Return To 1977 Chapter 242: Business and sales epitome

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Children, don’t be greedy, it’s the New Year after Laba. Laba porridge, drink it for a few days, it will be twenty-three. Twenty-three, the sugar melon is sticky. Twenty-four write pairs. Twenty-five, frozen tofu. Twenty-six, go buy meat. Twenty-seven, slaughter the New Year chicken. Twenty-eight, hair. Twenty-nine, steamed buns. Stay up all night on the 30th and have fun on New Year's Day.

This is a New Year ballad that is familiar to old Beijing residents. However, the scenes of busy preparations for the New Year described in folk songs are not so complete nowadays.

Because if you read it in detail, it is not difficult to find that among the many preparations for the New Year described in folk songs, in addition to cleaning the house, the rest are like frozen tofu, stewed pot meat, slaughtered roosters, steamed buns, etc. It’s all about preparing food for the New Year.

To put it bluntly, it is different from today's era of great material abundance. In the past, in addition to the expectation of family reunion, there was also a yearning for a harmonious and beautiful family life. Being able to indulge your appetite and allow your family to eat as much as you want for a few days is the main content and real fun of the Chinese New Year.

Yes, looking forward to the Chinese New Year was indeed more material-focused back then, but this is also human nature. People of that era would never be ashamed to admit this.

Because in those days when food and clothing were scarce, the daily diet was almost unchangeable steamed buns and old pickled radish, with occasional pimple soup, but there were more vegetables and less noodles. And it’s often eaten only when you’re sick.

If you can eat stewed meat once and eat dumplings as much as you can, for most people, the Chinese New Year is probably the only time in the year. Therefore, having enough food and good food during the New Year has become an eternal expectation.

Speaking of this, Hong Yanwu himself is quite familiar with this. He has experienced many Spring Festivals before the reform and opening up, which made him deeply understand how difficult it is to live a good New Year.

At that time, since all living necessities were provided by the government, each household had a resident purchase certificate issued by the Second Commercial Bureau of Beijing, commonly known as "non-staple food book" or "purchase book", referred to as "book". hair.

All non-staple foods needed by the common people must be "written in the book". In addition to cooking oil coupons, grain coupons, meat coupons, others such as vermicelli, vermicelli, starch, sesame paste, alkaline, sugar, eggs, tofu, etc. , and even daily necessities such as soap, toilet paper, matches, etc., must be written in the non-staple food book.

Since the supply is rationed, things are naturally scarce. The Spring Festival supply in 1978 was not much different from previous years, except that the number of Class A cigarettes per household increased from two to three boxes, and the purchase of pork for 20 cents at a time did not require meat stamps.

It is nothing more than following the usual practice of using special tickets for the Spring Festival, giving each person an extra half a catty of oil, half a catty of meat, one catty of Fuqiang noodles, and one catty of Xiaozhan rice. Each household was given two bottles of white wine, five pounds of fish, two pounds of mung beans, and one pound of soybeans. In addition, each person also has half a catty of peanuts, half a catty of melon seeds, and two taels of soy products.

So for housewives like mothers and sisters-in-law, who are almost living without rice, embarrassment is inevitable. They must use their whole family's efforts, spend all their money, rely on long-term savings and painstaking efforts to prepare a relatively sumptuous dinner on New Year's Eve.

So even though I know that my family has already bought everything in Hong and Chen’s shopping books. But after their mother went to work, Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan took to the streets again.

They are going to go out of their way to purchase again, and want to buy some "New Year's goods" in addition to the normal rations, so that the whole family can have a "fat year" and a "good year".

According to common sense, with the current economic strength of Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan, it seems that it is easy to realize this wish.

But this is not the case, because at that time, prices were astonishingly low. But one thing is that at that time there was neither a free market nor free traders. Since there are too few things, you can’t afford to buy more if you want to. This is the characteristic of the planned economy era.

In addition, ordinary people's households did not have refrigerators at that time. Once too many foods with short shelf life were purchased, it was difficult to store them. It was also a big problem if they went bad.

So it’s a bit difficult to start with this matter. Whatever you buy, and how you buy it, you have to put some thought into it. That's a really technical job.

At the beginning, Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan went to the nearest non-staple food store on Zixin Road to see if there was any loophole they could exploit. Unexpectedly, the place was so crowded that it was almost impossible to get down.

And they just stood in the corner and observed for a while. Not only did they find that the counter selling peanuts and melon seeds suddenly had a "no-war sign" on it, it made the people who had been queuing for a long time complain. At the counter selling eggs and soy sauce and vinegar, there were two vindictive conflicts between the salesperson and the customer.

What’s interesting is that no matter which of these two incidents is right or wrong, not only the salesperson’s side ended with a great victory. Moreover, they are very characteristic of the era and can be regarded as two very representative microcosms of the era of material shortage.

Let’s talk about eggs first.

Since there were very few fresh eggs for sale back then, they were all shipped from far away places in containers and stored in cold storage for an unknown number of days. It was inevitable that there would be a few "bad guys" among the several kilograms of eggs.

At that time, eggs were a "precious" food. One was given one at a time. There was no additional ration even during the Spring Festival. The residents had to rely on the daily ration of one pound per person per month.

So there is often a box made of plywood on the counter of a non-staple food store, with a groove the size of an egg dug out, a layer of glass underneath, and a light bulb inside the box, which is called a "light box." The purpose is to put the weighed eggs into the trough one by one and take a photo to see if there are any "bad guys".

But although this thing is practical, the specific right to use it can be controlled by the salesperson. These owners who hold "real power" will often "take care" of their relatives and friends with due diligence, but they are not so considerate to most ordinary customers.

Because firstly, it is causing trouble, and secondly, the grocery store has to bear the losses of these bad guys. Who wants to do such a thankless task?

As a result, a customer was unhappy today because of this situation. The person in front of him was an acquaintance of a salesperson who dared to buy eggs. Not only did he not ask for a book when buying eggs, but he also took pictures one by one and picked out five or six bad ones. The others took away all the good ones. But when we arrived at his place, the salesperson immediately lost his enthusiasm and stopped taking photos because he found it too troublesome.

As the saying goes, "Don't worry about scarcity, but worry about inequality." This customer's heart is not balanced. At that time, he said that none of the eggs I bought could go bad. Otherwise, I will go to your leader and accuse you of using the back door.

Unexpectedly, the egg salesman was not afraid of this at all. Instead, he said, "The back door is just there. You can leave if you can. Do you think it will be useful to go to our leader? He even complained about us picking it out yesterday. There are too many 'bad guys'. I also tell you that people from all over the country are supporting the capital. It's good to have your eggs. If you pick and choose, I won't sell you."

The customer was so angry that he almost fell over, but in the end he had no choice but to grit his teeth and say, "When there are too many things to sell, what will you do?"

To be honest, apart from Hong Yanwu who could see the future, I am afraid that even the customers themselves did not believe this. So the salesperson laughed and said very proudly, "Go home and dream about your spring and autumn dreams. Now even the soy sauce is out of stock. I can't see the scene you mentioned..."

Okay, this is the last sentence. The customer could only look downcast and leave with the eggs that had not been touched.

As for the second thing, it was actually a dispute over the weight of "Erba Sauce".

You know, today’s all-in-one soy and vinegar seasonings can be bought in bulk back then.

The oil is in iron buckets, and soy sauce, vinegar, yellow sauce, jam, sesame paste, white wine, etc. are in jars. Whether adults or children, buying the above-mentioned things is called "beating".

"Make soy sauce" and "Make sesame sauce" are words that are often spoken. When you meet acquaintances on the road, you often greet them in this way. If someone asks, "Why don't we go?" the other person will often answer, "Let's go get some soy sauce."

To make soy sauce, vinegar, and wine, you need to carry a bottle. The salesperson uses a wooden "lift" to scoop out the food from the jar and pour it into the bottle through a funnel. "Grapes" are generally divided into two types: half a catty and one catty. Using this original measurement method is indeed very convenient for the sale of bulk liquid products.

Making sesame sauce and yellow sauce also come with their own containers. Generally, ceramic bowls are used for eating, and there is no need to worry about the weight. The customer puts the bowl on the counter and says "make sesame paste for five cents". The salesperson will weigh the bowl first, and then place the scale where it should be after removing the weight of the bowl.

Since sesame paste is a rationed food that is as scarce as eggs, each person only has one or two a month. Therefore, when customers are making sesame paste, they often keep their eyes on the scale, fearing that they will have to compare the money with each penny. The method of taking out the sesame paste is quite special. If there is too much, it cannot be retracted. Salespeople sometimes deliberately call out more to reduce disputes.

But sometimes, good intentions may not bring good results. Because no matter how much I fight, I can't resist the temptation of sesame sauce, especially the sweet "Erba sauce" on children. As long as the child is making sesame paste, he will inevitably want to take a few bites on the way home. He rubs his index finger against the edge of the bowl and puts it into his mouth. This action is called "hands". So inevitably, the amount of sesame paste will not be enough.

To be honest, everyone in the capital is aware of this shortcoming in "purchasing." As long as adults can free their hands, they will never let their children make sesame paste. But sometimes, it’s really too busy. Especially during the Chinese New Year, there are a lot of things to buy, and you have to queue up everywhere to buy. Adults have jobs and have to go to work as usual. So it is inevitable that the children on winter vacation will get some advantages.

Of course, adults must be mentally prepared for this. As long as it is not excessive, the expected "deficit" is tolerable.

It’s just that sometimes people’s calculations are not as good as God’s calculations. Occasionally, when children are impulsive, they often greatly exceed their daily bottom line, causing adults to face a bizarre and completely incomprehensible result. At this time, if the child lies again and the adult becomes anxious, he may take it out on the grocery store.

The dispute Hong Yanwu witnessed originated from this.

A young man, who was probably the child's uncle, came back with a bowl angrily and said that the grocery store didn't make enough sesame paste. Their family bought six taels of "Erba Sauce" and weighed it when they got it back, only three taels. Even if the child ate it secretly, there was no way to eat it. He thought it was because the grocery store was short of food.

At that time, the salesperson selling soy and vinegar on the counter was an elderly woman, but she insisted that she had been doing this all her life and that no matter who she gave, she always gave more sesame sauce and never gave less. The problem is definitely not in the grocery store, let the customers go home and find the cause themselves.

Then the egg salesperson next to her also chimed in to help. He said, "Your children have only eaten three ounces of sesame paste, which is not fresh at all. Yesterday, a child ate half a kilogram of sesame paste that was just made. When we got home, he was so wet that he asked his mother to wash his pants. I can’t help it. Is the child greedy? It’s normal..."

The customers laughed when they heard this, but the young man was young and energetic, and his face was tender, so he blushed and became thick-necked. His theory was that there were so many people shopping during the Chinese New Year that the salesperson basically no longer bothered to use the scale to make an appointment. His child said that the bowl of sesame paste was not on the scale at all, so it was probably because he was underpaid.

Since it is a special season, the store is very busy. The aunt who bought the soy and vinegar soon became impatient when she saw that he was still finishing the shopping, and refused to let the egg seller help. When he got angry, he asked another customer who also wanted to buy 6 liang of sesame paste to prove his innocence.

She picked up the empty bowl and put it on the scale first, then said to the young man. "You have checked the weight of the bowl. They also ask for 6 taels. I will check it later and it must be 6 taels and 2 qian. There are odd parts and even parts. I want to be a little bit worse. I will make up for the sesame paste you are missing. If there is no difference, just admit your mistake and leave quickly."

The serious young man is definitely a green boy, ignorant and unconvinced.

"Hey, you're so cool. You dare to say two cents and five cents. I really don't believe it anymore, so let's do it like this."

As it turned out, the young man was just asking for his own misfortune. His confidence was not in vain. After making the sesame paste, putting the bowl on the scale, and then making an appointment, even all the customers present were shocked.

Don’t mention it, excluding the weight of the bowl, the sesame paste is really six taels and two cents and five cents! This is called accurate!

When the boy reacted again, he was so embarrassed that he couldn't even lift his head with shame. At that time, "Auntie, Auntie" was called. Then he said, "I bow to you. You are a real person and don't show your face. I am convinced."

The salesperson is an old clerk, and he must have a much better temper than the young man. Moreover, because his face was exposed, his anger was smoothed over, and he could not be ignored or tolerated.

It's just that the egg seller next to him had a bad temper, and his last "soup talk" made the young man unkind and made everyone laugh again.

"Young man, I know your family lives a meticulous life. But you also have to remember. It's useless for your family to just weigh the sesame sauce bowl. You have to weigh the children together in the future..."