Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Fu Zhiqing, what a coincidence

The bearded man was carrying a straw mat and walking in front, while Shen Moer and Shen Shaoyuan followed behind. When they were leaving the market, a red armband stopped them and asked, "Where are you going?"

"They want to buy bamboo mats, but I only brought straw mats today and wanted to take them home." The bearded man had obviously thought of an excuse long ago.

The red armband narrowed her eyes and asked, "Is your home in the commune?"

The bearded man smiled and said, "No, my brother-in-law's house is in the commune, and it's inconvenient to take things back and forth, so I left them at his house."

The red armband didn't say anything. She looked up and down at Shen Moer and Shen Shaoyuan for a while. Seeing that they were both very calm and didn't show any trace of guilt or timidity, she waved her hand and said, "Let's go."

The bearded man smiled and said, "Okay."

It was not until they passed an intersection and looked back and no longer saw the red armband that the bearded man breathed a sigh of relief: "You are quite brave. I was afraid that you would be exposed."

Shen Moer smiled and said, "Uncle, you didn't lie. We really want to buy bamboo mats."

The bearded man nodded, then quickly shook his head, staring: "No, I'm not much older than you, why are you calling me uncle?"

Shen Moer said in surprise: "Shouldn't I call you uncle?" He seemed to be older than her father.

Shen Shaoyuan glanced at the bearded man and was a little surprised: "You don't look younger than me, what's wrong with my daughter calling you uncle?"

The bearded man turned his head and looked at him twice, but for a moment he had nothing to refute.

Although he looks old, thanks to his beard, it is undeniable that he has a good-looking face, looks young, and doesn't look like he would have a daughter that old.

He had secretly overheard a few words of their conversation before he was sure that they were father and daughter. Otherwise, they would have looked more like brother and sister.

However, even though he had shaved his beard, he didn't seem to dare to say that he looked younger than the other person.

The bearded man touched his beard subconsciously and felt a sense of vicissitudes.

The commune was not big, certainly not comparable to the county town, but it was not small either. Liuqiao Commune had two commune-run factories, and the population was quite large, including the original residents of the commune and the workers recruited by the factories. Therefore, the residential area and the factory dormitories were lined up in rows, with no end in sight.

The bearded man took Shen Moer and the others around the dormitory of the commune textile factory. After a long time, he finally led them into a small bungalow.

As soon as she entered the door, Shen Moer smelled a strong aroma of food.

The house is not big. There is a stove on the right side of the door. A woman in her thirties is making a fire. There are several layers of steamers stacked on the big iron pot. The aroma comes from the steamers.

When the woman saw the stranger coming in, she hurriedly stood up from the small stool and looked at the bearded man nervously.

After bringing her home, the bearded man stopped hiding anything and said directly, "This is my sister. The dumplings in the pot are 8 cents each with scallion and pork fillings, and 5 cents each with vegetarian fillings. The price is a little higher than that of state-owned restaurants, but it doesn't require a ticket, so it's a good deal."

Having only eaten half a melon in the morning, Shen Moer was already hungry, so she asked, "Is it steamed? If it's cooked, give me three scallion meat and two vegetarian fillings."

The woman said quickly, "It will be ready soon."

The bearded man led the man into the house: "Just wait two minutes, let's take a look at the cotton and bamboo mat first."

He said he wanted to see the cotton and bamboo mats. He let the people into the house, pointed to two stools for them to sit on, and then went out through the back door.

Shen Moer didn't find it strange. Since they were doing such a dangerous business, they would definitely not leave the things openly in the house. Most likely, there would be a hidden place nearby to hide the things.

She looked around. There was only a table and a few stools in the room. Shen Moer guessed that this might be a private food shop and the table and stools should be for diners.

Several common propaganda posters were posted on the walls on both sides of the room. The characters in the posters were energetic and full of fighting spirit, and slogans such as "Be vigilant and defend the motherland" and "Resolutely follow the path of integrating with the workers, peasants and soldiers" were printed on them.

The original owner had seen this kind of picture magazine many times, but Shen Moer herself saw it for the first time. She found that the brush and ink techniques were very different from those she had seen in Daliang, and she looked at it for a long time with great interest.

Shen Shaoyuan also stared at the picture for a while, and whispered: "This painting is quite interesting. I will study it carefully someday and draw you a picture like this."

Coincidentally, both father and daughter thought the picture was interesting.

At this time, the bearded man came back, carrying a sack in one hand and a rolled up bamboo mat in the other.

"There are indeed no two bamboo mats. Take a look at the quality of these bamboo mats. If you think they are good, take one first. I am not bragging. Look how smooth this mat is and how densely it is woven!"

The bearded man spread out the mat on the ground and untied the sack. "The new cotton hasn't come in yet. This is last year's. It's very good. Look for yourself. The cotton is so soft and white, as white as snow."

Shen Moer thought that you were not bragging enough, but she had to admit that the quality of the product was indeed good.

The bamboo mat was 3.8 yuan, and the cotton was 1.2 yuan per catty, which was much more expensive than the regular channels, but as I said, it was still cost-effective without the ticket. There were eight catties of cotton in the sack, which was 9.6 yuan, plus five buns for 3.4 yuan, a total of 13.74 yuan.

Chen Moer took out two big unity notes from her pocket, and also took out the fifty cents in change that the original owner's father and daughter had saved, counted out four cents, and gave them all to the bearded man. The bearded man quickly counted the change and returned it.

The buns had been steamed. They had a strong smell and were inconvenient to carry, so they simply sat down and ate the buns first.

Shen Moer ate a meat bun and a vegetarian bun, and bought two meat buns and one vegetarian bun for Shen Shaoyuan according to his usual appetite. After Shen Shaoyuan finished eating, he touched his belly and asked for another vegetarian bun.

Shen Moer suddenly remembered that her father used to be an idle prince who did nothing productive all day, so he didn't eat much.

It's different now. Even if you are just filling in the gaps, you still have to go to the fields to work. Even if you stay at home, you still have to fetch water and chop firewood, so your appetite will be bigger.

After eating the buns, the two picked up the sacks, picked up the bamboo mat, and prepared to go out.

Suddenly there was a rhythmic knock on the door outside. The woman in the kitchen answered and quickly went to open the door.

"Qiaojie, give me three meat buns."

A man's clear and melodious voice was heard from outside.

Shen Moer inexplicably felt that the voice sounded familiar. Before she could think about it, the man had already walked in. Perhaps he had noticed someone was around and suddenly stopped at the junction of the inner and outer rooms.

The two men collided face to face.

After seeing who was coming, Shen Moer blinked in surprise, and then subconsciously looked at the other person.

In fact, she had noticed that this Fu Zhiqing's clothes were covered with patches, and there was a hole in the front of his shoes, with half of his toes sticking out. He looked very poor...but why did he come here to buy expensive buns? And what he bought were not vegetarian buns, but meat buns.

Fu Mingze was also stunned for a rare time. He didn't expect to meet Shen Moli and the others here.

In fact, Fu Mingze had no impression of the father and daughter at first. It was only after he saw the excitement during the grain distribution that day that he remembered them.

Fu Mingze's first reaction was the same as Shen Moli's. He thought, isn't their family very poor? Otherwise, they wouldn't have almost starved to death just because their food was stolen. Why did they come to Qiaojie to buy things today?

Then he quickly thought that they must have heard what he had just said, and ran to a private restaurant to secretly buy meat buns to eat... Fu Mingze frowned slightly, thinking that if this matter were to spread, it would probably cause trouble.

The two were silent for a while. Shen Moer was obviously more confident because the money came from a legitimate source. She greeted him first: "Fu Zhiqing, what a coincidence."

Fu Mingze looked at her and nodded: "It's quite a coincidence."

Shen Moer took the initiative to explain: "My house is leaking, and the quilts and mats are soaked and rotten. It's hard to buy cotton, so I had to exchange some with this uncle."

Even if they both know the truth in their hearts, they certainly cannot say it is a transaction openly. Bartering among the people is allowed by policy.

Fu Mingze hummed to show his understanding. Just then, Qiaojie took a bowl with three buns and brought it over. Fu Mingze took the bowl and chopsticks and felt a little awkward for some reason. After thinking for a while, he said, "I got a few eggs for writing a letter for someone a few days ago. I heard that Qiaojie's buns are delicious, so I came here to exchange some for a snack."

In fact, strictly speaking, the two of them didn't even know each other, but when they met in this situation, they both wanted to make each other believe that they were really poor and would meet in such a place -

Well, it was purely accidental.