Qiao Baozhu knew nothing about Bai Hongmei's affairs because she was shopping in the city at the time.
"Sister Sun!"
Qiao Baozhu came to the supply and marketing cooperative with a big smile on her face. When Sun Jihong saw Qiao Baozhu, her eyes lit up and she smiled so hard that her teeth were showing.
"Baozhu! Come quickly, come quickly, I have left you some good cloth."
Qiao Baozhu felt warm in her heart and put the bag in her hand on the counter.
"Sister Sun, this is pickled meat and spicy meat sauce. Take it home and let the children taste it."
Sun Jihong looked at the rather large triangle bag, and the smile in her eyes deepened.
"I feel bad for always eating your food."
As she spoke, Sun Jihong took the bag off the counter and put it in the cabinet under the counter. She took the opportunity to open the bag and saw two jars of meat sauce and four whole pieces of pickled meat inside.
By the way, he took out the good materials reserved for Qiao Baozhu from under the cabinet.
"This is the new Dacron, one piece is goose yellow and the other is gouache. These two pieces of material are in great demand, and it's rare to find such fresh colors."
Qiao Baozhu looked at the two pieces of Dacron cloth in front of her and fiddled with them in her hands with joy.
In fact, Dacron material is not as comfortable as pure cotton, but it is popular because of its rarity and high price.
"Thank you, Sister Sun. I really like it."
In this era, it is rare to come across such brightly colored materials. Qiao Baozhu has no plans to make clothes with it for the time being, but she can keep it. Even if she doesn't wear it herself in the future, it will be very useful to give it to others as a favor.
"I knew you liked it."
Seeing Qiao Baozhu's delighted expression, Sun Jihong said embarrassedly, "This batch of Dacron doesn't need industrial tickets, but the price is expensive. If you really like it, keep a piece. I can sell the rest."
No industrial tickets?
No industrial tickets means that the production of Dacron has been liberalized. Industrial tickets are hard to come by for ordinary people, and any hard-to-find materials will have an additional leverage on top of the high price.
The reopening of Dacron production indicates that the economy has begun to slowly recover.
But it is only the end of 1975, and the policy of comprehensive liberalization was not implemented until 1978.
Yes, the implementation of each policy is not decided suddenly by the decision-makers.
Before that, the market must have been opened in certain areas.
"This beautiful Dacron, is it from the south? I've never seen such a fresh color before."
Qiao Baozhu touched the material and pretended to ask questions unintentionally.
"Liaoning Province Textile Factory, I heard that there will be a batch coming from the provincial capital next month."
Sun Jihong stared at the material in Qiao Baozhu's hand with interest, and sighed: "A Dacron shirt in the department store costs 14 yuan, and this piece of material only costs eight yuan. Make a red one and wear it for many years."
Qiao Baozhu felt something was wrong with her tone, so she looked up at Sun Jihong and asked curiously, "Sister Sun, didn't you do it?"
Sun Jihong forced a smile and said, "I have a lot of clothes at home, so I didn't keep this batch of Dacron."
Qiao Baozhu knew Sun Jihong well. She was always determined to be the best. She praised this batch of materials so well, how could she not keep it for herself?
"Sister Sun, is there something wrong at home? I treat you as my own sister, so don't hide anything from me."
Sun Jihong was strong-willed, and the news of her family's misfortune had long been spread everywhere. Even if she had intended to hide it from Qiao Baozhu, Qiao Baozhu would have known it anyway if she had gone out to inquire.
It would be better to tell her myself than for Qiao Baozhu to hear it from outsiders.
Sun Jihong thought about it, smiled bitterly and told her story.
It turned out that Sun Jihong's mother-in-law had colon cancer, which was not a terminal illness and could be cured with surgery.
The difficulty lies in the fact that not only did this operation use up all the family savings, but Sun Jihong's husband also had to borrow some money from his workplace.
"We have a debt to pay off, so I don't dare spend money recklessly. The clothes I made before are enough for me to wear for several years."
Qiao Baozhu showed sympathy and patted the back of Sun Jihong's hand: "Sister Sun, you should have sent me a message for such a big thing. Is Auntie in the hospital or at home now? I'll go over to see her during the lunch break."
Sun Jihong raised her head in surprise and met Qiao Baozhu's clear and sincere eyes. Her nose felt sore and tears rolled down.
“Precious Orb…”
She was selling cloth at the supply and marketing cooperative, and had some power in her hands, so she could help others easily. Therefore, she was usually friendly and even flattering, but it was just because she wanted to take advantage of her.
When Sun Jihong was happy, she would give him some defective cloth. When she was unhappy, she would make trouble with him.
Her mother-in-law got cancer, and many people came to see her make fun of her. Colleagues who didn't get along well with her dared to openly say that it was Sun Jihong who was not a good person and had brought trouble to her mother-in-law.
Unexpectedly, Qiao Baozhu actually proposed to visit her mother-in-law. Regardless of whether she really wanted to go or was just being polite, in front of her colleagues, Sun Jihong suddenly felt supported by someone.
"Sister Sun, please don't cry. My eye sockets are shallow and I can't see the tears."
Qiao Baozhu saw Sun Jihong lowering her head and wiping away tears, and she felt sad. She remembered that in her previous life, her adoptive father first had esophageal cancer and concealed his condition from her, and then got stomach cancer, and was tortured by the disease and was unrecognizable.
She was filled with grief and shed a few tears.
At this time, someone came to buy cloth, and Sun Jihong wiped away her tears and went to entertain the guest.
While the customer was looking at the cloth, Qiao Baozhu paid for the two pieces of Dacron cloth. When Sun Jihong returned to the counter with the receipt to get the cloth, her mood had returned to normal.
He wrapped the two pieces of cloth and handed them to Qiao Baozhu with a smile: "My mother-in-law has been discharged from the hospital and is recuperating at home. She is still in good health now. When I have rested for a while, I will invite you to come to my house to play."
Qiao Baozhu didn't say anything, just nodded, took the cloth and turned away without even looking back.
Sun Jihong received a few more customers, and soon it was eleven o'clock in the morning. Hu Yue, a female colleague at the counter, came over with two lunch boxes in her hands.
"Sister Sun, I brought your lunch box for you."
As he spoke, Hu Yue placed a half-used lunch box on the counter. Sun Jihong took the lunch box with a gloomy face and unhappily.
He glanced at his colleagues who were coming in from the back door one after another with a stern look on his face, and said in a tone that would not tolerate rejection: "Thank you, but don't give it to me next time. I'll go to the boiler room to get it myself."
Hu Yue was new here and thought Sun Jihong was being polite to her. She sucked on her chopsticks and smiled, "Sister Sun, you don't have to be polite to me. When I got the food, I brought it back for you."
"If I say no, then no! Don't you understand me?"
Sun Jihong suddenly turned hostile, and Hu Yue was so frightened that she didn't know what to do. She hummed in grievance, "Well, okay."
Hu Yue took the lunch box, pouted and moved closer to Sun Jihong with a wronged look.
A fat woman in her forties or even fifties next to her called out to Hu Yue, "Little Hu Yue, Aunt Fei brought some fish today. Come over here and try my cooking."
Hu Yue ran over with the lunch box in her hand.
When Sun Jihong saw that her young disciple Hu Yue just ran to her old rival's house to eat happily, her already unhappy mood became even colder.
What made her even more heartbroken was that a group of colleagues who were having dinner together were gossiping about her as if they were the only ones around.
"Xiao Hu Yue, your master is having a hard time right now, why are you messing with her?"
"Woo woo, Aunt Fei, I really didn't offend the master. It was the master who asked me to bring her lunch boxes every day, and she got angry again today."
"Alas, her family used to live a good life and brought delicious food every day, so she asked you to take the lunch box to show off. Now her husband's family is not doing well, and she eats boiled potatoes every day. How can she have the nerve to ask you to take the lunch box?"
"Alas, some regular customers heard that something happened in her family, so they stopped buying cloth from her. They were afraid that they would be unlucky and get cancer or something. Tsk tsk tsk tsk, little Hu Yue, you're going to have a hard time in the future."
Sun Jihong was so furious when she heard this that she didn't even realize the chopsticks in her hand were bent.
No wonder her regular customers always go to Fei Xia to buy cloth recently?
It turns out that Fei Xia was the one behind all this!
"Aunt Fei, what should I do?"
Sun Jihong turned her head and saw her apprentice Hu Yue leaning against Fei Xia, humming twice in a fake manner.
Seeing Sun Jihong looking at her, Hu Yue's face showed no sign of panic or fear. Instead, she straightened her back, raised her head, and deliberately sighed loudly.
"I'm just unlucky. I didn't get a good master. If I had followed Aunt Fei, I would definitely have learned better than I do now."
After seeing this scene, what else did Sun Jihong not understand?
The apprentice she had devoted her life to turned to her rival.
Fei Xia and Hu Yue stared at Sun Jihong, waiting for her to get angry and make a scene.
Unexpectedly, Sun Jihong smiled faintly: "Xiao Huyue, if you want to change your master, then go with Sister Fei."
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