Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 110 Ready
With a piece of homespun cloth as a mat, along with the bowl he borrowed when buying tofu last time and his own two bowls, Chen Fan set off pulling the cart.

Jiang Lili followed beside him. After they reached the river embankment, her steps seemed to become lighter. They walked and talked along the way, only falling silent when they encountered groups of people tidying up the embankment. She watched Chen Fan greet them.

Nevertheless, it felt like it wasn't long before we reached team 10.

As soon as the two entered the small square of "Lujiawan CBD", the sales clerk of the agency who was sitting in the sun at the entrance saw them and immediately stood up and shouted, "Master Chen is here."

This shout immediately drew out everyone nearby.

The oil press master stood at the door looking around, quickly spotted his target, and without caring that he didn't know him, called out to greet him, "Master Chen is here."

Chen Fan nodded in response, "Hello, hello."

The tofu maker from the mill came over and said with a smile, "Master Chen, are you here to pick up some cotton wool? I just made some tofu, would you like two more pieces?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Okay, okay."

Jiang Lili quickly carried the four bowls over, "Master, these two are to return to you. Please also buy four pieces of tofu."

The tofu maker took the bowl, turned around and walked inside, saying, "Come in with me to get it."

At this moment, Chen Fan had already dragged the cart to the entrance of the cotton ginning workshop. The cotton ginner looked at the cart and said, "This is good, but it would be best to put a cloth under it. I'll find you a piece of cotton yarn."

He turned and went inside.

Before Chen Fan could even speak, he was thinking that he had brought his own homespun cloth. Huang Laosi gave him two pieces of homespun cloth. One piece was used to make a cloth bag, and there was still a small half left. The other piece was whole, 5 feet long and half a meter wide, which was just enough to cover the bottom of the cart.

But since the cotton craftsman had already gone inside to get the cotton yarn, he didn't say anything more.

However, it seems they were much more enthusiastic this time than last time.

Soon the cotton craftsman took out a relatively thick piece of old cotton yarn, spread it on the cart in a few quick movements, and then turned around and went inside to collect cotton wadding.

The sales clerk next door chatted with Chen Fan, "Master Chen, you write such good articles, they even got published in Yunhu Daily, amazing! It's only because Captain Su and the others were out dredging the dike that they would have come over to entertain you if they knew you were here."

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "It's just my job, nothing to mention."

At the same time, he thought to himself, "This Captain Su must be the squad leader of Team 10, right?"

At this point, he also understood why this time was even more enthusiastic than last time; he had a "cultural halo" attached to him.

Soon, six cotton quilts were loaded onto the vehicle. The cotton craftsman even covered the quilts with some scraps of cotton yarn and secured them with a cotton rope about the thickness of a finger.

By this time, Jiang Lili had already returned with two bowls of tofu. She placed the bowls on the cart, and after Chen Fan greeted everyone, he pulled the cart back.

As the cart drove away, the four men huddled together and gossiped.

The cotton craftsman asked, "They came together last time, and they're together again this time. What exactly is their relationship?"

The tofu maker said, "They all got paid for by that female educated youth when they bought things."

The cotton maker said, "Yes, yes, she also paid me for carding the cotton."

The oil press maker's eyes lit up. "Could it be that you're dating someone?"

The sales clerk pursed her lips and shook her head. "Not necessarily. Didn't they say that Master Chen came from the water? He didn't have a single penny on him. The gifts from the brigade and the squad were all supplies. It's normal for him to borrow money when he needed it."

He sighed regretfully, "I was waiting for him to come and sell the cured meat here, but he hasn't come at all. It seems he's planning to take the meat to the market." The cotton merchant replied, "What's the point of talking about that? Can't he make more money at the market? He's planning to take these cotton quilts to the market to sell."

The tofu maker gaped, "How much money would that cost?"

The sales clerk did some quick calculations: "The supply and marketing cooperative sells cotton wadding for 1.4 yuan per jin. If he sells it for 1.3 yuan, it'll be like robbery. 30 jin of cotton wadding would be 39 yuan. Actually, he can sell it for 1.4 yuan, since he doesn't need cotton coupons, so that would be 42 yuan."

He also has cured pork and cured fish. Cured pork is more expensive than fresh pork, and depending on the situation, it can sell for 1.2 to 1.5 yuan. Fish can also sell for 0.5 yuan per jin (500 grams). Adding in other miscellaneous items, it could probably sell for over a hundred yuan.

Upon hearing that it could fetch such a high price, the oil presser exclaimed in astonishment, "Good heavens, that's worth a whole ox!"

These days, an old yellow ox costs only 7 or 80 yuan, while a water buffalo is more expensive, costing around 200 yuan. However, you can buy a newly grown water buffalo or a good mule for 100 yuan.

If a family owned a large water buffalo or mule, and with a little hard work, they could guarantee their entire family a comfortable life year-round. Who wouldn't envy that?!
However, most of the commune members could not afford the money, and most of the time the livestock market was in short supply, making it difficult to buy cattle and horses. Basically, people would rush over to see the goods as soon as they heard that a production team had given birth to foals or calves, and if they were too late, someone else might snatch them away.

This makes these kinds of large livestock in rural areas particularly precious.

Once the conversation went off-topic, it was hard to get it back on track, so the four of them started speculating about how Chen Fan would spend all the money he had made.

As for the initial topic, what was it again?

……

After bringing the cotton wadding home, Chen Fan began preparing for the market day.

I had originally planned to spend the time between my early and late shifts at the brigade headquarters, using the time to read and learn. But now I have to postpone that.

If it's just selling things, that's fine. Whether it's cured meat, cured fish, or cotton wadding, just pack it up and take it away.

However, Chen Fan still wanted to make some money with those ten large turtles, so there was a lot of preparation work to be done.

Selling only soft-shelled turtles won't fetch a high price. There's no tradition of eating soft-shelled turtles here, and even if Chen Fan spreads his method for cooking them, it won't spread quickly enough, so acceptance will definitely be low.

Besides, if someone really knows how to cook turtles, they can just go to the pond or ditch and scoop them up, and bring home a basketful of turtles. Why would they need to spend money to buy them?

Therefore, the only way to sell turtles is to cook them into a ready-made food and sell them fresh.

Moreover, it must be sold while it's still hot. If it's not hot enough, even after cleaning, the turtle will still have a strong fishy smell, and people will be even less likely to buy it.

So here's the problem: besides the turtle, he also needs to prepare a stove and a pot, as well as firewood for starting a fire.

After heating the turtle, what kind of container to use to store it is also a problem.

How many people bring their own bowls when they go to the market?

Unless there is a very specific purpose, such as buying a bowl of tofu or something else, I will not bring special utensils. Without a bowl, even if someone really wants to buy it, they can only regretfully give up.

Even if they eat on the spot, Chen Fan would still need to prepare some tableware.

Chen Fan spent two whole days preparing everything around these two issues.

Now everything is ready, and I'm just waiting for tomorrow, the 19th of the twelfth lunar month, to take these things and earn my first pot of gold!

(End of this chapter)