CH 117

The salesperson was stunned for a moment, “Unless the sun rises in the east, it’s really impossible without the tickets.”

Lin Lan pushed herself over and took a good look.

The salesman smiled and waved his hand, “No way, if you are from your village, you have to ask for the commune.”

Lin Lan snorted inwardly. She didn’t know that she needed the commune? But the commune was only given to the employees and not to the communal members.

“I’m from a poor and lower-middle peasant family, but my husband is from the People’s Liberation Army. As a comrade, please be accommodating and weigh a few pounds of it for me. My child is anaemic.”

The salesperson became more and more convinced that Lin Lan was a teacher, so he quickly picked up the household registration book and looked at it. He then found that there was no label on the back, so it was a member of Shanzui Village.

He was a little stunned and didn’t know what to say for a while.

Although the cultural revolution was in full swing, it was not so active in the big cities, remote areas, and especially in the countryside. What’s more was that the situations in the second half of the 1970s were already stable. Except for a certain vice-chairman who frantically issued the Red Book, it was generally stable.

Below the county seat, in the commune villages, as there were many uneducated farmers, it is impossible for everyone to memorise the quotations.

Not only did they not memorise well, but they might also make mistakes and make a fool out of themselves, so the cadres instructed the advanced members to study and exercise regularly while the ordinary members concentrated on production.

Therefore, there was no need to shout slogans in the commune Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.

He was stunned by what Lin Lan said.

(T/N: As an overall summary, what Lin Lan said about the sea was something that advanced members memorised and could recite easily where the lower members wouldn’t be able to as they weren’t really educated. And her saying that she was from the village wasn’t a lie and further proved that she needed the dates for the ‘anaemic’ child. This made the salesperson know that her husband was a high ranking member and also he might have the sympathy for her family condition)

“Comrade, I didn’t lie to you; just look at my household registration book. My husband is a soldier and he is not at home all year round. I have five children at home and I don’t enjoy his benefits. I just split up my family and I can’t even eat properly at home. Each of the five children have a yellow face and thin skin. I can buy some red dates to supplement their nutrient and some small shrimp skin and kelp to supplement calcium. Is there any problem with that?”

The salesperson was still embarrassed, “There are regulations and we can’t sell them to you without the ticket and the non-staple food book issued by the commune.”

“Why don’t you sell it to me? My husband is in the People’s Liberation Army. I have never enjoyed any benefits at home and I don’t need any help from the government, so why can’t I buy some red dates with my own money? That’s not good, I want to see your leaders!”

“Just sell it to this sister-in-law. It’s not easy for her and she’s still from a glorious family,” Someone shouted from a member of the commune who lined up to buy some fabric.

Most members of the community did not buy this kind of thing, so they were happy to be good people.

In the end, the sales clerk had no choice but to go to the back and ask the old boss.

The old boss took a look at the household registration book and he knew who Han Qingsong was by looking at his name. After all, there were only a few officers in the entire commune.