Witty Wife, Better Life

"Oh my, I think this child really hasn't been out much, how on earth have you been living all this time?" Wang Jianjun's wife laughed.

Brother Dashuan's wife hurriedly filled her in with the basics, "Let me tell you, the people selling things here are all government workers, so when we buy things, we're still buying from the government."

Thanks to Brother Dashuan's wife's explanation, Shen Yunfang finally understood that the market now wasn't the kind of farmers' market she knew from the future, but rather one organized by the commune that gathered all the nearby production brigades to sell their surplus output.

Now, those selling goods were reliable and honest folks chosen by the production brigades, and anytime a supply and marketing cooperative sent people to sell, they sent at least two to keep an eye on each other to prevent mistakes.

For instance, some production brigades had public vegetable plots, and if there was a surplus, it would be brought to the market to sell to members whose households had little land and nothing to eat. Her own family, for example, hadn't planted mustard greens or carrots, so she could buy them at the market if she wanted to.

If a production brigade was raising pigs and had a sow that had piglets, but the village couldn't consume all of them, they would bring the unsold piglets to the market to see if any members from other villages needed them. The same went for lambs, chicks, ducklings, and goslings most of the time.

Then there were grocery items like tofu, bean sprouts, and vermicelli made by the factories under the commune—members could buy them at the market with cash or exchange them for grain—like tofu, where one and a half pounds of soybeans could be exchanged for one pound of tofu.

Each commune had multiple factories, such as tofu workshops, oil pressing workshops, and rice milling workshops, etc. If the members needed processing services, they could pay a small manual processing fee here.

For example, rice milling; most villages milled rice by hand, but if one had the money, they could bring their paddy to the commune to be milled by machine. It was fast and convenient, with a manual processing fee of one cent per pound of rice.

Everyday items like pots, pans, and ladles were sold by the commune's consignment stores, the same as those in the city supply and marketing cooperatives, though some items might be a little cheaper, by one or two cents.

After understanding all this, Shen Yunfang had an insight, which was that the commune had a wide reach and was essentially monopolizing the market.

She couldn't argue against a system so much larger than herself, so she simply had to submit.

Shen Yunfang and a few sisters-in-law followed the crowd, moving from one spot to another as they browsed.

The first place they got to was the daily necessities area. Shen Yunfang felt she needed to buy everything she saw because her home lacked these items. She had no idea how she and her mother had managed to get by before.

She considered the money in her hand, a total of 63.45 yuan. A few days earlier, after buying fifty pounds of rice and one hundred pounds of cornflour for twenty yuan from Aunt Shen, she now only had 43.45 yuan left.

Bowls and dishes were all the same price, twenty cents each, and ceramic basins over thirty centimeters in diameter were seventy cents each. She picked out four bowls, four dishes, and two basins, which came to exactly three yuan.

She paid the money, took her things, and continued to walk around. The sorghum stalk curtains next to her looked pretty good, and they would be useful for drying things later on. After asking, they weren't too expensive—a dime each—so she squatted down to pick a few out.

"What are you doing?" Brother Dashuan's wife whispered to her, careful not to let the vendor hear.

Shen Yunfang was a bit puzzled, "We don't have any curtains at home. It's just the right time to buy a few." What's the big secret?

"You really don't know, do you? Our village grows sorghum. Why waste your money on that?" She spoke even quieter this time.

"Oh?" She didn't know that. Since the village grew it, why had she never seen any sorghum grain being distributed?

She quietly voiced her confusion, then learned the reason why.

Sorghum, this kind of grain, is not famous for its yield, as a mu only produces around two to three hundred jin of sorghum rice. That's why people in the village don't grow it. However, the village allocated a few mu of land specifically for planting sorghum. The amount of sorghum rice produced was not enough to meet the state's quota, so you couldn't see it in the collective. But there were still sorghum stalks available.

And the raw materials for making mats and brooms were these sorghum stalks. So, if a member of the collective needed some, they would go every now and then to take some sorghum stalks home to make their own, without needing to spend any money. Of course, the sorghum stalks were also property of the collective, so when members took them, they still had to be somewhat discreet.

"No need to spend money buying this, when you get home I'll have Brother Dashuan get you some sorghum stalks and make a few mats for you," Dashuan's wife hurriedly pulled Shen Yunfang up, gave a knowing smile to the sales clerk, then dragged her away.

"Hey, Sister-in-law, don't pull me, don't pull me. Even if I don't need to buy mats and brooms, I still have other things to buy." Why did she pull her away, her spot in the line was so good.

"What else do you need to buy?" Dashuan's wife asked with a hint of suspicion, wondering how she could need so much. Just now, she had already spent three yuan. Whose child is as extravagant as she is? How would she survive in the future?

"My house is lacking containers; I saw they have wicker baskets for sale inside. I'll ask about the price, and if it's right, I'll buy two," said Shen Yunfang. She had spotted them earlier, both large and small, but hadn't managed to ask the price yet.

Next to her, Shen Erzhu's wife pulled her, "You don't need to buy that either, Erzhu knows how to weave. Just tell me the size you want."

Oh my, they're like folk artists!

"Really? That's great, then make me about ten or eight to start with," said Shen Yunfang, delighted.

Upon hearing her overzealous request, Dashuan's wife gently pinched her, "Act serious, don't let others see through us."

"Sister-in-law, I'm serious," Shen Yunfang felt wronged. She thought she was being quite sensible.

"It's fine, it's a small matter. I'll weave them for you when we get back," brushed off Shen Erzhu's wife with a wave of her hand, as if it was nothing.

And so, the group began their trek forward again.

At the vegetable section, Shen Yunfang didn't buy much, just twenty jin of carrots. This time, none of the sisters-in-law stopped her, since their families didn't grow them either. They didn't like the taste of carrots, but that couldn't stop someone else from liking them.

Carrots were two cents a jin, and Shen Yunfang spent another forty cents.

"Sister-in-law, carrots are really nutritious, especially good for children. You should buy some for Xiaojuan," said Shen Yunfang, thinking of Xiaojuan's health, which seemed to be lagging in nutrition, so she reminded her.

"These are nutritious?" Wang Jianjun's wife was skeptical, "No one at home eats this stuff, we just feed it to the pigs. Does it even have any nutritional value if people eat it?"

It was indeed a waste of resources, but she had discovered another good feed for pigs. And at this time of the year, carrots were really cheap, so if she decided to raise pigs next year, she could consider buying a few hundred jin to stock up.

Before Shen Yunfang could say anything, Dashuan's wife had already knelt down to pick out some carrots.

"Do you really believe that?"

"Better to believe it and have it, than not," Xiaojuan's health was a constant concern in her heart.

"Hmm, okay, try it then. If it's really that good, I'll grow some next year," Wang Jianjun's wife was still not convinced.