Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 1774: Arrangements to Return Home 5

Chapter 1774: Chapter 1774: Arrangements to Return Home 5

Feng Qingxue put on a look of surprise, having already lowered her scarf to reveal her true face.

"My family is really short on Grain Tickets, Cloth Tickets, and Industrial Coupons. It’s not just my family; everyone in our village is short. If I could bring some back home, my father-in-law and husband certainly wouldn’t blame me for not finding relatives. Compared to those relatives who gave me false addresses, tickets and money are practical. The kid’s tuition for next year would be covered, and we’d have Grain Tickets too. Maybe I could even get the kid a new set of clothes for the New Year." _{fr.e ewe.bno.vel .com}

Old Lady Qin thought she might have a deal and cheerfully said, "Yes, that’s right. Otherwise, taking so much back would tire you out and be hard to explain. You might even break the eggs on the way. Girl, I won’t cheat you. Sell me the cured meats, and I’ll pay the money as promised, one fifty per pound, which is better than the store price. I’ll also give you five pounds of Grain Tickets and five Industrial Coupons. How about that?"

These items fetch quite a high price on the black market near the year’s end, almost double.

"I want some too, girl. I need to save my Industrial Coupons for a sewing machine, but I can give you ten pounds of Grain Tickets," Auntie An immediately chimed in. Her eldest son is a miner, and her second son works at the coal plant, receiving forty-five pounds’ supply every month. Grain Tickets aren’t money, so by saving them, they’re spare. However, with Grain Tickets alone, one still has to pay money for the grain.

Feeling at a loss, Feng Qingxue said, "I don’t have a scale."

Auntie An quickly said, "I have one at home, I’ll go get it and a basket for the things as well."

The other two also took the opportunity to go home to get containers and money, and soon returned with three or four middle-aged and elderly women, all smiling happily, clearly here for the New Year’s goods. They kept their voices low, not daring to make a ruckus.

Feng Qingxue straightforwardly set the prices according to Auntie Qin’s suggestion: cured meats, dried chicken, and duck were one fifty per pound, with tickets and coupons not included. Compared to fresh meat, the cured meats and dried chicken and duck had no moisture, reducing wastage, so the price wasn’t high at all. Eggs were six cents each, and they were quickly divided among them.

Feng Qingxue collected a total of eighty-six dollars from two big baskets of goods, after rounding off the change. Additionally, she received thirty-seven pounds of local Grain Tickets, twenty-three Industrial Coupons, one Cloth Ticket of seven feet, and one and a half pounds of Sugar Tickets.

Old Lady Qin kept her word and gave her half a bag of white sugar, while Feng Qingxue waived the one dollar and eighty cents of change for her.

Imitating the method, Feng Qingxue changed outfits and wandered near the flour mill a good distance from the coal plant. From the workers’ families, she exchanged for over a hundred dollars and a pile of tickets and coupons. Finally, she stepped into the scrap recycling area’s range and sought a few good trades, exchanging old valuables for fine grains and cured goods. What kind of old items could trade for how much was entirely up to her judgment.

At this time, who didn’t have some old things at home? Near the scrap recycling station, who hadn’t picked up some usable old items from there?

After more than ten years of learning and with antiques in her space to study, Feng Qingxue had long honed her appraisal skills. She traded tens of pounds of flour, rice, noodles, and cured meat for three or four valuable items for the future, while the rest were very ordinary.

The small-footed old woman who exchanged the last bit of white flour from her with Feng Qingxue pointed to the house of Deng Nan’s ex-wife in the distance and whispered, "They have many old items. The wife he married was the daughter-in-law of the former landlord Deng family, Zhang Rong. Everyone knows that before she reported Deng Nan, she secretly kept many of the Deng family’s possessions. Because she contributed to the report, her dowry and everyday items were not confiscated. Many in the dowry were gifts from the Deng family back then, and she’s lived comfortably all these years."