Rebirth 78: Hunting for Treasure in the Mountains, Spoiling My Wife and Daughter to the Heavens

The horse galloped swiftly, while the oxcart moved smoothly and comfortably.

Lu Weiguo had initially planned to go and return as soon as possible.

In my past life, I was used to taking high-speed trains, always coming and going in a hurry.

The first time I rode in an oxcart after being reborn, I realized I was overthinking things.

The old ox walked slowly along the dirt road. It was the collective property of the brigade, and Uncle Niu was extremely careful even when cracking his whip.

Lu Weiguo tried several times to take the old ox's testicles and make it run faster, but Niu Erliang stopped him each time.

By the time they arrived in the county town, it was almost noon.

The county towns and rural areas in Northeast China were completely different at this time.

Rural areas were impoverished and difficult. Under the collective system, although everyone could get enough to eat, the conditions of every household were roughly the same.

The Northeast, as the first region in the country to become wealthy, has a foundation of heavy industry spanning two or three decades.

Every county town has several large state-owned factories that support the county's economic development.

If you have the chance to visit Harbin, you'll find that its architecture at this time of year is even more magnificent than that of many major southern cities.

By the early 1970s, Harbin already had fully automated state-run restaurants.

In the late 1970s, Harbin's heavy industry even ranked among the top three in the country.

Lu Weiguo looked left and right, his eyes full of curiosity.

He was no different from a country bumpkin who was visiting the city for the first time.

Seeing this, Niu Erliang laughed and said, "Dog Egg, this is your first time in the city, isn't it? You should just live a good life, stop gambling, and sooner or later you'll be as happy as the city people!"

Most elderly people in rural areas are kind-hearted and speak frankly, so they seize every opportunity to offer advice.

Lu Weiguo nodded seriously and waited for the oxcart to pass by the supply and marketing cooperative.

After saying goodbye to Uncle Niu and agreeing on a time and place to return, I jumped off the oxcart.

Stepping into the supply and marketing cooperative.

Inside, it was full of young people dressed in brightly colored clothes and wearing polyester shirts.

Purchasing slips hung from the overhead wires as people moved back and forth.

This was one of the ways supply and marketing cooperatives sold goods in this era.

The sales window issues receipts for goods, customers pay the money and get the receipt from the accountant, and then pick up their goods from the window.

Lu Weiguo followed the direction of the note and headed straight for the accounting window.

He was there to sell goods, so naturally he needed to find the receiving window.

"Come on, comrade, you're selling hazelnut mushrooms, right? Come here!"

Before Lu Weiguo could find the receiving window...

The female accountant, with only a small gap visible through the curtain, poked her head out of the stall.

"Comrade, I was here first."

While waiting in line, a woman with a long braid muttered something under her breath.

As a result, he was directly rebuffed by the female accountant.

"What's wrong with you, woman? She's a saleswoman, how can she be the same as you, the customer!"

The working people are the most glorious; the poor and lower-middle peasants are all our friends!

Back then, all employees in supply and marketing cooperatives were formal staff.

But it lacked the smiling service of waiters in later generations.

"Excuse me, lady, I'll cut in line first."

Lu Weiguo, carrying a basket on his back, smiled and nodded to the woman.

Then he handed a bunch of mushrooms to the female accountant.

At that time, supply and marketing cooperatives did not have sales targets, but they were still required to set annual quotas for the amount of goods they collected.

This can be considered the only requirement for the employees of the supply and marketing cooperative.

"Hey, farmer, these mushrooms are of good quality! They're all about the same size, and you've cleaned them very well."

He's clearly a person of taste! Exactly...

The female accountant had delicate eyebrows, full lips, and large, shrewd eyes.

Lu Weiguo had a smile on his face, knowing that all the nice words he had said before were just empty talk, and the real point was in the turn of events.

So before the female accountant could continue, he hurriedly interrupted, "Beautiful lady, I'm just a local hoodlum. You're dressed much more elegantly. Look at that flower in your hair, it's obviously not ordinary stuff."

"Did you make this yourself, sister? You're so skillful! It's much better than anything you can buy outside!"

In this day and age, when praising a woman, people usually say she is strong and capable, and that a big butt is good for childbearing!

No one pays attention to details like Lu Weiguo.

Upon hearing this, the female accountant burst into laughter, her eyes crinkling into crescent shapes.

"I say, you young comrade, you have a good eye! I saw this in a magazine and made it at home myself; it's exactly the same style as the actress in that movie theater!"

You say you're a mountain hoodlum? I've never seen you before.

"Mountain hustler" refers to someone who makes a living off the mountains.

They gather mountain produce, pick pine cones, fish and hunt, but they don't like farming.

"I've just started doing this, and I'm so lucky to have met such a beautiful and kind lady on my first day of selling goods."

My surname is Lu, and my name is Lu Weiguo. I'll definitely come here often in the future. You can just call me Little Lu, sister.

In just a few words, Lu Weiguo not only praised the female accountant but also revealed his own identity.

She kept calling me "sister" to establish a closer relationship!

In this era, we can't treat younger sisters like we do in later generations, with terms like "sister" being more or less common.

Slogans are everywhere: women hold up half the sky, and calling someone "sister" shows respect.

They also expressed their intention to pursue a long-term partnership.

The female accountant was already happy and forgot about what she had just said to nitpick.

"Xiao Lu, right? Don't keep calling me 'sister.' That's sweeter than honey. I don't think I'm that much older than you."

My surname is Yuan, and my name is Yuan Mengjie. You can just call me Mengjie from now on. If you want to sell local products, come to me, and only come to me.

After the female accountant Yuan Mengjie finished speaking, she led Lu Weiguo inside.

He weighed all the mushrooms in the basket and those strung on wire, noted their weight, and then said, "Logically speaking, your level of dryness doesn't even meet the standard."

They're still a bit damp. I should buy them as fresh mushrooms, at three cents a pound. But since we're going to do this regularly, I'll charge you eight cents a pound for dried mushrooms.

Thirty-five jin in total, twenty-eight yuan, but this is a one-time exception, understand?

Lu Weiguo nodded frantically, indicating that he would definitely dry the food before sending it over next time.

A barrage of compliments earned them nearly eighteen yuan more.

Who says you need a system to be reborn!

It all comes down to mastering life experience!

You have to understand that in those days, an ordinary worker in a state-owned factory earned only 28.61 yuan a month.

The production efficiency in Fendou Village is low. One centimeter is worth only about three cents. Even if you work yourself to death for a whole day, you can only earn three cents for a ten-centimeter piece.

A few words of praise, and eighteen yuan!

That's enough to cover two months' income for a farmer.

In a transaction where payment was made on the spot, Lu Weiguo slipped the squirrel skin from yesterday into Yuan Mengjie's hand when no one was looking.

This made Yuan Mengjie blush again.

Twenty-eight yuan!

The earnings from a day of mushroom picking instantly transformed a poor peasant into a proletarian.

"The proletariat is the most glorious!"

Lu Weiguo couldn't help but sigh, his smile widening. Twenty-eight yuan wasn't much, but it was enough to cover his monthly ration.

That's even enough to buy a can of malted milk powder.

Upon arriving at the grain and oil section of the supply and marketing cooperative, one would hand over the "pre-purchase book." According to the "70% labor-30% system," an adult's monthly ration of 20 jin of grain could be exchanged for 14 jin of quota at the supply and marketing cooperative.

The Lu family consists of four people, but Jia Huan and Jia Cheng are relatively young, so they are counted as one person together. Therefore, Lu Weiguo's "pre-order book" has a quota for three adults this month.

In total, it can be exchanged for 42 catties of coarse grains. If converted to refined grains, it can only be exchanged for 30 catties, and the price of refined grains is five times that of coarse grains.

After being reborn, Lu Weiguo had no intention of letting his family suffer again, so he directly exchanged for thirty catties of fine grain.

Malted milk powder was an unplanned item and could be purchased without food coupons.

As for other items, Lu Weiguo had previously exported all his industrial vouchers, so he could only watch others buy them with envy and sighs.

When Lu Weiguo came out of the supply and marketing cooperative, he felt the only seven yuan, two fen, and eight jiao left in his pocket.

They went from being proletarians to poor and lower-middle peasants!

With provisions on your shoulders, you won't panic.

During the era of collective farming, grain was the only hard currency!

At the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative, the woman with the long braid looked at Lu Weiguo's back with a surprised expression.

After Lu Weiguo had completely disappeared, he sighed, "This comrade seems honest, but how come he's more eloquent than the people from my hometown?"