The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 156 The Year Approaches, the Niangniang Temple Fair
February 15, 1978, the 2th day of the twelfth lunar month.

The Niangniang Palace Temple Fair in Chengnan District opened today. The weather was perfect, with clear skies and sunshine filling the streets and alleys of the city early in the morning.

The tenement building was bustling with activity, as almost every household went to the temple fair.

Families who know each other invite their friends and family to go to the temple fair together.

Liu Youniu and his wife were taking their four children to the temple fair. Liu Dajia gave Liu Sanbing and Liu Siding a lecture:

"Stay close to your parents later, there are child thieves at the temple fair, they specifically target children your age!"

Liu Youniu was packing his things. They had brought back two bags of dried sweet potatoes from the production team, planning to go to the temple fair today to reserve a spot and exchange them for some grain coupons to give to relatives when they returned to their hometown during the first month of the lunar calendar.

His wife, Li Xiaomei, has now joined the port's family mutual aid team and earns fifteen yuan a month.

Their family's finances have improved, so this time they only plan to exchange for grain coupons, not money.

Of course, the main reason their family was able to improve their finances was that their four sons were eating with Qian Jin, and with those four mouths gone, they saved a lot of food!
Liu Youniu and his wife were well aware of this, and they tried their best to repay Qian Jin's family in their daily lives.

Take this batch of dried sweet potatoes as an example; the best quality and thickest dried sweet potatoes were all selected and given to Wei Qinghuan.

The couple knew that Qian Jin spoiled Wei Qinghuan, so they only gave her the best things.

Since they were going to the temple fair, Qian Jin naturally had to take Wei Qinghuan with him, and Zhang Aijun also had to come along.

The temple fair is too chaotic; you never know when we'll have to rely on his fists and feet to break the deadlock.

Wei Qinghuan was busy inside and outside the house since she got up in the morning, and her black hair was covered with ice crystals.

Before leaving, she tidied up Tangyuan, wrapping her in a tiger-head cloak she had sewn herself. The chubby little girl looked incredibly cute with her tiger-headed face.

Wei Xiongtu promised his daughter, "Dad will buy you a cloth tiger at the temple fair today."

Little Tangyuan said, "Oh."

Wei Xiongtu said, "Haven't you always wanted a cloth tiger to cuddle with while sleeping at night?"

Little Tangyuan ran back to her bedroom and brought out a fluffy little elephant doll: "My uncle gave me this. He said it's a Bo'er elephant that will eat bad people who kidnap children and demons."

Wei Xiongtu said with a sense of despair, "But you've always wanted a cloth tiger. Dad didn't have the money to buy it for you before, but now I do."

Little Tangyuan shook her head: "But I don't like the cloth tiger anymore. The cloth tiger isn't as powerful as this Bo'er elephant."

"Elephants are the strongest! Woof woof woof woof..."

She suddenly became excited as she spoke, grabbing the baby elephant with one hand and wagging her tail and baring her teeth, imitating a tiger's roar.

"Don't run around." Wei Qinghuan bent down to straighten the hem of her cloak.

Qian Jin turned his head from behind.

Flat back, slim waist, full and perky buttocks.

A beautiful gourd appeared before my eyes.

Qian Jin took a deep breath to suppress the agitation in his heart.

Wei Xiongtu sighed.

He was heartbroken, feeling that his daughter didn't need him as much anymore...

Ocean cities and harbor areas have beliefs in sea gods such as the Dragon King and Mazu. The goddess enshrined in Niangniang Palace is equivalent to Mazu in Fujian, meaning the same thing.

As the name suggests, the Niangniang Palace Temple Fair is a gathering of believers on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month to offer sacrifices and pray for blessings to the goddess. Therefore, the temple fair revolves around these people.

This temple fair has a long history. In the past few years, it was the largest temple fair in Haibin City. At its peak, it could last from dawn to dusk, and people from surrounding towns and villages would come to attend.

The bus to Niangniang Palace was packed with people today, so Qian Jin originally planned to ride his motorcycle to the temple fair.

Wei Qinghuan told him, "Unless you leave Brother Dajun here to watch the car, the car will belong to someone else the moment we leave."

Qian Jin readily agreed: "Okay, let's go by bicycle then."

He had his wife in the back and his little chubby girl in the front.

Zhang Aijun carried Wei Xiongtu—one less vehicle, because Wei Qinghuan wanted to save on a parking fee.

Two cents isn't cheap these days.

The fee for watching a car in a park or similar place is only five cents.

Niangniang Palace is located on a small hill in the southern part of the city. The temple fair lasts from the foot of the hill to the top, and it is now crowded with people.

Bicycles were all parked at the foot of the mountain.

When Qian Jin and Wei Qinghuan arrived, they found that the person in charge of looking after the bicycles was an acquaintance, Qiu Dayong, who was in charge of issuing license plates!

Then the mobile repair shop next door provided a convenient service.

Business is pretty good.

Some people's bicycles have minor problems, and they are usually too lazy to go to a repair shop to fix them, so they spend a little money to fix them up nearby today.

Qian Jin paid 50 cents for parking and getting a ticket. Qiu Dayong laughed and said, "Brother Qian, you're slapping me in the face. You might as well just slap me."

"I was just being polite," Qian Jin joked. "Hey, what are you guys doing here watching over the cars?"

Qiu Dayong said, "Last year, we saw the government provide some living assistance to unemployed educated youth."

Qian Jin nodded: "The government's arrangements are quite good."

Su Shaobing rushed over and poured Wei Qinghuan a cup of hot water. Hearing this, he turned around and said:
"Brother Qian, you're thinking too well. Do you think the government assigned us to watch over things here? No, it's just that several groups of educated youth are fighting over each other."

"In the end, we were the toughest and most ruthless, and that's how we managed to gnaw through this bone."

"Moreover, this money is not something we keep; it's split 50/50 with the government."

Qian Jin calculated for a moment: "It'll cost a lot of money today. There must be several thousand bicycles coming, right?"

Qiu Dayong said, "Last year, more than 4,000 bicycles came, and we each received more than 400 yuan. But there are many of us siblings, so each of us received less than 10 yuan. It was just a New Year's money."

Qian Jin estimates that there will be even more people coming this year, and he will receive more parking fees as well.

However, Qiu Dayong is right. There are many of them, so there isn't much money left for each person.

Wei Qinghuan drank a cup of hot water to warm herself up, and then the group began to stroll through the temple fair.

The queue in front of the state-run butcher shop snaked like a snake, people stamped their feet and breathed out white mist, their pockets tucked with crumpled meat coupons.

Qian Jin immediately spotted a familiar face in the crowd: Wang Dong's wife, her hands tucked into her pockets, wearing a leader's badge pinned to the chest of her cotton-padded jacket, was waiting in line to buy meat.

He waved and greeted them, and Wang Dong's wife called out, "Chief Qian, Teacher Wei, we're selling pork today without meat coupons, aren't you going to buy a couple of pounds?"

Qian Jin exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, pork doesn't require ration coupons today? No wonder there are so many people queuing up."

"Many things are free today, and some communes and production teams around here will slaughter pigs to sell. The Commerce Bureau, the Investment Bureau, and other units have issued notices that the Niangniang Palace Temple Fair is for the people to celebrate the New Year, and today is a special day, with supplies available at any time." Wei Qinghuan had already inquired about the situation.

Qian Jin noticed that today's temple fair had a bit of a future free market feel to it.

For example, at the foot of the mountain, an old farmer wearing a felt hat opened his sack to them, revealing piles of peanuts: "Comrade, want to trade? It's cheap, one pound of peanuts for one pound of meat coupons."

Qian Jin wanted to buy some peanuts to fry and eat.

But since they had just arrived, he casually replied, "We'll do it later. We'll pick up a few pounds on our way back."

The old farmer went to greet others.

The salty, fishy smell spread with the sea breeze.

Nearby, fishermen were tidying up; salted mackerel arched their silvery backs against the newspaper, shrimp paste jars were sealed with red clay, and kelp knots, soaking in ice, gleamed a deep green.

"Comrade, look at this. It's homemade salted mackerel. It's so fresh, salty, and fragrant. Whether you steam it or fry it, whether you eat it with rice or have it with drinks, it's the best thing ever..."

Qian Jin wasn't interested in salted mackerel, but he was very interested in kelp knots.

He spent fifteen yuan to buy all the seaweed knots with ice crystals on them, and asked Zhang Aijun to take them to the People's Labor Canteen.

Whether it's mala tang or oden, these are all top-quality ingredients.

Further ahead, there are artisans selling bamboo crafts.

The old man used a bamboo-splitting knife to split the straw, while the old woman's rough fingers deftly wove a diamond-shaped pot lid.

Wei Qinghuan bought a cattail basket: "Just in time, I didn't have anything to put the radish balls in."

The old man laughed and said, "Lady, you've found a good thing! This wicker basket can hold enough radish balls to last until your daughter gets married."

He thought the chubby little girl tugging at Wei Qinghuan's clothes was her daughter.

A moment later, the chubby little girl let go of her hand and squeezed into the candy stall: "Uncle, I want this! I want this!"

This is a government-owned unit; a supply and marketing cooperative opened a stall specializing in selling candied melons, and business was very good.

The surface of the sugar melon has an amber luster, and when you break it open, you find a honey-like core.

Qian Jin shook his head: "It's too sweet, forget it. Kids shouldn't eat too much sugar, or their teeth will get rotten."

Wei Xiongtu was about to say this when Qian Jin spoke first.

But then he rolled his eyes and pulled out some money and candy coupons: "Daughter, Daddy will buy you these. The New Year should be sweet and happy."

The chubby girl smiled happily, her eyes crinkling: "Yes, Daddy is the best. Daddy should be all sweet and loving."

Wei Xiongtu grinned from ear to ear: Buy, buy as much as you want.

Passing through the bustling crowd, a towering two-zhang-high Sugar Ball Mountain suddenly appears halfway up the mountain.

An experienced craftsman was busy with a copper ladle, the syrup forming golden threads in the cold wind. "Here, young man, take this. This is called 'Golden Dragon Emerging from the Sea'..."

Before the words were even finished, several more children shouted, "Want some candied hawthorns..."

The chubby little girl shoved the candy melon with teeth marks on it into her father's hands, pointed at the candy ball, and shouted, "Uncle!"

"Buy it, we must buy it!" Wei Xiongtu said first.

Qian Jin was speechless.

How did my brother-in-law suddenly go from a strict father to a loving father?
It's not good for kids to eat sweets.

When Tangyuan (the child) looks for a partner with a mouthful of black teeth, you, as his father, will have a good laugh.

The stall next door was a grocery store selling fried radish balls, and the smell of oil from the fryer was the strongest.

A woman in a white coat filled an aluminum basin with freshly fried radish balls, the oil splattering and sizzling on the ice on the ground.

Qian Jin wanted to eat fried meatballs, but these days they were not available at all; meatballs were a luxury.

He had no choice but to buy a bag of fried radish balls wrapped in oil paper. They turned out to be delicious, with a pure aroma, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, a different flavor from meatballs.

The liveliest place is in front of the Niangniang Palace gate.

The city's cultural propaganda team organized a performance, and the stilt walkers were performing "The Legend of the White Snake," drawing crowds three or four deep.

The man dressed as Xu Xian interacted with the crowd while walking on stilts half a meter high, eliciting laughter from the onlookers.

Backstage, some people were warming up, and a group of children tried to squeeze in. Liu Sanbing tried to squeeze in too, but he bumped into Qian Jin and was pulled back by the back of his collar.

"Want to learn opera? Then why don't you study your education first? After the New Year, all of you brothers will have to go back to school!"

"It's not a traditional opera; it's a variety show. There are some good things in there—you'll find out on New Year's Day," Liu Sanbing said mysteriously.

Qian Jin squeezed into the backstage area and saw a man practicing swallowing a sword with his chest exposed.

It turned out that the acrobatic troupe was warming up inside, preparing to take over the stage from the propaganda team.

Wei Qinghuan pulled Qian Jin's hand and squeezed through the crowd of spectators into the Niangniang Palace, saying, "There shouldn't be many people in here."

Qian Jin understands.

For the past ten years, burning incense in the palace has been forbidden, and even the empress's statue was smashed. Now that the temple keeper is gone, it must be overgrown with weeds.

The result upon entering was unexpected.

Another crowded scene!
But they didn't come to offer incense and sacrifices; the golden statue of the goddess in the main hall is still broken.

These people came with their families and couples to buy food.

I don't know which genius came up with the idea, but the People's Labor Canteen is located inside the courtyard of the Niangniang Temple!
Several stoves were lined up in a row, with steaming aluminum pots on top.

Spicy hot pot and oden were served, and six grills were set up next to it, with smoke rising from them.

As soon as Qian Jin entered, the numbing spiciness of the mala tang was suppressed for the first time, while the cumin aroma of the grilled flatbread wafted through the courtyard.

"Bake me two flatbreads..."

"Comrade, are my five flatbreads ready yet?"

"We already paid, why can't we have grilled tofu?"

The barbecue stalls are the most lively.

The cost price of a flatbread is six cents, and it is sold for two cents after being grilled.

The restaurant was packed with diners.

The main point is that the flatbread needs to be brushed with oil and sprinkled with seasonings. Qian Jin required the barbecue team that Zhou Shanhu had assigned to use plenty of oil and seasonings, so the taste was excellent and worthwhile in the eyes of the customers.

The flatbread itself isn't expensive, but the oil is.

They calculated that a single flatbread, including oil and toppings, would cost one cent. After deducting the price of the flatbread itself, there was actually not much profit in making a single flatbread.

In this situation, customers feel they've gotten a good deal and are willing to buy the baked flatbread.

After all, barbecue seasoning is something that ordinary people can't get their hands on, and baked flatbread is a delicacy that they want to make but can't.

In addition, the baked flatbreads are so affordable that even farmers who come to the temple fair will buy a couple for their children to satisfy their cravings.

It's delicious, filling, and nutritious, so it's naturally popular.

On the contrary, fewer people bought grilled tofu.

Compared to a baked flatbread that weighs three ounces, a skewer of grilled tofu at the same price is considered extravagant and impractical by ordinary people.

When Qian Jin saw the mobile canteen appear, he asked Zhang Aijun to bring in the seaweed knots.

Zhu Tao and the others were so busy that they were sweating profusely and didn't even have time to greet Qian Jin.

Zhou Shanhu, on the other hand, was skillful and quick. The oven in front of him was full of baked flatbreads. He even had time to nod to Qian Jin: "Chief Qian, are you here to inspect the work?"

"Just came over to have some fun." Qian Jin squeezed through and greeted them, "You guys keep busy, just be careful not to take the wrong money."

Zhou Shanhu turned his head and gestured to the side, "My dad brought our neighbor, the accountant, to help out."

Qian Jin took a look and saw several unfamiliar faces.

No wonder the barbecue team was so busy; everyone, young and old, pitched in.

Master Zhou laughed when he saw him, and Qian Jin joked, "Master Zhou, this is like brothers fighting tigers together, father and son going into battle together."

Master Zhou's smile grew even brighter.

He asked his neighbors for help, not for anything else, but just to show them that his son had reformed and now had a good job, unlike before when he was messing around in society.

The mobile canteen was extremely busy, so Qian Jin didn't linger and turned to leave.

A path has been worn into the courtyard of the Niangniang Palace, leading directly to the Wishing Forest.

Numerous strips of cloth floated on the trees, generally falling into two extremes: some were grayish-white, and others were bright red.

In fact, they are all bright red in their original color. However, feudal superstitious activities were not allowed in the past ten years, and there were soldiers and generals guarding the palace, so no new red ribbons for making wishes were hung up.

Last year, no one took care of it after the Lunar New Year, and then some elderly people came to hang up the cloth strips again.

There were even more people today, almost all of them elderly, a few middle-aged, and no young people or children.

Ignoring everyone else, Wei Qinghuan prepared a red ribbon for making wishes in advance, found a tree branch, stood on tiptoe, and tied a prayer knot on it.

Qian Jin laughed and asked, "What do you wish for?"

Wei Qinghuan said, "I can't tell you that, I can only tell Her Majesty."

"You're a teacher, and you still believe in this?" Wei Xiongtu shook his head.

Wei Qinghuan glared at her brother: "This is just a traditional activity. Do you really expect us to be blessed by the gods?"

"Isn't the Lunar New Year just a traditional activity? I just wanted to add some festive atmosphere."

The chubby girl poked around under the tree with a branch.

Qian Jin asked her, "What are you doing?"

The chubby girl put her finger to be quiet and continued to bend over and poke.

Wei Qinghuan called her to go outside.

The chubby girl ran over and secretly slipped something into Qian Jin's hand.

Get it cold.

It's a copper coin!
Qian Jin looked at the Qianlong Tongbao coin and then looked at the chubby girl in surprise: "Did you just pick this up?"

The chubby girl nodded proudly: "Third brother said that Uncle wants this, so if you see it, you have to pick it up and give it to Uncle."

Third Brother is naturally Liu Sanbing.

Qian Jin was both amused and exasperated, so he patted her little head and said, "What else do you want? Your uncle will buy it for you."

"I want firecrackers!" the chubby girl said happily.

The firecrackers were set up on the back hill.

Vendors kept lighting firecrackers, the loud bangs causing the snow on the walls and treetops to fall in a flurry.

There were also acquaintances here. Several mischievous kids from Taishan Road crowded in front, and as soon as a dud appeared, they would rush up to grab it, then disassemble it to extract the gunpowder and pour it into the chain gun.

Qian Jin pulled them away: "Don't pick up duds, it's too dangerous. If they get injured by a delayed explosion, your family won't be able to celebrate the New Year."

After strolling around the temple fair, Qian Jin found out where the seafood stalls were, and he led Zhang Aijun to squeeze in and buy large yellow croaker.

He thought there would be plenty of wild yellow croaker these days, but when he looked at the stall, there were only a handful.

Qian Jinting was puzzled: "Why are there so few large yellow croakers?"

The man cleaning fish at the stall casually explained, "There haven't been many large yellow croakers in the East China Sea these past two years."

"Large-scale fishing of large yellow croaker began in 72, and there were two years of bumper harvests. By 74, the number had decreased, and last year it was even less, and this year it will be even less."

"Our Haibin City doesn't produce large yellow croaker, and the locals don't eat it much, so the catch is already small, and of course there are even fewer large yellow croakers coming to our Haibin!"

This involves Qian Jin's newly discovered way of making money, and we must know the details thoroughly.

So he took out cigarettes and offered them to the fishermen and vendors at the nearby stalls, and chatted with them about the large yellow croaker.

Luckily, one of the sales clerks here was from Shanghai and knew about large yellow croaker, so I told him about it while smoking a cigarette.

It turns out that the large yellow croaker used to be one of the four major fish products of the East China Sea, with a very large output. During the fishing season, a pair of fishing boats could catch more than 100,000 catties of large yellow croaker in one net.

So when the flood season arrives, large yellow croakers are everywhere:

"Back then, at the Shiliupu and Wusong aquatic product wharves, we often used a three-wheeled pedal-powered cargo truck to transport yellow croaker. Over time, even this kind of three-wheeled truck was renamed the yellow croaker truck."

Another older fisherman laughed and said, "Indeed, there were especially many in the early days after the founding of the People's Republic of China."

"At that time, the East China Sea was rich in yellow croaker but lacked ice storage. The government allowed people to buy yellow croaker in installments to solve the problem of the piles of yellow croaker. This method was called buying patriotic yellow croaker."

"Back then, yellow croaker was also sold in the seaside town, but it wasn't salted or fresh fish. The grocery store would coat it in flour, deep-fry it, and then sell it along the street. How much was it? Five cents!"

More customers buying fish started chatting upon hearing this:

"This happened a long time ago. I was in junior high school back then. There were yellow croaker vendors all over the street. My dad loved to buy them. He said that eating yellow croaker was a way to show his patriotism, killing two birds with one stone."

"Back then, other canned goods would cost at least one or two yuan, but fried yellow croaker canned goods were the cheapest, only three cents a can."

“I brought this to school. A can of food with a dime’s worth of dry rations could last for four days. All my classmates ate like this. This is called eating for a dime.”

Qian Jin said, "I understand. The fishing was excessive back then, which is why there are no fish left now?"

The fishermen nodded.

Someone picked up a large yellow croaker and showed it to Qian Jin: "This fish has a stone in its head. People in the south have developed a method of catching fish by striking a net."

“When the fishing season arrives, they will deploy dozens of fishing boats at the same time. After discovering and surrounding the large yellow croaker school, they will have the two large fishing boats in the middle set up their nets, and then use twenty or thirty small boats to form a semi-circle in front of the large boats. You can see that each small boat has three people: one person rows the oars and two people tap the bamboo poles tied to the side of the boat.”

"The bamboo poles vibrate in the water, which can stun the yellow croakers. The fleet then drives the stunned fish into the nets spread out by the large boats."

Qian Jin finally understood: "In this way, no matter how big or small the fish is, they won't be able to escape."

This effect is comparable to electrofishing.

"Who says otherwise?" The fisherman's expression was complicated.

"Once this loophole is opened for extortion, the entire school of fish, regardless of age, will die."

"The most intense year was 1974, when Jiangnan organized nearly 2000 motorized sailboats to go to the central fishing grounds in the outer sea, the main overwintering ground of the large yellow croaker, and wiped out the large yellow croaker's nest in one fell swoop."

"The production of large yellow croaker reached tens of thousands of tons this year, and there was so much that it was piled up on the shore and rotted."

"By 75, only a few thousand tons remained. Guess how much production is left this year?"

The fisherman raised a finger and shook it, looking quite certain: "Just you wait, there won't even be a thousand tons left!"

Qian Jin sighed upon hearing this.

So what are you still hesitating about?

What are you all standing there for?
We bought up all the large yellow croakers from the nearby stalls, regardless of size!
(End of this chapter)