Chapter 46: Chronicle of the 1960s
In the courtyard, Brother Zhou was anxiously waiting for Feng Wu. In the past three days, he had mobilized almost all the secret channels and prepared almost everything he could get, just waiting for the person to come.
Mifengyan personally escorted the man into the yard, but the man didn't go in. He still had the task of keeping watch tonight, so he said hello to the brother who opened the door and left in the night.
"Brother Zhou, someone is coming." Brother Zhou, who was walking around in the yard, felt relieved immediately when he heard that someone had arrived.
Feng Wuhe nodded, and under the guidance of Brother Zhou, the two of them went into the side room next to the main house.
Carrying a cloth bag weighing over 200 kilograms, Feng Wu remained calm and composed. He placed the bag gently on the ground and said, "Brother Zhou, let me check the goods for you first. Are you satisfied with the goods?"
Brother Zhou had been waiting for this sentence all night. He didn't hesitate when he heard it. He squatted beside the cloth bag and opened it.
Brother Zhou stared at the white rice and bright fruits and vegetables in the bag, his eyes wide open as if he had seen some peerless beauty. He couldn't help but pick up a few grains of rice and put them in his mouth to chew. A rich rice aroma rushed into his nose.
The more Brother Zhou chewed, the more delicious it became, and his eyes began to become moist.
Feng Wu: "..." Is this rice poisonous? She has been relying on steamed buns and fruit for the past few days. She doesn't know how to cut and wash rice, so she doesn't know what the rice grown on the farm tastes like. Why does this person look like he's about to cry?
"Or, you can try something else. These fruits taste good. You..." She had tasted the fruits before, so she had the right to speak on this.
"Oh, look at how useless I am. Girl, I'll do this business. What do you think the price is?" Even if the things in this girl's hand were sold at several times the price in the black market, people would still be scrambling to buy them.
"Just calculate it based on the black market price! But if you sell it, it can't be too much higher than the purchase price."
She couldn't cause more misfortune just for a little food. She didn't want to create cause and effect in the small world, which would be detrimental to her practice.
Brother Zhou paused after hearing this, and was silent for a while, but still agreed solemnly, "Okay, young lady, you have good intentions and you are doing good things. I, Zhou Xin, am not a black-hearted person. I agree to this."
After staying in the courtyard for more than an hour, the two men agreed on the price and discussed choosing a secluded place outside Beijing to exchange the goods.
"Brother Zhou, do you know anyone who can cook?" Now that she had food, Feng Wu didn't want to let her stomach suffer. Although she could get by with steamed buns and fruits every day, she could live more comfortably, and she didn't want to suffer hardships and toil.
Zhou Xin didn't ask why. "I actually know an aunt who has some good craftsmanship. She used to go from village to village to do funerals and weddings for people. If you don't mind, I'll give you her address and you can contact her directly."
Feng Wu naturally agreed.
The next morning, Feng Wu found the aunt with good craftsmanship according to the address on the paper.
Before Feng Wu could explain the purpose of her visit, Aunt Ma warmly welcomed Feng Wu into the house.
"Girl, please sit for a while. I will cook you a sweet egg. You can try my cooking skills first." Zhou Xiaozi said that as long as she showed good cooking skills, she would not be treated unfairly.
"...Thank you for your hard work, auntie." Although the auntie was so enthusiastic, Feng Wu did not act pretentiously. He just sat in the room and stared at a little boy of five or six years old.
Feng Wu: "..." He took out a big red apple from his bag, "Kid, do you want an apple?"
The little boy was wearing a patched navy blue cotton jacket. His face was clean and his pair of clear and bright eyes on his skinny face were staring longingly at the apple in Feng Wu's hand.
The child bit his lower lip, and after a struggle in his eyes, he turned his eyes away from the apple. Although he didn't know the ways of the world yet, he remembered his grandmother's words clearly.
"Grandma said we can't just eat other people's food."
"Is that so?" Feng Wu's calm face softened for a moment. "But I'm not someone else! You should call me sister. Did your grandma tell you not to eat your sister's food?"
The child frowned and thought about it. He didn't seem to remember his grandmother saying such words, so he shook his head honestly.
"Well, then you eat it!"
"Then can I leave it for grandma and mom and dad to eat?" The child asked shyly, holding the red apple in his two clean little hands.
"Of course you can. Once the food is given to you, you have the right to decide who to give it to."
The child was still young and didn't quite understand what Feng Wu meant, but he understood that he could leave the apple for his grandmother and his parents.
"Thank you, sister!" The smile on the child's face was full of innocence.
After about ten minutes, my aunt came into the main room carrying a large bowl.
"Girl, come and try the rice wine and sweet water eggs made by your aunt. We don't have any good ingredients at home, otherwise your aunt would have made a whole table for you." She learned her cooking skills from her father since she was a child. It's a pity that these days, having good skills alone is not enough to have a full meal.
A bowl of sweet and sour egg with a fragrant aroma went into Fengwu's stomach. It tasted really good. It took a lot of skill to make such a delicious dish with such simple ingredients.
After wiping his lips with a handkerchief, Feng Wu also explained his purpose.
"Auntie, I have some refined flour and vegetables here. Please help me process them into steamed buns, noodles, dumplings and other pasta. I will give you a processing fee of 5 yuan for processing 100 kilograms of pasta. Of course, if you don't want to pay, you can also use the ingredients as processing fee."
The more Aunt Ma listened, the brighter her eyes became. The family was almost out of rice, and if the wages could be exchanged for food, she would naturally agree.
"Girl, just do as you say. I will definitely make this a beautiful thing for you."
After agreeing on a time to deliver the goods in the evening, Feng Wu left the yard and turned two streets. He happened to see a state-owned store. The business in the store was quiet, with few people coming in and out.
There were still quite a few tickets in the bag, and Feng Wu was thinking of buying some things that he could take away.
The items in state-owned stores were quite diverse in that era.
Feng Wu picked up the tickets in his hand and bought a tin kettle with carved patterns, two enamel washbasins with peony flowers printed on the bottom, and a khaki enamel bowl.
She also carried bedding, mattress and a few changes of clothes, and this outfit was her entire belongings for the journey north.
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