Chapter 4

Jiang Mo moved quickly. As soon as Jiang Yan finished her noodles, she came out with the money and slapped it on the round table. “100 yuan, 50 catties of grain coupons, 15 catties of meat coupons, 5 catties of oil coupons, and 20 feet of cloth coupons.”

After slowly finishing the last bit of noodles in the bowl, Jiang Yan picked up the bills on the table and counted them carefully.

After counting, Jiang Yan glanced at Jiang Mo from the corner of her eye, looked up at her and asked, “Do you have any sugar and soap coupons at home? I suddenly remembered that it’s so hard over there, I’m afraid I can’t buy these things, can you help me get some?”

“You’re crazy.”

Jiang Mo started angrily, “If I find out that there are fewer tickets at home, Mom will beat me to death. You figure out a way.”

Jiang Yan calmly counted out five dollars, and her meaning was very clear: she would not give the five dollars if he didn’t give her the ticket.

Looking at the five dollars, Jiang Mo hesitated for a moment and said, “You should exchange it with other tickets, otherwise I won’t help you.”

“OK.”

Jiang Yan took out a total of five kilograms of food coupons from a pile of tickets and handed them to Jiang Mo, then said, “We need sugar coupons and soap coupons of equal weight.”

“knew.”

Snatching the food coupon, Jiang Mo responded unhappily, then walked into the bedroom again. After a while, she came out again with a few bills.

Jiang Yan laid out the tickets one by one and counted them. There were 15 sugar tickets and 6 soap tickets in total.

“Who are you trying to fool? Ten kilograms of food coupons were exchanged for just this much.”

Jiang Mo rolled her eyes at her with disdain and explained, “Then how much do you want? Malted milk costs five sugar tickets, two taels of brown sugar costs one sugar ticket, and soap costs only one ticket.”

“Sugar coupons are more valuable than food coupons, but I’m only giving them these for the sake of five dollars. Mom will definitely scold me tonight.”

Jiang Yan didn’t believe it. She thought Jiang Mo must have taken her kickbacks, but after all, she was asking for help, so a little was better.

Even though she said that, Jiang Yan still felt a little painful, because this was what she had exchanged for the happiness of the rest of her life!

“All right.”

Handing the promised five yuan to Jiang Mo, Jiang Yan continued, “Hurry up and go to the supply and marketing cooperative, or you won’t be able to buy it later.”

Jiang Mo happily took the five yuan and said disdainfully, “Who can I blame for getting up so late?”

She took the bowl into the kitchen, washed it, and put it on the wooden shelf. She took another packet of medicine prescribed by the doctor yesterday, and then Jiang Yan took Jiang Mo out to buy things.

Although it was already noon, there were still many people in the supply and marketing cooperative.

The two of them hurried over and followed the end of the team. More people kept coming from behind, making the team longer and longer.

After waiting in line for about ten minutes, the two finally stepped into the door of the supply and marketing cooperative. There was a long, winding queue inside. Jiang Yan took this opportunity to look around the store curiously.

The supply and marketing cooperative looks more like a large grocery store, with shelves filled with all kinds of goods.

Cigarette candles.

Towel sewing.

Confectioners flour.

…

Everything you need in daily life is available here.

People were like curved snakes in the spacious hall, facing an inverted U-shaped glass counter.

Behind the counter are two or three rows of larger wooden shelves, almost reaching the ceiling. Staff members are constantly walking back and forth between the shelves.

There are also wooden shelves in the front counter, with a total of three layers, each holding a different variety of goods.

Jiang Mo found queuing boring and complained from time to time, but Jiang Yan, on the other hand, was enjoying it very much and looked like she couldn’t get enough of it, with her beautiful big eyes full of curiosity.

The reactions of the two were also seen by a middle-aged woman in her fifties with a gentle and generous temperament not far away.

The woman’s eyes were mainly focused on the prettier Jiang Yan. The younger woman next to her followed her gaze and said in amazement, “Mom, is that my uncle’s wife? She’s so beautiful.”

The woman was Lu Yunsheng’s mother, Lin Meixiang. She smiled proudly when she heard the praise from her eldest daughter-in-law.

“Of course not. This is my carefully selected daughter-in-law. Not only does she have a high school education, but she is also sensible and well-behaved. Moreover, the Jiang family said that Yanyan doesn’t mind and is really willing to marry our Yunsheng.”

The young woman nodded and said, “My uncle has finally come to an end after all the hardships. As long as they are fine, we can rest assured.”

The woman thought of something and asked hurriedly, “Wanxin, how much money did you bring? Yanyan and the others came here to buy supplies to take to Yunsheng. I don’t know if she has enough money.”

Young woman Zhang Wanxin took out all the money in her pocket and advised: “Mom, my sister-in-law can’t take so many things, so let her take more money.”

Thinking about it, Lin Meixiang accepted the eldest daughter-in-law’s suggestion, and then heard Zhang Wanxin say: “Mom, we are leaving the provincial capital tonight. Do you want to meet your sister-in-law and leave a good impression on her so that she can live a good life with her uncle in the future.”

“Okay, let’s see what Yanyan and the others buy later. Let’s buy some that she didn’t give as a gift. She will definitely be very happy.”

“good.”

Zhang Wanxin smiled and nodded.

…

This way.

Jiang Yan also noticed that Lin Meixiang and her mother-in-law were staring at her, but she didn’t know them so she pretended not to notice.

Soon it was Jiang Yan’s turn.

She asked about the prices. A can of malted milk was 3 yuan, a pound of brown sugar was 0.7 yuan, and a piece of soap was 0.5 yuan.

Thinking that these things were not expensive, Jiang Yan bought two cans of malted milk, a pound of brown sugar and six bars of soap, spending 9.7 yuan.

At this point, Jiang Yan’s sugar coupons and soap coupons were all used up, and what was left were grain coupons, meat coupons, oil coupons, and cloth coupons.

But the grain was too heavy for her to carry, and the meat could not be stored for long and could not be bought.

She looked around but didn’t see the fabric style she liked. She thought that these things were the most common in daily life and should be available in even the most remote places, so she didn’t buy any.

I saw some unique cosmetics of this era on the shelves, such as Friendship Vanishing Cream and Colorful Moisturizing Cream, but they don’t require tickets.

The main purpose of the colorful flowers is to prevent frostbite. The weather in the south is different from that in the north. The temperature in winter is above zero, so frostbite is not very likely to occur.

Jiang Yan bought three boxes of vanishing cream, spending 2.4 yuan.

Seeing that Jiang Yan didn’t buy food or meat, but bought a bunch of “luxury goods”, Jiang Mo was envious and couldn’t help but complain: “Just buy as much as you can. Lu Yunsheng will be so angry that he will die of you. You can become a widow in advance.”

In fact, Jiang Yan was just buying things randomly. She had no experience of living a hard life.

The original owner had lived in the city since she was a child and had never left the city in her life. Her daily life was just a straight line between home, school, and the vegetable market. She actually didn’t know much about what the countryside was like and only heard about it from others.

But Jiang Mo’s words were obviously aggressive, so Jiang Yan naturally wouldn’t let her take advantage. She put the things into the net bag and said calmly, “You don’t have to speak if you can’t. No one thinks you’re dumb.”

Knowing that he couldn’t win the argument with Jiang Yan, Jiang Mo snorted coldly and said nothing more.

Jiang Yan also turned around and squeezed out of the supply and marketing cooperative from a relatively sparsely populated area on the side, and Jiang Mo followed her reluctantly.

When I came out of the supply and marketing cooperative, I was carrying a big bag of things in my hand. I spent a total of 12.1 yuan, and I had nearly 85.9 yuan left.

Jiang Yan sighed in her heart that money in this era really needs to be spent wisely.

“Yan Yan.”

At this time, a shout came from behind. Jiang Yan turned around and saw the two women who were staring at her just now walking towards her. Both of them had smiles on their faces, so they should have no ill intentions.