When Wu Meili mentioned the coal tickets, Qiao Baozhu remembered something.
In rural areas, many families don't burn coal at all. First of all, there is firewood everywhere in the countryside. Dry branches and leaves are firewood, dry reeds are firewood, and the straw of various crops is also firewood. Just pick up some from the fields and it would be enough to last for a year.
Some production teams with better performance would issue welfare tickets after selling grain, so that members could buy things, such as coal tickets, cake tickets, and rubber shoe tickets.
The winter in Heilongjiang Province is long. It starts snowing in early November and lasts until the end of March of the following year.
Some families who live well will install a stove in the house to keep warm after winter.
We usually use wood to make fire, but wood has a disadvantage: it burns very quickly and will go out in the second half of the night if no one adds firewood.
It would be much better if you have coal. Break the coal into pieces, sprinkle some water on it to wet it, and put it into the stove before going to bed. The fire will last until three or four o'clock in the morning of the next day.
Coal is so good, why don’t farmers use it?
"One hundred kilograms of coal costs one dollar and five cents. In our previous production team, we earned ten work points to get ten cents. Wouldn't it be better if I used that dollar to buy a piece of flowered cloth to make a new dress for my daughter?"
Speaking of her children, Wu Meili sighed: "Lao Jiang is the only one in my family who earns money. Although he is a company commander, he still gets a salary of level 23. It's 52 yuan a month, minus 14 yuan for food, which leaves only 38 yuan."
With thirty-eight yuan a month, he not only had to feed four children, but also had to deal with relatives who often came to ask for money.
"Don't be ridiculous, I've worn this pair of cotton trousers for seven or eight years and they're no longer warm. I want to take apart my daughter's cotton trousers and stuff the old cotton into mine so they can last another year. I want to make a new pair of cotton trousers for my daughter and a new coat for my son. My son hasn't worn new clothes for two or three years and I feel so sorry for him."
Therefore, Wu Meili cherished this opportunity to sew shoe soles very much. As long as she earned money, she could make new cotton trousers for the children.
"I didn't understand before. After hearing that I could join the army, the villagers envied me so much and said that my good life was coming. After moving to the family compound, I didn't feel that my life was much better. Don't I still have to work, farm, take care of the children and cook?"
Later, Wu Meili discovered that after joining the army, she was able to eat commercial grain. There are grain and oil certificates, non-staple food books, coal purchase certificates, and various other tickets.
"It's better to eat commercial grain. You can buy anything with the food coupons. I don't understand why people in the city have to spend money to buy food coupons when they have all kinds of food coupons?"
Wu Meili looked puzzled; she had been thinking about this matter for a long time. She asked her husband about it, but he didn't say anything. He just warned her to stop saying such stupid things in the future.
She knew that she was uneducated and would always make a fool of herself, so she didn't dare to ask Zhang Cuilian, Ji Hehua and others. Seeing that Qiao Baozhu had a good temper and gave her fruit to eat, Wu Meili felt that she did not look down on her, so she asked boldly.
"Eating commercial grain has its advantages, but the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, there is not enough of all kinds of supplies."
Qiao Baozhu did not look down on Wu Meili and patiently explained to her.
"Take coal tickets for example. People in the city need coal for cooking and heating, but the supply on the coal tickets is not enough. My mother's family has a city resident coal purchase certificate, and a new one is issued at the beginning of each year."
"It contains all the coal tickets for the four seasons and the whole year. In spring, summer and autumn, adults are supplied with 80 kilograms of coal each season. Since I am a minor, I only get half of that. In winter, it is 90 kilograms, and children are given 45 kilograms."
Wu Meili opened her mouth, counted on her fingers, and looked at Qiao Baozhu with a puzzled look.
"There's less than a ton of coal in a year, which is not enough for cooking and heating."
Of course it’s not enough!
Qiao Baozhu still remembers that when she was a child, she would sit on the kang and wrap herself in a quilt to do her homework after school.
It was too cold in the room, and my fingers were so frozen that I couldn't use them. After writing for a while, I had to put my pen in my arms to warm it up, otherwise the pen would be too frozen to write.
At that time, she wanted to stay in school every day and not go home, because the school had central heating, the radiator was burning hot, and the classroom was very warm.
But no matter how cold it was at home, Qiao Baozhu never got frostbite. Because she always sleeps on a warm kang, with hot water bottles wrapped around her feet, chest and back.
Every morning in the cold winter, her adoptive parents would reheat the cold stove before she woke up.
Her adoptive parents really tried their best to raise her.
"It's because I don't have enough coal coupons that I want to collect more. So I can send more coal to my parents."
When Wu Meili heard that Qiao Baozhu bought coal tickets for her parents, she blurted out without thinking: "You want to buy for your parents? You just got married and you're moving things to your parents' home. That's not good."
After saying this, Wu Meili realized that she had said the wrong thing again.
He stuck out his tongue angrily: "Look at me, I said the wrong thing again."
Even if there were rumors that she used Shen Xiao's salary to subsidize her mother's family, Qiao Baozhu didn't care.
In this life, she wanted to be high-profile and respect her adoptive parents as much as they loved her.
"It's okay. I know you don't mean what you say. I'm spending my own salary and honoring my own parents. I'm happy to do so. Let others say whatever they want."
Wu Meili envied Qiao Baozhu's free and easy attitude. Only at this moment did she truly feel how happy it was to make money. It’s so nice to be able to buy things for the people you care about at will.
"Sister Baozhu, I want to learn from you. I can't always be busy around the stove. I need to make more money so I can buy whatever I want like you."
Wu Meili herself didn't realize that from this moment on, Qiao Baozhu became the direction of her life. It allowed her to follow Qiao Baozhu's footsteps unswervingly and live her own colorful and confident life.
She sewed the soles for a while at Qiao Baozhu's place. Seeing that it was time to cook, she left the half-finished soles with Qiao Baozhu and went home to cook.
When Wu Meili came to see Qiao Baozhu in the afternoon, she brought a lot of money.
"Here are 88 coal tickets. Check to see if any of them are expired. If any of them are usable, you can take them."
Qiao Baozhu knew that Wu Meili had saved a lot of coal coupons, but she didn't expect that she had saved as many as 88 of them.
When I took them in my hands, I saw that most of them were 10 kg, 20 kg and 50 kg. There were only five 100-kilogram coal tickets, and three 300-kilogram coal tickets.
Qiao Baozhu pulled out a half-new abacus from under the kang cabinet.
Wu Meili watched her flipping the coal tickets with her left hand while deftly picking up the abacus with her right hand. After a while of crackling, Qiao Baozhu raised her head and said, "Six thousand seven hundred and eight, Sister Wu, you actually saved up three tons of coal tickets!"
"Tell me, how much do these cost in total?"
Wu Meili's eyes sparkled as she looked at Qiao Baozhu with admiration, "You can also use an abacus? Baozhu, are you an accountant?"
"I'm not an accountant. My junior high school math teacher taught me how to use an abacus. Look, my name is engraved on my abacus."
Qiao Baozhu pushed her abacus and said, "If you want to learn, I can teach you. But first, tell me, how much are you going to charge for three tons of coal tickets?"
Wu Meili stroked Qiao Baozhu's abacus with curious eyes and said heartlessly: "I don't understand either. Outside, 100 kilograms of coal tickets are exchanged for 10 eggs. You can calculate the money according to your own judgment."
Qiao Baozhu was shocked. 10 eggs for 100 kilograms of coal coupons?
Ticket scalpers are such a rip-off!
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