My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 16 A Useless Piece of Rice
Decades later, someone said, "Ideals are lofty, but reality is harsh."

In less than half a day, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying, who had been extremely excited, wilted like persimmons after a frost.

They had a good plan: to buy eggs from farmers at the same price as the supply and marketing cooperative, even if they added a penny or two to the cooperative's price. They could also exchange eggs with coupons. After all, Lin Ying had already made contact with the black market's egg dealers yesterday and figured out the coupon prices there. As long as the conversion was the same, there wouldn't be any problem.

But after going around the Guilin brigade, they didn't collect many eggs. It wasn't that there were no eggs, nor that the local farmers weren't selling, but rather that the number of eggs collected was far less than expected.

I found out that local farmers don't actually raise many chickens. Although ordinary farmers raise chickens and ducks, they raise at most four or five, and at most seven or eight.

This is because the atmosphere in Shanghai is relatively open. In other places, if a household has more than six chickens, they would have to "wear a hat" (i.e., be restricted from using certain items).

Moreover, free-range chickens in rural areas lay eggs far less frequently than those raised in cages. In addition, laying hens cannot lay eggs every day indefinitely; they stop laying eggs as they grow older and need to be replaced. Therefore, a household can only receive one or two eggs a day, and even if they receive more, the amount is still limited.

The entire Guilin production brigade has more than 280 households. If we calculate an average of two eggs per household per day, that would amount to a maximum of 560 eggs. These eggs would only weigh about 50 jin (25 catties). However, the problem is that this is just a projection. Not every household in the brigade raises chickens; some people don't. In addition, some well-off families also need to consume the eggs laid by their own chickens. Furthermore, the production brigade's supply and marketing cooperative has a fixed monthly purchase quota, which is the responsibility of the brigade. This means that more than half of the eggs will be taken away, leaving very little for Zhou Jiye and his family.

"That's all?"

Zhou Jiye squatted down, looking at the eggs in the wicker basket in front of him, his expression not very good.

There were several layers of eggs inside, with straw placed between each layer to prevent them from breaking. These eggs looked like a lot, but actually weighed less than thirty pounds, and that included eggs that the farmers had accumulated over time.

"Today is a good start for the first day. You heard what they said when they were collecting eggs. If we come back tomorrow, we'll be lucky to collect five or six pounds." Lin Ying's face was also a little pale. She hadn't expected things to turn out this way. They had knocked on almost every door of the farmers in the Guilin Production Brigade all day, going door-to-door with smiles to collect eggs, and they had only managed to collect this many.

"What should we do? Should we go to other brigades?" Zhou Jiye asked, scratching his head. These eggs were really too few. It wasn't that taking them back wouldn't make money; according to their purchase price, thirty catties of eggs could earn about four yuan, and after deducting the round-trip travel expenses, there would still be a profit of three yuan and eighty cents.

Three yuan and eighty cents, calculated over a month, amounts to more than a hundred yuan, which is much higher than a regular salary. However, the problem is that this is far from their initial expectations; at this rate, even working themselves to the bone wouldn't earn them much.

Lin Ying frowned, looked at the eggs in the wicker basket, glanced into the distance, and pondered for a moment.

"Let's go back first. It's not a short way to get to the other production brigades. It's already afternoon, and we don't have any transportation. Eggs are fragile, and it's inconvenient to carry a wicker basket back and forth. Besides, since Guilin Brigade is like this, the other production brigades are probably in the same situation, so we probably won't be able to collect much."

"What should we do then?" Zhou Jiye was anxious. He had originally planned to come to the countryside to collect eggs and sell them. When he first arrived, he was thinking about how to turn one into ten, ten into a hundred, and how to make a fortune by collecting eggs. But in just a short time, reality gave him a harsh lesson.

"What else can we do? Just let it be!" Lin Ying said irritably. "It seems we've been thinking too simply. Our thinking is still decades ahead and we haven't considered the current reality."

"Decades later, agricultural products have become industrialized and commercialized. Eggs are a common commodity. Chicken and duck farming has become large-scale. Ordinary farmers can easily raise hundreds of chickens and ducks. There are so many eggs in the countryside that they can't be sold."

"But we haven't fully reformed and opened up yet. The household contract responsibility system in rural areas has only just begun. Even in Shanghai, large-scale farming hasn't emerged yet. It's unrealistic to expect farmers to collect a large number of eggs from just a few chickens they raise themselves, not to mention the fixed quotas imposed by the supply and marketing cooperatives."

As she spoke, Lin Ying pointed towards the supply and marketing cooperative. Zhou Jiye nodded with a bitter face. Lin Ying was right; they had indeed oversimplified things. The gap between reality and their ideals had given them a rude awakening.

No wonder the farmers at the market only sell vegetables and other agricultural products, but not eggs. At first, they thought that individual farmers were selling eggs because they didn't have many eggs and it wasn't worth the trip to the city. Now they realize that's not the case at all.

Farmers who come to the city to sell vegetables are a group of clever people. Since they can think of carrying vegetables to the city market to set up stalls, including bringing turtles and eels caught from nearby rivers to sell in the market, don't they think that eggs can also be exchanged for money?

If that's the case, why not do it this way? Perhaps these farmers aren't highly educated, but it's impossible for them to be ignorant, especially considering they live in the suburbs of Shanghai. This is Shanghai, the largest city in the country! Even farmers in the suburbs aren't fools. How come they didn't think of such a simple principle before?
Having reached this point, they didn't have any better options for the time being. They had to get the eggs they collected back first; every little bit counted, and besides, they could make a profit of nearly four yuan from selling them. So, the strong and robust Zhou Jiye picked up the wicker basket containing the eggs, while Lin Ying carefully protected him from the side, and the two of them headed back the way they had come.

When I got to the bus stop, I boarded the bus and it took me more than an hour to get home. It was already afternoon when I arrived home. Luckily, I got home early; otherwise, I would have encountered rush hour. If that had happened, the eggs would have been crushed in the crowded bus. I would have had no one to blame but myself.

"I'm exhausted..."

Carrying the wicker basket into his cramped apartment, Zhou Jiye placed it in a corner and then, without any regard for appearances, lay down on the bed.

"Get up!" Lin Ying glanced at Zhou Jiye lying on the bed, frowned, and stepped forward to slap him on the arm without any politeness.

With a loud yelp, Zhou Jiye jumped up, rubbing his reddened arm and grimacing.

"Are you crazy?!" Zhou Jiye said angrily. "I've been busy all day, this basket of eggs is so heavy, I carried it all the way back, and now that we're home, you won't let me rest? Even if you were a beast of burden, you wouldn't treat me like this!"

"Rest? Rest my foot! Only those who contribute nothing to society need rest!"

Lin Ying's eyebrows shot up immediately: "You can't even handle the first day? If I made you go to the countryside to collect eggs every day, wouldn't you be exhausted to the point of paralysis? Look at you, all big and burly but useless, you're not even as good as me. The eggs are just sitting there like this? What if there are rats in the house? They'll be ruined! You don't even know to cover them up. And you didn't even tidy yourself up before lying on the bed? Look at the state you've made of this bed."

As she spoke, she pointed to the bed sheet and told Zhou Jiye to look for himself. When Zhou Jiye turned around, he was instantly embarrassed. He hadn't noticed before and had just lay down. Now he realized that the once clean bed sheet was covered with straw and a few chicken feathers with chicken droppings on it.

Zhou Jiye had forgotten that he had carried a wicker basket all the way back. The basket contained not only eggs but also straw to line them. In addition, some of the eggs he had collected still had chicken feathers and other dirt on them, all of which had rubbed off on his clothes.

As soon as I got home, I was so tired that I didn't think about tidying up. I just lay down on the bed, and that's how I got all this stuff on the sheets. No wonder Lin Ying was so angry.

"It's my fault, it's my fault, I'll clean it up..." Zhou Jiye apologized hurriedly. Since he had made a mistake, he should admit it and stand up straight when he was beaten! The slap he had just received was for nothing. Zhou Jiye found a broom and cleaned the sheets. He also found the pants that had been slashed by a thief on the train and carefully covered them with the wicker basket. Seeing him busy with things, Lin Ying's expression softened.

"I'm going to cook. You can take your time cleaning up." Lin Ying said this, picked up the shopping basket she bought that morning, and went downstairs. After Lin Ying left, Zhou Jiye buried himself in cleaning everything up, then swept the floor. He looked around and, finding nothing wrong, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why does this little vixen get so angry all the time? Did she take the wrong medicine? Or is she about to get her period?" Frustrated, Zhou Jiye lit a cigarette and smoked, cursing inwardly.

Despite his scolding, he understood why Lin Ying was in a bad mood. She had hoped things would go smoothly today, but reality had dealt her a blow. Although she had received the eggs, the result was far from what she had expected, naturally leaving her feeling disappointed.

On the way back, Zhou Jiye thought to himself that if the production brigades in the suburbs were all like the Guilin brigade, then their plan to buy and sell eggs would not achieve its expected results at all. With what they had accomplished today, even if they visited several more production brigades, the harvest would be limited, and they would still have to find a way to sell the eggs they collected. The two of them would have to divide the work in the future. Lin Ying was a woman, and it was inconvenient for a woman to travel such a long distance alone, so the task of collecting eggs would definitely fall on him. Even if he visited two production brigades a day, he wouldn't collect many eggs. Although there was a profit, the input and output were far from meeting the target.

"It's a useless thing, so useless!"

At this moment, Zhou Jiye suddenly understood how Cao Cao felt back then. It was exactly what they meant by "tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away".

My heart sank before the business even opened. Should I continue? It wasn't going as well as I expected. But if I didn't continue, I could still make some profit. Should I continue or not?
Thinking this way, Zhou Jiye felt a little lost. He originally thought that as a time traveler, with Lin Ying by his side, finding a way to make money would be a piece of cake. But he didn't expect it to be so difficult, and he couldn't help but feel a little discouraged.

(End of this chapter)