“I heard the supply and marketing cooperative got a shipment of Dacron fabric today. We absolutely can’t miss it this time…”
“I’m planning to buy a catty of brown sugar at the market. My daughter-in-law is about to give birth…”
“I need to cut two catties of meat to take back. We’re heading out to sea again tomorrow, and my husband has been craving it…”
Yun Su woke up early the next morning. For no other reason than to catch the ox cart to the market.
The Yunjia’ao Brigade was located on the southern side of the island. This area, being by the sea, was considered a relatively remote village. Normally, if you wanted to buy anything, you had to go to the town’s supply and marketing cooperative or wait for the market days, which fell on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each month.
On market days, many production brigades from the town would send people to set up stalls and sell goods. Of course, selling was done under the collective’s name. If any villager wanted to sell something, they could bring it to the market. The money they earned would require paying a small fee to the collective.
Of course, in practice, the village usually didn’t actually collect that fee.
After all, no one had an easy life. Every household had to scrape together what little they could, and all they hoped for was to exchange it for some cash at the market.
Yun Su’s family didn’t have much to sell. Dried seafood—every household had that, and it didn’t fetch a good price. If they really wanted to sell it, they would have to send it to Yangcheng. But the boat ticket to Yangcheng wasn’t cheap either. In the end, it just wasn’t worth it.
“Hey, Xiao Su. About you falling into the sea yesterday morning—has the Hu family come to apologize to you yet?”
On the ox cart, while Yun Su was calculating what she wanted to buy, one of the aunties pulled her aside and asked.
“Not yet. Aunt Mao, these cowpeas in your basket are really well grown.”
Aunt Mao had been about to pry into what good things Yun Laoz Er had brought back yesterday. Hearing Yun Su’s compliment, she beamed and nodded. “Your Auntie doesn’t have many skills, but growing vegetables—that I’ve mastered. Ah, it’s a shame our brigade’s soil isn’t fertile. Otherwise, planting some rice would be wonderful…”
The other aunties on the ox cart chimed in one after another.
Seeing this, Yun Su quietly breathed a sigh of relief. She really didn’t want to deal with anything concerning the Hu family.
After everything that happened yesterday, she had a clear understanding of the Hu siblings. As long as she stayed away from Hu Daqiang, she could avoid her cannon fodder fate from the book.
As for getting tangled up with people like that again, Yun Su would say no a hundred times over.
But…
She glanced at the ox cart behind them. Riding on it were Yun Feng and Hu Chunhua.
Yun Su truly couldn’t understand it. Hu Chunhua had given Yun Feng a hug of stinky mud just yesterday, yet today she was still hanging out with her.
It really made one wonder what to say!
——
When they arrived, Yun Su said goodbye to the aunties on the cart and headed straight for the breakfast stalls with her basket in hand.
At this kind of market, stalls could sell at higher prices without requiring ration coupons. Yesterday, Yun Su had checked her savings. She didn’t have any coupons, but she had more than ten yuan in private cash.
Before she left home that morning, her eldest brother had tried to give her some money and coupons, but Yun Su had refused.
Although she had accepted her eldest and younger brothers, Yun Su felt that her core self was an adult in her twenties. She couldn’t use her brother’s money.
The breakfast stalls didn’t offer many options—just boat congee, rice noodle rolls, and shrimp dumplings.
After eating a serving of 1970s-style rice noodle rolls, Yun Su also ordered a bamboo basket of shrimp dumplings. The dumpling wrappers had a yellowish tint, clearly made from rice flour that hadn’t been ground finely enough. But inside was a whole sea shrimp, springy, fresh, and fragrant. The shrimp dumplings weren’t expensive—the sea shrimp themselves were cheap. It was the wrappers that cost more.
The two breakfast items came to over one yuan. A bit pricey, but Yun Su felt very satisfied, a blissful smile on her face.
Ji Xiangtian, who had ridden his bicycle to the market, happened to catch sight of that smile.
In the bustling, crowded street, Yun Su’s happy smile made Ji Xiangtian feel as if his eyes had been seared.
He couldn’t resist walking over to the same breakfast stall and ordering the same food. Then he thought that the breakfast from this roadside stall tasted much better than the fare from the long-established tea houses in Yangcheng. Even though he had eaten the same thing many times before and never found it particularly good.
——
Little did Yun Su know that Ji Xiangtian had come to the same breakfast stall, one after the other, and eaten the same food.
Right now, with a full stomach, she followed the crowd straight to the supply and marketing cooperative.
It was a small town cooperative, not large. At this hour, it was packed with people. Yun Su stood on tiptoe and squeezed inside with everyone else, noticing that they were all scrambling for high-demand goods like fabric and brown sugar.
She didn’t join the crowd. Instead, she headed straight for the counter selling thermoses, enamel basins, and enamel mugs.
Buying these items required industrial ration coupons, which Yun Su didn’t have. She had checked at home—the basins they used were all made of wood. By the seaside, wood got damp and moldy easily. The wooden basin in her room was already moldy. Yun Su wanted an enamel basin.
“Excuse me, can I buy an enamel basin without coupons?”
Standing at the counter, Yun Su examined the enamel basins on display several times. They were all white with large red floral patterns—very festive.
The saleswoman behind the counter was a middle-aged woman around forty. She had been sewing a vest when she heard Yun Su’s question. Without looking up, she said, “Go on, go on. No coupons, no service.”
This was a town cooperative. Most of the customers were rural people without coupons. She couldn’t be bothered to waste time on them.
The attitude was expected, and Yun Su found it not at all surprising. She was just about to try the classic time-travel novel trick—pulling some dried fish from her basket to butter up the saleswoman—when she heard Yun Feng’s voice behind her.
“The supply and marketing cooperative is supposed to serve the people. Comrade, isn’t your attitude a sign of contempt for us peasant brothers?”
Hearing this, Yun Su was exasperated. She hadn’t come to make enemies. Starting off with such a harsh, principled accusation was a surefire way to burn all bridges.
She turned around and saw Yun Feng’s righteous, indignant expression.
Just as she was about to say something, Yun Su’s gaze landed on a man standing at the entrance not far away, and she instantly understood Yun Feng’s intention.
No wonder someone who maintained such a kind, public-spirited persona would suddenly start picking a fight with a supply and marketing cooperative saleswoman right out of the gate.
“Xiao Su, don’t be afraid. Big sister won’t let you be wronged.”
Yun Feng’s words made the saleswoman immediately glare over at them.
Yun Su replied bluntly, “Do whatever you want. I came here to buy things.”
With that, Yun Su turned and headed to another counter without looking back.
Hu Chunhua, who had been accompanying Yun Feng, immediately started shouting, “See? Yun Feng, I told you your cousin is no good. You were trying to stand up for her, but does she appreciate it? She won’t even acknowledge you.”
Yun Su, who had already made her way to the candy and biscuit counter, rolled her eyes again at these words.
Did they think she was stupid? She hadn’t missed seeing Gu Zhengrong standing at the door.
That’s right—the person standing at the cooperative’s entrance was Gu Zhengrong, carrying quite a few agricultural and sideline products purchased from the market stalls. It looked like he had come out with his family.
He must have heard Yun Feng’s words, because his eyes held a look of approval.
Watching this, Yun Su just shook her head.
——
“Never mind, Chunhua. I just can’t stand it when people try to bully our peasant brothers. Even if she weren’t my cousin, I would have spoken up.”
When they first arrived at the market, Yun Feng had immediately spotted Gu Zhengrong standing out from the crowd. He was accompanied by an elderly woman and two teenage girls. Yun Feng quickly realized he had brought his family to do some shopping.
Yun Feng still remembered the first time she met Gu Zhengrong, when he was moving his family to the island.
That day, she had followed the wife of the brigade leader to deliver a batch of the brigade’s seafood products to the cafeteria of the military compound on the other side of the island.
That was where she had encountered Gu Zhengrong. The tall, handsome, heroic man had made Yun Feng’s heart skip half a beat.
From listening to the military wives chatting in the cafeteria, she learned that Gu Zhengrong was a regiment commander, 25 years old, and single. He lived with his widowed mother and two younger sisters. The reason he was single was that he was an exceptionally kind and upright person. Every month, he sent a third of his stipend to the family of a deceased comrade-in-arms.
Coupled with the fact that he had a widowed mother and two unmarried sisters, these circumstances weren’t exactly ideal.
That was why Gu Zhengrong was still single at 25.
A man like that, Yun Feng thought, was a true hero. And he was very suitable for her. Given the state of her own family, she needed a man with power and influence to protect herself.
She didn’t mind him sending money to his comrade’s family. On the contrary, after marrying him, she would help him take care of that family.
She didn’t mind his widowed mother and two unmarried sisters either. She would take good care of his mother, cherish his younger sisters, and help them find good marriage matches.
“Comrade Yun Feng, you’re right. No matter who it is, anyone should be able to shop at the supply and marketing cooperative. Just because someone is from the countryside doesn’t mean they should be treated poorly.”
Gu Zhengrong walked in carrying several bags, stood behind Yun Feng, and looked at the saleswoman with a stern expression.
——
“Oh, Chen Xiangye is in big trouble now.”
Hong Li, the saleswoman who was weighing out crushed biscuits for Yun Su, watched the scene at the enamelware counter with malicious glee.
Seeing this, Yun Su knew there was bad blood between them. She deliberately lowered her voice and asked, “What kind of trouble can she get into? Being a saleswoman is a golden rice bowl, you know!”
The seriousness in Yun Su’s tone made Hong Li laugh even louder. “What golden rice bowl? She’s just some distant, half-related relative of the cooperative director. Hmph…”
She didn’t finish the sentence, but she added two extra scoops to the already weighed crushed biscuits.
The crushed biscuits were imperfect goods and didn’t require coupons. Although they were a bit expensive, they were the best thing Yun Su could buy at this stage.
“Thank you, sister. Thank you so much.”
“Don’t mention it! I’m in a good mood today.”
Yun Su put the bag of crushed biscuits into her basket and quickly left the supply and marketing cooperative.
As she left, Yun Feng was still seriously arguing with the saleswoman named Chen Xiangye.
Behind Gu Zhengrong, an elderly woman and two young girls had also arrived.
Clearly, the drama wasn’t over. More and more people were crowding toward the cooperative. Yun Su felt relieved she had left quickly. Otherwise, she would probably have been crushed into a pancake by now.
As for Yun Feng, judging by this situation, she might just get what she wanted this time.
Yun Su shrugged. She decided to wander around town and try to find the legendary black market to see what good things were being sold there.
But just as she turned the corner, she nearly ran into Ji Xiangtian, who was pushing his bicycle.
“Comrade Ji…”
“Comrade Yun Su…”
Yun Su thought, What a coincidence! I’ve run into the handsome Comrade Ji again. So easy on the eyes!
Ji Xiangtian thought, Oh no, oh no. My heart is acting up again!
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