Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

As Zhou Rui counted his money, he came out. Although it wasn't a lot, it was still more than half a month's wages for an ordinary worker. Zhou Rui went into the supply and marketing cooperative next door and used the coupons he had bought from Tong Lei last time to buy twenty catties of flour, some oil and soy sauce, as well as a lot of spices that didn't require coupons, such as star anise, cinnamon, and Sichuan peppercorns.

Looking at the radios and watches displayed on the glass counter, Zhou Rui shook his head regretfully. He had enough money, but unfortunately no coupons. Oh well, he'd go find that ticket scalper and see if he could find watch coupons or a sufficient number of industrial vouchers.

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhou Rui prepared to head to the next street, where the bicycle repair shop from last time was located. Tong Lei, being a ticket scalper, was quite cautious and never loitered near the supply and marketing cooperative.

Zhou Rui was walking down the street when he suddenly spotted a great place: a scrap metal recycling station. At this station, most things were free except for old furniture, which required a ticket. Zhou Rui walked into the small courtyard with a sign. There weren't many people inside, except for an elderly man in his fifties sorting through the collected scrap.

"Sir, what are you busy with?"

The old man looked up and asked, "Young man, is there anything I can help you with?"

The old man was quite polite. Although both were units under the supply and marketing cooperative, he was much better than the staff at the previous purchasing station. Perhaps it was his age and experience that gave him more warmth and less hostility.

"Grandpa, my family just separated, and we don't have enough things at home. I came here to see if there's anything we can use." Zhou Rui said politely, taking out a new pack of cigarettes from his pocket, opening it, and handing one to the old man.

The old man didn't stand on ceremony and accepted the cigarettes. Perhaps he was bored, and it was nice to have someone come and chat. "Your family split up recently, so you're looking for some old furniture?"

"No, I can't afford those, I don't have the ration coupons. I'm just looking to see if there are any bottles to store soy sauce, or any earthenware pots or something for cooking rice." Zhou Rui had no intention of buying second-hand furniture; it would be better to have someone make new ones with that money.

"Then take a look and see what you can use. Once you've decided, I'll calculate the cost for you."

Seeing that the old man had agreed, Zhou Rui quickly started strolling around the yard. The yard wasn't big, only about seventy or eighty square meters, but all sorts of scrap were neatly organized and arranged by category. There wasn't much scrap metal; it was mostly broken pots, scrap iron, and some rusted bicycle parts. Zhou Rui thought to himself, "Sure enough, most of it is unusable. If there were any decent parts, they'd probably all been taken to a repair shop."

Old newspapers, old exercise books, and even comic books! Zhou Rui's interest was piqued. Since An'an was home alone, this would help her pass the time. He'd see if there were any unfinished exercise books so Pingwa could teach An'an to write when he had free time. He'd also find a few pounds of old newspapers to use for wallpapering; otherwise, the old house would be covered in dust with every swipe. Zhou Rui found eight comic books, several unfinished exercise books, and a thick stack of old newspapers.

Along the wall were thread-bound books, scrolls, porcelain vases, and pottery jars, but Zhou Rui didn't understand them. In his previous life, he'd only dealt in gems and gold, and had only a superficial understanding of these culturally sensitive items. Even if he saw them, he wouldn't know their era. However, Zhou Rui didn't need to know that; he just needed to know they were old and currently being sold at scrap prices. In the future, even these worthless items would be worth tens of thousands, and if he was lucky enough to find something valuable, he might even be able to afford a house.

However, there weren't many of these items; I only managed to find five in total, and most of them were broken. People are frugal these days; if a ceramic jar is still usable without any chips, who would easily throw it away? Only some young people who are about to get married don't like using these old things; they exchange them for industrial ration coupons to buy enamel basins and new white porcelain bowls.

A vase had a crack, a small wine glass had a chip, and two thread-bound books had wormholes. Only the painting was in good condition, except that the scroll was broken.

Zhou Rui also saw several old radios and thought it was a pity that he hadn't learned how to repair electrical appliances, otherwise it might have been another way to make money.

Finally, Zhou Rui asked for a few more intact wine bottles and canning jars to store soy sauce, vinegar, lard, and the like.

Zhou Rui gathered all the items he needed to buy, and the old man immediately started calculating the cost. It came to three yuan and sixty cents in total. The purchasing station was quite straightforward; they just gave the money to the old man, and he took out a ledger to record it.

Fortunately, the basket was big enough to hold all the items. Arriving at the main street where the repair shop was, Tong Lei was squatting under a tree, looking around suspiciously – it was hard to believe he wasn't looking for trouble. Zhou Rui saw him and walked straight over. Tong Lei saw him too, but just waved without saying a word. People in their line of work don't shout and yell in the street; they just approach whoever needs help and ask – it's all about observation.

"Hey buddy, back in town again? Got everything alright last time?" Tong Lei remembered Zhou Rui vividly, mainly because he'd never seen such a young, half-grown boy buy so much stuff from him at once—over twenty yuan just for ration coupons. Unlike other people, who were so stingy, considering three or five yuan a big purchase.

"It's alright, thanks to your reminder last time, I managed to avoid it." Zhou Rui put down his basket and squatted down next to Tong Lei.

"What do you want this time? Let me tell you beforehand, there are no bicycle tickets, and no baby formula."

"I don't want those this time. I want radio tickets, watch tickets, and wine tickets," Zhou Rui said softly, looking straight ahead.

"You keep asking for things you don't have. Those coupons are rare in the city. Do you think I have any? I still have some industrial coupons I collected recently, plus the ones you bought from me last time, that's about ten, right? You can save them up slowly. I do have a few liquor coupons though."

"How long will it take to save up all these tickets? Oh well, let's just take what we have." Zhou Rui said helplessly. These tickets were so rare in those days. Moreover, in the city, families getting married would strive to have a "three turns and one sound" (a set of three watches, a watch, a radio, and a watch), and even if the family was struggling financially, they would sell everything they owned to afford one or two of these items. As a result, tickets were even harder to come by.

"But a watch? It's secondhand. Do you want it? It's a good one, an imported watch, solid gold. Even though it's secondhand, it's no cheaper than a new one."

"Okay, I'll take a look. If it's suitable, I'll take it." Zhou Rui had no choice. After all, these kinds of tickets were too hard to come by, and Zhou Rui needed a watch, otherwise it would be difficult to keep track of when he would get home from hunting.

"Then will you come home with me to see it?" Tong Lei asked tentatively. After all, the watch was quite valuable, and he didn't want to bring it out on the street.

Zhou Rui didn't hesitate and agreed immediately. Judging from the last transaction and the subsequent reminder, Tong Lei was a fairly law-abiding person. He wasn't worried about Tong Lei resorting to underhanded tactics in this level of transaction, unless Tong Lei stopped working in town altogether. Of course, if the amount of money involved was several thousand or tens of thousands, that would be a different story, but if there really was such a large transaction, Zhou Rui wouldn't be unprepared.