Chapter 11: Chapter 0011: County Town Trip 3_1 Chapter 11: Chapter 0011: County Town Trip 3_1 Feng Qingxue thought the price was agreeable and agreed to the transaction.
“I brought about twenty jin of rice and flour, and twenty to thirty eggs, but I didn’t bring a scale.”
“We have one, I’ll take it over in a moment.”
The old woman hurriedly ran off. Feng Qingxue quickly finished her bun and headed toward the old elm tree.
Upon waiting under the elm for a short while, Feng Qingxue saw from a distance the old woman approaching with a man in his thirties carrying a bamboo basket on his back. They moved quickly.
“This is my son.” The old woman pointed to the man but did not tell his name.
Feng Qingxue followed the old woman behind the elm. The man kept watch.
When nobody was around, Feng Qingxue first opened the bag of eggs to let the old woman inspect.
“Oh, they are real eggs, they look so fresh.” The old woman was delighted, quickly weighed them – a total of three jin and two liang. She efficiently placed them in her small basket, then weighed the rice and flour that Feng Qingxue brought.
There were five jin and one liang of rice, eight jin and five liang of flour, and seven jin and three liang of brown rice.
Although it was brown rice, it was still considered to be a fine grain.
After a final calculation, Feng Qingxue rounded down the total, “The rice and flour are one hundred and twenty yuan, and the eggs are fifteen yuan.”
The rice and flour were calculated at six yuan per jin, while the eggs were calculated at five yuan per jin.
Upon hearing this, the old woman grimaced in pain.
It was expensive, but she still had to buy it.
Grains had become such a precious commodity that you couldn’t buy them even if you had the money. The old woman didn’t want to miss this rare opportunity.
Moreover, these fine grains could be exchanged for sixty to seventy jin of coarse grains.
Thus, the old woman swiftly fished out several large bundle of notes from her bosom, counted fourteen notes, and handed them to Feng Qingxue.
“Girl, I know these things aren’t easy to come by, so I won’t take advantage of you. Here’s one hundred and forty yuan. Remember to look for me when you get hold of good things next time. The wall you were leaning against while eating the bun is my house.”
Feng Qingxue took the money without any hesitation and placed it in her purse, which was actually her space.
She couldn’t think of a safer place than that.
Then, the old lady and her son with the bamboo basket quickly left, and Feng Qingxue also left the old elm shortly after.
After wandering around for half an hour and discovering two black market trading venues, Feng Qingxue returned to the market with her empty basket on her back.
Now with money, Feng Qingxue felt confident enough to enter a general merchandise store.
There were not many people in the store, and among those who were, most were simply browsing and few were buying anything.
The sales clerks behind the counter were so idle that they were cracking jokes, and they couldn’t care less about the customers.
Feng Qingxue wanted to buy a pair of shoes for herself and her sister – one pair for now and one pair of cotton shoes for winter. She also wanted to buy clothes for Feng Qingyun to prevent her from wandering around with bare legs. Thus, she walked to the clothing and shoe counter.
“Comrade, how much for that pair of shoes?” Feng Qingxue asked, pointing to a pair of cloth shoes suitable for children.
The sales lady was knitting a sweater. When she heard Feng Qingxue’s question, she looked up and snorted, “Do you have coupons?”
“Coupons?” Feng Qingxue looked surprised, as she momentarily forgot the fact that this era was a coupon era.
The sales lady sneered, “Why are you coming to the general merchandise store without coupons?”
A sense of contempt was clearly emitted.
Feng Qingxue felt uneasy and asked, “Do you need coupons to buy all merchandise? Can’t you buy it with money?”
“Of course, buying things requires both money and coupons. You can’t buy without any of them,” the saleswoman said arrogantly, “Don’t loiter around here without coupons. You’re blocking the light I need to knit.”