The woman immediately said with delight: "If you don't want to take it with you, you can sell it to your auntie. My family just happens to want to buy some rice."
Li Xianglu did not immediately agree, but hesitated and said: "Auntie, private transactions are forbidden! That's illegal!"
Upon hearing this, the woman instantly became serious and said: "We are not transacting, we are gifting to each other."
Li Xianglu's eyes lit up upon hearing this and she quickly said: "Okay, then let's gift to each other." Li Xianglu thought the woman before her was quite interesting, talking about gifting to each other. But indeed, there were many signs on the walls outside, among which was "Transactions forbidden, Gifting permitted."
The woman, knowing from Li Xianglu's words and actions that the child's family had a decent status, did not dare to take her lightly anymore. She quickly led her to the far-west side where a grinding stone was and began checking the grains. This was refined rice, each grain so clean without a single pebble, even better than the refined rice usually bought in the black market!
The woman, with rice in hand, joyfully blurted out: "Little girl, I'll take it all, how do you want to sell it."
Li Xianglu blinked and said: "Auntie, you can also see that this is not ordinary rice, this is refined rice, so you decide how much you're willing to offer. I don't plan to take it back, bringing it back would only cause trouble too. But it can't be too low, my mother got these from someone at the food station, and there are food tickets too."
The woman was slightly taken aback when she heard this but then smiled, realizing the child, despite her young age, was very shrewd and not easy to fool. She, not lacking money but short of food tickets, was from the textile factory's party committee, with a monthly salary of fifty-six yuan and five, the food supply rationed at thirty-eight kilograms, which was quite decent. And her husband was a factory director with a monthly salary of one hundred and eight yuan, a food quota of fifty-six kilograms, and a family of urban household registrants with a food quota of twenty-six kilograms. Her family was considered quite well-off in this big commune, but still short of food tickets.
The woman hesitated briefly before saying: "You name the price, and I'll see if I can make it."
Li Xianglu hesitated for a moment before saying: "Well, auntie, when my mother bought it, it was priced at two yuan and five for eight hundred grams of food tickets, but it might be difficult for you to come up with so many food tickets in one go. How about this, three yuan per half kilogram of rice, plus five hundred grams of food tickets, how's that?"
The woman's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and she clapped her hands immediately: "Good, I'll go get it right now." After speaking, she stood up, then turned around and said: "Why don't you come back to my courtyard with me? It's too conspicuous here."
Li Xianglu looked around cautiously for a moment, hesitating briefly. Even if someone robbed her of the rice, she couldn't risk being reported for speculative dealing, a serious crime during these times, punishable by imprisonment. So she nodded but carefully made a mental note of all the exits and passages around.
Not far away, after passing the three rows of courtyards at the front, they arrived at a larger house at the farther end. The woman quickly opened the iron gate, and Li Xianglu hurried in, but did not continue forward, instead watching the woman hurry into the house.
Li Xianglu carefully placed the twenty kilograms of rice on a stone stool and then carefully looked around. This was an independent small courtyard, the family's status in the textile factory mustn't be low, if not the director then perhaps the secretary, otherwise, they couldn't live in an independent courtyard, especially since the entire community usually had one courtyard shared by two households.
The house was built of stone bricks, which looked very sturdy. A stone table and some stone stools were set up in the center of the courtyard. The broad windowsills were used to dry some pumpkin seeds, covered with newspapers. This family was tidy as well—newspapers!
Li Xianglu excitedly eyed the newspapers on the windowsill. Right, used newspapers were the same, there's no need to have a recommendation letter to buy them. She'll just ask for some when the opportunity arises.
The woman soon came out of the room, carrying a handheld beam scale in her hands, and with an apologetic smile, she said: "We still have to weigh it, so the little sister doesn't lose out, right?"
Li Xianglu, eyes smiling behind her mask, didn't say anything. At such a moment, any word might hurt the friendly atmosphere, better to remain silent instead, and she obligingly handed over the rice.
The woman quickly weighed it, more than twenty-one jin indeed, even a bit extra. She felt a little embarrassed; had she known, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths and could have possibly saved a bit more.
The woman handed over sixty yuan first, then was about to dig into her pocket again, but Li Xianglu quickly stopped her: "No, auntie, this is enough. Keep the rest for your younger brothers and sisters to eat. I just don't know if you could spare some newspapers for me to pass the time on the road."
Immediately upon hearing this, the woman stopped her action of reaching for the money. Four yuan instantly unnecessary, this was indeed too good. It wasn't that she was petty, it was just that during this era, everyone was short of food and drink, saving a little where you could was important.
To ask for newspapers to entertain oneself on the road was practical, considering it took at least fifteen hours to drive to Provincial City from their place.
Thus, she went straight back into her house and soon emerged with a bundle of newspapers and a stack of books in her arms. Smiling at Li Xianglu, she said, "Little sister, all these are for you, as well as these books. Have a read when you're free."
Li Xianglu immediately accepted them, thanking her with a smile: "Thank you, auntie."
Seeing this, the woman immediately shook her head, then took out a stack of food tickets from her pocket and counted them again, speaking somewhat sheepishly: "Could I possibly give you some industrial coupons in exchange?"
Industrial coupons? Li Xianglu was momentarily puzzled. What were those?
Seeing the confused look on Li Xianglu's face, the woman grew even more certain that the girl in front of her must be from a wealthy and powerful family, someone who knew so little about life's basics and definitely didn't handle household affairs. She then explained, "Industrial coupons can be used to purchase things like wool blankets, nylon stockings, lunch boxes, and pots. I'm not entirely sure how they are divided, but basically, factory-made everyday items require industrial coupons." After speaking, she looked at Li Xianglu, slightly troubled.
Li Xianglu suddenly understood, realizing there were such coupons. She hesitated briefly, then said, "That works, but not too many please, I won't be able to use them all."
The woman nodded excitedly: "One to two food tickets for a coupon, exactly twelve industrial coupons for you, which can be exchanged for a pot."
Li Xianglu didn't quite grasp the exchange rate involved but accepted them anyway, carefully counting the tickets. Some were local food tickets, while others were National Food Tickets, meaning they could be used anywhere in the country.
Forty-four jin worth of food tickets and twelve industrial coupons - count was good. Li Xianglu stuffed the food tickets into her small bag and, lifting the books, said, "Thank you for today, auntie. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known what to do."
The woman smiled and responded, "No need to thank me; we are here to help each other."
Li Xianglu came out of the gate while the woman went back into her house.
After leaving the courtyard and making several turns to ensure no one was following, Li Xianglu hurriedly placed the newspapers and a few books into her space, then set off down the street with a cheerful stride.