Fine grain!
The female worker who was stopped had a hint of surprise in her eyes. She looked at the rural child who was about twelve years old (fog) beside her, thinking that it was a farmer from the nearby suburbs who sent the child to the city to sell grain to reduce the vigilance of the patrols. She did not doubt it and said to Jiang Yiliu in a low voice: "It's not convenient to talk here. Come with me to the alley to talk."
Judging from the situation, he obviously does this kind of transaction frequently.
Yes, judging by the way she was dressed, her family conditions must not be too bad. Nowadays, there are food ration quotas for everyone in the city. Even for families with two working parents, the amount of refined grains is still limited, with various subsidies. For them, although they have more than enough food and clothing, it is difficult for them to eat refined grains for every meal.
For such people, they would think of ways to exchange grains from the black market. Farmers in nearby suburban rural areas were reluctant to eat those fine grains, and would often exchange their own fine grains for food coupons, industrial coupons, cloth coupons and other things that were more important to them but they could not get them on the black market.
Even though the coupons were exchanged for food, the coupons that the villagers got from exchanging ten kilograms of refined grain were enough for them to exchange for thirty or forty kilograms of coarse grain. For rural people, having a full stomach was the most important thing, and they could not learn to enjoy life like city people.
"Refined white flour!" the woman exclaimed, looking at the small bag of flour that Jiang Yilu took out from his baggy clothes. What can be bought on the market now are only some standard yellow and black flours, and even Fuqiang flour is extremely rare, not to mention these high-grade flours of special grade 2 and special grade 1 that are specially provided to leaders.
The female worker touched the white, glowing, and finely ground flour, and a hint of enthusiasm flashed in her eyes. If such good flour was made into dumplings and buns, how great would the taste be? Moreover, it was the first month of the lunar year, and it would be a very face-saving thing to buy more and take some back to her parents' home.
She didn't ask how ordinary farmers could get such good white flour, what really matters is eating it.
"How much?"
The woman looked around and asked Jiang Yilu in a low voice.
"I don't want food coupons, I just want money. If you have industrial coupons and overseas remittance coupons, that will be fine too." Jiang Yilu noticed that the watch on the other party's hand was the famous Longines brand. This brand of watches can only be bought in overseas Chinese stores with overseas remittance coupons, which means that the other party must have some channels to get such rare things.
“No food stamps!”
The woman was stunned for a moment, and then she was ecstatic. She was worried that the amount the other party proposed for the exchange would be unacceptable to her, but when she heard that the other party was willing to accept money but not food coupons, she was no longer panicked.
She lacks everything except money.
"Okay, now the Fuqiang flour on the market is 1.3 yuan per pound. Yours is better than Fuqiang flour, so let's call it 1.4 yuan." A shrewd look flashed in the woman's eyes. Seeing that the other party was still a half-grown child, she wanted to scare him.
Jiang Yilu frowned and said, "My flour doesn't require food coupons, so the price can't be the same as the flour outside that requires food coupons. It's 2.2 yuan per pound. If you have industrial coupons and overseas remittance coupons, it can be cheaper."
The woman was calculating in her mind that the price Jiang Yilu offered was actually still a good deal. Ordinary flour on the black market now costs two yuan per pound even without food coupons, which is almost double the price. Moreover, the quality of that flour is not as good as the flour Jiang Yilu has.
"Okay, at this price, how much food do you have?"
The woman nodded, fearing that if she was too slow to answer, the food would be gone.
"I only have 20 kilograms on me right now, but my dad and fellow villagers are waiting somewhere else. If you need more, I can also give it to you. In addition to flour, there is also husked rice."
Jiang Yiliu's words made the woman understand, and she said that the other party must have been sent by the adults at home. But judging from his tone, it is estimated that they have a lot of food.
"Okay, you wait here, I'll go find my husband to get some money." The woman thought about her spare money, ordered thirty kilograms of flour and twenty kilograms of rice from Jiang Yilu, then got on her bike and hurried away.
When she appeared again, a middle-aged man followed her. As soon as they entered the hidden alley, they exchanged money with one hand and took the goods with the other. Jiang Yi kept some money and turned away.
Jiang Yilu replicated this method and waited outside different factories and residential buildings. Within two or three hours, he sold more than 1,200 kilograms of flour and more than 900 kilograms of rice. One time, he was lucky because the person who bought grain from him told his colleagues, who brought him a lot of business.
Fortunately, the trams in Haicheng are quite accessible now, which saved him a lot of time, and the tram ticket was only eight cents. He was a child, so only four cents was enough for him.
Jiang Yilu calculated the time and it was almost ten o'clock. He quickly ran to a secluded corner and changed back into his disguise. When he appeared on the street again, he was wearing a clean and stylish small green military uniform.
"Comrade, I want to buy stamps. I want a set of each type." Jiang Yilu walked into the nearest post office and stood outside the counter and said to the people inside.
Which child is here to make trouble?
The post office staff thought to themselves, "Little brother, stop fooling around outside and go home quickly."
The man's attitude was pretty good. He did not scold Jiang Yilu immediately, but instead patiently advised him.
"Uncle, I have money." Jiang Yilu took out ten big unity banknotes and placed them on the table.
The man who originally wanted to say something was now speechless. It turned out that this person was not here to cause trouble, but a little brat who had too much money and didn't know where to spend it.
I don’t know which family in Haicheng this child comes from, but since he can easily come up with such a large sum of money, he probably can’t come from one of those families.
The man shook his head and took out all the stamps available in the post office. The smallest denomination was one cent, and the largest was eight cents. Following Jiang Yilu's instructions, he took out a set of each type for him.
"That's sixty-eight dollars."
The man handed over the stamps, took seven more from a stack of Great Unity notes he had placed on the counter, and gave him two dollars in change.
Jiang Yilu felt a little pain in his heart. Actually, he didn't want to be so foolish as to buy all the stamps. However, apart from the famous "The Whole Country is Red" and "The Monkey Stamp" in later generations, he didn't know which other stamps were valuable. He didn't know about these in his previous life. Now he could only cast a wide net and hope that some of these stamps would appreciate in value.
Jiang Yilu put the change and stamps on the table into his messenger bag and left in a hurry. Time was running out and he had to get back before lunch, but he still had the most important stop to go.
"I don't know which family this prodigal son is from!"
Watching him walk away, the man in the post office muttered at his back. His own son had grown up so big, and he was already very happy to have fifty cents pocket money. But other people's sons bought stamps without blinking an eye, and seven Great Unity stamps were gone. This kind of person is really infuriating.
"Friend, do you have a coupon?"
Jiang Yilu was standing in front of the Haicheng Friendship Overseas Chinese Store, the last stop of this trip. Looking at the Overseas Chinese Store located at the corner, a four-story store with a dazzling array of goods, Jiang Yilu tightly grasped her cloth bag, not knowing whether the overseas Chinese remittance vouchers she had exchanged were enough to buy what she wanted.
Just as he was about to go in, he was stopped by a man wearing a gray cotton jacket and a bulging cloth bag tied around his waist.
Seeing him carefully watching all directions reminded Jiang Yilu of himself who was selling food to others just a second ago. Even the questions he asked were exactly the same.
The man standing in front of Jiang Yilu at this time was the "scalper" of Lao Haicheng in that era, also known as the "pile driving mold."
Now the goods in the overseas Chinese shops are only available to overseas Chinese and their families. For the remittances and alimony that overseas Chinese send to their families in China, the government will issue a certain proportion of overseas Chinese remittance coupons to the domestic recipients according to the amount of remittances. Overseas Chinese and their families can use the overseas Chinese remittance coupons to buy goods in special shops or counters. Just now, the "pile-driving model" asked Jiang Yilu, "Friend, do you have coupons?" This coupon mainly refers to the RMB exchange coupons and overseas Chinese remittance coupons.
Jiang Yiliu listened to the other party's explanation and raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect that there was such an operation. However, the price difference was not small. After all, the pile driving mold still relied on this to make money.
Jiang Yilu thought about it for a moment, and then took out most of the cash he had just earned from selling grain and exchanged it with the other party.
The "pile driver" never thought that he would get such a reward just because he was bored and randomly grabbed a little boy who was about to enter the mall.
"Okay, I'll help you change it right away." The pile driver happily opened the bag on his waist. Jiang Yilu saw a thick stack of remittance vouchers inside. The pile driver put the money Jiang Yilu had given into one of the compartments, and took out the remittance vouchers. He pinched the thick stack of remittance vouchers with his index and middle fingers, and counted them from top to bottom with his thumb and index finger: "Here, count them."
Before Jiang Yilu could see clearly, the other party had already finished counting.
Jiang Yilu looked at the other party's confident expression and counted the stack of remittance vouchers, finding nothing wrong.
"After all these years, I still have some skills." The pile driver smiled proudly, showing his big yellow teeth. Then he returned to the door of the Overseas Chinese Store and began to solicit business, asking every passerby: "Friend, do you have a coupon?"
Jiang Yiliu collected the remittance voucher and walked into the Overseas Chinese Store. If he remembered correctly, the Overseas Chinese Store now had a cultural goods counter mainly for foreign guests. There were works by masters like Qi Baishi, which were guaranteed to be authentic and at very low prices. This was also his biggest goal in coming to Haicheng.
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