstairs.

After leaving the Labor Bureau building, Xiao Wei asked, "Is it all over? Is it that simple?"

Xia Maosheng glanced at Xiao Wei and said, "What? What else do you want?"

Xiao Wei shook his head and said, "I thought it would be more complicated, but it's quite easy."

Xia Maosheng said, "My aunt made the call; she has influence. You think you can run around all by yourself without relying on anything? You'll exhaust yourself. Let's go eat those bones again and see if the boss will still charge us today, haha."

The boss did collect the money today, but only added an extra dish; he didn't even bother to show his face. From now on, Xiaowei and pig feed will probably be the biggest shadow in this boss's heart.

After lunch, the two returned to the guesthouse.

After watching TV for a while, which wasn't very interesting, Xiao Wei got up, took the thermos to the water room downstairs to get hot water, and Xia Maosheng lay down on the bed to doze off, but then fell asleep again. When Xiao Wei came back and saw that Xia Maosheng was asleep, he took a towel and went downstairs to take a shower. At this time, people in Northeast China could only take showers at public bathhouses; they couldn't even shower at home. Fortunately, the guesthouse was government-owned and had its own boiler and a shower room.

After he took a shower and went upstairs, Xia Maosheng woke up and was leaning against the blankets smoking.

While drying his hair, Xiao Wei asked, "Didn't they tell us to open two more classes? What's going on?"

Xia Maosheng flicked his cigarette ash and said, "I haven't decided yet. Let's see what we can do. We don't even know what kind of fire it is right now. Should we ask Teacher Lan?"

Xiao Wei sat on the bed and thought for a moment before saying, "Let's look at the newspaper. I learned about the Cultural Palace class from the newspaper. I think you can find the information in most popular newspapers, so just follow along and you'll succeed."

Xia Maosheng jumped up and said, "Okay, I'll go buy the newspaper."

He was a very energetic person; as soon as he said he was going to buy it, he opened the door and ran downstairs. Xiaowei stretched out his hand, but a sentence stuck in his throat: "Buy local stuff..."

Ten minutes later, footsteps echoed down the hallway. Xia Maosheng burst into the room, threw a dozen newspapers onto the bed, and said, "I bought all the newspapers, not one less." Xiao Wei was speechless.

There's no point in saying anything now; the purchase is already made, so let's see. The two of them, one sitting on the edge of the bed and the other curled up on the bed, flipped through the newspapers one by one.

There were many newspapers back then. People's Daily and Wenhui Daily, which were mouthpiece newspapers, were available at newsstands. They covered everything from the central government to the provinces and cities, including CCTV News and Liaodong TV News. TV News was the most popular newspaper at that time.

Xiao Wei flipped through the local newspapers directly: Chaoyang Daily and Chaoyang TV Guide. Yandu Morning Post hadn't even been founded yet at that time. He glanced at them briefly, then flipped through Fengtian Morning Post and Fengtian Evening Post, and Liaodong TV Guide.

Newspapers in this era were usually half-folded, so you could scan them in a few glances, and the "GGs" (male characters) were generally hidden in the gaps. The newspapers here almost exclusively feature "GGs" from Fengtian (Shenyang).

This era was also a chaotic time for the gambling industry, lacking systematic management and supervision. Even gambling games like see-through poker and mahjong were openly published in major newspapers.

These days, the most common things people do are study abroad training courses, English vocabulary literacy classes, intensive study abroad courses, and courses that teach you how to take the TOEFL. The craze for going abroad has suddenly become very popular in the last two years. No matter what you do or how old you are, everyone dreams of going abroad to make money. The news says that there are US dollars everywhere in the United States, and you can earn hundreds of thousands a year washing dishes.

Chef classes, pastry classes, braised meat training, sausage making training, tailoring classes, beauty and hairdressing classes, poker and mahjong mastery classes, watch repair, appliance repair, pager repair, performing arts training, singing training, musical instrument classes, driver's license mastery classes, not to mention all kinds of review classes, Xiaowei and his friends can't do them either.

In those days, there were many restrictions on private driver's license tests. Not just anyone could take the test. First, it was expensive, costing seven or eight thousand yuan. Second, you needed to have a work unit. However, in the early 90s, these restrictions were relaxed, allowing individuals to register for tests at local street offices, but there were quotas. The process for obtaining a driver's license was also very lengthy: six months of theory (full-time), three months of training (full-time), and three months of probation, totaling one year. Then, a student certificate was issued, and after one year, you could exchange it for a driver's license.

At this time, people are very enthusiastic about getting rich, and the training market is a mixed bag, with all sorts of things available, even steamed bun classes, secret recipe pickled vegetables, family-recipe roasted chicken, family-recipe plasters, pancakes and fried dough sticks, you name it.

The two of them searched for a long time and found that the only classes they could teach were chef classes and pastry classes. They couldn't do anything else. Finding teachers was one thing, but the key issue was that highly specialized classes didn't have a high audience. They could do it in Fengtian, but in Chaoyang, it was a joke.

Xiao Wei became increasingly bored as he flipped through the newspaper. He threw it down, lay back on the bed, and thought, "Why is it so hard to make a little money by starting a cooking class?"

Xia Maosheng was still watching with great interest, occasionally making comments: "Xiaowei, look, there's a magic class here, want to learn?" "Jewelry making training, this is good, you can make things for your wife." "Hey, hey, hey, this is good, this is good, a qigong class, if you master this you'll be awesome."

Xiao Wei looked at the ceiling and said, "We have to give them a reply tomorrow, and then we have to arrange things with the teacher. Can you come up with something that's manageable?"

Xia Maosheng chuckled a few times and continued flipping through the pages.

"Hey Xiaowei, this is really good! A baking class that teaches how to make Western-style pastries, bread, cakes, egg tarts, and even birthday cakes. Isn't that great?"

Xiao Wei thought for a moment and said, "That's fine. It's something new and won't conflict with our cooking class. But where will the teacher get it?"

Xia Maosheng looked at GG and said, "This company in Fengtian provides teachers, who were invited from eastern Guangdong. They said they could cooperate in running classes."

Xiao Wei sat up and squeezed next to Xia Maosheng, looked at him, and said, "Let's make a call and ask. I don't know much about this, but I think it'll work. These days, isn't it common to buy a cake for birthdays? But there aren't many places that sell them."

Xia Maosheng nodded and said, "I think so too. Last year, for my dad's birthday, I went to many places and finally bought a cake in Chaoyang. It was made by people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and it was made with powdered sugar instead of cream. This cake is described as a cream birthday cake, so I guess it's what they say in books."

Xiao Wei said, "Isn't there a phone downstairs? Go call and ask how to cooperate, whether there's any money involved, and how to split the profits."

Xia Maosheng nodded and said, "Okay." He threw down the newspaper and ran downstairs again.