My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 15 Guilin Brigade
They chatted for quite a while, and the older woman and Lin Ying had a good talk. The anger she felt when buying eggs earlier had gradually subsided. When she came to her senses, she realized it was getting late and quickly said that she had to go home because her son and daughter-in-law had to go to work, and her grandchildren had to go to school.

As she spoke, the old lady waved goodbye to Lin Ying, then hurriedly left with her vegetable basket. After the old lady left, Zhou Jiye, who had been waiting for a long time not far away, walked over with a smile.

"I didn't realize you had such great acting skills; it's a real shame you're not making movies."

"What do you know!" Lin Ying rolled her eyes at Zhou Jiye: "This is a strategy. Otherwise, how could Auntie have explained it to me so clearly if we hadn't inquired like this?"

"Impressive!" Zhou Jiye gave Lin Ying a thumbs up, half-jokingly. To be honest, judging from Lin Ying's idle chatter with the old lady and the pitiful look she put on, Zhou Jiye definitely wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

"go!"

"Shall we continue shopping?"

"I'm not going to shop anymore, let's go home!" Lin Ying said with a smile. Since she had gotten what she wanted from the old lady, there was no need to continue shopping. Besides, there were only a few farmers selling vegetables at the temporary stalls in front, so there was no need to go over and take a look.

The two walked back the way they came and happened to run into their landlady, Aunt Wang, at the entrance of the alley on her way to work.

"Xiao Lin and Xiao Zhou, you went to the market?" Aunt Wang greeted Zhou Jiye and his companion with a smile as they returned with their baskets full of vegetables.

"Good morning, Aunt Wang. I just bought some groceries and came back," Lin Ying said with a smile, adding, "Going to work?"

Aunt Wang said they were going to work, and deliberately peeked over to look at the vegetables in their basket. She smiled and said that the young couple knew how to manage their finances, and that the vegetables they bought today were very fresh. Then, because she was in a hurry, Aunt Wang didn't chat any longer and left quickly.

When they got home, they carried the vegetable basket up to the attic, closed the door, and sat down.

"The situation is more or less clear now. The auntie made it clear that the egg business is a good one!" Lin Ying said to Zhou Jiye seriously.

"I knew it! This business would definitely work." Zhou Jiye was a little proud. He was the one who came up with the idea, and he was naturally very happy that it had been proven.

"We can do it, but we still need to discuss the specifics of how to do it," Lin Ying continued.

"You said."

Zhou Jiye wasn't stupid. Since Lin Ying had said so, he must have an idea. It wouldn't hurt to hear her thoughts.

Lin Ying said, "These eggs need to be collected from the countryside, so we have to make a trip to the suburbs. We also need to figure out how to collect the eggs and how to transport them back."

Lin Ying's meaning was simple: it was nothing more than setting the purchase price, deciding where to go in the suburbs, and figuring out how to transport the goods.

Zhou Jiye suggested that the purchase price be based on the current purchase price of the supply and marketing cooperative.

Although Lin Ying hadn't yet found out the egg purchase price from the supply and marketing cooperative, it shouldn't be difficult to know, since the supply and marketing cooperatives in the suburbs usually have clearly marked prices for purchasing eggs. She could find out by making a trip to the suburbs.

Furthermore, whether the acquisition is done with money or coupons, the proportion can be determined first, and the calculation can be done directly after the acquisition price is clarified. Lin Ying agreed with this point. As for the specific suburbs to go to, it is not difficult. Shanghai is not yet at the level of the great opening up in the 1990s. At present, the urban area of ​​Shanghai is limited to the inner ring road of Zhongshan Ring Road. Outside the inner ring road, it is basically the suburbs. Outside the inner ring road, there are vast areas of farmland and villages. These will no longer exist in forty years. The urban area has also expanded from the inner ring road to the middle ring road, and even the outer ring road.

Their current residence is not far from the inner ring road, only four or five kilometers away. If they have a car, it's just a matter of stepping on the gas, and even if they ride a bicycle, it will only take twenty minutes at most.

The problem is, where would they get bicycles now? Bicycles were a big deal back then. A brand new 28-inch bicycle was equivalent to four or five months' wages for an average worker, and you even needed ration coupons. Owning a bicycle was a status symbol.

Zhou Jiye and his friends only had a little over forty yuan. With so little money, they couldn't afford to buy a new bicycle, let alone a second-hand one, let alone get bicycle vouchers.
So there are only two ways to collect eggs in the suburbs: one is to walk there, and the other is to take a bus. The former is fine to go there, but it's impossible to come back. Eggs are fragile, and even if you carry them slowly on a load, they are easy to break. Moreover, such a long distance is too much for people to walk back and forth.

So the only feasible option was to take the bus. Lin Ying found a map and studied it carefully with Zhou Jiye. They finally chose a suburb in the southwest, near Caohejing, which is now Meilong Commune, under the jurisdiction of Shanghai County.

This place would have been part of the city in later generations, and a very prosperous one at that. But now it's still the suburbs. More importantly, it's very convenient to get there from where they live now; they can take a bus a few hundred meters south, without having to change buses at all.

"Leave?" "Leave!"

Both of them were action-oriented, and once they had decided on their direction, they did not hesitate and immediately decided to go and take a look at Meilong Commune.

It was past eight o'clock when they came out of their cramped apartment and headed towards the bus stop. By then, the morning rush hour had gradually passed, and there were fewer pedestrians on the road.

When I arrived at the bus stop, I waited for a while and the bus came. I got on, bought a ticket, and the bus headed southwest.

Two stops later, we arrived at the Xujiahui area, which was very lively. The most eye-catching buildings were the No. 6 Department Store on the right side of the bus stop and the Workers' Cultural Palace on the left side. However, compared to its grandeur in later years, Xujiahui is not as prosperous as I remember.

After passing Xujiahui, the road became desolate, but after passing the stadium, the scenery on both sides of the road was completely different.

Vast farmland has replaced low-rise buildings, and every now and then a few tiled houses can be seen standing alone in the distance.

After riding for two more stops, the bus turned right and passed a dilapidated old bunker. In front of us was the territory of Meilong Commune.

Passing Bridge No. 3, and not far ahead is Guilin Production Brigade. The name comes from the Huang Family Garden there. The owner of the Huang Family Garden was the famous Huang Jinrong. The Huang Family Garden was built here in 1934 and became Huang Jinrong's private manor.

After liberation, Huang Family Garden was nationalized and later transformed into a park. Because it was filled with osmanthus trees, and the air was filled with their fragrance every August when they bloomed, it was named Guilin Park.

Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying had visited this place a few times when they were in Shanghai, but compared to decades later, the area around Guilin Park is now completely rural.

Not far north of Guilin Park is a workers' new village, which is the famous Tianlin New Village in Shanghai. Originally, this was a workers' new village built to support the Shanghai Instrument Industrial Zone. Currently, only Village 1 and Village 2, which were built in the 1950s, remain. As for Village 3, Village 4, and even Village 14, there is still no trace of them. They are still just fields of farmland.

After getting off the bus at the intersection, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying looked around blankly, trying to find familiar faces in their memories. But they quickly gave up, because apart from Guilin Park, which remained unchanged at the intersection, the rest of the place had absolutely no connection to their memories.

"Which way?" Zhou Jiye couldn't help but ask.

Lin Ying frowned, looked around, and after determining the direction, pointed south: "Shall we go that way?"

"Row!"

It doesn't matter which direction it goes, we're already in the suburbs, surrounded by farmland.

The two walked south along the road, and after passing Guilin Park, they continued walking for a while and saw several people dressed as farmers resting by the roadside.

They asked for directions and found out they were heading in the right direction. Continuing south along the dirt road, they would soon cross a river to reach the Guilin Brigade. After walking for about two more miles, they arrived at the Guilin Brigade. The rural facilities in Shanghai were much better than those in the Northwest. Although it was called a production brigade, it was no less than the communes in the rural areas of the Northwest, and even better than some small towns.

At the village entrance, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying spotted the supply and marketing cooperative's sign immediately. Overjoyed, they exchanged glances and headed straight for it. After wandering around for a bit, they found a handwritten sign advertising the purchase of agricultural products, including the price of eggs. After secretly noting down the price, the two left the cooperative and went to the roadside outside to discuss their plans.

"Sixty-five cents, that's quite a price range!" Zhou Jiye said happily, raising his eyebrows.

Lin Ying was also very happy. The retail price of eggs was 80 cents, and the supply and marketing cooperative's purchase price was 65 cents, leaving a profit of 23%, which was indeed quite a lot. Based on the funds they had, they could buy about 60 to 70 catties of eggs in the countryside. As long as they could sell each catty of eggs, they could earn 15 cents, and 60 catties of eggs would be 9 yuan.

Don't underestimate a mere nine yuan. You have to understand that in the days when thirty-six yuan was the norm, nine yuan was a lot of money. If you could make that kind of profit every day, you could earn a full two hundred and seventy yuan a month, which was more than half a year's wages for an ordinary worker.

As for costs and losses, they are negligible. A round trip by bus costs only one cent, and all other labor is self-sufficient.

The two exchanged glances, both seeing excitement in each other's expressions. They had just roughly calculated that the business was viable, and that was only because they had little capital. What if they had more capital? They could reinvest the profits, snowballing their gains to buy 100 jin at a time? Or even 200 jin? 300 jin? Wouldn't the profits multiply several times over?

(End of this chapter)