Witty Wife, Better Life
Chapter 458 - 448 Buying Rice

Chapter 458: Chapter 448 Buying Rice

After leaving the matter to Ma Liguo, Shen Yunfang continued with her own final exams.

Mid-January of 1980, Agricultural University went on holiday, and Shen Yunfang finally had some free time and started to get busy tidying up the courtyard house.

In December, she wrote to Li Xianglian, asking their family to come over in mid-January to help her with some work. If she had said it was for a visit, they might not have come, but to ask for help with work, with Big Sister Li’s temperament, they would definitely come on time. Of course, she also sent along the money for their train tickets with the letter.

Li Xianglian’s family would be staying almost until after the New Year, which was not a short time, and staying upstairs would be somewhat inconvenient. Li Xianglian’s family wouldn’t be comfortable either, so she thought about tidying up the courtyard house so that her family could stay there.

The courtyard house was fully furnished with furniture and bedding and such, but to have people staying over still required some preparation of necessities like firewood, rice, oil, salt, etc.

Especially now in winter, if the house didn’t have a stove burning, it would be impossible to live in, so Shen Yunfang planned to take advantage of her free time and go buy some honeycomb coal.

Buying honeycomb coal also required coupons, and Shen Yunfang originally didn’t have these coupons. However, knowing that Li Xianglian’s family would be coming back, she had asked Ma Liguo to exchange some for her in advance.

He was the one who handled the coupons, so it was a bit more convenient for him; casually using some of the Remittance Coupons in his possession, he exchanged quite a bit.

Honeycomb coal was cheap, at just over one cent per piece, and Shen Yunfang first bought two hundred pieces, transporting them in four trips back to the courtyard house and neatly stacking them against the wall.

She then visited the small market on the east side of the family housing area and actually saw someone selling grain.

A man in his forties, wearing a tattered overcoat, was squatting by the roadside with his arms in his sleeves, and a cloth sack in front of him that wasn’t even open. From the outside, it was impossible to tell what he was selling.

Shen Yunfang approached mainly because he looked like he was selling grain, so she asked the question with a try-and-see attitude. She didn’t expect that the man really was selling grain.

"Comrade, how much is this rice per jin?" Shen Yunfang opened the sack and revealed the rice inside. She grabbed a handful to inspect it and saw it was indeed this year’s new rice, but could tell at a glance that it was hand-hulled rice, still with some husks on it.

"Girl, this is all new rice from this year. If you really want it, I’ll give it to you for three jiaos per jin. It’s a bit expensive, but my rice is delicious, truly. If you can take it all, I’ll give you a bit more of a discount," the middle-aged man said nervously. He had inquired before and in the grain store, it was one jiao eight per jin, so his price was practically double that of the state’s.

He had just arrived and was selling rice for the first time. He dared not shout out loud for fear of drawing attention. He had heard there was a market here where one could sell without being caught, so he carried his rice over to sell. He had only been squatting there for a little while when someone came to inquire, making him so nervous his speech was a bit slurred.

Shen Yunfang looked at the cloth sack in front of her, estimating there were about fifty jin inside, "How many jin is in this sack in total?"

When the man heard that the attractive young woman was going to buy it all, he excitedly said, "There are fifty jin in total, I’ve weighed it at home and it’s definitely full weight. If you can take it all, I’ll charge you fourteen yuan and five jiaos."

Fifty jin of rice, totaling fifteen yuan; he was giving her a discount of fifty cents.

Although Shen Yunfang felt that the fifty-cent discount lacked impact, she also knew that the man was giving her a hard-earned discount. She might not consider fifty cents a big deal, but in those times, fifty cents held strong purchasing power.

At the very least, it was enough to cover the daily expenses of a family of three. If one knew how to manage, maybe fifty cents could last three or four days.

"Alright, I’ll take it all, but I don’t have a sack. How about you help me bring it to my place and I’ll pour the rice out for you," Shen Yunfang said decisively, agreeing to buy it all.

"Okay, where do you live? Is it far?" The man nodded in agreement, happy that he could sell all the rice in one go.

"It’s not far, just in this residential area. Put the bag of rice on my bicycle, and I’ll give you the money now," said Shen Yunfang as she took out the money from her pocket, counted out fourteen and a half yuan and handed it over.

The man rubbed his hands as he took the money, looked around cautiously, and then counted it carefully, back and forth twice, before carefully placing it close to his body. Then he picked up the bag of rice and set it on the rear seat of Shen Yunfang’s bicycle.

Shen Yunfang pushed her bicycle, and the man followed behind, holding onto the bag. The two of them made their way toward the courtyard house together.

On the way, Shen Yunfang struck up a conversation with the middle-aged man behind her, "Comrade, you must be a local farmer, right?"

The middle-aged man was very wary. Upon hearing her question about where he was from, he looked at her with a face full of suspicion. If it weren’t for his reluctance to part with the cloth bag holding the rice, he would have turned and run.

"Uncle, there’s no need to be nervous. I’m just asking; I don’t mean anything by it," Shen Yunfang quickly tried to reassure him with a smile. "Uncle, I see you’re here to sell rice, so I’m thinking your family must have quite a bit. We have many mouths to feed at home, and we’re always short on food. It wasn’t easy to run into you selling rice, so I was wondering if you have any extra at home. If you do, could you sell me some more?"

Li Xianglian’s household of five, with the youngest child being ten and two boys who could really eat, meant that fifty kilos of rice would last barely more than ten days. She thought that if this man had more rice at home, she would buy some more. She couldn’t let Li Xianglian’s family come over here and still have to scrimp and save.

"You want more rice?" the middle-aged man asked, skeptical.

"Yes, we have many kids at home, and this amount of rice won’t last long. So, I was thinking, if Uncle has more rice, you could bring some over when you’re free. The same price is fine, no need for a discount. I’ll take as much as you have," Shen Yunfang said, full of bravado.

She couldn’t have too much rice. Although she hadn’t gone through even half of the thousand-plus kilos of rice she had stored away in recent years, she still felt rice was cheap and it was good to stock up when possible.

"Really?" the middle-aged man’s eyes lit up.

"What else could there be but truth? In a little while, I’ll take you to my home, and if you have rice, just bring it to me," Shen Yunfang said as they walked on.

"Then, can I bring you two hundred kilos of rice tomorrow morning?" the middle-aged man asked tentatively. Two hundred kilos would mean sixty yuan.

"Okay, what time will you come tomorrow? I’ll be waiting at home for you," Shen Yunfang smiled.

"I’ll bring it to you tomorrow morning," the man said immediately. "So you want rice, eh? What about white flour? Do you want that too?"

"Yes, if you have flour, that’d be great. I’ll give you the same price as the rice, what do you think?" Shen Yunfang’s eyes crinkled with her smile.

"Hey, that sounds good. I’ll go home and get things ready. I’ll bring you whatever we have. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the weight is accurate. I can’t let you suffer a loss," the middle-aged man assured.

The two had already reached the courtyard house; Shen Yunfang propped up her bicycle, unlocked it, and pushed open the door to the courtyard house.

They entered the yard, and Shen Yunfang went inside to find a sack. Together with the middle-aged man, they poured out the rice.

The middle-aged man also realized that there was just this young lady’s family in the courtyard. No wonder she could afford so much rice; turns out, her family was wealthy.

The middle-aged man felt even more at ease, making up his mind to discuss it with his wife when he got home. They would save enough rice and flour for their own New Year, and sell the rest here. There was no need to worry about what they would eat themselves; they still had corn stalks, and consuming those was enough to fill their stomachs.