Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 88: Comic Books

"Meat is hard to buy, but pig liver is still easy to get, and it doesn’t require coupons."

Pig liver doesn’t require coupons?

Yi Chichi looked up and asked, "Who told you that?"

"I’m not sure about other places, but here at Baoshan, you don’t need coupons for pig liver, offal, or pig trotters."

Wow, who knew there was such a deal.

Yi Chichi regretted it. If she had known these didn’t need coupons, she could have gone to the commune’s meat stall every day.

"Every day?"

"What are you dreaming of? All the pork is distributed uniformly by the meat factory."

At this point, Wu Yongfei dropped another bombshell.

"Besides, pig liver, offal, and pig trotters generally don’t end up in circulation; they are mostly split among the meat factory personnel or those with connections."

Yi Chichi, ... meaning, even if she was willing to tirelessly go to the commune every day, she might not be able to get any.

Instantly, she gave up the idea of camping there, "Tomorrow is the 23rd. Should we clean up the house?"

"We’ll go to the commune tomorrow."

"For what?"

"To take a bath, hand in a matchbox, and drop by the supply and marketing cooperative."

With the New Year approaching, the supply and marketing cooperative will distribute some supplementary food items without requiring coupons.

"Are you going?"

"Yes!"

So, the next day, a group of them went to the commune.

Yi Chichi followed Wang Nan and the others to the bathhouse at the second entrance and found it crowded, with numerous people queueing outside with their washbasins.

It took almost an hour before Yi Chichi’s turn came.

The bath fee was 30 cents. Workers had a washing and grooming fee specifically for bathing and haircuts.

Yi Chichi and her friends didn’t have a washing ticket, so they had to pay for a ticket on site.

For children under one meter, it was 15 cents; for those over one meter, it was the same as adult prices, 30 cents.

Many parents also brought their children to bathe.

Men and women were in separate sections, and as soon as one entered, a mass of steam came over them.

Yi Chichi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking how warm it was here.

"Hurry up and get undressed to bathe; there’s a time limit."

Wang Nan and Ge Sujuan, who came here every year before New Year’s, were familiar with the place. They dragged Yi Chichi and Zhou Qiuyu, who were new here, to get busy.

Over half an hour later, the four of them came out feeling refreshed and with rosy cheeks.

Then—

"Let’s go to the supply and marketing cooperative to meet Bai Chen and the others."

"Let’s go!"

Upon reaching the supply and marketing cooperative, they found the crowd even more overwhelming than at the bathhouse.

It was no exaggeration to say it was a sea of people.

At least people in the bathhouse queued up, extremely orderly, not entering without the attendant’s call, waiting patiently.

The supply and marketing cooperative was different, disorderly and chaotic, people pushing each other.

As soon as Yi Chichi and her companions entered, they got separated by the crowd.

Their original plan of which counter to visit first was a fantasy; they couldn’t get past the aunties and sisters, or even many men.

They could only be swept along by the crowd.

Finally breaking through to the counter with the slogan "Serve the People," they were told by the attendant that the goods were all sold out.

Yi Chichi’s smile froze on her face, incredulous, "All sold out?"

"Those without tickets are sold out, tickets-required ones are still available."

The attendant pointed to the counter around the corner, "If you have a ticket, you can go there."

Yi Chichi looked over to where she pointed, saw the same crowd, and felt hopeless.

But she could give it a shot; maybe she’d get lucky.

Thinking this, Yi Chichi took a deep breath and turned to push against the crowd.

Five minutes later, she reached the counter, her hair disheveled and her feet feeling swollen from being stepped on.

However, the joy of shopping made her ignore the pain in her toes.

The customer in front had just left, and Yi Chichi, who had been observing, excitedly rushed up, starting with a long list of items.

"Comrade, give me half a pound of hard candies, Big White Rabbit, biscuits, pastries, red sausages... What’s that?"

She curiously asked, pointing at an item wrapped in brown paper.

"Cake!"

"???"

Do they actually have cake now?

With question marks in her mind, she looked at the cake that had oil soaking through the paper, contemplating for two seconds before asking, "Is it sold by weight or piece?"

"By weight."

"How much per pound?"

"2.2 a pound, doesn’t require a ticket!"

Whoa, that’s really expensive.

"Give me a pound."

Try it, see what a cake tastes like in this era.

"Anything else?"

"Three packs each of ’Spring Festival’ and ’Great Development’, and two cans."

’Spring Festival’ is for Grandpa and Granny, ’Great Development’ is a gift for the team leader and secretary, social interactions are important.

"Anything else?"

"No more."

The attendant glanced at her, quickly calculated the total, "Altogether 17.68, six tobacco tickets, sugar tickets..."

"Here!"

After the report, Yi Chichi also finished sorting her tickets and handed them over along with the money.

The attendant took them, looked at them, and placed the tickets and money in an iron clip on the wire.

With a strong push, the clip slid away swiftly to the cashier’s desk.

After collecting the payment, the cashier stamped the tickets and clipped them along with the change back into the iron clip, sending them back.

Yi Chichi took the change and packed everything the attendant had prepared into a basket.

After leaving the tobacco, alcohol, and groceries counter, she intended to check the daily necessities section but ended up at the stationery section, where she spotted comic books with her sharp eyes.

These are worth buying.

There weren’t many people in the stationery section; she bought pencils, letter paper, and several comic books, including "The Great Change in the Mountain Village," "Zoya and Shura," "Station No. 51," and "Little Hero Yulai."

The Great Change in the Mountain Village comprises four books, costing less than one yuan.

Zoya and Shura was 0.25... Overall, four sets of comics cost less than 2 yuan.

Looking at the brand-new comics in her hand, Yi Chichi couldn’t help but marvel at how cheap comics were these days.

Just about to leave, she noticed a calendar and grabbed one.

Later, she went to the daily necessities counter; the supply and marketing cooperative had a good selection of daily items, including teapots, thermos flasks, and washbasins.

Besides, there were soaps, snow cream, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair oil, needles, threads, and pins.

Yi Chichi bought soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste.

She didn’t buy snow cream; she could make it herself.

With the oil nearly running out, she went to the grain and oil section to get a pound each of oil and vinegar, then left the cooperative to wait for her friends at the entrance.

About half an hour later, Wang Nan came out.

Then Ge Sujuan and the others.

Wu Yongfei was the last to come out, holding a stick with only one hawthorn fruit left.

Seeing the hawthorn candy, Yi Chichi suddenly felt her mouth water, "Where did you get the hawthorn candy?"

"They were selling it before; I managed to grab this stick."

He couldn’t bear to part with it, only to eat it leaving just one candy.

Seeing Yi Chichi staring at the candy, he bit down on it, reluctantly but pretending to be generous as he offered, "Want a taste?"

"No, thank you!"

She had no interest in the candy; she never liked it, even if it was coated in syrup, it still tasted sour.

Wu Yongfei eagerly pulled back his hand and bit into the candy with a crunch, holding it in his mouth.

Bai Chen and the others just rolled their eyes. No need for such drama, as if they were going to snatch his last candy piece.

"Heading back?"

"Yes."

A group of people, laden with items, headed back home. On the way, just past the corner, a familiar figure appeared in their view.