Hard times: I worked as a truck driver in the county town

Jiang Cheng's apples and fatty pork cannot be said to have been sold to the supply and marketing cooperative; rather, they were left to Liu Kaihong to handle.

Whether buying or selling, the supply and marketing cooperative needs receipts. Since Jiang Cheng couldn't provide the receipts, he had to ask Liu Kaihong to help him process them.

Before the commune was established the previous year, townships were not yet collectivized. Some people raised their own chickens, and they could sell whatever they found in the mountains or fish they caught in the river in the county.

Since individuals have limited resources, they need to sell them themselves to fetch higher prices. However, if they want to dispose of the goods quickly, they can sell them to purchasing stations.

They'll buy anything—meat, eggs, and some mountain produce—as long as it's from a place with a canteen. Those places will even issue purchase receipts to prove the money is legitimate income.

However, Jiang Cheng's apples and fatty pork cannot even be invoiced. There are no such apples in Yi'an County, and nowadays, individuals cannot sell fatty pork.

Furthermore, even if it were sold to certain entities, it wouldn't fetch a high price; at most, it would be slightly higher than the market price.

"Master Jiang, will you still be able to get your hands on these scarce supplies in the future?" After chatting with Jiang Cheng for a while, Director Liu felt that the atmosphere and timing were right before tentatively asking.

Director Liu didn't ask a single question about how Jiang Cheng obtained the items. If Jiang Cheng were capable, he would have spoken up; only some greenhorn who hasn't even grown up yet would ask how the items came to be.

"I might be able to get it if I have the chance, but I can't say for sure. It depends on the situation over there," Jiang Cheng replied. This was the truth. Who knew when that opportunity system would be triggered? And even if it was triggered, it didn't necessarily mean entering the future era.

"If you had the chance, how much supplies could you get? Is this all you could get?" Director Liu asked again with a smile.

Director Liu planned to sell one pound of the three pounds of fatty meat to Director Yang and the Party Branch Secretary in his unit. If Director Yang really wanted to retire, it would be impossible for him, a deputy section chief, to be promoted.

Internal recommendations at best give Director Liu the chance to appear in front of the county leaders, so to get anything good, Director Liu has to take care of two leaders in his unit.

As for the fifteen catties of apples, Director Liu would also give some to them, and then give them as gifts on New Year's Day. He was able to become the deputy director of the supply and marketing cooperative because he had some connections in the county, but he couldn't get a large quantity of supplies, so giving gifts was just to maintain those connections.

"Actually, there are several hundred kilograms of apples this time, and quite a bit of fat too. But I just started working and don't have that much money to eat them all. Besides, getting so much stock at once changes the nature of the business," Jiang Cheng replied.

Starting in 1954, in order to stabilize prices, private merchants were initially prohibited from buying and selling grain. Then, other commodities were gradually tightened as well.

This prohibition on buying and selling applies only to merchants who specialize in buying low and selling high. It doesn't mean that you can't sell anything at all; personally manufactured goods and unclaimed items acquired through legitimate channels can be bought and sold.

Before the collectivization of towns and villages, the so-called unclaimed property referred to things that individuals could collect and sell, such as game, mountain produce, and firewood from the mountains.

Now that the commune has been established and collectivized, there are no more firewood sellers in the county. Jiang Cheng's family burns firewood, but they don't buy it. Before, only his father, Jiang Dahe, earned money in the family. When he was a child, Wang Lan would take them to the outskirts of the county to collect and cut firewood.

Later, when Jiang Yong was in his teens, he would take Jiang Cheng to collect and chop firewood on weekends when school was out. Now everyone is at work and is willing to spend money to buy firewood, but there are no people selling firewood anymore.

Director Liu naturally understood what Jiang Cheng was saying. It's fine for truck drivers to carry a small amount of cargo, selling it to acquaintances out of personal favor and making a small profit. But carrying large quantities of goods specifically for buying and selling is absolutely not advisable.

Director Liu took out a cigarette from his pocket and offered one to Jiang Cheng. He had acted rashly earlier, and he couldn't bear the responsibility if things went wrong.

Actually, Director Liu does have a way to solve this problem of large-scale procurement, but it's a bit difficult to bring up the idea.

The county supply and marketing cooperative has exclusive purchasing and sales rights, which means it can issue letters of introduction with the cooperative's official seal, and can temporarily entrust people outside the cooperative to make purchases on its behalf.

This means that Jiang Cheng was just someone the supply and marketing cooperative called in to run errands, so that some transactions could be made public. But there's a crucial issue here: if the goods are made public, the purchase price will also be public.

For example, the apples Jiang Cheng is selling to Director Liu now, if purchased openly, would cost at most 50 cents per pound. The fatty meat would only cost about 70 cents.

Director Liu's relationship with Jiang Cheng hasn't reached the point where they can openly discuss purchase prices. Besides, Jiang Cheng is definitely making some money today by selling Director Liu's things, in addition to getting him to do him a favor.

"Next time you have the chance, could you take me with you, Master Jiang? I'd like to pool my money to buy some too," Director Liu said, taking a deep drag on his cigarette.

"That's easy, Director Liu. I'll shamelessly ask you for a favor too. Could you help me get some gasoline?" Jiang Cheng inquired.

Jiang Cheng and Director Liu currently have a relationship based on mutual benefit, so they naturally need to help each other. Once they become more familiar with each other, some things might just require asking.

"We can get some, but we'll have to wait until after the New Year," Director Liu replied.

"Director Liu, I've heard that people from your supply and marketing cooperative have extensive connections. Let me ask you something else. Do you know anyone at the timber factory in the west of the city? I'd like to buy some sawdust for firewood." Jiang Cheng asked again, shamelessly.

Despite his youth, Jiang Cheng has some experience in interpersonal relationships. He knows not to be afraid to bother others. Good relationships require frequent contact. If you always try to solve problems yourself and avoid troubling others, you'll have no reason to ask for favors, and relationships will naturally fade if you don't see each other often.

Why is it that some people who work diligently in silence don't get promoted as quickly as those who report every little thing to their superiors for instructions? Because if you work hard in silence, you first need to make your efforts noticed by the higher-ups and leaders.

"I don't know anyone at the lumber mill, but I do know the manager of the furniture factory in the county. However, there probably isn't much sawdust from the furniture factory. Here's what I'll do: I'll call a friend at the forestry bureau when I get back. If you want sawdust for firewood, the forestry bureau can definitely get you some if they take you there."

Director Liu pondered for a moment and said, "The supply and marketing cooperative also sells furniture, so naturally they deal with furniture factories. But furniture stores usually buy pre-processed wood to make furniture, so there will definitely be sawdust and scraps, but probably not much."

Thinking that the furniture factory probably already divided up the goods internally, I felt there was no need to contact them.

The furniture factory was under the jurisdiction of the Handicraft Industry Bureau, while the timber factory was under the jurisdiction of the Forestry Bureau. It didn't matter that Director Liu didn't know anyone at the timber factory; he just needed to know people at the Forestry Bureau.

To put it bluntly, the timber mill wasn't qualified to establish a relationship with the deputy director of the supply and marketing cooperative. Director Liu didn't know anyone there, but knowing their superiors was enough.

"Then I'll have to trouble Director Liu," Jiang Cheng said politely.

Director Liu smiled. If Jiang Cheng were truly afraid of troubling him, he wouldn't have asked. He checked the time; it was almost noon, and he still needed to take the apples and fatty pork back to process them.

"It's getting late, I'll head over now. If you have time, come over to my place again. I'll introduce you to someone; it'll be more convenient for you to buy things from the supply and marketing cooperative in the future," Director Liu said, standing up.

"If you're not going to send a car, I'll go over this afternoon," Jiang Cheng said, standing up as well.

Shopping here is convenient because you don't have to queue. You can enter the supply and marketing cooperative from the back warehouse. Although you can't save money or ration coupons, you can pick out some things first.

(If I don't ask for votes, you book lovers will forget that there's an author behind the novel. During the free period, if I don't call out a couple of times, your precious hands won't vote. Any recommendation votes, monthly votes, or tips?)