Chapter 18: Going to the County Town (Part 4)

The salesperson at this supply and marketing cooperative was really arrogant, acting as if they were superior to everyone else.

Although Zhao Xiulan was dissatisfied, she didn’t argue with the salesperson. It was pointless to argue with someone like that, so she decided to save her breath.

The salesperson reluctantly approached and asked, “What do you want to buy?”

“I want to ask how much the soap costs!”

The salesperson replied indifferently, “One yuan plus one yuan of industrial coupons.”

The salesperson’s answer left Zhao Xiulan dumbfounded. Buying things with money should be enough, so why did they need coupons too?

“What are industrial coupons? Do you need coupons to buy things?” Zhao Xiulan asked, puzzled.

Upon being asked by Zhao Xiulan, the salesperson looked at her with full disdain and sneered, “As expected, a bumpkin from the countryside, ignorant of everything!

“To buy things, you need both money and coupons; one cannot do without the other. For example, for grains, you need grain coupons; for pastries, you need pastry coupons; for candies, you need sugar coupons; for fabrics, you need cloth coupons; for oil, you need oil coupons!

“For items like soap, towels, ironware, cigarettes, and alcohol, you need industrial coupons!

“If you don’t have money or coupons, I won’t sell anything to you! It’s different from where you come from, countryside bumpkin! If you don’t have money or coupons, hurry up and leave, don’t wander around in front of me!”

With that, the salesperson ignored Zhao Xiulan and continued cracking sunflower seeds.

Having neither money nor coupons, Zhao Xiulan felt belittled by the salesperson’s attitude and didn’t have the confidence to argue, so she turned around to leave the supply and marketing cooperative.

As she was leaving, she seemed to hear the salesperson continuing to sneer at her.

Feeling annoyed, Zhao Xiulan thought, what kind of person is this? Just because I don’t have coupons, does it warrant such a disdainful attitude?

Before she could leave the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhao Xiulan bumped into a girl who was entering. The girl looked about the same age as Zhao Xiulan, around seventeen or eighteen years old.

Presumably from the city, she was dressed much more fashionably than Zhao Xiulan, wearing a well-made blouse on top and a black skirt below.

After bumping into Zhao Xiulan, the girl, named Liu Xiaohong, exclaimed in pain. When she saw that it was Zhao Xiulan who had bumped into her, she had overheard Zhao Xiulan’s conversation with the salesperson just now.

Looking at Zhao Xiulan’s shabby clothes and the patches all over them, Liu Xiaohong’s eyes were filled with disdain.

Liu Xiaohong brushed her clothes and angrily said to Zhao Xiulan, “You country bumpkin, you’ve dirtied my clothes. Do you know how expensive these clothes are? Can you afford to compensate me?”

Zhao Xiulan, who had been bumped into, felt a twinge of pain. She had initially wanted to let it go, but seeing Liu Xiaohong’s attitude, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed. “You’re the one who bumped into me. What does that have to do with me? You’re the one who wasn’t paying attention and ran into someone. Why are you trying to blame others?”

“You…” Liu Xiaohong gritted her teeth in anger. It was indeed her fault for not paying attention and running into Zhao Xiulan, but she was unwilling to admit it. She said angrily, “Yes, I bumped into you first, but so what? Who told you, someone without money or coupons like you, to wander around the supply and marketing cooperative? Unlike you, I’m here to buy things, and I can afford them! In my opinion, country bumpkins like you shouldn’t even come to a place like this, then you wouldn’t bump into me!”

Zhao Xiulan didn’t understand where Liu Xiaohong got this reasoning from. She was arguing irrationally, distorting the truth, and showing a bad temper. Immediately, she raised her voice and argued, “What’s wrong with people from the countryside? Are we eating at your house? Huh, do you think your city folks are so great? If it weren’t for the grains that we country folks work hard to grow, do you think your city people would have food to eat?”

(End of Chapter 18)