Chapter 37
Everyone had a pleasant conversation during the meal. Zhou Jiani had long discovered that Comrade Xiao Qiu was not an introvert at all. When he really needed to socialize with others, he could make everyone present feel like they were in the spring breeze.
Of course, his insights also made other comrades feel that they had gained a lot.
After dinner, Zhou Jiani said, "I just asked the clerk, and he said there's a supply and marketing cooperative about five or six blocks ahead. I'm going to go over and take a look around. I'll meet you back before three o'clock, and we'll go to the intersection to wait for the bus."
Qiu Zeming had to continue to stay at the plastic factory. Although he had learned about Director Qin's connection, he could also wait and see what notice came from the sales department.
"be safe!"
Zhou Jiani nodded and left.
Just after crossing an intersection, she began to wonder whether she should buy a bicycle and put it in the storage room. In situations like this, having a bicycle to ride is much better than relying on her legs.
Money is easy to talk about, but there are no bicycle tickets.
Of course, industrial tickets can also be used. There are about a dozen of them. Zhou Jiani took them out and counted them, and there were only six left.
But after thinking about it, it is not very likely to do it quietly. At this time, the bicycle must be registered with the street. Even if you buy a second-hand one, you still have to go through the transfer procedures.
Forget it, I'll just save the industrial coupons to buy enamel products.
The enamel pots have been sold twice, and she plans to buy a batch of enamel basins and enamel spittoons to see if there is still a market for them.
The enamel basins at that time were made of thick materials, very heavy, and of good quality. She bought five to try them out. If she couldn't sell them, she would keep them for her own use. As long as they were not bumped or scratched, they would never break.
Zhou Jiani looked around as she walked. If she came across a black market, she would go there to try her luck and exchange some money to save.
It took almost an hour to reach the supply and marketing cooperative.
There were calcium milk biscuits here, 66 cents a pack, plus 600 grams of food coupons. Zhou Jiani bought four bags to provide some nutrition for the twins and their grandmother.
I also bought two cans of food, a can of malted milk, two pounds of egg cake, a few net bags, and two aluminum lunch boxes so that she could use them to store things.
When I saw the handkerchiefs on the counter, I remembered that the two handkerchief coupons I received from Liu Ergou last time were useless. I could only buy two handkerchiefs, so I simply added some cloth coupons and bought a total of seven small handkerchiefs of different patterns and colors, and sold them when the group sale started.
Walking along the counter and looking around, I came to the place where enamel basins were sold. One wall was covered with enamel basins, with the bottoms printed with peony flowers, magpies, the words "abundant harvest", and red double happiness patterns, with a variety of patterns.
There is no counter below this area, and there are a lot of enamel products piled on the ground, including enamel basins, enamel plates, enamel thermos cups, and enamel spittoons. Many people are choosing there.
If it weren't for their weight, Zhou Jiani would want to buy everything.
Because of their weight, I only took three pots away in the end. I would buy them one by one when I went to other places to get enough to start a group purchase.
I came out, put my things away, and wandered around aimlessly. I turned several corners, and when I passed an alley, my eyes lit up. I walked through it, turned back, looked around carefully, and strolled in.
Isn’t this a small private market?
There was a man squatting in the alley selling rice. He didn't need a ticket and was selling it for 20 cents a pound. There were about 15 pounds left. Zhou Jiani opened the box to take a look at the goods, reached in, took out a handful and took a look, fearing that there were stones mixed in the bottom that would make the scale fall.
The rice seller looked around cautiously and said, "This is all good rice. If anyone dares to sell rice adulterated here, will I dare to come here again?"
"I want them all. You have to give me this cloth bag." Zhou Jiani said, "I didn't haggle with you. Just be more straightforward."
"But I don't want food coupons, and it's all good rice." Seeing Zhou Jiani turn around and leave, the man hurriedly lowered his voice, "Okay, okay, deal!"
Then he muttered, "This cloth bag is really new."
The money was exchanged with the goods, and the man took the money and left. Zhou Jiani did not continue shopping. She was worried that if something happened after buying too many things, she would not be able to run, so she also took the things and left. After going out for a few times, she came back empty-handed.
This time she didn't buy anything heavy right away. When she saw someone walking around with their hands hidden in their clothes, she walked towards them. When they passed each other, the other person asked, as expected, "Do you want a ticket?"
"Do you have a bicycle ticket?"
Although her plan to quietly buy a bicycle failed, she still asked a question. If she had one, she could keep it. After all, it was hard currency. If she couldn't use it, she could use it to exchange for something she could use.
"No, I want them too. How about industrial coupons? Two dollars each."
"How many are there?"
The other person's eyes lit up, and he lowered his voice and said quickly, "Eighteen, and two half-tickets. If you want them all, I'll give you the half."
"I'll take them all at 1.50 each. Two and a half bills will count as one."
“Not for sale!”
The other person turned and walked away, and Zhou Jiani also walked away, walking quickly and decisively. After taking a few steps, the man came back and said in a low voice, "If you can take them all, I'll pay one dollar and eighty cents per ticket. No lower."
"One dollar and eighty cents for two at half price?"
The man's face turned dark and he really wanted to turn around and leave, but it was not easy to meet a big customer.
In the past, it would take him half a day to sell more than a dozen industrial tickets, one or two at a time. Now he can sell them all at once, which is better for him than continuing to go around in circles in fear.
The man quickly calculated and said, "Thirty-three, you take them all."
Zhou Jiani didn't hesitate any longer. She turned around and pretended to take out another fifty yuan from her bag, quickly completing the transaction.
He walked around here for a while, collected a few food coupons and cloth coupons, and finally left with a net bag of eggs and a chicken.
After spending some time in the black market, Zhou Jiani jogged back and arrived at the plastic factory at 2:50.
From a distance, I saw that all the comrades had left, leaving only Qiu Zeming squatting on the side of the road, waiting bored, looking lonely and a little forlorn.
Zhou Jiani opened her messenger bag and fiddled with it as she walked. When she got closer, she put on a smile and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Comrade Xiao Qiu. Have an apple to sweeten your mouth. I also bought some egg cakes for us to eat on the way."
Seeing her forehead sweating from running, Qiu Zeming said with a smile, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, you don't have to be so polite. You've worked hard on your market research. You don't have to run so much in the future. I've asked, and the bus doesn't pass that intersection until 3:30."
Zhou Jiani's face flushed slightly. Comrade Xiao Qiu was so considerate that he even helped her find an excuse to turn a personal matter into a business one.
"Well, eat one. It will quench your thirst."
As they passed by the factory gate, the two men waved to the security guard in a friendly manner.
The two of them ate apples and went to the intersection to wait for the car. They also discussed the division of labor. Qiu Zeming would come over tomorrow to wait for Director Qin, and Zhou Jiani would go to the department store tomorrow.
She said, "There are two large department stores in Qiyang City. Let's go to both tomorrow. If the department store doesn't work, we can go to the supply and marketing cooperative in the city center."
Qiu Zeming said: "Don't be too stressed. At worst, we can just go to the local market."
Zhou Jiani nodded. The village supply and marketing cooperative was very fond of the new models launched by Zhang Laosi, but seeing the reactions of her parents' colleagues at the textile factory, she was still quite confident.
I took the bus back, picked up a bicycle from the station, and rode all the way back to the guesthouse.
Qiu Zeming asked to see the information, so he kept it temporarily. Zhou Jiani took over the car and, under the watchful eyes of Comrade Qiu, drove towards home for a while, then made a detour to find a place to tinker with things.
The pork balls were packed in two aluminum lunch boxes, which I closed and stuffed back into my schoolbag.
She had to finish it all today, she was afraid it would go bad if she kept it overnight.
The shoulder bag was too small, and it was filled to the brim with two aluminum lunch boxes and a half-remaining egg cake, leaving no room for anything else.
I took a net bag and put the canned food, malted milk and biscuits in it.
Take out some white sugar and rock sugar, unpack them a little, wrap them with straw paper, tie them up with paper rope, and put them back in the warehouse first. I will take them back tomorrow. As for eggs, rice, etc., I don’t plan to take them today, I will take them back tomorrow.
But I have to take the ribs and the chicken I bought today back and let my parents deal with them.
The ribs were removed from the plastic bag and replaced with a net bag. The chicken was tied with a straw rope, leaving a handle so that it could be hung on the bicycle.
It was still late and not many people were playing downstairs. Jiang Xinfeng was also sitting downstairs. When she saw her eldest granddaughter bringing back such a large piece of ribs and also bought a chicken, her eyelids jumped and she said hurriedly, "Oh, I just mentioned it casually, and you really bought it?"
She glared at her granddaughter. Zhou Jiani didn't understand why, but subconsciously cooperated and said, "Grandma, you've already said it, can I not treat it as a mission and complete it?"
She hid the net bag behind her ribs and used her body to block the car when she ordered it. She heard her grandmother raise her voice behind her and ask, "You guys went around a lot today, didn't you?"
"yes!"
Amidst the others' surprise, Jiang Xinfeng turned to the other neighbors and said, "My eldest granddaughter is very filial. When we left this morning, she said they'd been traveling a lot, and maybe with a little luck they'd buy something rare. She asked me what I wanted to eat, and I said I just wanted meat. I gave her some meat coupons and money, and she unexpectedly bought such a big piece of pork ribs. Haha."
He went upstairs amid the envy and surprise of the others. After entering the house, Jiang Xinfeng whispered, "You sold those baskets and vegetables yesterday, and someone got stye today and is talking about you behind your back. Don't buy anything when you come back next time."
Is this a mistaken belief that all the money from yesterday's sales went into her pocket?
No wonder her grandmother's face twitched when she saw her bringing back such a big piece of pork ribs.
"I understand, babe. I'll put up a list here and make those who say such things slap themselves in the face."
I said it was a business for the brigade and even showed everyone the certificate, just because I was worried about some trivial trouble.
"Grandma, if anyone makes sarcastic remarks again, just report it to our commune and ask them to call and verify. We are upright and have nothing to fear. Just stand up straight and fight back."
Jiang Xinfeng nodded heavily: "Don't worry, I will scold anyone who talks nonsense." After she said that, she saw the net bag hidden behind her ribs by her granddaughter, and her eyelids twitched again.
Fortunately, everyone was just looking at the ribs and didn’t come over to take a look, otherwise there would be more people getting styes tomorrow.
Zhou Jiani took out the lunch box from her pocket again, opened it and showed it to Jiang Xinfeng. Jiang Xinfeng lowered her voice happily and said, "Did you buy this from a restaurant somewhere?"
The state-owned restaurants here don't sell these meatballs.
Zhou Jiani could only nod vaguely, and went to the kitchen to get a small ceramic spoon to feed her grandmother a few. She also tasted it herself and found it tasted good and there was no strange smell.
But you still need to cook it again and eat it after it is cooked thoroughly.
Jiang Xinfeng ate the delicious pork meatballs and scolded, "Save the money you have for your own use when you go back home. Don't spend it all here."
As she was about to reach into her pocket to give her granddaughter some money, Zhou Jiani stopped her and changed the subject: "Grandma, what should we do with these spare ribs and chicken? Don't let them go bad. Oh, by the way, let my mom make some spare ribs with dried cowpeas tomorrow. Cook more and I'll send some to my colleagues. I promised them."
"Don't worry about the ribs and chicken. I'll go clean them up," Jiang Xinfeng said. "Your mother will be back soon. She said she wanted to make you braised pork. If you can't, we can have braised pork tomorrow. We'll just stew the ribs tonight."
"OK!"
Zhou Jiani wanted to help, but Jiang Xinfeng was reluctant to let her go and told her to go and rest. She also said distressedly: "When you return to the countryside, you will have to rely on yourself for everything. Take a good rest while you are at home."
Yu Huifang came home from get off work and saw her daughter. She took out a piece of paper and handed it to her, saying, "Nini, no less than twenty colleagues have come to me today to ask for the baskets you brought. I've written them down. Some people will come over to see the samples later. I'll hurry up and cook. Let's finish eating and clean up early."
Zhou Jiani became excited and quickly took out her little notebook to copy down the results. These were the actual results for tomorrow’s sales!
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