Returning wealthy individuals develop their hometowns and become rich in the 1980s

Wang Chunxiang pushed through the crowd and rushed to the laundry and personal care section. Looking at the various brands of laundry detergent, soap, shampoo, and shower gel on the whole row of shelves, she was overwhelmed. Like the other women who came over, she just stood there with wide eyes, not knowing where to start.

Wang Chunxiang walked to the shelf displaying soaps. She saw a whole box of soaps simply placed there, and people were already tearing open the boxes, taking out soaps, and putting them in their shopping baskets. Seeing a female supermarket employee standing nearby, Wang Chunxiang mustered her courage and asked, "Comrade, are these really available without industrial coupons?"

"No need to roll them up, comrade. Take as much as you need!"

This was the first time in Wang Chunxiang's life that someone had told her, "You can take as much as you need!"

In the past, when goods were scarce at the supply and marketing cooperative, even if you had coupons and money, you might not be able to snatch the goods you needed from others. But now, these entire shelves are just sitting there, without even unpacking the boxes, so you can take as much as you want.

Wang Chunxiang even saw a woman tear a whole box of soap off the shelf, throw it directly into her shopping cart, and head straight for the shampoo shelf.

Wang Chunxiang looked at the shopping basket she was carrying and felt that she should switch to a shopping cart. The goods here were just too tempting for her. She wanted everything and wanted to put them all in her shopping basket.

She turned around to check on her husband and two children, then shouted and waved to her husband, who was pushing the shopping cart, "Lao Ji, hurry up and push the cart over here!"

"Daddy! Candy, so much candy! Daddy, let's buy candy!"

His wife's shouts and his son and daughter's pulling made Ji Kunmin feel overwhelmed. He could only call out to his wife, "Wait a minute, I'll be there in a bit!"

Ji Kunmin was dragged by his daughter towards the grocery section. His youngest son, sitting in the shopping cart, kicked his legs excitedly and shouted, "Dad, White Rabbit! I want White Rabbit milk candy!"

Ji Kunmin glanced at the price tag on the shelf: 1.99 yuan per jin (500g), which was a bit expensive, equivalent to a day's wages for an ordinary worker. But he saw that his little daughter's face was almost pressed against the glass jar containing White Rabbit milk candy, and his youngest son, sitting in the car, was also looking at it with a bright light in his eyes. The two children's faces were full of longing.

Ji Kunmin gritted his teeth and asked the female supermarket employee standing nearby, "Excuse me, could you weigh out two ounces of this candy?"

"Sure," the female employee said, pulling a plastic bag from under the counter, grabbing a handful from the glass jar, and placing it on the electronic scale behind her. She then asked Ji Kunmin, "Comrade, is three ounces okay?"

Ji Kunmin hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and nodded, "Alright, three taels it is. How much?"

After saying that, he was about to take out his money, but the female employee smiled and tore off a label from the side of the electronic scale, stuck it on the plastic bag, then pulled out a strip of sealing tape, sealed the already weighed plastic bag, and handed it to Ji Kunmin.

The female employee pointed towards the cashier and answered Ji Kunmin's question, "Sir, just take this weighed candy and pay at the cashier when you leave!"

Ji Kunmin was taken aback, then asked a question that made people laugh, "Aren't you afraid that others will put more in?"

"Don't worry, comrade," the female employee pointed to the sealing tape, "this tape is for single use only; once it's torn, it won't stick anymore!"

"When you pay at the cashier, they'll check the seal. If it's broken, they'll re-weigh and recalculate the bill!"

Ji Kunmin smiled awkwardly, glanced at the seal, and saw the five red characters "Huaxingsheng Supermarket" printed on it. Even if others wanted to imitate it, it would be difficult for them to do so. He could only smile and push the cart away.

"Dad, I want to eat candy," the youngest son in the car kept tugging at the plastic bag, wanting to get some candy.

"We haven't paid yet, these aren't ours, sweetie! Dad will give you some after we settle the bill," Ji Kunmin comforted his youngest son, then looked up at his wife.

"Then I'll eat two!"

"I want two too!"

"Okay, okay!"

When Ji Kunmin found his wife, he discovered she had gone mad; her shopping basket was full of bottles and jars of soap and other contraptions. He pulled her aside, still bending down to pick them up, and asked in surprise, "Chunxiang, what are you doing?"

"Old Ji, help me lift this, it's crushing me!" Wang Chunxiang put the basket in Ji Kunmin's hands, and Ji Kunmin almost lost his balance. How much was in this basket? It's so heavy!

"No way, why are you buying so much? Are you planning to open your own convenience store?"

"You've come here to buy supplies!"

Wang Chunxiang rolled her eyes at her husband, tidied her slightly disheveled hair, and said to Ji Kunmin, "Look at this soap, it costs 36 cents a bar at the supply and marketing cooperative, but here it's only 35 cents, a cent cheaper, and you don't even need industrial coupons!"

"Look at this shampoo! I saw it with you at the department store in the city last time. It was two cents cheaper! Don't miss out, you'll regret it if you don't buy it!"

"Are you serious?!"

Ji Kunmin now understood the meaning behind the saying his coworkers had been saying: "If a woman runs a household, the house will collapse." He said to his wife, Wang Chunxiang, "Just take a dollar or two; the supermarket isn't going to close down today. Do you really need to buy so much? People who don't know better will think you've come to buy a bulk purchase!"

"What if the supermarket has put the prices back on the original price next time I come? Everyone else is buying so many, and if each item is cheaper by a penny, I can save a lot in the end!"

"What kind of family are you? We're not going to celebrate this month," Ji Kunmin said, pulling his wife away from the toiletries section as she was about to grab some more. Discounts could make these women, who usually thought they were thrifty, shop like crazy.

In the busiest non-staple food section, Zhang Quanyou, a purchasing agent from the county's Hongxing No. 2 Machinery Factory, was still incredibly shocked, even though he was a well-traveled man.

On the counter in front of them, there was a whole rack of pork. The butcher was cutting the part the customer wanted, with a knife in hand and under the direction of someone else.

A prominent sign on the counter reads: "Pork is on sale for 0.99 yuan per jin (500g) for the opening. Unlike the market where they sell lean and fatty pork separately, this one is a flat price of 0.99 yuan. You can have whichever piece you want cut, no questions asked!"

"This...can I choose for myself?" Zhang Quanyou squeezed to the front of the table and asked the question that had been bothering him.

The butcher, wearing a white coat, replied with a smile, "Sure, sir, which piece do you want? I'll cut it for you, and I guarantee it'll be the right amount and weight!"

Zhang Quanyou laughed after hearing this. "You really can pick and choose! Well then, I won't be polite." He immediately instructed the butcher to cut off the whole piece of fat horizontally.