The province, city, county, and commune all provided a thick kraft paper bag.
Wenxi first looked at the reward given by the province, which included a notebook, a fountain pen, five hundred yuan, meat coupons, grain coupons, sugar coupons, cloth coupons, and industrial coupons.
The city's reward is relatively less than that of the province, but it includes standard items such as notebooks and pens, four hundred yuan, and some vouchers.
Apart from the three hundred yuan in cash, the county had almost everything else.
It's true that each level pays less than the last, but it's still pretty good, because it's equivalent to one or two years' income for an ordinary worker, and the total amount added up is equivalent to one or two years' total income for an urban family.
Afterwards, Wenxi began to check the rewards given by the army, which included 500 yuan and some tickets valid nationwide with no expiration date.
The reward from the Public Security Bureau was much more practical: a five-pound piece of pork belly, two large, fat pig's trotters, a brand-new tea mug with the words "Serve the People" engraved on it, a bicycle ticket, a watch ticket, and a reward of two hundred yuan.
Because Secretary Li arrived suddenly and did not notify Captain Qian in advance, Captain Qian was unaware of these matters. As soon as Secretary Li and his team arrived, they held an awards ceremony, and Captain Qian did not have time to prepare an award for Wen Xi, nor did he know if there would be any subsequent awards.
After reading it, Wen Xi put the money and items into the system warehouse and then took the ticket to Shen Jiaojiao's room. She called Jiang Yue over, and the three of them sat on Shen Jiaojiao's bed.
Wen Xi placed a stack of tickets on Shen Jiaojiao's quilt and said, "Jiaojiao, Xiaoyue, see what tickets you need. I plan to take the rest of the tickets to Captain Qian to exchange for some rice."
Wenxi didn't take out the nationwide general-use tickets because they didn't have any date restrictions. She only took out ordinary tickets with date restrictions, which she didn't need. She might as well sell them with the team!
Seeing Jiang Yue's hesitation, Wen Xi asked in confusion, "Xiao Yue, what's wrong? Don't you have the tickets you want?"
Jiang Yue looked troubled. "Xiao Xi, you know, my family only gave me thirty yuan when I went to the countryside. If it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't even have a chance to eat."
“Didn’t we agree to pay off the debt with our work? So you didn’t rely on us, but on the fruits of your labor.” Wen Xi patted Jiang Yue’s shoulder, signaling her not to overthink it. If she got stuck in a rut, the relationship between the three of them would suffer. “We’ve only been here a short time and haven’t fully integrated into the local environment yet. Let’s see if we can find a way to make money after a while.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yue's eyes visibly lit up, and she nodded, but she didn't take the ticket because she was currently eating and drinking with Wen Xi and didn't want anything else.
Wenxi took out cloth coupons, sugar coupons, and pastry coupons and stuffed them into Jiang Yue's hand. "When we have money, we can buy some cloth, make ourselves a couple of outfits, and buy some sugar and pastries to keep on hand so we can have something to eat when we're hungry. Nobody likes us, so we'll like ourselves, treat ourselves well, and make sure we have no regrets in our lives."
"Xiaoxi, thank you." Jiang Yue said gratefully, clutching the ticket.
She has no right to have made such a good friend.
Shen Jiaojiao also took cloth coupons, sugar coupons, and pastry coupons, because she didn't really need the other coupons and there was no point in keeping them. They ate meat for two out of their three meals a day, so there was no need to go to the state-run restaurant for any special treats. Besides, the chefs at the state-run restaurant weren't as good as Wenxi's!
After Shen Jiaojiao got her tickets, Wen Xi went back to her room.
The next morning, Wenxi took the coupons to the brigade headquarters to find Captain Qian. "Captain Qian, these coupons are rewards given to me by the province and the city. I took some that I could use. Can I exchange the rest for rice?"
"Wenxi, are you really planning to use these tickets to exchange for rice?" Captain Qian looked at the tickets and was extremely excited. There were even meat tickets, bicycle tickets, and watch tickets among them. These tickets were very rare, and they could be exchanged for a lot of money, especially the bicycle tickets and watch tickets.
Wen Xi nodded seriously.
Captain Qian was overjoyed. "Okay, then I'll discuss with the accountant how much rice these coupons can be exchanged for, and then arrange for someone to deliver the rice to you."
"Captain Qian, I don't want all rice. I want half rice and half whole grains," Wen Xi said. If it were all rice, it wouldn't be enough to eat, so it would be better to eat it with whole grains.
Captain Qian nodded, "Wenxi, don't worry, I will make sure everything is arranged properly for you."
Once the matter was settled, Wenxi went back. From afar, she could see busy figures in the rice paddies. Wenxi quickly left the brigade headquarters because she was too hated for not having to work. After what happened yesterday, no one dared to do anything, but they couldn't stop people from talking about her behind her back. There are plenty of people in this world who will eat their food and then curse their mother.
Then, as it was getting dark, Captain Qian and the accountant personally delivered the grain to Wenxi: 400 jin of rice, 100 jin of flour, 300 jin of sweet potatoes, and 200 jin of cornmeal.
This place is neither in the north nor the south, but in the central region. The climate is suitable and the temperature is constant. Some people like to eat rice, while others like to eat noodles. Both rice and wheat can be grown, but the yield is not very high. Eating only rice and noodles is not enough to fill one's stomach, so coarse grains are needed to fill one's stomach.
Coarse grains include corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. Sweet potatoes and potatoes can be eaten directly by steaming, while corn needs to be ground into cornmeal, rather than being cooked into corn porridge like in Northeast China.
Therefore, Wenxi had no objection to Captain Qian's unauthorized pairing.
Captain Qian and the accountant carried the grain into the house. After everyone left, Wenxi divided the grain into four portions: one for the kitchen and one for each of the three of them in their rooms. This way, when she wasn't home, she wouldn't have to worry about Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue not being able to cook, nor would she worry that Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue would secretly send the grain home.
They're not stupid; they wouldn't mistreat themselves to please those unworthy people in their family.
Time passed day by day, and the spring plowing season was fast approaching. However, before the spring plowing, Zhao Jianguo came and called Wen Xi to go to Jin Changfeng's house.
Because someone had been taking care of Jin Changfeng, Wen Xi, who lived next door, never came to see him, for fear of being retaliated against by Zhu Ying.
Zhu Ying's family is powerful and influential; crushing her would be as easy as crushing an ant. If it weren't for his fear of Zhu Ying and her family, Jin Changfeng would never have become sworn siblings with Wen Xi.
Who would want to be siblings with someone they like? He wants to be husband and wife, and he wants to work towards that goal. One day, he wants to be in a high position so that he won't have to worry about anyone's existence.
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