Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 3 The Work of Commune Clerks

"You can eat it when you get back. Hurry up and take the candy away. Can't you see there's a huge crowd behind us?" The woman was trying to comfort the child, but she hesitated for a few seconds, and the saleswoman frowned impatiently.

"Comrade, I'm sorry, I'll be leaving now." The woman picked up the white sugar wrapped in paper, glanced at it a few times, and hurriedly turned to leave.

"What's so interesting about it? Are you going to give it salt to you?" the saleswoman muttered after the woman left.

"Comrade, give me two jin of salt, two boxes of matches, and four bottles of soda," Liu Yimin said loudly.

"The noise was so loud, I thought they had bought everything from the supply and marketing cooperative!"

The sarcastic voice left Liu Yimin speechless with anger. He thought to himself, "Wait a few years until the supply and marketing cooperative is disbanded, then you'll have your turn to cry."

Two jin of salt cost three mao (0.3 yuan) in total, and two boxes of matches cost four fen (0.4 yuan). After handing the three mao and four fen to the shopkeeper, Liu Yimin took out a match ticket and a soda ticket. He put everything into his bag and turned to walk out of the supply and marketing cooperative.

Salt in this era was coarse salt, in blocks larger than rock sugar, which needed to be crushed and then ground into small granules using a mortar and pestle. Salt was also one of the few necessities in this era whose supply was guaranteed, and it did not require ration coupons.

Liu Yimin turned around and looked up to see several large red characters written on the wall behind the door frame: "No hitting or scolding customers without cause!" He glanced back at the saleswoman who was still cursing and shook his head helplessly.
He packed his things into his bag and was about to push his bicycle away when he suddenly felt someone tap his right shoulder. When he looked to his right, he felt someone tap his left shoulder as well.

Then I heard a burst of laughter: "Yimin, I saw it was you just now. What brings you to the commune today?"

He looked up and saw that it was his junior high school classmate, Tian Qingping.

"Qingping? You startled me. Go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some things. Why aren't you staying in the commune? What are you doing here?" Liu Yimin said, handing Tian Qingping a soft drink from his pocket.

Tian Qingping worked in the commune as a staff member in the commune's educated youth office; he was a government employee. This was evident from their clothing, which clearly indicated that Tian Qingping's attire was more upscale.

"I'm not drinking. I haven't been to the commune these past few days; I went to Shiling Brigade to participate in the double harvest, and it exhausted me. The tractor at Shiling Brigade ran out of gas, so I bought some diesel to take a break. I also have something I wanted to tell you. The commune had a clerk, a former educated youth, who's going back to the city soon, and his position will be vacant when he gets back."

You like writing, so if you have any ideas, you can give it a try. Write something down, and I'll give it to the commune director for his evaluation. But you won't be a permanent employee at first, and your household registration won't be transferred. Just so you know, don't worry, I'll let you know later!

Tian Qingping pulled Liu Yimin to a cool spot and said with a smile.

"Of course, it would be even better if you got into university. If you don't, it would be nice if we could keep each other company in the commune."

Liu Yimin felt a little touched. Tian Qingping was one of his best friends from junior high school, and the two went to high school together. The difference between Tian Qingping and him was that Tian Qingping was not from a rural area and went directly to work in the commune after graduation.

"Okay, thank you, Qingping. Are you going to register this year?"

"Forget it, I'm not going to apply. Things are fine as they are now. Maybe I'll become the commune director in a few years. Yimin, if you can get into university, Lanyong and I will be very happy for you. It's getting late, I have to hurry back, otherwise the brigade's tractor will break down. Here's a slag coupon, you should need it."

Tian Qingping stuffed the ticket into Liu Yimin's hand, then rode his bicycle with the gasoline can on his back towards the agricultural machinery station, waving goodbye to Liu Yimin as he rode.

In 78, agricultural mechanization had reached a certain scale in many communes. Larger brigades would have tractors, and there were special agricultural machinery stations in the communes, with agricultural machinery operators going to the countryside to help with plowing and harvesting.

However, with the end of the collective economy, the agricultural machinery station was no longer what it used to be.

"Yangjian" is soap. Liu Yimin took the soap coupon, turned around, and spent 36 cents to buy a bar of soap. There was no soap at home for a long time, and having soap made washing clothes much easier.

Soap coupons were hard to come by, so Liu Yimin was very touched that Tian Qingping gave them to him. Li Lanyong was a mutual friend of theirs, and the bicycle Liu Yimin was sitting on belonged to Li Lanyong; he had borrowed it specifically to use when he came to the commune that day.

By the time everything was ready, it was already 2 p.m. Liu Yimin's stomach was growling with hunger, as he hadn't eaten anything when he arrived in the morning.

I pushed my bicycle for several hundred meters under the scorching sun until I arrived at a collective restaurant. It wasn't state-owned; it was a collectively owned establishment. Calling it a restaurant was a stretch; it was really just a small room used as a kitchen, with a few tables set up under the shade of the trees outside.

"A bowl of he luo noodles!"

"With grain coupons, it's 10 cents a bowl; without them, it's 12 cents," the waiter said casually to the inside from a stool by the door.

Liu Yimin was a rural resident, so he naturally didn't have any grain coupons and had to pay an extra two cents.

Heluo noodles were already the best food in Shiling Commune. Even so, they weren't made with wheat flour, but with sorghum flour. A few pieces of mutton were placed on top, but the mutton was cut rather "roughly," unlike the delicate cuts of later generations, which could be as thin as cicada wings.

Despite the large bowl of noodles, Liu Yimin slurped it down quickly, even drinking every last drop of soup. His disheveled state was truly embarrassing for a reborn person.

I let out a burp, and my nasal cavity was filled with the smell of scallions and sorghum flour.

"Young man, eat slowly. Nobody's going to take it from you. Do you want me to give you some more noodles?"

Liu Yimin wiped his mouth and said in surprise, "You can add noodles?"

The waiter's lips twitched. "You actually want more?" he thought, and then said, "Sure, but it'll cost extra!"

Liu Yimin glared at the waiter, got up and left the restaurant, riding his bicycle leisurely towards Maiji Brigade.

Liu Yimin was drenched in sweat under the sun, and he would sit down and rest for a while whenever he found a cool spot.

It was already 4 p.m. when we got back to Maiji Brigade. We returned the car to Li Lanyong and gave him two bottles of soda.

"That's so kind of you, Yimin. When are you going to use it next time? I'll prepare it for you!" Li Lanyong said cheekily.

"Get lost! You're just like a wicked car dealership owner from the old society. This soda is my payment for the car rental fee," Liu Yimin said with a laugh.

"Hehe, you're not Xiangzi! Xiangzi's neck sways forward, but you're not!"

Liu Yimin stared at the simple-minded son of the Party Secretary beside him, and pursed his lips helplessly.

Li Lanyong was slightly shorter than him, at 1.75 meters, and had a more robust build; naturally, the village secretary's family ate better. He had a square face, but his eyes were rather small, almost invisible when he smiled.

He was wearing a blue and white striped sailor shirt and military trousers. Military uniforms were fashionable at the time, and Li Lanyong's outfit was a gift from his older brother who had brought it back from the army.

Liu Yimin is 1.78 meters tall and has a well-proportioned figure, but his complexion is somewhat sallow, which is due to malnutrition.

(End of this chapter)