Chapter 35: with translation of chapter title

In the evening He Yuzhu gave Bang Geng a beating, but he didn't think much of it; this kid just needed a thrashing—if I had been firmer earlier, he wouldn't dare talk back to me.

After checking his doors and windows, He Yuzhu walked to the canteen in the morning sun to inspect work; under Ma Hua's leadership, everyone worked in an orderly manner and sanitary conditions improved considerably.

"The Supply and Marketing Cooperative will give us the meat today; let's make stir-fried pork with wood ear mushrooms at noon," He Yuzhu instructed, "This dish isn't hard—you can handle it yourself."

He wanted to check on the supply group, since it was the last day of the month; he ought to tidy things up and see if there was any surplus.

He and the Factory Director had already cleared it with superiors: if these were food items, part would be subsidized to the canteen, while the rest of the coupons would be kept with him for later use.

He needed to keep a tight grip on these things; if he showed any weakness, those leaders would suck him dry like mosquitoes from his supply group.

"Liu Lan, have you finished clearing everything?" He Yuzhu asked, "Set aside next month's coupons separately."

"You've said it several times already; I've already taken care of it." Liu Lan handed him the ledger, "This month we have a surplus of 200 catties of grain, most of which was exchanged for liquor."

There are always people looking for loopholes; they know He Yuzhu's loose liquor is good, so they pretext official business to exchange more from him.

He Yuzhu knew this, but didn't pay much mind; his wholesale department had stored plenty of loose liquor, because it was the town's biggest consumable.

He could sell several hundred catties of liquor each month.

Thus the storeroom held ten 100-catty liquor jars.

Even if he sold out the wholesale department's stock, it wouldn't matter—the current system could produce more.

After sorting the coupons, it was nearly noon; many workers came to loaf around, some for inquiries, others directly to handle business.

"Sister Lan, you're making things too difficult for us—we can't get this thing here." Liu Lan's exaggerated shout drew other workers, who immediately began chattering in all directions.

"This is really something they can ask for."

"Sister Lan only has this one; in the future it'll all be theirs anyway—what's the point of wanting this?"

He Yuzhu came out to ask what exactly they wanted.

"Director He, you don't know how picky my daughter-in-law is—I bought her a thermos and a radio, got a full set of new furniture, and now she wants a watch; this isn't just draining my old bones."

He Yuzhu chuckled; demanding so many things is indeed rare nowadays, but compared to later times this is just a drop in the bucket—a house or car wouldn't be much more expensive than a watch.

"Your daughter-in-law sure can ask for a lot—haven't you talked to a matchmaker?"

"They originally wanted a Serta mattress, but could that compare to my big quilt made of new cotton? And since the store had nothing, after much back-and-forth it turned into a watch."

Fortunately, fortunately; if they really wanted a Serta mattress, he really wouldn't have any way—although such things existed before liberation, after liberation no factories produced them.

After liberation, the earliest production on the mainland began in the 1970s.

Moreover, his wholesale department had no stock.

"Wanting a Serta mattress—what big shot is this?"

"Why doesn't she want a bicycle?"

"Director He, can you help buy a bicycle?"

"Sure, if you have the money and bicycle coupons ready, I can help you buy one."

"Then we don't need you."

Everyone burst out laughing.

Sister Lan was already getting anxious; if she couldn't buy one, she'd have to try to get it from the black market, since she lacked watch coupons and regular channels basically wouldn't have it.

"Sister Lan, what coupons have you prepared?"

To fund her son's wedding, the coupons she had saved were almost spent; she couldn't borrow more, so she took out the remaining coupons, intending to use them all for exchange.

Unfortunately, her coupons weren't worth much.

She had a few dozen catties of grain coupons, the rest being side-goods and cloth coupons; in terms of value they were actually similar to watch coupons, but in terms of how precious they were, there was still a difference.

"Sister Lan's face is on the line here—I'll pay attention." He Yuzhu accepted these coupons.

He himself had no watch coupons, but his wholesale department did have a few watches from the 1960s, all top brands of the era, long kept pressed in the warehouse.

This relates to the history of his wholesale department; originally his family's wholesale department was actually a side-goods store of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and after reform and opening-up his parents contracted that side-goods store.

Its main business was selling tobacco, alcohol, sugar, tea, and various canned goods.

However, later the hardware and grocery store under the Supply and Marketing Cooperative system went bankrupt, and its remaining old stock was moved into the warehouse of his wholesale department.

He had previously seen a few women's watches.

After work he returned to the grocery shop, took out the wholesale department's watches from the system, and examined them carefully—they were indeed products from the 1960s.

As for the signs of age, the system had cleaned them up, so taking them out now they were like brand-new women's watches.

"Oh my, this looks like a newly released Haiou women's watch, Zhuzi—who are you planning to give it to?" An aunt came over to buy something, eyeing his watch in surprise, "Is Xiuxiu coming back soon?"

Neighbors from the nearby courtyard house all gathered; whenever someone added something new nearby, it easily drew a crowd. Seeing the watch, everyone's faces filled with envy, feeling He Yuzhu had really made it.

This watch was quite expensive.

"This is for Sister Lan's household use; this afternoon I managed to get it back for her—I'll hurry and give it to her tomorrow." He Yuzhu chuckled, "I called in several layers of connections."

Hearing this, everyone grew more excited—maybe in the future, if they wanted to buy a watch, they could also ask He Yuzhu to handle it, and since they're all neighbors, they probably wouldn't need so many coupons.

"Zhuzi, is this watch cheap?" San Daye asked.

"What kind of joke is that—how could it be cheap?" He Yuzhu glanced at San Daye, "It's over seventy yuan."

"That's a huge hemorrhage—for the Lan family widow, they barely have two coins to rub together."

"It's all for the kid's marriage—you haven't seen how she's lost over twenty catties."

After gawking for a while, since few families in the courtyard house were well-off, everyone had just gotten an eyeful; seeing that it was time to make dinner, they drifted off in twos and threes.

Seeing there wasn't much business, He Yuzhu also returned to the courtyard house.

In the alley corner, a small figure appeared; he stared at the grocery shop with eyes shining—seventy-plus yuan, enough to feed him well for over a month.

The braised pork and big scallion pancakes seemed to beckon him from there.

Saliva kept welling up in his mouth; he glanced around, saw no one, and took off running out of the alley.