Finally, Lin Lan received her share of one hundred yuan, along with the grain rations distributed according to the number of family members.
When Han-laotou handed over that one hundred yuan to Lin Lan, his heart twisted in actual pain. "Dawang-niang, this money did not come easily. Save it well for your livelihood, and don't spend it recklessly."
Whatever you do, absolutely do not send it back to your niangjia!
Lin Lan smiled, "Die, you can rest assured. I will definitely spend this money well."
The household still needed furniture, cotton-padded clothes, and quilts. The children also had to attend school. One hundred yuan seemed like a lot, but in reality, it couldn't stretch very far at all.
She didn't feel much about it herself, thinking that one hundred yuan was nothing special, but the onlookers were already red-eyed and sour with envy. Calculating their own household savings, they couldn't even scrape together ten yuan, yet these people were doing great, pulling out a whole hundred at once.
Considering the laotaitai's stingy nature, if she was willing to take out one hundred, she probably had another five to eight hundred stashed away.
Many people's eyes shone brightly at the thought, unable to stop themselves from audibly gulping down their saliva.
When Lin Lan reached out to take the money, she pulled, but it wouldn't budge. Han-laotou pinched the cash, extremely reluctant to part with it.
Lin Lan exerted some force, but still couldn't pull it away. She instantly understood his concerns and promised, "Die, put your mind at ease. I absolutely won't send it back to my niangjia. I have five children to raise, after all."
Only then did Han-laotou unwillingly loosen his grip. Lin Lan immediately counted the money once before stuffing it into her pocket.
The crowd's gazes swept over her pocket.
After the grain was weighed, it was time to divide the household tools and utensils.
They received a shovel worn down to half its original size, a broom that was nearly bald, a few bowls and chopsticks, a single basket, two battered pot lids, some basic cooking utensils, and nothing else of note.
Lin Lan rolled her eyes in thought and asked, "Can we have one of the family's trees? Look, when his die and I got married, we had no furniture at all. Now that we're separating from the family and have so many children, shouldn't we get a tree to make some furniture?"
Not to mention anything else, they at least needed a desk and a wardrobe, right?
He hadn't expected her to demand quite so much. Han-laotou figured she didn't have that kind of foresight, so it was likely his erzi's idea.
Thinking that his erzi had also learned how to play mind games, he let out a heavy sigh and nodded. "Alright."
The laotaitai inside the house heard this and immediately charged out, wailing, "No way! The family's trees are meant for Jinyu and Jinbao's weddings to make their furniture!"
Han-dasao tugged at Han-dage, standing silently to the side. It was obvious that their die and niang were biased, but while their die wasn't so blatant about it, their niang's favoritism knew no bounds.
Hearing this, Han Yongfang also felt it was a bit much.
Han-laotou waved his hand, almost lacking the strength to speak.
Seeing his die look like that, Han Qingsong felt a pang of sympathy. He wanted to say they didn't need it, but after looking at Lin Lan, he kept his mouth firmly shut.
After dividing the money, grain, household items, and the tree, there was nothing left to distribute.
All of this was written down in the separation agreement, which would serve as a reference for when the other erzi separated from the family in the future.
Everyone assumed that was the end of it.
However, Lin Lan spoke up, "Party Secretary daye, why don't you preside over this and lay down the regulations for their future elderly care as well? If everything is spelled out clearly now, we'll know exactly what to do in the future."
If it wasn't made absolutely clear, the laotaitai would definitely use filial piety as an excuse to torment her erzi.
On birthdays, she would demand money and grain. During the New Year and festivals, she would demand money and grain. When the didi and meimei went to school or got married, she would demand money and grain.
If she ever got her hands on anything good, the laotaitai would righteously march over and demand it.
Han Qingsong was not a man of many words. If the time came and he couldn't bear to refuse her to her face, that would be a disaster.
By setting the rules now, she could use them to strike back at the laotaitai.
This effectively cut off the laotaitai's escape route, deeply stinging her, and causing the expressions of the others to turn rather ugly as well.
Lin Lan, however, had no intention of coddling them. Since she was already known as a shrew, she fully intended to exercise a shrew's privileges.
Who had ever seen a shrew try to reason with people!
...
Han Yongfang, on the other hand, nodded in strong agreement with her perspective. "Qingsong's xifu has a good idea. From now on, every household separation should be handled this way, saving you all from continuing to bicker even after the split."
Many families claimed to have separated, but their responsibilities and obligations were left in a muddle. When the time came, they would pass the buck and squabble, turning xiongdi into bitter enemies—such cases were everywhere.
Han Yongfang didn't want so much dogshit drama within his jurisdiction. This was an excellent method, so he decided to adopt it wholesale.
A few of the experienced elderly men muttered among themselves for a while based on the practical circumstances. They then agreed that once the old couple turned sixty and could no longer earn enough work points for their own grain rations, their erzi would make up the difference, with all four erzi contributing an equal share. Once they passed the age of sixty-six, they could do as they pleased; if they didn't want to work, they didn't have to. The four erzi would fully provide for their rations, pooling money according to standard elderly care requirements, covering medical expenses, and so on.
Through the window, the laotaitai shrieked, "Jinbao and Jinyu aren't even married yet!"
Han Yongfang calmly replied, "There are regulations for that as well. When the didi and meimei get married, the betrothal gifts and dowries will be divided into four portions, with each household contributing one part."
Of course, these betrothal gifts and dowries would be set at the current standard; they couldn't intentionally demand exorbitant amounts.
Everything they discussed was written down in triplicate. The production brigade kept one copy for their records, setting a precedent for other families to follow when separating.
With the separation handled this way, everyone was thoroughly convinced and satisfied—even though the laotaitai secretly felt that Han Yongfang was biased toward Han Qingsong's family.
Han-dasao also tactfully inquired about how the family would be divided after the fourth son got married. Han-laotou's stance was to cross that bridge when they came to it.
Han-ersao, however, was extremely displeased. If all the family's money was distributed to the third branch, there wouldn't be a single dime left when it was their turn to separate!
Han-dasao, though, understood that this was Han-laotou's way of compensating the third branch for past debts. In reality, while one hundred yuan was a substantial sum, it couldn't even begin to make up for everything the third branch had sacrificed.
After all, this money was entirely earned and brought back by Han Qingsong.
It was one thing if he wasn't married, but he was married with children. The vast majority of this money rightfully belonged to the third branch anyway. The laotaitai had been hogging it all along to spend on her youngest erzi and youngest guinv; no matter how you spun it, she was entirely in the wrong.
Her gonggong was also leaving himself a way out.
Han-laotou naturally possessed his own philosophy regarding old age.
He was actually quite biased himself, favoring his youngest erzi and youngest guinv. Children born in one's later years were always treasured; it was just human nature.
However, unlike the laotaitai, whose favoritism was boundless and unreasonable, he possessed a sense of proportion. Following the traditions passed down from his yeye and die, he made sure to keep a leveled bowl of water—maintaining surface-level fairness among his erzi. This way, when it came time for them to care for him in his old age, his erzi would do their utmost instead of comparing contributions and passing the buck.
If he showed too much blatant favoritism toward one child, the other erzi would throw a fit when it was time to care for him, arguing that since their die and niang favored the youngest, the youngest should be the one to support them.
When they grew old and could no longer perform manual labor, wouldn't they be entirely at the mercy of their erzi and xifu?
Even if the government backed them up, what good would it do? The government wouldn't provide for their old age; it still fell upon the erzi to contribute money, grain, and personal care.
These were the profound insights passed down through generations of ancestors. Han-laotou might not understand grand theories, but he listened to the experiences of the older generation, just as his yeye had done before him.
Even if a niang was horribly biased, as long as the die tried his best to maintain fairness, the erzi would remember his grace in the future. For their die's sake, they wouldn't mistreat their niang either.
The reverse was also true.
But if both of the elders were unfairly biased, their erzi's resentment would grow silently. They wouldn't dare vent their anger while they were young, but once they became a gonggong or a yeye themselves, they would wield authority. By then, their aged parents would be in their twilight years, completely devoid of prestige, and forced to survive at their mercy.
At that point, all their accumulated resentment would burst forth like a landslide or a tidal wave, a force no one could withstand.
By giving his erzi money and grain now, and accommodating his xifu's demands as much as possible, Han-laotou ensured they would have no grounds for complaint. At the very least, on the surface and in front of everyone else, he remained fair and just.
When it came time for elderly care, his third erzi would have to do his absolute best without any grievances, or else he wouldn't have a leg to stand on. If conflicts arose, the community would side with the elders.
He also firmly believed that his third son was a filial haizi, so giving away this money wasn't a loss. It was just a pity that his old wife couldn't see through it.
After the family split, the laotaitai suddenly "fell ill." She applied medicinal plasters every single day, sighing and groaning, acting half-dead as she endlessly complained that her old man had emptied the house and given everything to their third erzi.
"You still claim you aren't biased, but I can clearly see you favor the third branch! I had everything calculated to use this year's cloth and cotton tickets to buy Jinyu a winter coat! Now look what you've done, there's not enough!"
"What do you know? I'm doing this for your own good!" Han-laotou puffed on his smoking pipe.
While he was still around, things would be fine; the children wouldn't dare act out. But if he passed away first, given his old wife's terrible temper, the children would definitely despise her.
Therefore, he was paving a road for her future. Should he die early, they might treat the old woman a little better out of respect for him.
In this day and age, there were plenty of old xiongdi who passed away in their sixties. Han-laotou didn't dare assume he would definitely live to be seventy or eighty.
The laotaitai, however, couldn't see that far ahead. Her vision was entirely limited to what was right in front of her, and all she could see was that her precious children were suffering a loss.
How many years of starvation would it take to earn all that money back!
She muttered again, plotting to collect the third branch's cloth and cotton tickets before Lin Lan could get her hands on them.
"Jinbao ah, Jinyu ah, why haven't the two of you come back yet?" The laotaitai called out for her sweethearts before breaking into curses again. "That unreliable second son! I told you to go deliver a message to your didi and meimei, where the hell did you die off to? Are you so jealous of them that you didn't even deliver the message?"
Out in the courtyard, Han-erge and his wife, who were already wallowing in frustration, felt indescribably wronged upon hearing this.
They were already green with envy over the third branch taking so much of the family's grain. Now, being blamed by his old niang on top of it, he stomped his foot in rage, slammed the door, and stormed out.
While gloom and despair blanketed this side of the courtyard, Lin Lan's side was filled with cheerful laughter and boundless joy.
...
Lin Lan stood with her hands on her hips, directing her man and children as they organized the grain and household tools they had carried back.
"The flour vat, yes, this one small vat, bring it inside. Put the lid on it tight to keep the mice out."
"Put the rest in that basin. We don't have any other containers..."
"These can go first... sigh, just pile them... pile them inside the hollow under the kang bed for now."
The household was allocated one medium-sized vat and one small vat, which simply wasn't enough to hold all their grain. They would definitely need to buy two large ones.
In addition, they needed to buy a few more basins, a water vat, and two water buckets...
Calculating it all, they needed to purchase an entire set of household necessities to properly live their days.
Han Qingsong watched as she pointed at this, counted that, and tallied up everything else they needed to buy. Her entire being was intensely focused. Under the dim, yellowish light, her dark, bright eyes looked watery and exceptionally beautiful.
He couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat, his mind beginning to wander with restless thoughts.
Lin Lan turned her head and met his gaze, flashing him a sweet smile. "The day after tomorrow is market day. We need to go to the market and buy some earthen pottery."
She looked surprisingly stunning when she smiled.
This was the very first time she had smiled at him so beautifully.
Han Qingsong suddenly felt his throat tighten with a fierce thirst, prompting him to hurriedly guzzle down some water.
Lin Lan continued to calculate nearby, "We also need to collect cloth and cotton tickets to buy fabric and cotton batting. The family's quilts and the children's winter clothes all need to be mended. Dawang's clothes are too short, so we might as well make him a new set. We can add some cotton to his old ones and pass them down to Erwang. Erwang's can be altered for Sanwang, Sanwang's to Xiaowang, and Xiaowang's can be taken apart to sew him a pair of cotton trousers..."
For some inexplicable reason, even though she was just muttering about trivial matters, Han Qingsong found her voice incredibly pleasant to listen to. No matter how much he heard, it was never enough.
The next day, when Lin Lan went to work, she discussed with the Women's Director and other more approachable progressive women about whether she could exchange her family's end-of-year cloth and cotton ticket allocations for the spare tickets they currently had on hand.
"I'm not afraid of you shenzi and saozi laughing at me. We just split from the main family, and everything we have is in tatters. The weather is visibly turning cold, and by the time it snows, my children won't even have a complete set of winter clothes to wear. If any of your families have spare tickets, please lend them to me first. When my family of seven receives our share at the end of the year, I'll return them to you."
Lin Lan knew that given the original owner's past reputation, trying to borrow from everyone in the village was a lost cause; she could only easily approach the progressive elements.
The reason progressive elements were rated as such was naturally because they possessed outstanding qualities. Even if they secretly disapproved of her, they wouldn't speak cold or mocking words to her face.
Seeing how amiable she was now, treating people so differently from the past, the Women's Director was highly pleased. She felt this was the result of her own effective ideological education, which gave her face. "Qingsong's xifu, leave this matter to me. I might not be able to get a massive amount, but I can still manage to scrape together enough cloth tickets for your family of seven."
"Then I really must thank you, Huaihua-saozi," Lin Lan hurriedly expressed her gratitude.
Compared to previous years, the economy had noticeably improved. In the past, an adult was only issued three to five feet of cloth tickets a year, which wasn't even enough to make a single piece of clothing. Now, adults received one zhang of cloth per year, which left a surplus after making one garment. Families could pool their resources together and prioritize making clothes for those who needed them most.
There were seven people in Lin Lan's family. The adults would receive two zhang of cloth, the half-grown children would get seven and a half feet, and Sanwang and Xiaowang would also get five feet.
As for cotton, an adult received two and a half catties' worth of cotton tickets per year, while each child got one and a half catties.
Fortunately, winter coats and thick quilts didn't need to be made fresh every single year; one piece could be worn for several years. Only the children's clothing needed frequent padding and alterations.
Dong Huaihua moved quickly. After Lin Lan spoke to her, she gathered the cotton and cloth tickets that very night and brought them over. "Qingsong's xifu, when the cloth and cotton tickets are distributed at the end of the year, you absolutely must remember to give them to me. Don't go giving them to anyone else."
She was secretly afraid that Lin Lan would take them back to her niangjia to show off.
Lin Lan smiled. "Huaihua-saozi, I'm telling you today, when the tickets are issued, there's no need to hand them to me. You can just take the exact amount directly. Borrowing and repaying is only right and proper. I'm incredibly grateful that you helped me in my time of need."
Tickets were only issued at the end of the year, and waiting until then to make winter clothes would be far too late.
Dong Huaihua hadn't expected her to be so sensible now, and she became even more willing to converse with her. Generally speaking, people who did guidance work always hoped their targets of instruction would make progress and correct their mistakes; only then would they feel a sense of accomplishment.
After eating dinner that evening, the family didn't go out to idle and gossip. Lin Lan sat on the heated kang bed, organizing the ragged clothes while giving the children instructions on what to watch out for the next day.
Han Qingsong had borrowed some carpenter's tools and found a few broken door boards that others had discarded, using them to nail together small stools.
Dawang, Erwang, and Sanwang helped him out.
Maisui and Xiaowang assisted Lin Lan up on the kang bed.
Han Qingsong spoke up, "Tomorrow, you just focus on buying. Once you've bought everything, ask them to keep it together for you. When we finish work at noon, I'll borrow a flatbed cart to haul it all back."
Lin Lan smiled gently. "Okay."
She instructed Erwang and Maisui, "Don't play outside at noon. Bring Xiaowang back early to cook."
Erwang and Sanwang readily agreed.
She singled out the next one: "Sanwang, you are not allowed to go into the water at the Southern Big Ditch. You can only play at the West River."
Sanwang just offered a cheeky grin, deliberately not agreeing.
"Dawang..." Lin Lan hesitated as she cast a glance his way. The kid was shirtless, planing wood with a surprisingly professional posture. It was just that he still hadn't spoken a single word to her over the past few days, and she had no idea what sort of awkwardness he was nursing.
Han Qingsong stated, "Dawang will go to work in your niang's place from now on."
"No need, no need! He's still young, he has to go to school. What work could he possibly do..." Lin Lan hurriedly tried to stop him.
"It's settled then." Han Qingsong's tone brokered no argument.
In the corner, Dawang continued to scrape his plane against the wood, remaining completely silent.
Lin Lan moved on to talking about other things. With so many children, and so many mischievous troublemakers among them, she had no choice but to nag repeatedly, deeply afraid that Sanwang and Dawang would stir up trouble.
Listening to Lin Lan's endless nagging, the children didn't find it annoying in the slightest; on the contrary, they felt very happy. Compared to how their niang used to throw crying fits and hurl curses at the drop of a hat, they vastly preferred her nagging like the mothers in other families.
Xiaowang clutched his tattered little towel, resting his head against Lin Lan's waist. His tiny feet kicked lightly against the windowsill in a rhythmic tapping motion as he mumbled, "Niang's voice is getting prettier and prettier."
Then, he fell fast asleep.
...
The next day, when Lin Lan headed out to the market, she discovered six or seven women gathered at the production brigade's headquarters. They had all asked for time off to go to the market together.
It seemed they had been holding back from visiting the market for too long and couldn't endure it any longer.
Shanzui Village wasn't far from the commune, but since everyone had to work and couldn't take leave casually, making a trip to the commune wasn't an easy feat.
Usually, unless a family had completely run out of kerosene and salt and had already borrowed from every single neighbor, they absolutely would not take time off to go to the market.
Seeing that Lin Lan was also going, someone called out to her, "Qingsong's xifu, let's go, we'll head there together."
Lin Lan, however, had no desire to join them. They claimed to be inviting her for company, but they had no real friendship. The original owner had even engaged in nasty spats with several of them in the past. They were probably just curious because she had supposedly changed her temperament after drinking pesticide, split from the family, and had her man back home; they merely wanted to dig up some fresh, first-hand gossip to show off later.
She shook her head. "No thanks, I'm in a hurry and will be walking fast."
With that, she took off like a gust of wind.
Two of the female commune members pursed their lips in distaste. "Look at that attitude of hers, strutting around the moment she gets some money. I can't believe Han Qingsong hasn't divorced her yet."
"They have erzi and guinv together, how could he just divorce her so casually?"
At first, they wanted to compete with Lin Lan's walking pace, but with so many people chatting together, they naturally slowed down.
It didn't take long before Lin Lan completely disappeared from their line of sight.
Lin Lan was also suffering bitterly. Although it was only a few li away, she was dreadfully exhausted. She just didn't want to share the road with those women, so she gritted her teeth and hurried on.
Fortunately, when she reached a crossroad, she bumped into a mule cart carrying five or six commune members heading to the market. Seeing a lone woman walking, they offered her a ride.
Lin Lan hurriedly thanked them, utterly surprised that she managed to hitch a ride.
Upon arriving at the market, Lin Lan bid her travel companions farewell. Standing at the market's entrance, she looked at the bustling, chaotic crowd and felt a bit dazed.
The original owner had neither money nor time, and to be perfectly honest, had rarely ever gone to the market. Consequently, Lin Lan couldn't scrape together much useful information from her inherited memories.
She observed her surroundings first, noting that the market mostly sold coarse earthen pottery, grain, food, and handcrafted tools. There were no high-end goods, and certainly no clothing, shoes, or fabrics.
Basically, anything that required ration coupons or tickets couldn't be found here. They must have been highly sought-after commodities; if anyone had connections to get them, they would be snatched up before even leaving the house, never standing a chance to make it to the open market.
She strolled around, quietly observing the prices first. Once she had a solid grasp of the market rates, she went to buy two large glazed vats for storing grain, along with two small glazed urns to pickle vegetables later. She also needed two or three medium-sized corrugated earthen vats: one for water, one for miscellaneous items, and she would figure out a use for the other one later—it would definitely come in handy regardless. She also needed a few earthen and glazed basins for kneading dough, washing faces, and soaking feet...
Basins and earthen jars cost three mao each. Small vats were five mao, while medium vats cost seven mao. The large vats were all solidly built, heavy, and glazed, making them more expensive than regular coarse pottery, so they ran for one yuan and two mao a piece.
Lin Lan internally screamed about how cheap it all was! Since she was buying so much, she even got them to throw in two earthen basins and two earthen jars for free.
The earthen jars could totally be used as chamber pots in the winter. Hehe.
Buy, buy, buy... The father and his two sons selling the goods couldn't even close their mouths in shock. Where did this big-spending God of Wealth come from?!
Coarse pottery was large and took up significant space. Even with three carts, they couldn't haul that many large vats, yet she had bought them all. How could they not be utterly astounded?
Lin Lan was still mentally murmuring about how the market's pottery was all crudely fired by the villagers themselves; it had absolutely nothing in common with actual porcelain.
It was fragile and decidedly unhealthy.
Currently, the commune members basically relied on these items for everything—dough-kneading basins, hot soup jars, large vegetable bowls, and so on. Lin Lan was worried that heavy metals might leach out of the glaze, so she still needed to visit the commune to see if she could buy a few coarse porcelain bowls, basins, and soup pots.
She realized she had accidentally bought far too much. If it were just one or two vats, Han Qingsong could pull them back, but a single flatbed cart couldn't possibly hold this many!
So, she negotiated with the pottery sellers. "Dashu, look at how much I've bought, and my house isn't far from here. When the market disperses, could you transport it all over for me?"
The boss, an old father working with his two sons, quickly discussed it and readily agreed, "Sure thing."
After all, Lin Lan's single purchase amounted to what they would normally sell over several days.
With that settled, Lin Lan went off to purchase other necessities.
In this era, public security was excellent and people's word was their bond. If an agreement was struck at the market, there would absolutely be no mistake.
Lin Lan then went to buy some woven grass goods, picking up grass-woven boxes and small chests, rattan baskets and hampers, and wickerwork woven from willow branches.
Additionally, she purchased several pot lids, flat bamboo baskets, steamer grates, and grate lamps.
She also bought several smoothly polished wooden sticks to use as handles for hoes, heavy pickaxes, and shovels back home.
Lin Lan purchased another massive pile of various large and small items, arranging them all neatly together. She planned to put them inside the large vats later so they could be transported together.
It was incredibly cheap! She barely spent any money in total!
The woven grass items were especially inexpensive, costing merely one or two fen per piece.
Only the willow baskets were slightly pricier, but the other hampers were super cheap.
The wealthy lady was on a shopping spree!
The vendors were completely dumbfounded. Where did this foolish wo—God of Wealth come from? They hurriedly tossed in numerous hard-to-sell small baskets and miniature flat baskets as free gifts.
Lin Lan couldn't help but sigh in admiration at the pure and honest folk customs of this era!
It was a win-win situation; everyone was overjoyed.
Little did she know, her massive shopping spree at the market had already caused a huge sensation. Word quickly spread that a woman was throwing money around like water, almost entirely buying out the coarse pottery and grass-woven goods vendors.
A few women from Shanzui Village overheard the gossip and simultaneously thought of Lin Lan. "It couldn't be, right?"
"Why wouldn't it be? She has a whole hundred yuan on her!"
"Han Qingsong is actually letting her squander it so recklessly?!"
In their own households, money was strictly held by either their popo or their husbands. Even when they went to the market, they rigidly bought only what they lacked, never daring to purchase a single extra item.
"What a wasteful, money-squandering woman! Take those pot lids for example—who doesn't know how to nail those together? And those baskets, my popo knows how to weave them perfectly fine."
"Exactly! And what about those shovel handles? Does she really need to buy them? Couldn't she just whittle one at home? Give me one yuan and I'll whittle a whole bundle for her!!"
They were boiling with righteous indignation, feeling as thoroughly pained as if Lin Lan were squandering their own money.
A woman nearby had been listening to them chatter for a long time before finally leaning in to ask, "Saozis, are you talking about the old Han family from Shanzui Village?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Is her niangjia in Linjiatun?"
"That's her. Do you know her?"
The woman chuckled dryly. "Oh, I know her alright." With that, she slung her basket over her arm and scampered off.
...
After finishing her "sweep" of the market, Lin Lan took a detour towards the commune.
On this trip, she was merely carrying around a hundred yuan or so, but for some inexplicable reason, she felt the vanity and exhilaration of a world-class luxury personal shopper.
It was the distinct thrill of looking at a stall full of items, sweeping a single glance over them, pointing fingers, and declaring: this and that... I don't want them. Wrap up all the rest for me.
Haha, thinking back to the utterly dumbfounded expressions of the pottery-selling father and sons made her want to burst out laughing.
Wearing beggar-like clothes patched over and over again, sporting a jagged haircut that looked like it had been gnawed by a dog, with straw sandals on her feet and a tattered cloth bag slung over her shoulder, Lin Lan walked with a fierce, commanding wind. She forcefully stepped out with the vibrant aura of runway pop fashion.
Sister Sharp!
However, Sister Sharp met with immediate frustration upon arriving at the supply and marketing cooperative.
The supply cooperative wasn't large, boasting a mere three-room storefront. The southern wall was plastered with various revolutionary slogans: "Wishing the great Chairman Mao a boundless and eternal life!" "Fight selfishness, repudiate revisionism!" "Oppose corruption and waste!"
There were counters on the left, right, and center. The left counter sold fabric, clothing, and footwear, but unfortunately—for some unknown reason—there was absolutely no fabric available at the moment.
Those with goods had no tickets, and those with tickets had no goods!
Goddammit, wasn't that just infuriating?
She had been fully prepared to exhaust all her cloth and cotton tickets in one go.
Seeing so many people waiting in line, Lin Lan had no choice but to go buy other items first.
Newly settled households could use their household registration book to purchase iron tools—hoes, shovels, heavy pickaxes, spades, kitchen knives, and the like. These ironwares were nowhere to be found at the market; just like salt, oil, and cloth, they fell under the state's unified purchase and distribution system.
Because the iron tools were far too heavy, she asked the salesperson to temporarily store them there, explaining that her man would come haul them away later.
This was no problem at all.
She bought two large serving bowls, one large enamel bowl, and ten coarse porcelain bowls. She wanted to buy an enamel basin and a thermos but couldn't, as they required special vouchers that she lacked. She went on to purchase a round mirror, a comb, and a fine-toothed lice comb, along with several red hair strings and hair clips—none of which required tickets.
She picked out a few stationery items and noticed a flute sitting in the corner, asking if she could buy it without a ticket.
The salesperson was overly eager to get rid of it. In such a small rural area, absolutely no one played musical instruments, much less spent their spare cash buying such a thing. That item hadn't sold since the day it arrived; it was just sitting there gathering dust.
Seeing Lin Lan buy such an item, she even wondered if the woman was a music teacher at a school.
Lin Lan wanted to buy some dried goods like red dates, dried shrimp, and kelp, but they all required non-staple food tickets and couldn't be purchased casually.
If it weren't for their strict refusal to sell, she genuinely wanted to slap her hundred yuan onto the counter and holler: Pack me a hundred yuan worth of goods!!!
She had no choice but to find a workaround.
She slammed her assorted booklets onto the counter. "Sailing the seas depends on the helmsman, and the Liberation Army are our most beloved people. Give me five catties of red dates."
The salesperson froze for a second. "The East is Red, the sun rises, without a booklet you really can't get by."
Lin Lan pushed her booklets forward, allowing the woman to take a good, hard look.
The salesperson smiled faintly and waved her hand. "This won't do. These are from your village; you absolutely must have ones issued by the commune."
Lin Lan scoffed in her heart. Did she really not know she needed ones from the commune? But the commune only issued those to workers who consumed state-supplied commercial grain, not to ordinary commune members like them.
"Poor and lower-middle peasants are one family, and my man is in the Liberation Army. Comrade, please bend the rules a little and weigh out a few catties for me. My children are all suffering from anemia."
The salesperson became even more convinced that Lin Lan was a teacher. She hastily picked up the household registration booklet to inspect it, only to find no special annotations on the back—she was merely a regular commune member from Shanzui Village.
She felt a bit dazed, at a loss for words for a moment.
Although the Cultural Revolution was raging like wildfire, that was mostly isolated to large cities. Remote areas, especially the countryside, weren't nearly as radical. Moreover, by the second half of 1970, the situation had already stabilized. Aside from a certain Vice Chairman frantically distributing the Little Red Book, things were generally calm.
Below the county level, down in the communes and villages, most people were uneducated farmers, making it impossible for everyone to recite quotations by heart.
Not only would they fail to recite them properly, but they might also make blunders and turn themselves into laughingstocks. Therefore, the cadres directed the progressive commune members to attend regular study sessions and political movements, while the ordinary members focused entirely on agricultural production.
Because of this, shouting slogans wasn't actually required inside the commune's supply and marketing cooperative.
She had simply been bewildered by Lin Lan's sudden outburst.
"Comrade, I'm not lying to you, look at my household registration. My man is a soldier who is rarely at home all year round. I have five children to raise, and we haven't enjoyed any of his benefits. We just separated from the main family, and we can't even afford meals at home. All five of my children are sallow and painfully thin. I'm just buying some red dates to replenish their blood, and a bit of dried shrimp and kelp for calcium. Surely that shouldn't be an issue, right?"
The salesperson still looked deeply conflicted. "There are strict regulations. Without tickets and a non-staple food booklet issued by the commune, I cannot sell it to you."
"Why won't you sell it to me? My man is in the Liberation Army! I haven't enjoyed any benefits at home, nor have I asked the government for any handouts. How is it that I'm not even allowed to spend my own money to buy some red dates? This is unacceptable! I want to see your leader!"
"Just sell it to this dasao! It's not easy for her, and she's an honored military dependent," someone waiting in the fabric line shouted out.
Since ordinary commune members rarely bought these items anyway, they were more than happy to play the good guy.
In the end, left with no other options, the salesperson had to go into the backroom and consult the old cooperative director.
The old director took the household registration booklet and inspected it. The moment he saw Han Qingsong's name, he knew exactly who it was—after all, there were only a handful of military officers in the entire commune.
He asked a few more questions about Lin Lan's situation before personally approving a sale of three catties of dried red dates, five catties of kelp, and one catty of dried shrimp for her.
Lin Lan had originally just been trying her luck, never expecting to actually succeed. Delighted, she cheerfully paid for the goods, had them bundled up, and left them there for Han Qingsong to pick up later.
After purchasing all of this, Lin Lan went over to ask about the fabric situation.
A few commune members were still making a fuss there. "It's so hard for us to make a trip out here, how can it all be gone? You told us the day before yesterday that there would be stock today, so how is it gone?"
"Exactly! I came to line up early in the morning, and I distinctly saw a truck delivering goods. How could you be out? It's impossible!"
"There's definitely some in the warehouse! They just purposefully refuse to sell it, waiting to hike up the prices when the festivals arrive!"
Although prices were collectively fixed and required ration tickets during this era, temporary price hikes were sometimes implemented to handle various festive seasons.
Lin Lan couldn't help but feel a flicker of curiosity. They could actually do that?
She stepped up to the front, leaning over the counter to peer inside. It wasn't a holiday or a festival right now, so how could they be out of stock?
The salesperson was a woman wearing a white floral shirt, her hair tied into two thick braids. She cast a chilling, apathetic glance at Lin Lan and stated impatiently, "We're out, we're completely out. Step back. Shouting won't do you any good."
Don't act like a snobbish dog looking down on people; this dasao has money. Lin Lan felt somewhat displeased.
The salesperson impatiently flicked a feather duster at her hand. "Step back, step back! What if you get things dirty with your grimy hands?"
What the fuck!
Lin Lan was utterly infuriated. So what if her clothes were a little tattered? Which of your damn eyes thinks I'm dirty? Ever since she transmigrated over, she had scrubbed herself clean every single day, and washed her clothes daily too, alright?!
Enraged, she slammed her hand against the counter, creating a sharp pa-pa sound. "I want to buy fabric and cotton! Don't feed me your useless excuses!"
Don't forget, she was a shrew!
The ultimate privilege of a shrew was the ability to throw a massive tantrum anytime, anywhere, completely regardless of the occasion, purely based on her mood.
Of course, right now she wasn't throwing a fit based on her mood, but strictly out of necessity.
Her ferocious lion's roar not only startled the salesperson but also caused the clamoring commune members to freeze in their tracks.
Immediately following that, the commune members who had originally been in line quickly gathered behind her to bolster her momentum. "That's right, we want to buy fabric! We've been lining up for two days!"
Lin Lan: ...
Seeing her act like an absolute shrew—hands planted firmly on her hips, eyes glaring wide—the salesperson felt her own momentum drastically weaken by a few points. Although the woman was just a rural villager, she radiated an overwhelming presence, almost looking like a female cadre.
Compared to a purely snobbish salesperson like her, Lin Lan's gaze was naturally far more vicious and sharp, seeing straight through the woman's facade with a single glance.
Lin Lan let out a cold smile. "Let me tell you this, dameizi. You are just a salesperson. If the commune members start a full-blown riot, how are you going to handle it? Since there's definitely stock in the warehouse, you can either go ask your leader for permission, or bring it out and quickly send us on our way. There are only a few of us here; how much fabric could we possibly buy? If you keep stalling and more people gather, you're going to have a massive disturbance on your hands."
The salesperson's lips trembled. For some unknown reason, she felt as though Lin Lan's piercing dark eyes could see straight into her very soul. She stammered, "F-fabric... we still have some fabric, but the cotton... we truly don't have enough cotton."
Hearing her say that, Lin Lan realized she was actually an honest person, not a genuine snob; it only took a single sentence to trick the truth out of her.
"Dameizi, you're an honest person, we'll believe you. Then let's cut some fabric."
The salesperson took a deep breath and had no choice but to bring out the fabric she had secretly stashed away, originally intending to partner with someone to resell it at a high price.
She had only recently been talked into joining this scheme and was entirely inexperienced. Consequently, Lin Lan easily bluffed the truth right out of her.
Very quickly, everyone lined up and began having their fabric measured and cut. Since Lin Lan had plenty of cloth tickets, she first used up the ones that were about to expire soon, deciding to wait a while before using the remaining few feet.
After all, there wasn't a lot of fabric available, and others were still waiting in line; she had to leave enough for everyone to get a cut.
The process of measuring the fabric was incredibly chaotic. The braided girl's accounting skills were subpar at best, leading the commune members—whose math skills were even worse—to voice loud complaints, continuously accusing her of overcharging them.
Lin Lan watched the braided girl sharply snap back at people while anxiously sweating bullets, so she casually stepped in to help calculate the bills and resolve the situation. This prevented the commune members, who couldn't do the math themselves but loved to cause a scene, from dragging things out endlessly.
The crowd didn't know her, but because she had bravely challenged the salesperson earlier and exhibited such commanding presence, they were willing to listen to her. Whatever she calculated, they believed without question.
An old woman, insisting she didn't know how to do math and flatly refusing to trust the salesperson, grabbed Lin Lan and demanded she calculate it for her.
Once Lin Lan finished the math for her, she beamed. "Dameizi, I trust you. I trust every word you say."
Lin Lan smiled, but it was an incredibly awkward expression. Daniang, you are my daniang! Please stop calling me dameizi!
Behind the eastern counter across the room, an old cadre had appeared at some unknown point. He was wearing a four-pocket tunic with a fountain pen tucked into the left breast pocket, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched the fabric counter with great relish.
As he watched, he questioned the nearby salesperson about the situation that had unfolded earlier.
Finally, he chuckled, "That woman has both brains and a fiery temper. She's someone who can get things done."
"Director, what do you mean by that?" the salesperson asked, sensitively picking up on something.
The old director simply shook his head. "It's nothing. Just work hard and serve the people."
Lin Lan managed to buy three zhang of fabric, but failed to get any cotton, leaving her feeling quite troubled.
She checked the time, planning to visit the butchery to see if she could buy some meat. However, the moment she stepped out of the supply cooperative, the same old woman tugged gently at her sleeve. "Dameizi, I have some handwoven fabric that I made myself. Do you want it?"
Lin Lan immediately pulled the old woman into a secluded corner. "Da... dajie, yes! I'll take as much as you have!"
Faced with the old woman's earnest and eager gaze, she simply couldn't bring herself to call her daniang.
In truth, after the year '63, the lives of the commune members had significantly improved. Cotton and fabric were no longer in such critically short supply; the extreme scarcity in the old Han family was entirely caused by the laotaitai exploiting everyone to provide for Jinbao and Jinyu. Locals planted cotton, and the regulations weren't as strict as they used to be. Some families planted a little by the riverbanks or ditch edges, harvesting the cotton to weave their own fabric.
"You can just call me Liu-dajie. Our Gaolaozhuang village plants a lot of cotton. The water and soil are excellent, so we can harvest a crop no matter where we plant it. We're much wealthier than you folks living at the foot of the mountains."
"Liu-dajie, where is your fabric?"
Liu-dajie whispered, "It's in that alleyway. We can't just take it out casually; if the market administrators spot us, they'll accuse us of capitalist tendencies, and they'll confiscate everything."
Even though the campaign of "cutting off the tails of capitalism" wasn't as fiercely enforced nowadays—the buying and selling of grain and vegetables went largely unbothered—trading industrial goods was still strictly prohibited.
Materials like fabric and cotton, in particular, still had to be traded entirely under the table.
Lin Lan followed the old woman into the alleyway. There was a single-wheel pushcart parked there, and an honest-looking young man stood waiting, holding up a large parasol tree leaf for shade.
On the cart were two bolts of fabric: one was a deep beige unbleached cloth, and the other was a tri-color yarn-dyed checkered fabric. Due to the limitations of their handlooms, this type of fabric was only about one foot wide, but it stretched four zhang long.
Homespun cloth wasn't as fashionable or pretty as the store-bought variety, so city folks didn't care for it. This influenced the rural folks, who were also chasing after machine-woven fabrics and synthetic materials.
Lin Lan, however, considered it an excellent material. It was absolutely perfect for sewing quilts. Moreover, making it into a bedsheet to act as a sleeping mat in the summer would be wonderfully sweat-absorbent and cool—an incredibly good thing.
And the price was absolutely gorgeous too!
The machine-woven fabric at the supply cooperative had a width of nearly three feet. The absolute cheapest was two mao and eight fen per foot, while the slightly better ones went for four or five mao. Given the current income levels, that was considered very expensive.
Homespun cloth was incredibly cheap. Unbleached fabric was less than one mao per foot, and buying a whole bolt was a steal at just three yuan and five mao. The colored fabric was four yuan and five mao a bolt, making it an easy round number to calculate.
Both bolts together were merely eight yuan.
Influenced by her past life's consumer mindset, Lin Lan felt this was dirt cheap to the extreme!
However, out of pure shopping habit, buying in bulk always warranted a bit of haggling to ask for a slightly cheaper price.
At this moment, Liu-dajie began playing the sympathy card, talking about how difficult things were at home, how exhausting weaving was, the backaches, the soreness—and even showed Lin Lan her twisted, deformed fingers.
Her short, severely distorted finger joints were painful to look at, instantly triggering Lin Lan's sense of compassion.
Heavily influenced by her previous life's views on the value of labor, she felt it was incredibly arduous for someone to process raw cotton all the way into finished fabric.
The cotton had to be planted, painstakingly tended to for months, and finally harvested. Then it required ginning the seeds, fluffing the cotton, rolling it into strips, spinning it into yarn, winding the thread, dyeing it, sizing it, warping and threading the loom, and finally weaving the actual cloth.
It truly could be said to be an arduous process. It took a massive amount of effort before it even reached the loom, and once on the loom, they had to steal moments from their busy days just to weave. They were frequently exhausted to the point of aching backs and blurred vision, taking many long days just to produce a single bolt.
Out of sheer respect for the working people, Lin Lan felt it was fine not to bargain; after all, the market price was precisely what it was.
Moreover, at this point, she hadn't fully assimilated into her current environment. She still harbored a subtle sense of a developed society looking down upon the laboring masses of a difficult era. She genuinely felt their lives were too hard, and that a mere few mao could feed them for quite a long time.
After all, a single fen could buy a large bundle of grass, and one mao and eight fen could buy a whole catty of fine flour... Yet, when it actually came time to hand over the money, she felt a slight pinch of pain, recalling how incredibly difficult it was to earn cash in this era. She worked herself to the bone all day just to earn seven or eight work points, which amounted to a mere four or five mao.
"Liu-dajie, I won't haggle over the price, but don't you have some thread spools for sale too? Give me a couple of those."
Liu-dajie was equally straightforward. "I only have three left to sell, but I'll give them all to you for free. I also have a pile of fabric scraps; if you don't mind them, I'll throw those in too."
Naturally, Lin Lan didn't mind in the slightest.
Liu-dajie laughed, "Dameizi, your brain really works wonders. You're great at math and know exactly how to shop."
Lin Lan chuckled, "Liu-dajie, you're even better at selling! Only buyers take a loss, there's no such thing as a seller taking a loss."
Liu-dajie burst into hearty laughter, her heart blooming with sheer delight. This was the very first person who had ever bought two full bolts of fabric at once.
Two bolts of fabric still carried a decent amount of weight, so Liu-dajie had her erzi push the cart to help deliver them to the supply cooperative for Lin Lan.
Just then, a woman charged into the alleyway from the outside. "I finally found you!"
Assuming it was a market administrator, Lin Lan suddenly erupted with adrenaline, hoisting both bolts of fabric onto her shoulders and preparing to run. But the woman suddenly shouted, "Lanhuahua, what the hell are you running for? Stand right there! You stupid idiot, acting like a dog biting Lu Dongbin, utterly failing to recognize a good person's heart!"
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