Chapter 7: No Way
After entering the center of the county, Zhang Ze felt emotional when he looked at Yuewan County in 1979.
Who would have thought that more than 30 years later, these small row houses with tiles would all be transformed into high-rise buildings with dozens of floors, and the housing price would be more than 20,000 yuan per square meter.
When young men from the surrounding villages and towns want to get married, the first thing the girl asks is that they must have a house in Yuewan County.
The geography of Yuewan County, Wenshui City is actually not very good. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces the sea on one side, with a small land area. However, the terrain of Qinghe Village, his hometown, is very good, with flat terrain all around.
Therefore, five or six hundred meters to the south there is a highway that goes directly to Wenshui City, Yuhang, and Yongcheng. You can even go to Tongcheng in the neighboring province to soak in hot springs and bring back some white tea.
There is a national highway to the north, which goes directly to Yuewan County and to the city’s airport to the south. Transportation is very convenient.
But even in such a village, self-built houses are still looked down upon.
Thinking about the changes in later lives and the tragic marriage of his own family, Zhang Ze couldn't help but shook his head. The experiences in his previous life made him somewhat afraid of marriage, to put it bluntly, he was afraid of marriage.
Getting married is like taking a gamble with your whole life. If you gamble right, your family will prosper for three generations. If you gamble wrong, you will lose everything, your family will be broken up and you will have no descendants.
Unfortunately, born in this era, even if he doesn't want to get married, his mother will always urge him to get married, and he can't avoid it.
Thinking of these troubles, Zhang Ze sighed. If it really comes to this, he can only remember whose wife was virtuous and managed the household. If it really doesn't work, he can change her in the future. As for the woman in his previous life, she didn't even give birth to a child for him, so it's better not to mention her!
Passing by a grocery store, Zhang Ze thought for a moment and went in to buy two packs of "trial sale" brand cigarettes. One pack cost 34 cents, and two packs cost 68 cents, which was comparable to the ones available at Daqianmen.
The taste of this cigarette is very similar to Liquan, and it is locally produced and does not require a cigarette ticket. It is currently a very popular cigarette.
In the past, Zhang Ze couldn’t bear to smoke these cigarettes. When he became rich, these cigarettes were no longer produced. Unexpectedly, he would have another chance to taste these cigarettes in his new life.
Compared to this trial-sale cigarette, Daqianmen, which requires cigarette coupons, has fewer buyers, and they may only buy it as a gift.
Although many things in this era require tickets, there are also some things that don’t.
For example, seasonings such as salt and soy sauce are not needed for some snacks.
Zhang Ze actually missed the taste of White Rabbit, but unfortunately it required candy tickets, so he could only find a chance to get more tickets later.
Although one could buy things with or without tickets after 1982, even at the supply and marketing cooperative, it was just a matter of price, but he still needed to use it now.
After leaving the grocery store, Zhang Ze came to the state-owned restaurant in the county town, walked in, found an empty seat and sat down.
"What would you like to eat?" a burly waiter came over and asked with a sidelong glance.
"A bowl of vegetable soup noodles." Zhang Ze glanced at the menu and simply ordered some noodles.
As for the slogan next to it that says 'Shouting or beating customers is strictly prohibited', he didn't take it seriously. The atmosphere has improved a lot now, and it's not like in the past few years when people would beat people for no reason. As for the service attitude, don't expect anything good for now.
"15 cents and two taels of food coupons." The waiter quickly wrote the list and tore it off and put it on the table.
Zhang Ze paid the bill and began to look at the restaurant menu carefully.
I found that the fish on the menu included braised hairtail, small yellow croaker, large yellow croaker, steamed sea bass, stir-fried dried fish, etc., all of which were seafood.
There are also freshwater fish, and the prices are similar, but I didn’t see any mandarin fish.
There are also people selling hairy crabs, which cost 70 cents a pound.
Zhang Ze blinked in surprise. This thing looks very similar to a hairy crab. He didn't expect that its current price is almost the same as a hairy crab. It is probably only about 10 cents cheaper.
Nowadays, no one eats blue crabs and swimming crabs, but freshwater crabs are quite popular.
It is difficult for people in later generations to understand why the large blue crabs with sweet meat were not popular in that era. It can only be said that this was caused by the limitations and concepts of the times.
Finally, when Zhang Ze saw the price of grouper, he couldn't help but be amazed.
Ordinary grouper costs two to five yuan per pound, and sea red grouper costs ten yuan.
The previous ones were sold by the plate, this one is sold by the kilogram.
Zhang Ze knew that grouper was very expensive in this era, but he didn't expect it to be this expensive.
The average monthly salary of a city dweller is about 40 yuan, and grouper is something that city dwellers are reluctant to eat!
No wonder there was a saying in the 1980s that eating a grouper cost half a month's salary. Although it was a bit exaggerated, it also showed the value of grouper.
As for the yellow croaker, it is still a common fish, costing only three or four cents per pound.
Of course, there are still not many people willing to eat it.
Zhang Ze was very tempted, but he hadn't found a way yet. Grouper might not be easy to sell on the black market, so even if he caught it now, it would be difficult to sell it! Soon, his vegetable noodle soup was ready. The waiter called out and continued chatting with his colleagues.
Zhang Ze went over and brought the noodles over, then sat down and started eating.
He only had some sweet potato porridge last night. After traveling such a long distance at night, he also had some water chestnuts. His stomach was already growling with hunger.
The vegetable soup noodles were also added with some fried tofu, which tasted really good. Zhang Ze ate it all up quickly, even the soup.
Now that there was food in my stomach, I felt less weak.
Zhang Ze wiped his mouth and handed a cigarette to the two waiters: "Comrade, I see you have a lot of seafood here. There are not many fishermen in our county. Where do you get these seafood from?"
It is morning now and most people cook at home. The state-owned restaurant is not doing good business and the two waiters are idle.
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Seeing that Zhang Ze offered to hand over a cigarette, which was a trial brand, their attitudes became better.
"Of course it's provided by the Fisheries Station. There are not many fishermen here, but people on islands like Lumen rely on fishing for their livelihood."
Aquaculture station? Zhang Ze's eyes lit up. He didn't expect that Yuewan would have an aquaculture station dedicated to collecting fish.
Thinking about how he didn't leave the countryside until the millennium in his previous life, and never bought any seafood during that time, and if he did eat, he had to get it himself, he estimated that this fishery station should have been closed long ago.
Upon learning that the purchasing point of the aquatic product station was at the dock, he picked up the buckets and bamboo baskets and hurried over to the dock.
The pier was on the edge of the county town, not close by, and it took Zhang Ze more than half an hour to get there.
Before he even reached the dock, a strong fishy smell hit his nose. It was summer and the weather was hot, so the smell was even stronger and made him feel choked.
But when I got a little closer, the smell became much lighter.
The fishery station is a bit like the logistics station of later generations. There is a small house at the door with the word "Purchasing Station" written on it. The warehouse for storing seafood should be inside.
A fishing boat happened to deliver goods at this time. Baskets of hairtail, small yellow croaker, large yellow croaker, pomfret, etc. had all been sorted by size. There were also some dried fish and dried shrimps being sent to the purchasing station.
It seems that the scale is not as big as Zhang Ze imagined. Perhaps Yuewan County is just a branch station, only providing some seafood to Yuewan County and nearby towns.
The preservation of seafood is a big problem these days. It is not easy to send it to other provinces, so it is basically produced and sold by the local people.
After watching for a while, Zhang Ze shook his head and sighed. No one came to sell fish individually. It was obvious that the fishermen on the island also fished collectively.
But he still found a fisherman delivering goods to ask, and after handing over a cigarette, the other person didn't mind answering a few questions.
The result disappointed Zhang Ze. It seems that he will have to wait until the first individual business license in Wenshui City is issued next year before these fishery stations will start collecting fish from individual households.
It seems that I can only survive in the black market for now, and half a year or so is not that difficult to endure.
He carried the bucket back all the way to the city. Figuring that the remaining fish would be unsellable, he prepared to go to the bus stop to catch the bus home.
There is a bus from Yuewan County that goes directly to the town next to Qinghe Village, and the ticket only costs five cents.
"Selling popsicles~Selling popsicles~"
While walking on the road, a shout caught Zhang Ze's attention.
It was a hot summer day and he was feeling thirsty. The popsicle seller showed up just in time to quench his thirst and cool him down.
(End of this chapter)
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