Several people returned to the Department Store.
The local commuter train only ran twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening. It wasn’t yet time to go home.
With nothing weighing on their minds, the other three casually browsed around the Department Store.
Thanks to Cheng Hui, everyone treated them politely. Even if they only looked without buying anything, no one gave them dirty looks.
The three wondered: Was this Cheng Hui’s purpose in buttering them up?
Cheng Hui went to find Li Fang again.
“Sister Fang, who has egg coupons? I want to buy a few jin of eggs,” Cheng Hui asked without standing on ceremony.
Her familiarity, along with the shift from “Sister Li” to “Sister Fang,” pleased Li Fang even more.
“You want to buy eggs? How many? For a gift or for yourself?” Li Fang asked quietly.
Cheng Hui sensed this wasn’t just about egg coupons. She replied, “Buying too much at once isn’t convenient, right? I’d like to buy seven or eight jin for myself first. The baby is at the stage of gaining weight, so I want to nourish her.”
Of course, she couldn’t say she was buying them for production. What kind of Food Factory would lack even seven or eight jin of eggs? That would be a joke!
Her position as deputy director would be worthless then.
Li Fang, also a mother, understood the mindset during pregnancy—you’d eat whatever was good for the baby.
“If it’s for yourself, eggs with slightly cracked shells should be fine, right?” Li Fang asked, worried she might be too refined to accept broken eggs.
“As long as only the shell is cracked and they’re not spoiled, it’s fine. I’m just afraid of getting sick from them,” Cheng Hui said.
Li Fang laughed. “Listen to you, so untouched by life’s hardships! Where would you find eggs that sat overnight? They practically fall straight from the hen’s rear end into people’s cooking pots!”
That was an exaggeration, but not far from the truth.
Nowadays, each household was supplied with one jin of eggs per month—sometimes a bit more, sometimes less. That was for everyone on one household registration, not per person.
Household registrations with over ten people got only two jin of eggs per month.
In short, eggs were scarce, people were many, and supply couldn’t meet demand.
Whenever eggs arrived at the Non-staple Food Store, they were snapped up immediately.
The chicken farms didn’t stockpile eggs either, supplying them daily to various departments.
Some units short on eggs even stationed people at the chicken farms, collecting eggs as soon as they were laid! They were afraid others would snatch them away.
Like their pastry factory, which relied on eggs to survive—without eggs, they’d truly be finished.
Guo Dajun had gone to plead before, but with no money or proper procedures, they ignored him. He didn’t even get an eggshell, and they sarcastically asked if he wanted chicken manure instead.
Cheng Hui smiled. “As long as the eggs aren’t spoiled, I’ll take them even without shells! I’m not picky anymore.”
Did that mean she used to be very picky?
Li Fang glanced at her belly, burning with curiosity. What exactly had happened to her? Had her family fallen on hard times?
Cheng Hui felt it was time to reveal a bit of information. Otherwise, letting people speculate wildly might lead to all sorts of rumors.
This guileless older sister was just the right person to act as a messenger.
She suddenly leaned close to Li Fang, whispering as if sharing a secret: “I felt an instant connection with you, Sister Fang, so I don’t mind telling you the truth… It’s just a bit embarrassing.
“I actually came here last year as an Educated Youth. Not long after I arrived, I fell into our Production Team’s pond and was rescued by a Soldier Brother who was home on leave.”
She blushed. “If not for him, I would have died. To repay him, I married him and stayed here.
“Otherwise, I should have returned home by now. My father was furious with me because of this.”
Not every Educated Youth who went to the countryside was unable to return to the city, having to wait until 1976 or the resumption of college entrance exams to go back.
Some people with connections returned to the city after just a few months in the countryside.
In 1973, policies also loosened, and a large number of Educated Youth returned to the city.
“You, you, you…” Li Fang stared at Cheng Hui, not knowing what to say to her!
What era was this, and she was still talking about repaying a life-saving grace by offering herself in marriage?
Cheng Hui looked up, blinking her shimmering eyes, fidgeting shyly with a flushed face.
Li Fang immediately understood—it wasn’t just about the life-saving grace…
“Is that guy really good-looking?” she blurted out.
“Mhmm!” Cheng Hui nodded shyly.
Now Li Fang got it.
She was a woman too, and she had been young once. She had also blushed and felt her heart race at the sight of a handsome young man.
Her gaze toward Cheng Hui instantly filled with sympathy and pity.
Even though this “young lady” from Jingcheng seemed eloquent and shrewd, she was still just a girl—foolishly abandoning her family for love and marrying a poor young man from afar…
The hard days were still ahead!
But since she was already married and even had a child, it was too late to say anything.
Moreover, Cheng Hui had confided such heartfelt thoughts to her—she truly didn’t treat Li Fang as an outsider!
Li Fang immediately said, “There’s a Xiao Wang in the logistics department. His uncle is the manager of a Non-staple Food Store. If you only need six or seven jin of eggs, it’s absolutely no problem!”
She winked and added, “But they’re all cracked eggs. Don’t worry—they’re not badly cracked!”
Good eggs had to be sold normally, but cracked eggs could be held back for maneuvering—either sold as employee benefits or used to curry favor…
In her past life, Cheng Hui had only heard about these tricks but never experienced them, because by the time she woke up and resolved to strengthen herself by any means necessary, eggs were already readily available.
“Thank you so much, Sister Fang, for showing me the way! But I’m not familiar with this Xiao Wang…” Cheng Hui said.
Li Fang had already come out from behind the counter, took her hand, and started leading her upstairs. “Come on, I’ll take you to him. This Xiao Wang is my aunt’s cousin’s cousin—you could say he’s like a cousin to me too. My words carry weight with him!”
Cheng Hui looked at her and gave a sweet smile.
Li Fang grew even more curious about what kind of man her husband was, to have caught the eye of such a beauty and earned her praise for his looks!
The two arrived at the procurement department office, and Li Fang called inside, “Wang Bin, come out for a moment.”
Wang Bin turned around and saw his distant cousin, with today’s local celebrity, Little Cheng from the county, standing beside her. He smiled and came out.
“Cousin, what’s up?”
It wasn’t anything shady—every employee at the Department Store had bought “cracked eggs” through Wang Bin at some point.
“I want to buy 10 jin of cracked eggs! Pick the good ones,” Li Fang whispered in the hallway.
“Oh.” Wang Bin glanced at Cheng Hui and said, “10 jin of cracked eggs is no big deal, but at this hour, I’m not sure if there are that many left.”
He could tell at a glance that Cheng Hui was the one who actually wanted the eggs. His cousin’s phrasing was to ensure he couldn’t refuse.
And he didn’t want to refuse—this Little Cheng was really pleasant to look at!
Too bad he was already married, and so was she. No chance there.
“I don’t care. Even if you have to dig them out from under a chicken’s butt, you’d better get me 10 jin of eggs today! I need them now!” Li Fang said.
If this had been before Cheng Hui shared her “secret,” Li Fang would have, at most, introduced them and made no promises about when the eggs would be available.
But now it was different. Cheng Hui had bared her heart to her, and Li Fang couldn’t let her down!
“Alright, alright, I give up. I’ll go dig it out from the chicken’s rear end for you right now.”
Wang Bin said this as he returned to the office to grab his coat and headed out without asking for payment or a receipt.
Before leaving, he shot Cheng Hui an admiring glance.
What kind of magic potion did she feed his cousin? They’ve only just met, right? She isn’t some long-lost cousin of his, is she?!