It was already dark when I arrived at the guesthouse yesterday. When I went out today, I found a grain and oil store next to it. There were also many small vendors setting up their stalls on the roadside early in the morning.
There was a particularly large stall filled with kitchen utensils and sundries, colorful plastic basins, plastic buckets, vegetable baskets, fruit baskets, a variety of cups, bowls, spoons, dishes, aluminum pots, stainless steel pots, coffee pots, plastic bathtubs...
There were no clear prices on them, but when Chen Chunhua and her friends passed by, a customer happened to ask the price casually, saying that a stainless steel pot cost 100 kilograms of food coupons.
"Isn't he selling it for money? Selling food coupons? And it's so expensive?" Liu Ni was a little confused when she heard the 100 kilograms.
"It's actually not that bad. Going to a state-owned store to buy an aluminum pot costs five or six yuan, and a pressure cooker is over twenty. This is a stainless steel pot. The purchase price of 100 kilograms of rice is only 15 or 16 yuan. And those are food coupons, not millet."
"What do they need so many food stamps for?"
"Reselling." Lin Guoqing replied in a low voice, and put his fingers to his mouth and hushed softly.
Currently, fine grain coupons were worth 0.2 yuan per jin (approximately 10.8 pounds) and coarse grain coupons were worth 0.13 yuan per jin (approximately 10.8 pounds). The national exchange rate for grain coupons was even higher, around 0.3-0.4 yuan. For every jin (approximately 10.8 pounds) of grain coupons exchanged at a "small general merchandise store," one could earn about 0.5 yuan.
On average, for every 100 kilograms of food coupons earned, you can earn about 5 yuan. If you earn 1,000 kilograms a day, you can earn 1,500 yuan a month. It has to be said that this business is very profitable.
There are many stalls like this in free markets across the country, and most of them are run by people from the Oujiang River. Their area is full of mountains, making farming and business difficult. If they don't venture out, they can't survive. Therefore, they are much braver than people from the plains.
Only brave people would dare to do this kind of business. After all, everyone is doing business with a clear understanding of the situation. It seems that no one is coming to arrest them, but who knows when the sky will collapse.
When Liu Ni heard that they could earn over a thousand yuan a month by setting up a stall like this, she was stunned. Is it really that easy to make money in this world?!
"This isn't genuine reselling; at most, it's bartering. Those who directly claim to be buying food coupons might actually get arrested."
As they were talking, a rough voice came from the side and shouted in a low voice,
"Buying food coupons! 2 yuan for every 10 catties of food coupons from this city, 3 yuan for every 10 catties of food coupons from the whole country! You can even exchange them for eggs! 10 catties of food coupons for 1 catty of fresh eggs! Do you want to exchange them? Do you want to exchange them?"
Lin Guoqing waved his hand and said no, then quickly pulled Chen Chunhua and Liu Ni out of the alley. Looking back, they saw that businesses had already started in the alley early in the morning.
In the early morning in the city, you can see the city's appearance more clearly. Everyone is dressed neatly and comes and goes in high spirits.
The weather in early June has started to get hot, and fashionable young men and women have all put on the latest summer clothes. Looking around, the tops are basically white shirts, and the bottoms are suit pants, pleated skirts, plaid skirts, and some men have already put on shorts.
The girls who know how to dress up tie ribbon bows on their braids, wear leather shoes and carry bags across their shoulders as they rush to work.
Passing by the gates of several small factories, I saw a group of people in white work clothes standing neatly at the gate doing morning exercises. Passers-by would glance at them, but rarely stare at them.
Yellow fish carts and three-wheeled trucks were already loaded with goods and were shuttling back and forth on the road early in the morning. Next to the crosswalk, large automobile advertisements were hung there showing everyone the latest models of Mitsubishi trucks.
There was an old lady sitting at the intersection carrying a coal stove, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan and selling tea eggs. There was also a man carrying a basket, wearing a mandarin collar and a handkerchief, selling white magnolias. The tiger stove in the alley had already been boiling, and a pot of rice cost one cent.
"Can this be sold for money?" Liu Ni couldn't wrap her mind around what she was hearing.
Can such a small flower be sold for money? Can even plain water be sold for money? What else can't be sold in the Shanghai Stock Exchange?
"Anything you want can be exchanged for money." Lin Guoqing laughed.
"Don't be fooled by the fact that water is only one cent a pot. That's the price if you fetch it yourself. It costs five cents to fill the thermos and deliver it back to you. There are also two 8-person tables where you can sit and make tea, and they'll sell you some snacks.
During free time during the day, they could even cook for customers for 7 cents a pot. Some dual-income families who didn't have time to cook would wash rice and send it to them in the morning or at noon, then pick it up after work in the afternoon, so they didn't have to cook it when they got home. Some workplaces also did this.
At night, a curtain was drawn in the back hall, and a few kidney-shaped wooden tubs were placed with stools next to them. When someone came to take a bath, a servant would bring water to the guest. Even such a simple scrub cost 8 cents. But it was much cheaper than the bathroom.
Lin Guoqing had gone to Laohuzhao for a wash several times before. A shower at the guesthouse cost three cents! Sometimes, when you're not too dirty and just want to wash up, Laohuzhao is the best deal.
But he also added, "Those who go to clean the tiger stove are usually men, and there are basically no women." That's not nonsense. There is just a curtain inside and outside, and the boss may not let a woman in even if she goes there.
Liu Ni was stunned by what she heard. How could this be possible? When she got off the train yesterday, she felt like there were ways to make money everywhere. After hearing this today, it was even more incredible.
“Big cities are indeed full of business opportunities.”
Walking further, there was a line of people waiting to get milk at the corner of an alley. Liu Ni looked at people who could exchange a ticket for a bottle of milk, and she felt envious.
"Uncle, does the department store sell milk powder?" Liu Ni asked.
"Yes, it's three yuan a bag, and one bag weighs one pound. It can make many cups of drink for a long time."
He had bought it once for his children at home, but they didn't seem to like it particularly, so he never bought it again.
Liuni decided to buy a bag of milk powder for her second sister Lili and her eldest sister’s soon-to-be-born baby!
The department store doesn't open until 9 o'clock, but at 8:40 or 8:50, there are already a long line of people outside, all ready to rush in as soon as the door opens.
"It's really that serious..." Chen Chunhua muttered softly, but still held Liu Ni with one hand and followed Lin Guoqing closely with the other, ready to rush in at any time.
At 9 o'clock, when the mall's roller shutters were drawn, everyone rushed in. However, no one would pay or buy anything as soon as they entered. They still had to shop and look around. I don't know why everyone was in such a hurry.
But Shanghai is Shanghai after all. The department stores all look much more upscale than their place. Chen Chunhua and Liu Ni were dazzled by the choices. They walked from the first floor to the third floor and then to the basement. They wanted everything but had to think over everything again and again.
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