I almost starved to death, and only when I had absolutely no other choice did I obediently go to work. As for sending local specialties, forget about it; I didn't send letters or make phone calls home every month, asking for this or that.
After wandering around the pharmaceutical factory for a while, seeing that time was running out, I found a public restroom, quickly changed my clothes, and went to the supply and marketing cooperative. I didn't buy anything there, but instead asked the sales clerk, "Excuse me, is Comrade Li Guifang there?"
"May I ask who you are? What can I do for Director Li?"
"Li Zhiqing, what brings you here?" Gu Cuicui, who was standing by another shelf, turned around and asked after hearing my voice.
"Xiao Gu, do you know this young comrade?"
"Sister Yingying, she's one of the educated youth in our production brigade."
"Oh, is there anything I can do for you, Director Li?"
"I'm her niece, can't I contact her for no reason?"
"Yes, yes, Director Li is in the second room on the right in the back yard. She's in her office right now."
"OK, thanks"
After I left, the girl named Yingying asked Gu Cuicui, "Cuicui, is Comrade Li always like this? Always with a stern face."
"I don't know either, I've never seen her inside."
"But she doesn't look very old."
"She's not very old, only 14 this year (by Chinese reckoning)."
"Why were you sent to the countryside at such a young age?"
"I heard her parents recently passed away, and she had no choice but to go to the countryside."
"Oh, so she's the child of a martyr." Remembering that she was also Director Li's niece, he decided not to ask any further questions.
Gu Cuicui, who was standing to the side, wanted to say more, but she didn't know what to say. Seeing that the other person wasn't asking any more questions, she stopped talking.
Seeing that the room door was closed, I knocked on it.
"Please come in."
"Auntie, did I disturb you?"
"No need to disturb you, Mianmian, what brings you here? Please come in and sit down."
"I haven't been to the county town for a while now, so I came over today to collect my subsidy and also to bring you and Uncle Zhou some groceries."
"Look at you, child, you came all this way, why did you bring all this?"
"Auntie, there's nothing fancy here, just some vegetables and stuff. Besides, most of it is homegrown; the rest I traded with other villagers."
"Then you're at a disadvantage."
"You won't lose out. It's not like it's anything valuable, just a few pieces of fruit candy. You can exchange them for half a basket of vegetables."
"That's fine."
"Oh, by the way, Auntie, I was thinking of buying something, but I'm worried about the salespeople outside..." I deliberately didn't finish my sentence.
"What's wrong, Mianmian?"
"It's nothing. You know Gu Cuicui is from the same production team as me. If she buys something here, the whole village will know, and then someone will definitely ask me to borrow something. I'm young, and I can't refuse to lend it to them. The key is that I'm from out of town and I have something to do."
"Okay, I know that. It is indeed something. Mianmian, what are you planning to buy? The supply and marketing cooperative happens to have some defective goods. No coupons are needed, just pay. What do you think you need? I'll go get it for you."
"Auntie, here are the tickets and 20 yuan. You can decide how much to buy."
"Okay," she said, taking the tickets. She looked them over, picked out the ones that were about to expire, and handed the rest to Mianmian, saying, "These tickets will expire in a month or two, so I'll let you use them to buy the corresponding items at the counter. These tickets still have more than half a year left, so you can use them when they're close to expiring. As for the cloth tickets, cotton tickets, etc., you can keep them for now and save them up. Come back around the New Year, and I'll save them for you in advance."
"Okay, we'll do as your aunt says. As for the other things, we have everything in the warehouse. They may have some minor flaws, but we don't need tickets, so it won't affect their use. You and your aunt can go together and see if there's anything you need."
"good"
My aunt led me to the counter first, and then to the girl named Yingying. She said, "Xiao Sun, please prepare all the things for me using these coupons. For those grain coupons, please weigh out two jin for each type of pastry, and also weigh out two jin for the biscuits that don't require coupons."
"Okay, Director," Sun Yingying said, then took the ticket, looked it over, and compared it with the receipt to make the correct one.
Seeing that Xiao Sun was struggling to manage on his own, and noticing that Director Li was personally leading a team over, Sister Song quickly said, "Xiao Sun, don't rush. Take your time, check the tickets carefully, and I'll help you weigh the snacks."
"Oh, thank you, Sister Song."
In just a few minutes, everything was ready. The aunt asked, "How much did it cost in total?"
"Total: 10.85 yuan"
"Okay, here's 11. Please give me your change."
"Okay, here's 0.15 yuan."
"Alright, you guys go ahead with your work," she said, leading me to the warehouse. There was an old man guarding the warehouse entrance. My aunt called to him, "Uncle Liu, I've brought my niece here to pick out some defective items. Come on, Mianmian, are you here to greet Grandpa Liu?"
"Grandpa Liu"
"Hello, okay, Xiao Li, you can take the child and go find him. Just pay the fee when he comes out."
"OK"
And so, my aunt led me to the warehouse where the defective goods were stored. Seeing the shelves filled with items, I thought to myself, "There are quite a few defective ones." Worried that I had just arrived in the countryside and might lack everything, my aunt said, "You've only been here a short time and probably need everything. Take a few of these daily necessities with you."
"Okay, I'll do as my aunt says."
"If you don't have enough money, just tell your aunt."
"I have enough money. I just received two months' worth of subsidies, and besides, I have my parents' pension, so I'm not short of money for the time being."
"That's fine. Since you're not short of money, take whatever you like."
So, Li Guifang thought that I was alone in the countryside and must lack everything, so she brought me two of everything she saw that I thought I might need. Why not just one? What if one wasn't enough? Besides, these are things that even with money and coupons, you might not be able to buy, let alone now that you don't need coupons.
After carefully selecting what they had, they packed it into two nylon bags. When they came out to pay, even Grandpa Liu, the gatekeeper, was a little surprised.
The aunt quickly explained, "This child's parents were comrades-in-arms with my husband, Zhou. They recently sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, leaving behind this child. We were worried about leaving her in the city, so we arranged for her to be sent to the Gujiawaizi Brigade of Daying Commune. She happens to be in the same brigade as Xiao Gu at the front desk."
Grandpa Liu was a soldier who was wounded in battle and retired from the army. After returning to his hometown, he was assigned to work as a warehouse manager at the supply and marketing cooperative. As a former soldier himself, he had a natural affinity for soldiers and never expected that the young girl in front of him was a descendant of a martyr.
He said, "Good boy, if you need anything in the future, just come to me, Old Liu. If Xiao Li isn't around, it's the same thing."
"Thank you, Grandpa Liu."
"No need to thank me, I, Lao Liu, am a former soldier. You and I..."
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