Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 402 - 0402: Proud of You 2_1

Chapter 402: Chapter 0402: Proud of You 2_1

Wang Zhengguo didn’t enter with them, he stayed outside watching the mule cart.

The rent mule cart they used, had to be safely returned to Wanglou Brigade. It was their greatest source of labor.

Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue walked into a grocery, finding many shelves empty. The egg shelf had no eggs, and the cake shelf had no cakes, most of the salesclerks were idly chatting while stitching fabric.

Feng Qingxue was immediately taken aback, what was going on?

"There’s no stock! Or it’s all sold out." Lu Jiang calmly spoke.

Fortunately, there were some loose sugar left in the sugar section, and some lean meat and bones leftover in the butcher section, which usually were not popular.

The prices of pork, fat, and lean were all the same, about 72 cents per pound. In the absence of cooking oil, citizens preferred fatty pork. Unless their Meat Ticket expired, they wouldn’t queue for lean meat and bones. However, when buying meat, one had to rely on the mastery of the butcher, since whatever they cut, fatty or lean, you had to buy, with no option of picking and choosing.

Lu Jiang brought back four pounds of Meat Tickets, of varying denominations. They were not used when he was in the border troop because there was no meat in the canteen.

"Comrade, could you please cut us two pounds of meat, is this from the front leg? Cut from the front leg." After Feng Qingxue finished speaking, she looked at the remaining head and hooves, "How much is the pig’s trotter? And the pig’s head?"

The meat is definitely fresh from the same day, it just looked less vivid due to the cold weather.

"Two pounds of meat? Good heavens! In all my years as a butcher, this is my first time encountering someone who wants two pounds cut at once." The butcher first accepted the Meat Ticket, while speaking, he skillfully cut a piece of front leg meat, precisely two pounds, "The pig trotter is a cent, and there’s only one left. Except for nursing mothers, people generally don’t buy it, claiming it’s too much trouble and lacks meat. Cooked pig’s trotters out there are only a cent."

Is it really that cheap?

Feng Qingxue hurriedly asked, "Do we need a ticket? We only have two pounds of Meat Tickets left."

The butcher paused to think, "You don’t need a ticket for the pig trotter, nor for the pig’s head. Cooked pig’s head meat is quite fragrant! The offal doesn’t need a ticket either, and is considerably cheaper. There’s half a pig’s head left, weighing roughly over four pounds, fifty cents per pound."

At this point, it probably wouldn’t sell if left any longer.

Those who wanted to buy meat generally queued up at dawn. If state-run restaurants needed any, they would mention in advance. Having not mentioned in advance meant they did not require any more.

Sometimes, meat wasn’t sold not because the citizens didn’t want to buy them, but because their supply was limited and their Meat Tickets were used up. This kind of situation rarely happened since most of the time, the demand for meat exceeded the supply.

Feng Qingxue asked Lu Jiang to take out the money for payment and then asked how much the stock bones cost.

"No need for a ticket, they are one cent per pound."

"Ajiang, buy some to make bone broth for everyone back home, Xibao can also have some, and we can add it to noodles."

So, Feng Qingxue bought two pounds of lean meat, half a pig’s head, a pig trotter, two stock bones, and a generous amount of pig intestines that didn’t require a ticket. It cost her three dollars and ninety-eight cents in total. The butcher exclaimed that he had seen a big spender today.

Turning around, Lu Jiang spent five dollars to buy two pounds of high-grade milk candies.

The sugar quota was two pounds. Buying toffees amount to two pounds, as did fruit candies, although fruit candies were substantially cheaper.

Feng Qingxue complained, "You could have just bought some fruit candies, it wouldn’t hurt to share it with other children, and it’s less conspicuous. Handing out toffees isn’t the same. It’s going to be awkward regardless; aren’t we blatantly telling others we are living a good life?"

"I didn’t think about it at the time, I just wanted to get something nice for our child." Lu Jiang scratched his head, regretting his impulsive purchase, yet it was too late to take it back.