Like a Flowing River (Da Jiang Da He / 大江大河)

Like a Flowing River

~ Episode 11 ~

Why are you sitting here instead of staying in our dorm room?

Lao Yu is in there...

He's talking endlessly in there again?

What's up?

I almost forgot. Reception office, you got a phone call. Your brother-in-law's looking for you.

- Hurry. - Thanks.

Take it easy. Dizzy now, right?

I'm fine.

Hey brother, this is Xiao Hui. Why did you call me?

How long will you be away this time?

Don't know yet. Probably a bit longer.

I want to explore the provincial capital.

Purchase more reinforcing bars and cement.

Hopefully Xiao Hui can help this time.

Wife,

what should I buy for Xiao Hui?

You don't have buy anything.

Why did you get my military uniform?

Bring it with you. You may need it.

Here is all the money we have.

Take it with you.

I already have money from the Brigade.

I don't need this.

Take it. Just in case.

Don't importune if you couldn't get the reinforcement bars and cement.

Wife, while I'm not at home,

if Mom treats you badly, don't cook for her then.

Don't worry. I can handle this.

We should have taken the train.

No hassle. We would reach the provincial capital faster.

Why don't you take the plane?

Steam roll and bun.

Little Yang's Bun!

Hey, brother-in-law. Why are you here?

You brought your business here?

More people here. Save me of running to all the places.

How is your business?

Pretty good.

Also selling steam roll now?

They sell better than the bun.

It's salty. Save them from buying pickled vegetables.

Smart.

Where are you guys going?

To the provincial capital.

Take this as snacks on the road.

- No need. - Here, Brother Lei...

Hmm, have salt and oil mix in it.

I need to pay.

No need.

If Xiao Hui knows I asked for money, he will be so pissed.

Well you took the eggs last time you went to his home, didn't you?

The business just took off back then. It was a little tough.

Aunt was being so considerate to me.

Here comes the bus.

I appreciate that but you must take the money.

- No, no, Brother Lei, I mean it. - Take it, Xiaoleijia can afford a couple buns.

- I'll put it here. - Give me a couple more buns.

A few more, hurry.

I just happened to didn't bring any foo. Hurry. Let's go.

Come on. Let's go.

That's fine, Brother Lei.

Come to me if you need my help in the future.

Cool. Are you gonna go meet Xiao Hui this time?

Please bring my regards to him.

There are a lot of things I don't understand and I want to ask him.

- Okay. I will tell him. - Thanks.

Hurry!

Goodbye!

- Come to me if you need my help. - Yes!

Brother!

I didn't expect you to arrive so early.

We even got delayed a little. Dongbao wanted to go to the hotel first and drop off our luggage.

Otherwise, we would've been here even earlier.

It does't look good carrying all the bags.

- Have you eaten? - Not yet.

Come, let's go to the student dining hall. My treat.

I'm here to consult you.

How can I let you pay? Bring your roommates. let's eat together.

Oh, right, take this.

- Why did you still bring so many stuff? - Your sister wants me to bring these to you.

- Wait for me for a while then. - Yes.

Move aside! Move aside! Passing through!

Here... The food is here.

Here. Slowly.

- Slowly... - Wait! Wait!

Okay. Okay.

Move that one here.

Just eat as much as you want. We have enough.

Let me make the introduction first.

This is the Brother Lei Dongbao that I frequently mention.

- My brother-in-law. - Oh, my, we finally meet you in person.

We've heard so much about you.

Little Song has long told us about you.

He said that you're a vanguard of reforms.

We all should learn from you then.

Comrade Lei, did you come to the city this time for a business trip?

I know I'll be embarrassing myself by saying this.

I'm the secretary of the Xiaoleijia Brigade.

I'm in charge in providing food for a hundred people.

Behind me, there's still a bunch of debts.

I came this time because these hundreds of mouth to feed and this pile of debts

has forced me to come here and seek means to earn money.

If one doesn't understand the policies, it really won't work.

You will never know what next step to take.

Hence, I want to ask you college students

to guide me and suggest some ideas.

You're being too courteous.

How about this, brother-in-law,

tell us the details of the problem encountered by Xiaoleijia first.

It's like this.

The prefabricated panels production that our brigade come up with initially had great effects.

But we're unable to buy reinforcement bars and cement that's within the country's programs .

SIbao has already went to the county seat, to the different cities.

All supply and marketing sections kept asking us for an index.

They said that if we don't have one, we can get some permit.

But we won't be able to get that permit too.

Without an index, without a permit, we won't be able to get any cement and reinforcement bars.

This factory of ours now looks like it's going to fail.

Brother-in-law, don't get anxious.

Actually, after you called me last time,

I asked our economics teacher.

He said that Xiaoleijia is experiencing the same situation that most small-scale businesses are facing.

No, what else did he say?

The country is currently in the stage of Planned Economy Transformation.

The raw materials mainly rely on centralized planned distribution.

Recently years, the country as a whole is developing really fast, but some sectors are moving slow.

For example, reinforcement bars, cement, energy sources, etc.

Song'er,

how do you think we can solve these problems happening during the transformation period?

Yes, Xiao Hui, explain it more clearly.

Comrade Dongbao,

even if you get to clearly understand everything that Xiao Song said,

get to fully understand these economic theories,

you are still not able to get these reinforcement bars and cement.

Then what should I do?

How do I get those stuff?

Even though we are a collective enterprise,

we are still born by mothers. Will we just wait to starve to death?

Comrade Lei, don't be that pessimistic. Summarizing the recent government policies,

I think that soon, the government will

cease these unreasonable supply regulations.

Just let market economics control them

which will solve the various problems along the process.

What you just said is the shortcomings of planned economy.

Talking about planned economy, it originated from Soviet Union.

A social democratic country.

They use planned economy as the mode of economy.

Which means, planned economy

is the mark of communism.

However, market economy represents capitalism.

Let me explain it in a simpler manner, just by highlighting the main points.

In everything, we need to be outcome oriented.

Don't bother if it's a market economy or planned economy,

as long as it can bring prosperity to our country

and people can live a good life, it's good whatever economy it is.

You shouldn't put it that way. So, based on what you said,

you want the capitalist economy and planned economy

- to both be adapted together? - Yes.

Won't that cause conflict?

Why will it cause conflict?

Please don't fight with each other.

I just want to know how I can get reinforcement bars and cement.

All right, allow me.

Let me be more specific.

Because there is not enough production, the country is short of supplies.

The country then thought of a way.

Divide these deficient supplies into two.

One is called within the state plan, the others outside of the state plan.

If you're going to buy materials that are within the plan, it would be based on getting indexed.

If you're buying those outside of the state plan, you need a permit.

Usually, the state's defense takes priority over individual citizen use.

Big factories, big units, and big cities

are more important than small factories, small units, and small cities.

Hence, in arranging which are given an index,

they would usually prioritize based on these.

You understand now?

I more or less understand it now.

Look, let me explain it in my own words. What you mean is

our Xiaoleijia will never be within the state's plan.

We surely won't be able to get an index.

If I want to get reinforcement bars and cement, I must get a permit.

Correct. You got it right!

That's more troublesome then.

Based on what you said, not only will Xiaoleijia have no chance,

how many indexes and permits would only there be in our county?

Don't even think of buying any reinforcement bars or cement.

Not really.

Around us, there are a lot of people reselling reinforcement bars and cement.

Who?

This is not some big secret.

Comrade Lei, if you trust me,

I can give you a person's number. Go and look for him.

If we're done with this, we can go home early.

Is it here? There's no people here.

Tianyuqi Village...

They alley near the Fourth Building...

How about we look for people to ask?

You two, are you the friends of Xiao Yu with a surname Lei?