Chapter 82: A Great Bargain in the City

Li Xinyue didn’t refuse, because Zhang Li was speaking the truth: the difficult things are difficult, and the easy things are easy.

Every era has its own law of relying on mountains to eat mountains and relying on water to drink water.

“Thank you, sister, I will remember your kindness.”

Zhang Li gave her a playful glare: “Don’t say that, you’ve given me more. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be in the hospital calling for my father and mother.”

“Xinyue, remember to call me when you get there. Just give me a phone number, and I’ll call you back.”

Phone calls were really expensive.

But it shouldn’t be too difficult to make a call from a leader’s home.

Li Xinyue nodded: “Okay, I’ll call you when I settle down.”

“I don’t know what the situation is like over there yet, or if it’s convenient to make calls.”

Zhang Li readily agreed: “No problem, no rush. It’s not far anyway. If I have time, I’ll go see you.”

“Okay!”

After agreeing with Zhang Li, Li Xinyue went to an alleyway.

The book mentioned that there was a black market here.

Sure enough, in an alleyway that was both well-connected and secluded, there were people selling things everywhere.

“Little girl, do you want some eggs?”

An old woman, probably in her sixties, with white hair all over her head.

“Granny, how much are they each?”

“One dime.”

Li Xinyue: “…”

The price has doubled… It’s only five cents in the village.

“Thank you, Granny. I’m also from the countryside, and I have a few chickens at home, so I don’t need the eggs.”

The old woman looked disappointed: “Alright.”

Seeing the old woman’s disappointment, Li Xinyue felt a little sorry: “Granny, I’m going to visit relatives, so I’ll buy ten from you.”

“Great, thank you, thank you!”

The old woman’s face instantly bloomed with a smile, like a chrysanthemum…

For ten eggs, the old woman gave her a small straw basket and told her where to buy meat and tickets.

Not only were eggs expensive, but meat wasn’t cheap either.

Meat was 74 cents a pound, and without tickets, it cost 1.2 yuan.

Li Xinyue found someone to buy cloth tickets, oil tickets, sugar tickets, and grain tickets. She wanted to buy some industrial tickets, but this small county didn’t have any.

After spending over one hundred yuan, Li Xinyue left the black market and went to the county supply and marketing cooperative.

“Xiaoye, you’re here?”

As luck would have it, she ran into Aunt Zhang, who was on her way to work.

Li Xinyue was overjoyed: “Aunt, what a coincidence! I just went to Li Jie’s place, and I left my things there.”

Aunt Zhang deliberately didn’t let Li Xinyue put her things here because it was crowded and full of eyes.

“What do you need? Come in with me.”

“Okay. By the way, what are all those people queuing up for?”

Aunt Zhang explained: “They just got a batch of noodles yesterday. Some of them were broken, and those don’t need grain tickets.”

So that’s what it was.

Li Xinyue thought of her uncle’s family and her third aunt’s family, who didn’t have enough to eat: “Are they expensive? Aunt Zhang, are these broken noodles expensive?”

“Not expensive, 12 cents a pound. Do you want some?”

Noodles were 25 cents a pound, and these broken noodles were less than half the price?

That’s good.

Although broken noodles wouldn’t cook into a proper shape, they tasted much better than buckwheat noodles or sweet potato noodles.

Li Xinyue nodded: “Yes, I want to buy some for my third aunt and my uncle’s wife. They don’t have enough to eat.”

“No problem, I’ll give you thirty pounds. How about that?”

That’s great.

Li Xinyue was excited: “Thank you, Aunt. I’m so lucky!”

Aunt Zhang was also happy: “Hahaha, we get this stuff often, it’s just not very good, it’s very broken.”

“They’re only about an inch long, you won’t mind, right?”

Mind what?

My uncle’s family really doesn’t have enough food.

“Thank you, Aunt Zhang. Many families can’t afford enough to eat now. Having something to eat is good enough!”

“Yes, yes! I’ll save some for you next time.”

“If anyone comes to the county, tell them to come here and find me.”

That’s great!

Li Xinyue was very excited: “Thank you, thank you. You don’t have to save it for me. If you have some, just call me at the secretary’s house.”

“Tell the secretary to pass the message to my uncle. My younger brother has a bad leg and makes spicy fish to sell by catching fish himself. He’ll come to the county every few days. I’ll ask him to pick it up.”

“His spicy fish is really delicious. I’ll ask him to send some to you to try.”

“That would be even better. So they can come and pick it up whenever they want.”

Aunt Zhang used the unit’s phone, so it was easy for her to make a call.

Thirty kilograms of broken noodles were packed into two snakeskin bags. Then Li Xinyue bought two kilograms of oil, two kilograms of sugar, and two kilograms of fried dough twists.

These things, along with fifteen kilograms of broken noodles, were for my third aunt’s family.

Hearing that Li Xinyue was going to buy cloth, Aunt Zhang immediately took her to the warehouse.

“These cloths were soaked in water, and the watermarks are hard to wash off.”

“No cloth coupons are needed, and the price is cheap. Do you want some?”

Of course!

Li Xinyue almost jumped up.

She was a little too excited: “Aunt, how much is there?”

Aunt Zhang took a look: “There are more than ten bolts of each kind, ten meters per bolt, but not much of it is usable.”

“The price has been made above, 50 cents per foot, and 5 yuan per piece.”

Five yuan per bolt of cloth?

The normal price of cotton cloth is three yuan per meter, which is one yuan per foot.

And this, five cents per meter?

That’s too cheap!

Although the cloth was soaked in water and a bit damaged, it was still cheap!

“Black and blue, I want two bolts each. This peach yellow and the blue with white flowers, I want one bolt each. Do you think that’s okay?”

People in the city wouldn’t want these flawed things.

Aunt Zhang immediately nodded: “Of course, you can choose, pick the better ones.”

“Okay.”

Li Xinyue was truly excited.

Now, my third aunt and my uncle’s wife’s family would have clothes to wear!

The good parts would be used to make clothes, and the bad parts would be used to make shoes. Country people would never waste an inch of cloth!

Chen Mingchuan didn’t expect Li Xinyue to be such a strong buyer.

In just half a morning, not only was her back basket full, but there was a big pile on the ground…

Holding a few meat buns, his mind was blank.

“What’s in these big snakeskin bags?”

Li Xinyue smiled knowingly: “Good things! Food, things to use, and clothes, all kinds!”

“We’re leaving. I just bought some necessities for my third aunt and my uncle’s wife’s family, and they’re all cheap.”

Hearing that it was grain and cloth without tickets and cheap, Chen Mingchuan was really dumbfounded.

“Your luck is too good!”

“Of course, the lady at the hospital said I have a lucky face!”

Chen Mingchuan: “…”

This woman has a bit of a tendency to brag… But she must have had a lucky break, otherwise, how could she have met a benefactor?

“Then we have to go back to the village.”

“Yes, after we get back to the village, we’ll ride our bikes to my third aunt’s place.”

“Okay.”

To say they were lucky, both of them were lucky.

There was a bus to town at eleven o’clock. The two of them ate buns by the bridge while waiting for the bus.

Just after they finished the buns, a Jeep stopped in front of them. The door rolled down: “Mingchuan!”

Seeing the person in the car, Chen Mingchuan immediately stepped forward: “Zhou Tong, where are you going?”