Chronicle of the 70s
Chapter 93 - 091 selling selling selling monthly ticket 180 additional - s

Chapter 93: 091 selling selling selling monthly ticket 180 additional Chapters

The woman was helpless due to the low price, and upon Li Xianglu mentioning something else was available, she immediately asked excitedly, "Do you still have this?"

Li Xianglu looked at the woman without changing her expression and did not answer. The woman, being clever, quickly handed Li Xianglu twenty yuan, an additional two yuan before taking the oil drum and leaving. It was not long before she returned with a fifty-year-old lady.

Both were visibly excited upon seeing Li Xianglu, especially the older lady who sized up Li Xianglu politely and asked, "Young lady, I would like a drum as well."

Li Xianglu took the drum and from her shoulder bag took out a small cloth bag, about half a kilogram in weight, and handed it over saying, "This is also available."

Upon seeing it was refined rice, the two lit up immediately. The woman, after looking around, pulled Li Xianglu to a corner eagerly and asked, "How much for this?"

Li Xianglu gestured three with her hand and added, "No need for food tickets!"

Both were instantly thrilled. Not needing food tickets was a steal since normal black market rice still required food tickets, even for two yuan per kilogram. The elderly lady hesitated for a moment and asked, "Can I exchange something for it?"

Li Xianglu’s eyes sparkled, and she quickly nodded.

The trio agreed to meet at the back door in half an hour before going their separate ways.

Meanwhile, Li Xianglu circled around, found a secluded alley to pull out a handcart from her home, then loaded it with two fifty-kilogram bags of rice and two oil drums.

She then covered them with an old burlap sack and leisurely pushed the cart to the side entrance where she waited.

This alley was behind a school and devoid of passersby, making it quite safe.

The older lady arrived first. Seeing no one around, she quickly approached, glanced at the covered items on the handcart, and excitedly pulled out a small handkerchief which held two golden yellow small yellow croakers.

The lady, speaking in Shanghai dialect, excitedly suggested, "The bank is eight dollars and fifty cents per gram, how about I give you eight dollars and three cents?"

Li Xianglu thought about it and shook her head, "Eight yuan per gram." Considering that the government had banned the private trade of gold and only allowed buying not selling, with banks adjusting for impurities, the resulting price often wasn’t more than seven yuan, she offered a fair deal at eight yuan.

The clever old lady promptly agreed, "Alright, that’s it."

She then quickly unveiled the burlap on the handcart. Upon seeing the two bands of urea mixed with grain underneath, she about couldn’t contain her excitement, covered her mouth, swal

The fish were ten grams each, totalling twenty grams. At eight yuan per gram, that came to 160 yuan. As for the fifty kilograms of rice at three yuan per kilogram, the total was 150 yuan, plus a ten-kilogram oil drum at two yuan per kilogram, altogether 170 yuan. The old lady happily handed over an additional ten yuan, glanced aside, and noticed a ten-year-old boy coming her way, carrying oil and running off first.

The old lady continued to wait, initially wanting to chat with Li Xianglu, but thinking back to mutual caution in the black market dealings, she chose to wait silently.

The little boy hadn’t returned yet, but the aunt arrived first, accompanied by a middle-aged man wearing glasses, looking scholarly and saying nothing. The woman slightly nodded after checking the rice and let the man carry it, but he, noticing another oil drum, keenly and quietly asked, "Little sister, can this be sold?"

Li Xianglu, gripping her money, nodded with a smile.

The man immediately told the woman, "Buy it, we can split this between the two elders at home."

Hearing that her own parents would get a share, the woman briskly took out twenty yuan.

Suddenly, everything was sold, and even the oil drums were returned. Before leaving, the old lady hesitantly asked Li Xianglu if there was more. This time, Li Xianglu resisted the temptation and firmly denied having more, then left.

Reaching a secluded place, she hurriedly stored the items into her Storage Ring, then mentally tallied up her gains. Gold bars couldn’t be sold, so she only counted the cash received, totaling two hundred and one yuan, still falling short.

However, time was running short, and Li Xianglu quickly took a tram back, soon seeing Qin Xi standing at the entrance of the hostel with a somewhat stern expression.

Li Xianglu’s heart raced as she hurriedly took a few steps forward and called out, "Brother Qin!"

Seeing the person who had returned, Qin Xi visibly relaxed and sternly said, "Where did you go!"

Seeing him upset, Li Xianglu quickly tried to appease him, "I just went for a walk. Oh, you’re back! Did you see the cotton clothes I bought for you? There are so many old things from Huai Country. They have a Casio watch there that would look absolutely great on you, but it’s just a bit too expensive."

Hearing the girl’s soft, pleading tone, Qin Xi’s anger immediately dissipated. Upon hearing she wanted to buy him a watch, his expression softened, and he reached out to ruffle Li Xianglu’s hair, saying, "Come on, let’s go back first."

Li Xianglu cheerfully followed him upstairs. They lived on the second floor. Hearing the sound of footsteps on the wooden staircase, Grandpa Li hurriedly came out to check and sighed in relief when he saw his granddaughter return, but he scolded, "You child, not listening again. Why did you run out alone?"

Li Xianglu stuck out her tongue and said nothing.

Mr. Li helplessly said, "Don’t do that again. Brother Qin was worried sick about you running out, he was waiting at the door when he came back."

Li Xianglu playfully patted Qin Xi’s shoulder and said, "Don’t worry, I can ask for directions."

Qin Xi replied irritably, "Yeah, you’re the best."

Just as Li Xianglu sat down on Grandpa’s bed, she heard thumping footsteps, raising her eyebrows in confusion, only to see Qin Xi shaking his head helplessly.

Then, someone walked up wearing summer rain boots, looking utterly pleased with themselves.

Li Xianglu’s mouth dropped open in surprise and after recovering, she burst into laughter, laughing so hard that tears came out before she finally stopped. Qin Zhen was really amusing, showing off that he got boots now, and rain boots at that.

But despite that, in the countryside, having a pair of rain boots was quite something. The production team didn’t have industrial coupons, so they couldn’t buy rain boots at all. When the rainy season came in spring and the ground was muddy, having a pair of rain boots was indeed very convenient.

Qin Zhen, feeling somewhat embarrassed and angry, complained to his brother. Qin Xi, looking annoyed, said, "Take them off, silly."

Qin Zhen took off the boots and brought over the pile of cotton clothes Li Xianglu had bought.

Li Xianglu took out the clothes she had bought for Mr. Li, Qin Xi, and Qin Zhen, held them up to size them up for each person, and fortunately, they all fit. After a good airing, putting on the cover shirts would definitely keep them warm.

ps: Wow, what a rush! It’s only a few hours in, and I was just thinking I probably wouldn’t need to update today, but after I went upstairs to deliver some materials, I came back to find that the monthly ticket had soared to 180!

There’s one more update to come in about an hour.

Thank you to bumaijialefu for the two monthly tickets! Thank you, it’s been several this month, hasn’t it?

Thank you to fairy from Mengzi Ting for the monthly ticket.

Thank you to MQ82831 for the monthly ticket.

Thank you to xhpxdq for the monthly ticket.

Thank you to the reader with the ID 150209152808307 for the monthly ticket.

Thank you to wdid007 for the monthly ticket.

Thanks to Liuye Mantian for the monthly ticket!

Thanks to Jinian Guo for the monthly ticket.

Thank you to 135355187461 for the monthly ticket.

Seems like there are duplicates? :)