Four yuan may not sound like much, but it has high purchasing power.
In the early 1980s, people had not yet grasped what inflation was.
Rice cost 15 cents, pork only cost 1 yuan per pound with coupons, and the wages of county workers were only 20 yuan. If you went to work in a big city, you could only earn 1 yuan a day. When you got married, the wedding gift was only 2 or 3 yuan. If you could give 5 or 10 yuan, that was considered a lot of money.
So, four yuan is not a small amount at all; it's a good start.
Chu Yu was overjoyed. He rode his bike around the county town. Although the winds of reform and opening up had reached the county town, people's mindsets had not yet been corrected. Many people regarded individual business owners as fierce tigers. If someone was an individual business owner, no matter how much money they made, they would be at the bottom of the social hierarchy and would be looked down upon by others.
However, perceptions change. In a few years, as we enter the 1990s, everyone will know that self-employed individuals can make a lot of money. Quitting their jobs and starting their own businesses will become a trend of the times. By then, no one will look down on self-employed individuals anymore.
There were a few scattered shops on the street, mostly snack stalls selling steamed buns, dumplings, and noodles. After turning two corners, I saw a clothing store that mainly sold straw hats, sandals, and shirts. The styles were outdated, and I didn't know which era they were from. The selection was also limited, and it wasn't a very successful business.
The farmers' market had many vendors pushing carts to sell vegetables, crowded together, but they were selling things like leafy greens, cucumbers, and eggplants. The quality wasn't great, and the sizes were all different; it was obvious that they hadn't finished eating what they had grown themselves.
After going around in circles, Chu Yu had a better understanding of the situation.
Passing by a butcher shop, a small blackboard at the entrance read that pork was priced at 1.2 yuan without coupons. Chu Yu was a bit short on money with her four yuan, so she couldn't bring herself to spend it and ended up only buying some offal. Offal was only a little over 2 mao per jin (500g), and it didn't require coupons. If she couldn't afford pork, eating offal was a good alternative.
She really couldn't get used to the cornbread from her second uncle's house, so she bought two more pounds of flour and two more pounds of rice.
Rice cost 15 cents with coupons, flour cost 11 cents, and Chu Yu was more expensive without coupons. Including more than two jin of pig offal, it cost a total of one yuan.
On a scorching summer afternoon, the village was quiet except for the tireless chirping of cicadas.
Chu Yu didn't encounter many villagers along the way. When she parked her car in front of her second uncle's house, her second uncle and aunt came out of the door.
The two had just woken up from their afternoon nap. Rural people get up early and work in the fields is exhausting. They need to take a nap when the sun is blazing at noon, and then go back to work when the sun has cooled down a bit.
Shu Aiguo was relieved to see his niece. "Your second aunt was just talking about you, worried that something might happen to you on the way and she wouldn't be able to explain it to your mother."
Aunt Deng Fangping smiled and said, "It's your first time doing business, so I'm always a little worried."
"For an uncle and aunt to go this far is enough," Chu Yu wiped his sweat, took the things hanging on the pole, and smiled.
"I'm sorry to have troubled you, Uncle and Aunt. I bought some offal, rice, and noodles. We'll have a nice meal tonight."
Aunt Shu was taken aback, clearly not expecting her niece to be so good at handling people.
The family hadn't eaten rice or flour for half a year. Back when they were in the production team, when the brigade distributed grain, Uncle Shu would immediately exchange his rice and flour for coarse grains so that they could last until the following year.
Now that I've contracted land myself, I work even harder than before. Unfortunately, the harvest has been bad these past two years, and the crops haven't yielded much. I'm still living the same hard life as always.
Originally, Chu Yu was worried that there wouldn't be enough food at home when her niece came, and that they would go hungry. She was at a loss for what to do when Chu Yu bought so much food to supplement the family income, and she directly upgraded them from cornbread to rice and wheat flour!
Aunt Shu was overjoyed, "Chu Yu, you... made money?"
Uncle Shu couldn't believe it either, "There really is someone collecting that night-shining sand?"
“Yes, Second Uncle, I heard that the price is higher in the city. I plan to go and shovel some luminous sand in a while, dry it while the sun is shining, and sell it in the city tomorrow. I'll also go see my mom and Chu Chu while I'm at it,” Chu Yu said.
Shu Aiguo was very happy. His niece knew how to make money and was more reliable than before. She was able to support the family at such a young age, which made people feel that her future was bright. As a result, he was not so worried about how Shu Hui would live after the divorce.
Aunt Shu brought over a basin of well water. "You must be so hot! Go wash up! I was saying you definitely wouldn't sell any today, so I wouldn't need to help you shovel the night-shining sand. But Chu Xiang said that whether you sell any or not, it's no trouble to have some. So, she took Yunyun and Xiao Jiang to the mountain to shovel the night-shining sand. They shoveled four sacks this morning, and I reckon they'll have even more this afternoon."
The cool well water soothed Chu Yu's entire body, and for the first time, she felt the benefits of having younger siblings.
Aunt Shu took the large intestine to be washed. People in the countryside are reluctant to use flour to wash pig large intestines; they use wood ash instead.
After his second aunt cleaned the large intestine, Chu Yu rolled up his sleeves and went to the kitchen. Stir-frying large intestine was not difficult; the difficulty lay in not having the right seasonings.
The kitchen contained only half a bottle of liquor, a small bottle of oil, a packet of salt, and dried garlic and dried chili peppers hanging on the wall, along with some dried leaves whose names I didn't know.
It's no wonder that the food available to people in the countryside is limited at this time. In fact, the countryside is rich in produce and there is plenty to eat. You can eat anything that swims in the water, grows in the fields, or flies in the sky. The problem is that Shanguan Village is located in a place that is neither in the south nor in the north, so the food available is not very suitable for steaming.
Just like the fish in the water, the fish in Shanguan Village and Zhoujia Village all have a grassy smell. Generations of people have tried many times, and those grass carp have a strange taste when steamed. The perch and mandarin fish that are suitable for steaming are not common. Even if they are, the rural people who can't afford to eat won't buy them to eat because of their prices.
Without seasonings, and being reluctant to add oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, especially oil, it's no wonder this dish doesn't taste good.
I cooked it with scallions and ginger along with pig intestines. Since I didn't have any spices or cooking wine, I used the bulk white wine that my second uncle hadn't even been willing to drink during the Chinese New Year.
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