“Alright, I’m heading out. I still need to make a trip to the supply and marketing cooperative.”
Liu Mancang got up to leave. Seeing her second brother carrying a thermos, Liu Manhong knew exactly what was going on. “Second Brother, it’s not far for me to walk to work. You ride the bicycle back and just bring it back to me next time. Otherwise, by the time you walk all the way back, it’ll all have melted.”
Liu Mancang thought about it for a moment and agreed. “Alright. Siwen and Siwu are starting school in a couple of days anyway. I’ll have the two of them ride it back; they both know how to ride.”
At this time, children usually started school at eight years old, or even later. However, Liu Siwen and Liu Siwu started school early—one at seven and the other at six years old.
Furthermore, schools back then followed a 5-3-3 education system.
Therefore, Liu Siwen was already in his second year of junior high and could take the high school entrance exam next year.
Liu Siwu was in his first year of junior high.
The two brothers were perfect company for each other.
Right before he left, Old Mrs. Zhao came out and brought along a tin of biscuits, a jar of hawthorn canned fruit, two feet of patterned fabric, and five industrial coupons.
The few of them pushed the items back and forth in refusal for a while until Old Mrs. Zhao threw the things right into the bicycle basket. “These things aren’t for you to eat; they’re for Tiantian.”
Liu Manhong chimed in to persuade him as well. Industrial coupons were highly valuable items. Her maiden family only had one iron pot, which was used for cooking regular meals and boiling pig feed.
Usually, after boiling the pig feed, they had to scrub the pot several times. It was both a hassle and a waste of water.
It was highly inconvenient when carrying water was already such a chore.
Hearing that it was for his daughter, Liu Mancang stopped refusing. After all, among relatives, it was best to have a mutual giving and receiving.
Showing a simple, honest smile, he said, “Thank you, Auntie.”
Liu Mancang went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy his items. Just as he arrived back home, the three brothers, including Liu Siwu, returned from catching fish. The moment they saw the thermos inside the bicycle basket, they became instantly excited.
Immediately dropping their buckets and tossing aside their artemisia grass, they sprinted over. Liu Siwei was the first to ask, “Dad, did you buy popsicles for us?”
“Dad, how many did you buy? Can we eat two each?” Liu Siwu asked as well.
“The last time we ate popsicles was already last year.”
Last year, it was because Liu Tiantian was born. Liu Mancang had gone to the commune to deliver the joyous news, and on his way back, he bought a few popsicles. Except for Li Sufen, who was observing her postpartum confinement and couldn’t eat cold things, everyone else got one. It was a rare treat.
Liu Tiantian found it fascinating. In her previous life, she had seen people selling popsicles from styrofoam boxes covered with a quilt when she was little, but using a thermos liner to store popsicles was a first for her.
“Alright, what’s all the shouting for? Keep your voices down and let your dad park the bicycle first,” Grandmother Liu scolded. These stinky boys didn’t know the first thing about keeping a low profile.
It was fortunate that their neighbors were quite decent and weren’t the envious type. If they encountered a neighbor like Wang Dachun, someone would surely come knocking on their door, and by the afternoon, the entire brigade would definitely know that their whole family was eating popsicles.
“I think you look like popsicles! Having one each is already grand enough, yet you want to eat two? Why don’t you just fly up to heaven?
They cost five cents each. It’s only because your dad spoils you. Do you know how many matches and how much oil this money could buy? It could even buy seven or eight taels of pork!”
Li Sufen rolled her eyes at Liu Siwei and Liu Siwu, who were speaking the loudest.
One had to know that pork currently cost only sixty cents a catty. There were nine people in total in the Liu family, so nine popsicles cost forty-five cents.
“You bratty boys, you’re only riding on Tiantian’s coattails. Otherwise, where would you get popsicles to eat?” Grandmother Liu also scolded with a smile. Ever since Tiantian was born, the hens at home laid eggs every single day, which fetched a very good price.
Their family could still manage to eat popsicles once a year, whereas many other families in the brigade couldn’t even taste them once a year!
There were even plenty who had lived for over half their lives without ever tasting the flavor.
Grandmother Liu wasn’t exaggerating. The Northeast was different from the South; while the South could cultivate two crops a year, the Northeast only grew one. Although it wasn’t as exhausting compared to the South, it was truly quite poor.
Especially in their area, where there were many mountains and little arable land. Working bitterly hard for a whole year would only yield enough food to barely fill their bellies, and in bad years, they wouldn’t even be distributed a single yuan in cash.
Accountant Hu of the production team might not even hold more than ten yuan in his hands.
Just think about how poor the Erhe Brigade was.
To be precise, everyone was poor nowadays.
It had gotten much better over the past few years; sometimes they could be distributed over ten yuan, and sometimes several dozen yuan.
This was no exaggeration; it was the absolute truth. Nowadays, crop yields were low, there were no chemical fertilizers, and the seeds were not the high-yielding varieties of later generations. After a year of hard work harvesting grain and handing over the official state quota, what little remained to be distributed among the team members left nothing else.
Where could anyone find a place to earn cash?
The only way for a production team to have money was by selling grain.
First, they handed over the official grain quota, then they distributed grain to the team members. Whatever surplus grain was left, they would set aside seeds for next year and sell all the rest to the grain management station.
If there was no surplus grain, there would naturally be no money.