Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 117 A Series of Unique Skills
With his harvest, Chen Fan felt refreshed and no longer hungry, and strode forward.

But seeing the sweet potato stall made me hungry again.

"Master, two roasted sweet potatoes, please."

This is a sweet potato roasting stall. He has two stoves, one for roasting and one for steaming. The roasted sweet potatoes are 5 cents a pound. The larger ones weigh about seven or eight ounces, and the smaller ones weigh two or three ounces. There is a constant stream of people coming to buy them.

Only the town's residents could afford to buy turtle meat for 1 yuan, but sweet potatoes for 5 cents a pound were within the reach of most commune members.

Sweet potatoes sold in grain stores cost only 3 cents a pound. If you used grain coupons, one pound of grain coupons could buy 7 pounds of sweet potatoes, costing 5 cents a pound. Adults and children could eat them, and it didn't cost much more, so naturally, many people bought them.

Chen Fan weighed two large ones, which were just under a pound and a half. He took out 1 cents to pay and got 3 cents back in change.

He gave one to Jiang Lili, then slung the basket over his arm and ate as he walked.

After finishing the sweet potatoes, I saw a vendor selling candied hawthorns.

This is great stuff! Chen Fan rushed over excitedly, "Master... how much are the candied hawthorns?"

That was close, I almost called him "boss".

The young man in his twenties looked up and said, "Just call me Master, I'm not old yet."

He then laughed and said, "It's 5 cents a string, and there are 12 in a string. If you think it's too expensive, they're 5 cents a piece each."

They can even be sold individually?

Looking at his "Langya staff" again, sure enough, there was a string with only five beads left.

The young man thought he was complaining about the price, so he smiled and said, "Young man, don't think it's expensive. A hard candy in the store costs 2 cents. Look at my candied hawthorns. They are all big hawthorns, and the sugar coating is very thick. It's really not expensive at 5 cents a piece. And if you buy a skewer, you'll get two extra pieces. It's a great deal."

Chen Fan smacked his lips, took out a dollar, and said, "Two skewers, please."

Jiang Lili quickly waved her hand, "I don't need it, you can eat it."

A sweet potato costs a few cents, which is fine, but a string of candied hawthorns costs 5 cents, which is almost equivalent to a day's work for her. This price is too high, so she doesn't want to accept it.

Chen Fan ignored her completely, picked two skewers, gave one to her, and took a bite of his own. "Mmm, it's so delicious, sweet and sour."

The young owner was delighted to have made a sale, saying, "I told you, it would be delicious."

The two of them continued walking forward.

A moment later, Chen Fan saw a crowd gathered ahead. He went over to take a look and saw a person holding a large bowl, drilling into the bowl with something that looked like a small bow and arrow. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "What is he doing?"

Jiang Lili was holding a candied hawthorn, hesitating whether to eat it or not. When she heard Chen Fan's words, she realized what he meant and tilted her head to look. "Oh, he's mending a bowl."

Mending a bowl?

Chen Fan's eyes lit up. This was a lost art! "Don't take on a job you can't handle"—that's the saying that applies to this skill.

He immediately grabbed a candied hawthorn and went to join the fun.

Jiang Lili had no choice but to follow behind him.

Chen Fan turned to look at her, then glanced around and whispered, "Do you know anyone here?"

Jiang Lili looked at it too, then shook her head, "No."

Chen Fan switched places with her again, saying, "I'll shield you from view. You eat first, then cover your face with the blanket."

Jiang Lili puffed out her cheeks, glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then carefully removed the cloth covering her face and took a small bite. The sweet and sour taste filled her mouth, and her eyes involuntarily curved into a smile. Meanwhile, Chen Fan's attention was entirely focused on the bowl mender.

The bowl mender, dressed in drab homespun clothes with a thick leather pad on his leg, gripped the bowl tightly with one hand and used a drill to make holes in it with the other. In no time, he had drilled small holes on both sides of the crack in the broken porcelain bowl.

Then they inserted copper nails and hammered them in tightly with a small hammer. They then applied something to the cracks, and after a while, a large bowl covered with copper nails was handed to the customer.

The man looked at the bowl, nodded in satisfaction, took out five cents and handed it over, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, sir."

The bowl repairman smiled and accepted the bowl, saying, "Thank you."

Chen Fan looked at the large bowls in other people's hands, then suddenly turned to Jiang Lili and asked, "Do we have any broken bowls?"

Jiang Lili's eyes darted around slightly, then she gently shook her head. "No."

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, "What a pity."

He paused for a moment, then said, "What if I went to buy a bowl now, and then accidentally broke it, and then took it to him to get it repaired?"

Although Jiang Lili didn't know what "speechless" meant, her expression at this moment perfectly illustrated what "utterly speechless" meant.

What kind of thinking is it to buy a new bowl, break it, and then repair it?

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Just kidding."

Then, with a flick of his head, he said, "Let's go, let's keep shopping."

Jiang Lili quickly pulled the cloth up and followed behind him.

It was only then that Chen Fan realized that, in addition to those selling agricultural products, there were also quite a few local artisans.

In comparison, the person who repaired the bowl just now was only average.

Not far from him, there is a place with the character "凿碗" (chiseled bowl).

The so-called "carving characters in a bowl" involves using a sharp steel needle to carve characters inside a bowl.

Some were engraved on the bottom of the bowl, and some on the inside. The craftsman held a steel needle steady in one hand and a small hammer in the other, carving the bowl little by little. The hammer looked very powerful, but the needle fell very lightly. Each tap produced a white dot. The white dots connected together formed a character or a pattern.

Seeing this, Chen Fan turned to look at Jiang Lili again, "This should be alright, right?"

Jiang Lili naturally knew he meant buying new bowls to have inscriptions carved on them. Although she didn't understand why Chen Fan seemed so interested in these things, she still nodded gently and said, "Okay."

Then he shook his head again, "But it's unnecessary. They carve the words to distinguish themselves because when people eat at banquets in the countryside, they often need to borrow bowls from other people's homes. They carve words to mark whose bowl it is. But in Team 6, no one comes to the educated youth station to borrow bowls, so it's not necessary."

Chen Fan didn't insist on carving the words; he just clicked his tongue and gave up regretfully.

In no time, the bowl carver finished carving a stack of bowls. He then used a black cloth dampened with water to wipe each carved character and pattern. The white chisel marks instantly turned black, and the patterns appeared clearly.

Then the bowl carver looked up, his smile somewhat ingratiating, and said, "Two words, one cent. You have 20 bowls here, so that's exactly one cent."

The customer checked each bowl and found nothing wrong before paying.

Chen Fan watched from the side, unable to help but grit his teeth and grimace.

To put in so much effort for just 1 cents... and then thinking about the bowl mender on the other side, it seems pretty much the same.

……

(End of this chapter)