At first glance, the man looked like a worker in the city. This kind of person usually had money and coupons.
Xiulan hurriedly walked towards him. When she arrived at the man's side, she lowered her voice and asked, "Excuse me! Comrade, do you want foodstuffs?"
The man looked at her with some excitement and surprise, then replied, "Girl, do you… Do you have foodstuffs?"
Xiulan nodded.
The man's name was Guo Aidang. He had just wandered around the black market and wanted to buy some foodstuffs. But his luck was not that good, as he hadn't met anyone who had foodstuff yet. He didn't expect that someone would take the initiative to sell him foodstuff at this moment.
"Yes, I want them!" He nodded hurriedly and asked, "Girl, what kind of foodstuff do you have there? How much?"
She told him everything she had in the basket, "Five kilograms of rice, five kilograms of white flour, and five kilograms of dried noodles."
Aidang eyes widened when he heard that.
What?
Five kilograms of rice, five kilograms of white flour, and five kilograms of dried noodles?
He looked at her clothes and thought that she was just a peasant. Even if she came to sell foodstuff, she could only take out sweet potatoes, sorghum flour, and other coarse grains.
But what she said was there were rice, white flour, and dried noodles.
These were all fine grains.
Even on the black market, where the price was several times higher, it was not easy to buy fine grains.
Not only she had fine grains, but there were so many as well.
He thought about it for a while, and then realized that maybe she was just deliberately disguising herself to sell food on the black market.
Many people who came to trade on the black market were people who have disguised themselves, just to hide from the public. He often came to the black market to buy foodstuff before, so it was not that he had never encountered one before.
But of course, he didn't care about any of these, all he cared about was the foodstuffs in her hands.
He had forgotten how long it had been since he had eaten fine grains. Now that she said that there were rice, white flour, and dried noodles, how could he not be excited?
He hurriedly asked, "Girl, how much are your rice, white flour, and dried noodles, I want them all!"
Xiulan didn't know the specific prices on the black market. Thinking of the information in the space she checked earlier, if the goods in this era were bought with food coupons, then rice was only twenty to thirty cents per half a kilo, and the white flour was almost the same as rice. Dried noodles were a little more expensive, about fifty cents per half a kilo. The price on the black market would be multiply by almost ten times, and some fine grains might be more than ten times more expensive.
In this case, although commodity foodstuffs were much cheaper, it was still difficult to get them from formal channels even if you had money and coupons, otherwise the prices of foodstuffs on the black market would not be so much more expensive than the foodstuffs being sold in the shops.
She tentatively quoted a price and said, "Rice and white flour are three yuan per half a kilo, and dried noodles are four yuan per half a kilo.
"But if you can give coupons, rice and white flour are two yuan and fifty cents per half a kilo, plus 250-grams food coupons. Dried noodles are three yuan per half a kilo, plus 250-grams food coupons.
If you don't have food coupons, then other coupons will be fine. Let's see, cloth coupons, sugar coupons, oil coupons, et cetera. I can accept them all, even industrial coupons!"
She needed money and coupons now. Although there were many supplies in her space, those could not be taken out at will. But if she had various tickets, then she could explain the legal source of the things she would get in the future.
Aidang was a little stunned when he heard the prices quoted by her. For a while, he thought that he had auditory hallucinations in his ears and probably just heard the prices wrong.
Why are the prices so cheap?
He bought foodstuffs from the black market every month and obviously knew the prices. The prices quoted by her were at least thirty percent cheaper than what the other people were selling on the black market.
Most importantly, Xiulan's hands were full of exquisite and expensive fine grains, but the prices were also so low.
So, Aidang thought that if he bought them and then resold them, he could make a lot of money in the middle.
Seeing that the man didn't speak, Xiulan thought that her prices were higher, so he didn't want to buy. After all, she didn't know the exact prices of grains on the black market and just calculated it according to her own estimation.
While she was thinking about lowering the prices a little bit, she heard him speak again with full excitement. "Girl, then I will give you money and coupons, so you can sell them all to me!"
Although it would cost a lot of money to buy them all at once, it was better to put these foodstuffs in his hands than anything else.
Especially these fine grains, even if they were given away, it was also worthy of face.
"Okay!" Xiulan nodded in agreement. Selling to one person was a sale and selling to two people was also a sale. If she sold them all at once, she could take one less risk.
"All right then… Girl, shall we look for a hidden place to trade?" Aidang suggested.
You had to be cautious when trading, otherwise if you got caught, you would have to go to jail.
In the end, the two of them found a secluded place where there was no one around, so Aidang took out the money from his pockets. Five kilograms of rice cost twenty-five yuan, five kilograms of white flour cost twenty-five yuan as well, and five kilograms of dried noodles cost thirty yuan, for a total of eighty yuan.
He took out eight pieces of ten-yuan banknotes and handed them to her, and then took out some coupons from his pocket. "Girl, I only have these coupons, do you think they are enough? If not, I'll find a way to collect some more for you. I might have to borrow from my colleagues…"
She looked at them and there were 2.5-kilograms food coupons, 250-grams meat coupons, 250-grams oil coupons, 500-grams sugar coupons, 600-centimeters cloth coupons, and ten-yuan industrial coupons.
She just let it be, since it was almost enough.
She nodded at him. "Okay, this much is not bad!"
After that, she took out the goods from the basket and handed them to Aidang. He checked the foodstuffs and saw that there was no problem, so he quickly received the goods into his basket.
When the two of them had finished the transaction and were about to leave, Aidang asked, "Girl, do you have anything else there? If you have other good things, you can exchange them with me. If you have foodstuffs, you can also save me some. I will collect some money and tickets for you! Of course, a little higher than today's price is no problem!"
As long as he could get fine grains, he was willing to spend more money. He knew in his heart that he had already taken advantage of her when he bought these fine grains today, and he was afraid that she will not be happy to sell fine grains to him again.
Although Xiulan still had foodstuffs, she thought that she had already taken out so many things this time. If she took some more, she was afraid that Aidang would become suspicious. She had to be more careful and not reveal too much.
So she replied, "I don't have anything left, but if you want, I can go back and make it up for you. There are foodstuffs like rice and dried noodles, also eggs and canola oil, let me know what do you want!"
When he heard her said that in addition to fine grains, there were eggs and canola oil, he was very excited.
Although it was not easy to get fine grains, you could still get them on the black market, but eggs and canola oil were different.
These things were very scarce, even on the black market, they were rarely available.
Fortunately, he asked this question casually, otherwise he would have missed them.
He hurriedly said, "Girl, get me some, as much as you can!"
"Then I'll come back tomorrow, shall we meet here again?" she asked.
Aidang hurriedly responded, "Okay, okay, I'll wait for you here tomorrow!"
"Okay!"
After making an agreement, the two of them left separately, as if the transaction just now did not exist.
After this trip, Xiulan gained a lot. She got eighty yuan and so many coupons in one go.
Seeing that it was already noon, she stopped trading. She was afraid that the number of transactions in a day would be too many and she would be easily targeted by suspicion. She went to eat something first and then planned to go home afterwards.
She knew that in this period, the places to eat were all state-owned restaurants.
She saw one just now when she was looking for the black market, so she went straight to the direction of that state-owned restaurant.
When she arrived at the restaurant, there were not many guests inside, just a few tables.
Under normal circumstances, everyone ate at their own homes during these days. Unless they encountered something, such as going out or inviting guests to lunch, they would come to state-owned restaurants, or for some people who had money and tickets and had good financial conditions to eat. Normally, life was relatively tight, so how could people be willing to come to a state-owned restaurant to eat?
Xiulan found a table and sat down. The waiter glanced at her and looked at her clothes. He seemed to think that she shouldn't be able to afford the food there.
Before she place an order, he probed, "Do you have money and coupons?"
The waiter in this state-owned restaurant was almost the same as the shop assistant in the supply and marketing cooperative. Their attitudes were not very good and the way they ask questions was aggressive.
But Xiulan was too lazy to argue, so she took out her money and food coupons, then responded, "Of course I have, what can I eat without these?"
After seeing the money and coupons she took out, the waiter's attitude improved a little.
"Comrade, what do you want to eat?"
Zhao Xiulan confirmed first, "What do you have here?"
"We only have rice, then some flour-based and vegetable dishes. Today's meat supply is already gone."
Xiulan was a little disappointed, but she could also understand.
After all, there was a shortage of supplies in the year 1960, especially meat. Ordinary people could only eat meat a few times a year.
Even if you had meat coupons, you might not be able to buy meat to eat, otherwise Aidang would not be willing to give her the 250-grams meat coupons.
In the state-owned restaurants, there was also not enough supply of meat.
Originally, she planned to eat something good, but it seemed that she could only make do with it for now.
But as long as the dish was hot, it was better than those miscellaneous grains she ate at home.
She ordered a bowl of noodles and a plate of stir-fried shredded radish. The noodles were served with side dishes, which were considered sumptuous.
The price of the noodles was ten cents and 100-grams food coupons, and the stir-fried shredded radish was eight cents and 100-grams food coupons, so a total of eighteen cents and 200-grams food coupons.
Knowing the prices of different dishes in the 21st century, Xiulan felt that this meal was too cheap.
After she paid the money and the coupons, the waiter went back to the kitchen to let the chef prepare the dishes.
While she was waiting, two men walked into the restaurant.
She had nothing to do, so she looked over.
Both men were tall and strong, and one of them had a square face but with a pair of sword-like eyebrows that carried a bit of heroic spirit. Although not to mention how handsome he was, he was also eye-catching and much better looking than the men in the countryside of this era that she had seen. He was wearing a worker's uniform, simple and clean, which made people look at him very comfortable.
As for the other person, after she saw him, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart.
She didn't expect to see a very handsome guy in this era.
Xiulan estimated him to be 180 centimeters tall and he wore a liberation suit,1解放装 – Liberation Clothing or People's Volunteers Liberation Clothing – From the 1960s to the 1980s, the colors and styles of Chinese people's clothing were very monotonous. Everyone was wearing the same green military uniform, gray tunic suit, and blue liberation suit, which was described as "the blue ocean". which made him even more tall and upright. The outline of his face was clear, especially his eyebrows and eyes, which looked more heroic than the other man with a square face. His main facial features were very good-looking. It was very manly, which was different from the celebrity stars that some young girls fantasized in the 21st century.
Liberation Suits
She still preferred this kind of mature and manly man, so she couldn't help but gaze at him for a while.
But it seemed that the handsome man felt her gaze, so he also looked in her direction.
She was a little embarrassed and turned her head away.
She stared at some other man so eagerly that she could have probably frightened him. After all, this era was still very conservative, where the relationship between men and women was relatively pure.
The handsome man also retracted his gaze, found an empty table, and sat down with the man that had a square face.
The name of the man with a square face was Lu Qingguo, and the man that Xiulan thought was handsome was Jiang Cheng.
After sitting down, Qingguo said, "Cheng, I'll treat you today, you should eat more, so don't be polite to me!"
Cheng hurriedly waved his hand as his refusal. "No! Qingguo, I should treat you today instead!"
Qingguo had a stern face and was a little unhappy. "How can this work? You came all the way to Anxian County, so I am the host and I invite you to this meal! How can there be any reason for you to be the host here?"
Cheng also said solemnly, "Qingguo, don't be polite to me. I ran all the way here to bother you with something. If you don't let me buy you this first meal, I will be embarrassed to ask you for help in the future!
"So, I'll treat you this time! You can invite me for a meal next time, what do you think?
"If you don't agree, then I won't ask you for help anymore!"
Qingguo was helpless and could no longer refute. "All right, you can pay for today, but only this time. I must invite you next time and treat you to a meal."
Cheng nodded in agreement. "Okay, next time, it'll be your treat!"
The waiter walked up to these two men and asked, "Comrades, what do you want to eat?"
It was probably because he saw that Qingguo and Cheng were dressed a little better than Xiulan, so his attitude towards them was obviously much more polite.
Xiulan snorted softly in her heart, heh! Isn't he a snob?
Cheng asked, "Do you have any meat here?"
Since he was there to treat his friend, he wanted to get Qingguo some delicious food.
If they could eat meat, then they had to eat meat.
The waiter shook his head. "I'm sorry. Whether it's pork, beef, or mutton, they are all sold out already!"
"Then what else do you have here?" Cheng, just like Xiulan, asked with some disappointment.
"We have rice, then some flour-based and vegetables dishes."
"That's all? Nothing else?"
"Comrade, I'm sorry, our restaurant has limited ingredients. We haven't gotten any good ingredients in the past two days and the supply is not enough for the restaurant, so these are the only dishes we can offer."
Qingguo from the side hurriedly said, "Cheng, there is shortage of foodstuff everywhere and even restaurants often lack ingredients. Let's just eat whatever they have, it's fine as long as we can fill our stomachs, don't be too particular about it!"
Cheng thought he could invite his fried to eat some delicious food, but they only had these things here, so he just ordered some dishes from this restaurant.
He ordered two bowls of noodles and he deliberately asked the waiter to add more serving into the bowls, because two grown men ate a little more. In addition, he ordered a bowl of stewed vermicelli with cabbage, a plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes, and a bowl of cabbage and egg drop soup.
The price of noodles was fifteen cents a bowl and 150-grams food coupons, the stewed vermicelli with cabbage and fried shredded potatoes were both eight cents a bowl and 100-grams food coupons, the cabbage and egg drop soup was a little more expensive because it had eggs in it which was fifty cents a bowl and 500-grams food coupons.
Cheng was afraid that he would not have enough to eat, so he asked the waiter to add four more steamed buns, two for him and two for Qingguo.
The steamed buns in the restaurant were very big and the price was eight cents each plus fifty-grams food tickets.
The total price was one yuan and twenty-eight cents, plus one-kilogram and 450-grams food coupons.
After calculating the price, Cheng took out the money and food coupons from his pocket, then gave them to the waiter.
Seeing the food coupons he handed over, the waiter's eyes suddenly lit up.
Because he did not just pay using regional food coupons, which they usually used, but rather special food coupons.
These days, special food coupons were rare, unlike the ones they use locally, which are all regional food coupons.
Special food coupons were not the same as regional food coupons. The so-called special food coupons could be exchanged for food at any place in the country with priority.
In some areas, where foodstuff production was not high, even if they had regional food coupons, they could not buy any foodstuff at all.
If you had special food coupons, no matter where you were, you would be given priority and you didn't need to worry about not being able to buy any foodstuff.
Therefore, special food coupons were more circulated than regional food coupons, and they were also much more precious in value.
However, this kind of food coupons were too precious and they were generally only available to people with special status.
The waiter glanced at Cheng, thinking that this man sitting in front of him was probably not an ordinary person. So, his attitude immediately improved a lot.
After getting the special food coupons, the waiter immediately ran to the back kitchen and told the chef what dishes he needed to cook.
After a while, the waiter ran out again, went to Cheng, and asked, "Comrade, do you have special meat coupons?"
Cheng nodded. "Yes! I have some here!"
There was a smile on the waiter's face and said, "The thing is—Comrade, we still have a pair of pig trotters here. If you want them, just pay 500-grams special meat coupons and two yuan."
As soon as Cheng heard that there was another pair of pig trotters, he immediately responded, "I want them! I definitely want them!"
He was worried about not having any meat dishes to eat, so he came over and invited Qingguo to have a meal, but it was not good to eat something that was too shabby. There was not even a piece of meat, which was a bit unreasonable.
But now, there was a pair of pig trotters. Although it was not pork belly or fatty meat, and was not as good as lean meat, it was still a meat dish with grease.
He hurriedly took out 500-grams special meat coupons and two yuan from his pocket, and handed them to the waiter.
On the other table, Xiulan saw everything in her eyes and was a little dumbfounded.
Didn't he say that there is no meat? Why is there meat now?
She also wanted to eat meat, so she complained to the waiter, "Waiter, didn't you say that there is no meat anymore? Why do you have meat now and sell it to others?"
The waiter's attitude towards her was much colder. "Comrade, try to look at what kind of meat coupons you have and what kind of meat coupons they have!"
"No matter what kind of meat coupons I have, they are also meat coupons. Since you have meat here, why didn't you sell it to me, but sell it to them instead? I'm still the one who comes first, so there has to be a first-come, first-served order, right?"
The waiter didn't bother to take on her attitude. "That's different. If we sell it to you, it may not be easy for us to buy meat using your meat coupons, but we will definitely be able to get meat after using the special meat coupons.
"There is really no meat in the restaurant. The chef of our restaurant kept that pig trotters for himself to take it back home. Only because that comrade had special meat coupons, so he just let it go!"