Small Shop Owner in the 1960s

Chapter 25

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Xu Nannan certainly didn't want to live like this for the rest of her life, but she was thinking about how to leave this place every day and attack for a better life. Among other things, there must be a reasonable source of income to cover up her Taobao.

It's a pity that it's useless for her to think about it. It's too difficult to enter the city these days. Haven't you checked Li Jing's household registration and haven't entered the city for so many years

"Uncle He, there are some things that can't be done just by thinking about them. I also want Xiaoman to go to school and live a good life in the city."

Xu Nannan smiled helplessly.

After drinking a glass of water, He Qiusheng smiled, "It's a good thing to have ideas, and I can tell that you won't stay here for long. This place is also suitable for my retirement."

After speaking, he stood up and said with a smile, "Next time you go to the city, can you bring me a letter?"

Xu Nannan was taken aback. Bring him a letter

He Qiusheng looked at her with great interest, "Why, dare not, worry about being charged with collaborating with the enemy?"

"Uncle He, may I ask, who is the letter for?" You can't take this letter casually, if it's really a bad letter...

"Give me a student. He should be in the county seat now. Also in the mine."

Those who can work in the mine should always be people with clean backgrounds, so there should be no problem.

"Uncle He, you used to be a teacher?" Xu Nannan asked enthusiastically.

"You child, it seems that I didn't make it clear that I can't deliver this letter today." He Qiusheng smiled helplessly, and a little bit bitterly. But he didn't blame the kid either. It is not easy to be able to do this without relatives.

"Before I came here, I was a teacher at the provincial capital university, teaching English. You see, although I have come here, there are still a lot of students."

Hearing this, Xu Nannan nodded and said with a smile, "All right, Uncle He, I'm going to the city in two days. You wrote it earlier, and I'll send it to you then."

If it was before, Xu Nannan would not have wanted to help He Qiusheng with this. However, Song Guihua and the villagers helped her before, which touched her very much.

When a person encounters difficulties, he will help if he can.

He Qiusheng wrote the letter quickly, and handed it to Xu Nannan the next day. The envelope was not sealed, and he didn't seem to be worried that Xu Nannan would peek at it.

When he did this, Xu Nannan became more and more embarrassed to watch.

After putting He Qiusheng's letter away, Xu Nannan went to find Xu Gensheng's letter of introduction to the city.

Xu Gensheng's family just finished eating.

Liu Dahong was very happy to hear Xu Nannan's letter of introduction saying that he was going to enter the city, "Nannan, you are going to the city to find your parents."

"Didn't the leader of the mine ask me to report there before? I thought about going there earlier this month. It just happened that we just separated, and I have to talk to my parents about some things."

"It's time to go, it's time to go. Talk to your parents, why can't you just ignore you two sisters like this." Liu Dahong repeated. He urged Xu Gensheng to write a letter of introduction as soon as possible.

"Nannan is still waiting, go quickly."

When Xu Gensheng went to write a letter of introduction, Liu Dahong turned around and said in a low voice, "Nannan, you are going to the city, can you bring something back for your aunt?"

"Auntie, what do you want? I'll go to the city to help you see later." This kind of easy thing is naturally agreed to. Otherwise, look for Taobao. There is nothing that cannot be bought on Taobao.

If you can't find it, it must be that your search method is wrong.

Hearing that Xu Nannan agreed, the smile lines on Liu Dahong's face deepened. "It's the rice noodles you brought last time. Our family likes to eat them. See if you can help me bring some back. I'll also ask your Uncle Gensheng to look for them in the city. He's just stupid, so he can't find them no matter what. . Otherwise, I can't bother you."

When Xu Nannan heard this, he disagreed and said, "Auntie, look at what you said, yesterday Uncle Gensheng brought Brother Da Dong and his sister-in-law to help me tidy up the house. Why are you still talking about trouble with me? Just this matter, I'll definitely help you find it."

Liu Dahong smiled, and took Xu Nannan's hand, "I knew you were a good boy, and I really didn't help you in vain. In the future, you will come to Uncle Gensheng if you have anything to do. Don't be polite to us."

"Auntie said that, I'm not polite." Xu Nannan followed her mouth. These words were just to make Liu Dahong look good. As for asking Xu Gensheng for help, except for the letter of introduction, she tried to avoid bothering Xu Gensheng's family as much as possible.

The next day, Xu Nannan entrusted Xu Xiaoman to Song Guihua, and set off for the county seat by himself.

After getting into the car, with the letter of introduction and the letter written by He Qiusheng in his arms, Xu Nannan felt extremely relaxed, much better than the last time he went to the city. Even the bumpy feeling of the car is not so uncomfortable.

***

When he arrived at the county seat, Xu Nannan didn't rush to the mine, but went to the post office.

The blue army post has been out for too long, and it is estimated that it will not be available for purchase now. The country's mountains and rivers are red until 1968, but the current stamps are also quite valuable. Here you spend a few cents or a few cents to buy a stamp and sell it in Taobao stores. At least you can buy it for hundreds or thousands, and some can even sell for tens of thousands.

It's just that the stamp looks so new...

It doesn't matter, let's buy it first, it won't cost much anyway, if it is sold, it will be thousands of times the profit, this deal is really worth it!

Thinking of the huge profit, Xu Nannan's face turned red with excitement. When you come to the post office, go straight to the counter and say, "Buy stamps!"

The person at the counter was reading a book, and raised his head every time he heard the voice, "What kind of stamps?"

"Bethune." Xu Nannan said with bright eyes. This one seems to be a commemorative postage stamp for hairstyles in the early sixties.

"No."

"The Great Hall of the People."

"No." The tone was a little angry.

"...patriotic health campaign?"

"without."

"Raise pigs, goldfish?" I remember this because the name is relatively short and special.

Seeming to be a little annoyed by the question, the teller raised his head and said impatiently, "I said you kid is trying to find fault, why are you buying the old stamps now? If you want to buy stamps, hurry up, I'm still busy."

Xu Nannan's enthusiasm suddenly extinguished a bit. "Then... the chrysanthemum?"

There are some stamps in the back, Xu Nannan can't remember clearly, when she was in this business, she rarely sold such things as stamps. This thing is high-tech, and the acquisition cost is not cheap. After all, later on, everyone knows that stamps are valuable. No one wants to collect this kind of stamps for hundreds of dollars, it's just a dream. This is one of the few, and she racked her brains to think about it.

Fortunately, there are still chrysanthemums. The teller sternly tore off a stamp and handed it to her.

"I want to buy a few more. Are there other commemorative and special stamps?"

"Why are you buying so many stamps?" The teller frowned at her, Xu Nannan smiled, "I like collecting this."

"You still learn to collect stamps?" The man seemed very surprised. There are people collecting stamps these days, but they are all doing it when they are full and have nothing to do. With this money, why buy these small pieces of paper instead of buying more food.

If Xu Nannan heard what she was thinking, he would definitely tell her, "Sister, you should take advantage of your work and leave more stamps. In the future, your children and grandchildren will thank you for leaving such a large piece of property."

The teller wasn't too happy though. Fortunately, he still has professional ethics and meets the needs of customers. He found a few commemorative stamps for Xu Nannan.

Xu Nannan immediately took out the money and bought ten of each.

In this way, it cost five yuan.

Alas, stamps are not cheap either.

But this little heart only hurt for a moment, Xu Nannan became excited, found a deserted alley, bought a stamp album on Taobao, picked one of each stamp and pasted it on it to form a set of stamps from the 1960s . Then put it in Taobao.

Hope to get a good price.

After finishing the important matter, Xu Nannan immediately went to the mine to find someone.

It's not been long since I left the provincial capital last time, it's not been a month yet, but Xu Nannan still went to the guard to find Wei Guobing, asking him to help contact Zhu Liping.

Seeing that Xu Nannan came to the mine again so soon, Wei Guobing thought that the family was going to make her marry again, so he hurried to find Zhu Liping.

Zhu Liping came soon, saw Xu Nannan, and asked anxiously, "Did your family let you marry again?"

Xu Nannan shook his head, "No, I worried Aunt Zhu. I came this time just to talk to Aunt Zhu, and I won't come to the mine to report in the future." She has left Xu's house now, and she doesn't have to come here every month It was reported here.

As soon as Zhu Liping heard this, she felt that something was wrong, "Your family is thinking about it? Why don't you wait for a while. What if your family makes things difficult for you again?" She had seen it at Xu Jiansheng's house last time. Even my own mother did that kind of thing, not to mention those grandparents and aunts at home.

She really felt sorry for the child.

"Aunt Zhu, my family can't embarrass me now. I have already moved out of the house, and my household registration has been removed. I won't be afraid that they will let me marry in the future." Xu Nannan said with a smile.

"Here, you mean, you moved out? You even moved your household registration?"

Zhu Liping said in surprise. The guards next to him were also dumbfounded. This is really a rare thing. With so many people in the family, the child was actually moved out. This... This is simply an anecdote.

"I did this voluntarily. That home made me feel insecure and uncomfortable every day. I might as well go out to live. So Aunt Zhu, I don't have to come here every month. Thank you for helping me before. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had such a good time last time."

"It's nothing, it's just you... well, do your parents know about this?" Zhu Liping asked with a complicated mood.

"I should know. Two days ago, my aunt and the others came to the city to look for my parents. They should have talked about it."

Only then did Wei Guobing suddenly realize, "No wonder I saw your two aunts come to the city together last time, and I wondered why they came together because it is not a festival of the year. It turned out that it was to talk about this matter. I don't know what they told your parents. Your father doesn't seem to have returned." After the two women left, Director Xu didn't ask for leave, as if nothing happened.

A sensible person will know when he thinks about it, Xu Jiansheng doesn't care about it. Otherwise, when you hear the news, you have to go back and figure it out as soon as possible.

This is really not a girl.

Wei Guobing figured it out, and Zhu Liping also figured it out.

Zhu Liping said, "Your father will regret it in the future, what a good girl."

Xu Nannan smiled, but didn't answer. She didn't know that Xu Jian had no regrets after being born, anyway, she would never regret leaving this family.

Zhu Liping had to go to work, and wanted to give Xu Nannan money before leaving, but Xu Nannan didn't want it. "The village can't spend money, and the team also distributes food. Auntie, I remember your kindness, but I really can't ask for it. I have to rely on myself now."

Xu Nannan's words were so forceful that Zhu Liping could only stop thinking, "That's okay, if you have something to do in the future, you can still come to us. Your father doesn't recognize you as a girl, but we can recognize you as a child of a worker."

Xu Nannan responded politely with a smile.

After Zhu Liping left, Xu Nannan pulled Wei Guobing to find out who was going to deliver the letter.

"Li Chengwen, our deputy mine manager, why are you looking for him, are you going to talk about your father?"

Wei Guobing asked in surprise.

Deputy mine manager

This time, Xu Nannan was surprised. She thought it was someone who sat in the office, but she didn't expect that the office was not small, and it turned out to be the deputy mine manager. Don't underestimate the deputy mine manager of this county. For the entire Nanjiang County, the Nanjiang Iron Mine is like a chicken that lays golden eggs. The workers in the mine account for almost half of the county. Because this iron mine is important, it is directly under the jurisdiction of the province, and even the county government can't reach in. It is conceivable that the deputy mine manager has great power.

The recipient of the letter became the deputy mine manager, and Xu Nannan felt a little nervous. Can this letter still be delivered? Uncle He has too many connections.

But I have come here, so I can't come here in vain. Xu Nannan took out the letter in his pocket and said, "Uncle Wei, someone asked me to bring a letter to mine manager Li. Can you send it in?"

"It's a letter to Mine Manager Li, who wrote it?" Wei Guobing looked at the envelope that Xu Nannan took out curiously, and saw that Mine Manager Li's name was really written on it, knowing that Xu Nannan was lying. I'm just curious how Xu Nannan knew Mine Manager Li.

"It's just someone I know. He knew that I was coming to the mine, so he brought it along. Uncle Wei, do you think this letter can be delivered?"

"Yes, but you can't go in, I'll take it in for you." The management of the mine is strict, and even the children of workers are not allowed to run around in it.

"Okay, Uncle Wei, then I'll wait for your news here."

Wei Guobing and the others looked at the gate, and went to help Xu Nannan deliver the letter to the mine manager's office.

Unfortunately, there was a meeting in the mine, and there was no one in the office, so Wei Guobing could only put the letter on Mine Manager Li's desk, and hurried back to look for Xu Nannan.

"The letter has been delivered, but Mine Manager Li is in a meeting, and I guess it will take a while to see the letter. You have to wait."

After all, Wei Guobing was just a guard here, and he didn't dare to disturb the leaders' meeting.

Xu Nannan smiled and said, "I won't wait any longer. Anyway, the letter will be delivered. Uncle Wei, thank you very much today. You have helped me so much. I don't know how to thank you."

"What's the matter, you kid, you're just being too polite. You Uncle Wei, you just can't stand a good boy being wronged." Wei Guobing said with a smile.

After the matter was over, Xu Nannan didn't stay here any longer, and bid farewell to the Wei Guobing, he carried the cloth bag across his back and stepped out of the guard room. After walking a few steps, he turned his head and waved goodbye to the Wei Guobing.

Wei Guobing smiled and waved to her, feeling melancholy, why the director didn't like this child. This is his own daughter, and she is a sensible and good child, much more sensible than his daughter.

Whatever he wanted, Wei Guobing had just turned his head when he saw Xu Jiansheng coming out of the mine. He said hello lightly, "Director Xu, are you leaving get off work so early?"

"Just after the meeting, I put some materials at home, go back and get them." Xu Jiansheng didn't see the change in Wei Guobing's attitude, so he came over to sign on the side of the guard room, and then left.

When Wei Guobing heard that the meeting was over, he suddenly remembered Xu Nannan's letter, and wondered if Mine Manager Li had seen it.

***

In the Nanxian Iron Mine Manager's Office, Li Chengwen had just returned from the conference room. Today, because of the supply and distribution of grain, there was a disagreement in the mine, and he was in charge of this area, which caused a lot of headaches. There is also the allocation of family rooms in the mine, and the old employees are also making noise recently. What a day of worry.

Before he reached forty, he felt that his hair was about to turn gray. I began to miss the high-spirited days when I was young.

The students made a revolution together, unrestrained and unrestrained, denouncing Fang Qiu. In a blink of an eye, I came to the mine and came to take care of the logistics. I can never find the feeling I used to have in this life.

He sighed, picked up his teacup, and was about to drink some hot tea when he suddenly saw the yellow envelope on the table. I was taken aback for a moment.

It's not unusual to see his name on the envelope, the key is the handwriting...

With a bang, he immediately put down the teacup, hurriedly picked up the envelope, opened it, and took out the letter inside. The letter was very short, and I read it after a few glances. Then he stood up quickly and ran outside.

"Old Wei, is this letter from you?"

"Ah, Mine Manager Li." Seeing Li Chengwen coming, Wei Guobing immediately stood up straight, saw the letter in his hand, recognized that he had just sent it, and immediately said, "Mine Manager Li, this I just sent it to your office, and you were in a meeting just now, so I just put it on your desk."

"It didn't come from the post office." Li Chengwen affirmed. The envelope had no stamp on it and was not sealed. Definitely not from the post office.

"It was sent by a child."

"Where are people?" Li Chengwen asked anxiously.

"Just left."

Upon hearing this, Li Chengwen had a disappointed look on his face.

Seeing Li Chengwen like this, Wei Guobing was a little worried, fearing that there would be problems with this letter, and Xu Nannan would be implicated. "Mine Manager Li, is there something wrong?"

Li Chengwen let out a long sigh of relief, shook his head, "It's okay. You should be busy." After speaking, he turned and strode away.

He came and went in a hurry, which made Wei Guobing a little confused.

***

It was late when Xu Nannan left the mine. It was about two o'clock. At this time, it was too late to rush back, and there was no car. It would be fine to walk back, but Xu Nannan still didn't dare to take the risk of walking at night.

This is still law and order, although it is not bad, but if it is not guaranteed, it will encounter some troubles. She was not short of the two dollars, and found a guest house in the county town.

After taking out the letter of introduction to register, I went to a state-run restaurant to buy a bowl of dumplings. Cabbage stuffing.

Looking at the dumplings stuffed with cabbage with a few scallions floating, Xu Nannan felt a little wronged. I thought that if I had money and tickets, I could eat meat, but it turns out that even if I have money and tickets these days, I can’t buy a bowl of braised pork, and I can’t even buy meat dumplings.

Alas, it's been a long time since I had a warm meal of braised pork.

This dish that Xu Nannan hated the most and thought it was the most detrimental to maintaining her figure, is now the food she misses the most.

The almighty Taobao also has fresh meat, of course. But it was inconvenient for her to take it out when she was in the village. And... the pork fed from industrial feed is no better than the pure natural and pollution-free local pork at this time. With pearls and jade in front of her, Xu Nannan really didn't want to give in.

Xu Nannan took a bite of the dumplings, and remembered the fat pigs in the farm again.

I heard from Uncle Gensheng that most of the pigs will be handed over, and only a small part will be kept for distribution to the village at the end of the year. If you are lucky, you can get half a bowl of meat per person on average.

Xu Nannan has already figured it out. At the end of the year, she must choose the leanest piece of meat. Well, everyone seems to like fat at this time, so no one should compete with her.

After eating a bowl of Chaos and the marinated eggs bought from Taobao, Xu Nannan burped in satisfaction.

Looking out the window, well, it's still early. It was too early to go to bed. Thinking that it is rare to come to the city once, it is better to earn some extra money. There are not a few yuan left from the last time I sold things. When it's cold, it's not convenient for her to come to the city.

It is better to be cooked than raw. Xu Nannan found out the address left by the old man he met in the hospital last time, "No. 42 Industrial Road."

In Nanjiang County, there are still not many people who own their own real estate. Most people have divided houses.

There are some dormitory buildings in the factory area on the Industrial Road.

It is a house made of red bricks, and there is no cement on the outer walls. Such a house at this time is very remarkable. Xu Nannan entertained the house at the address, knocked on the door, and soon heard the response from inside.

It was the old man in Donglai who opened the door.

Seeing Xu Nannan, this guy froze for a moment, his face was a little dazed, as if he didn't recognize him. Soon he showed a look of sudden realization, "Oh, aren't you the little girl in the hospital?"

Xu Nannan smiled, "Grandpa, didn't you say last time that if you have milk powder or something, you can bring it over? This time there is no milk powder, kudzu root powder, or sweet potato powder."

These things are also a kind of tonic at this time. But not as difficult to buy as milk powder. There's no way, it wasn't long before last time, and she didn't dare to take out milk powder and sell it so quickly.

"Oh, what you want, come in first."

Yu Donglai happily let her in.

When Xu Nannan entered, he realized that it was still a small two-bedroom house. On the wall hung a picture of a young man, still a soldier.

But this kind of photo is hanging on the wall... If she hadn't thought too much, this young soldier would have...

"This is my son, who died a long time ago."

"Master, I'm sorry." Seeing Yu Donglai's sentimental look, Xu Nannan felt a little uncomfortable. No wonder I only saw two old people in the hospital last time.

Yu Donglai seemed to have gotten used to it, and after feeling sad for a while, he recovered his expression. He smiled and said, "It's nothing, it's been many years. By the way, let me see how many things you took this time. Our wife's stomach is not good, so I can only eat these liquid foods."

Xu Nannan hurriedly took out the things in his cloth pocket, which were simply packaged pueraria powder and sweet potato powder. There is one catty of kudzu powder and two catties of sweet potato powder.

Yu Donglai's eyes lit up when he saw these things. These days, he has asked someone to buy them in the provincial capital for a few days, but these things are not very easy to buy, and it will take a few days before he can come back. So these days his wife is eating millet porridge. I have eaten too much porridge, and I have no appetite.

"I'll take all of these, and I'll give you tickets and cash like last time, what do you think?" He looked at Xu Nannan with a smile in his eyes, feeling unspeakably happy in his heart.

"Okay!" Xu Nannan also readily agreed. When asking for the price later, it is not so high. The old man said he would take it together, but she didn't counter the price for five yuan.

When the old man gave the tickets later, he gave a few extra labor tickets and oil tickets.

These tickets are all good things. Food is expensive now, not to mention meat and oil. As far as she knew, even when the old Xu's family was cooking, they would brush the pot with cotton balls soaked in oil, and then stir-fry directly. You can see how expensive oil is.

If it was before, Xu Nannan would have happily picked it up, but today he didn't want to pick it up. "Master, you have enough money. You can keep these tickets at home. I don't want them."

Yu Donglai didn't expect that there are still people who don't want meat and oil tickets these days.

"It's all good stuff."

Xu Nannan smiled, "I know they are all good things, so I don't want them. You just paid for them, so I can't accept them. We're not in business, so we can't be greedy." .

Yu Donglai was happy to see what she said, "You are quite straightforward, kid."

Seeing that the child insisted, Yu Donglai took the things back, "Okay, then next time if you have something to send, I'll give it to you. I also want some liquid food, so it's easier to digest. My wife is not in good health."

"Yes," Xu Nannan nodded solemnly.

On the way back, Xu Nannan wondered if he should change his target next time. She still has to send things over in exchange for money, but it's not easy for her to make too much money. We still have to cast a wide net. The next time we sell, we can't just sell some rare things, but also sell some noodles and flour. By the way, I will bring some flour back tomorrow by the way, and cut another catty of meat. Then you can eat pork dumplings. And still fresh pork dumplings. If Aunt Osmanthus and Xiaoman asked, they would say that the leader of the mine knew that she had moved out, and they gave it to her because of pity.

Xu Nannan was happily planning to go back to the village tomorrow, while Li Chengwen at the mine was also thinking about whether to meet He Qiusheng tomorrow.