In those days, cotton was hard to buy, and cotton coupons were scarce. It was already winter, but Su He herself was fine. With Grandma Su spoiling her, she never lacked warm clothes.
But the rest of the family couldn't keep warm; their cotton-padded coats had been worn for many years, and the cotton inside had hardened, so they weren't warm at all.
My younger siblings didn't have many warm clothes either, and they were almost afraid to go out in winter.
Su He felt sorry for them, but she hadn't been able to do anything before. Now that she had money, she wanted to improve their lives.
...
When Su He came out of the courtyard, she had already carried ten pounds of cotton on her back, and in addition to money, she had also exchanged a lot of tickets.
Although the price made her feel a little bad, she needed them all, so she didn't hesitate to change them.
When she returned to the dormitory, Tian Zhenzhen was shocked by her appearance. "What did you do? Why are you like this?"
Su He smiled and explained, "I went to buy some things."
"Why did your shopping turn out like this? Ah! I know, you went to the black market?"
Speaking of the black market, her voice suddenly softened, her tone filled with excitement and frustration, "Oh dear, why didn't you call me? I should have gone too!"
Su He didn't expect her to react like this. When she came back, she saw that it was already late, so she didn't go to the station to change. She thought that Tian Zhenzhen had a good personality and was an honest person, so she shouldn't have guessed. She didn't expect that not only did she guess, but she also wanted to go!
It was somewhat amusing at that moment. "What are you going there for? That's not a place for a little girl like you."
Tian Zhenzhen pouted and said, "If you can go, why can't I? I heard that everything there is available without tickets. I want to go and see, and buy some things to bring back home for the New Year."
Su He found it amusing and emphasized again, "I'm going because I'm skilled in martial arts and I'm not afraid. You can't do it; your small frame makes you too easy to be targeted."
"If you want to buy things but don't have any tickets, I'll take you to the big market in our town closer to the New Year. They have a good selection of things there, and it's government-sanctioned, so you can buy whatever you want without needing tickets!"
"Really? There's still a market day?"
“Yes.” Su He recalled the original owner’s memories, “A couple of years ago, they didn’t allow buying and selling things freely, but farmers had few coupons, so it was inconvenient for them to buy things. So the government proposed to hold a large market, but it was only held once a year, and the products sold were all from the farmers’ own homes in the countryside.”
"That's good too, we don't have that where I'm from." Tian Zhenzhen said with envy.
Su He smiled and said, "If you want to buy something, I can take you to see it, but it will be very crowded!"
“I want to go! I haven’t been to the market for many years since the free trade was banned.”
"Okay, I'll call you then."
Even so, Tian Zhenzhen did not forget her trip to the black market, and she was even more envious when she heard that she had brought back ten catties of cotton.
"So much! I've been saving cotton coupons since I started working, and I've only saved up two jin so far. It's not even enough for clothes, so I haven't been able to bring myself to buy any. Do they still sell cotton over there? If they do, I'll buy some."
Su He shook her head. "That's all. I'll buy them all."
Tian Zhenzhen nodded in disappointment, but didn't ask her to spare any money. Su He nodded secretly, realizing she hadn't misjudged her.
Because she had resolved a worry, Su He was in a good mood when she went to work the next day.
However, Li Yi frowned.
Seeing this, she asked curiously, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Li Yi sighed and explained, "It's not me, it's the sea."
"Huh? What's wrong with Brother Sun?" She then realized that Sun Dahai didn't seem to be at work today.
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