A Time Travel Effort in the 70s

Shen Jiaren had just finished praising her rice when she remembered that she didn’t bring a scale, so it would be difficult to sell it even if she wanted to.

Shen Jiaren directly handed the egg in her hand to the old lady and said to her, "Auntie, you see I left in a hurry and didn't bring a beam scale with me. Can you let me use your beam scale to weigh the rice?"

When the old lady saw that the other party gave her an egg first, she asked to borrow the scale.

This egg is only 1.5 cents, and whoever needs this scale can just borrow it. The girl is smart and said, "Okay, if there are too many people and you can't use it well, I'll stand in front of you and teach you.

But you have to count out 20 eggs for me first. I want them first. You have to pick the big and good ones for me.

When I get the scales out, I'll come out and give you the money."

Shen Jiaren nodded and started counting the eggs.

After counting for a while, Shen Jiaren remembered that the price she told the lady was not 1.5 cents per piece, but 1 cent cheaper.

If the price of an egg is one cent cheaper, it would be like getting one egg for free when you buy 15 eggs. But now the other party has bought 20 eggs, how do we get the remaining five eggs?

Shen Jiaren thought about it for a long time and got a headache. She couldn't offend this old lady, and she had to use her scale and ask her to attract customers.

In the end, Shen Jiaren counted out twenty-two eggs and placed them on the rice in the basket, waiting for the old lady to come with the tools so that she could load them directly.

Just as Shen Jiaren finished counting the eggs, she saw her aunt coming out of the house with two baskets and a scale.

After the old lady handed the scale to Shen Jiaren, she asked, "Where are the eggs you counted? I'll pack them first. By the way, let me see if the ones you picked for me are big."

After Shen Jiaren took the scale bar, she pointed at the eggs on the basket and asked the old lady to look at them herself so that she could study how to use the scale bar.

Shen Jiaren was still figuring out how to use the scale bar, because there was a plate underneath it, so the old lady said to Shen Jiaren, "Why did you give me 22?

You gave me so much and gave me one as a gift. Are you selling something or giving it away?

Also, didn’t you say you wanted to exchange something and you were short of money? So are you short of money now or not?”

Shen Jiaren smiled shyly and replied, "Auntie, this is my first time exchanging things, and I thought I would rather lose something than you, so I gave you an extra one.

And I also want you to help me call a few people who have a good relationship with you, so that we can exchange the goods at your door, and then I will go back quickly. The road to the village is far, so I have to go back early. "

When the old lady heard what Shen Jiaren said, she didn't know whether to be happy or not.

You should be happy, because you are really getting a good deal. If you calculate it this way, it is almost cheaper than going to the supply and marketing cooperative. The key is that you don’t have to snatch it from the supply and marketing cooperative.

You say you're happy, but you're just a little embarrassed and feel like you're taking advantage of someone. If you do business this way, you're going to lose a lot of money, right?

It’s a pity that I’m alone now. If there were more people, the things this child brought wouldn’t be enough to give away.

The old lady thought about it and decided that since she had been given two eggs, she couldn't let them give them away for free. Moreover, she saw Shen Jiaren fiddling with the scale for a long time and didn't seem to have figured it out yet, so she said to Shen Jiaren, "Here's the money for the eggs. Count it. I calculated it at 1.5 cents. This is 30 cents. Keep it.

And this scale is a ten-jin scale. Look at the big vertical scale on it. That’s the number you count to. Get familiar with it first. I’ll go get someone for you.”

After saying that, the old lady turned and left without even looking at Shen Jiaren.

Shen Jiaren looked at the thirty cents that the old lady threw into the scale pan for you to weigh yourself, and silently stuffed an egg into the old lady's basket.

Because although the auntie is harsh in her words, she is still very soft-hearted when it comes to doing things.

Shen Jiaren was looking at the vertical line on the scale to see how to count correctly when she saw several other ladies, wearing the same colored clothes but with different short hair styles, following her.

Upon seeing this, Shen Jiaren straightened her posture a little bit and was no longer as casual as she was when she was identifying the scale rod just now.

Because the other ladies behind her all walked very quickly and it seemed like they would be able to do things very efficiently.

In particular, Shen Jiaren also saw an old lady taking off the red armband on her arm while walking and putting it in her clothes pocket.

The red armband, the red armband at this time, Shen Jiaren has to be serious.

Before Shen Jiaren could prepare herself mentally to see how to talk to these ladies and how to chat, the ladies came up to Shen Jiaren, especially the lady with the red armband who said directly to Shen Jiaren, "Is it true or false that you are exchanging fine grains for things?"

Shen Jiaren nodded and said, "Yes, yes."

"Do you want a ticket, or just the money?"

"No tickets, just money. It's just a little more expensive than buying with tickets." Before Shen Jiaren finished speaking, the old lady with the red armband said, "Okay, stop talking. Old Qian's family told me the price and briefly explained your situation.

Okay, just stand by and count the eggs. As for weighing the rice, we will do it ourselves and you just watch.

Even if you don’t know how to do it, you can understand it after watching two or three times, and you can know whether we have deceived you or not.”

Shen Jiaren nodded and stood in front of the basket, giving up the space for the bamboo backpack, and said, "Okay, okay, you guys do it, I'll just collect the money and count the eggs."

As soon as Shen Jiaren finished speaking, she was rolled her eyes by the auntie wearing the armband. Shen Jiaren really didn't understand why she was rolled her eyes, but when she saw the aunties gathered around the bamboo basket and started looking at the rice or eggs, Shen Jiaren didn't say a word and just watched the aunties discussing in the local dialect.

After a while, each aunt took out a cloth bag from her pocket and started to put rice into the bag. Shen Jiaren looked at the aunts' actions and instantly felt that it was not her who would be at a disadvantage, otherwise she would definitely be disliked for being slow.

"Do you know how many eggs you brought?"

Shen Jiaren was surprised to see someone suddenly ask her, then replied, "Ah, did you bring eggs? Sorry, I forgot."

The aunties were seen clicking their tongues, shaking their heads, and communicating with each other in dialect.

Although Shen Jiaren could not understand all of the local dialect, she understood some of the meaning. It was probably because I am not in charge of the household and don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are. Otherwise, how could I not know how much I brought when I came out to exchange things and have no idea at all.

Of course, this sentence was guessed by Shen Jiaren, because she didn't hear it, but the others were just guessed out by mistake.

Even though Shen Jiaren guessed what the aunties meant to communicate, she didn't dare to pretend that she understood. She just stood in front of the basket of eggs, helplessly.

Maybe the aunt who borrowed Shen Jiaren's scale saw that Shen Jiaren was standing awkwardly, so she said to her, "You should count the eggs first, count them by tens, so that it will be easier to calculate the account."

Shen Jiaren looked at the aunt with a grateful expression, and then began to divide the eggs diligently.

Before Shen Jia could count a few waves, he saw the aunties had already started weighing.

The lady with the armband suddenly said to Shen Jiaren, "Come here and look at the scale. Write down the weight of rice each person has taken, and then add the number of eggs each person wants, so that the other party can pay you."

Shen Jiaren nodded, answered with an "hmm", and stood next to the backpack.

The old lady weighed the cloth bag skillfully and told Shen Jiaren how many kilograms it was and how many eggs she wanted.

After standing by for a while, Shen Jiaren discovered that the quantities taken by each aunt were basically even numbers, and they were very easy to calculate. She didn't know whether the aunt did it on purpose or by accident.

After a while, Shen Jiaren's backpack and bamboo basket were all empty. Shen Jiaren counted her income and it was two yuan and ten cents.

Shen Jiaren looked at the empty backpack, then at the two yuan and ten cents in her hand, and suddenly felt that doing business was so difficult.

Why does it feel like after all the hard work, the money is so little?

Did I miscalculate? That shouldn't be the case. The aunties calculated more carefully than I did. Only the last auntie, the one with the armband, weighed an uneven number of rice and bought uneven numbers of eggs. The others basically calculated according to two and a half cents, or multiples of two.

Just when Shen Jiaren was thinking about whether something was wrong, the old lady with the red armband grabbed Shen Jiaren's sleeve, calling her back to her distracted thoughts. She said to Shen Jiaren, "You have so many eggs. Do you have chickens at home?"

After Shen Jiaren was startled by the sudden tugging of her sleeve, she heard the aunt ask her if she was feeding the chickens, and she quickly replied, "I fed the chickens, and it definitely didn't exceed the limit. I only fed five chickens."

When the aunt saw Shen Jiaren's official answer, she knew that she must have seen her take off her red armband, and she quickly said to Shen Jiaren, "I'm not going to do anything, I just want to change a chicken, preferably a rooster. Not many, only three or four, about four or five."

Upon hearing this, Shen Jiaren quickly replied, "This is not a good time to raise chicks. If there are five chickens, there will be no chickens at home to brood. At most, there will be four. As for the rooster, I can use my hens to exchange for a rooster for you, but I can't guarantee that there will be one.

Because nowadays, most people in the village raise chickens just to save eggs, and they are not willing to sell them easily, especially roosters, which are extremely rare. "

The old lady chuckled twice and said, "It's a little difficult, but it's not impossible. The state stipulates that each family is not allowed to raise more than five, but some villages will relax a little and basically raise about ten. I don't want to do anything.

I am in confinement after my daughter gave birth.

When I gave birth this time, the doctor said that the bleeding hurt my body and I should take good care of myself during the confinement period, otherwise it would affect my next pregnancy.

This time she gave birth to a girl, and her mother-in-law was unhappy. She didn't take care of her during the confinement period or the child.

I am also looking for eggs and buying things all over the world. Let’s not talk about whether I will have another baby or not. Now I just want my daughter to eat well during the confinement period and not to suffer from any confinement diseases.

Although we now advocate socialism and scientific childbearing, I really don't want my daughter to go through the same hardships I have gone through.

So, I really didn’t want to do anything, I just felt sorry for my daughter.”

After listening to the aunt's words, Shen Jiaren suddenly understood why the aunt was so aggressive.

Indeed, in this era, it is rare to find someone as stupid as me.

Especially when everything is being sold at a loss, it's impossible not to be bullied.

But the aunt still had a conscience. She did not force the man to do what he wanted, but instead chose to use a combination of soft and hard tactics.

Shen Jiaren thought about how she sold eggs on the black market today, and after thinking about the price Su Hongmei gave her hens, she said, "I can give you a hundred eggs, but the price will not be 1.5 cents, but 20 cents, because I can't get it by myself, and I need help from my family.

As for chickens, I can find five live ones for you, and you will need to figure out what to do with them when the time comes.

As for the price, 13 yuan per chicken, do you think you can accept it?"

When the aunt heard the price of eggs, she could understand it, but when she heard the price of chickens, she became a little upset. "Girl, I can understand the price of eggs, but isn't the price of chickens a bit expensive?"

"Auntie, let's be frank. We can't get five chickens together just by ourselves. We have to exchange them with others. And after the exchange, I have to earn some money by sending them here. I can't work for nothing, right? So the price is really not high.

If you think it's high, and you want one or two, I can give you 12 each. If you still want five and want a rooster, then I can only give you 5 each. "

After listening to her, the aunt thought for a moment and replied, "So do you think this will work?

I don't ask for it all at once. The first time I ask for fifty eggs and two hens. After a month, I ask for fifty eggs and two hens again.

In this case, can you make the price cheaper?"

When Shen Jiaren heard this, she calculated in her mind that fifty eggs, two cents each, would be one dollar, and two chickens, one for twelve dollars and a half, would be twenty-five dollars. With this calculation, the eggs would not change much, but the chickens might earn one or two dollars less.

Shen Jiaren thought that one or two yuan would be fine. Since the auntie could say this, it proved that her money was also limited when she used it. Besides, she was not giving it to herself to eat, but because she felt sorry for her daughter.

I have enjoyed mother's love, although it was short, but it was very warm. You can't tear up someone else's umbrella.

I said to the aunt, "Eggs can't be less, just two cents each; as for chickens, hens are twelve dollars and fifty dollars, and roosters are thirteen dollars. When the time comes, pay according to the condition of the chickens you bring in. Is that okay with you?"

When the aunt heard this, she nodded happily and said directly, "I just bought the eggs and I don't want them anymore, but as for the chickens, can you deliver them to me tomorrow?

If possible, could you find me some millet?"