My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 12 Observations of the Times
Everyone is struggling to make ends meet these days. Although Shanghai is China's largest and most prosperous city, and is much better off than other places, this improvement is only limited.

Starting last year, the policy on educated youth began to loosen, and some educated youth returned to the cities one after another. Some of the more resourceful ones began to find ways to do some business to supplement their family income. In addition, with the policy changes after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, although private business was still not legal, basically no one cared about it. As the saying goes, "If the people don't complain, the officials won't investigate," and everyone turned a blind eye.

Listening to the middle-aged woman's words, Zhou Jiye seemed to be deep in thought.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Zhou Jiye ended his conversation with the middle-aged woman and left the fish stall to continue walking. Not far ahead were several temporary stalls, and just as the middle-aged woman had said, a few small business owners arrived at this time, setting up their goods at the stalls and busily preparing, some sitting and some squatting.

Besides those selling things, there were also people doing handicrafts. Zhou Jiye saw several people sitting on the curb at the exit, each with a cardboard sign the size of a book in front of them, on which several large characters were written in calligraphy.

Some signs say "carpentry," some say "plumbing," and others say "painting." However, the "paint" in "painting" is written strangely, as "oil," but you can still understand it by reading the words.

Zhou Jiye glanced around and couldn't help but marvel at how open Shanghai was compared to other places. Even at this time of year, the city was already bustling with signs of private trade. Everything he saw reassured him; it seemed coming to Shanghai with Lin Ying was the right decision. Back in the Northwest, it would probably have taken several years to achieve this.

Zhou Jiye decided to write down what he saw, heard, and learned so he could think about it later. He found a corner, lit a cigarette, squatted down, took out a small notebook from his pocket, and began to make notes with a pencil. He understood the principle that a bad pen is worse than a good memory.

While he was concentrating on writing, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. Startled, Zhou Jiye instinctively looked up.

"Hey buddy, got a cigarette?"

A young, unfamiliar man stood beside him at some point, wearing a blue patched work uniform, but the clothes were clean. He had an ordinary appearance, was of medium height, and was quite sturdy.

"Smoke?" Zhou Jiye asked instinctively.
The other person pointed to the cigarette that Zhou Jiye hadn't finished smoking and forced a stiff smile: "Could I borrow a cigarette?"

As soon as he heard this, Zhou Jiye immediately understood what "borrowing" meant; it was clearly "demanding."

Zhou Jiye smiled, stood up, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and handed one to the other man. The man took out a match, lit it, and took a deep, blissful drag. Judging from his expression, he was clearly a seasoned smoker who had been holding back for a long time.

"Is one enough? Should we take two more?" Zhou Jiye asked with a smile, generously pouring out two more cigarettes from the pack.

The young man glanced at Zhou Jiye with some surprise, seemingly taken aback by his actions. But soon, his gaze fell on the two cigarettes Zhou Jiye had taken out. After thinking for a moment, he reached out, took one, tucked it behind his ear, and patted Zhou Jiye's arm, saying, "Thank you, friend. One more is enough. I'm leaving."

After saying that, the young man turned and left. Watching the other person walk away, Zhou Jiye didn't take the incident to heart. He continued to write down what he hadn't finished writing in his notebook, then put the notebook in his pocket and walked forward.

After leaving the market, Zhou Jiye continued walking. He didn't have a specific purpose for coming out today; he just went wherever there was excitement and even took a stroll through a few nearby alleyways.

For the entire day, Zhou Jiye wandered aimlessly. At noon, he encountered an old master craftsman on the street who was painting sugar paintings and sculpting dough figurines. He stood aside and watched with great interest for a long time. He had to admit, these old masters were truly artisans; their skills were incomparable to those of decades later. Whether it was the sugar dragons and phoenixes painted on the iron plate or the dough figurines they sculpted, everything was incredibly lifelike. In Kyoto parlance, they were simply unparalleled.

Zhou Jiye continued wandering around until the afternoon before heading back in the direction he remembered. By the time he got back to his lodgings, it was already past five o'clock. It had been quite an tiring day. When he returned to his humble abode, Lin Ying was also back, squatting at the door fiddling with the coal stove she had bought the day before.

Where did the coal briquettes come from?

Zhou Jiye was surprised. They had bought the stove yesterday, but having the stove alone wasn't enough. They needed to burn coal briquettes or coal cakes, but these things were also rationed and required coal cards.

Zhou Jiye had originally thought about whether he could negotiate a price to get some, but he didn't see any for sale along the way. He was planning to ask his landlady, Aunt Wang, for information when he got back, but Lin Ying had already gotten some and lit the stove. There was a pile of neatly stacked coal briquettes in the corner of the kitchen on the first floor, which was probably what Lin Ying had brought back.

"It was changed!"

Lin Ying asked Zhou Jiye softly, "Did you change it?" Zhou Jiye was about to ask further when a noise came from nearby. Someone from next door was returning from work. Lin Ying gave Zhou Jiye a wink, and Zhou Jiye nodded in understanding without asking any more questions.

Starting a coal stove is a bit troublesome. You need to first light the dry firewood with paper, then use the firewood to burn the coal briquettes. After the first coal briquette is lit, you add another one, stacking two layers until the top layer is on fire before you can use it.

When not in use, the fire can be extinguished, but it takes a long time to light it again. Generally, people just close most of the ventilation opening at the bottom, leaving a small gap for the fire inside to smolder, and then put a pot of water on top. This way, although it uses up a little more coal briquettes, it avoids having to be lit repeatedly.

Luckily, Lin Ying was there. If it were Zhou Jiye, he probably wouldn't even know how to use it. After tinkering with it for a while, Lin Ying used a broken fan (a kind of fan resembling that of Ji Gong) to fan herself and got the stove lit. Then she washed the rice and cooked it. While the rice was cooking, she also washed and picked the vegetables she had bought that morning. Zhou Jiye helped her out, and the two of them were busy working together.

When Aunt Wang came home from get off work, she saw this scene and said with a smile that the young couple were living a good life. She even came over to see what they were making for dinner. After chatting for a few minutes, she also put on an apron and started preparing her family's dinner.

After dinner was finished, the stove was sealed and moved aside. Lin Ying greeted Aunt Wang and then went upstairs with Zhou Jiye, carrying the food with them.

"I'm here today..." Zhou Jiye was about to say something as he closed the door when Lin Ying waved her hand and said, "Eat first, eating is the most important thing! We can talk after we finish eating."

"Okay!" Zhou Jiye nodded with a smile. After the food was placed on the table, he took the initiative to serve two bowls of rice. He handed one bowl to Lin Ying and picked up the other bowl with chopsticks to eat heartily.

To be honest, they haven't had a proper meal in almost a week. Since leaving the Northwest, they initially ate the steamed buns they brought with them. Later, when the buns ran out, they just made do with some plain noodles or wontons for a few meals. This morning, they ate glutinous rice balls, and for lunch, they bought two steamed buns outside to eat. This is the first time they've had a proper meal since coming to Shanghai.

A vegetable dish, a half-meat dish, and a simple soy sauce, seaweed, and dried shrimp soup—things Zhou Jiye would have looked down on in the past—were now enjoyed as if they were delicacies. Lin Ying's cooking skills were quite good, and perhaps because he hadn't had a proper meal in a long time, Zhou Jiye was very satisfied with the meal, asking for more rice twice.

Zhou Jiye ate as quickly as he could, rubbing his stomach and groaning with satisfaction. There was still a little more than half a pot of rice left in the pot, but he really couldn't eat anymore.

This half-pot of rice won't go to waste. According to Lin Ying, she'll make rice porridge for breakfast tomorrow morning, and then buy two fried dough sticks to dip in soy sauce. In addition, she also bought some pickles today, added some sesame oil, mixed them together, and that'll be another meal.

"I exchanged all the national food coupons today," Lin Ying said as she cleared away the dishes.

"Changed it? Where did you change it?"

"Where else could it be but the black market, of course."

"The black market? How did you find the black market? I looked around all day and didn't see it. I was thinking of asking someone, but I'm unfamiliar with the area and I was afraid of getting into trouble if I asked," Zhou Jiye asked curiously.

"Are you stupid!" Lin Ying rolled her eyes at him. "Do you think a black market would actually openly display a black market sign? You're not from Shanghai, so you don't understand the tricks of the trade. Actually, black markets are everywhere. There are people who specialize in this. In the north, they're called scalpers, but in Shanghai, they're called 'models.' Finding a black market isn't difficult; you just need to find the model first."

“Model?” Zhou Jiye muttered the word. Why did the word seem so familiar? Suddenly, he thought of his family’s Bobo in Shanghai, who always wore a suit and had slicked-back hair. He raised his hand and slapped his forehead.

"Pile driving mold?"

"Good thing you realized! Yes! It's a pile driver mold."

Zhou Jiye suddenly realized what was going on, and then asked Lin Ying how many national grain coupons she had exchanged. Lin Ying smiled and let Zhou Jiye guess.

They originally had thirty jin of national grain coupons, but they used some a few days ago, leaving twenty-seven jin, all of which were with Lin Ying.

Lin Ying looked somewhat smug, a smile playing on her lips.

"You changed forty pounds? Forty-five pounds? It can't be fifty pounds, can it?" Zhou Jiye wasn't stupid. He could tell from Lin Ying's appearance that she had changed quite a lot. After thinking for a moment, he asked tentatively.

But even when he mentioned fifty jin, Lin Ying still shook her head. Could it be that she had guessed too high? Just as Zhou Jiye was wondering, Lin Ying stretched out her hand and gestured, saying, "To tell you the truth, I exchanged a full sixty-two jin of Shanghai grain coupons, plus ten yuan in cash, and that pile of coal briquettes downstairs."

"Fuck!"

Zhou Jiye almost jumped up; he never imagined that such a small amount of national grain coupons could be exchanged for so much.

"Really? You can exchange this much?"

"Of course it's true. To be honest, I definitely lost a little money when I traded it. After all, you have to make money to build pile molds. And a few years ago, I could have traded it for more. The price has dropped a bit now."

Seeing Zhou Jiye's disbelieving look, Lin Ying explained that she had inquired about the black market prices that day. Currently, the black market purchase price for a pound of ordinary grain coupons is 0.28 yuan, and if you want to buy them, it's around 0.32 yuan. The price of national grain coupons is three times that of local grain coupons, meaning that a pound of national grain coupons would be worth about 0.85 yuan if exchanged for cash, and you would have to pay one yuan to buy them.

The market price has dropped somewhat because of the return of educated youth to the cities. A few years ago, a pound of national grain coupons could sell for as much as 1.2 yuan. Although the national grain coupons have depreciated somewhat on the black market as educated youth have returned to the cities, they are still very sought after because of their special use.

So Lin Ying exchanged 27 jin of national grain coupons for 62 jin of Shanghai local grain coupons plus 10 yuan in cash, and also got some coal briquettes that, although they were rationed, were not actually very valuable. Overall, Lin Ying still lost a little.

Even so, she wouldn't lose much. Lin Ying wasn't the kind of person who would haggle over every penny. Just like she said, even black market staking molds need to make money. Besides, she had also gathered a lot of other information through her contact with the other party, so all of that was worth it.

(End of this chapter)