Time passed quickly as they chatted, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the county town.
Uncle Wang agreed to wait for them here at 3 p.m., then drove his donkey cart down a side path.
Along the way, Uncle Wang had chatted with them quite a bit. It turned out his youngest son worked at the county supply and marketing cooperative, in charge of procuring mountain goods. Whenever the brigade members brought in dried mushrooms, he was the one who received them.
He had already gotten married and had children in the county a few years ago, and now lived there full-time.
Usually, the brigade gave the members a day off every half month. On that day, Uncle Wang would drive his cart to the county town. Everyone else would go about their own business, while Uncle Wang would spend half a day at his son’s place, visiting his grandchildren.
He’d probably gone to his son’s house now—Su Yun noticed he’d brought a backpack basket stuffed full of greens and beans.
The group discussed their plans. Some needed to go to the post office to send letters and telegrams, others to the supply cooperative. An Qin felt her hair was too long and braiding it took too much time, so she also wanted to go to the barbershop for a haircut.
They decided to split up and handle their own business, then meet directly at the state-run restaurant at noon to eat and rest.
The county town wasn’t big—just two parallel long streets with a few scattered shops, while the rest was residential areas. Since none of them knew the place well, they wouldn’t get lost anyway.
Su Yun spotted the bank from afar and headed that way. Right now, she had only a little over fifty yuan in total. Though that seemed like a lot for this era, to Su Yun, who in her previous life could easily spend several hundred on a single meal, it felt unsettlingly low.
As she passed the bank entrance, Su Yun checked in.
[Check-in successful! Located at Qingfeng County People’s Bank]
[Congratulations, host! You have received: 3 banknotes of 10-yuan denomination]
Yes! A stroke of luck today!
She’d thought the county bank might give less!
But it turned out to be just as much as her first check-in at the Jing City bank.
If it weren’t for the fact that she had no more check-in opportunities left, she’d have been reluctant to leave the bank entrance!
Hmph, just wait! She’d save up her check-ins and come back to the county for a satisfying spree next time!
Ahead of the bank was a bathhouse, currently closed. It would only start operating when the weather turned cold—five cents per visit. But bathhouses required bath tickets back then, and usually only factory workers in the county were issued them; villagers and educated youth didn’t get any.
She wondered if they had scrubbing services inside. Su Yun had never experienced the northern bathhouse culture before and was always a bit curious. Once she managed to get her hands on some bath tickets this winter, she’d definitely come try it out!
Walking straight down the road for a few minutes, she arrived at the supply cooperative. Su Yun mulled it over—she wanted to find someone to exchange ration tickets with so she could buy things.
Ahem! I, Su—Best Actress—Yun, am about to make my dazzling entrance! Su Yun thought to herself.
She hadn’t eaten pork, but she’d seen pigs run—she’d read plenty of era novels before, so she wasn’t going in blind!
Head held high, she walked into the supply cooperative. Scanning the room, she noticed a counter with a few shop assistants gathered around chatting. Target spotted—Su Yun headed straight over.
“Excuse me, comrade, does this require a coupon?” Su Yun pointed at a brass padlock in the display case and asked the saleswoman behind the counter.
“The brass lock requires two industrial vouchers,” the saleswoman replied without looking up, as she was teaching another person how to knit a sweater.
“Ah, what a shame! I just came to the countryside and left in such a hurry that I only brought some grain coupons. I didn’t prepare anything else. Now my grain coupons are useless, but I don’t have the ones I actually need,” Su Yun sighed, pretending to complain in a low voice.
Sure enough, someone took the bait. The young saleswoman who was learning to knit looked up excitedly.
“Comrade, come with me for a moment. Sister Liu, please watch the counter for me—I’ll be right back!”
The first sentence was directed at Su Yun, the second at the woman she’d been learning from.
The saleswoman led Su Yun out of the supply cooperative and around the corner to start asking questions.
“Do you have grain coupons? Are they national grain coupons?”
“Yes, they were prepared before I came to the countryside.”
“Comrade, my name is Qian Yue, and I’m a saleswoman here at the supply cooperative. My younger brother is also about to go to the countryside. He has a big appetite and his subsidy isn’t enough—the whole family’s been worrying about how to get some grain coupons for him to take along!”
“How many do you have? Can you exchange them with me? Just tell me what you need, and I’ll figure out a way to get it for you!”
Su Yun did the math. She decided to keep 10 catties for herself—she’d need them for eating at the state-run restaurant from time to time. National grain coupons didn’t expire, and 10 catties would be enough for her occasional use over the next few years.
“I have 20 catties. Since I just arrived in the countryside, I’m lacking just about everything. I’d like to trade them for some other ration coupons.”
“Then wait here for a moment. My house is just ahead, two minutes away. I’ll go home and get the coupons, and you can pick whichever you want.”
She guessed that her younger brother would be heading to the countryside in the next day or two, and Qian Yue clearly seemed a bit anxious—she turned and jogged home.
Before long, Qian Yue returned, slightly out of breath. Su Yun flipped through the coupon booklet she’d brought and ended up picking out a few industrial vouchers, along with several sugar coupons, meat coupons, kerosene coupons, and one leather shoe coupon.
Because national grain coupons were quite valuable, she was able to get all these coupons in exchange.
The transaction worked out well for both of them. Qian Yue tucked the grain coupons into her bag and linked her arm through Su Yun’s.
“Come on, I’ll take you to see the seconds. I already prepared my brother’s share earlier, and I haven’t used my monthly quota yet. Since you just arrived and need things, I’ll use it for you!”
“From now on, we’re friends. When you come to the county, remember to come find me for a chat!”
“Thanks! I’ll definitely come by to see you next time, Sister Yue!”
People back then were generally quite warm-hearted. Su Yun wasn’t quite used to it—being linked arm-in-arm, she didn’t know what to do with her hands and feet.
Qian Yue led her into the back room of the supply cooperative, where several shelves of goods were displayed. They were called “seconds,” but none of them had any issues that affected their use.
Su Yun felt like she needed everything she saw, but she managed to hold herself back and only picked out a few items.
Two pairs of liberation shoes with slightly crooked stitching cost her 5 yuan. They were durable and would be good for working in the fields.
A pair of black rain boots with a small discolored spot—Su Yun was terrified of leeches and all soft-bodied creatures. There was no way she’d dare go straight into the paddies without protection.
A kerosene lamp with a small chip on the corner; and two enamel mugs with some peeling on the outside.
These few items cost her over ten yuan. After paying and putting them into her backpack basket, Su Yun went back to the front to buy other things.
By then, Qian Yue had returned to her own counter—the sales staff couldn’t leave their posts for too long.
First, she used her industrial vouchers to buy the brass padlock. The set came with a hasp and nails too.
Then she used up her sugar coupons to buy some white sugar and brown sugar. On top of that, she bought a yuan’s worth of fruit drops, which didn’t require coupons and cost one cent each.
Malted milk powder didn’t need coupons either, so she bought a tin. She’d been curious about it ever since reading novels before, and now that she had the chance, she definitely wanted to try it.
Two wide-rimmed bowls, two pairs of wooden chopsticks, and a wooden soup spoon—finally, she had proper tableware!
She also picked up a sewing kit. She couldn’t make clothes, but she could have someone else sew fabric for her. Still, for everyday things like loose threads or missing buttons, she couldn’t always ask for help and would need to handle them herself.
She also bought a roll of elastic band—she wanted to try sewing a few pairs of underwear and some undershirts on her own!
She bought two pairs of nylon socks that didn’t require coupons, and with great difficulty, Su Yun managed to pick out two pairs of light yellow, relatively plain ones from a pile of highly saturated, brightly colored socks.
She needed a container for the kerosene, but she didn’t have anything. So she bought a large bottled soda, chugged it down on the spot, and didn’t return the glass bottle—she used it to hold kerosene instead.
It was a bit mortifying. Other people in the supply cooperative looked at her like she was crazy as she downed the soda.
But Su Yun held fast to the principle: “As long as I’m not embarrassed, it’s everyone else who’s embarrassed,” and shamelessly pretended not to notice their stares.
Spotting the toiletries counter, she saw bottled shampoo and bagged shampoo powder. She hadn’t thought of that before, so she bought one of each to try out which worked better.
She’d left the two jars of face cream for her second sister, Su Yun, so she bought two packets of face cream for herself.
She didn’t use the leather shoe coupon—she was still growing, and her feet were still getting bigger. The coupon had a year left before expiration, so she’d come back to buy them next year.
Since it was summer, the supply cooperative was also selling popsicles. Plain sugar popsicles were two cents each, mung bean ones three cents, and milk ones five cents.
She bought ten of each, which came to just 1 yuan.
“Little sister, that’s a lot—they’ll melt before you get them home!” the saleswoman at the popsicle counter kindly warned her.
“It’s fine—there are a bunch of us educated youth who came together. They’re waiting for me around the corner up ahead. I’m buying for all of them. Once I get out, I’ll hand them out, two sticks per person.”
She casually made up an excuse, quickly paid, stuffed everything into her backpack basket, said goodbye to Qian Yue, and left.
She couldn’t stay any longer! Spending too much time in the supply cooperative was terrible for her wallet—everything looked cheap and she wanted to buy everything.
In that short time, she’d spent another two “big unity” notes—over thirty yuan in just a few moments! Now she only had about fifty yuan left.
Money really didn’t go far, Su Yun sighed.
As soon as she stepped out, she quickly turned into a side alley. Checking that no one was around, she took out a bamboo box, put all the popsicles inside, and stored the whole box in her storage grid. Now they wouldn’t melt, and she could enjoy them slowly.
She also took out her thermos from storage and placed it in her backpack basket, just to make it visible.
After sorting everything out, Su Yun slung her backpack basket over her shoulders, carried the kerosene bottle in one hand, and headed toward the other street—she hadn’t started exploring over there yet!