Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 196 is now fixed.
"Reopen the market?"

Chen Fan looked up, his face full of astonishment. "Two days from now? There's not even any time to prepare?"

Today is the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, and the market will open on the seventeenth, meaning there's only a two-day gap, which isn't conducive to him causing trouble.

Secretary Yang looked at him and laughed, somewhat annoyed, "Are you trying to build cars or ships? Including today, three days isn't enough time for you to prepare?"

Chen Fan thought about it and realized it made sense. Nowadays, rural markets generally only trade agricultural products, with almost no industrial goods. At most, some residents from the town bring out some secondhand items to sell. So for farmers, all they need to prepare are the agricultural products and money; they don't really need to prepare for too long.

But then he pouted, "I was planning to fire a few kilns of pottery to sell, so every day I miss a kiln of pottery is a day less."

Secretary Yang was both amused and exasperated. Pointing at him, he said, "Who are you going to sell all that pottery to? I've heard that you've sold a lot of pottery in the last half month, from large charcoal stoves and water tanks to small bowls and basins. I can see smoke coming from behind your house every day in the brigade. Half the families in the brigade have bought pottery from you."

He paused for a moment, then deliberately lowered his voice, leaned closer to Chen Fan, and said with a mischievous smile, "You must have made a lot of money, right?"

Chen Fan immediately shook his head, denying it with a serious expression, "No, that's impossible. These days, you're not allowed to accept money. You won't give me a certificate to go out and sell it at the commune. I can only collect some old grains to barely make ends meet."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan suddenly felt a gust of wind coming from behind him. He immediately braced himself on the desk, leaped into the air, and jumped to the other side.

Turning around again, I saw Xiao Liewen pull his leg back, pointing at me and laughing and scolding, "You have more than a dozen bags of rice and paddy piled up in your room, each bag weighing two hundred jin. You call that barely making ends meet? The production team's warehouse doesn't even have as much grain as your family!"

"No, no, that's not possible."

Chen Fan repeatedly denied it, saying, "A sack can hold 200 jin of rice, but only 180 jin of paddy rice, which is quite a difference."

It's not that there's too much grain; it's just that grain prices are too cheap these days.

Newly harvested rice costs only 14 cents per pound, while old rice costs 13 cents, and paddy rice is even less, only 11 cents. A charcoal stove costs 10 dollars, which translates to 71.5 pounds of rice or 90 pounds of paddy rice.

In other words, two charcoal stoves could be exchanged for a sack of rice, or three charcoal stoves plus some small bowls and basins could be exchanged for a sack of rice.

A dozen or so bags of rice and rice, or just twenty or thirty charcoal stoves, were enough to fire the rice in two earthen kilns, and they didn't even need to be glazed.

Therefore, the price difference between industrial and agricultural products these days is truly enormous!
Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, Secretary Yang couldn't hold back any longer and swiftly pulled out his pipe.

Chen Fan jumped back in fright, "Why are they using weapons now?"

Secretary Yang glared at him, added some tobacco to his pipe, lit it, took a puff, and then said, "Normally, if a household breaks a bowl, they have to go to a bowl mender to repair it. It's only because your ceramic bowls can be written on the bottom and then fired again, and they're cheap, that people have bought so many from you."

But if you really want to make this a business, you're overthinking it. The supply and marketing cooperative has plenty of bowls and plates to sell, and they don't require coupons. At most, they'll sell them for a little more than you, but they'll still look better than what you cook.

There's a pottery maker in Shengli Brigade too, the one you bought the jar from at the market last time. Their skills are much better than yours; your bowls aren't even round…”

Chen Fan was displeased upon hearing this, "If you're going to praise someone, then praise them. Why do you have to compare me to him? I didn't have a potter's wheel. If I did, mine would definitely be rounder than his."

Xiao Liewen laughed from the side, "Old Yang means that every household has pottery, so if you want to make money from it, don't have too high expectations. Just fire two or three kilns, take some things over to try selling, and that's enough. Are you really planning to fire a kiln every day and become a kiln owner? If you fire too much, you won't be able to transport it all over the place."

Chen Fan clicked his tongue regretfully, "Fine."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Let's see when the next opportunity arises."

Since there's a second time, there will definitely be a third and a fourth. I should prepare more pottery.

Anyway, this stuff doesn't have an expiration date, so we can just sell it slowly.

Secretary Yang, smoking a cigarette, pointed at him with his pipe and said, "You know what, I heard the commune is discussing and planning to make the rural market permanent, just like before, open on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month."

Xiao Liewen was taken aback upon hearing this, and looked at him, saying, "Oh, this is a good thing."

If rural markets could be established permanently, members would have another channel to monetize their produce, making it much more convenient to exchange surplus agricultural products for cash or to buy other things.

Chen Fan was also somewhat surprised. He thought it would take a year or two before the farmers' market was turned into a permanent market, but he didn't expect the people below to act so quickly.

Since his mental strength increased to 9.5, his memory has become better and better, and he can remember many things he learned in school.

He vaguely remembered that it was not until the end of 78 or the beginning of 79 that "free markets" began to reopen across the country.

The so-called free market was actually a farmers' market that was open every day without tickets. It was very common before 65 and could be found almost everywhere.

After the free market was reopened, initially all the traded goods were agricultural products. However, not long after, some unplanned industrial products began to enter the market.

By the 80s, it was easy to buy everyday items such as cloth, clothing, shoes, washbasins, and kettles without coupons in the free market, so more and more people liked to go to the free market to buy things.

It's only 77, yet the commune leaders already had the idea of ​​restoring regular trading at the farmers' market, which was undeniably audacious.

While Chen Fan was daydreaming, Secretary Yang said to Xiao Liewen, "It's certainly a good thing, but it's not finalized yet, especially the location of the market. We can't let Ganjiacun benefit from it forever. There will probably be more arguments, and it definitely won't be settled in a month or two."

Xiao Liewen chuckled and said, "No matter what, having hope is better than having no hope at all."

Secretary Yang smiled and agreed.

He took a drag of his cigarette, then suddenly remembered something else. He immediately turned to Chen Fan and said, "The start date for the commune's veterinary class has been set. It'll be on the 18th of the first lunar month, which is Monday. Classes will officially begin on Monday, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The theory classes will be from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. The practical classes will be from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Go find Station Chief Zhou and ask him for the specific details."

Chen Fan nodded immediately, "Okay."

He then glanced at the two of them and chuckled, "Why don't I just go over on market day and give him a charcoal stove? That wouldn't be impolite, would it?"

Anyone still have monthly passes? If you don't know where to cast them, just give them to me, I won't mind (ω).
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(End of this chapter)