Chapter 7: This Big Sister is Really Smart

On the way to the supply and marketing cooperative, Aunt Ma suddenly asked, “Where’s your cousin? Usually she’s the one who goes out to buy things.”

“She said she’s been working too much lately and her back hurts, so she asked me to go out.” Iron Orchid had already thought of an excuse to tell the outside world.

“Oh, I see.” Aunt Ma looked at Iron Orchid and sighed, “Your cousin said you’ve been a little off lately, poor child, are you okay?”

Thanks to Zhang Cui, the rumor outside was that the original owner had gone crazy, so Aunt Ma’s words were considered tactful.

Iron Orchid’s heart warmed slightly, and she smiled and nodded, “I’m much better now, thank you for your concern, Aunt Ma.”

Aunt Ma’s expression relaxed, “That’s good. Do you want to go out for a walk? I’ll ask Chen Jian to take you out for a stroll.”

Chen Jian was Aunt Ma’s son, not much older than Iron Orchid, and he was a temporary worker at the textile factory.

Iron Orchid, “No, Aunt Ma, I have some things to do lately.”

She had to deal with Zhang Cui’s family and also had to stock up and make money, she really didn’t have time. Besides, if she went out with Chen Jian, a single man and a single woman, people would gossip.

If it were modern times, Iron Orchid wouldn’t care about these things. But this was the 1970s, a time of strict social customs, so it was better to be careful.

Aunt Ma’s face showed a hint of disappointment, “Okay then, let’s talk about it when you have time.”

The supply and marketing cooperative wasn’t far from the Iron family, it was a 40-minute walk. When she got there and wanted to buy things, Iron Orchid was immediately dumbfounded.

She had forgotten that you needed ration coupons to buy things in this era. The ration coupons at home had already been taken by Zhang Cui, she didn’t have a single one.

Aunt Ma, seeing that she didn’t have any coupons, immediately offered, “I have a few extra coupons on hand, what do you want to buy? I’ll lend them to you first, and you can pay me back later.”

Iron Orchid’s face lit up, “Thank you, Aunt Ma.”

Prices were very cheap in those days. Coarse rice was only 1.2 jiao per jin, fine rice and flour were 2 jiao per jin, but they all needed grain coupons. Soybean oil was 5 jiao per jin, and it also needed oil coupons.

Brown sugar was also 5 jiao per jin, white sugar was 8 jiao per jin, and it needed sugar coupons. Pork was 9 jiao per jin, chicken and duck meat were 1 yuan per jin, and they also needed meat coupons.

Eggs also needed egg coupons, 9 cents each. Because they were all free-range eggs, they were small, 11 eggs made a jin, and they cost 1 yuan.

Finally, vegetables were very cheap, 5 cents for a big bunch. These didn’t need coupons, they were all grown by farmers in the suburbs of Beijing or in the countryside, they carried them on their backs and walked more than ten kilometers to the supply and marketing cooperative to exchange them.

Aunt Ma had a 5-jin grain coupon. She also had a 1-jin meat coupon, a 5-jin egg coupon, and a 2-jin sugar coupon.

Iron Orchid borrowed all the coupons. She bought 5 jin of flour, 1 jin of pork, 5 jin of eggs, and 2 jin of white sugar, for a total of 8 yuan and 5 jiao.

Because of the shortage, ration coupons were more valuable than money. Iron Orchid immediately gave Aunt Ma a “Great Unity” bill.

Aunt Ma didn’t refuse, and she reminded her, “Lanyan, you’re spending a bit too much, you’ll have to be more frugal when you get married, you can’t be like this.”

Iron Orchid didn’t take it to heart, she just nodded perfunctorily. She was going to gain 30 jin, how could she not eat more? Besides, money was meant to be spent, she would just earn more after she spent it.

Before leaving, Iron Orchid spent 1 jiao to buy two big bunches of string beans. String beans were a good thing, they were crispy and delicious. There were many ways to cook them, string bean noodles, string bean noodles with soup, pork ribs and string bean stewed rice, etc.

Paired with spicy chili sauce, it was delicious.

Iron Orchid decided to make string bean stewed rice for dinner. There were no pork ribs, but there was plenty of braised pork, just thinking about it made her happy!

After parting ways with Aunt Ma, Iron Orchid didn’t go straight home, instead, she went to the hospital. She wanted to find the legendary black market in period dramas.

Iron Orchid had a big appetite and needed to replenish her nutrition. With just today’s supplies, they would run out in three or four days, she couldn’t keep borrowing ration coupons from others.

The black market was the best place to go. But Iron Orchid didn’t know the exact location. She also didn’t want to ask Aunt Ma directly.

Before the reform and opening up, private trading was not allowed, it was considered speculation. If caught, one could be fined, have their property confiscated, and be subjected to criticism and education, or even be sent to a labor camp.

So everyone avoided talking about the black market, they would only go there secretly in private.

The reason why Iron Orchid went to the vicinity of the hospital was because patients in the hospital urgently needed nutritional supplements, so there would definitely be some bold people selling things nearby.

This method was also seen by Iron Orchid in period novels. Before the apocalypse, she was a bookworm, she especially loved to read period novels. She didn’t expect it to come in handy one day, hahaヾ(≧▽≦*)o!

Iron Orchid wandered around the People’s Hospital for two rounds. After eliminating many suspicious figures, she finally located a fat man.

The fat man was dressed well, standing under a big tree, carrying a backpack, his eyes were rolling around.

Iron Orchid quietly went over and whispered, “Hey, let’s talk somewhere else?”

The backpack was covered with cloth, wrapped tightly, it was obvious that it contained a lot of good things.

The fat man, hearing this, immediately smiled brightly, his previous anxious expression gone, “Okay, okay, let’s go to that alley over there!”

The two of them walked quickly towards the secluded alley not far away. When they got there, they almost spoke at the same time.

“What good stuff do you have?”

“Do you have good stuff?”

As soon as they said this, both of them were stunned. It turned out they were both looking for sellers!

This was so awkward!

Big Fat Niu, “Ahem… Big sister… we both got it wrong.”

Iron Orchid looked curiously at the backpack behind him, “What’s in your backpack?”

Big Fat Niu, “This is the soil my grandma dug from the park, she insists that this soil is better than the soil at home, she wants to carry it back to plant vegetables. But she accidentally twisted her waist on the way here, and now she’s in the hospital. She’s afraid I’ll throw away the soil, so she makes me carry it here every day to show her.”

Iron Orchid: … This old lady is quite a handful.

A backpack of soil was more important than her grandson, she wasn’t afraid of twisting her grandson’s waist again.

Iron Orchid was speechless, “I thought it was something good… it was wrapped so tightly.”

“It’s just that I’m afraid people will laugh at me.” Big Fat Niu scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and then said, “Actually, I was waiting for a friend of mine who introduced me to a dealer, I was going to buy some beef bones from him to supplement my grandma’s health. I didn’t expect to run into you… I’m sorry…”

Iron Orchid, hearing this, her dull eyes immediately lit up.

“No, brother, we met by chance! I think you’re very likable, let’s be friends, can you also introduce me to that dealer?”

Big Fat Niu twitched his mouth: …

Wow, what a change of face.

Probably making friends was a lie, she wanted to know about the dealer through him.

But he didn’t mind at all, in fact, he was quite happy. This big sister was really smart, she was right up his alley, it wouldn’t hurt to make a friend!