On October 12th, the State Council officially announced the immediate resumption of the Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination) this year. The specific dates for the exams were not standardized, with each province, municipality, and autonomous region independently formulating its own exam questions and organizing them. In Shen Chunhua's province, the date was set for December 10th.
As soon as the news came out, the biggest commotion came from the educated young people, educated youth, and workers in factories and farms, who all clamored to sign up, followed by the vegetable markets.
Not to mention the food stalls, when Chen Chunhua was setting up her stall in Guanqian Lane in the middle of the night, she could clearly feel that there were many more people coming to buy vegetables. Almost everyone would ask if they had eggs or chickens.
Duck eggs or old duck are also fine, if someone at home is preparing for an exam and needs some nourishment. Fish is also good, fish heads are good for the brain and bring intelligence and wisdom...
Even Lao Wang’s salted fish is almost sold out. They say that eating more salt will give you strength and help you study harder. Chen Chunhua doesn’t know where they got this scientific basis from.
Lao Shi was happily counting the Mao Zedong notes on the side. All the meat notes in his box were sold out in the past two days, and most of the grain notes were also sold. His income in the whole six months was not as much as in these two days!
Sure enough, if the policy is good, the people will benefit.
Their vegetable stall usually sells a pound of eggs every other day, and these are only available on the day when Chen Chunhua comes. Several sisters-in-law and mothers-in-law specifically keep an eye on her, fearing that they will miss out on grabbing the eggs.
The key is that Chen Chunhua doesn't raise the price. The supply and marketing cooperative charges 82 cents per pound, and she charges 80 cents, so everyone wants to buy from her.
One sister-in-law secretly asked Chen Chunhua if she could sell her a chicken. Her daughter had been studying hard these past few days, and she wanted to give her some extra nutrition.
Chen Chunhua wanted to sell the chickens, but she wanted to send them to the food station. After all, if she brought them to Guanqian Lane, the live chickens would crow, and if they did, they would attract inspections.
"Then why don't you just kill it for me and bring it to me?" the eldest sister-in-law said generously. "How about I give you an extra two cents for your labor? Can you kill it, remove the hair, and clean it and bring it to me?"
Chen Chunhua blinked, and it seemed... it was indeed possible. She didn't ask for the two cents for the work, and just said the chicken would be sold at 1.5 yuan per pound.
This price is actually not cheap, but now eggs and chickens in the supply and marketing cooperatives are snatched up and often out of stock. Chen Chunhua can make a reservation for her and can also prepare everything for her and bring it over. It’s one dollar and fifty cents, not expensive!
Before leaving, my sister-in-law reminded me to pick an old hen for her, a bigger and fatter one!
Chen Chunhua expressed her understanding.
The next day, she found the oldest hen in the chicken coop and boiled water to pluck its feathers.
Lin Guoqing squatted aside and watched, calculating in his mind, feeling that something was not right.
"You're plucking the feathers and bleeding the chicken, so wouldn't that make it much lighter? Wouldn't that mean we're losing out?"
Chen Chunhua rolled her eyes at him. "The supply and marketing cooperative sells live chickens for 1.2 yuan per pound, and I sell slaughtered chickens for 1.5 yuan. What's the problem? The chicken feathers are ours, too. I'll send them to her after the blood has coagulated. We'll weigh them together, and they'll both be 1.5 yuan per pound. How am I losing money?"
Lin Guoqing scratched his head and said, "That's okay."
"Hey, why don't we just stop eating eggs for now? Seven eggs a day is almost a pound. If we sell them, we can make an extra 80 cents a day, which means a month..."
Chen Chunhua raised her hand and flung the hot water in his face. "You're the only one who knows how to calculate? Those kids rely on these eggs for nutrition all day long! What are you selling? Are you short of that extra 80 cents lately?"
Lin Guoqing wiped his face aggrievedly. It was just a suggestion...wasn't it? He was just thinking about buying a car as soon as possible.
***
Liang Shengdi brought back two baskets of fish today, one big one and one small one. Lin Shuchao held the small one. Ever since his brother went to school, he has been clamoring to go out with his grandmother.
Liang Shengdi disliked him and didn't want to take care of him. She thought the child was too young to be controlled, and if something happened, she wouldn't be able to explain herself.
Lin Shuchao would throw a tantrum and cry at home every day. Lin Guoqing's beatings were useless. In recent days, he had managed to get out of the house by holding onto his grandmother's thigh. However, in order to ensure that he could go out every day, he was really well behaved and did whatever Liang Shengdi asked him to do.
The fish in this basket were really small, but Liang Shengdi still brought back a full basket, saying that she caught them for Wu Ni and Liu Ni and that they could be fed to the ducks.
Wu Ni and Liu Ni were so touched that they kept saying thank you to grandma and said they would treat her to a meal when they had money.
Liang Shengdi snorted twice. She didn't believe it at all. If she had to wait for her two granddaughters to have money to treat her to a meal, she would probably be in a coffin.
The other basket was filled with large fish: grass carp, mandarin fish, and sea bass. The fish were at their plumpest in this season. The largest one, Liang Shengdi felt when she caught it, must have weighed 10 kilograms.
"Chunhua, National Day, let's eat chicken tonight..." Liang Shengdi walked in with a basket in front and another basket behind her. Her voice instantly rose as she walked in with the fish on her back, "...let's eat chicken!"
Chen Chunhua was too embarrassed to tell her how excited she was that this was not for the family to eat, so she stretched out her leg and kicked Lin Guoqing.
Lin Guoqing: ...
"Mom, did you catch any fish? Wow, this fish is so big! I can't even finish it in one meal! How do you want to eat it? Braised today, or with scallion oil tomorrow? Or maybe like the pickled fish we had last time?"
He stood directly in front of Liang Shengdi, blocking her view of the chicken, but was pushed aside by Liang Shengdi.
"We've already killed the chickens, right? Why eat fish?" Liang Shengdi felt her mouth watering again, the fatigue from standing in the river all afternoon instantly washed away. "What should we eat? Braised chicken or boiled chicken? Or maybe mushroom and chicken soup like last time?"
Lin Guoqing: "...No, we can't eat that chicken, but someone wants to buy it."
Liang Shengdi withdrew her smile, and the corners of her mouth quickly flattened and gradually showed signs of bending downward.
Chen Chunhua rolled her eyes at Lin Guoqing. What a guy, he's not good at anything!
"Mom, what fish do you have in your basket? Fish are selling for a dollar a pound these days. I'm wondering if I can take some over to sell tonight. Let's buy five pounds of pork tomorrow. How about we make braised pork?"
The corners of Liang Shengdi's mouth curled up again, and she quickly put the basket on the ground to show them.
"National Day, go to that basin and fill it with water. If these fish die, they'll be worthless. Look at how big this grass carp is! It must weigh 10 kilograms! And these mandarin fish, while not as big as the grass carp, must weigh at least three or four kilograms."
"Let's save one to make scallion oil mandarin fish today!"
"Hey, let me tell you, I found a turtle today!" Liang Shengdi took off the small basket on her chest.
"Look, this turtle looks big, it must be a great tonic! If you take it out, you can definitely trade it for a chicken!"
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Dog talk:
By the way, wild turtles are so expensive now... The key is that I only eat the skirts...
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