Ten kilograms of cotton, fifteen meters of cotton cloth, some needles and thread, some oil for my mother, pencils, erasers and notebooks for my eldest and second sons, hair flowers for my two daughters, a Pechoin bracelet for my wife, and a gift to Daqianmen, and a cold but heavy lunch box.
Things were scattered all over the table. Everyone got their own gift and was coaxed back to sleep by the man of the house, feeling satisfied. In the end, only Lin Guoqing and Shen Chunhua were left in the main room.
While Lin Guoqing was distributing gifts, Chen Chunhua hurried to finish the work at hand and brought out a small plate of fried fish specially reserved for men.
"Wow, the food at home tonight is pretty good! If I had known, I wouldn't have gone to the state-owned restaurant."
Lin Guoqing smiled frivolously and reached out to take something from the plate, but Chen Chunhua slapped him away, "Wash your hands!"
After washing her hands, Chen Chunhua had just put away her lunch box and was packing up the cotton cloth. She dragged the heavy bag of cotton to the corner of the room, planning to take it to the brigade tomorrow to have a master help her play it.
"Why didn't you buy something for yourself?" Chen Chunhua looked for a long time but didn't see anything belonging to Lin Guoqing. Lin Guoqing was also very puzzled.
"What can I buy? I don't want to go to school and I don't want to eat candy. I'm a grown man with thick skin and thick flesh and I don't need to dress up. I don't smoke or drink. What can I buy for myself?"
Chen Chunhua rolled her eyes and pointed at his rubber shoes that allowed him to see all five toes equally and said,
"I just patched your shoes the day before yesterday, and they're broken again today. They can't be patched anymore. If you spend a dollar on a pair of rubber shoes, they'll at least last you a year or two!"
"One yuan for a pair of rubber shoes is a thing of the past. Now the supply and marketing cooperatives are charging one yuan and eighty for a pair. That's enough to buy 10 kilograms of rice..." Lin Guoqing sighed, "Didn't you say you'd make me a pair of shoes last time?"
"You're wearing cloth shoes in the middle of winter? Aren't we all making money? How can we not afford a pair of shoes?"
"Hey, wife, look at this Pechoin. The clerk said that if you apply it on your face after washing it before going to bed every day, your face will be smooth and tender!" Seeing that he was about to be scolded, Lin Guoqing quickly picked up the box of Pechoin on the table and offered it as a gift.
"I originally wanted to buy you some vanishing cream. It's said to be better, but you have to bring your own bottle. Once you finish this box of Pechoin, I'll buy you another one, okay~"
Lin Guoqing's tone changed at the end of his speech, and Chen Chunhua slapped him on the arm.
Chen Chunhua got angry just looking at him. This man was like this all his life until his death. He was lavish in buying things for his children, but when it came to herself, she didn't need anything and felt it was unnecessary.
Lin Guoqing was smiling playfully. He beat his wife out of pain and scolded her out of love. The slap from his wife felt like a tickle.
He continued to search his pockets, piling the remaining money and bills on the table, and reported today's bill to Chen Chunhua.
"Don't always tell me I'm not treating myself well. Look, I went to a state-owned restaurant today! This meal cost 3.66 yuan, almost as much as New Year's Eve! The food I brought you only cost a few cents!"
Chen Chunhua glared at him angrily, "Three dollars and sixty-six cents, one dollar and sixty-six cents is already in our cupboard, and I don't think the braised pork has even been touched by a chopstick!"
"He did move his chopsticks once, but I urged Juncai to eat, so he only took a small amount..."
As he spoke, he recounted the incident of Ye Juncai bringing his own wine to help him open the back door when they went to buy a tricycle today. He also told his wife the fact that he had taken the initiative to buy wine and stuffed cigarettes in it.
Chen Chunhua nodded, "Of course we have to give it to him. He's helped us so much, how can we let him pay for the wine? No wonder I gave him a pack of cigarettes when I saw him. So why don't we give it to Brother Shi today?"
Lin Guoqing was also a little worried. "There's nothing we can do for now. We only have two cigarette coupons. I can only give them to him next time when I have enough."
Speaking of Lao Shi, Chen Chunhua changed the subject, "Hey, did you know? Mom also caught a snake! And it's still alive!"
"Ah? Is this true?" Lin Guoqing was shocked. "Where did you catch him?"
"In the fields. I don't know how it got in there with the eel cage when she put it in. I put a bucket in there for it and weighed it down with rocks. It's a water snake, a non-venomous kind. Do you think you can sell it for money?"
Lin Guoqing thought for a moment and said, "It should be possible. Lao Shi mentioned before that snake meat and snake skin also have uses. It's just a matter of price."
"Then I'll take it with you tonight." Tonight was Chen Chunhua's day to go to Guanqian Lane. When she thought about being able to ride a tricycle today, she felt inexplicably excited.
"Put a sack over it, tie it up tightly, and throw it behind the tricycle. You don't have to worry about it biting you through the sack!"
"That's right! You can bring as much stuff as you want today. There's no need to worry about whether you can carry it or not!"
The couple looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh secretly.
…
Today's expenses were quite high. I spent a total of 31.2 yuan at the supply and marketing cooperative, 238 yuan on a tricycle, 3.66 yuan at a state-owned restaurant, and 2.6 yuan on a bottle of wine.
The total is 275.46 yuan.
After Lin Guoqing received the money from Zhuang Zhijie, he should have had a total of 313.28 yuan, exactly the same as the amount they had settled the day before. Now all he had left to take home was 37.82 yuan and a stack of 15 jin (approximately 200 kilograms) of food coupons.
"Oh, we've gone back to the days before liberation!" Lin Guoqing looked at the money the two of them had counted out, his eyes narrowed with laughter. "I remember the first time I went to Qi Caigen's place to buy vegetables, it was this amount!"
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