When Zhang Xiuhe heard there were so many things, she was overjoyed and quickly nodded. “Yes! I’ll take all the grain!” She hadn’t expected there to be pork as well. Her family hadn’t eaten meat in a long time, and now she could finally let the kids have some.
“Okay. If you have ration tickets, I’ll charge you four yuan per jin for refined grains and five yuan per jin for pork. If you don’t have tickets, then it’s the previous price.” Shen Yao thought that since the couple were both workers, they probably didn’t lack ration tickets.
“Little sister, to be honest with you, my husband and I get a fair number of ration tickets each month, but we also have to subsidize our families back in our hometown, so we don’t have many left. Just charge me in cash.”
Zhang Xiuhe sighed. Both sets of parents in their hometown asked for subsidies from time to time, and she couldn’t refuse, so her family was indeed short.
Shen Yao quickly said, “Alright then. The rice and flour come to one 100 yuan, the eggs 6 yuan, and the meat 30 yuan. That adds up to one 136 yuan.”
Zhang Xiuhe silently calculated the price in her head, then went inside and came out with the money.
“Little sister, count it. Next time you have good things, bring them to me. I’ll need them all.” Zhang Xiuhe knew these things were expensive, but if she didn’t buy them, the family would go hungry. Besides, these were all scarce goods. If she didn’t buy them, plenty of others would snatch them up.
“Okay, Sister Zhang, don’t worry. I’ll be sure to think of you next time I have good things.” Shen Yao counted the money. Since it all matched, she prepared to leave.
Zhang Xiuhe thought of the many people in the residential compound who were short of food, so she hurriedly spoke up: “Little sister, can you get more grain today? A lot of people in this compound are short of food. If you have some, bring it over, and I’ll call a few people to share it. Don’t worry, they are all trustworthy people.”
“Alright, Sister Zhang. I’ll come find you in an hour.” Shen Yao wasn’t worried about safety. Her martial skills were no joke, and since her mental ability had risen to the third level this morning, she could directly attack or control people using her mind.
“Okay then, little sister. Take care.”
Shen Yao quickly left the residential compound. Just as she passed an alleyway, she noticed an elderly woman in her forties or fifties following behind her.
“Grandma, is something the matter?” Shen Yao asked calmly.
The old woman didn’t beat around the bush. “Young lady, do you have any more grain?”
“What do you mean?” Shen Yao didn’t answer directly.
“I saw you go into the residential compound with Zhang Xiuhe and guessed that you must have grain. Young lady, do you have any more? My daughter-in-law is in her postpartum period and can’t produce enough milk because she’s not eating enough. The baby is crying loudly from hunger.” The old woman’s eyes turned red. With food shortages worsening, her daughter-in-law couldn’t get enough oil and meat, and the baby was suffering along with her.
Shen Yao sighed to herself. This was only the first year, and so many people were already going hungry. Next year when the whole country’s harvest failed, things would be even harder.
After thinking for a moment, Shen Yao said, “Grandma, go wait for me by the big tree at the corner ahead. I’ll get the things and come over.”
“Good! Good! Thank you, young lady!” The old woman headed towards the big tree.
Shen Yao first found a secluded spot, made sure no one was around, and then transferred the grain from her space to her basket.
From a distance, she saw the old woman waiting under the tree. From her demeanor and clothing, it was clear that her family background was not ordinary.
The old woman saw Shen Yao approaching and said excitedly, “Young lady, you’ve come!”
Shen Yao understood what the old woman was worried about. It was all due to the environment. But this wasn’t something a small person like her could change.
Shen Yao smiled at the old woman. “Grandma, have you been waiting long?”
The old woman was overjoyed that Shen Yao had come. She had been afraid that the young lady would change her mind.
“It’s fine. It’s already very kind of you to come, girl.”
Shen Yao took the things out of her basket and put them into the old woman’s basket. “Grandma, here are ten jin of rice, five jin each of millet and cornmeal, thirty eggs, and two jin of pork. That comes to 91 yuan.”
The old woman knew these were good things and was very happy. Now her daughter-in-law could have a proper postpartum recovery.
“Young lady, can I trade with things instead?” The old woman took out a jade thumb ring and two gold rings from her pocket and pressed them into Shen Yao’s hands.
Shen Yao looked at the emerald jade thumb ring in her hand. It was a uniform green color, and when held up to the light, it sparkled with crystalline brilliance. It was a very rare old-mine glass type of jade that would be priceless decades later.
“Grandma, this jade thumb ring alone is worth far more than the grain, and you’ve also given me two gold rings.”
Even though Shen Yao really liked the jade thumb ring, she didn’t want to take advantage of the old woman. Besides, in her previous life, she had studied antique appraisal, so she could tell the quality of an item at a glance.
Seeing that Shen Yao liked it, the old woman knew she made the right choice. “Young lady, to be honest with you, this jade thumb ring would only get me five jin of refined grains on the black market. The two gold rings would also get me about five jin. There are people on the black market who specialize in buying old items, but the prices are pitifully low.”
When food is scarce, what good are nice things? People live by food. If they can’t even eat their fill, no matter how good something is, it’s not as important as grain. Very few people on the black market collect antiques under these situations.
Ever since private enterprises became state-owned, although the state had given the family a large sum of compensation, and family members continued to work in factories and earn high salaries, the rationed food was never much to begin with. Now refined grains were especially scarce, barely enough for a family to eat.
Normally, they had to rely on the black market for refined grains. But since a few months ago, food supplies had become tight. Now even with money, it wasn’t easy to buy grain.
Shen Yao also knew that the country currently forbade people from privately keeping or trading gold. Everyone was encouraged to exchange gold and silver for paper currency at banks. The price of antiques and collectibles was very low. However, many shrewd people knew that jewelry and antiques would appreciate in value sooner or later, so they would trade for them on the black market and keep them as collectibles.
“Grandma, I’ll take them then. This free-range chicken and two jin of brown sugar are for you as well.” Shen Yao reached into her basket and took out the items.
“Young lady, thank you!” The old woman knew the young lady was being kind. On the black market, she would never have gotten so much grain in exchange for those few old items.
“I didn’t lose out either, Grandma. I’ll be going now.” Shen Yao turned and left.
Seeing that time was about right, she found a place, took more grain out of her space, put it into her basket, and headed towards the residential compound.
This time, because she had brought out a lot of grain, she made another 650 yuan in the textile factory’s residential compound before leaving hastily.
After that, Shen Yao repeated the same method, switching to several other locations and earning over 300 yuan in cash. She also traded several dozen jin of grain for a pair of pure gold dragon-phoenix bracelets and spent a few yuan to buy a nice pair of jade pendants of good quality and color.
Maria Lian On CFRFGC Chapter 113