Chapter 32 Tea sold at a sky-high price
Lin Sanqi had been wandering around in the grove for more than an hour and was almost familiar with the situation.
In fact, there are all kinds of goods in the pigeon market, even the most precious food is available in large quantities. Of course, it is mainly coarse grains, and many of them are sold by nearby farmers.
A basket of sweet potatoes, a small pile of potatoes, and a small bag of sorghum rice can all be sold.
It is not appropriate to say that it is selling. It should be said that it is mainly bartering. In Pigeon City, you can't buy too many things with money. It seems that money is definitely not the No. 1 in this era, and various bills are YYDS.
Lin Sanqi has an idea of the prices. Rice and flour are sold at 5 yuan per catty, and if only cash is accepted, it will definitely be a flash sale.
5 yuan per pound of rice is actually a shocking price.
Ordinary readers simply cannot understand how terrible the polarization is when rice costs 5 yuan per pound in an era when the monthly salary is only 30 or 40 yuan.
In fact, there are many other things that are exaggerated, such as eggs.
Eggs can be purchased at supply and marketing cooperatives or agricultural and sideline stores with coupons, at 42 cents per pound.
But there are almost no eggs in the market, even if there is a small supply.
The price of an egg has increased from 4 cents to 30 cents, and even 50 cents. And that's just one egg, not a pound.
It was not until 1963 that the situation recovered and black market prices began to slowly decline.
Of course, when ordinary people buy food, they buy coarse grains. The rice and flour on the black market are for the rich.
Don’t think that there were no rich people in 1959. In fact, there were still quite a lot of rich people, so there was no need to worry about no one buying.
Like the Lou family in "Love in the Courtyard", they can get dividends every year after the public-private partnership, and the Lou family has millions in cash on hand.
There were still many such old capitalists in 1959, but it would take a few more years for them to truly become paupers.
Seeing Lin Sanqi wandering in the woods and not looking like a policeman, many people in the black market felt relieved.
The middle-aged man who was chatting with Lin Sanqi about rice prices was probably idle, so he asked:
"Comrade, are you here in the Pigeon Market to buy or sell something?"
Lin Sanqi thought that he must give something away, so he patted the PLA green envelope and said:
"I'm here to sell something too. My family can't make ends meet, so I'm here to sell some tea."
"tea???"
"What kind of tea? Black tea or green tea?"
"What level? Take it out and let us see!"
As soon as Lin Sanqi finished speaking, a group of people gathered around him, looking at his backpack greedily.
Lin Sanqi swallowed. He had no idea tea was so popular in this day and age. Why did all these people's eyes look so green?
Old Beijingers love drinking tea, especially jasmine tea.
Probably because the water quality in Peking was poor, most of the springs were bitter, and there was too little sweet water like that from Yuquan Mountain, so tea had to be used to cover up the bitterness.
However, due to natural disasters in the past two years, tea production has dropped sharply.
Not to mention tea, even high-quality tea leaves are not available, and the tea tickets are kept until they expire.
Ordinary poor families can still tolerate it, but intellectuals, old capitalists, and Manchu loyalists can’t stand it and are crazy about tea.
When Lin Sanqi heard that tea was so popular, he was delighted.
The seller had to show off his goods, so he quickly took out a paper package from his front bag, opened it, and revealed the dark green tea leaves and light yellow dried jasmine flowers inside.
The unique fragrance of green tea and jasmine immediately emanated, making the onlookers drool.
"Good tea, absolutely good tea."
"Yes, even if this tea can't reach the special grade, it is at least the first grade."
"Yes, yes, it's very rare nowadays. Even Zhang Yiyuan can't buy jasmine tea of such good quality."
"Baby~~~"
Lin Sanqi was complaining in his heart, thinking that this tea was bought from a small supermarket, and a pound cost only a few dozen yuan. As for why it looks so good, maybe it was made with some technology and hard work?
A middle-aged man couldn't help but ask first:
"Comrade, how are you selling this jasmine tea? Are you planning to exchange it for something?"
Lin Sanqi collected the tea leaves, put them in his hands, and said to the people around him:
"I don't exchange things, I only sell for money. Did you hear me? I only want RMB!"
The middle-aged man immediately responded, "Really? Just money? Great, comrade, I'll give you 10 yuan and the tea bag will be mine."
Before Lin Sanqi could speak, someone next to him said:
"Hey, you're ripping me off! You're only paying 10 yuan for such good tea? Go to a tea shop and ask, they'll charge more than 10 yuan for a pound of good tea. Comrade, I'll give you 15 yuan, sell it to me!"
"15 yuan, why don't you just go and grab it? I'll give you 20 yuan!"
"I'm 25..."
Lin Sanqi was stunned when he heard this. As a student at the New World University, he had been loyal to Fat House Happy Water all his life and had no love for tea. He simply could not appreciate the importance of tea to tea lovers.
The price continued to rise, and the onlookers spontaneously formed a small auction.
Until finally an old man made the final decision.
The old man was wearing a white silk coat and black bell-bottom trousers. He was either an old capitalist or a local rich man and had no shortage of money.
"All of you get out of here! I've bought this great tea. 50 yuan, plus 5 kilograms of food coupons. This is all I have. If anyone can afford a higher price, take it. If you can't, I'll take it!"
The scene was quiet.
I don’t know whether it was because the old man offered a sky-high price or because everyone was afraid of his reputation, but no one else made a bid at the scene.
Seeing that no one was bidding, the old man chuckled, clasped his fists towards everyone, and then handed the money and tickets to Lin Sanqi:
"Comrade, are you satisfied with this price?"
Lin Sanqi's heart was already jumping with joy.
Satisfied, nothing could be more satisfying than this. A pound of tea in a small supermarket is sold at a sky-high price of 50 yuan, and there are 5 pounds of precious food coupons. What else can I not be satisfied with?
Lin Sanqi took the cash and food coupons, then handed the tea to the old silk man with both hands.
"Old man, please take it!"
The old man opened the paper package and smelled it, and was delighted: "Good, good, good tea. I haven't tasted such good jasmine tea in many years."
When the onlookers saw that the tea was sold, they sighed and left.
Lin Sanqi was also ready to go home happily. It was more than ten miles away and it would take another two hours to get home.
Suddenly, the silk old man who was buying tea called out to Lin Sanqi...
(End of this chapter)
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