C31 Returning to the 1960s: Starting with Digging for Fo-ti

Young people have so much energy. Du Jianguo looked at Liu Xiuyun beside him, his affection for her impossible to suppress.

It was rare to do something that both eased the family’s difficulties and put a smile on his wife’s face. Naturally, he didn’t want to miss this precious opportunity for closeness.

Ignoring Liu Xiuyun’s protests, he immediately moved the bath tub to the side of the bed and eagerly reached for her clothes.

Liu Xiuyun refused, pushing him away with gritted teeth. “Look at you, you smell of sweat. Go wash first!”

Du Jianguo just laughed. “Wife, we are an old married couple. I know what you are thinking. If I go take a bath today, the tub will sit empty, and how will I get to sleep with you tonight? You can’t blame me for that.”

Before he could finish speaking, he lunged forward, pressing tightly against Liu Xiuyun’s smooth thigh.

Darkness and chaos! Everything was a blur!

Happy times always pass too quickly.

The next morning, when Du Jianguo woke up, his back ached, but his heart was full of satisfaction. It was worth it!

He had kept her busy for several hours last night, and Liu Xiuyun was exhausted as well, still not awake.

While Liu Xiuyun was still sleeping, Du Jianguo gave her a couple of more fondle before contentedly getting off the kang bed. He turned to pack up the bear gallbladder and bear paws.

He still had to go to town to sell these items.

As soon as he stepped out of the room, Liu Xiuyun in the inner room slowly opened her eyes, gritting her teeth and muttering a curse. “That rascal is getting more and more out of line!”

…

Du Jianguo borrowed a donkey cart from Old Sun Tou and drove the donkey slowly toward town.

Having sold Fo-ti here before, he knew the way well and drove the cart straight into the small alley.

As soon as he lifted the curtain, the old scholar inside, who was counting on an abacus, asked without looking up, “Do you have a cold or a cough? What medicine do you need?”

“Shopkeeper, I’m not here to buy medicine today. I’m here to sell something. Do you remember me?” Du Jianguo asked with a smile.

The old scholar looked up in confusion. Upon recognizing Du Jianguo, he was stunned and pointed at him. “You are that hunter who sold me Fo-ti and the venomous snake last time!”

“It’s me, I’m back to trouble you again,” Du Jianguo nodded.

“Oh, what an honor! You should have let me know before you came!” The old scholar quickly put down his abacus, stood up to brew tea for Du Jianguo, and stared at him with excitement. “What is it this time? Did you find more Fo-ti? Don’t worry, the price is the same as last time. I will buy whatever you have!”

Seeing the old shopkeeper’s eagerness, Du Jianguo immediately realized that the old man must have made a lot of money reselling the Fo-ti from last time.

He smiled. “I’m not here to sell Fo-ti this time. I have some other rare items and would like you to appraise them.”

Saying this, Du Jianguo took the bear paws and bear gallbladder out of his cloth bag and placed them on the table.

The old scholar was startled, his voice trembling. “W-where did you get this?” He stared at Du Jianguo in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you caught these yourself?”

“It really was me,” Du Jianguo nodded frankly, then asked, “So, do you dare to buy it or not?”

“I will buy it! Of course I dare!”

The old scholar quickly waved his hands, but his eyes were tightly fixed on the bear paws and gallbladder on the table, full of envy. “It’s just that these items are too rare. I haven’t received any in many years. You don’t know, ‘One bear, two tigers, three pigs’ are the most fierce creatures in the wild forest. Ordinary hunters, when they encounter them, can only turn and run for their lives!”

“Last time you said you were a hunter, I thought you just got lucky digging up Fo-ti. I never thought you had real hard skills! To actually take down a bear, I finally recognize you as a real figure this time!”

Saying this, the old scholar skillfully brought over a scale. “Come, let me weigh them for you so we can calculate the price.”

The bear paws and gallbladder were weighed one by one. The old scholar squinted to record the numbers, wrote and calculated on a piece of paper, and his fingers tapped the abacus beads with a crisp sound. After calculating carefully for a while, he looked up at Du Jianguo.

“I won’t weigh the bear gallbladder by the jin. I’ll count it by the whole piece. One piece is eighteen yuan. These two bear paws are each one and a half jin. I’ll buy them at ten yuan per jin, which comes to a total of forty-eight yuan.”

“Forty-eight yuan?” Du Jianguo’s heart skipped a beat. He already knew these things were valuable, but he didn’t expect them to be worth so much.

In the countryside, even if a family ate and dressed frugally for a whole year, they might not be able to save this amount. Holding this money in his hands now felt like a dream.

“How about it? Are you selling?”

The old shopkeeper was full of enthusiasm, afraid he would change his mind, and added, “I guarantee the price is absolutely fair! If you don’t want all cash, I can also exchange some for food coupons, industrial coupons, and other hard currency useful for daily life!”

Du Jianguo pondered for a moment, then looked up at the shopkeeper. “Shopkeeper, please exchange half for me. I want half in cash, and the other half in food coupons. I don’t need industrial coupons or cloth coupons yet.”

In these years, industrial coupons could buy very few things. Although he wanted to add a sewing machine to the family, that item cost nearly a hundred yuan, far beyond his current income, so he could only save up for it.

However, his family was always short of fine grains. The few jin they brought back from selling Fo-ti last time were already eaten up. Now that he had earned money, he could exchange for more food to take back.

The old shopkeeper was also straightforward. He immediately took nine food coupons out of the drawer and handed them to Du Jianguo. “Each one can be exchanged for one jin of fine grain. Nine is nine jin. Absolutely fair.”

Du Jianguo nodded.

Even on the black market, the current market price for a food coupon was three yuan. Any clear-eyed person could see that the old shopkeeper had made a concession and given an extra coupon.

At this moment, he put aside the scholar’s refined demeanor and shook hands with Du Jianguo with a smile. “In the future, if you have more good items, you must bring them here. I guarantee to pay the full price!”

“Definitely!” Du Jianguo quickly agreed.

…

“These food coupons are really expensive!” Even Du Jianguo couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air, feeling a bit of heartache.

Currently on the market, one jin of white flour cost only a little over two mao, but food coupons could sell for two or three yuan each. In the end, it was because grain was so scarce.

[Tl: 1 mao is equal to 1/10 of a yuan]

He clicked his tongue, then thought to himself that he had ultimately made a profit, so he stopped worrying. He turned and entered the supply and marketing cooperative, exchanging all nine jin of food coupons for fine grain.

It filled up two full bags before he was done, returning home fully loaded.

Driving the donkey cart back to the village, Du Jianguo first tied the donkey into the stable. Just as he turned around, he bumped into Old Sun Tou, who was holding a sack and walking quickly toward him with a furtive look.

“The chicken you wanted, I found a way to get it!” Old Sun Tou lowered his voice, then added the reminder. “Don’t forget to dig up the medicinal herbs for me!”

Saying this, he handed over the heavy sack, which immediately contained “cluck cluck” sounds, occasionally accompanied by the noise of flapping wings.

Du Jianguo took it, beaming with joy. “Don’t worry, Uncle Sun, I will definitely not fail your trust!” Old Sun Tou nodded satisfactorily and turned to leave.

“What a big harvest today!”

Du Jianguo felt delighted in his heart.

He had bought rice and flour, and now had a hen. Carrying the items home, he couldn’t help but lift the corner of the sack to look at the chicken inside, laughing out loud.

But as he looked down without watching the road, it was dark and he bumped straight into someone coming from the opposite direction.

“Ouch!”

The other person cried out in pain.

Du Jianguo finally steadied himself and looked. He was a bit confused. “Sister-in-law? What are you doing here?”