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

Not far from the Xiangyang Farmers Market, there was a temporary market area. In the designated area, some vendors put their goods directly on the ground to sell, some laid out a blanket on the ground to display their goods, and there were also simple shelves or items placed directly on tricycles.

The things sold here are really diverse. Jiang Cheng saw a stall selling deer antlers, tortoise shells, snake skins, and some medicinal herbs.

Brooms, pots, plastic basins, stools, clothes, shoes, and various household items, as well as some electrical appliances that Jiang Cheng had never seen before.

Jiang Cheng strolled around, noting that even though it was breakfast time around 6 a.m., there were still quite a few people. However, most of them were older men and women; there weren't many young people.

Wherever there were crowds, Jiang Cheng would go over, listen to people asking about prices, and watch others buy things.

Jiang Cheng didn't dare ask the price; even a cheap broom cost six or seven yuan. Young people are easily embarrassed, and he felt bad asking the price and not buying. So he watched others ask prices and make their purchases. At this market, you could bargain, unlike at the supply and marketing cooperative where things were fixed-price.

Another thing is that almost every stall has a small green sign. When Jiang Cheng sees someone has finished buying something, he takes a small square object, waves it on the sign, and then presses it a few times to pay.

Of course, some people pay in cash, but not many.

At a bend in the road, Jiang Cheng stopped his tricycle again. There was another tricycle parked at the bend, with apples packed in a net bag on it.

Because they're packaged in mesh bags, you can roughly tell the quality from the outside. The apple sellers don't allow you to open them; they charge ten yuan for a mesh bag and don't weigh them.

A few people were looking at the apples, but they all seemed to think they weren't very good; even at ten dollars a net bag, no one was buying them.

Jiang Cheng was tempted. He estimated that this net bag weighed at least ten pounds, which would average out to one yuan per pound.

These are apples, which are basically unavailable to ordinary people. Even the county's supply and marketing cooperative only sells them occasionally. They cost around 50 cents per pound, but you need fruit coupons or non-staple food coupons.

Ordinary people can hardly get fruit coupons, and even cadres and leaders can't get many fruit coupons in a year.

Jiang Cheng looked at the apples; they were bright red and quite large. These kinds of fruit would sell for two or three yuan on the black market, and people would be scrambling to buy them. He mentally considered his options. He'd just met Director Liu of the county supply and marketing cooperative yesterday; if he could get a few net bags of them over, he might be able to easily make a fortune.

Having decided to buy them, Jiang Cheng, like everyone else, looked through the apples in the net bag and felt they were all fine.

"Boss, I'll take these two bags," Jiang Cheng said to the apple seller, picking out two net bags of apples. He was calling the seller "boss" in the same way he did others.

"Boss, twenty yuan." The middle-aged man selling apples said politely.

Jiang Cheng nodded, took out some money from his pocket, picked out a twenty-yuan note and gave it to the other person, then put the two net bags of apples on the tricycle.

Twenty yuan, gone just like that, more than half a month's wages for an average worker. But two net bags of apples, definitely worth it.

Actually, I just saw some worthwhile items to buy: clothes sold at a street stall, all single-layer shirts, 15 yuan each. A bit more expensive than at the county supply and marketing cooperative, but no cloth ration coupons required.

However, Jiang Cheng couldn't quite accept the style and color. It wasn't that they were ugly, but he was just not used to new things.

After putting the two bags of apples down, Jiang Cheng started strolling around again. He had limited time; if he had known he was going to a market in the future, he would have told Station Chief Chen yesterday to ask for an hour or two off this morning.

The market was getting more and more crowded. In Jiang Cheng's time, the main problem was food shortages, and he still wanted to buy some food to take home. But some of the vegetable vendors were charging over a dollar each.

Jiang Cheng saw a pork vendor; the pork belly was more expensive than the lean meat. But pure fat was cheaper than lean meat, costing a little over five yuan per pound.

Meat from the county supply and marketing cooperative now costs a little over 70 cents per pound, and you need meat coupons. If you don't have coupons, you can buy it on the black market for more than two yuan per pound, and it depends on luck; you can't just buy meat whenever you want.

Fatty meat at the market is now over five yuan a pound, which is not a good deal, so Jiang Cheng restrained himself from being tempted.

After riding his tricycle around the market twice more with two bags of apples in hand, Jiang Cheng knew he didn't have much time to linger. There was a row of shops across from the farmers' market, most of which were open now; he wanted to go check them out.

Jiang Cheng drove his tricycle to the farmers' market. There were stalls at the entrance of the farmers' market, selling fish, meat, and poultry.

Across the street, in a small shop, they cut keys, repair watches, and also sell locks and some ordinary watches. Jiang Cheng drove into the shop across from the farmers' market.

Many wholesale grains, oils, rice, noodles, as well as frozen and fresh goods.

Jiang Cheng was surprised to find a frozen food shop with a sign that read "Frozen Fatty Meat, 2.6 Yuan per pound".

In the county, each person is now rationed only three ounces of meat. Buying a pound of fatty meat is equivalent to a three-month ration. This price is similar to the black market price in his time, but the black market only appears occasionally in small quantities.

This time, without much hesitation, Jiang Cheng walked into the frozen food shop.

"Boss, do you have any frozen fatty meat?"

Yes, which one do you want?

"The kind that's written on the door."

"That one, it's 26 yuan a box, 10 jin a box, not sold individually."

After Jiang Cheng inquired, the frozen food shop owner explained to him. This frozen fatty meat is so cheap because it's pure pork fat, specifically used to render lard, not just chunks of fat.

Furthermore, this pork fat is sold by the box, packaged in plastic bags and frozen. If you were to buy this kind of pork fat at a place that sells fresh pork, it would cost around four yuan per pound.

"Give me a case then," Jiang Cheng said. He actually wanted two cases, but spending twenty or thirty yuan at a time was a bit too much for him, considering his basic monthly salary was only forty-odd yuan.

"Okay, just a moment, I'll have someone go get it," the frozen food shop owner replied.

Jiang Cheng nodded, and within a few minutes, a small cardboard box containing fatty pork was handed to him. This time, he gave the frozen food shop owner a hundred-yuan note for change.

Here, Jiang Cheng also understood what that small green picture was. It was called a "sweeper," and you needed a chicken in your hand to sweep it.

With both horses and chickens involved, Jiang Cheng was genuinely confused for a while.

I bought a box of fatty pork, put it on the tricycle, and continued driving in. There was no time to explore many things; I could only look around in amazement.

The road was the same on both sides, except that there were fewer people on the other side. After Jiang Cheng rode his bike inside, he saw an interesting shop in a corner.

The shop door was closed, but the signboard was intriguing; the shop's name was "Adult Products." Jiang Cheng was curious. Adults, after more than sixty years, were there still products specifically for adults?

Some shops had clocks on their walls, and Jiang Cheng saw it was almost seven o'clock. He bought two bags of apples and a box of fatty pork, thinking that was enough, and going back now wouldn't delay him from work.

Riding his tricycle, Jiang Cheng began his journey back. Along the way, he saw various modes of transportation; it was just a small town, yet there were quite a few very nice cars.

If a car appeared in a county town, it basically meant that a high-ranking official from above was coming to inspect. But more than sixty years later, in a small town, cars are a common sight.