Chapter 1088: Harder than Heaven
An Youting returned to Yanjing and wanted to find out whether the An family was the same as he expected, so he started his journey back home. The first thing he had to do was to contact Lin Youwei as soon as possible.
Currently, communications between foreign countries and China are not smooth. Even if you send letters from abroad, there is no way to get there directly. Most of them have to be transferred through Hong Kong, and very few letters can come in directly through international lines.
It would take too long to write a letter to Youwei, so the first thing Li Xiangnan thought of was to call Lin Youwei directly and ask her in detail about the current situation of the An family.
Although, making international long-distance calls is now a very complicated and difficult task!
"There is a phone, but Xiangnan, my family went to the long-distance telephone building to call many times, but it didn't go through!"
Although Lin Muyu didn't understand why he wanted to find Youwei's phone number, he still explained it, stopped and said immediately: "Wait for me!"
After saying that, he hurried up the stairs and went into the building.
Li Xiangnan felt relieved when he heard that it was Lin Youwei's call.
It would be great if I could really get in touch with Lin Youwei, so that I could ask about the An family's situation and learn about her recent situation!
When Lin Muyu came out, she was holding a booklet in her hands. She ran to the flower bed, took off the pen from her chest, quickly copied a copy, tore off the page of paper, stood up and handed it over.
"Xiangnan, Youwei will be back in more than a month. Do you have anything you need to communicate with her urgently?"
Li Xiangnan looked at the paper with a string of phone numbers written on it again and again, and his heart was suddenly filled with great expectations. He folded the paper and stuffed it into his chest pocket, then nodded, "Yes, there is something I want to tell you! Do you have anything to do now? It's just right for us to go to the long-distance telephone building together, and we can talk while walking!"
"I can actually leave after I finish my morning rounds! There's no need to delay me!" Lin Muyu went straight to the carport and pushed his bicycle out.
The two of them walked out of 301. Li Xiangnan did not hide anything and told the truth: "Someone from the An family has returned to Yanjing and just met me..."
Squeak!
The harsh sound of brakes plowed a black mark on the brick road, and Lin Muyu's heart was even more turbulent. She asked in surprise, "The An family is back? Youwei is not back? Who is he to Youwei?"
"Don't worry, I'll tell you slowly..."
Along the way, Li Xiangnan shared with Lin Muyu everything that happened after An Youting appeared, including the details of the conversation.
"So, what Youwei said in her letter before, that the An family is beginning to shift the focus of their business to the domestic market, is true!"
In front of the long-distance telephone building, Lin Muyu locked his bicycle in the bicycle shed, and a trace of solemnity appeared on his face.
"Judging from Uncle An's unexpected death, the return of such a group of people with ulterior motives...is indeed not a good thing! But considering their shortcoming of being out of reach, it is actually a good thing. What do you think?"
Li Xiangnan did not rush in, but lit a cigarette and stood under the long-distance telephone building, smoking quietly.
"That's right! They are in Zurich, and we can't do anything to help Youwei! She needs help, but we can only watch helplessly! Now that the An family has returned and is living under our noses, we can guard against them from a close distance!"
Lin Muyu understood this principle immediately.
She paced outside the carport for a few steps, biting her lower lip and hesitatingly asked, "Xiangnan, do you think my dad needs to know about this?"
"You can discuss this with Weimin and Chuqiao! No matter what, our goal is to prevent Youwei from getting hurt!"
"it is good!"
"go in!"
The two of them then hurriedly entered the six-story Yanjing Long Distance Telephone Building.
Before residential telephones and mobile phones became popular, the Yanjing Long Distance Telephone Building was not only the largest international and domestic long-distance telephone hub in my country, but also the center of the national microwave relay communications network.
It and the nearby Telegraph Building are two cornerstones of the communications industry.
It is not easy to make long-distance calls nowadays. The most common way for comrades in Yenching to dial is to dial 113 long-distance station for transfer.
Making international calls is even more difficult.
Before the long-distance programmable telephone exchanges were installed in 86, long-distance calls could not be dialed directly and required multiple transfers. Some calls took several hours to complete, and it was common for international long-distance calls to take three or four days to complete. It would also often happen that you were not there when the call was answered, meaning that three days of time was wasted.
"Comrade, I want to make an international call!"
Lin Muyu is a frequent visitor here and is very familiar with the place. She has a sweet smile on her face, giving people an irresistible impression.
"Fill out an application form!" The operator handed over a piece of paper and asked the two to fill it out.
"Just write it like I did and apply like this next time!"
Looking at Lin Muyu explaining the information on the application form in detail, Li Xiangnan nodded and memorized it one by one.
"Comrade, here you go!" Lin Muyu handed in the application form and took out ten yuan from his pocket and handed it in together, "Thank you, comrade!"
"Wait! Don't leave!"
The starting price for making an international call is a few dollars, and the price is ten dollars more, and the price of less will be refunded. After all the trouble, making a phone call is almost equivalent to the living expenses of an average family for half a month, which is indeed unaffordable for ordinary families.
Li Xiangnan found a corner in the bustling hall and sat down, waiting for his number to be called. He knew that this process would take a long time, but seeing that there were people around him who looked as anxious as he did, he couldn't help but ask, "How long do we have to wait?"
"The first time, Xiao Qiao waited for four days. The second time, my eldest and second sisters-in-law helped to queue up and wait for six days. The third time, my second brother received a notification on the third night saying that the call was connected..."
Li Xiangnan's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but look helpless, "No one answered?"
"No!" Lin Muyu shook his head and sighed, "Xiao Qiao was thinking of telling you after the call to share the good news, but now it seems that I can't get in touch with you. I don't even have the courage to tell you my phone number! Otherwise, your happiness would be in vain!"
"..." Li Xiangnan let out a breath, feeling helpless.
I couldn't get in touch with Youwei by phone, and it was even more difficult to write a letter to her abroad. After all this, I could only wait for her reply.
When communication became one-way, he could understand Youwei's despair abroad.
So this international call became more and more anticipated.
But this wait took Li Xiangnan five full days.
During this period, the person accompanying him changed from Lin Muyu to Lin Weimin, and Lin Chuqiao also came twice.
Yang Weidong, Zhang Jingyang, Cui Xingjian, Lei Jin... many people came.
Wang Defa, who went out to buy dinner that day, was so depressed that he entered the hall and saw Li Xiangnan just coming out of the switchboard, so he hurriedly went to greet him with a torch.
"What's going on? You have a droopy face and the call didn't go through?"
Li Xiangnan shook his head, and walked out of the hall in a depressed mood and sat down on the flower bed at the door. He lit a cigarette and said quietly, "Damn it, the phone line to Youwei won't be cut off, right?"
“That’s too wicked!” Wang Defa spread out the roasted tofu brains beside the flower bed and nudged him, “Alright, we’ll be back in a month or so anyway! Fill your stomach first!”
"Brother Nan!"
While I was eating, I suddenly heard Hu Yinglong riding his bike into the yard in a hurry, and he threw the bike to the ground without even parking it.
The two looked at each other, and Li Xiangnan stood up and frowned, "Yinglong, did you find anything?"
"Hmm!" Hu Yinglong rushed up the steps and took out the documents from his bag. "Not only did An Youting's name appear, but since the State Council approved the "Report on the National Conference of Directors of Industry and Commerce Administrations" in April, people with the surname An have applied for many temporary business licenses for self-employed individuals. Take a look!"
"Oh?" Li Xiangnan's heart moved. He took the materials and looked at them. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "54? So many?"
Wang Defa, who was standing by, choked on his tofu pudding.
At this moment, the three people's faces showed not only shock, but also heaviness.