More than a year of life as an ocean-going sailor, although it was on a cruise ship like a five-star hotel at sea, the intensity of the work was equally high.
After more than a year of high-intensity work, Tan Jincheng looked much sturdier than his average 19-year-old peers.
The sun at sea was scorching, and even without outdoor work, his skin was much darker than that of his average peers.
With his sturdy build, dark skin, and a suitcase in tow, coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival, he looked like a migrant worker returning from a construction site to celebrate the holiday.
Soon after leaving the park, taxi drivers occasionally approached Tan Jincheng, asking where he was going and if he needed a ride.
This situation had already occurred once when he exited the bus station.
Yicheng taxi drivers were just that aggressive, and overcharging customers was also very common.
The practice of Yicheng taxi drivers overcharging customers persisted even in 2019; it was better in the city, but if you went to the counties or towns below, it was common for drivers to stop midway and demand more money.
Tan Jincheng's home was a certain distance from Linghu Park.
In his previous life, he might have slowly walked back; but the current Tan Jincheng was naturally unwilling to do so.
He told the surrounding drivers the name of his residential area; sure enough, as soon as the community name was mentioned, coupled with Tan Jincheng's city accent, the drivers dispersed.
Only one driver, who was going in the same direction, was willing to give Tan Jincheng a ride, and even then, he looked annoyed.
"No meter, 20 yuan, deal?"
"Fine, let's go."
Tan Jincheng shrugged, indifferently.
It was about a three-kilometer journey.
Currently, the starting fare for Yicheng taxis was 3 yuan for 2 kilometers.
It wouldn't even be 10 yuan with the meter, yet he quoted 20!
However, most taxi drivers in most cities were like this now, and Tan Jincheng didn't care much.
20 was 20, he wasn't short of that money.
In his previous life, doing business and traveling to various cities, Tan Jincheng had taken countless taxis.
There was no point in arguing with them; if he could accept it, he'd just grin and bear it.
Taxi drivers' service attitudes only improved somewhat after Didi came out.
"Young man, where are you returning from work, carrying such a big suitcase?"
"Student, going home for Mid-Autumn Festival, and also bringing summer clothes home."
"Oh, seeing how strong you are and with such a large suitcase, I thought you'd made a fortune somewhere. You just hop into a 20-yuan taxi without hesitation."
"Military training. Uncle, if you don't consider me a student, how about a discount, 10 yuan?"
"No way, what I said is what it is. College students should be even more trustworthy."
Tan Jincheng chuckled and didn't respond, and the driver wisely shut up.
It wasn't about badmouthing his hometown; in fact, most cities were like this back then.
After the reform and opening-up, material conditions improved, but the quality of most people had not yet caught up.
Even developed coastal cities had this phenomenon; the driver clearly saw that he had agreed too readily and wanted to try to get more benefits out of him.
He was still careless.
If he had known, he would have bargained with him.
Maybe he would have taken him for 8 yuan anyway, since it was on his way, and it would have avoided his probing questions.
Having been on the ship for over a year in a relatively closed environment, Tan Jincheng hadn't felt much.
Now that he was ashore and interacting more with people, he was genuinely a bit unaccustomed to it for a while.
The taxi drove quickly.
The benefit of not using the meter was that the driver wouldn't take detours, and they arrived at the community entrance in no time.
Just then, Tan Jincheng's phone rang appropriately.
The exclusive Nokia ringtone pulled Tan Jincheng's thoughts back to reality.
He looked at the number; it was his home landline.
Sure enough, that bigmouth Zhang Xupeng had already told his family his number.
This phone was bought after he got ashore.
It was the new Nokia 3100 released last year, which cost Tan Jincheng over 1800 yuan, quite expensive for that time.
In '04, the housing prices in Yicheng's urban area seemed to be just over a thousand yuan, right? One phone was worth more than a square meter of housing.
The driver glanced at Tan Jincheng suspiciously, muttered something, and sped off.
Tan Jincheng didn't mind.
He pressed the answer button, truly unaccustomed to regressing from the smartphone era to the feature phone era.
"Hello."
Tan Jincheng responded softly.
"Peng Ya is home already, where are you? Why haven't you returned yet?"
A middle-aged woman's voice came from the other end of the line; it was Tan Jincheng's mother.
"I'm downstairs in the community, almost home."
"What are you answering the phone for downstairs? Wasting phone money. Hang up first."
Before Tan Jincheng could speak, the other side hung up.
Only then did Tan Jincheng remember that long-distance calls still incurred roaming charges back then.
His mobile number was obtained when he disembarked at Yongcheng Port, and its attribution belonged to Zhejiang Province.
Global Pass, with a minimum monthly charge of 88 yuan, if less than 88 yuan, it would be charged as 88 yuan.
After leaving the province, both incoming and outgoing calls incurred roaming charges, seemingly 6 mao per minute.
The business hall seemed to have mentioned it when he got the card, but Tan Jincheng didn't remember it too clearly.
This was due to the inertia from his previous life, he couldn't be blamed.
Looking at the Nokia in his hand, Tan Jincheng fell into deep thought for a moment.
What year did smartphones start to become popular?
The universal charger business should still have some market, right?
Speaking of which, this era truly had gold everywhere.
In an age where demand was infinitely magnified, for someone like Tan Jincheng, who carried memories from his past life, simply wanting to make money was incredibly easy.
Even just opening a phone accessories store, selling universal chargers, batteries, etc., could earn a good amount.
And by the smartphone era, there were small businesses like phone cases and screen protectors that could also do well for many years.
Don't underestimate these small businesses; if you understood the ropes and entered the industry early, the profits were immense.
Not to mention the major trends.
Industries like real estate, the internet, and automobiles also offered opportunities for ordinary people to enter.
Even if they didn't become magnates, earning a small fortune was certainly within reach.
Failing that, he could always buy stocks.
Although he was a 'leek' in his previous life and hadn't traded stocks in 2004, he still remembered a few stocks, such as Kweichow Moutai.
Tan Jincheng wasn't sure what Kweichow Moutai's stock price was now, or even if it was listed, but a stock that was nearly 2000 yuan when he was reborn in his previous life could truly be bought blindly now.
"What a vibrant era."
Tan Jincheng loved this era.
He was so grateful to God for sending him back.
Tan Jincheng, with light steps, walked towards his home.
This was a residential area built by a state-owned enterprise, with each building being six stories high and no elevator.
Tan Jincheng's home was on the third floor.
Being much sturdier, he easily carried his suitcase up to his doorstep.
The door was ajar.
Tan Jincheng pushed the door open, calling out,
"Mom, I'm home."
(End of Chapter)
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