They had already arrived at the office while they were talking. After Ding Qiunan lay down on the bed in the inner room, Li Chu sat on the edge of the bed and continued, "Let's not even talk about whether you can still make money buying vegetables at the market. Just tell me, do you have enough meat coupons to buy meat?"
"Huh?" Her husband's words made her realize that yes, you need meat coupons to buy meat at the market, and the supply is limited. You can only buy a maximum of two catties a day. If you want to buy more, you can try other markets.
However, meat is scarce now, and you have to queue up very early in the morning to buy it, otherwise you won't be able to buy any if you go late.
"Then...where does Xiao'e's restaurant get its meat from?"
"What do you think Xu Damao does all day? Back when he was showing movies, he had good relationships with the villages around Beijing. He spent his days collecting vegetables grown in these villages, as well as pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks that the farmers raised themselves, even if they weren't part of the planned harvest."
"Oh, I see." Ding Qiunan nodded in sudden understanding, then asked, "Isn't Xu Damao worried that others will also go to those villages to collect them?"
"Of course I'm worried, so he buys those things at market prices. Whenever prices rise in the city, he raises the prices he buys as well. In addition, he often gives the village chiefs cigarettes, alcohol, and other random coupons to win them over."
"Tsk tsk, nothing is easy."
"So, Qin Huairu thought opening a restaurant was so easy. She'll find out once she actually opens one."
Actually, nowadays only grains, oils, and meat still require coupons; other non-staple foods, including eggs, no longer require coupons.
Meat ration coupons will no longer be needed in the next year or the year after, although there has been no official announcement. This is because there is an increasing supply of meat, and it can be purchased without coupons, although it will be a little more expensive than buying it with coupons.
However, it seems that the ration coupons for grain and cooking oil were not officially used until the early 1990s.
Li Chu covered his wife, who was lying on the bed, with a towel and said with a smile, "Alright, go get some sleep." He then lowered his head and kissed her forehead before getting up and leaving the inner room.
Ding Qiunan lay on the bed and chuckled to herself for a while before finally falling asleep.
...
To be fair, Guo Xiangyang may look simple-minded, but he's actually quite capable. Only five days have passed since he approached Li Chu to exchange for US dollars, and he's already managed to get the last five hundred dollars from somewhere.
But... that's the "but" I'm most afraid of.
"Pfft..." Li Chu spat out the tea he had just drunk, staring in astonishment at Xu Damao sitting opposite him.
You mean that person took the money and ran away?
“That’s right.” Xu Damao said calmly, “That guy was ruthless. After getting the money in the morning, he told Guo Xiangyang and his wife to go back and wait for news. He would go to them at the latest by the afternoon.”
He then turned around and boarded a plane to Hong Kong. Fine, he'd leave if he wanted, but he even sent a letter to Guo Xiangyang, telling them to live a good life and not to think about going abroad. He said money wasn't easy to earn there, and that after all these years living there, he still had to come back to scam money to survive.
This guy is absolutely amazing!
Is this some kind of insult? It's like killing someone by attacking their spirit!
"Guo Xiangyang is probably going to go crazy!" Li Chu shook his head with a sigh.
"Whether they're crazy or not, I don't know. Anyway, the couple fainted on the spot. Luckily, their door wasn't closed at the time, and a neighbor saw them and took them to the hospital. Apparently, the couple has been lying in the hospital bed without saying a word since yesterday."
You wouldn't believe it, but his neighbors said that Guo Xiangyang's house was beyond bare. They'd sold everything they owned, whether it was sellable or not, and all that was left in the huge house was a bed and some pots and pans.
Whose fault is this?
It's their own fault.
There were people who tried to persuade them, but they chose to believe their friend whom they hadn't seen for decades.
"Fortunately, both of them have jobs. If they work hard, they'll recover in less than two years."
"Only Guo Xiangyang has a job left. His wife has already sold her job. Otherwise, how would they have scraped together the money? And they're still drowning in debt."
Well, it's going to be hard to get ashore now.
"Brother Chu, Guo Xiangyang got into such a big mess, he wouldn't turn around and come after you for some nonsense, would he?"
Xu Damao hesitated for a moment, but still asked what was on his mind, which was also the reason why he came to Li Chu's house tonight.
If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have come all this way just to share this gossip.
"Don't worry," Li Chu waved his hand, picked up the teapot on the table, and filled both of their teacups with water.
“At the time, I was worried that he might be resentful later, so when I was handling the procedures at the street office, I made him write something in front of the staff: if he dares to cause trouble, go to the restaurant and I'll call the police.”
Then he repeated what he had written.
Upon hearing this, Xu Damao felt much more at ease. With this, he no longer needed to be afraid. If you dare to cause trouble, the police will arrest you.
However, he also had some doubts: "Brother Chu, did you know he would be fooled back then?"
"How could that be? I don't know who he asked to do things for me. I'm just being cautious."
"Hey, don't be so sure, Brother Chu, your method is pretty good." Xu Damao thought about it carefully and praised him sincerely.
Unfortunately, in later generations, there have been many instances of people reneging on such transactions.
What's even more outrageous is that the house was sold more than ten years ago, and now that it's going to be demolished, the original owner is demanding a share of the compensation. If you don't get it, they'll sue you and demand the cancellation of the original transaction contract.
Point Guard Here
Putting aside the outcome of the case, this whole thing is disgusting, and civil litigation usually takes a long time. You'll waste so much time on this whole thing.
Actually, the best thing to do after the transaction was completed that day was to go to a notary office to have it notarized.
But Li Chu was lazy at the time, so he had the document written in the presence of the street office staff, hoping it would have some effect.
"Now that you're doing business, be careful no matter what you do in the future. There are more and more scammers these days."
"Brother Chu, you're right. We did run into a swindler at our restaurant the other day. He had a letter of introduction and said he was from some street office in Jingshan. He said he would eat at our restaurant and have to pay the bill."
The letter of introduction was written very formally, and it even had a red stamp on it. However, I was a little puzzled at the time. Jingshan is not exactly close to us. It's already good enough that you can come to eat here once in a while. You said you would come often, and you would put the bill on your tab every time you came.
I immediately took it a step further and called someone I knew at the district government office, but according to the name on the red stamp, there was no such subdistrict office in Jingshan.
(Announcement: Dear readers, this is the second update for today. The next chapter will be released at 5 PM. Thank you for your support and encouragement.)
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