Chapter 22: Money Must Be Spent

Do good to the end.

See the Buddha off to his home.

For Jia Dongxu's lifelong affair.

Shazhu also racked his brains.

"If it really won't work, we'll give a dowry in the name of the street office."

"Will that work?"

Shazhu used his swindler's eloquence on Director Wang.

"Remove that final 'ma' and it will surely work. You haven't told Jia Zhangshi, you don't know Jia Dongxu's thoughts, you haven't let Jia Dongxu see anyone, and you haven't had the steward do ideological work on Jia Zhangshi. You sit here thinking this and that, you yourself have no confidence, yet you expect others to be confident? The old folks say, 'All beginnings are hard; when faced with things, you must bravely take the first step, but you can't act as the judge, thinking others can't do it—what if they actually can?'"

"How old is Xu Daming of your compound?"

Shazhu thought for a moment.

It seems Xu Daming was born half a year earlier than him.

Shazhu was born on March 10, 1935; Xu Daming was thus born around October 1934, making him seventeen this year.

He was a bit curious.

Why did Director Wang suddenly ask such a question?

Could it be!

Shazhu's heart skipped a beat; he recalled that during last night's meal, Xu Daming seemed to have said something about marrying a wife.

This bastard wouldn't have run to the street office and told Director Wang he wants to marry those prostitutes, would he!

How will he explain it to his parents then!

Upon returning home and opening the door, he said, "I've gotten you a wife—a reformed woman who once worked in the Eight Great Alleys."

He guessed Xu Daming would be double-teamed by his father and mother.

In the whole courtyard, only two people are suitable for marrying a wife: Jia Zhangshi's son Jia Dongxu, and Liu Haizhong's son Liu Guangqi—either Jia Dongxu or Liu Guangqi.

"Director Wang, I still say that Jia Dongxu is the key for you to open up the situation; if that really won't work, there's also Liu Haizhong's eldest son Liu Guangqi."

"I'll think about it, you better get lost." Director Wang laughed and scolded, then lowered his voice to tell Shazhu, "You need to pay attention to your father's matter."

"I know how to handle it; I'll settle it in just two days."

Shazhu turned and left the street office, heading toward the courtyard.

At noon he still had the task of helping Yi Zhonghai prepare meat dishes for Granny Long.

As a cook.

He still understood the principle of handling oil.

The lunch for him and Yushui was now settled.

Just as he reached the gate, he saw a disheveled aunt carrying a half‑catty piece of fatty pork from outside, her body covered in dust and her face bearing a cut.

"Auntie, you didn't run into bandits, did you?"

Yan Fugui heard the sound coming from Shazhu's room.

Lao Kou still valued this tutoring task; as noon approached, he went to Shazhu's room to quiz He Yushui, hoping to mooch a meal.

The fact that Yi Zhonghai had Shazhu prepare meat dishes for Granny Long was deliberately spread by Yi Zhonghai so that everyone in the courtyard knew.

Yan Fugui wouldn't mooch for nothing; what he ate was also Yi Zhonghai's meat.

One who doesn't manage the household doesn't know the value of firewood and rice.

There are some things Shazhu simply doesn't know about.

Given the aunt's miserable state just now, Shazhu's first thought was that she'd run into bandits, but Yan Fugui, who knew the inside story, didn't think so and gave Shazhu a dismissive explanation.

In short, it's just four characters.

Inflation.

Nowadays a catty of rice sells for a thousand dollars; if Shazhu were to take the apprentice wage at the Yagangchang canteen on commission, his monthly salary would be 175,000 dollars, which in rice equals 175 catties—enough for him and Yushui to eat and drink.

But due to various internal and external factors, the money in hand is practically worthless; although rice is officially a thousand dollars per catty, in urgent need you have to pay ten times that price to buy it.

There are also domestic reasons.

The foundation is thin.

We can only export grain to earn foreign exchange.

Prices are soaring.

To break the deadlock.

On October 19, 1953, the relevant authorities proposed a material supply plan, adopting a certificate‑based quota system; various coupons began to circulate nationwide, and goods were supplied according to certificates.

In 1955 the second series of currency was issued, with an exchange rate of one to ten thousand.

Shazhu suddenly had an idea.

When He Daqing passed away, he left a little over two million; Yi Zhonghai then gave Shazhu the one million that He Daqing had left for him, so Shazhu's net worth now starts at three million.

Buying a bicycle is still possible.

Buying a bicycle earlier is better than buying later.

Later on, besides the bicycle coupon, there's also this industrial voucher to be handed over.

Rather than sit around uselessly later, it's better to buy it in advance.

Looking at money that's as good as scrap paper.

Spent.

When things truly become unbearable, the bicycle can also be exchanged for money.

Shazhu looked at the sky and forcibly suppressed the idea of buying a car.

First, fill the stomach.

He reached out and took the two li of pork that the big aunt had painstakingly cut, then gave the big aunt a big hug, and carried the pork home.

He found a kitchen knife, cut a slice from the pork, which looked to be about seven or eight qian, wrapped the meat in straw paper, and casually handed it to Yan Fugui.

Yan Fugui chuckled, slipped the meat into his pocket, and walked out the door with a satisfied stride.

"San Daye, it's almost mealtime; eat before you go!"

"San Daye, you'd better go home and have a bite."

Seeing that only she and Shazhu were left in the room, He Yushui, clutching her pencil and glaring at her textbook like an enemy, muttered softly.

She seemed to have a premonition of her miserable childhood.

Just now Yan Fugui had assigned her an essay.

"He Yushui, either you study well and I'll take you to Liu Bi Ju for dumplings tonight, or you don't study and you'll eat steamed corn bread alone at home—your choice."

"I study hard and make progress every day."

"Do you not dislike me anymore?"

He Yushui looked at Shazhu with small, pleading eyes.

He wondered how her whisper could have been heard by Shazhu.

Shazhu reached out and pinched He Yushui's little cheek.

"Little brat."

"Still dislike me."

"I'm going to cook; hurry up and finish your homework, or you won't get the dumplings tonight."

He Yushui slumped over the desk, frantically scribbling, her pencil moving across the homework paper like she was drawing.

Two li of pork, and he secretly gave Yan Fugui seven or eight qian; the remaining over one li couldn't really be used, so Shazhu grabbed a few potatoes and made a plate of stir-fried pork with potato slices.

In the "Part-Time Oddities" there's a line called "radish meeting"; Shazhu's stir-fried pork with potato slices is basically a "potato meeting", seeing as there aren't many meat slices.

Shazhu ladled out two bowls, giving one to Granny Long Laotaitai and one to the couple Yi Zhonghai.

He delivered the dish.

They exchanged a few casual words.

They went home to eat.

The chore of washing pots and bowls fell to the little girl, supposedly because she loves labor, but actually she just doesn't want to study.

Shazhu, unusually, didn't rebut the little girl; while she was washing dishes, he grabbed paper and pen and swiftly wrote an application to sever ties with He Daqing.