After this, Ding Yun had completely solidified her reputation in the village as a capable person. Every so often, she would bring back a bicycle or a sewing machine from the county town, exchanging them with villagers who had placed orders.
Bicycles or sewing machines were exchanged for work points.
After only a few exchanges, she became the richest in work points in the village.
In addition, she enthusiastically brought daily necessities or wedding supplies for villagers and educated youths, all at low prices, good quality, and without requiring ration coupons.
In essence, she, single-handedly,
raised the living standards of everyone in Dawang Village.
Both villagers and educated youths liked her very much.
Coupled with the village chief's favoritism, her life in the village was incredibly comfortable. Aside from wasting a bit of time on collecting pig feed daily, she had the rest of her time free.
However, this life was undeniably a bit boring.
Within less than a month, she could no longer stand it. So, after some thought, she specifically went to the county town again and brought back the largest black and white television she could find from a clearance sale website. She then moved the television directly to the granary and plugged it in for everyone to watch.
It wasn't that she didn't want to move it home, but her house didn't have electricity. Apart from the granary, no other household in the entire village had electricity. This was because electricity was quite expensive at the time, and very few people could afford to use it.
Even in cities, people used electricity sparingly.
They tried to avoid using electricity whenever possible.
The granary had electricity because it was needed during busy farming seasons. Of course, the main reason was that the electricity costs there were not borne by individuals, but by the village collective.
Therefore, if Ding Yun wanted her television to work normally,
she could only set it up in the granary.
As soon as this news spread, the news that Ding Yun had moved a television to the granary, the villagers, including the educated youths, all became excited. They rushed to the granary, eager to join the fun and have a look.
It was unavoidable. Televisions were incredibly rare. Although the first black and white television appeared in China in 1958,
it wasn't mass-produced and sold then.
Sales began a few years later,
but production was still low. Sometimes, acquiring even a second-hand one was difficult. Overall, it was much rarer and harder to obtain than a bicycle.
The educated youths who had gone to the countryside, although originally from the city, did not have the money or the means to buy televisions. Let alone at this time, even another seven or eight years later, buying a television would still attract a lot of attention and bring many relatives and neighbors to watch.
Some who were concerned about electricity costs would even lock up the television or demand that viewers contribute to the electricity bill.
A few years later, after private transactions were permitted,
some people even charged for watching television.
Although Ding Yun didn't intend to charge, she had already spoken to the village chief beforehand when he came to visit. She stated that the television could be placed in the village for everyone to watch, but the electricity costs would have to be covered by the village.
The village chief agreed. After all, when projectionists came to show movies, they were provided with several meals. Having a television for free viewing for everyone,
and asking people to pay for electricity, was that unreasonable?
If anyone dared to say it was unreasonable or unwilling,
they would truly have no shame.
Therefore, after most people had arrived, the village chief brought up the matter with them, and it was quickly approved by the villagers, followed by an eager request.
They urged them to turn on the television quickly so they could see it.
"Oh my, this is only right!"
"It's great enough to have a television to watch. Anyone who doesn't even want to pay for electricity, do they have any shame?"
"Yes, Chief, we have no objections. Please hurry and ask Miss Xiao Huang to turn on the television!"
"Yes, we don't dare to touch it.
We don't know how to turn it on..."
"I heard this television is amazing. Not only can you see the radio hosts, but it also shows movies every day. They say there are even serial dramas, which are very long movies that can be shown for days.
These are the latest movies and TV shows.
Newer than what the projectionist shows."
"Amazing. In the future, won't we be like the ancient saying, 'scholars don't leave home but can know everything in the world'?"
"Oh dear, no one will want to listen to Da Tou's radio anymore. He doesn't have to hoard it and not let us listen anymore. We have television now!"
"Oh, stop talking, Xiao Huang is turning on the TV!"
As Ding Yun stood up, turned on the television, and scanned through channels, the crowd quickly fell silent. Everyone stared intently at the television until a picture and sound appeared.
Then, intermittent exclamations of surprise could be heard again.
At that time, the content shown on television was actually very limited, and there weren't programs available all day long. Variety shows, etc., did not exist at all.
There wasn't even a Spring Festival Gala.
The first Spring Festival Gala would be thirteen years later.
What could be watched mainly were news and educational programs, as well as literary and artistic programs. Occasionally, there were a few movies and TV shows. The total broadcast time per day was only a few hours.
But even so, everyone watched with great interest. After all, many people found listening to the radio quite engaging back then, let alone a television with pictures.
Perhaps it was because entertainment was so scarce.
Even Ding Yun watched quite seriously.
From then on, the daily routines of the villagers in their village underwent a fundamental change due to the television brought by Ding Yun. Previously, after work in the evening, people would basically go home to eat and sleep, perhaps do some chores, take care of their small private plots, and most would go to bed before 7 p.m.
But with the television, their routines shifted. After work, they would first check if there were any TV programs that day. If there were, they would sit down to watch before even eating. If not, they would go back to eat first, and then return to see if any programs were broadcast. If there were, they would watch until none were left. If not, they could only return home in disappointment.
Fortunately, at this time, television programs didn't broadcast until eleven or twelve at night, usually ending around nine or ten at the latest.
So, overall,
it did not significantly affect their sleep.
At most, during work, some people might deliberately gather to discuss what they had watched the previous day, while others might casually chat about international affairs based on yesterday's news.
However, this was only in the early stages. People are often unable to resist showing off. When people in their village would occasionally brag to relatives that their village had a television and everyone could watch it, it inevitably attracted some villagers from nearby villages, who then shamelessly began to freeload.
They came to watch television.
The adults were manageable, but the children were difficult to shoo away and impossible to ignore, and their safety had to be taken care of.
In short, it added a lot of trouble.
Even if they were asked to contribute to the electricity costs, it didn't stop them from coming every few days. Because there were so many people watching television, even though electricity was quite expensive, the cost per person was no longer as painful when split among so many.
However, the villagers seemed to quite enjoy this atmosphere. They even took on a sense of ownership, helping to maintain order or proudly giving spoilers.
After all, movies and TV shows were scarce at this time.
They were often replayed, and it was difficult to see new ones.
As villagers who had enjoyed television content for a long time, they naturally had the right and ability to give spoilers.
It was precisely at this time when people were less familiar with plots and could watch seven or eight times without getting bored. They listened to spoilers with great interest. If it were decades later, they might get into a fight.