In 1982, I walked into the barracks full of longing, looking forward to showing my strength in the army, but in the selection of the military academy, I failed the list, and my future seemed to be confused.
I chose to be demobilized and returned home to join the scrap industry with my comrades. My blind date was suspicious of my professional ability because he saw my family's dilapidated house, and finally chose to marry the secretary's son.
Two years later, however, she saw my new car, regretted my success in changing careers, and came to her door for help.
My family is rural, and my parents are simple farmers, and their main job is to work in the production team to earn wages. At that time, with six young children to raise at home, our lives were always tight.
Sometimes, during a typhoon, rainwater leaks through the holes in the roof, and we have to catch it with a basin. It's not that we don't want to fix it, it's that we really don't have enough money.
The days are like this, barely survive and talk about it. Later, the two eldest sisters got married, and my brother grew up to be able to help work and earn work, and our lives gradually improved.
When I was young, my parents sent me to school in order to increase my knowledge, and I became a rare "intellectual" in my family. I still remember the day my father took me to school, he stroked my head with anticipation in his eyes, hoping that I would study diligently, pass my university exams, and make a difference.
In order to support me in my studies, my family did their best, even the eggs laid by the old hen, and my mother would carefully collect them and give me fried eggs when I came home from school, so as to ensure that I had enough nutrition.
But maybe I don't have any talent for reading, my grades in elementary school are okay, and I can barely get by in junior high school, but after entering high school, my grades can only stay in the middle.
During the college entrance examination, due to abnormal performance, he did not even reach the admission score of the university.
I hesitated between two paths: one was to stay at home and become a farmer, like a parent; The second is to choose to enlist in the army. I was a little unsure about this decision, so I asked my eldest brother and father for advice.
The eldest brother said, "Younger brother, you should go to the army." You have a high Chinese credential, you can't waste it, and the prospects for becoming a soldier are better. His father agreed. I followed their advice, took the initiative to sign up at the beginning of the conscription, passed the medical examination and political examination as I wished, and received the enlistment notice.
With a large number of places allocated that year, and with my high school education, I was able to successfully fulfill my dream of joining the army.
In the first three months of recruit training, I experienced the challenge of physical limits for the first time. Even though I come from a rural area and have been involved in farming since I was a child, I still found it difficult to adapt to the physical exertion this time.
Since we are all young and strong lads, we train a lot every day, so we eat an amazing amount of food. At that time, we had to race against time to eat, for fear that if we ate slowly, we would not have it.
By the time I left the company, my physical fitness had improved and I felt full of energy all over my body, and this feeling of vitality made me feel very comfortable.
To this day, I still maintain the habit of exercising regularly, and this persistence comes from those days of recruit training. In the days of the company, in addition to daily training and standing guard, I will chat with my comrades-in-arms from all over the world and share each other's stories and experiences.
Everyone has their own story and journey, and I met my comrade-in-arms Chen Qiang from different cities in my hometown in the army, although I was only half a fellow countryman, but it opened my eyes.
He told me that one of his relatives made a decent income by picking up garbage in Shenzhen, much to the surprise of me and him. However, I didn't pay much attention to it because I wanted to be promoted in the army with all my heart, and I liked the environment and the monthly stipend, which made me very satisfied.
So, in the second year, I signed up for the military school exam, but due to lack of time to review, my grades did not meet the standard. So, I decided to stay for one more issue and try again.
I didn't take the second chance, and I missed the military school by a narrow score difference. It was then that I realized that it might be difficult to continue to achieve significant results in the army.
When the deadline for my service came, I chose to be demobilized and return home. I used to live frugally when I was in the army, and most of my allowances were sent home or saved for myself, so I had some savings. So, I plan to start some small business to make a profit.
The first thing that comes to mind is Chen Qiang, who was flexible in the army and had unique opinions on many things. We chatted and became good friends. He chose to leave the army when his service expired, but we kept in touch.
I know that he is now selling clothes in Guangzhou, so I want to learn from him.
Under Chen Qiang's guidance, I tried my hand at commercial activities for the first time, buying popular clothes and exotic small items in the city in bulk and bringing them back to my hometown for sale. It turned out surprisingly well, with many items being sold out in just a week, and I was even asked when I would have new ones.
I made my first fortune and gained a lot of business experience. For the best-selling products, I will buy more, and for the unsalable goods, I will take less.
My selection vision has gradually improved, and I always sell the most out of my products. However, unfortunately, due to the low technical threshold of this industry, in just half a year, the streets were filled with a large number of homogeneous stores, selling similar goods, which caused my business to plummet, and I had to seek other business opportunities.
In the past, Chen Qiang once told me that you can also make money by picking up garbage. After careful consideration, I decided to go to Dongguan with Chen Qiang to start a business. During the two months we were there, we learned the doorways of the industry.
Then, we started our own business, but it didn't go well at first. Loose parts** are very troublesome, with only a few customers per day. A lot of people don't understand our industry, and some even feel sorry for us, saying that we wasted our high school education and veteran status.
It made me very anxious and I kept thinking about how to improve our business. One day, it occurred to me that why not just connect with the factory? This allows you to increase the volume of goods without having to run around.