CH 116

A woman next to them heard them talk for a long time before she finally came up and asked, “Sister-in-laws, are you talking about the old Han family in the Shanzui Village?”

“Yes.”

“Her mother’s family is the Lin’s, right?”

“It’s her, do you know her?”

The woman snorted, “I know her,” She said and ran away with the basket in her hand.

…

Lin Lan turned to the commune after ‘sweeping’ the fair.

This time, she was just carrying 100 Yuan, but she didn’t know why she bought the vanity and refreshments of the world’s luxury buyers.

It was the kind of thing that she would take a look at, point at one or two to choose between them… before deciding that she would get all of them.

Haha, thinking about how the father and son were tongue-tied when she bought their goods, she laughed.

Dressed in patched up beggars’ clothing with jagged short hair as if a dog had gnawed on it, she walked on straw sandals and carried a rag bag, Lin Lan walked with confidence as if she had stepped out of the fashionable runway.

How smart of her!

Though, she suffered a setback when she arrived at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

The Supply and Marketing Cooperative was not big, though it was filled with the facade of three rooms and various revolutionary slogans posted on the south wall. They wrote “Bless the great Chairman M with long life and boundless life”, “We must fight against private interests and criticise corruption!” and also “Oppose corruption and waste!”

There were three counters on the left, middle and right. The left side sells bundles of cloth, clothes, shoes and socks. Unfortunately, there was no cloth at this moment.

When things were in stock, she had no ticket; but when there were tickets, there was no stock!

Gee, wouldn’t she be angry?

She had planned to buy all the clothes and cotton with the tickets.

Seeing so many people lining up, Lin Lan had no choice but to buy something else first.

Newly established households could use the household registration book to buy iron goods, such as hoes, iron rods, shovels, rakes, kitchen knives, etc. These items that were not on the collection like salt, oil, and cloth were all purchased and sold.

All the iron objects were too heavy, so she told the salesperson to store them here and wait for a man to pull them.

There was no problem with that request.

She bought two printed bowls, one large enamel bowl and ten thick porcelain bowls. She wanted to buy an enamel basin and a thermos but she couldn’t. These required special coupons, which she did not have. She then bought another round mirror, a comb, a grate, and also bought a few red headbands and hairpins which do not require tickets.

She bought some more items and saw that there was still a flute in the corner, so she asked if she could get it for a ticket.

The salesperson was eager to sell it as in a small country place, no one played with musical instruments at all, let alone spent their spare money to buy this stuff. This thing hasn’t been sold since it came in and it’s been lying there in ashes.

When he saw Lin Lan buying this thing, he wondered if she was the music teacher at the school.

Lin Lan wanted to buy some dry goods such as red dates, dried shrimps, and kelp, but they all needed non-staple food tickets, so she couldn’t buy them casually.

If they didn’t sell it, she really wanted to slap the 100 Yuan on the table and shouted, “Give me everything that 100 Yuan can buy!!!”

She had to figure out a way.

She tried to use some of her charms, “The rewards of the sea are those collected by people of the sea(2) and the People’s Liberation Army is the cutest, can you give me five pounds of red dates?”

(T/N: refer to explanation below)