When leaving, the villagers insisted on giving He Ruixue a sack of cotton, otherwise they would not let her go.
He Ruixue was unwilling to accept it, so the villagers took a step back and changed to a bag that was slightly bigger than a pillow. They stuffed cotton into it again and again, and pressed it down until it was more than ten pounds.
The village chief handed the bag to her forcefully. "Take it, it's not worth much money. What Comrade He taught us is really useful. You can't learn it even if you pay. Why are you being so hesitant? What's the matter? Do you think we country folks have nothing to offer?"
"No, they're all good things. Everything I eat and wear comes from the countryside. How could I possibly not like them?"
He Ruixue accepted it "helplessly" and walked a few steps towards the village entrance.
On the way, a few women stopped her and stuffed a bag of fruit into her hands. Yahuazi almost laughed out loud, "Comrade He, these are wild fruits picked by the children from the mountains. I picked out a few good ones for you to taste. If you like them, come back next time and our whole village will treat you to a pig-killing feast."
He Ruixue thanked them again, waved to them continuously, and walked onto the main road amid the villagers' warm farewell, and squeezed onto a passing donkey cart.
The driver was a man in his thirties. Seeing her get on so hastily, he didn't try to drive her away. Instead, he joked with her, "Wow! Young comrade, we're acting like we're seeing you off for eighteen miles. What are you carrying with all these bags?"
"These are local specialties given by the villagers. Comrade, where are you going?"
"How dare you get in my car when you don't know where I'm going? Aren't you afraid I'll drag you away and sell you off?"
He had a cigarette between his lips and was cracking his whip intermittently. "I'm going to the county to visit my relatives."
"I'm going to the county guesthouse. Just drop me off at the county gate later."
He Ruixue was quite familiar. She put the things beside her legs and said, "Give me a ride. I'll treat you to a meal at the state-owned restaurant later. How about that?"
"Okay, then sit tight. If you speed up, you can still make it in time for dinner."
He pulled it aside, and the donkey brayed, lifted the peg and ran away.
He Ruixue closed her eyes to rest, and the system came to make its presence felt again.
[During the event, you can trick someone into giving you 13 pounds of cotton, 3 apples, and 4 pears. A 4x critical hit will reward you with 52 pounds of cotton, 12 apples, and 16 pears.]
She is now immune to the misunderstandings and evaluations given to her by the system, and she doesn't even frown.
Cheating? She was exchanging knowledge for material goods.
The villagers have to thank her.
However, the system was quite nice to her, saying it was a critical hit in terms of quantity, and secretly gave her a bonus in terms of quality.
Although the fruits the villagers gave her were carefully selected, after being stored for a whole winter, the skins were inevitably wrinkled and looked rather juicy.
But those in the reward space are similar to the fine fruits cultivated in later generations. The colors are as bright as those in the pictures. It seems that you can smell the fragrance through the space, making people salivate.
She complained, "Little system, do you understand the joy of getting something for free?"
She was not a fool. If she directly asked someone to buy cotton, she would easily be reported for speculation. Besides, she had no evidence and no one was willing to sell to her.
Purchasing in the name of the company? Don't be ridiculous, she only bought a small amount, and people thought she was just looking for entertainment.
It's not like she's buying vegetables at a southern vegetable market, where even a single onion can be sold to her individually.
It’s different if it’s a gift.
Now the villagers know how to sort cotton, and their income will increase in the future. She got what she wanted just by talking. It's a win-win situation.
As for the county purchasing station, although it lost a little money, the employees will have one less step to go through in the future, right?
He Ruixue thought irresponsibly, put cotton pads on her lower back, changed to a more comfortable position, and asked the person in front of her, "By the way, what's your name?"
The driver turned his head and said, "Xu Mingyu."
"My name is He Ruixue."
"oh."
After meeting a topic terminator, they were silent all the way to the county town. He Ruixue kept her promise and took him to the largest state-owned restaurant.
It's said to be the county's signature restaurant, but it's just a renovated courtyard house. The main room has been opened up to form a lobby, with a blackboard hanging in the middle, on which the menu is written in chalk:
Stir-fried Lamb with Green Onions
Stir-fried mutton and cabbage
Stir-fried beef with green onions
Pork and sauerkraut stewed with vermicelli 1.8 cents
Chicken stewed with mushrooms 15 cents
Potato stewed chicken
Potato beef stew 2.5 cents
Scrambled Eggs with Green Peppers
The staple foods include steamed buns and rice. Steamed buns are five cents each, rice is 18 cents per pound, steamed corn bread is 1 cent, and noodles are 10 cents.
The 1960s was not the past. Beef and mutton were very cheap. People thought they were not very oily and were not very popular. In many places, beef and mutton were cheaper than pork, just like the people around Yangcheng Lake who relied on hairy crabs to survive during the famine.
He Ruixue took out her meat ticket and ordered a stewed beef with potatoes, a stir-fried lamb with green onions, and a fried egg. For the main course, she wanted three or two taels of rice. Xu Mingyu didn't bother to be polite with her and asked for a bowl of noodles.
The waiter was even more arrogant than the salesperson, "A total of seventy cents, five taels of meat coupons, and eight taels of grain coupons."
"Comrade, here you go."
He Ruixue counted out the bills and handed them to her, then sat in an empty seat and waited for a while. Xu Mingyu was quite obedient. Seeing that she had paid, he of course had to contribute. He kept staring at the dishes in the window, and when he saw that they were almost ready, he would go over to serve them.
As for waiting for the waiter to serve the food, that's impossible.
The food tasted good. Both of them were very quiet while eating and didn't communicate much throughout the meal.
Xu Mingyu finished his meal and wiped his mouth. "Comrade, you are a good person, generous, and good at doing things. Judging from your accent, you are not from the county, right?"
"Well, I'm on a business trip from the city and will be back soon."
"Okay, let me introduce myself again. I'm Xu Mingyu, a researcher at Huiguang Chemical Factory. I was on my way to the river today to collect samples for testing, and it's fate that I met you on the way. If you have the chance to come again in the future, I'll treat you to a meal in our factory cafeteria. The food is just as good as this restaurant."
He extended his hand, and He Ruixue shook hands with him, a little surprised.
At first, seeing that he was dressed shabbily, she thought he was a coachman from some village, but she didn't expect him to be a serious intellectual, who was really not particular about details.
Huiguang Chemical Plant is a large factory that produces chemical products such as soda ash, as well as a wide variety of catalysts and additives. It can be said that it supports a large number of soap factories, fertilizer factories, etc. in the surrounding area. Even the neighboring province has to purchase raw materials from here. It is a key factory in the province.
"Okay, I'm the purchasing manager of the Second Department Store in Qingyang City. You can come visit me when you get to the city."
The two smiled at each other, left the hotel and went their separate ways.
After staying in the guesthouse for one night and buying some local specialties in the county town, He Ruixue took the train back to the city.
Instead of going to the store, she returned home with two bags of cotton and fruit. She didn't take out the fruit as a reward from the system. After all, the difference between the two was too big. Where could she get fresh fruit in the middle of winter? It was obvious that there was something wrong with it.
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