Daily life of female supporting actresses in the 1970s

Aunt Yang said cheerfully, "Why thank me? You city people are just polite. In our countryside, as long as you're diligent, you don't have to worry about going hungry. If you're diligent and pick more mushrooms and fungus than you can eat, you can send them to the purchasing station. The price isn't high, but it's still an income! Let me tell you, Zhao Lanlan is amazing. Every time she goes to the commune, she carries over 100 kilograms of mountain products to the purchasing station."

Jiang Yanqiu said in surprise: "Really? Sister Lan is so powerful?"

She remembered that the book said that Zhao Lanlan was lazy and concerned about reputation. She couldn't even eat enough but she always sent money back home.

Ever since Jiang Yanqiu came here, she has never seen Zhao Lanlan go to the mountains.

I didn't expect Zhao Lanlan to be so capable. Dried mushrooms are not expensive. Common wood ear mushrooms are only one or two cents per pound, and more than a hundred pounds can cost more than ten or twenty yuan.

After working hard for a year, you only get a dozen or twenty yuan in dividends.

"That's right. He's really good at picking mushrooms. Every time he goes to the mountains, he comes back with two big sacks. What a pity! That kid is too soft-hearted. He always sends the money back home."

Speaking of this, Aunt Yang felt a little regretful. Several families in the village had their eyes on Zhao Lanlan, but seeing that she always subsidized the family, she was also afraid that she would have to subsidize the family after she got married.

Jiang Yanqiu nodded and agreed, "Maybe the family really needs this money."

In fact, she was a little confused, judging from the current situation.

Zhao Lanlan's behavior did not seem like that of a child from a poor family, and she showed no signs of having been abused by her family.

More importantly, she doesn't look like a foolishly filial person.

Aunt Yang frowned and said disapprovingly, "It's not easy? How can it be as hard as it is for you? In the city, at least there's food supply so we don't have to worry about going hungry. But you kids come to the countryside and can't do anything. You have to earn work points to support yourselves. How can your life be compared to that of people in the city?"

Jiang Yanqiu patiently explained, "Aunt, you might not know that in the city, life is also difficult for many people. Some people have to support a family of seven or eight with just one monthly salary, and they can't even afford rations, having to trade fine grains for coarse grains. Furthermore, in the countryside, as long as you're diligent, you never lack food. In the city, everything costs money, even the cabbage stalks we use to feed the chickens. If someone in the family is sick, they can't even afford medicine. And housing is also very difficult. Some families have six or seven people crammed into a tiny room, which is nowhere near as spacious as in the countryside."

Aunt Yang was skeptical after hearing this. In their eyes, children from the imperial capital ate white flour and rice for every meal and lived in the Golden Palace. How could they eat coarse grains and have no house to live in?

But thinking of the poor conditions faced by many educated youth, he nodded in understanding and said, "It seems every place has its own difficulties and hardships."

Jiang Yanqiu continued, "Yes, our countryside can't compare to the prosperity of the city, but as long as we work hard, there will always be hope for a harvest. Every fruit produced by this land is real wealth. In the city, apart from a fixed monthly salary, there are almost no other sources of income."

Aunt Yang couldn't help but praise him, "You are such a good talker, you speak so clearly and logically, I can't even beat you."

Jiang Yanqiu didn't continue discussing this topic and changed it, saying, "Aunt, do you know of any family that has hens that need selling? I want to exchange them for a hen that can lay eggs so that I don't have to exchange them for eggs in the future."

Aunt Yang shook her head and replied, "People are generally reluctant to sell laying hens. For example, if you take hens home that have stopped laying eggs, you don't know how long they will have to be raised before they can start laying again. Instead of that, you might as well just buy chicks and raise them back home. But it's not cost-effective to raise chicks now. They'll just start laying eggs when winter comes, and chickens don't lay much in winter, so it's not cost-effective to raise them."

Jiang Yanqiu had already expected this result.

Today's egg-laying hens are commonly known as the world's number one bank, also known as the chicken butt bank.

In rural areas, eggs are the main source of income for the family. They make money quickly, and the family's oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, children's education expenses, etc. all depend on eggs.

As for the village dividends and money from selling pigs at the end of the year, these distant sources of income cannot quench immediate thirst and must be kept for future use in case of emergency.

Who would be willing to sell a hen that lays eggs? Wouldn't that cut off the family's source of income?

Eggs can be sold for more than 30 or 40 cents per pound at the purchasing station, and hens are only sold for 30 or 40 cents per pound. Each chicken weighs about 4 pounds, so it is not cost-effective to sell them.

In everyone's eyes, selling hens is equivalent to killing the chicken to get the eggs.

After the two of them picked all the vegetables, they discovered that Aunt Yang actually had a scale at home.

Nowadays, people in rural areas use buckets to measure grain. Even when I was a child in my previous life, I often used buckets to measure grain. The smallest bucket was one catty, and the largest ones ranged from thirty catties to fifty catties. I rarely saw scales.

After they loaded the scales, they found a few extra pounds. Aunt Yang insisted on not taking them out and didn't charge for them. Jiang Yanqiu also didn't let them pick the pounds that were missing.

She also picked some persimmons and two cantaloupes for Jiang Yanqiu.

The price is still one cent per pound for cucumbers and eggplants, and three cents per pound for beans.

One hundred and ten kilograms of vegetables for only one dollar and fifty cents. No wonder no one wants to be a farmer, as this much is only their daily wages.

After the transaction was completed, Aunt Yang used her wheelbarrow to help push the vegetables back to the educated youth site.

It was working hours and the sun was shining brightly. Even those who didn't go to work were busy working in their private plots or stayed at home. I didn't meet anyone along the way.

When I arrived at the educated youth site, I happened to meet Qiao Lei who was going to work. Gu Qingqing got up and washed up in the backyard.

Gu Qingqing watched Jiang Yanqiu and the others push a few bags of vegetables back and asked in confusion, "Why did you buy so many vegetables?"

Jiang Yanqiu smiled and answered truthfully, "Dried vegetables are eaten in winter."

Gu Qingqing asked in surprise, “Do you need so many vegetables to dry them?”

Aunt Yang on the side explained with a smile: "It will take half a year to eat. This is not enough for one person. Don't look at the large amount. After drying, there will not be much left."

After hearing this, Gu Qingqing suddenly realized and remembered that they should also dry some vegetables. If she was alone, she would have the space and would not be afraid of having no vegetables to eat in winter.

However, with Gu Qingshi and Lin Shaoyang together, the fresh vegetables stored in the space could not be taken out at all, and it was impossible to eat radishes and cabbages every day, so the vegetables had to be dried.

So he said, "If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have thought of drying the vegetables. By the way, Aunt Yang, do you have any extra vegetables at home? Could you share some with us to dry?"

Aunt Yang said helplessly, "It's not that I don't want to exchange it for you, it's just that we really don't have any extra vegetables. Otherwise, even Jiang Zhiqing wouldn't have enough. You can ask other families. Carpenter Tian also grows a lot, so they should have some extra."

What each household grows is enough for the family to eat, and they only have some extra today because the weather is good. However, they picked a lot a few days ago to treat Jiang Yanqiu and her family to a dinner.

They picked so many this time, they probably didn’t have enough for themselves.

Gu Qingqing could only say, "Okay, I'll go ask later. Thank you, auntie."