Daily life of female supporting actresses in the 1970s

The next day when she went to work and didn't see Qiao Lei and Lin Xiaomei, Jiang Yanqiu guessed that they should have asked for leave to go to the commune.

No matter how good the relationship between Lin Xiaomei and Qiao Lei is, it is impossible for them to ask for leave and accompany each other to the commune without work points.

There is only one possibility, Lin Xiaomei must have gone to sell grain.

When Jiang Yanqiu was reading the book, she felt that there was probably something fishy about Lin Xiaomei's food.

The book mentioned that Lin Xiaomei was afraid that the new educated youth would take advantage of her, so she sold all her surplus grain before the new educated youth arrived.

This is simply a fabrication. It feels like an attempt to whitewash Lin Xiaomei and create a hardworking and capable image for her.

The old educated youth were given rations according to their work points, and the food they were given was fixed in quantity. If they gave it to others, they would go hungry themselves.

Moreover, in those days, food was very precious. Even if you went to visit relatives, you had to bring your own food. How could you give food to others for free?

Besides, the village has always had the practice of giving advance food to new educated youth, 30 kilograms a month. Those who have money can buy it, and those who don’t have money can pay it back later with work points.

In addition, the Youth League Office issued national food coupons to the educated youth who had just gone to the countryside, which included 15 kilograms of fine grains and 35 kilograms of coarse grains, for fear that the educated youth would have no food to eat once they arrived.

Anyone with a little sense of shame would not have the nerve to eat other people's food for free.

Secondly, during this period of time, every household was out of food, so how could Lin Xiaomei have so much food?

In the book, Lin Xiaomei also built a house. When people came to work on the project, she would treat them to dinner.

It took more than half a month to build the house. Even if there were only five people helping out a day, five people would need at least two or three kilograms of food for a meal. After more than half a month, that would be at least forty or fifty kilograms.

Although the book didn't say how much grain she sold, it was still very difficult for her and Qiao Lei to move it together. Even if they were not very strong, it must have been at least 70 or 80 kilograms.

Together, there are almost 150 kilograms of food. Where did Lin Xiaomei get so much food?

There are only two mu of private land, and if we plant all of it with corn, we can get a good harvest of 200 kilograms.

But Lin Xiaomei is not stupid. Zhao Lanlan doesn’t have enough food to eat. Why would she not sell a single grain of food and keep it for Zhao Lanlan to take advantage of her?

What's more, Jiang Yanqiu didn't believe that Lin Xiaomei had never sold grain before. If she really had so much grain and didn't raise poultry or livestock, would it be a breeding ground for insects?

And why did she have to wait until everyone was at work before going out?

If they couldn't find any ox carts or horse carts, they would have to walk for two hours to get to the commune. If they were carrying things on their backs, it might take them even four hours to get there. They would set out for the commune at dawn.

When Jiang Yanqiu thought of what Lin Xiaomei had done to the original owner, she couldn't help but want to scare Lin Xiaomei and see if she could make Lin Xiaomei dig a hole for herself.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yanqiu said to Zhao Lanlan with an uneasy look on her face, "Sister Lan, please help me take the kettle, lunch box and other things to the field. I think I'm going to have my period, so I have to go back first."

There was nothing anyone could do about this kind of emergency. Zhao Lanlan didn't think much about it and said directly, "Give it to me. Go back quickly and be careful."

Jiang Yanqiu jogged all the way back and happened to meet Lin Xiaomei and her partner going out.

Both of their backpacks were filled with things. Qiao Lei was probably carrying food for Lin Xiaomei, as she didn't have much to sell.

Lin Xiaomei saw that her expression changed obviously.

Jiang Yanqiu greeted him as usual and headed towards the backyard. After a few steps, she turned back and asked, "Lin Zhiqing, are you going to carry grain to the commune to sell?"

When Lin Xiaomei heard this, her expression turned even worse, and she said unhappily, "What does food have to do with you?"

Jiang Yanqiu still smiled and said, "What does it have to do with me? I just feel that I need food. If you have any extra, instead of carrying it all the way to the commune, why not give it to me? It's the same price anyway, and it saves some effort."

When Lin Xiaomei heard this, she felt a little hesitant. After all, it was indeed a bit heavy to carry to the commune. If Jiang Yanqiu could offer a good price, it would not be impossible.

After a moment's hesitation, he said, "How do you want to change?"

Jiang Yanqiu smiled and said, "It depends on you. Apart from food coupons, industrial coupons, and cotton coupons, any other coupons and money will do."

Lin Xiaomei blurted out, "I don't want a ticket, but I'll give you 1.5 cents per pound."

Cornmeal in the grain store now costs 7 cents per pound, but it can be sold for 1.2 cents on the black market without a ticket.

Her corn kernels were unground, and she could sell them for 1.2 cents, which was much better than selling them on the black market, and she didn't have to carry them to the commune. But Jiang Yanqiu had the money, so she would cheat people if she could.

Jiang Yanqiu refused to bargain and said, "It's too expensive, one cent."

"One cent and two cents."

"Deal." Jiang Yanqiu knew that Lin Xiaomei would not sell it if the price was too low, so she did not continue to bargain.

Lin Xiaomei regretted that she had given in too quickly, otherwise Jiang Yanqiu would probably have bought it for 15 cents with that kind of brain.

Qiao Lei was watching from the side, confused. Who was plotting against whom?

Cornmeal costs only nine cents per pound in the city, and corn kernels are even cheaper. The price Lin Xiaomei offered is a bit high.

But Jiang Yanqiu foolishly agreed. Could it be that having too much money makes one stupid? Jiang Yanqiu didn't look like that kind of person, and the corn grits in the brigade were only ten cents a pound.

But when I think about how I had to be humble every time I went to the brigade to buy food, it seems to make sense.

But corn kernels at 1.2 cents are indeed expensive. Is Jiang Yanqiu trying to please Lin Xiaomei, or is she setting a trap for her?

It's impossible to please Lin Xiaomei, and it's okay to set a trap to buy corn kernels. No matter how you look at it, both situations are impossible.

Qiao Lei wanted to stop it, but seeing Lin Xiaomei's greedy look, she was afraid that she couldn't stop it, so she simply didn't bother to speak.

The food that Qiao Lei carried also belonged to Lin Xiaomei. They didn't have a scale, and it was not easy to borrow one.

The old educated youth had a leaky iron bucket that could hold 30 kilograms. Several people used the buckets to measure it. There were five buckets in total, but it was almost full. Lin Xiaomei ran back and got some more to fill it up, which was exactly 150 kilograms.

Lin Xiaomei happily took the 18 yuan given by Jiang Yanqiu, carried some mountain products, and happily followed Qiao Lei to the commune.

He didn't notice Qiao Lei's hesitant expression at all.

Jiang Yanqiu came to her senses only after Lin Xiaomei left. She had forgotten to use her divine eyes to see whether the grain was Lin Xiaomei's or ill-gotten gains. Now the grain had been laundered by her and was emitting white light.

Because of this delay, Qiao Lei and Lin Xiaomei missed the carriage and had to walk to the commune.

When they arrived at the commune, Qiao Lei was just trying to find an excuse to separate from Lin Xiaomei when Lin Xiaomei spoke first: "I'm going to visit my fellow villagers. Do you want to come with me?"

This was exactly what Qiao Lei wanted: "Go ahead, and meet at the supply and marketing cooperative at 1:00 p.m."

However, she also guessed that Lin Xiaomei should go to the black market. Given Lin Xiaomei's personality, it would be really difficult for her to make friends.

If Lin Xiaomei goes to the black market, it means she can still be saved and is not a useless piece of mud that can't be used to stick on the wall.

After the two separated, Qiao Lei followed Lin Xiaomei first, and it turned out that the other party really went to a house.

She didn't continue to follow, and first went to the supply and marketing cooperative and the grain station to find out the prices, and then to understand the topography of the commune.

This was her first time in the commune after so long in the countryside, and she was not familiar with the grain prices and terrain at all.

After walking around for several times, I went to the commune, dressed up, and carried 30 kilograms of cornmeal and 10 kilograms of rice to the black market, which I finally found out was next to the hospital.

However, after spending a long time on the black market, I found that the highest price for cornmeal was only 12 cents, but the price for rice was as high as 50 cents, so it should be able to sell for a higher price.

Qiao Lei also understood that what city dwellers lacked in this era was fine grains rather than whole grains. It seemed that they would have to grow more fine grains in the future.