Chapter 31: Not Tired of Exams

  The exam is not tiring.

  Yao Fanxuan's choice of location was deliberate. In 2011, this place was nestled between Beiling Mountain and Jiading Mountain, a vacant lot surrounded by no people within a radius of 300 meters. A little to the west was his newly rented warehouse.

  Yao Fan measured the distance between the two mountain peaks with his thumb before crossing, and then took out a protractor from his pocket to calculate the angle. After confirming that there was no mistake, he crossed back and found himself right in the middle of this empty space. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and laugh: "It seems that even if I were an artilleryman, I would be barely passing."

  The first thing Yao Fang did when he returned was to turn on his mobile phone and make a call. His parents, who were on the other end of the line, couldn't hide their happy emotions upon learning that their son had returned. Yao's father immediately got in the car and rushed over with Yao's mother.

  Yao Fan put ten wooden boxes into the trunk of his QQ, each box was only about twenty centimeters in width and height, and ten of them didn't take up much space.

  As Yao Baba started the car, Yao Fan sat in the back seat and said: "Dad, this time I brought 414 catties and 11 taels of gold, which is approximately 207 kilograms more."

  Let's just say it's 207 kilograms. I roughly calculated that at the black market price of 290 to 300 yuan per gram, it would be worth around 62 million.

  "Wow, so much money! Yan Yan, why don't you just not come back anymore? This amount of money is enough for you to start a family and career!"

  "You don't know, this time you left, Mom couldn't sleep all night, worried and frightened, afraid that something unexpected would happen to you."

  "Mom, Qing Dynasty is still a good place, politics are smooth and people are in harmony... no, I made a mistake, it should be 'politics with bribery, punishment with silver exemption'. As long as you have silver in your hand, you don't need to fear anything there. I've already gotten familiar with the officials in the local government and become a local tycoon."

  "Then don't bully the common people," Yao's father said indignantly. "These days I've been cramming on some Qing dynasty history books, and the lives of the common people back then were really too bitter."

  Yao Feng didn't dare say that he wanted to start a rebellion there. He knew that if he said it out loud, his parents' hearts would absolutely not be able to take it, no matter which dynasty or generation, no matter how mature the conditions were, the risk of rebelling was always extremely high, and of course, so were the gains.

  "Hey, Dad, aren't you going to look at the photos? I took a lot this time, about 8 rolls, over 250 pictures! When they're developed, take a good look, they're really fresh!"

  Yao's dad grasped the QQ steering wheel, excitedly saying: "Too good! Too good! Fang fang! I must take a good look, what does this Qing dynasty really look like!"

  "Hey, Dad, don't get too excited just yet. I have a question for you - how do you plan on developing these photos? Let me tell you, we can't take them out to be developed. It's way too shocking and unconventional. They're all high-definition color photos from the Qing dynasty, who would believe that kind of cospy level?"

  "What exam isn't tiring?"

  "It's just a behavior of imitating specific characters and specific scenes."

  Yao's father said with a smile, "That's easy, we have a thermostat at home, I'll buy some color developer and fixer myself, and set up a darkroom to develop the film. Your dad used to develop films himself all the time, and the grain and color saturation of the films he developed were absolutely not inferior to those developed outside."

  It's just that the final printing is a bit of a hassle, but I've heard that now the photo shops all use digital printing. The old film enlargers have been eliminated. In 2002, Fuji's color film enlarger printer sold for 1 million yuan per unit, and now it's hung outside selling for only 50,000 yuan per unit."

  Yao Fandao: "That's the best way, now we have a lot of money, tens of millions! As long as you like it, not to mention 50,000, even if the original price is 10 million, it's no big deal."

  In short, it must be kept confidential. If this matter is made public, I will probably be treated as a biological specimen, and any country will want to cut off a piece of my flesh for research. Even you won't be able to rest easy, and I estimate that you'll also be studied by people."

  Yao's mother, who was sitting in the passenger seat, shivered with fear and hastily reminded Yao's father, "Yao Peng, did you hear that? Whatever you do, don't leak the secret!"

  Yao's father said: "Li Hongmei, don't you trust me? Come on, I'm a 30-year-old party veteran and a state official, don't I have this much awareness?"

  "Alright, alright! You've spent your whole career as a section chief in the archives, what's so special about you that you can't even become a department head? All you know is how to waste money, and now you want to spend tens of thousands on some machine to develop film? This money was earned with our son's life, okay?! You're really getting more and more muddle-headed as you get older!"

  Yao's father was so angry that he drove in silence, no longer speaking.

  Next, Yao Fang and his family embarked on a long journey of selling gold. More than a dozen local gold shops in Qingdao were visited, and surprisingly, all 414 kg and 11 taels of gold were sold out at an average price of 302 yuan per ounce, earning more than 62.62 million yuan. Adding this to the original savings of Yao's family, the current balance in Yao Fang's account has reached 67 million yuan.

  Yao Fan couldn't help but feel amazed at the local gold shop's ability to turn over goods, thinking that those who made jewelry were indeed wealthy. Shandong was indeed a province with gold mines, and both open market and black market gold transactions were booming. Merchants from all provinces came to Qingdao to purchase gold, and the gold shops could easily make a profit after collecting the gold.

  Domestically, the import and export of gold are strictly controlled, but for domestic folk gold circulation, it is a completely laissez-faire attitude. The sale of gold before the founding of the country did not require registration of ID cards either.

  After having so much money, Yao Fang's family couldn't close their mouths in delight.

  Yao's mother hastily arranged for an intermediary and prepared to go house hunting.

  Yao Fan and his excited father Yao went to Guanshan Photo Studio, a well-known shop on Shandong Road, planning to buy a second-hand Fuji color photo printer.

  "Haha, Big Brother Yao, you've arrived! Come in quickly and take a seat! Come in quickly and take a seat!" The owner of Guanshan Photo Studio received the phone call and rushed out of the store to greet Yao Peng and his son.

  Yao Peng rushed into the store, going straight to the point, and ran to the back of the store to stroke a Fuji color photocopier that was as big as three copiers put together.

  "Old Guan, can't you make it any cheaper? I've been developing so many rolls of film at your place over the years. In the past, the archives would bring over hundreds and hundreds of rolls every month to be developed here."

  The boss of Guanshan Photo Studio was originally named Guanshan. He is a bit younger than Yao Feng's father, Yao Peng, but he is also approaching 50 years old, and his hair has turned white.

  He smiled wryly and handed out cigarettes to Yao Peng and Yao Fan, saying: "Old brother, it's not that I'm heartless. You also know about this machine, which cost over 1.05 million yuan when I first bought it. If nobody was rushing to print film nowadays, I wouldn't sell it for 50,000 yuan."

  "It's precisely because I know you're no longer using it that I've come to buy it. If you continue to leave it in the store, it'll eventually become a useless item."

  "Brother, you know I'm good at machine maintenance. Although it's not in use now, every week I regularly clean the rollers to prevent crystallization damage to the film. This machine is well-maintained by me, you can take it away and use it right away, if you don't believe me, I'll test it on the spot! Lifetime maintenance for you! This machine can print 60 rolls in an hour, with quality like a new one."

  Yao Peng smiled and said: "I know that, but why don't you turn on the machine? Business is so bad?"

  Guanshan shook his head with a bitter smile: "In the past, during the film era, I developed 400-500 rolls a day and was completely overwhelmed. Now? In a week, I only develop a dozen or so rolls, it's not even worth turning on the machine."

  "What are you using to develop the film now?"

  "Hey, I spent 3 million buying a film scanner, and after scanning, I use my digital enlarger to print it out. This digital enlarger is an old price, costing me over 30 million. But speaking of which, Old Yao, why did you think of buying a film enlarger? Is this thing still useful now?"

  Yao Peng said, "I used to envy your photo studio, with mechanized printing equipment, you can wash and print immediately, the photos can be enlarged as much as you want. Now that the price is cheaper, I'll come and indulge in it too. At this age, buying a small SLR camera costs tens of thousands of yuan, buying a color enlarger to play with is also fulfilling a wish from my youth."

  Guanshan burst out laughing: "Old Yao, you're getting old but still so into photography, this enthusiasm really makes me envious. Nowadays, unless the studio photographer asks for my help, I can go a whole month without touching a camera."

  He finished speaking, and Guan Shan took a fierce drag on his cigarette, sitting down on the stool with both hands propping up his knees. He looked serious, lowering his head in contemplation for a moment before raising it again to say: "Old Yao, we've known each other for over twenty years now, right? I've helped you develop so many rolls of film - public and private ones combined, there must be over 10,000 by now. The more I think about it, the more I feel that with our friendship spanning half a lifetime, no matter what price I sell it to you for, it wouldn't be suitable. How about this: Old Brother, you name a price - just say whatever you want, and no matter how much money it is, you can take this machine away. This machine has been with me for over ten years now, and we've developed feelings too. You're someone who truly loves photography, so if it ends up in your hands, I'll be able to rest easy and sleep soundly."

  Yao Penghan's face turned red, and he furrowed his brow to deliberate: "This... how about this, Old Guan? I'll give you 20,000 yuan. I do have more, but to be honest with you, it's a bit of a pity."

  "Alright! I said it's okay to give you as much as you want, didn't I? Where are you living now, brother? I'll arrange for a moving company truck to help transport them over and I'll personally help with the setup. I also have more than 300 rolls of 120 negative film in my fridge that are about to expire, consider it a bonus, I'll give them to you."

  Mr. Yao was overjoyed and stood up excitedly, shaking hands with Guan Shan and hugging each other.

  "Old Guan, you really helped me out of a jam. It just so happens that the stock in my fridge is all used up and I haven't had time to buy more online yet."

  Guanshan laughed and said, "Yao brother, what are you doing now? Are you still taking pictures of documents in the archives? Are you really short on film? I know a friend who has over 10,000 rolls of unsold film in his air raid shelter warehouse."

  Yao Peng said: "No way, I plan to learn from others and play with exams without getting tired."

  Yao Feng heard this and immediately spat out a mouthful of tea he was holding in his mouth.