"Mom, the dish you made today is really delicious." Xuemei said.
Mother Liu looked at the father and his two children, who were eating so intently that they didn't even look up. "How could it not be delicious? They just slaughtered the pig and fried it with so much oil. No one would dare to use that much oil at home."
At the end of the meal, there was some oil left, and Liu's father used corn cakes to dip it in. It can be said that he didn't even need to wash the bowl, it looked shiny.
"Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Let's go to the county town to watch a movie tomorrow?" Father Liu said after finishing the last bite of corn cake.
Xuemei and her three siblings stared at Liu's mother with shining eyes.
"Okay? Go to the commune early tomorrow and buy a pound of meat to bring to your grandparents during the New Year. Also send some things to your uncle. If you can't make it in time, send them to the county."
"Okay, then you four siblings go wash your feet and go to bed." Father Liu continued.
…
The next day, when Liu's mother and father arrived at the commune, they were too late to buy any meat, so they took the children to the bus station.
As soon as they got off the bus from the county town, Feifei couldn't help vomiting beside a tree. Qingya was still full of energy, but Ruirui looked a little listless.
After Ruirui finished vomiting and took a break, Xuemei and her family went to the post office.
After arriving at the post office, Liu's mother asked the postman for a form. After writing down the address, recipient, and sender, she placed five kilograms of cotton, five kilograms of glutinous rice, and the letter in a cloth bag and handed it to the postman. The Lingzhi mushroom was hidden in the cotton. She then bought a five-cent stamp, bringing the total cost, including postage, to one dollar and fifty-five cents.
While Liu's mother was buying stamps, Xuemei had been looking at them. When she found a sky blue stamp, she looked up and asked the postman, "Uncle, what kind of stamp is this?"
"This is a set of blue military stamps. In 1953, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications designed and printed a set of three stamps specifically for military use to give active-duty servicemen free mail. They're no longer in use; production has ceased. We only have one set."
"Uncle, I like this, can I buy it?"
"Little comrade, are you a little stamp collector? Our previous sets were also bought by stamp collectors, but this is the first time I've seen such a young enthusiast like you. If you want one, I'll give it to you for one cent."
Xuemei took out a dollar from her fake pocket and handed it to the postman. "Uncle, I want some money. Here's the money."
"Little comrade, do you really want it?" The postman looked at Liu's mother and said, "Comrade, can your daughter make the decision?"
Liu's mother didn't know why Xuemei wanted to buy this decommissioned stamp, but Xuemei kept nodding at her. So she replied, "Comrade, could you please sell it to my daughter? She can make the decision."
The postman then took Xuemei's money and handed her the stamps and change. "Here are your stamps and money, young comrade. Please keep them."
"Thank you, uncle."
"Serving the people, you're welcome."
After leaving the post office, Liu's mother asked Xuemei, "Xuemei, why did you buy this stamp?"
"Mom, I dreamed about this stamp before. I liked it so much that I bought it."
"Don't spend money recklessly in the future. If you like stamps, I'll take the stamps off the envelopes your uncle sends you and keep them for you."
"Thank you, Mom. I understand." But Xuemei thought to herself that if she came across some inexpensive stamps that caught her eye in the future, she would still buy them.
"Dad, it's still early. Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative first. We didn't have time to buy meat just now. Let's go see if the county supply and marketing cooperative has any meat left, and then go to the movies later."
"Okay, let's go buy some New Year's goods."
When they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, the meat stall was empty, so Liu's mother planned to buy something else.
"Hello, comrade, I don't have any candy coupons. What candies can I buy?"
Comrades, you can buy milk candies and mung bean cakes without tickets. Today's fruit candies under two kilograms do not require tickets. This is a New Year's discount.
Mother Liu looked at the things in the supply and marketing cooperative and bought two pounds of fruit candy, one pound for one yuan; three packs of electric cigarettes, eight cents a pack; two bottles of white wine, sixty cents a bottle; two pounds of melon seeds, one pound for ten cents and fifteen cents, because Mother Liu did not plant melon seeds this year; three boxes of mung bean cakes, three cents a box; a bag of tooth powder seven cents; two pounds of toilet paper, two cents a pound; a piece of red paper for writing couplets and the word "Fu", five cents; and three bottles of canned oranges, six cents a bottle.
"Comrade, the total is six yuan, eighty-six cents. Dried hairtail is now forty-five cents a pound, and dried kelp is ten cents a pound. These don't require tickets. Do you want any?"
"We still have these today, so I want two kilograms of dried hairtail and five kilograms of dried kelp." Liu's mother had eaten kelp when she gave birth to her two children, but she hasn't been able to buy it since then.
"The dried hairtail and kelp were only delivered last night after get off work. Only a few people know about it, so they should be gone by this afternoon. Two pounds of dried hairtail, nine cents, and five pounds of dried kelp, fifty cents. Comrade, together with the previous amount, the total is eight yuan, twenty-eight cents."
Although Liu's mother felt sad after paying the money, she was still quite satisfied when she saw the full things in the backpack.
"Let's go! We've bought our things, shall we go to the movies?"
After Liu's father, Liu's mother and Xuemei walked a few steps, they realized that Qingya and the other three had not caught up with them. When they walked back, they found that the three of them were staring at the soda stupidly at the door of the supply and marketing cooperative.
When Liu's father saw this, he said to Liu's mother, "Mother, why don't we buy a bottle of soda for the children to try."
Liu's mother could only walk back to the supply and marketing cooperative and asked, "Comrade, how much is that soda?"
"Returning a bottle costs three cents, not five cents."
Liu's mother came to the salesperson and said, "Comrade, I need a bottle of soda that was returned."
After buying the soda, Qingya and the others were very happy. Liu's mother opened the soda and handed it to Xuemei, asking her to share it with her younger brothers and sisters.
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