Chapter 76: Take It All – Misprinted Stamp

As soon as those words were spoken, while Chen Fengying was still hesitating, Chu Yue had already spoken up crisply and decisively.

“She was here first. She’ll take all three pounds of pork.”

Chu Yue didn’t just speak up—she even bumped Chen Fengying’s arm to prompt her.

“Sister Chen, hurry and hand over the meat coupons.”

When the shop assistant announced that there were only three pounds of pork left, the people standing behind Chu Yue and Chen Fengying nearly popped their eyeballs out.

With the New Year approaching, people were desperate to have a proper, flavorful holiday. Who knew what kind of crazy things people might do in desperation? If someone tried to snatch the last pork, then Chen Fengying’s trip would have been for nothing.

Chen Fengying was still in a daze, but hearing Chu Yue’s words, she instinctively moved and handed over the three tightly gripped pork coupons.

Money exchanged hands, the goods were handed over.

Although pork belly wasn’t considered top-grade meat, at least they managed to get it. The three pounds of pork were now in Chen Fengying’s hands.

The shop assistant shouted to the long line of people behind them:

“That’s all the pork for today! Sold out! If you’re here to buy pork, don’t bother lining up! Do you hear me? Don’t line up anymore! There’s no pork left!”

As soon as the loud voice rang out, the crowd immediately burst into sighs and complaints.

“What do you mean it’s gone? It’s almost New Year’s, and we can’t even eat pork? Are we not supposed to celebrate the New Year anymore?”

“You’re probably hiding the pork for your own people. You slaughter three pigs a day—that should be hundreds of pounds of meat. It’s not even that late in the day—how can it all be gone already?”

“Exactly! Open up the storage room and let us see! If I don’t get pork today, I’m not going home!”

As the commotion grew, some people, resigned to the situation, could only leave disappointed. Others, frustrated by the lack of pork, started shouting in anger, directing their rage at the shop assistant.

But the supply cooperative’s shop assistant had clearly seen this all before and didn’t bother arguing with the loud group of women.

“Say what you want. The pork’s sold out. You could talk until your mouth breaks, but I can’t magically make pork appear.”

The assistant gave a couple of snorts, then opened the warehouse door behind him and dragged out a pile of stuff with a flourish.

“No pork left. Just this stuff. Take a look—want it or not?”

Someone shrieked:

“What is that? Why does it stink so bad?!”

A strong, foul, fishy smell suddenly spread through the air.

Chu Yue was still at the front of the crowd. She caught the whiff of the stench. While others quickly covered their mouths and noses, she just frowned slightly.

The smell was indeed unpleasant, but still bearable.

What the assistant had brought out wasn’t pork, but offal.

That is, pig’s internal organs—most of which are strong-smelling and hard to cook properly. Things like the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, as well as intestines, ears, and even the pig’s mouth—a chaotic assortment.

It was a bloody, messy pile.

Chu Yue even spotted a huge piece of pigskin among them—she had no idea how it was skinned off.

Because pork was in short supply during the New Year season, and complaints about lack of meat were piling up, the supply co-op’s leadership, unable to produce more pork, came up with a compromise: they got a batch of unwanted offal from the meat processing factory.

Though it wasn’t great quality, it was cheap—only a fifth of the price of real pork.

Some people, unable to bear the strong, fishy stench in the air, immediately turned and left.

But Chu Yue stood there, eyes glowing, staring at the bloody pile of pig offal with great interest, completely engrossed.

Chen Fengying, who had seen pigs slaughtered back in the village, felt nauseated just looking at the stuff. She was about to pull Chu Yue away when Chu Yue looked up at the vendor and said:

“This piece of pig skin, that pig ear, the pig snout, and these pig intestines — I’ll take them all.”

All… of them?!

The vendor, who had been lazily sitting with his legs crossed, thinking the sight and smell would scare everyone away, was stunned. Of all people, it was the neatest, soft-spoken little girl who stepped forward, pointing here and there — and wanted it all.

Didn’t she think it stank?

The vendor blinked in disbelief.
“…You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Just tally up the price and I’ll pay you.”
Chu Yue calmly pulled out money from her pocket, her expression composed.

A few minutes later—

When Chu Yue and Chen Fengying walked out of the supply co-op, everyone nearby instinctively covered their noses and stepped far away. The smell on Chu Yue was just too much.

Chen Fengying still looked shaken and cautiously said,
“Chu-sis, if you really want to eat pork, I can give you half of mine. This stuff smells awful. If you can’t clean it properly, you won’t be able to eat it anyway.”

“Don’t worry, Sister Chen, I know how to make it tasty. Trust me, I don’t spend money foolishly.” Chu Yue smiled confidently.
“Sister Chen, where are you heading next?”

Chen Fengying said she still had to go to the market to buy more New Year goods. Chu Yue claimed she was going to the post office to send a telegram to her family — so they went their separate ways.

Once Chen Fengying was out of sight, Chu Yue quickly found a secluded spot and stuffed the pile of pig offal straight into her space.

While she could tolerate the stench, she definitely didn’t want to keep walking around drawing attention like this!

As for the trip to the post office? That was just a made-up excuse to part ways with Chen Fengying. Chu Yue had no emotional connection to the original owner’s family at all. If anything, she wished misfortune on them and hoped to sever all ties — why would she contact them again?

Still, to make the act believable, Chu Yue made a point of passing by the post office.

As she brushed past some people at the entrance, she overheard a young man complaining.

“What’s going on with the post office these days? Even the text on the stamps is wrong! There’s a typo right on the stamp — I don’t even know if it’s valid! This is my second trip here just to get it replaced.”

Chu Yue’s ears perked up, and she quickly turned around.

“Comrade, did you say the character on your stamp is printed wrong?”

The passerby, a young man in his twenties, was momentarily stunned by how fair and pretty Chu Yue looked. His tone softened immediately as he held out his stamp and said,

“Take a look — the character ‘Qian’ in ‘Before the Common Era’ looks wrong, doesn’t it?”

Chu Yue took the small stamp from him and examined it closely. It featured a historical figure, with the era marked as “Before the Common Era (公元前).” Sure enough, the character “前” (qián, meaning “before”) was misprinted. It was a genuine misprint stamp.

A spark of joy lit up in Chu Yue’s heart. She turned to the young man and said,

“Comrade, don’t exchange this stamp. Why not sell it to me instead?”

The man looked puzzled.
“Sell it to you?”