The Clever Wife of the 1960s Chapter 8

Chapter 8. Black Market

Neither she nor Han Guobin had many clothes, only two sets each. They had no idea how many times they had been washed, and they had all turned white.

This is for summer, but there are also winter ones.

There were even fewer winter clothes. She looked through them and found that Han Guobin only had the same clothes for winter, especially the cotton-padded jacket outside. She didn't know how many years he had worn it. It was all caked up and couldn't keep him warm at all.

And this is also the reason why Chen Rou scolded her mother-in-law without any hesitation today.

With her man's personality, he must be doing heavy work to earn work points for the family, but raising a cow also requires feeding it grass occasionally. What does she think of her man?

Chen Rou, who was protective of her, took note of it and was just worrying about where to vent her anger, but now that she had come to him on her own accord, how could she show him mercy?

Han Guobin didn't say anything after hearing this, he just said: "Wait until it's completely dark before going over."

It's just getting dark now, and there are still quite a few people outside. It's best to get cotton and cotton cloth when it's late at night and everyone is asleep.

He lay down on the kang, and Chen Rou also lay down, thinking that she would have to make a new set of clothes for her man this year. The clothes she brought from her parents' home were not new anymore, but the key was that she still had some stock in her space, including warm clothes, so she would not feel cold.

So Han Guobin is given priority.

But Han Guobin's mind was not here at all. When he came over, Chen Rou immediately understood what he meant.

"I said, aren't you tired?" Chen Rou said.

"Not tired." Han Guobin said.

Are you kidding? I'm full of energy, how can I be tired?

When the deed was done, the moon was already high in the sky. Chen Rou didn't know whether the thief was tired or not, but she was tired herself and was ready to go to bed.

Han Guobin didn't sleep. He went to his mother-in-law's house, brought back the cotton and cotton cloth and put them away at home. Then he went to bed with his sweet and soft wife in his arms.

In the middle of the night, he was woken up by Han Laosan knocking on the door. He brushed his teeth, went into the kitchen, ate the breakfast prepared by his wife, and went out yawning.

As for Chen Rou, she was asleep until Zhou Zhen came over to call her and said, "If I hadn't called you once, you would have overslept."

Chen Rouxin thought that it was all caused by that thief from last night, who was just taking advantage of the situation when he got the meat.

After kneading the dough, I went to brush my teeth.

What she needed to prepare now was not only her own breakfast, but also lunch. Thinking that the man had lost a lot of energy last night, she steamed some buns for him.

There’s no good filling, just vegetables and eggs, nothing else.

But when he brought them to the field, he still gave him two to eat first, which earned him a look from Han Guobin that couldn't hide his smile.

"You're exhausted." Chen Rou rolled her eyes at him. Seeing that he was in good spirits, she stuffed a candy into his mouth and left him alone. She then went to the cotton field fully armed.

Picking cotton is not an easy job, but Chen Rou can always pick the cotton quickly and cleanly, and is no worse than the most skillful women comrades.

The steamed buns we had for lunch, vegetable and egg buns, tasted great, but they were also very tiring.

The autumn harvest started in late October and lasted until the end of October. Everyone in the village lost weight.

But it’s not over yet. We still have to pay grain and plant winter wheat.

All in all, things are not really over yet.

But Chen Rou couldn't do it anymore. She thought she was strong and could endure hardships, but after this autumn harvest, she was exhausted.

And this is based on the fact that her family's food is better than that of ordinary families. You can imagine how difficult life is for local female comrades.

However, when Chen Rou saw Han Guobin carrying a lot of food home, she felt that all the hard work was worth it.

And there was not only food, but also money to be shared.

Her family didn't get much, just over 20 yuan, after all, she didn't work much before. Although she performed very well during the autumn harvest and could get six work points as long as she worked, it still couldn't make up for her laziness before.

So if you can get more than 20 yuan, just be happy.

In addition, each household was given some cotton, but the amount of cotton was really too little. Her family only got half a pound, which was not enough to make a thicker cotton coat.

It’s too cold here in winter, and a big cotton-padded coat must weigh at least one and a half kilograms of cotton.

Fortunately, she asked her mother to buy it in advance.

She has been working on it recently, making a new suit for Han Guobin. As for his old cotton-padded jacket, she took out the cotton inside, because it was really unusable and she didn't know how many years he had worn it, so she replaced it with new cotton and sewed it in.

Cotton-picking is no small undertaking.

But after finishing this old cotton-padded jacket, Chen Rou felt a sense of accomplishment.

It still looks like the same old cotton-padded jacket on the outside, but inside it contains a cotton core made of one and a half kilograms of cotton. Wearing such a cotton-padded jacket in the middle of winter can keep you much warmer.

Only six taels of cotton were used to make the cotton trousers.

There was no other way. There wasn't much cotton, so she only took five kilograms of cotton from her mother.

She used the remaining cotton cloth to make herself a pair of cotton trousers. She used half a pound of cotton, and had almost three pounds of cotton left, so she prepared to make it into a quilt.

But if I only rely on a quilt that weighs less than three pounds this winter, I would be freezing to death.

Although the kang was heated, it would still be cold in the second half of the night and we had to rely on quilts to keep warm.

So, taking advantage of the fact that the cloth coupons had been distributed, Chen Rou wanted to go into the city and find Zhou Zhen to go with her.

But there are quite a few young girls and wives who are going to move to the city. Now that they have finished their work and distributed cloth coupons, everyone wants to buy a piece of good cloth to make a beautiful dress.

However, no one knew where Han's mother got the nerve to come to borrow cloth coupons before she went into the city.

She knew exactly what she was borrowing it for: to make new clothes for her soon-to-be-married daughter-in-law.

It's called a loan, but in fact it's like throwing meat buns at a dog, it's gone and never comes back, you'd be a fool to give it to her.

She had prepared some clothes in her space, but they were all hers, not a single piece for her man. Her husband Guobin had very few clothes, and she would have to rely on these cloth coupons for the couple's summer clothes next year.

If she went to the black market, it would be too expensive and she couldn't afford it. She gave her mother two dollars to buy cloth and so much cotton, but in fact, it was all the capital she took from her uncle, so she definitely didn't make a penny.

How could Chen Rou possibly give her the cloth coupons? She simply refused, making Han's mother very angry.

Chen Rou didn't care and went to the city early that morning with Zhou Zhen and other young girls and wives.

Since the autumn harvest, although Chen Rou still didn't talk much to people, she was not lazy anymore and worked very hard. Therefore, no one would feel ashamed to walk with her, and many people would talk to her.

As soon as they entered the city, Zhou Zhen said, "Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative quickly. I'm afraid all the cloth will be sold out soon."

The other young girls and wives also nodded.

Then a group of people came over and indeed there was a very long queue. It was not until Chen Rou's turn that they finally came. Chen Rou had no choice but to give out the cloth coupons in her hand, and gave a few cents to buy a piece of medium-sized cloth.

As she held the cloth, she was thinking about taking it back to make two sets of winter underwear for Han Guobin. As for the clothes for next spring, she would see when the time comes.

There were quite a few other things on display at the supply and marketing cooperative, such as malted milk, White Rabbit milk candy, canned fruit, etc., but they were too expensive, so Chen Rou couldn't bear to buy any of them.

But she had other ideas. She had some supplies in her space.

"I'll go look around some other places first and wait at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative before noon." Chen Rou said to Zhou Zhen and the others.

"I want to go shopping in the mall, do you want to come?" Zhou Zhen asked hurriedly.

"I'm not going. I'm leaving first." Chen Rou said and left.

She went to a house and gave a secret signal. The old woman squinted her eyes, looked at her, and told her her location.

As soon as Chen Rou heard it, she knew that the black market had moved to a new location after not being there for a while.

The black market is not fixed and it changes location every once in a while, but the old woman she knew was familiar with it, so she came over to ask a few questions.

Chen Rou was carrying a basket with the rolled cloth placed horizontally in it. When she came over, someone looked around and asked in a low voice, "Sister, do you want to exchange the cloth?"

"I won't exchange the cloth." Chen Rou shook her head. Seeing the young man's regretful expression, she turned around and was about to leave. She lowered her voice and said, "I have white flour. Do you want it?"

The young man was stunned and asked hurriedly: "White flour?"

Chen Rou motioned him to go to the corner to trade, and whispered, "Take a look."

She lifted the cloth at the bottom of the basket, and there were three bundles of dried noodles that she had unpacked. She took one and gave it to him to taste. After tasting it, the young man's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but look at her and said, "I don't have any food coupons."

"Other tickets are fine too." Chen Rou knew that the tickets for city dwellers were very expensive.

"There are two more cloth coupons, do you want them?" the young man whispered.

"Yes!" Chen Rou nodded and quoted a price. The young man lowered the price. The two did not haggle for long before the deal was done.

Chen Rou held the money and receipt in her hand, bought three kilograms of cotton that was fluffed and very expensive, and left without saying a word.

The black market is not safe.

She wouldn't have come this time if it wasn't on her way.

She wrapped it with cloth, and then she used the remaining two cloth coupons to tear off a piece of cloth. She really wanted to save it for making clothes next year.

They bought some other things, such as brown sugar, bowls and pots, and at noon, they set out on their return journey. They brought a shoulder pole with them, as they had bought too many things and planned to carry them back, but when they saw an acquaintance riding a donkey cart, they also took a donkey cart from the next village and went back together, each giving a penny.

After returning home, Chen Rou drank a large bowl of water and then slowly exhaled. While Han Guobin was not home yet, she transformed into the Snail Girl and started moving things into the house.

Even though I brought home a lot of things, including cloth, pots and pans, and three pounds of fluffy cotton, I made some money by selling three handfuls of noodles, so I actually didn't spend much.

- Extracting MTL from raw by Du Xian'er (Poison❀Fairy) -

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