Early the next morning.
Looking through the window, I saw that the locusts outside had not dispersed yet, so the villagers basically stayed at home and did not go out.
Everyone in the Song family got up early.
Song's father and mother were making breakfast in the kitchen, while Wu Xing, who was pregnant, was lying on an old recliner to recuperate.
The three Song brothers and Wu Lei were sitting at the dinner table. Song Wen was teaching Song Wu the knowledge of high school; Song Cai was teaching Wu Lei how to write step by step. After Wu Lei wrote several times, he let him write by himself, and then he read a book beside them.
After Song Ruan rolled up her trouser legs and cuffs, put on a raincoat, a hat and a scarf, and armed herself, she went out under the envious gaze of Song Wu.
Yes, Song Ruan was the only one who went out to town today.
Yang Bin came over last night and made an appointment with her. Her family was against it when they first heard about it, but since Yang Bin was with them, they agreed.
Song Ruan took two steamed buns from the kitchen and went out. Yang Bin was waiting for her outside the door on his bicycle.
The bicycles were riding on the small road in the village. Even though the morning breeze was refreshing, the two people felt heavy in their hearts.
After a night, the crops in the fields became even barer, but the locusts continued to jump on the crops, reducing the green vitality little by little.
It was obvious that within a few days all the crops in the village would become bare.
With heavy hearts, the two came to the town.
Song Ruan first followed Yang Bin to the warehouse and put the stored food into the space, and then the two separated.
Yang Bin was going to the third brother's house to discuss something, while Song Ruan was going to the black market.
"Little girl, what's that on your back? Are you selling food?"
As soon as Song Ruan walked into the black market, an old lady came over and asked.
Song Ruan looked around and found that many people had come to the black market, most of them were buying things, and many were asking if there was any food to sell.
Apparently, in addition to the several villages that were experiencing locust plagues, residents in the surrounding villages and towns also received the news.
Some smart people have already started buying food secretly.
After all, locust plagues cannot be prevented.
Although they knew the news, the crops were not yet ripe and could not be harvested, and they could not stop the flying locusts, so the surrounding villages would still suffer.
"Little girl, what are you selling?" Seeing that Song Ruan was just looking out, the old lady called her again.
Song Ruan retracted her gaze and said slowly, "Auntie, I sell red date cakes."
As she said this, she simply took off the bamboo basket on her back, found an open space to put it down, and lifted the cloth on the bamboo basket, revealing palm-sized pieces of red date cakes inside.
"Red date cake, 20 cents a piece."
"How about another twenty cents a piece?"
The old lady was a little hesitant. She came to the black market today to buy some food to store.
Song Ruan raised her lips and smiled, "Auntie, I guess you are here to buy food, but it seems that there are more people buying food than selling food in this black market. Why don't you buy some red date cakes to eat and save the food, which can also be regarded as stockpiling food."
After she said that, the old lady was really tempted, but she didn't have much money, and she originally wanted to buy some cheap and filling whole grains.
The old lady was still hesitating, but some people passing by came up to her and asked her directly.
"Little girl, how much do you sell these cakes for?"
A middle-aged man in a white shirt squatted in front of the bamboo basket.
"Two cents a piece." Song Ruan said slowly.
As she spoke, she recalled the time when her second brother was selling cakes. She looked at the white shirt of the man in front of her and added another sentence.
"If you buy ten pieces of red date cakes, you can get one piece for free."
"Give me ten dollars then."
The middle-aged man in the white shirt took out the money without much hesitation. Song Ruan deftly took out the pre-cut paper and divided it into two packages for him.
The hesitant lady next to her saw someone else buying one, and finally followed suit and bought two pieces.
Business is going on at a brisk pace.
Those who come to buy pastries are almost all people who are not short of money but only of food. Those who just want to stock up on coarse grains basically just ask the price and leave.
So until noon, Song Ruan still had about ten pieces of red date cakes left in the bamboo basket. ..
Song Ruan didn't care. She just happened to have the remaining dozen or so red date cakes so she could share some with Aunt Yang and the others, and keep some for her own family.
Therefore, Song Ruan simply closed his stall, took the money he earned today, and went to the supply and marketing cooperative.
But when I got there, I found a long line in front of the supply and marketing cooperative.
"Are you kidding me? We don't have rice or wheat, and now you're saying we don't even have cornmeal?"
A person at the front of the line couldn't help but complain.
The employee of the supply and marketing cooperative said impatiently, "If I say no, then no. Please come back early tomorrow. Do you have anything else to buy? If not, please move aside. It's the next person."
As soon as the supply and marketing cooperative employee said this, grumbling sounds immediately arose in the queue behind. Those who came to buy food had to turn around and leave, planning to come back tomorrow.
Seeing this, Song Ruan also left. He turned around and went to the state-owned drugstore, where he bought some dayou (anti-inflammatory medicine), cold medicine, some external medicine and gauze, intending to keep them at home to look after the house.
Then she went to the bus station.
The bus station in their town was rather simple, with tickets sold in a small blue brick building. There were a few long wooden benches outside for people to sit on while waiting for the bus.
There were several cars parked in an open space to the right of the blue brick house, and one of them already had people sitting in it.
Song Ruan walked into the blue brick house and saw only a ticket seller sitting across the counter.
Song Ruan walked over and asked slowly, "Hello, I would like to ask, what time does the bus to the county leave?"
The conductor didn't even raise his head and said coldly, "The 1:00 train just left."
"Then how many buses go to the county every day?" Song Ruan asked again.
"Just one trip."
"Is there a trip every day? How long does it take to get to the county?"
The conductor finally looked up and glanced at her, as if he wanted to see who was so annoying.
Song Ruan didn't mind and smiled at her.
The salesperson retracted his gaze and said in a more pleasant tone, "Well, there is one bus every day, and it leaves at 1:00. It takes a little over an hour and a half to get to the county."
"Okay, I understand then. Thank you."
Song Ruan got the information he wanted and turned around and left.
It takes a little over an hour and a half to get to the county by car at one o'clock, which means it's almost three o'clock, and another hour and a half to come back. In this case, it is still difficult to go back and forth on the same day.
Thinking of this, Song Ruan couldn't help but frown.
In the dream, there was a village that planted sugarcane, and it was also attacked by a plague of locusts. Although the locusts did not harm the sugarcane with a hard skin, the leaves on the sugarcane were eaten up, and the sugarcane could no longer grow.
The sugarcane is not yet ripe, so the commune's sugar mill will not accept this batch of sugarcane, resulting in the village's sugarcane being unsold.
But sugarcane cannot be eaten as food, and if sugarcane cannot be exchanged for food, people will starve, so that village is also the one with the most people starving to death.
Song Ruan had no other ideas. She just wanted to try her luck. Since the village was short of food, she wanted to see if she could use some of the food she had to exchange for the batch of half-ripe sugarcane.
With sugarcane, she can make white sugar. With a lot of white sugar, she can make a lot of sesame candies, peanut candies, candied fruits, canned fruits, etc., all of which require sugar.
These things can be preserved longer than red date cakes and are more in demand, so there is no trouble selling them.
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