Chapter 11 Buying Bowls
Department store in the factory area.
Perhaps some hot item arrived today, because a long queue had formed at the entrance despite it being working hours, stretching all the way to the guesthouse across the street.
"With so many people, it'll be dark by the time we get to the front of the line!"
Despite their reluctance, the two had no choice but to join the end of the queue.
If you don't buy it today, you'll have to wait until the weekend to buy it. You get off work at 6 PM, and the store clerks also get off work at 6 PM.
"Comrade Ruanqiu."
"Luo Qun!"
Unexpectedly, just as I was muttering to myself and walked to the end of the line, the woman in front of me was someone I knew well.
The two were roommates for more than half a year five years ago. Luo Qun was assigned a house and moved away first. This is the first time they have met at the factory in so long.
"You've been assigned a room too!"
"We've submitted no fewer than ten applications, but it's finally our turn."
"You're pretty fast. My husband and I have been married for over half a year and we're still living in a single dormitory..."
As the two chatted, Chen Yun couldn't help but marvel once again at how incredibly lucky she was.
The process of allocating rooms is quite complicated. Even if you are married, if you don't meet the requirements, you can only stay in separate dormitories. It's like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting once a month at the guesthouse for one night...
"I was so busy talking that I forgot to introduce myself. This is my neighbor, Comrade Chen Yun, who works at the health center."
Luo Qun raised an eyebrow, paused for a moment, and then looked directly at Chen Yun with a meaningful expression, as if he had heard of his great name but had never met him in person.
"Hello." Chen Yun smiled generously and extended her hand.
Luo Qun: "Hello Dr. Chen, my husband is Ye Yuanjun, and we work in the same unit..."
Chen Yun immediately understood why Luo Qun had that expression; it seemed Ye Yuanjun had often scolded them at home for being "utterly ignorant."
Judging from Luo Qun's age, he seemed to be much younger than Ye Yuanjun. It was unexpected that the two were actually husband and wife.
"Why are there so many people queuing up today?" Chen Yun's tone changed abruptly. Seeing this, Ruan Qiu quickly stepped forward and hugged Luo Qun's arm affectionately: "Did you get something good, sister-in-law? You mustn't keep it from me."
"New styles of Dacron have arrived in the city, and I happen to have some fabric ration coupons, so I plan to buy some to make a dress for my daughter."
"That's a really good coincidence. I've also been thinking of making a dress for summer."
Ruanqiu was quick-witted and, in just a few words, steered Luo Qun to change the subject elsewhere.
However... Luo Qun finally met an acquaintance, so he couldn't let the opportunity to vent his grievances slip by.
After only a few exchanges, they swam back to their own petty family matters.
At first, both he and his wife worked, and they could save some of their wages and send some money back home.
But ever since Ye Yuanjun insisted on bringing all his elderly relatives and children to live at the factory, life has changed.
Luo Qun's mother-in-law threatened suicide, demanding that he give up his job to Ye Yuanjun and his ex-wife's eldest son.
Because of this, the family was in constant turmoil, and her mother-in-law was always talking badly about her outside. In the eyes of those around her, Luo Qun was probably already a vicious stepmother.
"You know, Ye Yuanjun's eldest son is over twenty years old and still just loafs around at home every day. I'm already being lenient by not making him pay for living expenses... yet he's still eyeing my job. If anyone's going to give money, it'll be to my daughter, not him..."
Luo Qun spoke with great enthusiasm, attracting many people to listen attentively.
This emboldened her even more, and she probably forgot all about the idea that family scandals should not be aired in public. She was eager to take this opportunity to ruin her mother-in-law's reputation.
He spoke too fluently and freely, and inadvertently revealed Ye Yuanjun's unspeakable little thoughts.
However, she still had some reservations, so she pulled Ruanqiu and Chen Yun by the arms and leaned in front of them to say the following words.
Chen Yun was shocked, and even Ruan Qiu looked back at Luo Qun in disbelief.
Ye Yuanjun looked down on the other two doctors in the health center, always feeling that since they had never been on the battlefield and had never made contributions to the country, why should they receive the same salary as him?
But... despite not liking him, Ye Yuanjun was actually thinking of arranging a blind date between his eldest son and Chen Yun!
"Dr. Chen, please don't believe Ye Yuanjun's nonsense. I was fooled by him back then... I only found out after we got married that his eldest son with his ex-wife was a few years younger than me. There's not a single good person in his family."
In short, I wasn't attracted to Chen Yun herself, but I was drawn to her salary...
"Shameless!" Ruanqiu cursed coldly.
Chen Yun's expression was also unpleasant. It seemed that Ye Yuanjun thought she was easy to bully!
“I thought we couldn’t let such a good person as Dr. Chen be cheated by that bastard Ye Yuanjun. The news of you helping Master Niu get treatment has spread throughout our post office…”
Luo Qun's glance just now was out of surprise at Chen Yun's youth and beauty, which was completely unlike the gloomy and lifeless look that Ye Yuanjun had described.
In addition, Xiao Xu's extensive praise of Chen Yun's high medical ethics at the post office prompted Luo Qun to offer a few words of advice.
"That bastard Ye Yuanjun even wants to find a matchmaker for the director of the health center. I think he's just delusional."
"Thank you for reminding me, Sister Luo. I will definitely be careful," Chen Yun said gratefully.
"No need to thank me. It's not easy for a woman like you to work so far from home. There are all kinds of birds in a big forest, so be careful..." Luo Qun stared blankly at the distant mountains, then sighed softly, "One wrong step leads to another, and there's no turning back in this life."
That statement... probably refers to herself.
Ruanqiu sighed, patted Luo Qun on the shoulder, and said no more.
Chen Yun silently made a mental note about Ye Yuanjun.
I initially thought he was just a bit foul-mouthed and didn't have any bad intentions, but I never imagined he was full of tricks.
"You guys can take your time queuing, I'm not buying anything..."
Perhaps the words just now reminded Luo Qun of many sad things. After sighing, he stepped out of the group, waved to the two of them, and left.
"You must take what Comrade Luo says to heart. Let me tell you about last year..."
The saying "art comes from life" is perfectly suited to the melodramatic story that Ruanqiu is currently talking about.
After being rejected by a woman, the man spread rumors that the two were dating, scaring away all of her suitors.
Later, he deliberately found an opportunity to let the girl's roommate see the two of them arguing in the dormitory.
Unable to bear the gossip, the woman eventually married the man, a classic case of a toad eating swan meat.
"Don't take this lightly!"
Chen Yun nodded solemnly.
Ruanqiu's gaze fell on Chen Yun's two dark braids on her shoulders, and she wondered whether she should tell Gao Ming about this.
Just then, Chen Yun's attention was drawn to the conversation between two people in the line ahead.
A few days ago, someone went to the mountains to pick mushrooms and was caught and taken to the factory by people from the neighboring Huangniba Brigade. The notice criticizing them was just posted at the gate this morning.
"The mountains are so big, do you think everything in them belongs to their Yellow Mud Brigade?"
Upon hearing this, Ruanqiu immediately moved closer to the two of them, sharing their grievances.
"They're just forcing us to pay for it." The young woman pouted and gestured with her chin toward the baskets placed by the store entrance: "See? They even brought them to the factory to sell."
"How dare they still sell it in front of a store?"
A towel was draped over the basket, and Chen Yun could see through the gap that it contained some mushrooms and what appeared to be quite a few eggs.
"They wouldn't dare to do it openly, but no one would dare to object if you sold it," the young woman scoffed. "Who told our factory to have a son-in-law from the Yellow Mud Brigade..."
The young woman's expression was sarcastic and even the last "ne" was laced with disdain.
Chen Yun was confused, but Ruan Qiu seemed to suddenly understand what was going on. She turned her back and blinked her eyes frantically.
"It's our turn, let's go in quickly."
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chen Yun and Ruan Qiu squeezed through the crack in the door and headed straight for the second floor.
The fabric counter on the first floor was packed with people, while the appliance and pot and pan section on the second floor was not crowded at all.
The only waiter was busy introducing the radio.
The rough porcelain bowls on the shelf were stacked into a dusty tower, with blue wavy patterns on the rims, black glaze, and many visible black spots.
The thick layer of ash on the bowl shows that porcelain bowls were not very popular on the dining tables of ordinary families.
In contrast, the dazzling array of enamel basins on the adjacent shelf was much brighter, with a wide variety of colors, styles, and sizes.
Ruan Qiu went straight to the enamelware counter, standing on tiptoe and trying to pick out a few nice and durable styles.
Chen Yun took out the tickets she had exchanged from her pocket.
Ten rough porcelain bowl tickets of varying sizes, fourteen industrial tickets, and a purchase quota.
After tallying up the tickets, I compared them with the required amount of money and tickets on the shelf and quickly came to a conclusion.
"Buy the important things first, and exchange the water bottle and other things for tickets later."
"I want to buy an iron pot first, then find a carpenter to make a bamboo steamer for cooking rice, and replace the rest with enamel basins."
Chen Yun spent 15 yuan on the most valuable purchase quota, plus the eight industrial tickets needed to buy the iron pot, the actual value of which almost exceeded that of the black market.
On his way back, Li Huguo cursed the people who were raising prices, saying it was a full eight yuan more expensive than when he changed his clothes last month.
Later, Ruanqiu revealed the secret in a single sentence.
They only charged seven yuan because of Gao Ming's reputation; fifteen yuan is actually the real going rate.
"What would you two like to buy? I'll take what you like and you can choose at your leisure."
"Let's take a look at that peony pot, and also that big red flower one..."
Anyway, there was no one on the second floor at this time, and the sales clerk was very enthusiastic, bringing out many styles and placing them on the counter for the two of them to look at at their leisure.
"Chen Yun, you can bring your lunch to the health center if you choose a day with a lid."
Ruanqiu took a fancy to an enamel mug with the words "[Grasp Revolution and Promote Production]" printed on it and tried her best to sell it to Chen Yun.
Chen Yun quickly waved his hand.
"I like this blue one; it's simpler."
"Red looks better, it's so festive."
"Then you buy red and I'll buy blue."
I picked it up and held it up to the light, turning it around three times, trying my best to select one without any enamel leaks from among the many enamel mugs.
Chen Yun was carefully selecting items and didn't even notice the sales clerk's eyes light up as she turned around and pulled out a stack of styles from under the counter.
"These are models from the year before last. Although the designs aren't that new, you can buy two with one industrial invoice."
The biggest advantage of working in a store is that you can buy the store's inventory at very low prices.
For example, this stack of enamel bowls that the salesperson brought out.
The stock was just found in the warehouse the day before yesterday. If the salesperson hadn't said it was a style from two years ago, who would have recognized it?
The reason for this is that bowls have become a default employee benefit within stores.
The sales staff didn't put the goods on the shelves at all; they said they would only put them on the shelves tomorrow after the internal purchases were completed after get off work today.
Chen Yun's subconscious reaction was... Could this person know Master Niu again?
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