Chapter 20: Changing Meat

"You guys know how to make a living, and you're doing well. My family has a lot of mustard greens this year. Would you like to exchange some? My wife also makes soybean paste, which is ready for consumption. She made two jars of it this year, and I can exchange some for you."

Maybe it was because of what he had just heard from Shi Luo, Zhou Ping felt a little uncomfortable. Alas, these kids are still half-grown boys, so he should help them if he can.

"That's great! We've already found two in the village, but we've only been able to get cabbage and radishes, not mustard greens. We were talking about one cent per jin for 200 jin, plus a sugar ticket for one jin. Is your price acceptable? If so, we'll go over tonight."

"Okay, how about soybean paste? Do you want it? It's just that soybean paste is a bit expensive. After all, it's made from soybeans."

"Okay, then the soybean paste is three cents per pound, I'll exchange it for twenty-one pounds, and I'll give you half a pound of sugar coupons." This kind of Northeast wet soybean paste basically produces four or five pounds of paste from one pound of beans, and six or seven pounds can be produced as much. Soybeans are ten cents per pound, so three cents for soybean paste is really not cheap.

"Okay, you guys can take it away tonight. You have to prepare the things to hold the sauce yourself."

"Okay, I'll go buy a smaller jar. Please wait for me."

"Go quickly!"

Shi Luo went to a place that sold jars and bought three eight-jin jars. He also bought some for Xie Chen and the others. If they didn't use them later, he could keep them for himself.

When Shi Luo returned to the ox cart, Xie Chen and the other man had already returned. They put the jar on the cart. Looking at the two extra packages and several cloth bags on the cart, he knew that these were the things sent by the two people's families.

When Xie Chen and Li Zhe just came back, Zhou Ping told them about the sauce and mustard greens. After Shi Luo sat down, he gave Shi Luo the money for the jar.

After all, even brothers have to settle accounts clearly so that they can get along for a long time in the future.

Zhou Ping drove the ox cart directly to the back door of the Youth League Home.

Shi Luo and his three companions had a lot of stuff, so this would be much more convenient.

Watching the three men unload their belongings from the car, Zhou Ping said, "Just now I saw quite a few people over at the threshing ground. They must be the hunting team coming back to distribute the meat. If you want to exchange meat, go over there quickly."

After saying that, Zhou Ping drove the ox cart back to the cowshed. He had to settle the cows first before he could go watch the fun.

The three of them moved their things back into the house, locked the door after coming out, and then went to the threshing ground.

Shi Luo was a little surprised when he saw the huge crowds of people in the threshing ground.

"Have all the members of our team come out?"

Li Zhe asked the question that Shi Luo wanted to ask.

"Of course, dividing the meat is a big deal for the team members. Almost everyone who can move has come."

Xie Chen looked at so many people and really didn't want to squeeze in at all.

"Anyway, we won't get any meat, and we'll probably be the last ones to buy it. Why don't we just wait here until the crowds thin out before moving on?"

Shi Luo: "Okay, we're not in a hurry anyway."

The three people waited for almost two hours before the captain called their names.

Shi Luo and the other two hurried forward.

"Let's see what you want. We also have wild boar meat, wild mutton, bison beef, venison and bear meat. Oh, and a few chickens and rabbits." The captain asked the three people.

"How much is fine with you?" Shi Luo looked at the bear paw in front of him with shining eyes.

"Of course not. Each person can buy 25 kilograms of meat, ribs, large bones, etc., as much as you want, no limit. The limit for chicken and rabbit is one."

The team leader rolled his eyes. If they could take as much as they wanted, that would be outrageous. The rest would have to be sold to the purchasing station, and the price they got there would be higher than what they got in the village.

"Captain, I see there are only a few of us here, and not many people are buying. Just sell more to us. You will have to sell the rest to the purchasing station anyway." Xie Chen knew that the leftover meat would be sold to the purchasing station.

The team leader said, "Hey, you know quite a lot. Okay, I'll give you another ten kilograms. Hurry up and pick them. The price we sell to the purchasing station is not the same as the village price."

Shi Luo took the lead and said, "I want ten catties of mutton, five catties of wild boar meat, ten catties of venison, five catties of bear meat, five catties of beef, five catties of pork chops, ten catties of lamb chops, ten catties of steak, five catties of venison chops, two bear paws, and six of each large bone, and one chicken and one rabbit."

The captain said, "Why do you need so many bones? There's not much meat on those big bones. If you take them back, they'll taste bad. And even if there's meat on those ribs, it's very thin."

Shi Luo: "Captain, I'm still young. I heard that bones can supplement calcium. If I drink more bone soup, maybe I can grow taller."

The captain looked at Shi Luo, who was only about 1.7 meters tall, and said helplessly, "You are indeed a little short, but you won't grow much taller. You are almost 20 years old, and you are almost destined to be married."

Shi Luo said shamelessly, "It's still far from enough. Anyway, I don't care. Didn't you say there is no limit on the number of bones? I want them."

"Okay, mutton is 35 cents a pound, pork is 45 cents a pound, venison is 40 cents a pound, bear meat is 40 cents a pound, beef is 38 cents a pound, ribs are all the same price of 18 cents, big bones are 2 cents each, bear paws are 80 cents each, and chickens and rabbits are 3 yuan each."

Shi Luo was a little bit unconvinced. "It's so cheap, half the price of the meat station, no need for a ticket."

The team leader said smugly, "Nonsense, this is a benefit of the team. You definitely don't need a ticket. It's cheap because you're from our team. You're really enjoying yourself by coming to our team. You should know that pork outside costs 75 cents a pound and you still need a ticket."

Shi Luo: "How much is it in total?"

Accountant Wang was counting on an abacus. "Twenty-six dollars and seventy-seven cents. If you buy more, I'll give you three lamb leg bones."

After the bill was settled, the butcher Li next to the team leader had already chopped the meat and bones for Shi Luo. After paying the money, Shi Luo put the things into his backpack, carried it, and waited for Li Zhe and the others.

Xie Chen and Li Zhe also bought a lot. They bought meat according to their quota and less ribs. The total amount for the two of them was only about 20 pounds.

The three of them carried their backpacks and walked back.

"The Red Star Brigade is great. The meat is so cheap and there's a lot of it. The brigade leader is also very nice. This is the first time I've had so much meat. I'll see if I can make it into bacon or salted pork, and then I can send some back home." Li Zhe sighed as he looked at the meat in his backpack.

Xie Chen shook his head. "It's really cheap. The quantity is quite a lot, but generally speaking it's not much. If there are no accidents, the team will distribute meat three times a year. One is now.

Another time is before the autumn harvest, when the hunting team will also go up the mountain. The purpose of hunting at that time is to let the team members eat something good to replenish their energy for the autumn harvest. The amount of meat distributed that time should not be large, because the meat cannot be kept for too long, even if it is pickled.

The last time was before the Chinese New Year. At that time, we distributed pork raised by the team. The amount of meat was even smaller. I estimate that each person only got a few pounds or a few ounces.

These three meat distributions are basically the annual meat supply for the brigade. Most people in the brigade eat this much meat. If you do the math and average it out, it doesn’t seem like that much.”

"Why think so much? Anyway, we do have a lot of meat now." Shi Luo didn't care how many times the team distributed the meat. After all, there was plenty of meat in his space and plenty of meat tickets, so he didn't have to worry about not having meat to eat.

Xie Chen: "That's right. We're going to make pickles tomorrow. Let's go buy some vegetables now."