He gritted his teeth and said, "Fifteen, brother, I still need a couple hundred yuan to buy the car. If you ask for more, I really won't have enough!"
Zhou Mingli bargained, "Twenty-four. I'm not asking for more than that. You're offering a Red Flag ticket for a permanent one, so I'm already giving you a bargain by asking such a low price."
"Seventeen, how about Seventeen? I'll give you some other tickets!"
Zhou Mingli insisted, "Twenty-three...let me see what tickets you have."
The man said in a low voice, "One flashlight ticket, two cotton cloth tickets."
flashlight.
Zhou Mingli paused slightly, looked at the man, and said, "Nineteen, plus the tickets you just mentioned, if it works out, we'll exchange them; if not, I'll leave."
The man's eyes widened. "This flashlight ticket is worth three yuan!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Mingli made a move to leave.
The man quickly grabbed him, "Okay, okay, nineteen it is!"
"Brother, you're too heartless!" The man said with a pained expression as he took out the tickets and money and quickly made a deal with Zhou Mingli.
Zhou Mingli put the ticket in his pocket and asked in a low voice, "Are you from the state-run restaurant?"
The man stared at him in shock.
Zhou Mingli said frankly, "My friend is physically strong."
There was still flour residue under his fingernails. If this wasn't a restaurant or a job related to cooking, Zhou Mingli wouldn't be surnamed Zhou anymore.
The man became wary. "Let me tell you, don't even think about trying to scam me! I'm not going to tell you where I work!"
Zhou Mingli smiled and said, "I didn't mean to trick you. It would be bad for anyone if we met in a place like this and the truth came out."
"I just want to ask, if you have rabbits or pheasants, would you take them? If so, where can I find you?"
Upon hearing this, the man looked Zhou Mingli up and down.
Zhou Mingli was also tall and strong. After thinking for a moment, the man said, "If you have any, go to the kitchen of the stone quarry and find the man surnamed Qu. He will give you a fair price."
Zhou Mingli nodded, "I understand, goodbye, friend."
The man achieved his goal, and the two went their separate ways.
Zhou Mingli was about to check what tickets he needed were available on the black market when he heard someone shout, "The red armbands are here! Run!"
Zhou Mingli immediately jumped onto his bicycle and sped off faster than anyone else.
Before long, he returned to Jiang Ci's side. On the way, he saw a person with a red armband walking arrogantly through the crowd.
"What just happened?" Zhou Mingli asked Jiang Ci.
Jiang Ci then recounted the events that had just transpired at the bookstore to Zhou Mingli, saying, "You must have seen them, right? That group of people with red armbands leaving."
"Hmm." Zhou Mingli's expression was unreadable as he nodded slightly, then added, "Let's not talk about that. We got the tickets, the Red Flag ones."
“A red flag will do… a flashlight ticket!” Jiang Ci hissed, staring at the flashlight ticket in disbelief.
Zhou Mingli laughed, "It came from a cook in the kitchen of a stone quarry. It's not surprising that such a place would have a ticket like this."
These days, people will steal anything. Stone quarries are large and difficult to guard against, so the quarry must order a batch of flashlight tickets and send someone to buy flashlights for nighttime patrols.
"Let's go buy a bicycle first!" Jiang Ci waved her hand.
He exchanged his ticket for one of those bicycles without a crossbar in the middle, which was perfect for Jiang Ci.
Although it wasn't as outrageous as a bicycle costing 170 or 180 yuan like the ones from Forever, it still cost 115 yuan.
After buying the bicycle, Zhou Mingli and Jiang Ci began to buy other things.
The most important thing was grain. Flour coupons were useless, let alone rice; the supply and marketing cooperatives didn't even have any.
Zhou Mingli could only change to other sides.
Zhou Mingli bought fifty jin of various kinds of noodles at once. You can never have too much noodles; you should never think you have too much.
Then came all sorts of other things that needed to be used.
Oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and cooking wine... Zhou Mingli still hasn't cooked the offal that came with the meat he bought from Qian's yesterday...
New washbasin, bowls, chopsticks, soap, towels, shampoo, mosquito net...
Zhou Mingli pulled Jiang Ci along and asked her to see if there was anything else she needed.
Jiang Ci said softly, "Clothes."
Zhou Mingli immediately understood. Jiang Ci took out cloth coupons from her pocket. "We want to buy clothes."
The sales clerk didn't even look at the fabric coupon in her hand, and said, "Where would we get ready-made clothes? You're buying fabric, so you're buying fabric!"
Jiang Ci was stunned for a long time before she realized that in this day and age, clothes were worn for three years, patched up for another three years, and made up for every three years. As long as the clothes were wearable, that was fine. If you wanted new clothes, you could just buy the fabric and make them yourself.
Jiang Ci cautiously mentioned, "What about foreign exchange certificates..."
The salesperson looked completely unfamiliar with the term.
Jiang Ci realized that he had probably misremembered; foreign exchange certificates did not appear at this time.
She said no more, "Then tear the cloth, tear it..."
Jiang Ci couldn't say anything.
Good heavens, who knows how much fabric it takes to make a single set of clothes for one person?!
What's more, it's her!
She had absolutely no idea about this.
Zhou Mingli picked up where Jiang Ci left off, and after carefully glancing at what was written on the cloth ration coupons again, said, "We'll buy three feet of cotton cloth."
Only then did the sales clerk go to get the fabric.
Jiang Ci glanced at it; it was only a little over a meter of cloth. She thought to herself, how could such a small amount be enough to make a set of clothes for one person?
She took the three feet of cloth with a heavy heart, and Zhou Mingli bought needles and thread as well.
The sales clerk glanced at them and asked, "We only have two boxes of face cream left. Would you like them?"
Before Jiang Ci could speak, Zhou Mingli made a decisive decision: "Yes."
Jiang Ci glanced at Zhou Mingli but said nothing.
The salesperson then gave them the two boxes of face cream.
Zhou Mingli then exchanged the flashlight ticket for another one.
It was almost noon when Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli finally managed to stuff piles of things onto their bicycles. They could hang flour sacks on the front bar of the bicycle they borrowed from the brigade leader, and put some kitchen utensils in the basins. They tied up everything that could be tied up.
Neither Jiang Ci nor Zhou Mingli dared to stay in the town for long.
They bought too much stuff, which was very conspicuous. In order to avoid being targeted, Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli each rode a bicycle and rode quickly towards the direction of Shanding Brigade after loading the goods.
Fortunately, they were riding bicycles and were fast. As soon as Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli left Zhongmo Town, several young men, panting heavily, appeared behind them.
"Damn, that's fast!"
"I should have robbed them in town! They have so much stuff!"
"There's no use regretting it now. Remember their faces, huh? Next time they come, make sure to catch them right away!"
The eyes of these young men gleamed with greed.
When Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli returned to Shanding Brigade, the sun was blazing, and both of them were covered in sweat. There was no one on the road or in the fields at that time; most people had gone back for their afternoon nap.
Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli rode their bicycles to their front door.
Zhou Mingli said, "Go pick up the two kids, I'll put the things away."
Jiang Ci: "Okay."
Jiang Ci was walking towards the Yu family's house when she suddenly heard Zhou Mingli shout, "Who are you! What are you doing at my house!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
