Chapter 38
Forming good relations
Having received support from Jiang Xia, Zhou Lan put down her basket and took out a packet of noodles wrapped in oil paper.
The noodles that Jiang Xia’s family ate were all personally rolled up by Zhou Lan and packed in a plastic bag just in case she had some leftovers and didn’t feel like cooking. The oil paper was also borrowed from Jiang Xia’s neighbor last night and she was planning to return it to him when she returned home.
“We want to use the noodles to exchange for two enamel basins. I wonder if that’s possible?” Zhou Lan asked. She was not familiar with the current prices of items, so she could only probe.
In this era when machines were not common, it was difficult to buy anything. For things like fine grain, not only were they expensive, but they also needed food stamps to buy.
Food vouchers were a type of food purchase voucher that was issued during a specific economic period. Not only did the purchase of food require vouchers, but the purchase of cloth, meat, and other items also required vouchers.
Jiang Xia listened to their conversation from the side and did not interrupt them. Although she still remembered certain things from her history classes in school, they were all just based on textbooks. Now that she was here, it is better to just wait and see what the short man had to say in this situation.
The short man’s eyes widened the moment Zhou Lan took out the noodles. The noodles were much more refined than the grain he had at home. Where did this family get such good flour from?
“You guys wait here, I’ll let my mother take a look.” The short man said quickly.
Although the short man was the one who agreed with the exchange, his mother was still the one in charge at home.
The old lady of the Liu family strode over to the two of them. When she saw the noodles in Zhou Lan’s hands, her wrinkled face bloomed like a flower and she immediately let the two of them into the house to chat.
“Young lady, what do you want to exchange it for?” The old lady asked.
Zhou Lan tried to repeat her request again, but it was something the old did not want to hear.
“Young lady, that’s too much! We don’t have that here” the old lady said after a while.
Jiang Xia quickly added, “Grandma, we’re not too sure about the market price. Mother only said that because I’ve always wanted two enamel basins.”
It was not that Jiang Xia was afraid of them, but his father was still packing food at the purchasing station and it would be bad if they offended someone because of this.
The old lady noticed the way they were dressed and felt that Jiang Xia was telling the truth, “Fine-grain is indeed hard to come by, but this enamel basin you are asking for is also hard to buy. How about this, I’ll pay you a dollar per kg for your noodles, how’s that?”
Jiang Xia, who didn’t know the price, looked at her mother. But to her surprise, Zhou Lan was also looking at her.
Seeing that the two of them didn’t speak, the short man became anxious, “These noodles only cost five or six dollars if you buy them with a food voucher. My mother is already very generous to offer you a dollar per kg.”
Zhou Lan nodded and took out the oil paper bag from her basket. “Then, let’s exchange this bag too.”
“Alright, alright, we’ll take them all.”
The old lady got excited again as she saw the noodles. The doctor she had hired previously said that her daughter-in-law was pregnant with a boy and she needed to be nourished. Previously, she was worried that she didn’t have meat or fine food to nourish her daughter-in-law, but just as she was about to give up, someone came with so much good stuff.
After discussing the items to exchange, the short man went into the house to find them. The old lady stayed and chatted with the two of them. She heard from her son that the noodles came from their family when they left, but she had her doubt.
Although they were dressed in tattered clothes, they didn’t flinch when they talked. It was obvious they had some secrets.
After chatting for a while, the old lady started to form opinions about Zhou Lan and her daughter. But it was the same for the mother and daughter pair, they realized how much the old lady valued her daughter-in-law, or should they say, her grandson.
Zhou Lan had read a lot of books about pregnant women’s eating and actions when she was giving birth to Jiang Xia. However, It was interesting to hear more from the old lady. It made Zhou Lan wish she had a notebook to write it all down.
When the short man came out, he saw two women chatting happily.
The short man handed the items to Zhou Lan. Jiang Xia took a quick glance and noticed that not only were there a lot, but he gave extras for some of the more common items as well.
Jiang Xia raised his eyebrows slightly. This short man was a good person and did not look down on them because of their tattered clothes. Instead, he seemed to be trying to build a good relationship with them.
Zhou Lan also noticed the situation and after some thought, she took out all the wild vegetables in the basket.