The captain listened to Tang Jianhua's flattery and felt quite pleased with himself. He thought to himself that even though these people were from big cities, once they were on his turf, even dragons would have to bow down to him, let alone those few little bugs. He felt a perverse pleasure.
"You older educated youth know the price of grain, but I imagine the newcomers don't. Let me tell you again: rice is 50 cents a pound, flour is 60 cents a pound, cornmeal is 40 cents a pound, sweet potatoes and potatoes are 30 cents a pound, and soybeans, mung beans, and black beans are all 60 cents a pound. These are the main grains. If you're interested in other things, like oil or vermicelli, you can buy them here. Oil is 10 yuan a pound, and vermicelli is 3 yuan a pound. How much do you want?"
When this price was announced, everyone was furious, especially the new male educated youth. If they hadn't been held back by the older educated youth, they probably would have flipped the table.
Rice, which usually costs a little over 10 cents a pound, costs 50 cents here. Flour, which used to cost a little over 30 cents, has doubled in price here. Cornmeal, which used to cost a little over 10 cents, has quadrupled in price here to 40 cents.
There are also sweet potatoes and potatoes, which used to cost only a few cents per pound and you could buy a lot of them. I didn't expect them to cost 30 cents here, which is several times the price.
Not to mention oil. In the city, oil sold on the black market costs at most two or three yuan per kilogram, but he sells it for ten yuan here. This is more profitable than robbery.
I've never bought vermicelli in the South, so I don't know the exact price, but since everything else is so expensive, I imagine vermicelli must be several times more expensive as well.
"Captain, let me ask them how many kilograms they want to buy first. I'll let you know after we've discussed it."
Tang Jianhua knew that if he didn't make things clear with the new educated youth, he would inevitably offend the brigade leader and other cadres without realizing it. So he made an excuse to go outside and explain the matter later.
Although his expression darkened for a moment, the captain nodded in agreement and allowed them to discuss how much to buy.
After leaving the brigade headquarters, Tang Jianhua led the way to a wide-open area. Only after confirming that no one was around did he look at the newly arrived educated youth.
“I know you are all very confused as to why food is so expensive here and why we have to buy it here. The brigade leader said we could buy it elsewhere, but I refused. Actually, you have the same question as we did when we first came here a few years ago.”
When I first arrived here, I was truly fearless and thought the prices were too high. I planned to buy food elsewhere, but I couldn't find any in other villages or towns. On the contrary, because I didn't buy food in the villages, I offended the villagers, and almost everyone was retaliated against.
Even though they earned five work points while working, they were still nitpicked and criticized. No matter what they did, it was wrong. In the end, they were deducted two work points. These kinds of difficulties were still acceptable. What was unacceptable was that their personal safety could not be guaranteed. Did you really think that the educated youth who came to your home or married out were doing so voluntarily?
Actually, we were all forced into this situation. We had no way to deal with them. Even if we reported it to the educated youth office, it would be useless. The people here are all in cahoots, and we would only face more unscrupulous retaliation.
So I hope that after you finish this purchase, you will work hard to earn work points and enough food to eat. Even if it's not enough, you should still pick more wild vegetables. From now on, wherever you go, you must go together. This is for your safety.
As soon as Tang Jianhua finished speaking, some of the more emotionally vulnerable women started wiping away tears. It was as if they were thinking about the days when they were targeted, and they were already considered strong for having survived until now.
"Since we can't deal with them here, why don't we start from the top?"
As soon as Zhao Xuyang said this, everyone looked at him, and suddenly a glimmer of hope appeared in their hearts: if his family background was powerful enough, there might be a way.
Tang Jianhua shook his head. "Although the higher-ups can indeed take action, if even a whisper of the verdict leaks out before they are punished, we'll all be meeting our maker ahead of time."
Everyone had held onto a sliver of hope, but after hearing Tang Jianhua's words, the light in their eyes vanished instantly.
"Don't think too much now. Quickly think about how much grain you need to buy. The grain for the first half of the year has already been distributed, and there will be another distribution before the Lunar New Year. So you need to buy at least enough grain for half a year. Everyone should calculate it themselves."
Tang Baozhu felt quite aggrieved listening to their words and decided that after buying the grain, she would immediately use two Heavenly Thunder Talismans to bombard their brigade headquarters.
She figured she could kill as many as possible, and at the same time, she decided to buy more later, preferably spending all her money, so as to attract the attention of everyone else in the village.
As long as they dare to make a move, she will not hesitate. She doesn't believe that if a few more die, they will be scared.
After waiting for a while, seeing that everyone understood, Tang Jianhua led everyone back to the brigade headquarters, and once again became the sycophantic person he always was.
Tang Baozhu felt sorry for him. Everyone else was silent, but he was the only one acting like a sycophant. He must have suffered a great injustice.
"Captain, they've made up their minds. I'll have them report it to you."
"Okay, you guys go ahead and say it."
Tang Baozhu was the first to speak up, and she was as high-profile as she wanted. She planned to spend all her money and, when the time was right, rob all those village officials and corrupt officials.
Then my money will come back.
"Captain, I need 100 jin of rice, 100 jin of flour, and if you have any, three jin. Also, give me 10 jin of vermicelli. That should cost 170 yuan in total. That's enough for me."
As soon as Tang Baozhu spoke, everyone's eyes turned to her. She had bought all kinds of fine grains. Judging from her clothes, they had thought she was just an ordinary person, but they hadn't expected her to be so extravagant.
Tang Baozhu did it on purpose; she wanted to give the impression that she was extremely wealthy so that she could rob someone else when they tried to take advantage of her.
After all, you have to throw bait first before you can catch fish.
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