For example, the newly debuted Frank Carter, this year he would buy a batch of copper clocks at a low price from a factory in Mountain City, then sell them at a high price in Magic City, and ended up getting locked up for speculation and profiteering...

However, all of the above is just the general environment of the era; as for the present, things are really uncertain. The policies from above loosen and tighten, soften and harden, the tides are always shifting, and no one really knows what's going on.

"This year seems to be a crackdown on economic crimes, right? Not sure if it's over yet..."

Brian Clark recalled the newspaper he read a while ago, but didn't get any useful information. He definitely couldn't reach the level of those big-time speculators, so it was just as well to do something small and safe. So he circled back to the question: what should he do?

He stared at the pitch-black ceiling, even less sleepy, so he simply jumped out of bed.

He pressed his ear to the door and listened; faint snoring came from inside. He grabbed an old desk lamp, found some paper and a pen, and covered himself with a quilt. By the dim yellow light, Brian Clark scribbled away on the paper, quickly finishing several strange design sketches.

"People these days are poor, but not as poor as you'd imagine..."

He bit his pencil, a bit nervous as well. "Ladies, don't let me down!"

Chapter 9: Meigouying

Brian Clark had nothing but a little over a hundred yuan in savings.

He seriously considered all kinds of possibilities, even thought about going to the countryside to get some peanuts and sunflower seeds, do some rough processing, and then sell them at the train station. But after thinking it over, the cost-effectiveness wasn't great, so he gave up.

At this moment, he was sitting on a bus to Meigouying, looking at the endless wilderness outside the city. Yep, this was the very place where Old Gu came to look for dragons...

He didn't quit his job, nor did he tell his family.

His parents supported him acting in Dream of the Red Chamber, because that was a proper thing to do, but that didn't mean they were open-minded enough to let their son quit his job to do some speculative business.

So he found a subtle excuse for leave—to seek inspiration for Dream of the Red Chamber.

Something that sounded so far-fetched was actually accepted by both his workplace and his family—well, the truth was, he was just a gofer, not indispensable.

"Vroom vroom!"

"Clang clang!"

The big bus rumbled along with all sorts of noises, stopping now and then in some remote countryside, picking up or dropping off a few people here and there. It took almost half a day to cover a hundred kilometers.

By noon, he finally made it to the Meigouying bus station.

He randomly picked a restaurant, wolfed down six meat pies at fifteen cents each, plus a bowl of egg soup, then patted his belly and headed to his destination—the textile factory.

The Northeast, as a heavy industry base, wasn't very developed in light textiles. For example, Ancheng didn't have a textile factory and wouldn't establish one until 1985. At the moment, only Fengtian had one, Xiangping had one, and there was one in Lüda, but the most famous was still the Meigouying Textile Factory.

Before liberation, Meigouying was the largest cotton cloth market in the Northeast, with products selling well both inside and outside the region, even in Siberia. In 1932, the merchant Robert Thompson established a large textile factory, which was taken over by the government after liberation.

In these times, state-owned enterprise workers were the most sought-after, with high wages and all kinds of benefits through the roof.

First, there was the "iron rice bowl"—no need to worry about unemployment, full labor insurance, and the company covered all medical expenses. Even if your relatives got sick, you could write your own name, which basically meant free healthcare for the whole family.

When you got married, the company would allocate you a house, or rent you one at a very low price. If you couldn't find a wife, no worries—companies with lots of bachelors would even specially recruit female workers to encourage internal marriages, so dual-income couples were especially common.

Later, during the mass layoffs, these people suffered the most.

The most impressive thing was the succession system—sons could take over their fathers' jobs. Basically, once you got into a state-owned enterprise, you and your descendants would have nothing to worry about for life.

Besides that, the hottest jobs were in commerce, grain supply (the commercial bureau system, grain stores, supply and marketing cooperatives), and of course, textile factories were pretty good too—going on blind dates, you’d look especially respectable.

Brian Clark easily found the place. From afar, he saw a large cluster of factory buildings lying there, surrounded by supporting facilities like clubs, hospitals, and schools—a little kingdom of its own.

He was like a self-made man, a lone wanderer with no clue what to do. But he wasn't in a hurry; since he couldn't get into the factory, he wandered around the club.

It was a two-story building. The first floor had billiard tables and a movie theater, the second floor was a reading room, with portraits of the great proletarian leader on the wall and blood-red slogans painted everywhere.

It was work hours in the afternoon, so the club was almost empty, with only a small-eyed man playing pool by himself.

Brian Clark watched for a while, then suddenly stepped forward, "Hey man, mind if I join?"

"Sure!"

The man was dressed flashily and wasn't shy at all. So the two of them each grabbed a cue and started playing, a simple game of eight-ball.

Brian Clark had been passionate in his youth in his previous life, and his skills were especially sharp. Unexpectedly, the other guy was no slouch either, and the game was neck and neck. Brian Clark had the edge in strategy, knowing both offense and defense. In the end, with a defensive shot, he broke the opponent's advantage and sank three balls in a row, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

"Awesome!"

The man's eyes lit up. "Let's go again!"

Brian Clark naturally obliged, and they played three more rounds, winning two and losing one. The guy tossed his cue aside and waved, "I'm done, you win!"

Brian Clark just smiled, said nothing, and walked to the steps at the club entrance, squatting down there.

The man glanced at him, didn't say anything, and headed upstairs to the second floor.