National Tide 1980.

No. 2 Courtyard in Shaner Hutong was also caught up in the buying spree.

Every household in the hospital is an ordinary person living in the real world. This is a very natural and inevitable thing.

In fact, because Aunt Mi worked in a grocery store, their courtyard was the first among the surrounding streets to notice this social change and to take immediate action.

For example, on November 1979, 11, when the sales prices of eight major non-staple foods, including pork, poultry, eggs, aquatic products, and vegetables, were raised, Aunt Mi took advantage of her position and knew that the boy had secretly kept a lot of goods for the whole hospital, which did a great job for everyone.

And don't forget, there is Aunt Bian who can take care of things in this courtyard.

The old lady is still in charge of the street affairs, and also manages the wholesale of unsold clothing items for Ning Weimin.

It is normal to find out that something is wrong in advance when you come into contact with that kind of people in society every day.

It was Aunt Bian who brought the news of a sharp drop in the price of chemical fiber cloth in 1983.

Furthermore, the most important thing is that both Aunt Mi and Aunt Bian are women.

What are the characteristics of women?

I'm just concerned about things like daily life at home.

Whenever something like this happens, the women will definitely keep each other informed.

So whoever can fail, these women will not fail.

For example, August 8th was a Wednesday, which was the day when the panic buying trend just started, around ten o'clock in the morning.

Aunt Bian, contrary to her usual behavior, came back from outside in a flatbed truck.

And not only did she come back, she also brought a truckload of goods.

As soon as she got down, she directed the young man from other place who was riding the flatbed cart to help her move things into her home.

The car was piled high with things like wool, cotton trousers and cloth.

The people on the scooter were helping to carry the things, and they were all curious, "Why did you buy so much white cloth?"

Aunt Bian was too lazy to say more to him, "I won't do anything, just save it."

The cyclist was still talking, "Well, there are so many new things today. Guess what, before I picked you up, I was picking up someone who was buying quilts. He bought twenty quilts at once. He also bought a lot of boxes of soap. How come you two acted like you had discussed this beforehand? You all bought things like this..."

Aunt Bian was not convinced. "Twenty quilts and a few boxes of soap are nothing. I need to buy more later. These are just the first batch."

The cyclist found this interesting and was about to ask more questions, but Aunt Bian didn't have time to argue with him and just pointed out where to put the goods.

The old lady rushed straight to her home, took a gulp of the boiled water at home, and then greeted Uncle Bian who was playing with the flowers and plants at the door.

"Hey, you old man, you still have the time to play with your broken flowers. Do you know what's going on outside? It's terrible!

Aunt Bian's exaggerated expression and tone made Uncle Bian look confused.

"Oh, look at you making such a fuss. You're yelling as soon as you get back. I'm so confused. What's the matter? Did you see Jia Bolin under the Qianmen building, or did you pick up a gold ingot on Dazhalan Street?"

(Note: Jia Bolin is Charlie Chaplin, the name used in mainland China during the Republic of China period.)

Aunt Bian curled her lips, particularly dissatisfied with her husband's teasing.

"Oh, what are you talking about? I'm telling you something serious. I heard that people are saying that starting from September 1st, prices will rise across the board.

"An all-round increase is impossible." Uncle Bian didn't believe it at all. He curled his lips and started arguing with the flowers and plants again.

Seeing that her husband was unmoved, the aunt became really anxious.

"Oh, what can I say to you? You do nothing at home all day long except drinking, growing flowers, listening to operas and fishing. What else do you know? I tell you to go out and take a look. The outside world is in chaos. The shops are packed with people. People are like crazy, grabbing everything they see. Quick, give me the passbook at home."

"What do you want the passbook for?"

"There's a long queue in the bank. If you're late you won't be able to withdraw money. Hurry up."

"Hey, you are crazy! We have finally saved some money. Didn't you say you would leave it for our grandson? Why are you taking it all out? We have all the appliances now, including a refrigerator, a color TV, and a washing machine. What do you want to buy?"

"What do you know, old man? Money is getting more and more worthless. If it really becomes worthless, it's worse than waste paper. It's better to buy something casually than to put it in the bank. Things can still maintain their value. How much can money be worth? Besides, his Aunt Mi is still guarding the goods for our whole courtyard at the grocery store. I heard that there are twenty ribs, twelve boxes of canned food, pots and pans, several boxes of eggs, half a jar of sweet bean sauce, and a sack of salt. I also got a lot of fabrics from the wholesale department, more than fifty pairs of cotton trousers, we will distribute them among the whole courtyard, and every family will not have to worry about food and clothing..."

"Hey, who said the RMB is going to depreciate? Where did this rumor come from? You are a member of the neighborhood committee. If you see others making trouble, you should take care of them. Don't believe it easily, and don't spread it..."

"Hey, I'm too lazy to talk to you. You might as well go out and have a look yourself. Banks of all sizes are crowded with people withdrawing money. You old man, you're really confused..."

There was no time to argue with Uncle Bian anymore. Aunt Bian, who was tired of talking, drank enough water and went into the house to get her passbook. She no longer paid any attention to her husband and turned around to go to the Luo family at the gate of the courtyard.

At this time, the cyclist had already placed all the things in front of Luo's house according to her instructions.

Aunt Bian thanked the driver a few times, took out five dollars to pay for the ride, and sent the driver away.

Master Luo and Aunt Luo, who had already heard the noise, could not help but stare in amazement at the scene.

"I said, Auntie, did you buy all these things?"

"Oh my, this is too much! You should move all the stores back. What's going on?"

Seeing the confused looks on the faces of the Luo family's father and mother, Aunt Bian smiled.

"I'll be relieved if the store is really moved back. You don't know yet, do you? There's a price increase outside, and people are going crazy. The store is packed with people. People line up wherever they see a line and buy whatever they see. It's like the Spring Festival temple fair. I got these from the wholesale department and distributed them to our entire hospital. Isn't this a little convenience for us? Oh, I'm so tired. Hey, just these towels and these cotton pants are enough for our entire hospital to use for a few years, and we don't have to go to the store anymore. It doesn't matter if you don't have money at the moment, give the goods first and then pay. After all, we are old neighbors..."

"But, but this is too much. How long will it take to use up all these towels..."

"That's right, there are dozens of these cotton pants..."

"Just use it slowly. Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you. This is nothing. The most important supplies are at the grocery store. Aunt Mi is still watching over the goods for our courtyard. We have everything to eat and drink. We are still relying on her, just like in 1979. However, she doesn't have much room for leniency. Public institutions need cash. So I took out my passbook. Do you have enough cash at home? Do you want to go to the bank to withdraw some money? We'll go together later?"

Master Luo and Aunt Luo looked at each other and were somewhat tempted.

"There's only about a hundred dollars in cash at home, right? Why don't we go get some money?"

"Well, take it. How much is appropriate?" Aunt Luo couldn't help asking Aunt Bian, "Old sister, how much money is enough? Is one thousand enough? How about two thousand?"

"Oh, I can't say for sure." Aunt Bian shook her head. "Anyway, my family has more than 8,000 yuan in three banknotes, and I plan to take them all out."

"Take it all out?" Mr. Luo and his wife were shocked. "Damn it, you took out all that money? Are you going to live like this? Are you really going to move the store here?"

"Look at what you said. I took it all out just to make a living."

Aunt Bian had her own reasons, and she said confidently, "Let me tell you this, the price increase is because everyone heard that all commodity prices will be liberalized next month. Think about it, if merchants are allowed to set their own prices, they will not set them arbitrarily? So now everyone is buying things that can be stored and retain their value. Don't look at the number of towels, they will not go bad, and these wool yarns, after 30 years, the sweaters knitted into them will still be new. Isn't that right?"

Master Luo and his wife looked at each other again, and were unknowingly persuaded.

"Yes, let's go to the bank to withdraw money and then grab the goods. Otherwise, it will be too late and we won't be able to grab anything."

"What are you going to grab?"

"We can rob anything. His aunt is right. As long as we buy something, it will retain its value. Anyway, we can't just watch the money go by..."

Seeing that the old couple of the Luo family had this awareness and that they both listened to advice, Aunt Bian was also very pleased.

"Don't worry, just listen to me. You can buy whatever I buy. Just follow me and you won't go wrong. Oh, by the way, you have to call Guangliang. He not only has cash, but also a car. You have to ask him to drive back quickly."

"Oh, is this necessary? His mother, the child has been very busy lately. Otherwise, can we hire a car to bring it back ourselves?"

Aunt Luo, as a mother, is afraid that her child will be delayed from doing his or her work, but Aunt Bian doesn't care about that.

"Is there anything more important than the price increase? If it's anything else, it's fine. I'm just worried about food. You know, there are so many people in our yard, we have to get thousands of kilograms of rice and thousands of kilograms of flour. Otherwise, how can we feed so many people? I'll let your third son do this for me, so I can rest assured..."

As they were talking, a few people came in from outside and heard what was said. Someone interrupted them immediately.

"Oh, Auntie, I think you are really confused. You are so stupid to buy so much rice and noodles. If you really buy them, where will you put them? The yard will be full of flies."

When Aunt Bian took a look, she found that it was the second girl in the Mi family, Mi Xiaoran's younger sister Mi Xiaohui.

There were two girls of the same age around her, and one could tell at a glance that they were her good classmates.

It's summer vacation and I came to visit my home.

The old lady didn't have time to argue with the little girl, and quickly talked about serious matters, saying that Aunt Mi also asked her to tell the Mi family to ask Master Mi to take the passbook from home to withdraw money as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, Mi Xiaohui has her own ideas.

What's more, she is already old and has done well in her studies. She is a student taking the college entrance examination this year and is waiting for the admission letter at home.

So after listening to Aunt Bian's instructions, Mi Xiaohui refused to do so. Instead, she said that when the prices dropped in the first two years, Aunt Mi bought synthetic cloth and soap, which was a painful lesson and she should have learned the lesson long ago.

Besides, there is not much money left in my family now.

Not only did my family have to pay for my college education, I also had to pay for my little American nephew.

There is no spare money at home to hoard useless things, so I won't get involved and actually pushed this matter away.

But how is it possible to do this?

Let’s not talk about anything else. Just say that everyone in the hospital can buy goods because of Aunt Mi. What kind of thing is it to pull her down?

Aunt Bian didn't dare to disappoint her, so she started blaming Mi Xiaohui for not listening and told her to do the job quickly.

Mi Xiaohui said that her mother was just blindly buying things without any financial sense and didn't think about whether the things she bought were useful.

Of course, Aunt Bian still said the same thing, "You young people don't understand, just keep it to preserve its value."

Unexpectedly, this sentence works against his wife and old neighbors, but it is useless against Mi Xiaohui, a contemporary young person who has ideas, has her own judgment, has personality, and pursues independence.

It would have been better if she hadn't said anything. Once she said it, it aroused the disgust of Mi Xiaohui and even her two classmates, and thus triggered a big debate.

One of my female classmates said, "What is value preservation? You should understand the term first. The market economy has just started, and prices haven't been liberalized yet, but you can't stand it. It's just the beginning, and you're making such a fuss. How can you survive in the future? You are so foolish! So foolish!"

Aunt Bian couldn't let the little girl talk back and retorted immediately.

"What do you kids know? You're still ignorant. This is common sense. Go back and ask your parents. If the government didn't set price limits, wouldn't soy sauce be ten yuan a pound? Anyone selling something can charge whatever price they want. This is chaos!"

Another female classmate said, "The state does not restrict the market, but economic laws do. If no one buys soy sauce that costs 10 yuan per pound, it will still cost 1 yuan per pound."

Well, now Aunt Bian is speechless.

Aunt Luo helped at the critical moment and said, "It's better to save some. It's more reassuring. I'm tired of being poor anyway."

Who would have thought that at this time the eldest grandson of the Luo family and the eldest grandson of the Bian family would appear out of nowhere.

They are good friends. They shared an egg cake, but they became messy while eating.

They are only one year apart in age, one is seven and the other is six. They are sensible in some ways, but they are still confused if you say they are not.

The eldest grandson of the Bian family was the kind of person who could not even spit out ivory. When he saw the goods in front of the Luo family's door, he could only marvel at them.

"Oh my god, why are there so many white cloths here? What are they for? Could it be that they are for funerals, where filial sons and grandsons are all dressed in white, just like in the movies..."

The eldest grandson of the Luo family was even more outrageous, "Forget it. Are you stupid? Who uses this for funerals nowadays? It's called feudal dregs and has been eliminated long ago. For funerals nowadays, just tie half a foot of black cloth around the arm and wear it for half a day at most before throwing it away. You still think it's filial..."

It is said that children speak without restraint, but this time, Aunt Bian could no longer suppress her anger.

The old lady was angry with the two children.

"I'm going to beat you little bastards! You can't stop your mouths even though you have something to eat, get out of here!" (End of this chapter)