Mrs. Wei led Wen Guoer from the courtyard to the main gate of the family compound. Along the way, she kept greeting the military wives coming and going and introducing them:
"This is Deputy Regiment Commander Tang's wife. She just joined the army yesterday. Please take good care of her from now on."
Wen Guoer smiled and nodded along the way, greeting all the sisters-in-law.
Of course, I also heard a lot of compliments, the most common one being:
"Deputy Captain Tang's wife is so beautiful. Deputy Captain Tang is so lucky."
"There is a bus stop outside the family compound. You can reach the supply and marketing cooperative in three bus stops." Mrs. Wei introduced the route to her as they walked.
"Take five stops from the bus stop at the entrance, and you will reach the village I mentioned. Let's go around the village first, and then go to the supply and marketing cooperative when we come back." Mrs. Wei arranged the itinerary very clearly.
Wen Guoer followed her on the bus, bought a ticket, got off the bus, and walked for half an hour before arriving at a village.
The villagers here have already gone to work, and only the elderly and children can be seen occasionally on the road.
Mrs. Wei asked an old man about the location of Carpenter Li's house.
During this period, some craftsmen in the village could use their skills to earn work points, and the skill of carpentry was a good example.
The two men walked into Carpenter Li's house. Carpenter Li was busy in the yard. The yard was full of wood and sawdust, and there were several pieces of furniture that looked unfinished.
"Is this Carpenter Li's house?" asked Mrs. Wei.
"Yes, I am Carpenter Li. Who are you?" Carpenter Li asked when he saw that the newcomers looked unfamiliar and did not look like villagers.
"We are from the military family compound near you, and we would like to ask you to make some furniture for us." Mrs. Wei answered with a hearty smile.
When Carpenter Li heard that they were military relatives, he immediately became enthusiastic and asked his family to pour water for them and asked:
"What kind of furniture do you want?"
"I want to make two wardrobes, a desk, a kitchen cabinet, and two chairs." Wen Guoer said her needs.
"Okay, we can make all of these. When do you want them?" Carpenter Li was very straightforward.
"No rush, I have some furniture designs here, I wonder if you could make them for me?"
Wen Guoer thought about how much furniture these days is simple, poorly designed, and impractical. These days, a set of furniture can last for years, so since it's only made once, it might as well be practical.
"It's good to have a drawing. As long as you can understand it, I can make it for you." Carpenter Li was very confident.
"Thank you very much. I wonder if you have any paper and pen at home?"
Wen Guoer didn't expect that furniture in this era was all made to order, so there were no finished products, otherwise she would have drawn the pictures at home.
Carpenter Li asked his youngest son to bring her paper and pen.
After Wen Guoer expressed her thanks, she drew several pieces of furniture on paper with just a few strokes. She then pointed out the details to Carpenter Li and explained them to him. She continued to make revisions after hearing his opinions. The two communicated smoothly and soon decided on the final style.
"This furniture will definitely be useful once it's made."
Carpenter Li was very impressed. He had been a carpenter for so many years, why had he never thought of doing this!
Mrs. Wei was also attracted by the drawings, and the look in her eyes when she looked at Wen Guoer was different and sparkling.
"Guo'er, you are really capable. The picture you drew looks so real, and there are even styles like this. I didn't expect wardrobes could be made like this. Seeing this makes me want to replace the ones at home."
Finally, Wen Guoer paid the production fee and the wood processing fee, which totaled 63.80 yuan. It was agreed that it would be delivered to her at the military family compound 10 days later.
Wen Guoer had accomplished a big thing and was in a very good mood, so the two of them left the carpenter's house.
"Guo'er, let's go around the village and see if we can exchange some food."
Mrs. Wei looked around and saw that there was no one around, so she lowered her voice and spoke to her.
It happened that an old lady was walking towards them. Mrs. Wei asked her to stay where she was and walked to the old lady in two or three steps. She didn't know what they were talking about. She came back and called her. She followed the old lady into a yard, which seemed to be the old lady's home.
The old lady took out a basket with more than twenty eggs and an old hen in it, tied it up and handed it to Mrs. Wei.
Mrs. Wei paid the money readily and left with Wen Guoer.
On the way, Mrs. Wei muttered to Wen Guoer:
“In the future, if we are short of food and want to eat some meat, we will come to the village to ask these old ladies. The village is poor, and the brigade has distributed grain. The old ladies know how to live and will save the fine grain to exchange for more money. In this way, we can also exchange for more coarse grain, and the family can eat more.
Although the price is higher for us than that of the supply and marketing cooperative, we don’t need a ticket.
The men in our compound only know how to bring money home. They don’t know how hard it is to buy things even with money these days. The few coupons they receive every month are nowhere near enough to support their children.”
From chatting with Mrs. Wei, Wen Guoer learned that her family had two sons, one 8 years old and the other 13 years old, who were still growing up. As the saying goes, "the little boys will eat their fathers out of poverty." She couldn't help but sigh in her heart: Fortunately, they have Mrs. Wei, such a mother who knows how to manage life.
When the two arrived at the commune, Wen Guoer first sent a telegram to Tang's father and mother to tell them that she had arrived safely.
Then the two of them went to the supply and marketing cooperative together. Supply and marketing cooperatives in different places were similar, with only slight differences in the items.
Wen Guoer bought food, kitchen utensils, toiletries, and a coal stove, and now she had used up all the industrial coupons she had.
She didn't expect that she had to use industrial coupons to buy an iron pot. Coal stoves were scarce commodities at that time, so of course coupons were needed. She couldn't help but sigh, it turns out that coupons are not banned!
Seeing her spending money like water, Mrs. Wei was really shocked. In just one morning, she saw this young wife Tang spend hundreds of yuan without blinking an eye. Is this really a young wife from the village?
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