Chapter 116 The Wonderful Uses of the Copper and Iron Buddha! (Subscribe)

"When did you come back?"

On the playground of Beijing Institute of Technology, Li Changhe and Shen Juncheng were strolling around with nothing to do.

The advantage of the school staff quarters is that there is a small door that leads directly into the school.

"I came back two days ago. My mother retired and gave up her job for me."

"She said that the rural inspection has been stopped this year, and my younger sister doesn't need to go to the countryside anymore, and many families at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have arranged for them to come back."

"As you know, my mother's health is not very good. It doesn't matter whether she does her job or not. The higher-ups also encourage people to take over other people's jobs, so after she was assigned a job, she transferred it directly to me."

"My buddy is now in the security department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and he will be one of them with a gun in the future!"

At this time, Shen Juncheng chuckled and said to Li Changhe.

Li Changhe smiled and nodded.

Although the country has strict gun bans in later generations, in this era, gun bans were not actually strict. In fact, before that, the government encouraged it.

Because before that, the authorities were always preparing for war, and civilians were allowed to own rifles and hunting rifles, and they only needed to register and report them.

In the security offices of factories and security sections of schools, any cadre at the section level or above can carry military weapons.

Not to mention the huge militia organization.

Li Changhe remembered that in the 1990s, two villages in the south fought each other and directly used military tactics, building bunkers to seize high ground, firing earth cannons at each other, and interspersing three-on-three tactics. Their tactical quality was higher than that of the armies of most countries in the world.

"So what brings you to see me so late at night?"

Normally, when Shen Juncheng came back, he should have come to see Li Changhe after receiving his first salary.

At that time he had money, so he treated Li Changhe to a big meal, which was the normal procedure.

Instead of waiting downstairs late at night.

Waiting downstairs can only mean that Shen Juncheng has something he can't solve and needs to consult Li Changhe.

"Strictly speaking, this is not my business."

"Changhe, do you still remember the guys we played with back then?"

Shen Juncheng asked Li Changhe seriously.

Li Changhe nodded: "Remember, you are talking about Men Saner, Lu Tou and the others, right?"

Mensan is the third child in the family. He is ruthless and doesn’t talk much, so his nickname is Mensan.

The reason why he is called Donkey Head is that he has a long face and a big thing down there, just like a donkey. I don't know who gave him the nickname Donkey Head, and he started calling him that.

"Didn't you ask about them after you came back?"

Shen Juncheng asked Li Changhe hesitantly.

Li Changhe shook his head.

"No, when I came back that year, there was still martial law outside! I basically didn't go out that year!"

"Then I took the college entrance examination at the end of the year, and then went to school, and have been there ever since."

What Li Changhe said was of course an excuse. The fundamental reason was that Li Changhe was not close to the guys in his original memory and was not affected by the emotions in his memory.

After he traveled through time, his memories were integrated along with some of his emotions, but he did not accept all of them, but only partially accepted them.

For example, he and Shen Juncheng have such deep feelings for each other in their memories that Li Changhe naturally has a natural sense of closeness and trust.

But like most of his former playmates, they were just symbols of memory to him. He had no special emotional memories of them, and naturally had no desire to look for them.

"Ah, I didn't take care of it when I came back last time, so I went to see it this time."

"Mensan came back last year. His parents are gone, and he is now raising his sister alone."

"The donkey head was returned due to illness, but he has not been assigned a job yet."

"In addition to them, there are two buddies who went to the countryside with me. They also came back this time. One is a temporary worker in a pipe factory, and the other is still doing odd jobs."

Shen Juncheng said to Li Changhe with emotion.

"Then how did they get back?"

Li Changhe asked curiously, there is no recruitment and no replacement, could it be that all of them retired due to illness?

"It takes three moves to come back."

The so-called "three to one" means that if there are three children in a family who have gone to the countryside, one will be recruited back, and the lucky one among the brothers and sisters will be selected to come back.

"Now there are many educated youth returning to the city. Apart from taking up a post, it is difficult to wait for the higher authorities to arrange a job for them."

Although there is no large-scale return of educated youth to the city now, basically those families who have settled down or have a stable life are trying to find ways to send their children back home.

In fact, many educated youth have returned through various means, but after they returned, there could not be so many jobs arranged for them, so many of them remained unemployed at home.

"Changhe, I want to help Men San'er and the others, but I don't have a good idea at the moment. I can only think of one way, which is to capture the Buddha!"

"Do you think you can still do it?"

Shen Juncheng finally told Li Changhe his purpose.

Li Changhe smiled and said, "Is this why you came to see me?"

Shen Juncheng is different from Li Changhe. This man has always had a kind of gangster spirit, so it is easy for him to become a leader.

Including that year, Li Changhe actually became the second in command with the identity of a childhood friend. In fact, among their group of people back then, Shen Juncheng was the undisputed big brother.

People like Men San'er and Lu Tou all followed Shen Juncheng instead of Li Changhe.

This is also the reason why Li Changhe’s memory is not very emotional. When everyone plays together, they are divided into close and distant relatives.

"Yeah, it was Mensan who mentioned this to me."

"He said that there are more and more Buddhas in the city recently, and he has washed several of them."

"Instead of letting them run rampant, why don't we continue to support them and make them pay tribute!"

Shen Juncheng said to Li Changhe in a low voice.

The so-called "washing the Buddha's head" is actually robbery.

Buddha usually refers to thieves, pickpockets, and burglars, but in fact it covers a wide range.

Including some rag pickers and folk scammers, in Li Changhe's view, all of them are classified as Buddhas.

These people have their own ways of making money, which are not legitimate. They make money quickly, but you can’t beat them!

Then, people like Shen Juncheng, who are good at fighting and occupy the territory, will catch them and take their money. This operation is called "Xifoye", which means to rob everything simply.

There are also some Buddhist masters who don't want to be always bullied and want to find protection, so they take the initiative to seek help from people like Shen Juncheng, and pay a certain amount of offerings every month in exchange for protection.

This protection not only includes being laundered, but also includes being bullied and suppressed by other gangs.

People like Shen Juncheng who eat offerings are called "Buddha-raising Lords".

At that time, Li Lishan and Shen Yuxiu were hit hard, Li Xiaojun went to the countryside, and Li Changhe lived alone but was still well-fed and healthy, which was not unrelated to the fact that they kept a Buddhist master at that time.

Much of the money and grain that was offered as tribute went into the pockets of Li Changhe and Shen Juncheng.

And now, Shen Juncheng clearly saw that these old and new buddies were all having difficulties in life, so he started to think about raising a Buddha again.

Li Changhe looked at Shen Juncheng and sighed.

It’s not that Shen Juncheng has no legal awareness, well, he just doesn’t. Because that’s how everyone got through it in the past few years.

"Changhe, you can see far ahead now. I came to you just to discuss with you whether this matter can still be done."

Fortunately, Shen Juncheng is not stupid and knows to discuss it with Li Changhe.

"That's definitely not the way to do it, unless you want to be shot in two years!"

Li Changhe shook his head and rejected it decisively.

Shen Juncheng was a little surprised when he heard Li Changhe's words.

"That's impossible. Not to mention the past, even now many people in the city are keeping Buddha statues. This..."

Shen Juncheng said hesitantly.

Li Changhe nodded: "I know this. When I first came back, there were few accidents on the bus. But now, every now and then, someone from above will attack the bus, and the conductor has to shout to remind people."

"What does this mean? It means that more and more people are doing this."

"Why are there so many? Because there are so many people coming back. They don't have jobs and want to make money, so there are more people using these crooked methods."

"But do you think this is the right way? If you go too far, the higher-ups will definitely punish you."

"By then, maybe we can catch all of you who are eating the Buddha's offerings and wipe you out. The higher-ups won't reason with you, and besides, you are not in the right either."

Li Changhe spoke seriously to Shen Juncheng.

Shen Juncheng frowned.

"Hey, what do you think we should do? You are a college student now, so give us some ideas!"

Li Changhe looked at Shen Juncheng, smiled, and then asked seriously: "If I give you an idea, will you listen to me?"

"You speak first. As long as it's reliable, I will definitely listen!"

Shen Juncheng said to Li Changhe seriously.

Li Changhe then walked with him to a bench in the school, then patted the bench to signal Shen Juncheng to sit down.

"In fact, I already knew that you would be a restless person after you came back. You can't live a routine life."

"But when it comes to raising a Buddha, some people can raise one, and some can't!"

"Why are some able to be raised, but some not? Didn't you just say that they can't be raised?"

After hearing Li Changhe's words, Shen Juncheng asked Li Changhe in surprise again.

"Don't worry, listen to me slowly."

"Next, you can continue to raise Buddha statues with Men San'er and Lu Tou. What kind of Buddha statues should we raise? Bronze and Iron Buddha statues!"

"Oh my god, what did I think you were talking about? Are you asking your buddies to support those rag pickers?"

The so-called Copper and Iron Buddha actually no longer refers to a pickpocket, but a person who waits at the gate of some factory or garbage dump waiting to pick up waste garbage. This kind of person usually specializes in picking out copper and iron from the garbage to sell, so he is called Copper and Iron Buddha.

Of course, many people would say that the recycling of copper and iron in this era is arranged by the state, which is not wrong.

However, no matter how strict a system is, it still relies on people to implement it. Among the workers in these factories, there are always some who slack off in their work and they may pick out large pieces of metal scrap.

But they are too lazy to deal with some small and inconspicuous items, or they deliberately turn a blind eye to them, and these garbage are the opportunities for the Bronze and Iron Buddha.

A little bit of money adds up to a lot. If you can hold on to a large factory, the profits will be considerable in this era.

Of course, another reason why they can make considerable profits is that people in Beijing are very respectable, and few locals are willing to lower themselves to do this.

Even if they are unemployed vagrants, they would rather rely on the offerings from Buddha than do it themselves.

"Don't underestimate scavenging. It's a great way to make money. Listen to me!"

Li Changhe explained to Shen Juncheng seriously.

"There are some unregistered country folk in Beijing now. These people basically do the work of copper and iron Buddha masters. If you eat the offerings of those pickpocket Buddha masters, it is a crime."

"But if you consume the materials of these copper and iron Buddhas, for example, ask them to recycle the metals they pick up to us, and we send them to the scrap collection station, can this still be called a crime?"

"Of course, you will definitely know better than me how to recycle it when the time comes!"

"Let's just guard this area of ​​Haidian. If you can arrange for people to occupy some garbage spots, this alone will be enough for you to eat your fill."

These days, individuals are not allowed to collect garbage because the country has special transport vehicles and recycling companies.

But it is indeed legal for you to pick up garbage. To put it bluntly, when residents throw garbage at the garbage point and the recycling truck has not arrived, you go there to pick up junk. That is legal and no one cares.

With the current speed of garbage disposal in Beijing, basically as soon as the recycling trucks take away the garbage, the garbage points will be filled with new garbage.

This is because there is a time difference between the transportation time of the recycling truck and the time when residents get off work.

However, this time difference also gives these scavengers the opportunity to sort out items first.

"It sounds like no one is doing this!"

Shen Juncheng was still a little hesitant.

Li Changhe smiled and said, "We have to find the scavengers to do this. There are not many old Beijingers who are willing to do this."

"So, you need to do the same as Chi Fo Ye, eat these scavengers, find scavengers who have joined you to pick up the rags here, and you will be the recycling link in the middle."

"And there are some things I'm only telling you. When the time comes, you have to pick out those who are willing to put aside their dignity and work hard. We still have other uses for them."

"What else is it?"

Shen Juncheng asked Li Changhe in confusion.

Li Changhe looked at him and shook his head and said, "What do you think? What do you think is the most abundant thing in Haidian?"

"Nonsense, of course it's a grave!"

That’s right, the most common thing in Haidian is various graves, just like Zhongguancun was not called Zhongguancun before, it was called Zhongguanfen!

Zhongguan means eunuch, which means there are many eunuchs' graves here.

In addition to eunuchs, there are various cemeteries such as the Eight Kings Tomb, Princess Tomb, Suo Family Tomb, and Iron Lion Tomb.

Suojiafen is the cemetery of the family of Kangxi's father-in-law, Soni Soetu of the Hesheli clan.

"Oh my god, you don't want to dig a grave!"

At this time, Shen Juncheng asked Li Changhe in horror.

"Get lost, you're the one who wants to dig a grave!"

"Don't you think about it? Is there any need to dig here? How much has been dug over the years?"

"From the Republic of China to the present day, many of the burial objects in the cemetery have been stolen, or even washed out by rain."

"Who knows how many treasures are hidden in those rural homes? Even a plate for feeding chickens could be an antique!"

"Think about it. When the time comes, we can select those rag pickers who are obedient and steadfast, and then let them continue collecting rags. When the time comes, there may be treasures among the things they collect."

"Gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times, do you understand?"

Li Changhe said helplessly to Shen Juncheng, while Shen Juncheng looked at Li Changhe hesitantly.

"Antique? So many of those things were smashed in the past few years. Who would want them?"

　Thanks to the book friend Youyouxinshi202209261346449671528 and the book friend Geming20190817194355238 for their rewards. I bow in gratitude!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)