After working for several days, most of the crops in the field were collected and piled in the yard, waiting for the field to be harvested. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The hardest part these days is Liu Qingshan, who works in the fields during the day and studies with his second sister at night.

Liu Yinfeng was a very conscientious and good student. When she saw the textbooks sent back by her younger brother, they were so brand new that she didn't even turn through them. She immediately became angry and supervised him every night to read and study, memorizing subjects that needed to be memorized by rote.

It's also Liu Qingshan's fault. He is running around here and there every day, forgetting that he is still a student, and his books are almost gathering dust.

Fortunately, early that morning, the uncle drove a carriage and asked Liu Qingshan to go to the commune. Behind him was a carriage driven by Da Zhangluo. They were going to the grain depot to pull bean cakes.

Isn't this the day when Secretary Sun of the commune led many people to Jiapigou? When he was happy, he helped batch 3,000 kilograms of bean cakes to make pig feed, which can be regarded as another form of reward.

Soybean cake is the residue left after the soybeans are pressed for oil, and is pressed into large round cakes with a diameter of half a meter. This stuff is fragrant and will definitely be sold when mixed into pig feed.

Not to mention pigs, when there was famine and starvation a few years ago, people couldn't afford this.

Finally liberated!

Liu Qingshan jumped onto the carriage, and then heard a whooshing sound, and a book flew towards him and fell into his arms.

This was thrown by Liu Yinfeng who was following behind: "Sanfeng'er, don't forget to endorse it on the way. I'll test you when you come back."

Second sister, you want me to become a nerd, right?

Liu Qingshan could only sigh in his heart, but on the way to the commune, he still concentrated on carrying his book.

His self-control is certainly not comparable to that of those half-year-olds. Some time ago, he was mainly busy and forgot about it. After that, he decided to spare an hour or two every night to read and review.

First, I went to the commune courtyard and asked Secretary Sun for an approval slip. Before leaving, Secretary Sun quietly gave Liu Qingshan two coupons.

After going out, he opened it and saw that it was stamped with the seal of the supply and marketing cooperative and a few words: Get two catties of mooncakes for free with your ticket.

moon cake?

Liu Qingshan thought for a moment and asked the uncle who was driving the bus in front of him: "Tomorrow is the August Festival, right?"

Locally, the Mid-Autumn Festival is called the August Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival is called the May Festival.

"It seems so. I was so busy that I forgot about it."

The uncle boss replied smoothly. In fact, it was not that he was really busy and forgot. The adults didn't remember, but the children were still thinking about it. They were not thinking about anything else but eating something delicious to celebrate the energy saving.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, even eating a piece of moon cake would be good.

The main reason is that this year's wheat was not sold to the grain depot and the money was not exchanged for it. The little money the family had for activities was all invested in the cooperative. Everyone had no money, so they deliberately chose to forget it.

The New Year is easy, but ordinary days are hard.

"It's such a big festival, so I have to ask everyone to eat a moon cake to celebrate the festival."

Liu Qingshan muttered, asking the boss to go to the supply and marketing cooperative first to see if there were any mooncakes for sale.

The uncle boss also scratched his head: "Qingshan, our loan is almost gone. We should tighten our belts and live a hard life for two years."

"The kids are all looking forward to this." Liu Qingshan understands the thoughts of the little kids best, because he has a little fourth child in his family.

The boss of the car also thought about the two youngest girls in the family. Waiting for tomorrow night, they would stretch out their little hands pitifully and ask for mooncakes from him, and he...

As he thought about it, he couldn't help but feel sad: "Okay, let's take a look first!"

In the supply and marketing cooperative, there must be mooncakes for sale. The cheapest ones are 41kg per piece and 5 pieces. They are wrapped in butter paper and tied with paper string.

Through the oily yellow paper, you can smell the fragrance coming from inside.

There are more advanced ones in paper boxes, with Chang'e flying to the moon or something printed on them, and the price is a bit more expensive: two yuan per box.

Liu Qingshan made some calculations. There were nearly 200 villagers in Jiapigou, so they could only buy 200 mooncakes. No matter what, everyone had to have one.

So he said to the salesperson: "Comrade, give us an invoice for forty catties of mooncakes."

The salesperson at the counter was not frightened by the amount of forty pounds, and he was not buying from her, so he still said lazily: "I want forty pounds of food stamps, do you have any?"

This is really not the case. We haven’t paid the public rations this year, so naturally we haven’t been issued ration stamps.

"How can I buy mooncakes without food stamps? If they don't sell, I won't sell them!"

The salesperson muttered and stopped talking to Liu Qingshan and the other three, keeping his head down and knitting a sweater.

There's nothing you can do about it, even if you add money, they won't sell it to you.

Liu Qingshan did have a ticket for four kilograms of mooncakes given by Secretary Sun, but he couldn't collect it. He was the only one carrying four kilograms of mooncakes back. What did everyone think?

The three people left the supply and marketing cooperative quite disappointed. They had no choice but to go to the grain depot first and collect the bean cakes.

This went quite smoothly. Large pieces of golden bean cakes were loaded onto the carriage. Good guy, each piece was as big as a sewer cover.

The uncle boss was happy on the spot: "If there are no moon cakes, go back and ask those little rabbits to eat bean cakes. A piece of soybean cake will be enough for them to eat until August 15th next year!"

This joke is not funny at all, and even makes Liu Qingshan feel a little sad.

Stacks of soybean cakes were placed high on the two large carriages, tied up with ropes, and then clattered out of the granary gate.

"Mooncakes, selling mooncakes!"

There was a shouting sound on the roadside, and Liu Qingshan thought he was going crazy thinking about moon cakes and was hallucinating, because the sound was really not loud, as if he was deliberately suppressing his throat.

He looked around on both sides of the road, and actually found a man squatting against the wall of the veterinary hospital, holding a cardboard box in his arms, his eyes roving around, looking like he was ready to run away at any time.

.

Liu Qingshan jumped out of the car and ran over. As a result, the guy also bent over and ran away with the box in his arms.

"Hey, we are here to buy mooncakes, why are you running?"

Liu Qingshan shouted, "Just sell mooncakes openly, but you still act like a thief."

The man stopped when he heard the sound, turned around and looked around. When he saw the carriage and the goods pulled on it, he felt relieved and said with a smile:

"Little brother, there is nothing we can do. We are under strict control these days."

Thinking about the current environment, Liu Qingshan suddenly realized, so he went over to take a look and found that the paper box contained really mooncakes.

And it seemed that an old mooncake mold was still used. The patterns and words on the surface of the mooncake looked very primitive, so he asked casually: "Let me take a piece and see if it matches."

"Okay, I bake it at home, it doesn't matter if you try a piece."

The man felt very happy, so he broke off a piece of moon cake and divided it into three parts. As soon as he broke it open, the fragrance immediately came out.

After looking at it, I saw that the stuffing contained plenty of sesame seeds, peanuts, etc., as well as brightly colored green and red silk. It was no worse than the stuff sold by the supply and marketing cooperative.

Liu Qingshan took a bite and found it very fragrant, so he asked: "How do you sell these mooncakes?"

The man looked around and said, "One and a half kilograms, no food stamps. If you buy it retail, it's only 40 cents a pound."

No food stamps were required, and the price was about the same as that of the supply and marketing cooperative. Liu Qingshan made a decision on the spot: "How much do you have in this box? We'll wrap it up!"

"It's rounded?!"

The man was also surprised, and then his face showed a look of ecstasy. This box cost fifty yuan. Even if someone bought it, it would only cost three to five yuan. At most, he would be exhausted after buying two kilograms.

"This is not enough. Do you still have any stock?"

Liu Qingshan patted the man's shoulder before he came back to his senses, and then nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, how many do you need in total?"

"Two hundred yuan, think about it. We bought so much. Can you give me the wholesale price?"

"Okay, then I'll give you one yuan and three pounds, which is cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperative!"

Just like that, when Liu Qingshan and the others returned to the main road of the commune, there were four more cardboard boxes on the carriage.

Uncle Boss and Da Zhangluo were both grinning from ear to ear with joy at this moment, and their big whips were swung with extra vigor.

Okay now, after I go back, I have an explanation for the children at home.

It doesn't matter whether adults eat or not. As parents, seeing their children happy is the happiest thing for them.

Just as he was on his way, Liu Qingshan went to the post and telecommunications office again, and found a letter from his eldest brother-in-law and a heavy package.

We were all familiar with the people in the post and telecommunications office, and when Liu Qingshan came, he asked Gao Wenxue for a hand stamp, so he took the things out smoothly.

As soon as Da Zhangluo took a look at the big package he was carrying, he immediately shouted: "Oh my God, it's literary royalties again, how much does it cost?"

Liu Qingshan blinked and felt happy: "I also think it's royalties, but I guess it's a sample book sent by the magazine."

The uncle boss also caressed his chest: "If this is all money, I don't dare to pull it away. I must find a company of militiamen to help escort it back."

The three of them laughed, and the crowd that was about to gather around to watch the excitement dispersed immediately, and they all gathered around another large carriage to watch the excitement.

Liu Qingshan had sharp eyes and saw that there seemed to be a meat seller over there, so he also walked over.

Hey, he really sells meat, but he sells beef instead of pork.

It turned out that this group of people were from the front brigade, and the family's cow ate soybeans and bloated to death, so they told the commune to kill it and sell it for meat.

Under normal circumstances, cattle cannot be slaughtered without permission from the commune.

There were quite a few people watching the excitement, but few people were buying meat. Da Zhangluo also muttered with some disappointment: "The beef is too thin and has no oil or water."

This actually represents everyone's sentiments. Although beef sells for 80 cents per pound, which is much cheaper than the normal price, it still cannot be sold.

Beef!

Liu Qingshan's eyes flashed. It's not easy to eat beef and mutton these days. Usually you can't even see it. It's not easy to come across this, so of course you can't miss it.

So he said excitedly: "Uncle Boss, Uncle Zhang Luo, each family in our village will buy another two kilograms of beef. It's the festival and we have to eat dumplings anyway!"

When the two heard this, they shook their heads together. Although they were also greedy, they didn't live like this. They were so hungry that they ate and drank so much that the people in other villages would laugh out loud.

"Don't worry, when the vegetables in the greenhouse are sold, we will have money!"

Liu Qingshan comforted the two brothers, and then squeezed to the butcher's carriage: "Cut me sixty pounds of meat, ribs, chest, etc., to make it fatter!"

"Okay!"
Chapter completed!