The notice wasn't small, but the problem was that few people could read it, and the two sides immediately started arguing about who would take the doctor and who would pay for it.
Seeing this, the two sisters were even less inclined to go in. "Sister, let's go, we're not eating,"
Even getting a meal is such a hassle, requiring both food coupons and meat coupons. My parents have saved up all of their coupons for the three brothers, so getting meat at school is even more difficult.
The problem is having a whole space full of meat but no meat tickets, it's really...
No, she has to find out where there's a black market in L City, where she can sell her meat in exchange for tickets. If she has money but no tickets, she can't eat!
Even those hole-in-the-wall restaurants on the street wouldn't let you in without food or meat coupons. And it wouldn't be long before the famine hit, and they'd close down on their own. After the famine, speculation and profiteering weren't allowed, so those restaurants couldn't reopen either, and it only lasted about two years.
As the older sister, she felt more than just guilty for not being able to provide meat for her younger sister.
So she could only take her sister back to the guesthouse first, borrow their coal stove, and bake four buns. She ate two herself and left two for her sister. It was still early, so she planned to wander around. She coaxed Xiaojiu back to her room first.
"Little Jiu, stay here and drink your water and eat your buns. Don't run around. Wait for your brother to come over. I have some things to take care of, okay?"
Xiao Jiu found it amusing to look at her fifth sister, who treated her like a child, but she still nodded in agreement.
"Okay, sister, you go ahead with your work, I won't wander off."
While she was at the front desk, she overheard her sister asking about the free market. Back then, it wasn't called a black market; it was called a free market.
It was mainly used to deal with situations where there was a shortage of supplies, and people either didn't have tickets or had money and tickets but couldn't buy supplies. These were solutions devised by resourceful people in various places, and everyone called it the free market.
It started as a small-scale operation, but as the supply chains of non-staple foods, daily necessities, and means of production were disrupted, the three years of hardship turned its existence into a free market, leading to widespread speculation and profiteering, which prompted the development of corresponding national policies.
The first problem is that there are policies from above and countermeasures from below; the second problem is that there are crimes from below and national policies from above. Only through mutual checks and balances can temporary stability be maintained.
Her brothers hadn't arrived yet; they'd probably only show up after finishing their work in the dorm. Tang Cuimei was nowhere to be seen. Xiao Jiu looked at the steamed bun in her hand, but didn't want to eat it. She wanted mutton soup, braised pork, sweet and sour pork ribs, and braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens…
The thought of meat makes my mouth water. I don't dare to cook it too fragrant at home for fear of attracting the attention of the neighbors. Cooking in my own space is too cramped. It's better to eat ready-made food. What she makes is just a home-style dish. How can it compare to the delicious food made by a professional chef? And there's no need to worry about food safety issues. Food is the safest food these days.
But there were no meat ration coupons.
Xiao Jiu was worried that her brother might come over at any time, and she was also afraid of running into her sister again if she went out. After thinking it over, she thought of the family compound nearby. Of course, it wasn't the family compound of the No. 1 High School. The No. 1 High School's family compound was behind the school, and she even asked about it.
She immediately went into the space, found the pork in the fresh meat refrigerator, kept the ribs, and weighed the rest by the pound according to the cut.
Then she sorted out ten pounds of meat, put it in a basket, dressed herself up a bit to look more like a country girl, and before her brothers arrived, she carried the basket to the neighboring residential compound.
Since the crackdown hadn't started yet, she didn't need to be so careful. She carried her basket and knocked on doors from house to house.
"Auntie, do you want some pork? We slaughtered it ourselves, and we can't finish it all. If you have meat coupons, it's seven cents a pound."
"Look, this meat is still fresh. To keep it fresh, we specially put it in the well to keep it chilled. It's still ice-cold right now."
The space has both frozen and refrigerated fresh meat. Once the refrigerated meat is sold out, she takes out the frozen meat, thaws it, and puts it back in the refrigerator.
Of course, judging from the current rate at which we're eating meat, it's still a long way off!
"Your meat is too lean! Not fatty at all."
They've all been injected with clenbuterol, how could they not lose weight?
Different eras have different ways of eating. Later generations preferred lean meat, while people nowadays prefer fatty meat, which is understandable.
"But I'm selling them cheap, Auntie. At the butcher shop, we have to wait in long lines, and we might not even be able to buy any. They charge 75 or 80 cents for a ticket, and pork belly is selling for 80 or 90 cents a pound now!"
These were prices that Xiao Jiu had inquired about, so she wasn't worried at all. Seven cents a pound, plus a pound of meat coupons—that was her bottom line.
Seeing that she was about to pick out the meat, I quickly found her a disposable glove.
"Auntie, if you wear this, it'll be clean and hygienic, and everyone will feel at ease, right?"
The older woman glanced at the gloves in her hand and laughed. "What, you're worried my hands are dirty? Fine, young lady, you're quite thoughtful despite your young age. Where did you buy these gloves? I've never seen them before!"
After obediently putting on the gloves, she felt it was a rare opportunity and asked for two pounds of meat.
"I weighed all of these myself. If you're not sure, you can weigh them yourself."
“Then I definitely need to be weighed,”
The auntie brought over a plate, weighed the plate first, and then weighed the meat and the plate together. Sure enough, it was exactly two pounds, no more and no less.
She nodded and didn't haggle excessively, giving her one yuan and forty cents, plus two jin of meat coupons.
After thanking him, Tang Su took out two more jin from his spatial storage, making a total of ten jin, and then went to the next store.
If someone tries to bargain, she refuses to sell to them. Although her meat is a bit lean, it's absolutely fresh, and she won't shortchange you. Plus, she delivers it to your door. That's good enough. These days, you can't find anything cheaper than this. The cheapest is 74 or 75 cents!
When you get to the meat station, that person just gets lucky and grabs whatever's left! Back then, you didn't want to be skinny, did you? You just took whatever was left of them.
Even if it's just lymph node tissue, you have to be stubborn and ask for it!
This method really worked. She spent almost two hours selling a full 30 jin of meat, earning 21 yuan, plus 30 jin of meat coupons.
It has to be said that the people in the chemical plant's residential compound are really rich. She knocked on the door of every household and basically took everything, from a minimum of one jin to as much as five jin, saying she wanted to share it with her relatives.
She has only regular pork here, and she mainly brought over meat from the front and hind legs. She hasn't taken out any of the pork belly, ribs, pig's trotters, or pig offal yet. She also has some local pork that she bought. Local pork is fatter and costs seventy yuan per pound. That meat is really good, but of course, she can't bear to eat it either.
In this era of oil and meat shortages, she is extremely satisfied even with lean meat, regardless of whether it is local pork or regular hormone-treated pork!
When Xiao Jiu hurriedly ran back to the guesthouse, the waiter saw her first and shouted.
"Hey, you guys from class 103, come quick! This little girl is right here, she's not lost, she's not lost."
A short while later, her second brother ran downstairs and hugged her as soon as he saw her.
She thought she would be yelled at, but her second brother simply hugged her in his arms. He was clearly angry, but he managed to suppress his anger and asked her.
"Why did you run off without listening to your sister? What if you got lost? Where would we find you? Your brother and sister are still looking for you outside!"
Xiao Jiu also felt she shouldn't have done that, and lowered her head in remorse. "Second Brother, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been disobedient. Has Sister Cui Mei returned?"
"Your fifth sister was terrified and ran out to look for you. I just got back too. I was worried we wouldn't know you were back, so I waited for you here. Thank goodness you're back."
Her second brother entrusted her to the front desk clerk and then hurried out to find his older brother and sister. Half an hour later, they all returned.
Seeing that she was both angry and helpless, the Tao family had a good family tradition and never lost their temper easily. But Brother Yue was not so kind. He even tapped her forehead and said, "You little rascal, what are you doing running around like that? Where have you been?"
"I didn't go anywhere, just wandered around the neighborhood, but I didn't run into you guys,"
"Alright, stop talking about her. She didn't do it on purpose, did she, Jiu'er?"
Her older sister still doted on her. She stuck out her tongue at Zhou Yue and then walked to Cui Mei's side. Cui Mei patted her head.
"Let's go out to eat then, this girl must be hungry."
I'm really hungry! Today I sold 21 yuan worth of meat and got 30 jin of meat coupons!
Haha, I can eat whatever I want now! Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look at Sister Cuimei.
Seeing the hopeful look in her eyes, she couldn't help but smile. "This girl wanted to drink mutton soup first thing this morning. Now, can we grant her wish?"
As she spoke, she turned back and winked at her: "I'm lucky, I managed to get five catties of meat coupons, so I can treat you to meat these next few days!"
As for what was exchanged for it and how it was exchanged, how could she possibly say?
"You don't need to pay any money or tickets. Your parents gave them to us when we came. Come on, let me take you to have some mutton soup."
After the older brother finished speaking, Zhou Yue chimed in, "I also have tickets here. My brother sent them to me. No need to look closely. Come on, let's have some mutton soup."
So everyone asked the waiter and found a popular mutton soup restaurant. The prices were transparent. A bowl of soup with meat cost 15 cents, so you had to pay 2 liang of meat coupons and get a free flatbread. If that wasn't enough, you could buy four for 10 cents, but of course, you'd have to pay 4 liang of grain coupons.
There was chili oil made from mutton fat on the table, and the eldest brother paid for the meal for the five of them.
She and her fifth sister drank mutton soup, while the three brothers drank mutton offal soup, all costing 15 cents plus 2 ounces of meat coupons.
The older brother bought two cents worth of pancakes and gave the person eight ounces of grain coupons.
Cui Mei and Zhou Yue didn't stand on ceremony with him. Anyway, they were going to stay here for a few more days. If they didn't have a chance to return the favor, they would buy them some food and send it to the school later.
She's not used to taking advantage of others, nor does she feel any sense of reason to do so.
Perhaps only a little wine leaves one with the least psychological burden.
I stared longingly at the layer of scallions and cilantro floating on top of the mutton soup, took a deep breath, smelled it, scooped in a large spoonful of chili oil, and the soup instantly turned red. I took a small sip, smacked my lips, and found the sweet and salty flavors to be just right. I nodded instinctively.
"Ah, it's so delicious! I've finally had mutton soup. This trip was worthwhile, haha."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com